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Both your resume and your interview give you an opportunity to demonstrate your value to hiring managers.  You must seize each chance you get to demonstrate not only that you are a strong candidate, but that you are the top candidate — the one person who offers the highest value proposition to the company.

How do you position yourself as the top candidate throughout the hiring process?  Consider the following tips:

Highlight Your Accomplishments

Hiring managers have one key question on their minds: “What can this candidate do for us?”  Answer this question in your resume and your interview by highlighting your best accomplishments that are relevant to the position you are interviewing for.

Be concrete, detailed, and concise.  For instance, if you led the team that increased sales in your department by 30 percent last quarter, specify this number in your resume — and be prepared to follow up during an interview with an enthusiastic description of how you achieved this goal.

Demonstrate Innovation and Initiative

What do good storytelling, good selling, and good interviewing have in common?  They all follow the same basic rule: “Show, don’t tell.”  When it comes to demonstrating your value to hiring managers, offer examples and stories that show you’re an innovative thinker who takes initiative and brings high motivation and high standards to each day on the job.  Describe a creative solution to a work problem you’ve tackled in the past, or connect an accomplishment at work to your willingness to come in early, stay late, or take it upon yourself to finish a thankless task.

Highlight the Job Description

Hiring managers use key words and phrases in job descriptions because they are looking for individuals with specific skill sets and accomplishments.  Although it’s smart to catch a hiring manager’s attention by incorporating these key terms into your resume and cover letter, don’t go overboard.  Both documents should contain enough references to the terms used in the job description to catch the eye, but not so many it sounds like you’ve copied and pasted the description into your own work.  Highlight, don’t copy.

Ask Your Network For Help (and Expand It Online)

The people in your professional and personal networks are your best resource for learning more about a company, gathering interview tips, and seeking job openings.  Tap into your current network, and expand your professional contacts by joining a professional networking site like LinkedIn and participating in its online forums and discussions.

At SMR Group Ltd., our experienced recruiters work hard to match sales and marketing professionals with positions that suit their skills and move them toward their career goals.  Contact us today to learn more!


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