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.
The interview section is a hiring stage that scares even the most experienced job candidates. There are no limits to the type of questions recruiters can ask you during the interview process. However, research has shown that some questions are almost inevitable, so you need to master how to answer them as a job seeker.
Here are tips for answering common but tricky interview questions.
1. Tell me about yourself
This is the most common question most recruiters usually ask during any interview session. It sounds so basic, but sadly many interviewees struggle to answer it correctly. You may be tempted to focus on you as the subject, but in truth, nobody cares about you. In reality, what they are asking is who you are and what makes you an ideal candidate for the role. You are, to sum up, your background skills, present and past experiences. Share how your qualification can make you work well in that aspiring role. Dwell richly on how your skill can fit into the job positions. Although you don’t have to brag about yourself, yet you have to ooze confidence and convince them you are up to the task.
2. What value can you add to the company?
This question directly asks you to showcase the experience and expertise you can bring in and utilize to move the company into an enviable position. You need to tactically bring into play how your skill had helped salvage a bad situation in the past, which could have escalated into trouble. You have to see the question as an ample opportunity to sell yourself. Mind you; you have to maintain a balance between overhyping or underrating yourself.
This will work very well if you have done your homework by thoroughly researching the company, checking its core values, vision, and mission. Having the foreknowledge of this will enable you to tailor your strength and present yourself as the best match for the post. Consequently, prove to them how the innovations you are bringing in will move the company forward.
3. How do you handle stress?
In answering this type of question, do not make the mistake of proving to be superhuman by making the statement “I never get stressed,” or I am always motivated to work harder under stress. Employers are human too and know that there is no job that will be 100% free from stress. Your best way to answer this question is for you to be sincere in your response. First, working on multiple tasks continuously may cause stress to set in. You should display how well your self-confidence and self-awareness, in addition to your skills, can build up your resilience and ability to handle a stressful situation while still maintaining your productivity. Recollect and share with the interviewers how you handle a very stressful situation in your past workplace or position.
4. How have you demonstrated leadership qualities?
Regarding this question, you are expected to give a real-life scenario of how to deal with a situation, especially when the baton falls on you to be at the forefront. You will do well by citing, for instance, a project you undertook during your undergraduate days while at college out of university. Explain how you handled an uncooperating project mate during a group project. You may bear witness that some classmates will not contribute anything – be it knowledge or finance. However, in the end, you still have the same score since you are submitting the project as a group. Demonstrate how you were able to motivate and persuade your teammate to work tirelessly and selflessly for the project’s success.
Explain the tactics you used to get the seemingly unserious classmate to get involved. For instance, by buying them their favorite snack after each task completed on the project. You can read more about the S-T-A-R tool.
5. What motivated your decision to desire working here?
Do thorough research about the core values, what the company holds in high esteem and stands for. This will help you blend your strength with their organization’s goal; thereby, you will be seen as the best prospective employee who will pursue their goals and vision passionately.
6. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
The hiring manager may pose this question to you. It is expected of you not to be stagnant but to be growing progressively in your career. You are to tell the hiring manager your passion for learning and developing yourself career-wise. This may be achieved by attending seminars and workshops related to your role. For many, you might want to start your own company in five years. Even if this sounds like a good answer, don’t mention it. Try to connect your answer to something that will drive the company towards achieving its objectives.
7. How would you react when your boss asks you to do something unethical?
Be sure you get right what the boss is asking you to do. In real life, you can ask your boss, “Are you asking me to lie to a customer or do you want me to lower the production quality? “This is to be double sure you get right what the boss is asking you to do.
Having ruled out any doubt regarding the boss’s request, try and be polite as much as you can. Offer a more ethical way or alternative to handle the situation which will still give the same or better result.
Educate your boss about the consequences of the action and how it goes against the company’s policy. This may cause a drawback in his action; he might reconsider his unethical request.
8. If you had 500 unread emails, which would you choose to answer first?
Your best approach may be to filter the emails to see those not relevant. Remember, not all of the emails will be relevant at the moment. Check the subject of the email to see the urgency of the email. Take your time and flag them based on how important they are. Of course, you must consider checking mails from your boss, clients, and customers first. Some of the emails may simply require a few words to reply to.
