How to Stand Out in a Competitive Market, with Scott Thompson
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The job market feels tighter than ever, but according to Find Your Dream Job guest Scott Thompson, you can still get hired faster by avoiding common mistakes and making strategic choices that help you stand out from the competition. Scott shares that today’s hiring takes nearly two weeks longer than during 2022’s peak, with available jobs dropping 40% as quit rates have plummeted to one-third of Great Resignation levels. While healthcare, accounting, and finance continue growing, HR, marketing, and IT have pulled back significantly.
Most job seekers respond by sending more applications, but Scott argues this “spaghetti at the wall” approach backfires. His strategy centers on a powerful statistic: 86% of job seekers land positions through networking and referrals, while only 14% succeed through blind applications. Scott recommends aligning your LinkedIn profile with your resume since recruiters search there first, customizing summaries and cover letters for specific roles, and demonstrating both competence and genuine enthusiasm in interviews by answering two key questions: “Can you do the job?” and “Will you do the job?”
About Our Guest:
Scott Thompson is the managing director of Lexicon Solutions.
Resources in This Episode:
- Connect with Scott on LinkedIn
- Lexicon Solutions
Transcript
Find Your Dream Job, Episode 518:
How to Stand Out in a Competitive Market, with Scott Thompson
Airdate: September 10, 2025
Mac Prichard:
This is Find Your Dream Job, the podcast that helps you get hired, have the career you want, and make a difference in life.
I’m your host, Mac Prichard. I’m also the founder of Mac’s List. It’s a job board in the Pacific Northwest that helps you find a fulfilling career.
Every Wednesday, I talk to a different expert about the tools you need to get the work you want.
The job market right now feels tighter than ever.
But whatever the unemployment rate, you can get hired faster by avoiding common mistakes and making smart strategic choices.
Scott Thompson is here to talk about how to stand out in a competitive market.
He’s the managing director of Lexicon Solutions. It’s a boutique IT and engineering recruiting firm.
Scott is passionate about matching you with a job that fits your short or long-term needs.
So Scott, let’s get right into it. What’s happening in today’s job market that makes it so competitive right now?
Scott Thompson:
Yeah, that’s a good question. I liken it to three things that we’ve seen. And the first is a little bit of economic uncertainty, right? We’ve seen some ebbs and flows in the market.
And the second is some technological advancements that are starting to fill in the gaps for some entry-level roles that we’ve seen in the past. There’s also been some skill gaps and some shifts in the market on that front. So, you know, kind of getting back to those and talking about economic uncertainty.
We’ve seen a general economic slowdown, but then a little bit of an uptick. And in general, kind of market stagnation, it’s led to a lot of cautious hiring practices from our vendors and the people that we work with.
I can tell you that from my company, as recruiters, we keep track of the time-to-fill metric, which is the time from when a recruiter comes in and when we fill it. Our time to fill for contract roles is up four days from when it was gangbusters at our peak of hiring in 2022, and up almost 12 days for direct hire.
That tells us that the average direct hire role we’re working on is taking us almost two weeks longer to fill now than it did during the peak hiring of 2022. So we’re kind of working with different factors, and there’s just cautious hiring that’s going on.
I can tell you, too, that quit rates are a third of what they were when we saw the Great Recession. Everybody talked about that. With quit rates down, there are simply less job openings.
Mac Prichard:
Scott, can you say a little bit about what a quit rate is? I know it’s a term that’s familiar to recruiters. But for listeners who are job seekers, tell us what a quit rate is and why it matters.
Scott Thompson:
Absolutely. So, quit rates mean people leaving roles, right? So when you saw everybody was moving into their new jobs and we had the Great Resignation, they called it, that was a lot of people looking for a new role, and quit rates were almost at an all-time high in 2022.
So it’s people who are out seeking new opportunities. And so when you have quit rates that are high, there are a lot of openings in the job market because there’s a replacement for those people.
When we see the quit rates go down, unless people are leaving their jobs and they’re staying in their roles, we’re in this, what they’re calling in the market, it’s kind of a rebound effect of the Great Resignation, and they’re calling it the Big Stay.
Where everybody in 2022, I think June of 2022 was the peak… That was when, if you left your job, you got the biggest possible opportunity for a rate increase. There was the most movement that we’d seen in the market in my 26 years of staffing.
And that was the peak. Since then, we’ve seen quit rates go down. And like I said earlier, they’re less than a third now of what they were.
With that, I mean, in March of 2022, there were over 12 million jobs available in the United States. And as of June of 2025, there are around 7.5 million jobs available. That’s a 40% decrease.
Mac Prichard:
People who have jobs are staying. It’s a very different market than it was three years ago. We’re recording this in 2025.
