For this month’s addition of 5 Quick Questions, I am beyond excited to announce our first female candidate! Kimberly Penharlow joined the Monster.com team back in 2008 and is a human resource expert with over 14 years of experience in multiple capacities.  She is currently focusing on training Enterprise clients in the areas of job seeker behavior and best hiring practices so as you can see, her line of work is most fitting for our site! Please read below to see how you can stand out above the rest when job hunting and read what not to do, when Kimberly talks about trends she’s seen among the unemployed…

Q: How do you stand out in the job searching process, especially if you aren’t the most qualified? (Ex: A recent grad)

A: “A couple of things one should do… In an interview talk about all of your accomplishments, something you’ve done most recent like an internship, or maybe even a paper you’ve written. Always talk about things that make you stand out from the rest. Just because you don’t have 10 years of experience, show your strong points that could make you as valuable as that person with 10 years of experience. Discuss your exposure to new media, hone into what makes you personally unique in the job market and be proud of it, most importantly talk about the energy you will bring to the workplace/the job.”

Q: What are things one can do to stand out/ gain positive attention? Do you recommend networking? What about starting a blog?

A: “Once you land a job, get involved with associations that fit your type of work. Most importantly you need to start becoming visible in the industry you are now working in, meet up with various groups outside of work which will continue to help you network and with time make you more and more visible. If you work in a creative field and/or your job has to do with writing, then sure, start a blog. Just make sure it’s in line with your type of work. I absolutely think how you spend your time outside of work is important, the more you get out of your cubicle the better! Also the more you network and get out, the more chances for accomplishments down the line and hopefully all this networking will help the phone ring in a few years for a different or better job.”

Q: When job searching is there anything job seekers should avoid, for example if a company does x, y, or, z in the interview they are probably not someone you want to work for?