How to Market Your Skills (to an Employer)

With such tough competition in the job market today, it is crucial to make a strong impression. Don’t just be a part of the faceless job seekers, hone your skills and market yourself using knowledge and confidence and you’ll greatly increase your chances of landing that dream job.

Here are 5 tips to help you make it to the top:

1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your skills.

Identifying what you are good at and what you are capable of achieving is the first step in marketing yourself successfully. From this, you develop a much-needed focus in your job search strategy. You can then customize your resume according to your qualifications and their compatibilities with the requirements of a specific position or company.

2. Think like an employer.

There is no better way to get a good grasp on what would make an employer hire you than to picture yourself on the receiving end of countless cover letters and resumes. If you were a hiring manager, what are the criteria that you would used to narrow down the candidates? Why would you hire a particular job applicant over another?

3. Think like a salesperson.

After you’ve put yourself in the employer’s shoes, you can now proceed to the self-marketing stage. There is no better way to learn how to market your skills than to think like a salesperson. Here, use the strengths you have identified and put them into your cover letter and resume in a way that catches the attention of your prospective employer and sells your skills. Salespersons depend on their abilities to market products to earn a living; this is also how it should work in your case. You need to not only make sure that you have a great product (your expertise and experiences) to sell, but that you have a great way of presenting and pitching your product (a well-written cover letter and resume). Put the two together, and you have a winning combination.

4. Pen a well-thought-out cover letter and resume.

One of the main reasons why some applicants are not hired is due to their generic and non-specific resumes and cover letters. In fact, some applicants don’t even write cover letters. Contrary to many applicants’ belief that there is no need for a cover letter, this document plays an important role in the hiring process. Just as a resume paves the way for an interview, and just as an interview paves the way for ultimately getting you hired, the cover letter paves the way for your resume to be noticed. Make it catchy, concise, detailed and professional yet personal to increase your application’s probability of moving forward in the hiring process.

5. Conduct yourself properly during an interview.

If you have followed these steps so far, you will very likely reach the interview stage. The two main steps for achieving success in your interview is prepare and communicate. To prepare: dress appropriately, be on time, do your research and build your confidence beforehand. To communicate well: be clear and concise when answering questions, refrain from storytelling, never badmouth previous employers, think positive and be polite. Most importantly, be honest.

Remember that preparation is everything. It can’t be stressed enough that being prepared is the key to getting your dream job. Be ready for disappointment, which is often a part of the process, but never give up. Keep at it, and sooner or later, you’ll taste the fruits of your labor.