12 Most Compelling Reasons to Hire YOU
For job seekers, interns, recent college graduates and career management professionals, there’s one question that trumps all others: Why Hire You? As part of my new book on delivering your best elevator pitch, I wanted to showcase a real-life story (as opposed to a bookshelf strategy) for moving your career forward. With my kindest regards to the career services department at your favorite university, I believe that the 12most valuable hiring lessons come from the real world. And someone who knows how to get hired is the Millennial CEO.
You probably know the Millennial CEO, Dan Newman – if you visit 12most.com on a regular basis you’ve seen and read his posts. He’s the guy who got to the Big Chair before his 30th birthday (and not at a company he founded). What’s his secret for career acceleration? There’s never been a more compelling time for this sort of information. Many Millennials and Gen Y job seekers are taking it on the chin in the summertime job market – not to mention Baby Boomers, Gen X, and the Silent Generation. People deserve every possible insight to move their careers forward. No matter what your generation, there’s a lot to learn from the 12most powerful answers to the question, “Why should I hire YOU?” – compliments of the Millennial CEO.
1. Competence
You have to be able to do the job. If you’re there on the interview the assumption is that you have the skills. Dan explains, “As a professional, you want to be taken seriously about doing a role. You have to have the know-how, bottom line.” But going beyond the resume requires something more…
2. Confidence
Or more precisely, a “humble confidence” – you have to know that you are able to do the job. Dan explains, “The team has to believe that you can deliver value that they can’t find somewhere else.” Confidence is the differentiator; if you don’t believe in you, no one else will, either.
3. Inspiration
“A big part of my success has hinged on my ability to convince others that I can do what they need me to do. I refer to past accomplishments, and experience, but at the end of the day, people have to believe that you can get the job done.” Transferring your beliefs to another is one of the hallmarks of inspiration, and a key to getting others to take action.
4. Results
“It’s all about packaging your accomplishments”, according to Dan. Does your resume reflect your results, or just your skills? When you are asked for your elevator pitch, do you deliver those results in clear package for the interviewer?
5. Empathy
A broad understanding of the players, the products and the industry is important for your career to advance. “But being able to speak intelligently about the various aspects of the business”, Dan says with newly-trademarked humble confidence, “has really accelerated my career.” If a company is going to invest in you, you have to show that you really understand what they’re trying to accomplish – and the implication of their challenges.
6. The Antidote for “Can’t”
“You have to remove the word ‘can’t’ from your vocabulary,” Dan says, without hesitation. “For any business, there are things that they can’t accomplish. You have to demonstrate how they can – with you, because you can turn obstacles into opportunity. And you have to make sure the company understands and believes that –with you in place – that overcoming their challenge is now possible.”
7. Delivery
“What’s the path to that profitability that all businesses seek?” You have to demonstrate that you understand how to deliver the results that are needed – even if those results are in engineering, customer service or cost accounting. Every role and every department has results; explain your role as part of that accomplishment.
8. Go Beyond Your Experience
What about new responsibilities – things you haven’t got on your resume? “You have to show extraordinary competence in the area of your expertise – and then connect that track record to new opportunities and new challenges.” Remember, the hiring manager hasn’t been able to solve the puzzle yet, either. “Delivering can expand the conversation. Look at the experience you do have, and explain how it relates.”
9. Leadership without Authority
“If you want to move into a new role with new responsibility, you have to show how you’ve been able to marshal resources from diverse departments.” Leadership without a title is the first step towards getting one.
10. Paying Attention
Nobody wants to be sold, but everyone wants to buy. “Have you shown that you understand the industry, and the company – are you paying attention?”
11. Authenticity
You Can’t Fake It. Anybody can write a great resume, but you can’t fake your elevator pitch. “The first 30 seconds of the conversation is so meaningful,” Dan explains, because presentation matters. “You have to demonstrate that you ‘get it’, whatever the issue might be, because without that connection, you’re done.”
12. Research
Know the company, and know your audience. “Do you know enough about me and my business,” Dan asks matter-of-factly, “before you ask me to buy YOU?”
