As you embark on your job search, no doubt that you have familiarized yourself with all the pertinent data regarding your work history – the places you’ve worked, the dates, your titles and/or responsibilities, etc. And that’s all well and good, but there is another aspect of your background that may be just as important.
Consider the entire hiring process. What are your potential employers looking for? They hope to hire someone who can do the job, who can bring value to the organization. How can you ensure that they will see you in that light?
Merely reciting your past employers, job titles and other facts won’t be enough. That kind of information will not separate you from the pack of other candidates.
What’s the best predictor of how you will perform as a new employee? It’s how you performed in the past. It’s not dates and places and the like. The best predictor of future success is past performance.
Telling someone where you worked, when you worked there and what your titles were – all of that is necessary. But to really impress someone who is most likely a stranger to you, educate them on how well you did your last job. Tell them what kind of an employee you were.
Were you prompt and efficient? They say that the ability is availability. But there’s more. Were you successful at your given tasks? Were you willing to take on new assignments? Were you flexible enough to accommodate yourself to any situation? New situations? New and different people? Were you a team player?
In short, how good of an employee were you in your past job? That will demonstrate to that new person that you will be best choice for this new job.
Learn your past. Become expertly familiar with all your successes; all the benefits that you provided to your past employers. Become proficient at telling the best story you have to tell – how well you’ve performed in the past.
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