How do you sell yourself effectively?

In selling the best sales people are those who understand their customers needs and offer solutions that are a very close match. Your CV or Resume has to be a very close match to an employers needs to get an interview.

In order to sell your self, you have to understand the employer's requirements and then package your self as attractively as possible. How many candidates do you think sell themselves?

The answer may surprise you. From my experience, it is less than 10%! Most CVs, Resumes and covering letters fail as they make the assumption that describing your work activities will win the best jobs.

As with all forms of marketing, people do judge a book by its cover. You must polish yourself so that an employer will be interested. Your must phrase your CV or Resume in terms that the employer uses. These can often be found in the wording of their advertisement. A strong CV or Resume is likely to make an employer act more quickly as they know that other companies will also be interested in you. Everyone has a "shelf life". The higher your value to an employer, the less time you will be on the shelf.

This particularly applies to agencies. A strong candidate will earn a good commission in a short space of time. If you fall into this category, they will pull out all the stops to place you.

Your CV is effectively an advert and describes the product on offer. If you get this right, the response you receive will be of a different order of magnitude to the "run of the mill" CV.

Many CVs ramble about and simply give you a "dump" of the various activities that the candidate undertaken. In some industries, there will also be a list of every vague skill you have acquired along the way.

Well guess what? An employer is not looking for this! They need someone who can address their requirements. They don't want to spend loads of time working out whether you can do the job.

You MUST work out the words that will get the best response. If you put yourself in the other person's shoes, you find that the way you write your CV will change significantly.

For instance, if you are working in sales, you will be measured in terms of your results. An agency and employer need to see concrete, measurable figures that show you can deliver what they need.

1. Achievement of target. Did you achieve or over-achieve your target? This is one of the easiest sales messages to put in your CV.

2. Revenue. How much business have you bought in to your employer? The bigger the figure, the more attractive.

3. Level of customer contact. What are the positions of your contacts within your clients? The more senior your network, the more you are likely to be worth. Even if you only occasionally deal with a very senior level of contact, you can still say that you have dealt with all levels of client from purchasing through to directors.

4. Retention. How well did you keep your customers or win back potential drifter's?

As a manager, you may be measured in a number of ways. Typical ones include:

1. Profitability. How much money did you make? What revenue were your responsible for?

2. Performance against budgets. If you are responsible for managing a budget, then you need to mention the amount and your performance.

3. Staff numbers. How many people do you manage? If you have achieved better than average staff retention then this is also important. It shows you are a good manager.

For engineers, a different set of figures may apply. Typical ones include:

1. Deliverables. What activities have you undertaken. For instance you may have been responsible for designing a new fuel pump or engine control system. A civil engineer may have designed new bridges and structures.

2. Role. What was your role in the projects you have been involved with? Did you undertake a key component, manage staff or were responsible for the delivery of the project.

3. Time & Cost. Are there any financial values you can assign to your activities? For instance if you supervised the development of a new engine, then quote the development budget. If you delivered ahead of schedule, then quote the appropriate metrics.

4. Quality. This is an increasingly important measure of the success of a project. Did it meet its objectives and budgets. How did your deliverables perform against the customer's requirements?

If you are not already familiar with the metrics of your position and industry, then do some research to find out. Your agency will be able to help if these are not obvious.

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