When it comes to answering why you should be hired, it’s important to think about the combination of skills, experience, and qualifications that make you the perfect fit for the job. You may have had various roles in your career, but when put together they create something that no other candidate can offer. It’s this unique blend of knowledge and experiences that makes you stand out and makes hiring you the right decision.
Whether it’s about customer service or problem-solving, you should be confident that you can bring something special to the position and make an impact for the company.
Here’s what to consider when answering“Why should we hire you?”
1. Your message
The best answer to “Why should we hire you?” is:
Because I am the best person for this job.
The second-best answer to “Why should we hire you?” is:
Because I am passionate about what I do, and that shows in my work.
The third-best answer to “Why should we hire you?” is:
Because my past experience shows that I can handle any task thrown at me with ease and professionalism.
2. What makes you different?
Here are a few things that you can highlight to show how different you are.
You have a unique perspective on the job, based on your background and experience. This can be useful in helping you understand the company better, and it can also help inform your solutions for their challenges.
Your skillset is different from other candidates —and it’s more than just technical expertise. You might have specialized knowledge about how to solve problems that other people don’t know about yet (or might not even recognize as problems). Or maybe there’s something else about what makes up who you are as an individual that makes working with you easier than anyone else. For example, being friendly. Whatever it is, if this leads to better results than anyone else could deliver then they’ll be happy too (and ultimately happier employees = happy customers).
3. How will you make a difference in the organization?
You will have a positive impact on the organization. Your skills and experience will help your company reach its goals, which means that you’ll be able to make an important contribution toward its success.
If you’re serious about getting hired, it’s important to demonstrate how your skills can benefit your potential employer because there’s no way around it: If they don’t think hiring someone like yourself would bring value – in terms of both financial return and productivity, then chances are good that they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon themselves.
4. Highlight the benefits of working with you
Some of the benefits you can share include:
You’re a good fit for the job. Your background and experience will help you to be effective right away, and your skill set will grow as we work together.
You can help the company grow and succeed in a variety of ways. For example, by building relationships with other employees, sharing ideas on how we can improve processes or systems within the organization, or even just bringing some fun into our day-to-day lives.
5. You can’t just say you’re great, but show it so well that they want to know more.
If the answer is simply “because I’m great at what I do,” then this is not going to be compelling enough. You need to show them why they should hire you and how your skills will make a difference in their company or organization.
When asked this question during an interview, my first instinct was always: “I can do anything” But as soon as I started thinking about how much time it would take me just to figure out who does what at our company (and how could someone like me possibly fit into all those roles), my answer became less about being able to do anything and more about my ability to work within these systems effectively so that everyone gets results from their efforts together.
Conclusion
Now that you know the best way to answer the “Why should we hire you?” interview question, it should be easy to impress your interviewer. Remember, being able to sell yourself is one of the most important skills for any job candidate and you can use this article as a guide.
Are you curious to know if there’s a science to landing a job that not only pays well but leads to exponential career growth?
For a long time, I sure was. I read hundreds of articles and books and watched countless videos and webinars from so-called career experts. But, still, something was missing.
I wanted to hear directly from people like you and me — real professionals working toward that common goal of finding their dream jobs.
So, I spent the last 8 months diving deep into the research. I reviewed 67 LinkedIn polls, studied surveys from 29 career sites, interviewed 237 HR Managers, and paid a research firm $800 to survey 10,000+ job seekers. In total, the number of participants in all the data I gathered exceeded 250k!
In this article, I’m sharing what I found as well and debunking some popular myths. Specifically, we’ll be looking at statistics on:
CV and cover letters
How to find and apply to jobs
Job interviews
Career satisfaction
Before we proceed, it’s important to note that I’ll be using the term CV and resume interchangeably although there are some minute differences in their definitions. In certain countries and cultures, both terms are one and the same.
Let’s begin!
CV and Cover Letter Statistics
How many pages should a CV be?
2 pages max. 90% of the HR professionals I interviewed told me they believe a CV should not be more than 2 pages regardless of how much professional experience you have.
Similarly, 83% of a recent LinkedIn poll with 1202 respondents agreed that resumes of 1 or 2 pages are ideal.
Generally, the standard is 1 page if you’re very early on in your career. As you get further into your career, your resume can extend to the second page if you really can’t fit all of your relevant experience on one page.
Why is this important to know?HR professionals spend very little time reading through a resume extensively. On average, they spend just 7 seconds reviewing your resume the first time.
And even if you’re shortlisted for an interview, they spend less than a minute going through the resume that took you about half an hour, if not more, to prepare.
As a job seeker, your focus should be on having the most important sections of your resume on the first page. Make sure you’re including specific information that showcases your skills and accomplishments relative to the job you’re applying for.
Should you put your picture on your resume?
In our discussion with 74 HR managers, almost all agreed that there’s no need for a photo on a resume except if it’s required for the position you’re applying for.
Why not? A photo increases bias. And that’s never a good thing during the hiring process. 54% of over 6000 Linkedin users believe that their level of attractiveness has cost them a job.
In my research, I also found a trend that indicates there’s an inverse relationship between men and women based on looks and the type of jobs that they land. Attractive women sometimes get entry-level positions faster but in roles that could stifle their careers in the long run. Such roles include many front-facing roles such as customer service, executive assistant, sales professional, hostess, newscaster, and so on.
On the other hand, I’ve found that men that are taller and considered more attractive are likely to land more senior-level positions at Fortune 500 companies, whilst women of similar attraction usually don’t get those roles.
Of course, there are other factors to be considered when dissecting such research, which goes beyond the scope of this article. So, let’s get back to the stats!
