Whether in an interview setting or at a networking event, you as a job seeker must be able to share your value quickly. Unfortunately, when I ask most of my clients:
Assume you’re at the second interview for a position you really want. The interviewer(s) looks at you and says, “We’re very interested in you for this role, but we’re still considering a handful of candidates. Why are you the best person, and why should we hire you?” How might you respond to that?
I receive the same responses:
Obviously, that last one is not heard as often as the first two.
Don’t despair, job seekers! I have a tried-and-true formula that will help you to ace this question. It’s based on Sales 101, because as a job seeker, your job is to sell yourself! Once you have the formula in your head, all you need to do is fill in the blanks.
If you think of this process like painting a picture, this is where you draw the outline. You can start with, “I heard you say you’re looking for…” followed by a brief description. Perhaps it will include the experience required, some technical skills, and personality traits. When you finish telling them the description, be sure to ask, “Does that sound about right?”
The reason you are asking for their feedback is that you want their buy-in. This will prime the pump for…
Now that you’ve given an outline, you’re going to paint in the picture. Stick to what the interviewer said he was looking for — and you just outlined. So if you just said, “I heard you say you’re looking for someone who has a depth of experience in management and can successfully build and train a team to consistently meet and exceed sales quotas,” in this step you might say, “Across my career, I have managed teams of up to 50, including sales representatives and office staff. In my most recent position, I needed to enter a territory and turn it around, so I recruited, hired, and trained 10 new reps within the first three months.”
In this step, you’re providing solid material that says to the interviewer you’ve done this job before and you can do it again — for this company. But don’t stop there! Your best approach is to pump up your response with…
While a picture can look good with just an outline and color inside, doesn’t it look so much better with shading and depth? That’s what you’re doing in this step: You’re adding more value that tells the interviewer not only do you have the experience to do this job, but you can also make the company money, save the company money, improve their systems, or make their customers or employees happier.
Accomplishments always have a result. So to continue with the above analogy, “By adding those 10 new sales reps, we were able to surpass the previous year’s number by 33% and grow the territory to the top-producing region in the country.”
With all of the steps in your mind, start to create some rote responses. When you meet people at networking events, you can use steps 2 and 3 as your 30-second commercial, so instead of just saying, “I’m currently looking for a job,” you can really add a punch that showcases your value and what you have to offer long term.
For other great articles by Amanda Collins, go here: http://www.localwork.com/blog/