Satisfy An Employer’s Need To Know “What’s In It For Me?”

The best way to get the attention of potential employers, to get them to contact you for an interview is to clearly demonstrate your value.

That means how you’ve solved problems for your current employer.

Employers aren’t looking for someone to take care of daily activities.

They’re looking for someone who will have an impact on the team, the department, or even the company. They want to know “What’s In It For Me?”

If you’re not a senior executive you may think this doesn’t apply to you.

But, it does.

The way into a potential employer’s heart is to show your value. Three things that will impress potential employers are examples of times you’ve made money, saved money, or saved time

Made Money

People in sales may find it easy to show how they’ve made money for the company.  Every day your work generates revenue. Your job is to show how you stand out from the other salespeople on your team. The best way to do this is by quantifying your results in terms of dollars or percentages.  It’s not enough to say you work with premier accounts.

However, even if you’re not in sales, you may be making money for your employer. Maybe you’re marketing campaign brought in new business. A member of your staff may have become a high-achiever under your direction.

Saved Money

Depending on your position, demonstrating how you saved money may come easily. Those in management positions often have the power to change vendors, upgrade equipment, initiate sales campaigns, etc. which save their employers money.

However, even if you’re not at a level to effect these changes you can still show impact. Perhaps your efforts to improve employee morale by creating social events or team-building exercises have cut down on employee turnover. You’ve just saved money for your employer.

Saved Time

You don’t need to be an executive to save time, which often equates to making money or saving money. Generally saving time involves streamlining processes. Let’s say you work in accounting and have found a way to cut the expense-report processing from 4 days a month to 3 days a month. This gives the person doing the expense reports a whole day to work on other projects.

Maybe you’ve created an Excel spreadsheet that allows several team-mates to access several pieces of information from a single document instead of looking in several places. You’ve made their work easier and faster.

Focus on your achievements rather than responsibilities and duties to demonstrate value. Be sure to quantify the impact on your actions have had on your team, your department, or the company in terms of dollars, percentages, hours saved, etc. whenever possible.

If you’re a manager, managing the team is not necessarily an accomplishment. It’s your job. However, if you’re navigating your team through a disruptive company acquisition, that might be a different story. It depends, on the impact.

We all listen to station WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) all day long. Employers are no different. If you want to stand out from your competition, show What’s In It For Them on your resume.

If you’re ready to invest in your career success visit our Start Here page to learn more about working with Annette Richmond, a certified resume writer, certified LinkedIn Profile writer, and career consultant