9. What is your biggest weakness?
You most likely want to hide your flaws or shortcomings when asked to discuss them, but in an interview situation, try and structure your answer in such a way to give a positive outlook. Do not take a self-devaluating approach in answering this question. Rather admit your weakness and show them the steps you have taken to correct it. For instance, if you have a problem learning new skills, easily tell the hiring manager about a course you have taken to improve your skill acquisition rate.
10. What makes you think you will succeed in this job?
The question is tricky, but what the interviewer expects of you is to match your strengths to the qualities you need to succeed. They may also want to see your level of optimism. Show them how you have held a similar position and how you managed to succeed against the odds.
Conclusion
Being invited for an interview is a step closer to landing the job, and you can’t afford to blow it. Mastering how to answer these will boost your confidence and put you at an advantage in winning the job. If you have an interview coming up and you’d like to more prep questions, our friends at Fuzu have their list of common interview questions you should be ready to answer in 2023.
But remember there is no interview without an HR-standard CV. This is where Refeventify comes in. Join us today to gain access to high-quality CVs that make your job application outstanding.
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!
There is always a continuous hustle when it comes to landing job interviews. And in a bid to get a job and foot the bills, most job aspirants fail to ask detailed questions about the company during a job interview! They are more concerned about getting the job first. But we see an increasing number of employees struggling to find their place after accepting a position. They begin to wonder what is going wrong when things do not turn out as they expected. They start experiencing issues or have difficulties working with the company.
If you don’t want to join the sea of employees on the mumbling and murmuring team, you have to ask some vital specific questions during your job interview. The questions you ask during job interviews should center on the company and how it is run. The questions should also spill over into how you can grow in your career and improve yourself while working for that company. It would be best if you focused on what you can offer the company and what they can offer you too (aside from the pay).
The following are ten specific questions you should ask in a job interview before you accept the job. I will categorize the question into three groups: qualifying questions, rapport-building questions, and closing questions.
3 Best Qualifying Job Interview Questions
If I perform well on this job after my initial review period, where can I expect to be in another two to three years?
In an interview, it is standard practice for the interviewer to ask you some questions regarding your career path or why you want the job role. But it shouldn’t end there. You must also clearly ask the interviewer about what your long-term career plan will be like with the company. You want to know where you will be in that company after the next two to three years (of course, you should have a specific goal in mind). When it comes to job roles and promotions, it’s essential to be goal-specific. And having a goal in mind will propel you to become better at that job role.
Do you have a budget for training or professional development?
If you keep adding value to the company, the company must, in turn, have a way to keep adding value to you. It is sometimes common for SMEs and early-stage startups to not pay much attention to staff training and capacity development. They tend to be mostly focused on growth, which is fine for the company but what about your own career growth? Your personal and professional development is essential when it comes to your work and life and if you don’t have the opportunity for professional development, you’ll soon be out of fad in a few years.
Always make it a point to confirm from your interviewers if they have plans, budgets, or training programs for their employees. Confirm if they can allow you to take some time off to further your education, widen your horizon, and deepen your knowledge. Therefore, apart from working for a company and giving them your all, you need to grow! The world is rapidly evolving, and there’s no place for mediocrity in this age and time. If the company says they are looking at having a staff training plan, it means they haven’t prioritized it. I’ll advise that you negotiate a specific one as part of your compensation plan. The best way to get it approved is by having the training tied to your key performance indicators (KPI) or post probation.
What are the company’s expectations for the person who gets awarded this job position?
For the company to open the job position, you are applying for, that means they have expectations for the individual that is about to occupy that position. The interviewer’s questions can give you a hint of the company’s expectations for the occupant of that position. When it’s time for you to ask questions, ask your interviewer about the challenges that they are currently facing that resulted in the job opening. This question will help you understand if you are likely going to meet their expectations. It does not stop at knowing the expectations; it is up to you to build on that expectation to impress them more if you want that role.