Finally, we also found from a survey of 2,500 HR managers that 88% of CVs with photos get discarded.
In summary, don’t put your photo on your resume. There’s little to no benefit.
Which part of a resume is the most challenging to write?
35% of 3,086 surveyed respondents find it most challenging to write about key accomplishments in the professional summary and work experience sections.
20% struggle to incorporate the keywords hiring managers, recruiters, and applicant tracking systems are looking for when writing those sections.
17% of respondents find keeping the resume concise and selecting the right format to be the most challenging.
How often should you update your resume?
Here’s the simple answer: it depends on whether you are passively or actively searching for a job.
53% of our respondents to our survey stated that they updated their resume in the last month, whilst 35% of respondents mentioned it was within the last 3 – 6 months.
Since our survey was dominated by job seekers, whether passively or actively job seeking, the data indicates that almost 90% of this group make changes to their resume every 6 months.
Which resumes get shortlisted by hiring managers?
86% of the 203 surveyed HR managers mentioned that resumes with keywords closest to the job requirements are likely to be shortlisted to the next stage of the hiring process.
Those same HR managers also reported looking closely at the applicant’s location, prior work experience and accomplishments, professional summary and relevant competencies.
Finally, they also reported giving importance to the company and university institutions you’ve attended to get additional context on your competitiveness in the job market.
What happens if you lie on your resume?
75% of 2500 HR Managers confirmed that they caught job candidates lying on their resumes. A lot of the lies are caught at the initial job interview or assessment tests. This is one of the biggest reasons why candidates are quickly eliminated from the hiring process.
How often do applicants submit cover letters to a job listing?
Cover letters aren’t always necessary or mandatory to apply for a job. But, if a cover letter option exists, 38% of the 20,000 respondents from 3 different Linkedin polls indicated that they submit a cover letter.
On the other hand, surveyed hiring managers estimated that less than 15% of applicants submit optional cover letters.
Do employers read cover letters?
From our group of surveyed hiring managers, 179 mentioned that they read cover letters a lot less than they read resumes.
Those hiring managers are more likely to read a cover letter if the resume was above average and they wanted to know more about the candidate.
With that in mind, it’s important that your cover letter doesn’t rehash what’s already in your resume. Instead, it should give the hiring manager a better understanding of your relevant achievements and qualifications, why you’re a good fit for this particular job, and why you want to work at the company.
Job Search Statistics
Should you apply for a job if you don’t meet all the requirements?
When applying for a job, 74% of job seekers believe that they have to meet 85% of the listed job requirements to submit their application. But this is usually not the case.
A lot of times, the job listing is like a wish list. HR Managers are looking for the most qualified candidates based on a specific budget. They also know that acquiring talent of a certain level can be expensive and hard to persuade to switch jobs.
But if the company is not a Fortune 500, regional leader or high-growth venture-backed startup in FinTech, it’s likely that the company is flexible on the job requirements. If you meet 50%-70% of the job requirements, you can and should still apply.
How effective is LinkedIn for finding a job?
LinkedIn has created better tools for hiring managers to find talent and post jobs as quickly as possible. This has led to as much as 34% of 64k surveyed professionals claiming that LinkedIn was the biggest factor for helping them land a job.
What’s the best way to find a job?
Of the 26,000 people surveyed, 37% of professionals believe that referrals are the main factor for landing a job. Alternatively, 34% believe applying directly via job boards and company career pages are the best ways to find a job.
When we ask how people found their last job, 42% mentioned it was through applying to the company directly online, 24% received a call from a recruiter as a result of a referral or their online brand, and 18% found the job via their network and applied directly without anyone reaching out to them.
How do you get a job interview?
55% of the 26,000 respondents mentioned that referrals were a big part of what helped them land a job interview.
39% believed they got the interview as a result of having an excellent CV.
Some respondents also felt that building their online presence and personal brand helped land interview opportunities.
Why is it hard to find a job?
Over 3,300 job seekers stated that they don’t know how to find the right jobs. This goes back to the importance of referrals and building a strong network.
What percentage of jobs are published online?
44% of jobs are not posted online. This could be one of the reasons why people mentioned they need help to find the right jobs. This is another reason to focus on networking and building new professional relationships.
How long does it take to find a job?
It takes roughly 6 months to find a graduate job in the U.S. In emerging countries, such as Nigeria, the average job search takes 9 months if you’re living in a major city. If you live in a less populated area, it could take even longer.
Where do you learn job seeking tips and techniques?
In university, most people don’t learn how to find and apply for jobs. So, where do most people learn about job hunting outside of family, friends, and personal connections?
In our poll of 2018 professionals, we found that 77% of job seekers have either watched YouTube videos to learn about job searching or are planning to do so within the next few months.
Job Interview Statistics
Is it good to make interviewers laugh?
Of 3317 respondents, 66% felt that humour is very important during interviews as it can help lighten the mood and make you more likeable.
Another 32% of respondents felt that it depends on the type of interview and personality of the interviewer. It’s also important to remember that what you might find funny another person could find offensive.
Do professionals like being invited to informational interviews?
In a different poll of 4,128 respondents, 93% stated that they’ll be willing to participate in informational interviews if their schedule permits. This is great to know as informational interviews are a major source of information on companies and industries for job applicants.
How common is it to negotiate salary?
Only 35% of candidates from a pool of 27k admitted to always negotiating salaries. The major reason why most people don’t negotiate their salaries is due to a fear of the offer being pulled back.
Should you ask for feedback after an interview?
89% of respondents in a survey of 25,000 people revealed that candidates are always seeking post-interview feedback. However, hiring managers rarely do this because there’s no upside for them. Only a few companies have included post-interview feedback as part of their hiring culture.