I’m just curious. I know you focus on IT and engineering, but from your perspective as a recruiter, looking at the economy as a whole, are you seeing any difference among industries or positions where perhaps some jobs, there’s more demand for applicants?
Or some industries that are thriving right now and doing a lot of hiring, and others that aren’t. What are any trends you want to highlight?
Scott Thompson:
Absolutely. So if you’re targeting certain sectors, the biggest sectors are healthcare, accounting, and finance. Those are the three that are experiencing the most demand, that have the most growth, and that have outpaced the others.
While we’re seeing HR, marketing, and even IT, those sectors have pulled back a little bit. So you’ve seen some of the larger companies are doing layoffs in the IT space.
What we’ve looked for are the bars, the areas that are growing, healthcare, accounting, and finance. So if you’re targeting those spaces, those are gonna give you the best opportunities for new growth.
Mac Prichard:
So that’s the economy right now. And as you know, it’s not uncommon, especially when the market tightens, to see news stories about people who say, I applied for dozens of jobs and I’m hearing nothing back. Why is that happening, Scott? Why aren’t people getting back?
Scott Thompson:
In terms of, yeah, well, I think there’s a sea of candidates applying for roles right now with less roles available in the market. You’re seeing a lot more applications going through. So this is where we talk about kind of the importance of really setting yourself apart, right? And kind of what we’re gonna talk about today.
But I just think that with less jobs available and more applicants out there, it’s really tightened up, and companies are not getting back to folks as much as they used to or even responding when people are sending applications in. It’s harder for those companies to actually respond to everyone who’s getting out there and looking for roles.
Mac Prichard:
So I want to talk about how to stand out in this market. Before we get there, let’s talk about what you see candidates do that are common mistakes that you hope they’ll stop doing. What are some of the most common mistakes applicants make, especially in a market like this, when they’re pursuing a job?
Scott Thompson:
Yeah, so number one to me is always lack of preparation, right? If somebody’s applying for a role and if they have not spent the time researching the company, or maybe they didn’t when they were either applying, or if they haven’t spent time researching the company for the interview, because that goes two ways, right?
In terms of your preparation, you prepare yourself for your application, you prepare your cover letter, you prepare your resume, and you make your initial submission to get yourself in the process, but also prepare yourself for the interview.
So I think the lack of preparation is really difficult. That’s probably the number one pitfall and kind of failure to tailor your applications for specific roles or even specific companies that you’re applying for.
We have a lot of hiring managers who lead interviews with questions so that they can ask the candidate basically what they know about the company, or what they know about a topic, or specifically what they know about the role. And that can really set the tone for an interview.
So if you have not prepared well for an interview or for initially submitting your application, it can really get you off to a bad start. So I’d say that’s number one.
Number two is communication and presentation, right? When you, and again, I kind of break it down into two parts. So we’re talking about in the application, incomplete or like generically written cover letters can be bad. Grammar or spelling errors. My gosh, I hate those cause it’s like, this should be easy to do, and we all know it.
But if you find an error in your resume or your cover letter, it can be a real killer. So I totally encourage people to have at least two other people put a set of eyes on those things. Make sure everything looks good prior to submitting your application. Formatting can also be really important.
You want your resume to show your personality and to kind of stand out, but you also need to make sure that the important information is there and it presents well. So that can be a tricky one that you have to kind of make your own, but you also really want to make sure that you get the information across.
Mac Prichard:
Okay. So, preparation, do your homework before you apply, customize your application materials, your cover letter, your resume, pay attention to basic preparation, like avoiding grammar errors and misspellings.
All of this is good advice, but it means that you can’t send out lots and lots of applications. What do you say, Scott, as a recruiter and somebody who hires on behalf of your employers to a candidate who says, “Well, I need a job now, and I’m gonna play the numbers game. I’m gonna send out every day X number of applications, and eventually something will happen.”
What do you think of that approach?
Scott Thompson:
That’s what I generally tell people when crafting a resume… Cover letters are always going to be specific to what you’re applying for. But when crafting a resume, you want to present all your information as it is, right? Because you’ve done the things you’ve done. You have the experience you have. Lay that out and lay it out well.
Where you can craft things for a specific role you’re looking for is a summary at the top of your resume. You may have five to six bullet points to show what do I have skill wise that’s relative to this specific role that I’m looking for? So that and a cover letter is where you can actually show your personality and show your experience that’s relevant to what you want.
And that can save you a lot of time. Some of these applications you have to submit can take 20 to 30 minutes at a time because you’re working with different applicant tracking systems, and however you’re sending your application to the company that you’re looking for. And so if you’re taking 30 minutes a time and you’re rewriting your resume every time, that can be brutal.