Featuring the answers of these questions on your winning CV can also assist you in getting a job from a recruiter of your choice. Let’s Get Started with Reventify CV Builder, Nigeria’s best CV maker.
6 Rapport Building Interview Questions
How did the opportunity for this position come about?
Often, we’re happy because there’s a job vacancy, forgetting that someone used to occupy that position. Before you accept any job position, ask about how the job opening came about and what happened to the previous employee in that position. Was the person fired? Did the person quit or get a better job offer? Or is the job a newly created role needed to boost the company in a particular aspect? A good understanding of this would help you know what you are signing up for.
What are the KPIs for this role, and how would they be measured?
Key performance indicator(s), or KPIs for short, is simply the expected outcome of your job performance. Understanding the company’s job description and how it is measured will help you work effectively to contribute to its success. It is also beneficial to know the KPIs to determine if you can handle the role and everything that comes with it. This question can also give you a clue of the type of people or colleagues you’ll be with which you’ll be working.
What’s the company’s goal for the next few years?
It is crucial to know about the company’s goals for the next few years and how they will affect you and your position. Knowing the goals and plans will also help you plan how you’ll climb up the ladder as you keep continually contributing to the company’s growth.
What’s the company’s culture like?
You need to know the company’s working culture. What is the shared ethos of the organization? How do the employees feel about the work they do, and what values do they believe? It is imperative to ask the interviewer about the company’s culture to prepare your mindset about the people you will be working with. When you ask, you will get an in-depth understanding of how the workers relate to each other.
What do you enjoy about working here?
Having asked about the company culture, it is very pivotal to ask about the interviewer’s work experience thus far and what they enjoy the most about the company. If they got another job offer, would it be difficult for them to leave the company? Asking your interviewers these types of questions helps you learn more about its leadership and other workers’ job satisfaction. This will, in turn, prepare you for what lies ahead.
How long have you spent with the company?
This is one of the most important questions to ask any interviewer you come across. If the interviewer has been there for a short time, then you will have to dig deeper. The only exception to this is if the company is just starting up. If it is an old company and your interviewer is not up to six months, then you might want to ask a follow-up question to know how long the person that they took the role from was in that specific position. If the response is also less than a year, then it could be a possible red flag you should watch out for.
Depending on the nature of the job and the interview process you will go through, you can ask about the next stage of the recruiting process. It is advisable to inquire further about the next phase of the recruiting process to prepare for it if you pass the interview.
Companies recruit employees differently—some just send direct mails while others can inform you about some test you might likely take. You can ask more than one person this question depending on the working environment.
Conclusion
The bottom line is whatever question you’re asking, you have to understand the organization first and then understand the nature of the job and the employees. This will guide you into making your final decision – accepting or rejecting the job. Remember! An appointment is not just about the pay or potential benefits, but the work environment as well! Always feel free to ask questions. Good luck!
A winning CV will also help you with a job interview when you answer these questions. Get started with Reventify CV Builder, Nigeria’s best CV maker.
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!
Landing your first job in Nigeria takes anywhere from 9 months to 2 years after graduating from university. If you dig deeper into the numbers, you would realize that only a fraction of those that eventually land a job get into companies that they deem desirable. Most graduates are either underemployed or working at companies that add very little value to their career prospects. This is why it’s important to develop an effective job search strategy that positions you for career growth. This is because as most experts would tell you and many professionals would later realize, the first few jobs on your CV can highly impact your lifetime career earnings and advancement over time.
If you take a job where you don’t have many responsibilities or you don’t learn transferrable skills that you can showcase to future employers, you’re likely in for a vicious cycle of moving across low earning jobs until you find the formula we would discuss much later in this article.
If you’ve not read the previous section on The Definitive Guide to Choosing a Fulfilling Career Path, I suggest doing so right after this article because it helps define what job and career path you should direct your efforts to. Regardless of whether you just left university, or you’ve been working for several years, the desire to land your dream job, whatever that may be is likely at the top of your priority list. A job that is fulfilling keeps us motivated, inspired, and highly productive. We are usually willing to give more of ourselves to our employer because we’ve got aligned goals and are generally happy.
