You can walk into a job interview having learnt everything you think there is to know about the company. You can sit in a job interview with prepared answers to the usual questions “Give an example of a time you did x” or “Give us an example of one of your weaknesses”. But ultimately, it’s the ability to sell yourself that will really help you land the job.
Businesses live and die on capital, be that human or monetary, and your ability to contribute to that is the goal of your employment. As such, your ability to showcase this in an interview and in your CV is very important.
When you boil down the value you added to an employer, it basically comes down to the following points:
- Where have you helped your employer make money?
- Where have you helped your employer save money?
- Where have you helped your employer save time in pursuit of a task?
- Where have you helped your employer de-risk (not regulatory-related) for future savings/revenues?
Using the above four as a guideline for your thinking, all you need to do now is attribute numbers, percentages or any data points you feel are relevant to a potential employer.
Here are a couple of examples:
John works as a Project Manager for an Investment Bank in London. One of the projects he’s managed included analysing sales expenditure and reporting that to the board. During his analysis he finds the company are paying for three extra software licenses that are no longer in use, he notified procurement and had the licenses cancelled, saving the company £14,250 per year.
On a CV that may look like:
- Lead sales expenditure analysis project delivering £14,250 in cost savings
Another example:
Jessica works as a DevOps engineer, where she works with developers and the IT staff to oversee the code releases. When initially asked about the value she had added to her current employer she was unable to come up with an answer. After some questioning, she had automated a process which unfortunately meant that four colleagues were made redundant. If each colleague was paid £50,000, she had effectively saved the company £200,000 / year by automating that workflow.
On a CV that may look like:
- Automated workflows around code release, saving the company £200,000 per year
By using data to back up the value you have added, your CV will standout and the chance of nailing the interview increases as you start to position yourself in a very different way to the masses.
Think about what tangible value you brought to your old job and display that clearly and effectively in your CV, whilst preparing the explanation for an interview.
Are you looking for a new role or know someone who is? Visit app.referment.com/referral/jobs to see Referment’s open roles.
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