What has helped you, in your career, to answer the question “Why Should I Hire You?”
Featured image courtesy of escalepade licensed via creative commons.
Chris Westfall
Chris Westfall is the national elevator pitch champion, a professional speaker and entrepreneur. He is the author of Five Great New Elevator Pitches. His next book, The NEW Elevator Pitch will be released in Spring 2012. Chris can be reached via email at chris@westfallonline.com. More on his website: http://westfallonline.com
This is a great information to all job seekers and fresh graduates who needs to have a job, this is all true and this could be great help. Great info and great post, thanks!
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Loved this piece to share with my students. Provides an incredible springboard for students to ask themselves how they will ultimately communicate the messages behind these principles. College is the place to craft these messages, find examples from the campus/class experience to buoy them, and then practice the verbal and nonverbal dynamics that will help these ideals shine. Practical, specific, and inspiring. Thank you! Ellen Bremen, M.A. @chattyprof http://chattyprof.blogspot.com
chattyprof
TYVM! Ellen, a ? for you: in your experience, How do men & women differ in their "Why Hire You?" response?
westfallonline Very welcome! What an interesting question. My response is only partially grounded in gender comm research and partly my opinion/observations :-): Men are straight-forward in communicating about achievements & accomplishments. They usually don't add "tentative qualifiers" like women do (Instead of: "I thought that might be a good idea", it's an affirmative "I believed this was the right way to approach the situation." If "the situation" didn't go well, they'd explain that, but equally with more deliberate tones and words) or use quite as many relational aspects, such as the lingering "interpersonal story" behind the action. This lends an assuredness and a specificity to the message that I personally find enviable!
Women tend to discuss the process, the people involved, the relationships that occurred--they build the relational story, which often lures the listener. So, an equally solid approach. Women are generous in attributing their achievements to those who were on the committee or the team (not that men don't do this, but women may not individualize certain achievements as much as they should).
I can't help but mention that there is research noting that gender communication differences are not significant enough to be real. However, after doing a gender comm presentation several years ago, I started watching my colleagues (and even myself) in committee meetings. Some of this certainly seemed to ring true. I have a solid reputation on my campus, am known for quality teaching, as someone who is collegial, etc., and I realized that I habitually added a questioning tone at the end of my ideas or "Maybe" at the beginning of them. I noticed my male colleagues seemed to "own" their ideas so much more easily. Interesting! I appreciate the question! I'd be interested in your thoughts. Ellen
Great post Chris! Another important factor to keep in mind is "knowing your audience"-which can dovetail into doing your research. From your resume down to your demeanor, everything should be tailored to the position you're applying for. If you're interviewing for a social media position show your creativity! If you're interviewing for consulting, highlight your problem solving ability! You can find awesome additional tips @InternMatch and at www.internmatch.com/blog, have you checked it out yet?
As a college student, you can bet I'm taking notes. Thanks for this post, Chris!
annedreshfield Very cool! Glad you found this information useful
annedreshfield Some more ideas for you...Here's a link to a recent blog post on my #1 question for interviews http://bit.ly/iMslGM you may want to check out some posts on resume strategies http://bit.ly/mFkrLF These posts are from my blog; I also really respect @YouTern - check out their blog (full of college career tips) at http://youtern.com
westfallonline@youtern Wow, fantastic! Thank you for the links.
Inspiring post Chris! I can definitely relate and appreciate this list. You provide career seekers a reason to keep on plugging even in the most frustrating market times.
#8 instantly captured my attention - I really like the concept of moving beyond your experience and into shining your unique personality with the world (via blogs, scial media) and to the company (via Skype/in person interviews). This is accomplished with a combination of powerful adjectives and one's own sense of style. Very cool.
MeghanMBiro Meghan, I think you hit on Dan's #1 insight - the ability to translate (transpose?) experience from another area. Web 2.0 can be a real accelerator, and then the ability to convey confidence in the interview.
westfallonline Agree. The ability to transpose experience relates to both personal career growth as well as the powerful reach that is attainable via social media. Web 2.0 (I'm calling 3.0 these days-either works-laughs) is revolutionary as it touch points career and personal branding innovation. Really enjoyed this post. Look forward to sharing my post here soon.