Struggling with getting your dream job? Create a winning CV with Reventy CV Builder and increase your chances of getting your dream job.
7 Effective Steps to Landing Your Dream Job (with Examples)
Step 1 – Every Dream Starts with a Purpose and Focus
One of the more common mistakes I see with job seekers is applying to almost all vacancies regardless of whether they meet the requirements on the job description or not, then they start wondering why they never hear back from the hiring manager. Primarily, if you’re not focused, it would show in your sloppy application and no recruiter would take you very seriously. Getting a job is not mostly by playing a lottery system; you have to design a strategy that includes your interests, skillset, and career aspirations. Start by focusing your efforts on one or two sectors of interest and be specific about the job roles and companies that you’ll like to target. Once you’ve done this, you can start to conduct research on what the minimum requirements are to get into those positions and companies and build your profile subsequently. If you don’t meet the minimum requirements, you’ll need to get back to the drawing board and decide on whether you need to keep upskilling yourself whilst taking other job opportunities that could lead to your eventual dream job.
Another important element to consider is your “WHY”. Why that particular job? Why that company? Why that position? Is it about money, prestige, culture, or flexibility? Or could it be something else? It’s important to know this and be truthful to yourself about the reasons why landing your so-called dream job is important. One of the resources that could be quite helpful in many cases is career assessment tests such as the one created by Reventify. The value of such a test is to provide direction in your career and re-affirm the path that you are on is the right one for you.
Something else that is important is the use of informational interviews. This is when you connect with professionals in the industry or company you’ll like to work for and get some level of clarity on how things work there, how to get your foot in the door if you’re not already in the industry, and more importantly, how to progress your career and reach your maximum potential. When conducting informational interviews, you should not shy away from asking questions relating to compensation, promotion, work environment, and culture. If the answers match your perception of the industry and target company, your motivation and determination could easily increase even when you’re faced with several obstacles along the way.
Finally, in positioning yourself for that dream job, look at the future prospects of the sector you want to work in. Is it one that would likely continue to grow over the next decade or experts are suggesting that the industry is dwindling? If you’re still early in your career, you want to look for opportunities in sectors that are growing rather rapidly. This could lead to a balance in power in the employee-employer relationship. This is so important when negotiating compensation as the growth in the industry could lead to opportunities in vacancies as well as higher compensation If there are more vacancies than qualified candidates. This is quite similar to the current job market for senior software developers.
Step 2: Outline all the resources and tools that you’ll need to make the journey easier
It’s quite critical in your job search to find tools and resources that would make the process a lot less stressful. Besides the career assessment test, you can look at tools that would helpcreate a perfect CVfor specific job listings such as the one developed by Reventify. I cannot emphasize the need for you not to use generic CVs and Cover Letters when applying for jobs. It’s a major turn-off that recruiters can’t stand and your documents are likely to get archived or worse still, thrown into a pile of never to be seen items.
If you are not active on LinkedIn, then you’re not serious about your job search. The platform has over 700m professionals globally and it’s a good resource for hiring quality candidates. I’ve been headhunted for various executive roles in the past year alone and this is me, logging into the platform probably twice a week. I’ll advise that you spend about 25% of your job search time, building strong connections on LinkedIn. Ensure to get your profile optimized for search by hiring managers. I won’t spend too much time talking about LinkedIn as we’ve written a separate article for this purpose. Other platforms that are worth being a part of are Quora and Github if you’re a software developer.
Finally, it might be worth it to invest your time on a few job boards. You may need to create a professional profile that is periodically updated and would yield you a few search results. Ensure that your profile indicates your idle prospective jobs and transferable skills. Some of the job boards I’ve used in the past are Jobberman, NGCareers, Glassdoor, and Indeed.
Step 3: Your Network determines your Networth
This is a popular saying that most of us are familiar with. We may not all agree with this phrase because it shows some level of favoritism, but the truth is, people, don’t always make the most rational decisions. It’s difficult to assess skill set and culture fit on paper. Sometimes, you have to either know the candidate personally or have been referred by someone whose opinion you trust. This is how the world works and it is likely going to remain so for a very long time. Your focus should be on building strong connections that could lead to long-term mutually beneficial relationships.