So I encourage people to just tailor their cover letters and tailor their summary at the top of the resume, just to kind of mix and match whatever bullet points you want to showcase your skills that align with the role that you’re looking for.
Mac Prichard:
So let’s take a break. When we come back, Scott Thompson will continue to share his advice on how to stand out in a competitive market.
We’re back in the Mac’s List Studio, I’m talking with Scott Thompson.
He’s the managing director of Lexicon Solutions. It’s a boutique IT and engineering recruiting firm.
And Scott is passionate about matching you with a job that fits your short or long-term needs.
He joins us from Portland, Oregon.
Now, Scott, before the break, we’re talking about how to stand out in a competitive market. And just a follow-up question about your last point at the end of the first segment.
Often, I’ll meet job seekers who think that if they’re not getting a response from employers, the answer is to send out more and more applications, and sometimes hundreds of applications.
What do you, as a recruiter, think? I mean, you were making the point that it’s important to customize your resume and cover letter, but can you effectively do that if you’re emphasizing quality? Will quality suffer if you do that?
Scott Thompson:
Absolutely. Looking for a job, it’s like I look at everything. I tell candidates that it’s like a target, right? And you want to start with the bullseye. You want to try to find jobs that are exactly what you’re looking for. Hit the bullseye.
Eventually, you do need to start to loosen up the parameters of what you’re looking for. But at the end of the day, throwing spaghetti at the wall is not going to be the right answer. You really want to make sure that your approach is targeted and that you’re applying for jobs that you have a better chance of getting, right?
If you’re able to customize and tailor your resume in a way for roles that align with what you’re looking for, you’re going to increase your odds as opposed to just trying blindly to apply for more roles.
Mac Prichard:
Okay. Well, let’s talk about your tips for how to stand out in a competitive market. Your first one is network, network, network. You are a big fan of networking. Why Scott? And, and, and why does it make a difference when you’re especially in a competitive market?
Scott Thompson:
Yeah, here’s a data point that I love to share with folks. There was an article that came out in the Portland Business Journal. It was about a decade ago, but the data still stands the same. They asked 100 job seekers, how did you get your job? And 86% of the people that got their jobs said, I got my job because I knew someone, I had a referral, or an internal recommendation.
And so what does that tell you? It tells you that you’re most likely to get a job through your network, right? You have a 14% chance of blindly applying through a role at a company you don’t know anyone at and getting the job.
So I just can’t stress enough, network, network, network, like attending industry events that are in your field. Like, there are online events and in-person events all over the place that have to do with every different kind of field there is.
So sometimes online events can be really helpful to help people learn about certain topics and, you know, that are relevant to their field or there’ll be a little more educational to help them build their skills.
And then other times in-person events are just going to help you meet people in the field, make connections, and try and build a network in the field that you’re looking for.
Mac Prichard:
So that’s how you can network. I’m curious, why do referrals matter? Why does word of mouth matter? I mean, after all, you’re a recruiter, you get hired to find people. Why do referrals matter so much to hiring managers?
Scott Thompson:
I think that it’s just kind of human nature, right? If you get some sort of insight that someone that you trust knows that someone has skills that could be relevant to what you’re looking for, or that they’re a good worker, or that,you know, whatever it is, like that’s going to give someone a leg up, right?
It’s just the way that it is, I think, as we as humans and what we look for and kind of validation, right? From our people, we know that people have the right skills if we know someone who knows them.
And I always tell people too, like, and this is one of those things, when it comes to networking, like, let’s tell people, like, network like a human and not like a job seeker, right?
Like you want to get into, have real conversations with people and connect with people, because that’s going to be the type of thing that might end up making a connection for you that could potentially help you with the job.
Mac Prichard:
And say more about what a referral looks like, because sometimes when I talk to candidates about the importance of networking, I can see it in their face.
They may be thinking, “Oh gosh, I’m doomed. I don’t know anyone at the place where I want to work. I didn’t go to school with people at that company or that organization. How can I generate a referral by going to events, by networking in the community?”
What have you seen work, and what kind of referral are we talking about? These are not childhood friends. What kind of connections can make a difference in the hiring process?
Scott Thompson:
So we attend a lot of industry events where hiring managers are there all the time. And so you’ll have sometimes recent college grads who are coming out just to get in better with the people that are in their industry.
And sometimes there are hiring managers there that are just there for the topic of whatever it is that the event is, but sometimes they end up connecting with folks that are in their industry.
And if you make those connections, those human connections, and you actually have some sort of introduction to someone who is either a hiring manager or is on a team, when their team may be hiring, you might end up getting connected to the right person.
I feel like networkers, their go-to people aren’t just job seekers. A lot of times, it’s people who are looking for additional knowledge in their field, or they’re interested in the topic of whatever the event is. And that’s going to generate job hiring managers, but also people who are on teams that can make connections for you as well.