Is it normal to get ghosted after an interview?
65% of job applicants don’t hear back from the company after an interview.
Career Satisfaction Statistics
What motivates employees besides money?
In a survey of 14,450 professionals, 41% felt that having passion for the job keeps them highly motivated.
Nonetheless, it’s important to note that context is important. In diving into what motivates someone, it’s important to understand the nature of their job and how much it currently pays. We say that people who earn considerably higher in jobs where they had the skills were more motivated by finances.
About 30% of respondents agreed that their salary motivated them even if they were not totally satisfied with their job or company. 27% of respondents found opportunities for career advancement at their jobs as a source of motivation.
How often do people switch jobs?
Young professionals, especially millennials, are switching jobs faster than any generation before. A survey of 18,500 professionals found that 55% of the millennial workforce changes jobs every 2-3 years. In addition, 40% of workers have a side gig and another 38% are considering starting one.
Are office romances common?
About half of U.S. employees have engaged in office romance at some point in their careers. The more interesting thing to note is that 1 out 5 were not single at the time the romance occurred.
Do workers prefer working from home?
In a survey of 28,000 workers, 63% would like a mixture of going to the office and working from home. However, if they had to choose between working from home and working at the office, 27% would choose working from home while only 10% would be okay working from the office.
Why do most employees leave their jobs?
People don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad bosses. This is a popular saying in the career world, so we had to ask again.
In our survey of 2,500 professionals, 65% agreed that their boss was the biggest reason for switching jobs. A respondent’s salary accounted for only 15% of the reasons why people left their jobs.
Post-pandemic, 60% of the global workforce also feels that they’ll be interested in looking for new jobs.
How often do people voluntarily leave good, stable jobs?
81% of workers today surveyed from a list of 5,655 are willing to risk a stable job for one with better financial outcomes. 69% of those that said ‘yes’ were men, which seems to show women are less likely to leave stable jobs than men.
What’s an average entry-level salary?
The starting salaries in Nigeria for graduate jobs range between NGN50k monthly ($100) to NGN150k ($300) monthly. Less than 10% of young professionals would earn higher than the aforementioned range on their first job.
If you are about to graduate and think you’ll be the exception, you’d have to aim to work with one of the largest publicly quoted institutions in the country or a multinational. From our survey of 1200 SMEs, less than 1% admitted to paying more than 150k for an entry-level role.
Want to make landing your dream job easier?
Finding and landing your dream job is never easy. But it is possible! And I hope that the statistics and research I’ve shared here will help you make decisions that lead to the results you’re after.
And, if you’re looking for a quick way to create an attractive CV that incorporates all the best resume writing practices mentioned in this post, check out Reventify’s CV Builder!
Are you familiar with the common job search horror story? You know the one. The person is qualified on paper to land a wide variety of jobs. Yet still, for some reason, they struggle for months, sometimes a year, to land a suitable job.
You know the worst part? That situation could have been avoided if they knew the right way to approach job hunting. Luckily, you’re not going to make that same mistake. Because in this article we’re going to share our approach to finding a job in 90 days!
Now, that might sound too good to be true. But once we start going through our 10 step process, we’re sure you’ll see why we know our method is much more effective than the typical way of applying to jobs.
Here’s a quick preview:
Develop a career plan
Create a Master CV
Build your professional network
Conduct informational interviews
Use multiple resources to look for jobs
Tailor your CV to each job application
Apply for multiple jobs
Optimize your LinkedIn profile
Ask for referrals and references
Communicate with hiring managers throughout the hiring process
But before we dive in, we need to answer the question that we know is anxiously running through your mind right now…
Is 3 Months Enough Time to Find a Job?
Yes, 3 months (90 days) is enough time to find a job — even during a global pandemic. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria has an unemployment rate of 33%, therefore 1 out of 3 people in the country don’t have jobs. For those that have a job, the average time taken to land a job offer exceeds 9 months.
The Nigerian job market, similar to that of many developing countries across Africa is highly competitive and therefore, if you’re one of the people reading this article without a job or unsatisfied with your current role, we are going to show you exactly what you need to do over the next 90 days to get at least one job offer.
What you need to promise us is that you’re going to follow these exact steps without fail!
So, let’s begin!
10 Steps to Find a Job in 90 Days
If you’re used to creating one CV and then sending it out to any job that seems vaguely interesting, then it’s time for a change. That method rarely works — as you probably know far too well.
For a better way, follow these 10 steps closely. And by the end of 90 days, you’ll either have a job offer, interviews, or (at least) a solid and effective plan of landing a decent job soon!
Step 1: Develop a Career Plan
Before you even begin to look for jobs, you need to know what you’re looking for. Because you’re not just looking for any job. You’re looking for a job you’ll enjoy — a job that won’t leave you searching for the next one just weeks after starting.
And the best way to find that type of job is to begin your job search with a solid career plan. How do you develop one of those? Self-evaluation.
What are your top hard and soft skills? What job title do you hope to have in 5 years? What about your ideal salary? And if you’re currently employed, what do you like about your current job? What do you dislike? Is it important that you get to continue developing certain skills in your next job?
Once you’ve answered those types of questions, create a plan that includes your goals for the next 90 days. Then, write out actionable steps you’ll take to achieve those goals.
Step 2: Create a Master CV
You’ll need to tailor your CV. Most companies don’t care to see every single work experience you’ve ever had. They only want the information most pertinent to the job at hand.
