What exactly do you think you are worth?
Or in other words, what is your ‘Employment Value’?
No, not what salary should you expect to be paid, but what specific value can you offer a potential employer?
Are you considering your future career? perhaps even looking for a new job already and not getting very far in this ‘job short’ market? Well maybe that’s because you don’t know your true ‘value’ and how to communicate this to a potential employer.
Some important facts for you to consider.
1. The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the country’s unemployment rate for December 2014 was at 6.20% of the population and remained steady from the previous 2 months.
2. Over the 12 months prior the unemployment rate has risen from an average of 5.8%, which is not particularly great news.
3. Currently there are 770,900 people unemployed in this country.
What does this mean for you, the job seeker?
Well it means there is a lot of competition for jobs out there across every industry.
To be honest, as a recruiter it’s not hard to find average people for most jobs, but it is extremely hard to find exceptional people with exceptional value.
Guess what? These ‘exceptional people’ are the people that are getting hired, and they are getting hired fast.
So how can you be considered an ‘exceptional candidate’ with skills and qualities that are so greatly desired and are in demand that you too are quickly snapped up in to your dream job?
Have you taken the time recently to review and update your CV?
Now is the perfect time for you to truly understand your employment value. Your CV is an expression of who you are, your qualifications, where you have worked and the experience you have gained… But so what!!
Sadly, too many people leave it at just that.
Your CV needs to convey the value you can offer to a future employer (employment value), in a way that the employer can easily see that you are a high performer and can deliver superb outcomes.
Or in other words, you have achieved great outcomes in your career so far.
Outcomes, Achievements, call them what you will, but this is the stuff that gets people hired. Hiring managers want to know “what has this person actually achieved in their career” and “what can they achieve for me”
Where possible andto show your employment value, these ‘Achievements’ need to be quantifiable, ideally in terms of a dollar value (saved/gained/billed), or an amount of time saved/gained, or a percentage increase/decrease
For example, you might have been the lead on implementing a new process or system, which is great experience, but what did it do for your employer? Saved them money, if so, how much in real money terms? …. Improved efficiency? great, how much time was saved in man hours? Or how much faster was the overall new processing times as a result?
Your ‘Achievements’ should be listed in bullet point format to ensure they stand out within the broad information you are portraying.
What is it that sets you apart from all other candidates applying for the same position? It is critical to not present your skills in general terms. Be specific about the actions and results that support your value statement. For example, do not just say, “I improved sales production.” Instead say “By designing and implementing a client needs assessment checklist, I increased sales from 27% to 52% within 90 days”.
Wow, that’s powerful, agree?
At interview employers will again want to know “what can you do for me and my business?” so they will expect you to be able to impress them with your achievements and outcomes. You must know these inside and out, know your figures backwards and deliver them with confidence.
Inevitably hiring managers will want to know about a challenging situation you were exposed to, you should be ready to discuss what the problem was, how you resolved the issue, and what the end gain was for the company. You might have refined a process that increased efficiency or reduced waste. Any activity that you took part in that improved company financials is a good thing to discuss
THIS IS YOUR EMPLOYMENT VALUE TO A NEW COMPANY.
The bottom line aim of most business is to make money. Hiring managers want to know what skills you possess that will help them reach and exceed the business goals.
Hiring managers generally have an idea of the type of candidate they are seeking to fill a position. Though it is not possible to know what the manager is thinking, by taking preliminary actions, you can help to ensure that you are putting your best foot forward when marketing yourself for employment.
Know without doubt what value you bring to the table, and be confident in your strengths and abilities.
By clearly positioning these, demonstrating your EMPLOYMENT VALUE on your CV, and giving a clear summary during interview will set you apart from the crowd ensuring you get hired and hired fast!
Good luck out there!
© 2022, Paul Simms, – Wright Executive. www.
Paul Simms is an executive search recruiter with 25+ years of experience across the Australian and UK markets. He is the founder of Wright Executive Search, a specialist business within the Executive Search & Accounting Recruitment sector, and is considered one of Australia’s most respected Executive Search Firms.
If you would like to contact Paul, please email psimms@wrightexecutive.com.au or connect via LinkedIn here