Mac Prichard:
In the first segment, you talked about the importance of customizing your resume and cover letter. Another tip you have for standing out in a competitive job market, Scott, is to make your LinkedIn page line up with your resume. How do you do this, and how does it help your application?
Scott Thompson:
Yeah, when it comes to resumes and LinkedIn pages, it’s all about crafting a strong personal brand, right? Like we talked about tailoring the resume and the cover letters for applications, but LinkedIn is every bit as important.
I can tell you, as a recruiter, that it’s kind of the Holy Grail for us. We go there first. That’s our main search function. There are all sorts of job boards and other things that we use too, but LinkedIn is really where it’s at, where you can find passive job seekers.
I think it’s really important that profiles match the resumes. While you don’t have to create a LinkedIn profile that is exactly like your resume, the better you can provide information on your LinkedIn profile that aligns with what you’ve done, the easier you are to find, right?
So, as a recruiter, when we run searches, we have Boolean searches, and the more times you have keywords that align with the search we’re doing, you come up higher in our list. So you’re… easier to find for me as someone who’s searching for someone with your skill.
And also another thing, a pitfall that I would tell people to avoid is in making sure that your resume aligns with your LinkedIn profile. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve had a hiring manager not move forward with a candidate or reject a candidate because there were inconsistencies between their resume and their LinkedIn profile.
So your LinkedIn profile gives you a chance to be on a business networking site, to really kind of upload and show your skill set and your resume and what you’ve done, and to make yourself searchable and easy to find for jobs.
Mac Pricahrd:
Another tip you have for standing out in a competitive job market is to sell yourself in a job interview. What do you mean by this, Scott, and what stops people from selling themselves?
Scott Thompson:
I think there are two most important factors in any interview to convince the hiring managers: Can you do the job, and will you do the job? Do you want to do the job? So I always coach applicants that they really need to get two things across in an interview.
And those two things are, you need to relate with the hiring manager and the team, and you need to show enthusiasm about the role. So, relating to the hiring manager team can really build that stronger connection.
Showing them enthusiasm can really make them feel at ease that you will stay in this role and that the job is a good fit for you. I love using, but really not overusing, the word passionate, right?
If you’re in an interview and you’re selling yourself and you’re talking about something that you are passionate about and using that word, you’re going to make them feel like you’re excited about that role, and the hiring manager and the hiring team will feel good about that and make a better connection. It can help you stand out.
Good ways to do that are linking past experience that you have to what the company needs. This can be from previous work experience or even like recent education. If you have someone who basically maybe went back to school to switch fields, finding ways to build in your recent education to connect it.
You know, just selling yourself in an interview, it’s relating and it’s showing enthusiasm to me. Those are the two things you have to focus on to really, I think, make a good connection.
Mac Prichard:
Well, it’s been a terrific conversation. Now, Scott, tell us what’s next for you.
Scott Thompson:
So, me and Lexicon, we are a Portland-based staffing firm, we just keep it up with the IT and the engineering world, and kind of just doing what we do.
I’m 26 years into this, so not a lot of change going on here. Our focus is the local market and also a little bit of national staffing.
And so, what I’m doing is just continuing to connect with users and good candidates and making sure that we make good connections between our candidates and our clients.
Mac Prichard:
Terrific. Well, I know listeners can learn more about you and your work by visiting your website. That’s lexiconsolutions.com, and that you also invite listeners to connect with you on LinkedIn.
When you do reach out to Scott there, please tell him you heard him on Find Your Dream Job.
Now, Scott, given all the great advice you’ve shared today, what’s the one thing you want a listener to remember about how to stand out in a competitive market?
Scott Thompson:
I mean, think that creating your brand and making connections are just going to be the two most important things because that’s the kind of thing that gets people, that sets someone apart.
Stay away from pitfalls, but really create a good brand, present that brand well on the resume, on LinkedIn, and make good connections with networking. Those are really, I hate to say it’s as simple as that, but really sometimes it is.
Mac Prichard:
Next week, our guest will be Angie Condon.
She’s the senior military relations manager at Western Governors University.
Angie is also a veteran spouse and has deep experience in corporate HR, higher education, and military transition.
Many veterans find it challenging to get a civilian job after serving in the military.
The transition isn’t always an easy one.
Join us next Wednesday when Angie Condon and I talk about how to land a civilian job after military service.
Until next time, thanks for letting us help you find your dream job.
This show is produced by Mac’s List.
Susan Thornton-Hough schedules our guests and writes our newsletter. Lisa Kislingbury Anderson manages our social media and creates our transcripts.
Our sound engineer and editor is Matt Fiorillo. And our music is by Freddy Trujillo.
This is Mac Prichard. See you next week.
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