BUT you should have a record of every career experience that you might include on your CV. This is called a Master CV and it serves two purposes:
It ensures you don’t forget any of your relevant experiences when you’re creating your tailored CVs
It makes it easy to quickly put together those tailored CVs because you can just literally copy and paste without needing to rewrite, reformat, or revise the wording every time
What should go on your Master CV? Good question! Your Master CV should include all of your:
Work and internship experience with bullet points detailing measurable accomplishments (e.g. helped raise revenue by 21%) and core responsibilities
Volunteer and extracurricular experience with bullet points detailing accomplishments and core responsibilities
A list of both your hard and soft skills with examples of how you’ve used them in a work setting
Higher education degrees, career-specific certifications, workshops, and trainings
Honors, awards, grade point averages, and special achievements like presentations or publications
Information about any memberships in career-related groups
Contact information for people you might list as references
This might seem like a lot of effort at first. But you’ll thank yourself for creating a Master CV when you reach step 6!
Step 3: Build Your Professional Network
If you already have a robust network, begin reaching out to people within the industry or companies you hope to work with. Let them know you’re in the process of finding a job. Don’t be afraid to ask if they know of any job openings or if they can connect you with someone who might.
Even if you’re new to networking, there’s a lot of ways you can quickly build the professional network you need to find a job quickly. For example, you can:
Reach out to old classmates and colleagues
Join and contact members of your university’s alumni club
Attend professional meetups, conferences, and workshops online and in-person
Connect with professionals with similar career paths on LinkedIn
Cold email people you admire in your field/dream companies and ask them if they’re available for an informational interview
Step 4: Conduct Informational Interviews
Even if you already have a robust professional network, you should conduct informational interviews. Not sure what that is? No problem.
An informational meeting is a meeting to learn about the experience of someone working in a field, role, or company that interests you. Because informational interviews are 1-on-1, they’re one of the best ways to build meaningful professional connections.
They’re also your opportunity to ask questions about their career trajectory, receive insights about their company’s hiring process, and get advice on how to advance your career. How do you get this information? You ask questions like:
How did you get into your current role?
What do you like most about your job/company?
Where do you see this industry/company headed in the next 5 years?
What was the hiring process like?
What type of person succeeds at your company?
If you were in my position, what would you do to get to where you are in your career now?
Don’t limit your job search to one or two online job boards. Use multiple. But also take your job search efforts offline. According to some estimates, up to 70% of open jobs aren’t listed online.
So, if you’re determined to find a job in 3 months, you’ll need to look in more places than one and use multiple resources. How do you do that? In addition to online job boards, you should also:
Ask your professional network, friends, and family
Look at company career pages and social media pages
Go to career fairs
Contact recruiting agencies
Step 6: Tailor Your CV to Each Job Application
You created a Master CV in step 2. But remember that one is just for your reference. For every job you apply for, you should create a new CV that is tailored specifically to the job and company.
Why do this? Because hiring managers are scanning your resume looking specifically for keywords and phrases that signal you have the right skills and experience for the role. So, you want to make sure you’re only showing them the information they need for that evaluation.
Hiring managers are also usually put off by generic CVs because it shows a lack of effort. According to one study, 54% of recruiters report rejecting resumes or CVs that aren’t tailored to the job. You don’t want that!
So, here’s how to tailor your CV to a job:
In your resume summary or resume objective, mention the company by name and use the same job title in the job ad to talk about your experience
Scan the job description using a tool like this one to find the keywords and skills you need to include in your CV
Use those exact skills and keywords in your work experience bullet points, skills section, etc. (This is extremely important since many companies now use ATS software to scan CVs to first decide if they’re worth a human looking at them)
Put your most relevant work experience at the top of your resume
Research the company to make sure you’re aligning your personal brand with the company’s brand
Step 7: Apply for Jobs You’re Qualified For
Tailoring your application and CV to each specific job takes time and effort. And you may be tempted to start throwing your CV at every available job opening in order to increase your chances. Please don’t do this! It never works. Getting a job is not a game of chances, it requires strategic effort on your part.
Yes, you need to apply for multiple jobs but you also need to be selective. Why? According to Glassdoor, the average corporate job receives 250 applications and only 4-6 candidates get called in for interviews. I can assure you that they don’t select applicants based on luck or by random. The hiring manager goes through a pre-defined process that only the top 5% of candidates would get through.
How many jobs should you apply for? There’s no exact number that guarantees success. But, generally, you should be aiming to apply for 4-5 jobs per week.
Yes, that means submitting a job application every working day, which is a substantial amount of work. But, with time, you’ll get faster at putting together the applications. And all that hard work will feel worth it when you start getting interviews and (hopefully) have multiple job offers to consider.
Step 8: Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Don’t undervalue the importance of your LinkedIn profile. It’s not just a digital copy of your resume. It’s a reflection of your personal brand. And hiring managers, recruiters, and potential connections will look at it to evaluate your fit for work opportunities.
To optimize your LinkedIn profile, start by making sure each section is filled out. Make sure it’s clear what your skills and areas of expertise are. And don’t stop there. With a complete profile, you now have a draft to refine and improve further.
Your next steps include things like:
Making sure you’re using the right keywords for your desired role in your LinkedIn headline, work experience, and summary section
Uploading a high-quality profile and cover photo
Listing and getting endorsements for the most desired skills for someone in your field
Reaching out to your contacts for recommendations
Those are just a few examples. For more tips, take a look at this LinkedIn profile guide full of even more tips and examples.
Step 9: Ask for Referrals and References
If you can get a referral from someone working at the company, you can give yourself a huge advantage. Why do we say that? Because companies favor candidates who their trusted employees already see as a good fit for the role and company.
But how do you get a referral if you don’t know someone working at one or more of your dream companies? Networking!
