Job Search Strategies III

 

Show them the money!

Employers are no different from you and me. They want to, need to focus on the bottom line. It’s not how much you earn (gross); it’s how much you take home (net). And 100% sales increases with 0% profit increases are not something employers consider to be a success. This is why they dislike hiring.

Let me say that again, employers dislike hiring…unless they can earn a lot more from your work than what it costs to have you on the payroll. And, if you aren’t able to show them how you have made money or saved money for others, they really don’t want to take a chance on you.

Résumés are B.S. pure and simple. Employers know that you exaggerated your responsibilities. They know that you aren’t as great as you say you are. They take that into account when they compare you to others applying for the same position. This is the reason so much emphasis is placed on titles, degrees, and the like. At least someone else says you are capable of doing something.

So, unless you have a stellar résumé, one that shows continual growth, and repeated accomplishments, employers are very skeptical.

But, a job strategy where you show them how you have contributed to the bottom line of former employers, using the recognized and intrinsic talents and strengths, which you carry with you from job to job, they will sit up and take notice.

In a recent survey of CEOs of the top 50 best places to work in New Jersey (click here for a complete summary of the survey results), 100% of the respondents said that they would listen to a proposal presented by someone (a stranger and not even a job applicant, without a résumé) on how to make more money, solve a problem, or reduce an expense. In other words, the would be willing to bypass the Human Resources Department and speak directly to anyone who has a definite proposal on how to improve their bottom line.

How do you do that?

You submit to them a dollarized summary of your successes with the statement, “I helped XYZ company save $200,000 and ABC company improve their profits by $1.2 million, by applying the same time saving technique that I have used over and over. How much can I save you?” or something like this.

In other words, a winning job search strategy is not to compete with everyone else for an existing position, but to create a position for yourself, one that you know you can do.

This is done by dollarizing your successes and attributing them to the application of your strengths (click here for an understanding of strengths).

Doing this will result in Career Control …our next article.