If you don’t know where to start, I’d suggest starting with your inner circle especially family and close friends. Let them know what your career interest is and if they know anyone that is already successful or has a mutual interest. Typically, if you’re serious enough and persistent, you’ll get a few good links that could lead to something useful. If you have less than 10 years of professional experience, you should be actively seeking a career mentor.
Someone with a depth of knowledge and career experience that is willing to provide great advice to you at least once a month. Personally, I like to have 2 mentors, preferably of different sex and experience levels so as to have diverse perspectives. You can find mentors either within your close personal network or by building a strong connection with one online.
Before choosing a mentor, you’ll need to get a bit close to the person, understand their interest and values, which could be harder to assess if no personal relationship already exists. If this potential mentor is active on LinkedIn, then you’ll just need to be on their radar by shadowing their activities and engaging with them from time to time. You might catch them going for a seminar, conference, or speaking engagement and this could be the time to meet with them in person.
A hint is never to ask someone that doesn’t know your professional ability to be your mentor. Because people that have advanced far in their careers tend to be quite busy, the only way they’ll accept being a mentor is if they believe you have the ability to excel in your chosen career as well. No one wants to mold a possible failure.
Step 4: Develop Expertise and Industry Experience
If you are serious about getting a great job, then you have to continuously develop your skillset and become extremely competitive. The seats at the top only get smaller as you advance your career, which means that you have to get used to consistent growth and become invaluable in the process. What new skills have you learned? What project did you work on last and what was the impact? How easy is it to measure your past work and do you think it is impressive enough to get the attention of your desired employers? There’s always going to be something new to learn even if you’re currently at a dead-end job. What you need to focus on is intent. What are you doing today, that would get you to that next level that you’re seeking?
If you need to learn a new skill, don’t just get a certificate. Experience is way more important as that is the only thing that verifies that you can get the job done in the real world. Now the paradox is that you need a job to get the experience, so one of the things that worked for me in the past was to facilitate free live training on subject matter that I was good at and build on that experience by providing small businesses with free consulting advisory services. This would look more valuable on a CV than an internship with an unknown firm.
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In the event that you are already working with a mid-size firm or large company, you may need to develop internal projects using a business case method approach. This is when you present a case to an ongoing problem that the company knows to exist but is not actively looking for a solution. You would then ask for permission to solve this problem by showing the cost-benefit analysis. If it doesn’t interfere with your daily work activities and the cost to the company is very little in resources, you have a high probability of getting buy-in.
Now, I don’t want to hear that the company you work for has no problem. Never have I seen any company with zero problems. There’s always something worth improving or creating. My main advice is for you to go above and beyond your daily responsibilities and find new solutions that the company can adopt. If you lead this initiative successfully, not only would your company’s superiors see you in a different light, but you can add this to your portfolio of work and showcase it as part of your key achievements to future employers.
Step 5: Provide Credible Opportunities and Value to Target Companies
In the event that you don’t have a job, then you should consider creating something of value for the companies you’ll like to work in. At this stage, you should already know a few current employees of your target companies; preferably people that could be your future boss. Even if you’re just interacting with them online, it would be good to have some information on what their current challenges are and what the impact could be if they eventually solve them.
If they work extremely long hours or are focused on their core daily job function, they may not be actively looking for a solution to the challenges they mention. This could turn out to be your opportunity to proffer solutions that could prove to be valuable. In your best interest and for the sake of time, you could create a slide deck with a business solution that you’ll submit to their private email.
Let them know that you’re interested in working at their company sometime in the near future whenever a vacancy opens. If they are impressed with your work, they’ll surely note you down and be open to discussing future opportunities with you as soon as it arises. Now, this is not a silver bullet and doesn’t work all the time but the idea is to come up with ways to get the attention of your target employers and showcase tour abilities in ways that others won’t dare to.