For example, you might be able to get a referral from someone in your existing network or by continuing to build a professional relationship with someone you conducted an informational interview.
Step 10: Communicate with Hiring Managers Throughout the Hiring Process
You never want the hiring manager to doubt your interest in the job. And to do that you need to stay at the top of their mind throughout the hiring process.
That means you’re sending regular follow-up emails, updating them on any new achievements or experiences that make you qualified for the job. You can also be proactive by demonstrating how you might approach some of the core responsibilities of the job if hired.
Final Thoughts
You’re not alone if you think finding a new job is hard and takes a lot of time. It definitely can be. But you can give yourself a good shot of landing a job in as soon as 90 days by following the 10 steps we’ve shared in this article. And if you want even more advice on how to land your dream job, consider signing up to our HR Connect platform, where our network of hiring managers at the companies you dream of working, can walk you through everything from preparing your career plan to developing the profile required for you to get great job offers!
Congratulations! You have finally landed an interview for your dream job! How would you feel if you knew the answers to the interview questions your potential employer will ask you? I’m sure you’ll walk into the interview room feeling on top of the world – confident! That’s the feeling I want you to have in your next interview, and that’s precisely why I wrote this. Are you ready to wow your hiring managers with your wit, charm, and wealth of experience? Let me show you how!
Most interviewees are usually nervous as hell before an interview. Well, they have all the reasons to be nervous? Even after scaling through the initial processes of the job application, it is rare for any job applicant to feel confident. According to Forbes, less than 20% of job applicants get called for an interview. So lucky you for being among the top 20th percentile! But in a few hours, you’ll be talking to the hiring manager – someone you’ve probably never met before.
So, right now, you’re probably on your bed wondering what preparations you should make and what could go wrong. The thing is, you most probably don’t know what they are going to ask you. You have probably read every information you can find on their website and more. Or you don’t even know what to read or where to start from. Although every job interview has its quirks and other job-specific questions, I have some good news for you! There are some set of questions that almost always pop up on every hiring manager’s list.
Knowing this, you can prepare yourself how best to answer these questions and reduce the inevitable anxiety. Drawing from my years of experience with hiring managers and companies,
On this note, here are the answers to the five most asked interview questions! Face your interview with confidence and land your dream job!
Tell Me About Yourself
If there is one simple question that has made many interviewees go blank, it is “Tell me about yourself.” This is more of a demand than a question and comes as innocently as it looks. This question, usually asked with a smile on the face, is the world’s hardest softball.
There’s a reason why this question causes the skip of a heartbeat or two. Most applicants panic, become short of words and begin to stutter. Halfway through their unorganized rumblings, they say something they never wanted to say and perform poorly in the rest of the interview.
Most applicants may even be tempted to ask, “what EXACTLY do you want to know about me?” Would you like to know where I was born, where I schooled, what my best food is, or if I have a pet? This question looks so friendly and informal that most candidates fail to prepare for it. Most candidates give an unsatisfactory answer and bore the hiring manager with irrelevant information.
To answer this question satisfactorily, you need to:
Know about the company and what they stand for
Know what the company needs in an employee
Know the requirements for the job opening
Highlight what your skills and abilities can do for the company
Choose 3-5 of your most vital points
Resist the temptation to ramble on and on about yourself
Relax as if you were on a date and getting to know one another
Here are some expert tips to help you with this question. Note that:
The interviewer doesn’t want to hear your life story
The interviewer wants to hear what VALUE you can bring to the company
The interviewer wants to know what PROBLEMS you can SOLVE for the company
You should be your BEST self while being authentic
You should tie every statement you make to what’s in it for them
The secret code to remember is The Three S’s:
Success: Here, you talk about your success but without bragging. Let them know how successful you’ve been at what you do and for how long. Remember to use facts and figures for a more concrete answer. Tell them some of the clients you’ve worked for and how you helped their company grow. You can start with any of these templates “I have been…” or “My background is…”.
Strength: Here, you’ll talk about what your strength is. Your strength could be knowing exactly what a company’s audience wants. With the use of speech softeners, you can state your strength without coming off as cocky. Start with “My strength is…”, or “I have always been told that my strength is…”, etc.
Situation: Here, you’ll state how you can apply your past successes and strength to the current situation – what the company needs. You can use this template – “What I’m looking for is…”. For example, what I’m looking for is a company that I can add value to in… The end with a question: “Is this what your company is looking for?” Remember, he who asks a question controls the situation.
My final piece of advice is that you REHEARSE your answers to this question repeatedly before D-day. If you do this, it will sound so natural when you answer it, and you wouldn’t have to stutter like a car without fuel.
What Do You Bring to This Role That Other Candidates Don’t?
This is another question that you can rephrase to mean, “Why should we hire you?” Since the hiring manager has interviewed other applicants, he/she wants to know WHY they should CHOOSE YOU. So, your selling point should be what you have that other candidates don’t. In answering this question, you should describe your top-selling points relevant to the job and focus on how suitable you are for the company.
If your experience does not apply directly to the job, you should state how the SKILLS you have learned – such as problem-solving, organizational ability, etc., can help the company. Then state how you’re ready to translate your skills to become an asset for the company.
If you have little or no experience, your strong point should be how eager you are to learn the ropes and how enthusiastic you are to work for the company. It all boils down to what you can do for the company and what values you can add. You have to answer this question with confidence that you’re the best fit for the job.
Describe a Difficult Work Situation or Project and How You Overcame It
Yes! It’s time to put your narration skills to work! There is no wrong or right answer to this question. This question is a behavioral question, and all the hiring manager wants to know is your behavior in times of great difficulty or stress. Will you freak out or flare up when there is a problem, or will you handle it diplomatically. Past behaviors are a strong prediction of what you’ll most likely do in the future in similar circumstances.
