Show employers why hiring you is worth the investment

Your qualifications may get you an interview, but proving how your experience can deliver results could get you hired

Want to get hired? Start selling yourself as an investment rather than an expense.

Most job seekers spend their time selling their qualifications, experience and willingness to work hard instead of demonstrating what an employer stands to gain by hiring them.

That’s a mistake that could be costing you job offers.

As someone who interacts with job seekers day in and day out, I see this mistake constantly. Candidates tell me how hard they’ve worked and how many years of experience they have. Fine. But what did all that effort accomplish? Did they increase revenue? Reduce expenses? Improve productivity? Prevent costly mistakes?

When an employer hires you, they’re making a financial commitment. The question isn’t simply whether you can do the job. It’s whether you’ll produce enough value to justify what they’re paying you.

Consider two hypothetical candidates applying for the same inventory management position. The first writes: “Managed inventory tracking and coordinated weekly shipments from suppliers.”

The second writes: “Overhauled inventory audits, reducing warehouse holding costs by 12 per cent and cutting write-offs for lost stock by 32 per cent during peak season.”

Both candidates may have performed similar work. However, the second provides evidence that their work produced a measurable financial return.

Which candidate would you want to interview?

Most job seekers make the mistake of describing what they were paid to do rather than what their employer gained from paying them. Anyone can list duties. Your competition is doing exactly that.

Regardless of your industry or job title, your work contributes value somewhere. Your responsibility is to make that value obvious to the person considering hiring you. If you work in sales, explain how much revenue you generated or how many customers you retained. If you work in administration, technical support or logistics, look at the costs you helped control and the problems you prevented.

Can’t put a dollar figure on your accomplishments? Show how you saved time, improved service or made someone’s job easier. Did you eliminate redundant software licences? Redesign a process that saved 10 hours a week? Reduce shipping errors?

Put numbers to your accomplishments whenever possible. Don’t invent figures or claim credit for results you can’t substantiate. Employers need credible evidence that you produce results.

Here’s another mistake job seekers make: They assume what they achieved for a previous employer automatically makes them valuable to the next one.

It doesn’t.

Reducing operating costs by 12 per cent at your last company is impressive. But why should that matter to an employer whose biggest problem is losing customers? Your past accomplishments prove what you’ve done. They don’t automatically prove what you’re worth to your next employer.

Think like an investor. Would you put money into a business without knowing what you might get back? Employers face the same question when hiring someone. They want a reason to believe their investment will pay off.

Give them one.

If you haven’t researched the employer well enough to explain how you could improve its business, you’re not ready to make your case for being hired.

Start with the job posting. Look beyond the qualifications to what the company expects the successful candidate to accomplish. Then check its website. Is the company expanding? Losing customers? Introducing new technology? You won’t always know exactly what challenges an employer faces. But you can ask questions and use what you’ve learned to show how your experience might help.

Suppose you reduced shipping errors by 25 per cent while managing a growing order volume. If you’re interviewing with a company expanding its distribution operations, don’t simply recite that accomplishment. Explain how the same approach could help the company manage growth without increasing errors and costs.

Your résumé and LinkedIn profile may get you noticed, but the interview is where you make that business case. When asked to describe a challenge you overcame, explain what changed because of your actions and connect that experience to a challenge the prospective employer may face.

When asked why you want the job, don’t give the usual answer about seeking new challenges. Explain where you believe your experience could make a difference.

You might say: “I understand you’re expanding your distribution operations. In my previous role, I reduced shipping errors by 25 per cent while handling a higher order volume. I’d welcome the opportunity to apply what I learned to help your operation grow efficiently.”

See the difference?

You’re no longer asking the employer to admire your experience. You’re giving them a reason to believe you can deliver results for their business.

Before applying for your next job, ask yourself three questions:

1. What problems did I solve for previous employers, and what measurable results did I achieve?
2. What problems is this prospective employer likely trying to solve?
3. How can I demonstrate that my experience will help solve those problems?

If you can’t answer the third question, you haven’t finished making your case. Having the qualifications makes you a candidate. Demonstrating what you’ve accomplished makes you a contender. Showing how those accomplishments could benefit the next employer makes you someone worth investing in.

Employers already know what hiring you will cost. Your job is to prove what they’ll get in return.