Advice to job seekers

My advice to job seekers (based on my experience reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates for a few openings in my group, I don't get to make the final decision but I do get to offer plenty of input): STAND OUT. Forget the safe, boring resume that follows all the tips in some worthless book or website. If you've spent most of your career in the pharmaceutical industry, I already have a good idea of the kind of work that you've been doing. Show me how you've gone beyond expectations, broken out of your job description, and achieved something that could only come from your unique combination of skills, insight, intelligence, and experience. Stop spending so much time telling me what you can do and start telling me what you've accomplished. Give me your highlight reel.

Show me that you know how to invent. Demonstrate that you can take an idea that you pick up in a meeting and turn it into something valuable without needing step by step instructions from a supervisor. It's great that you can solve problems. Will you see hints of a problem that others may miss? Tell me how you spotted a problem and implemented a solution before your colleagues were even aware that there was a problem.

Stop being safe. I don't want to see you showing me what you think I'm looking for in a candidate. I want to see what you have to offer. Your fear that you're going to blow this interview when you are in desperate need of this job radiates from you with palpable heat. Nobody wants to date somebody who's desperate. The same rules apply to selecting co-workers.

I'm not going to respond well to fear, uncertainty, or listlessness. Don't put your passion in a corner. Put it out on display. If you can get me excited about something you've worked on, I'm going to get excited about working with you.

Drop the predictable answers. Stop playing it safe. Show me that you know how to push the boundaries while still playing by the rules. Take me to the edge.