How to show your worth for a job that’s worth it

Confidence is everything in the job search. I touched on this in my last newsletter ‘Top 3 mistakes I made as a graduate job seeker.’

You need to have confidence in your achievements, skills, experiences, personality, attitude, work ethic… the list goes on. Without it, you’ll struggle.

There are moments in your life where your confidence takes a knock.

For me, one moment was after university as I received 50 job rejections (more on how I turned this around in future write-ups). I was unemployed and unhappy.

Someone with low confidence:

• will not apply for their dream jobs and have limiting beliefs
• will only apply to roles they’re overqualified for
• will not build strong relationships with people
• will feel uncomfortable talking about their achievements in an interview
• will feel awkward negotiating salary or getting better pay

Confidence isn’t something that you’re born with. It’s built through your environment and experiences.

You need evidence of success (results and achievements) to be confident but you also need to make a conscious effort to practise positive self-talk. Sounds cliché but the combination of the two is a winning strategy.

Valuing your experiences and yourself?

I didn’t value my experiences enough and downplayed my achievements - this was clearly reflected in how I positioned myself to others. And how I felt about myself. It’s interesting how this manifests itself in a CV or LinkedIn profile.

After working with hundreds of students, graduates and early career professionals and having written hundreds of CVs, I can tell you within just 6 seconds of reviewing a CV whether that person is confident or not.

And that’s all the time you get with a recruiter too. Studies have shown that the average recruiter scans a CV for 6 seconds, so you better make a good impression quickly.?

5 signs of a non-confident CV:

1.????It’s over 2 pages long – structure and formatting are important.

2.????It’s written in paragraphs – use bullet points under 2 lines.

3.????No quantifiable results – they’re needed for evidence of your impact.

4.????Focussed on responsibilities – it’s not a job description. ?

5.????No active verbs and adjectives – powerful words which elevate your CV.

If this sounds like you then you’re making the same mistakes I did. The single biggest and most effective mindset change I made is realising that no experience is worthless.

People constantly fall into this trap. Think about it. Have you ever described your job to someone using the word “just”? I hear it all of the time…?

“I just work in McDonald's”

“I just do the admin and make customer calls”

“I just do the social media”

“I‘m just a delivery driver”

“I just run a small TikTok/Instagram account”?

By using ‘just’ to describe your experiences, you’re immediately de-valuing it. And if that’s how you describe it, how do you think employers will see it?

Top tip: drop “just” from your vocabulary – it’ll re-frame how you see yourself and how others perceive you too.

People do this because they’re so close to their day job that they fail to see the impact they’re making. This is why I always advise my clients, no matter what job you do, to think like the CEO.

Think like the CEO

CEOs see business from a birds-eye view. They’re interested in revenue, profit, costs, budget, employee retention, customer satisfaction, social media and brand metrics, press coverage and more.

These metrics (numbers) tell the story of how a?business is performing. So by using them, you’re speaking their language. Remember, an employer wants to hire someone who can add value to their business in one way or another.

People fail to realise that their job has a direct impact on these business metrics. They lose sight of the impact they’re making because they’re too close to the daily tasks.

Let’s work through some real life examples with my clients.

Example 1

Callum was working as a Research Assistant on a hydroelectric power station project in Africa. His role was to conduct research and analyse various elements of this project, make recommendations and write concise notes which were implemented into a large report.

That’s all he told me about the project and that’s what was written on his CV. But I was thinking like the CEO. Many questions were running through my head:

Where does the report go and who’s it presented to?

What’s the monetary value of the project?

Did the project get implemented?

How many people did it impact?

Turns out… this was no small project.

• That report was presented to the Managing Director.
• The Managing Director presented it to the United Nations.
• The United Nations approved the project and it was funded for ￡15M.
• The hydroelectric station was built and supplied clean renewable water to thousands of people across multiple villages in Africa.

His research and recommendations were critical for influencing the United Nations and getting approval. Talk about impact!

So instead of writing this on his CV: “Conducted research for a hydroelectric power station project in Africa.”

We wrote this on his CV: “Conducted research for a ￡15M hydroelectric power station project in Africa, which was approved by the United Nations, supplying thousands of people clean renewable water.”

Example 2

Grace worked in McDonald's for 3 years but she was totally against having it on her CV. She failed to see any value in the experience as she wanted to work in the fashion industry.

But I knew that the skills and personal qualities developed here would be valuable for any role. After working through her experiences, we found:

• Leadership - she managed a team of 5 people whom she mentored, trained and delegated tasks.?
• Impact - her branch was the highest performing in the region for revenue and customer experience and she won employee of the month multiple times.
• Creativity – she implemented a reward system for her colleagues to boost morale and productivity.
• Problem solving – she was the ‘go-to’ person for any difficult customer issues, she had an ability to remain calm in a crisis.??

With a newfound confidence and a re-vamped CV, she started landing interviews immediately.

She was able to show her creative fashion portfolio but this time it was backed up with the achievements and skills gained from McDonald's.

Within a few weeks, she landed her dream job in Product Design at a large fashion brand.

Positioning yourself as someone who adds value and makes an impact combines science and art. Science to show the evidence and skills, art to make it personal and unique.

It’s incredible what a change in perspective can do for you. Once you start believing in your own experiences, employers will too.

A small task with a big impact

I knew I needed to change my own perspective when looking for jobs. I needed to tell myself a better story and then put that out to the world.

Here’s something you can do today which will have a big impact:???

1.????List down every project and experience you’ve done

2.????Next to each one, write the skill you learnt – leadership, creativity, teamwork, organisation, communication etc.

3.????Then write the impact you made – quantity and measure (think like the CEO).

This will give you confidence in your own abilities and skills. Because confidence isn’t something you’re born with, it’s built through evidence of success.

Top tip: when you’re in a role, document everything. Write down projects, tasks, skills and impact. Use the data for end-of-year reviews, salary negotiations and updating your CV and LinkedIn when job searching.?

Dan Mian

Founder of Gradvance