Hi Chris, good stuff, but my first thought was what about creativity?
I think that having the ability to think creatively gives candidates an enormous advantage when looking for full-time work. There's been a lot of talk about the need for this type of right brain thinking in business (Daniel Pink) as well as the potentially devastating results of not building a team of diverse cultures and talents (Grant McCracken).
I suppose that approaching any of your reasons in a creative way would certainly grab the attention of prospective employers, but I'm a little surprised to see that creativity alone does not warrant a number on your list. What do you think?
Thanks for sharing!
joebertino
Since I helped curate the list - I will give my perspective. Creativity is key,but rarely can it be explored or understood in the time a hiring decision is made.
I would further that by asking whether you are creative "on the fly" or do you need lots of time to think creatively?
You clearly have creativity with what you have done with LiveFyre - awesome product! I would hire you any day, but it may not be for your creativity.
Respect to you Joe!
danielnewmanUV I'd like to think I can offer both "on the fly" and reflective creativity. If we're talking about an elevator pitch, I think "on the fly" is relatively easy to gauge. You know almost immediately if someone processes information linearly or laterally based on how they respond to questions. This is why I hate when I'm asked where I see myself in five years! The linear response would probably be something about benchmarks and forward momentum, but the lateral response, my preference, would be more about experiences and stories.
I have only been with Livefyre for a month, so I can't quite take credit for how awesome our product is, but my background in advertising and my current status as a MFA student probably explains my position on the value of creativity in the workplace. I do suspect, however, based on our diverse community, that Livefyre looks for creative thinkers while hiring.
But, of course, this is why I'd never make it as an accountant. Ha!
joebertino danielnewmanUV Sometimes "being creative" can be an asset, or a curse. Most of the folks I really respect in business have a high degree of practical creativity (sort of like Dan's 'humble confidence'). BTW: Because of your post, I'm launching an online campaign-effective immediately= to eliminate the question, "Where will you be in five years?" and replacing it with, "If you had a unicorn, what would you feed it?" Both seem to be equally useless as an interview question. Great comment!
westfallonline danielnewmanUV Ha, I love it. If you start that campaign I'll be the first one on the bandwagon. I've never interviewed anyone, but if/when I do, I would want to know three things: 1) What are your passions? 2) Are you lucky? 3) Tell me a personal story about failure.
joebertino danielnewmanUV "Are you lucky?" <---Why?
westfallonline joebertino blessed my friends - blessed
danielnewmanUV westfallonline More Daniel Pink logic; clearly I'm a fan. Here is a nice synopsis: http://bit.ly/ju47jw
joebertino Great comment! A recent IBM survey asked 1500 executives worldwide for the #1 quality of leaders. Surprisingly, they didn't say financial acumen, loyalty, communications skills...their #1 was: CREATIVITY. You have hit the nail on the head. Here's a post with more details, if livefyre will allow me a shortlink in the reply: http://bit.ly/jy4yGb
westfallonline Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks for the link.
I humbly thank you for your kind words in this post Mr. Westfall. These are not just my reasoning for hiring, these should be a part of everyone's reasoning when hiring.
As always, great post, and thank you for visiting and blessing 12most with your knowledge.
danielnewmanUV Glad to be able to share your story. At the end of the day, we are here to try and serve. It's the toughest job market since Lincoln grew a beard - let's hope this story makes a difference!
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@westfallonline You're welcome! Enjoyed the article.
westfallonline 12most danielnewmanuv Most welcome. LOVING the 12most content and just pitched a guest post idea yest :-). Thank you!
I responded to ? fr westfallonline - How are men & women different in "Why Hire You?" response? Love to hear others. http://t.co/xZwVqKF
annedreshfield Thanks! Scheduled for tomorrow AM.
troyclaus Thx for the share Troy 12most
danielnewmanuv thanks for the link, good article
nianielsen Hi Nia, Glad you enjoyed. I was honored that Chris wrote that and included me. cc 12most
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