"Why should anyone hire you?" is a question you have probably heard before. If you haven't, then you have now. So seriously, why should anyone hire you?
Anyone who has ever put together a CV or had to put together a short biography on themselves will tell you that trying to explain to people what you are good at is one of the hardest things to do, right up there with licking your elbow and sneezing with your eyes open (go on, try them). The fact remains though, if you want someone to hire you, they need to know what you are good at.
So how do you go about it?
The best way to show off your skills and attributes is through past experiences. If an employer wants an employee with a high competency in Microsoft Word applications, tell them if you have, for example, put together a client database for your previous employer. Merely telling them you are a whizz with WordArt is not enough, employers want real world experiences.
So what do you do if you don't have the real world experiences your competitors have? To put it bluntly, go and get them. If you are looking for a web design role, instead of saying to an employer "Yeah, I'm good at making websites", actually make a website. By doing this you save the need to have to think of words to describe how good you are and you build a portfolio at the same time. The benefits of having a portfolio of work can be amazing. Firstly, you can walk straight into an interview and give the interviewer a glimpse of what you can bring to their company. Secondly, it keeps a record of your work and allows you to continually improve. Unfortunately, there may be times where the work you have done is not quite up to the standard an employer expects. You can react to this situation in one of two ways; feel bad for yourself and decide it's just not meant to be or come back bigger and stronger by improving what you already have. If you already have a portfolio, you have your work in front of you and can physically see where you can improve.
By doing all of this, you might feel like you're "showing off" when that's not your intention. At the end of the day, employers want to see your work so feeling like this fine. If you don't feel like this and are comfortable showing off, you'll probably end up working on CBBC or Blue Peter anyway so won't need to worry.
About the Author
Victoria Som shares her interest on being hired for jobs on behalf of Attic Recruitment Limited