I’ve seen it work a lot of times and if you want to get inspired, here are a few examples of how people I’ve worked within the past landed their dream jobs.
Landing Your Dream Job Example 1: If your superpower is selling, better be ready to showcase your sales ability
Eric is a sales manager that used to work in an insurance company, however, he was quite interested in financial technology start-ups. He had been following a few companies and their senior team on LinkedIn and was well informed about new product launches and other newsworthy information that the company shared periodically.
When he saw a post that one of the companies he was actively following would be going to a popular tech conference and have a stand, he knew this would be his advantage to have a one-on-one with future team members. At the tech conference, he approached the Head of Sales at the stand and after a few chit-chats, he persuaded this individual to give him a chance to pitch the company’s products to potential customers.
At the end of the event, Eric had done such a good job that the Head of Sales promised to put him at the top of the line when a sales job came up at the company. Within 4 months, he got the call and eventually got the job. This could have only happened because he was well prepared and had a well-executed plan.
Landing Your Dream Job Example 2: If you don’t meet the minimum requirements for the job, the only way you have a shot is to really get creative
Enor is a bright young lady from the University of Lagos who was looking to work in one of the prestigious digital agencies in Nigeria. She had spent slightly over a year networking with a few employees of companies that she wanted to work in and some knowledge of who their top clients were. When she found out that a vacancy opened for a Digital Marketing Associate, she surely submitted her application. But she knew that would not be enough to get her attention because it was a competitive role and she didn’t have the requisite experience that was asked on the job listing. For her to make herself more valuable in the eye of the employer, she had to go the extra mile. She decided to create a specific project (presentation and draft marketing campaigns) tailored to one of their clients and sent it to the Marketing Director, who she was already connected to on LinkedIn. She eventually got called for some round of interviews, which led to her accepting a job at the company.
Landing Your Dream Job Example 3: Persistence wins all the time
Ade applied for the role of Growth Manager at a Software company and after the 2nd round interview he didn’t hear back for about 3 weeks, so he decided to contact one of the co-founders, whom he met at the last round of interviews.
After sending a few emails and getting no response, he decided to visit a speaking engagement that this Co-Founder would be speaking at, and during the Q&A session, he decided to ask “When would you like to give me feedback for the interviews I had at your company? I’m still interested in working for your company”.
He was told that an internal candidate eventually filled the role, but since they liked his profile, they are open to discussing future roles in the future. At the end of the session, he briefly had a one-on-one with the Co-founder and they shared contacts. It took almost 10months of keeping in touch with the company before a role that suited his skills was open. He obviously was the no. 1 pick for the position.
Step 6: How good are your Interview skills
We’ve discussed a lot of strategies surrounding how you can get employers’ attention including providing valuable work to key employees, but the reality is that technical skills and soft skills are two different things. The importance of an interview is to demonstrate a lot more than your technical abilities. You want to showcase that you’ll make a good team member and you’re reliable and can go the extra mile.
Generally, those that make it to the interview stage have showcased that they meet the minimum requirements for the job. What you want to do is to build rapport with the interviewees; show them that they’ll really love working with you and that your values are aligned with that of the company. Finally, ensure to demonstrate that you can deliver results that are measurable. I’ve got another article solely on how to kill it at the interview stage, so I suggest reading that as well.
Step 7: Show passion and interest for the Company and Position
This is without saying but some job positions are so competitive that you would be required to go the extra mile after the interview stage. This is more crucial for smaller companies where you’ve met with a director and other senior team members at the interview stage and they need to decide between two or more strong candidates. You may need to reiterate your unique value proposition via a thank you email.
Let them know why you’re passionate about joining the company, what it means for you, and more importantly, what it means for them as well. Focus on your strong points and remind them about your previous key achievements but do not oversell yourself. You typically want to make the email 2 or 3 short paragraphs so that it is easily digestible. We’ve created such email templates for paid subscribers of Reventify.
If you’ve done a combination of the other tasks highlighted in this article, then you need not worry. At this very stage, you’ve done the best that you could have and It’s only a matter of time before you land your dream job.
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