Here are some tips for answering this question and leaving a good impression of your behavior:
Choose concrete examples of a situation or project that was the most difficult
Focus on how the situation was critical to the company
Then discuss what you did in that situation to solve the problem
Prepare the best story, be specific, and show positivity
Highlight how your determination to solving the problem was crucial for actually solving it.
Let’s consider a brief example:
I once worked in customer service for a water company that was getting to become well-known. On one Friday, about 15 minutes before our closing for the weekend, a customer called. An old lady claimed she had problems with the water heater she got some months ago. Seeing it was winter, I knew it would be particularly difficult to survive the weekend without a water heater. The engineer assigned to her district had to leave early because his three-year-old daughter was quite ill and in the hospital. Other engineers were not ready to go there, mumbling something like they were busy on other projects.
Knowing how a bad review could cause problems for the company in the future, I communicated the problem to the manager. I offered to take a reputable contract engineer over to the old lady’s house. My manager agreed to my offer, and off we went to fix her water heater. I did all these so she wouldn’t be forced to shower in cold water all weekend. Luckily, she left a warm review for the company, and the manager was glad at my initiative!
What Professional Achievement Are You Most Proud Of?
It is typical of employers to ask candidates about their professional achievements, especially those they are most proud of. The purpose of this question is to determine what you contributed professionally to your previous jobs. In answering this question, you need to select a relatively recent professional achievement relevant to the job at hand. The achievement should be one that employed the skills required by this company. Let this be your guiding light.
The hiring manager may require achievements where you showed your problem-solving skills, attention to detail, sales skills, and so on. Here are some tips to help you ace this common interview question.
Discuss your achievement confidently but without bragging
Highlight skills where your hard work, intelligence, or strategic planning come to play
Don’t talk bad about other people’s slip-ups
Acknowledge the role that others had to play and give them so credit.
Here’s an example:
“I was the head of the design team for the Tesla Model S SUV. We worked very hard on getting the perfect car with speed and space. It required a lot of discipline and perseverance because we had to turn in the design in less than 24 hours. I had to keep the team motivated while we worked all night. I was glad we could complete it in 20 hours.”
Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
This is a question you should expect in almost every job interview. It can come in different shades, such as “what are your goals for the next X years” or “how you would like to grow within the company.” This question helps you demonstrate your focus and motivation to the recruiter and how long you’re willing to stay on the job.
How do recruiters expect you to answer this question when you don’t even know what you’ll have for dinner tonight? You don’t own a crystal ball, so how would you know where you will be in 5 years?
In answering this question, note that:
You cannot precisely predict what your job will look like in five years
You can only answer this question generally, so avoid giving specific job titles or time frames
It would help if you focused on how much you hope to have contributed to the company
It would be best if you focused on how the job will help you grow and be pivotal to your success
You should explain what reward and success means to you
Interviewers ask this question for two major reasons:
They want to know how long you’re willing to stay in your new position
They want to know your long-term goals and see if they align with the company.
However, here’s what interviewers don’t want to hear:
How you will be the one on the other side of the table
Detailed schemes about your promotion within the company
That “It’s hard to say” or that you don’t know
How you’ll be going back to school, own a business, become famous, etc.
Here’s a guide to what recruiters want to hear when they ask you where you want to be in five years.
State that you want to have completed the internal training program for your position, if any. (Check the company’s website to confirm if any internal training program exists. Reference that and tell them how cool you think it is).
That this job will put you on the right track to other positions (which is your top career goal)
That you can also help them work abroad, or in new branches especially if they need people for that (do your research to know if they are looking for people like that)
Give the hiring manager the impression that you’re contented with the position as it is. However, also express your enthusiasm about how you aim to develop yourself (be realistic). Don’t forget to show the hiring manager how your career goals align with that of the company. Let it sound like you’re a match made in heaven!
Conclusion
You made it to the end! Congratulations! Now you can handle your next interview with confidence!
Your LinkedIn profile should never be understated. Over 87% of Hiring Managers use the platform to vet candidates before drawing up an employment contract.
Let’s get started!
If you’re actively looking for a job or considering a career move in the next 12 months, you should be spending more time on LinkedIn than any other social media platform. It’s the world’s largest professional network with over 700 million active users and 20 million active job listings. LinkedIn has an incredible job board where you can search for jobs and filter by specific keywords and locations. You can also receive job alerts into your registered email regularly, based on your career interests and the keywords that exist on your LinkedIn profile.
The platform is packed with millions of Hiring Managers across the globe constantly seeking and engaging prospective new candidates for job opportunities. Now more than ever, with the rise of remote work, employers are quite open to hiring from anywhere in the world. For this reason alone, you should consider optimizing your LinkedIn profile and for those that don’t have one, you need to prioritize this, even if you’re not an active job seeker.
Not having a LinkedIn profile or an incomplete one is a serious red flag in the hiring community. The earlier you get to it and have an All-star profile, which I’ll discuss in a minute, the higher up you’ll come up in the search results. I can’t tell you enough how many times I’ve been contacted by recruiters to discuss new job opportunities. Even if I’m not interested in the job offer, It’s still a good way to build professional connections and learn about trends in your given industry.
Whilst in this article, I am going to help you with a step-by-step guide on how to create the perfect LinkedIn profile that attracts recruiters and hiring managers, I want you to first think of yourself as a brand. How do you want people to perceive you at first thoughts? What do you want people to know of you when they visit your page? Do you have domain expertise in one or more fields? Are you aspiring to move into a career? Whatever it is, you need to have that clearly defined before proceeding to create your LinkedIn profile.
