Job hunting is something we’re all familiar with. Every day, there are millions of people (young and old) looking to get hired for a job or another. But oftentimes, millions fail to get the job, and that’s because they were lacking something.
Employers do not just hire for the sake of it, they look for specific people to fill specific roles. If you do not fit in what they’re looking for, you don’t get the nod. And the truth about ‘fitting in’ is that the power to make that happen lies in you.
It’s not a lot of Job seekers who make it a task to adequately sell themselves in an interview. Oftentimes, they don’t do that well enough, and that is where failure starts.
The primary objective of an interview is for you to convince the employer face to face that you are meant for the job. If you do not get that right, you’re out. So exactly how can you put on a good show at an interview? Well, these tips should help.
KNOW YOUR WORTH
When applying for a job or trying to win a new client, the key is to know your worth before you do any talking. For example, imagine you are in a shop trying to buy a new television and the sales person is unable to explain any of the features, why you should choose that particular brand over all the others and just seems to just be hoping you buy the item in order to earn him his commission. You probably wouldn’t buy from him would you? Likewise if you are selling yourself, a product or a service the same principle applies. You need to be able to clearly explain to the potential employer why you should be hired over all the other candidates or why your company will do a better job than all the others. If you cannot do that then it is very likely that you will fail.
DON’T SELL FEATURES; SELL BENEFITS
This is the golden rule in sales, and it’s the same concept when it comes to job application. Yes, you can tell the employer about your impressive GPA, Ivy League education and vast experience in the field. But expand on that. Expand on how your education and experience will benefit the employer if they hire you. What can you do that would make the company better? What can you do to make the company more profitable?
BE THE SOLUTION
Companies have job openings because they have a hole in their business. Your job (if you’re hired) is to fill that hole. For example, if the job opening is for a network administrator, tell why you are the perfect solution to their network woes. Or if during the interview they tell you they’ve been experiencing DDOS attacks on their servers, you can cite past experience working with hacked servers or even tell them you’ve been on the other end of DDOS attacks. Remember, sell benefits. Use specific examples from your past to illustrate how you will solve inherent problems in their database infrastructure and network insecurity. A job listing will usually indicate what the job responsibilities are and what you will be tasked with. Use this as an opportunity to brainstorm solutions to some of the problems they list on the job announcement.
ENSURE CORRECT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR
Trying to fit as much information about who you’re into a punchy sentence or two can mean a lot of word juggling which may lead to grammatical errors. Make sure that your 25-word summary reads well and is easy to comprehend. Consider your tenses and make sure they’re consistent. Once you have done your own spelling and grammar check, you may even want to run some options by a few friends to find out which one reads more clearly.