We’re now ten years into the Social Age. Social media has clearly changed many aspects of our lives including how we communicate, how businesses are run and – yes – how we build great careers.

And yet, many job seekers feel social media isn’t helping their job search. They just aren’t sure that investing their time on social media is paying off. Still, I’m a big believer. I’ve seen first-hand how technology helps us meet many more hiring managers, influencers, decision makers and potential mentors much faster.

And yet, despite all the promise and potential of social media there is a trend developing:

Through ineffective branding, many job seekers are just getting to “no” faster. 

Why? Because employers – who used to have to wait until the job interview to decide if you are a good fit or not – now remove you from consideration by judging what they see online. And many eliminate candidates for one reason: the failure by job seekers to differentiate themselves from every other job seeker.

After years of trial and error, we now know that branding and digital communication is nothing more than a delivery method – a relatively easy way to pitch you to a potential employer. The trouble is that many job seekers are still peddling their “attention to detail” and “team player” attitude instead of demonstrating real value. Or they talk about how they are an “effective leader and motivator.” Even worse, younger professionals naively tout their GPA and newly acquired college degree as a reason they should be hired – instead of talking about their experience and achievements.

In the meantime, because they see these and every other job seeker cliché a million times, recruiters fall asleep due to boredom.

Regardless of how your resume got in front of them (including social media), if you’re delivering something I’m not interested in, you are wasting your time, and mine.

You’re not getting a job this way – you’re just getting to “no” faster. So, what does get you hired?

The answer is simple: you must be able to articulate one good reason why I should hire you – what makes you different in a sea of applicants who, just like you, could easily do the job.

Fact is: most job seekers still haven’t figured out the most important aspect of the job search: they don’t know what they’re selling. Yet, they get on Twitter, build a personal landing page, start blogging and apply for dozens of jobs – all before they understand what specifically makes them employable.