Here’s the step-by-step guide for creating the perfect LinkedIn profile:
Start by creating a LinkedIn account
Sync your email address book
Have an awe-inspiring headline
Add a great professional photo
Use a background that rocks
A great professional summary is everything
Be Strategic about your Job title
Your Work experience should detail key achievements
Include relevant Education and Certification
Effectively manage the Skills and Endorsement sections.
Ask for a recommendation
Your custom URL is a must
Manage your settings and privacy
Actively grow your connections
LinkedIn free vs Premium (Career) Account
1. Start by Creating a LinkedIn Account
If you already have an account on LinkedIn, you can proceed to the next topic, else, this is the first logical step for professionals that would like to create an account on LinkedIn. Proceed to www.linkedin.com and you can get started by entering a few personal details such as your first and last name, an email account that you use regularly (don’t use a corporate email address), and create your password. Once you’ve joined, LinkedIn would guide you through the steps of adding more details to your profile. These details are what I’ll like to emphasize in the rest of this article.
2. Sync your Email Address Book
Making great connections on LinkedIn usually takes a bit of time. Typically, a lot of people are wary when they get an invite from someone they are not so familiar with and has a few connections on LinkedIn. This is why it is important not to miss this initial step of syncing your address book to your LinkedIn account. This way, those that know you would be invited to connect with you on the platform. If on the other end, you already have an account but you’re not sure if you missed this step, you can easily go to your LinkedIn homepage page and click on “my network” at the top bar. Subsequently, it would show you an icon on the left-hand side of the page, where you can import your contact list.
3. Have an Awe-Inspiring Headline
By default, LinkedIn uses your current job title as your headline, which may not speak volumes of your personal brand. Therefore, you seek to achieve two (2) things with your LinkedIn headline. First, is to optimize for specific keywords that when people search with, they can easily find you on the platform. If a recruiter is looking for a Machine Learning Engineer and you currently are one; you would like to include that title in your headline. The other is your value proposition and what you want people to perceive you upon landing on your profile page. LinkedIn gives its users 120 characters and whilst I don’t suggest a lengthy headline, make sure it’s at least memorable. Don’t just use your current job title and worst still, if you’re actively seeking a job, never state it as your headline. Such keywords are not optimized for search on LinkedIn and even if they were, it certainly doesn’t tell a recruiter anything interesting about you that would make them probe further.
A quick headline example for a Machine Learning Engineer could be, “Machine Learning at Google | Developing the next-gen recommender system for audio search terms”. Yours doesn’t have to be this long, but it has to showcase what’s impressive about you professionally. The other side to this story is for you not to say what you’re not. That’s a big red flag that can get you blacklisted by recruiters.
4. Add a Professional Photo
You know the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. It is quite true. LinkedIn is not like other social media platforms where you can have a picture of yourself sipping a mojito in a bikini by the beach. As a professional network, the expectation is different. My suggestion is to keep your profile photo simple. Dress professionally in a manner that speaks volumes about your personal brand. Ensure that there are no distractions such as other objects that take away the focus from your photo. According to LinkedIn, it is recommended that your face consumes 60% of the space allocated to your picture, hence, it should be more of a headshot than a full-length picture. Also consider a backdrop with neutral or one-tone colours such as grey, white, light blue etc. If you’re thinking that this sounds like a lot of work, let me leave you with this fact, LinkedIn profiles with pictures get 15 times more views and 8 times more requests.
5. Use a Background that Rocks
I’m going to be straight to the point on this one. Your background image should enhance your profile photo and speak about your personal brand. I have seen quite a number of background images that are distracting and sometimes disturbing. If you’re not self-employed, a freelancer, an author, or a senior executive promoting your company’s page, I’ll suggest you stick to plain colours. You can have access to free background images if you sign-up to shutterstock trial plan. On the other hand, if you’re promoting your brand or a product such as a book, you can create a simple background image that speaks volumes of your offering.
6. A Great Professional Summary Is Everything
Your LinkedIn summary is an opportunity for you to sell yourself and you’ll find it in the “About” section of your profile. This is not the space to rehash exactly what’s in your CV career summary. On LinkedIn, you can show a little bit of personality by talking about your passion for a specific industry and the impact you’re making in the world on a day-to-day basis. Focus on your broad strengths but do so whilst targeting various job opportunities. You have to highlight your expertise as well as showcase that you have transferable skills. Unlike your CV, which you can change to target specific jobs, your LinkedIn profile is not something you change very often, therefore, critically think of your value proposition in detail after scanning through various job roles that you’re interested in and highlight the skillset that you feel appeals to a hiring manager.
My focus here is for job-seekers, so if you’re a business owner, then you can be quite specific and narrow about your offering. Also, write your professional summary in 1st person. This is more digestible and actual shows more of your personality. Here’s a great article on 10 LinkedIn profile summary that stands out. It can act as an inspiration if you’re looking to make changes to yours.
Finally, I would suggest that if you’re actively seeking for jobs, you include an expertise section as the last paragraph. This would help improve visibility as well as re-emphasize your skill sets in the event that a recruiter never goes downwards to the skills and endorsement section. If you have a portfolio or other body of work to showcase. Include this as a link right after completing the summary.
7. Be Strategic About Your Job Title
This is a bit tricky for the same reason I gave above. Your LinkedIn profile is not something you change often, so be careful about what you state. There’s a difference between a Key Account Manager and a Sales Manager but that doesn’t mean you can’t use either titles if you have experience in both. It’s a matter of choice and how you want others to perceive you. Your current job title would affect where you appear in the search results when hiring managers are scouting for talents.
My take on job titles is that you should try not to be too innovative and choose one that is easily defined, clear, and suited to your career path based on your most recent job responsibilities. The most important thing is not to exaggerate or state what you’re not. If for whatever reason, you’re interested in switching careers, you should use the summary section for this.
8. Your Work Experience Should Detail Key Achievements
It’s quite likely that a Hiring Manager already knows what a Sales Manager does. Don’t state your day-to-day responsibilities but rather state what you have achieved over the period you’ve had the job. Use numbers and percentages to highlight growth or operational excellence. The work experience section is the only place that you can really demonstrate the impact your personal contribution has made for the company you work for. Avoid stating everything you do though. Between four to six bullet points are sufficient enough to make a compelling case about your achievements.
Finally, list every job that you’ve ever held that is relevant to your career. If it’s old or irrelevant, delete it. Make sure you link the company’s LinkedIn page to your profile so that the logo shows up. It makes your job experience a lot more credible
9. Include Relevant Education and Certification
This is a no brainer. It’s important to include all your post-secondary education in this section alongside all relevant professional certificates that you’ve earned. The only case I would agree that you include your secondary school education is if it’s a prestigious school with notable people in society and you’ll want those prospective connections to have a clear link and reason as to why they should accept your invite.
10. Effectively Manage the Skills and Endorsements Section
If you have developed a job search strategy and a definite career plan, one of the key areas you should consider is the skills that your prospective employer would be looking for. One of the best ways to go about this is to start with two or three job titles that you have a keen interest in and start looking for about a dozen job listings on sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor with the exact job titles or similar titles and extract all the skills present. What you’ll find out during this exercise is that there would be some recurring skills across the various job listings. This should be at the top of your priority list when considering which to include in your LinkedIn profile. Once you have all the skills inputted on LinkedIn, then you’ll need to reach out to some of the connections you have that can endorse your skills. Doing this, would add more credibility to your profile.
11. Ask for a Recommendation
A lot of people are quite guilty of this, to be honest. Most people don’t ask for recommendations because they don’t see a lot of value in it, especially after considering the effort it takes to make the request. Interestingly enough, when recruiters go through your profile, a recommendation from a high-level authority at your current or previous place of work could validate some of your achievements.
I would suggest you request for at least 3 recommendations from people that have worked closely with you. The more senior, the better. In order to do this, go to the add profile section on your profile, then go down to additional information, where you would see an option to “Request a recommendation”. You can proceed with the rest of the process but make sure to notify the person you’re asking for a recommendation from. It’s just polite.
12. Your Custom URL is a Must
When you’ve created a profile on LinkedIn, there’s usually a unique identifier for your profile page, which you can see as a web link on your browser. It’s advisable that you customize the LinkedIn URL so that you can easily be found on Google. LinkedIn has a high authority on the web, so if a recruiter or anyone else for that matter wants to find out about you, the first consideration would be to insert your name in the Google web browser. What you’ll prefer to happen, is for your LinkedIn profile to be found at the top of the Google search results.
If you’ll like to get your custom URL on LinkedIn, click on the “me” icon at the top of the LinkedIn homepage, click view profile and then click the edit profile & URL section on the right-hand corner. Keep it simple by using your name and surname only. Here’s my custom URL
13. Manage your Settings and Privacy
As much as LinkedIn is a worthwhile professional network, you should fully decide on how much information you want put out there and who should have access to it. That is why it’s important to manage your settings and privacy. You can make changes to how others see your profile and network information including personal details, how others see your LinkedIn activities, and how LinkedIn uses your data. If you’re actively looking for a job, I’ll suggest that you allow more visibility to your profile such as granting access to recruiters to view your full profile.
You can easily change your settings and privacy from the home screen by clicking on your image icon as highlighted below
14. Actively Grow your Connections
Once you’re done creating an account, you should be focused on engaging with the LinkedIn community. If you’re going to take one thing from this article, my suggestion to you, is to invest about 15mins a week on the platform. Start by using the search bar to build connections with recruiters and other influencers that you align with their brand and start engaging with them. You’ll find people in your industry, especially recruiters that have thousands of following and are very active on LinkedIn. Some of them give job related tips and double as a career coach. If you want to get noticed and attract a high number of profile views, don’t just like their posts but leave meaningful comments as well.
In addition to the above, you’ll need to invest a few mins creating short posts at least 2 to 3 times monthly and publish a long form article every other month to showcase your thought leadership expertise. I’ll also recommend that your posts do not have external links except when necessary as LinkedIn algorithm prefers to keep people on the platform and therefore, your content would likely be shown to more people. There are no shortcuts here but If you do this consistently for a year, you’ll surely see amazing results.
15. Free vs Premium (Career) LinkedIn Account
A lot of people usually ask if they need a premium account and what the benefits are. For most part, I usually say no but It really depends on how much exposure you think you need. There are 5 specific features you get from using a premium career account that you don’t get with a free account.
Features
LinkedIn Free
LinkedIn Premium
No. of Search Results
Limited to 100 monthly
Unlimited Visibility
No. of In-mails per month
Nil
3
People that have viewed your profile
5 maximum
Unlimited for the last 90days
Interview Preparation
Not available
Currently available
LinkedIn Learning
Not available
Currently available
Based on the above, would I break my back to have the LinkedIn Premium Career account? Not exactly, especially if you’re on a tight budget. You can still get some exceptional results by using the free version. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t if you have the budget for the premium version and you’re actively looking for job opportunities very regularly. An investment of $30 monthly may not be such a bad idea considering the upside.
This post is part of the dream job course, an 8 part series guide on landing your dream job.
