5 Ways to Sell Yourself to Job Recruiters

With the demand for jobs so high and the supply so low, employers are now being very selective and demanding more from their job candidates. This means that marketing yourself with a resume that simply explains the things you’ve done in the past will not cut it. Employers want to understand your ability to add value to their company and be able to envision your potential contribution to the bottom line.

Recruiters look for candidates with strong records of accomplishments that make them stand out against the competition, so it is important that you properly convey your abilities and skills in your career documents.

Recruiters are generally looking for their candidates to have these five things, and so if you are missing one, you may be missing out on your opportunity to get noticed.

1. Define Your Expertise: When describing your past work experience in your resume, make sure to define your expertise as it relates to your duties and responsibilities. The tasks where you provided substantial results will showcase your areas of specific expertise.
2. Concisely Describe Your Success Stories: Also within your job descriptions in your resume, make sure to describe your success stories. Concisely explain how you met company goals and objectives, increased revenue and/or profits, decreased costs, or minimized risks. Describing these concrete accomplishments will highlight the potential value you can bring to a company in the future.
3. Include Recommendation Letters: A recommendation from a manager or colleague is much more valuable than any self-endorsement. Recommendation letters can be enclosed in your application package and serve as great selling tools. They give concrete examples of your character and work ethic from knowledgeable sources which can prove to be one of the strongest tools you can have.
4. Include Work Samples or a Link to Your Online Portfolio: It is much more effective to show examples of your work than to simply talk about it. If you have an online portfolio or work samples, include the link in your resume. This will generate more interest in your application.
5. Communicate a Consistent Message throughout Your Documents: All your career documents should promote a consistent message of who you are and what you stand for. For instance, if your resume describes you as a sales professional, then all your other documents should be tailored to this description. This is important because an inconsistent message will cloud the credibility of your accomplishments.

When applying to jobs, remember that recruiters get evaluated based on their ability to find the most qualified candidates for positions. So the more confident a recruiter feels about your accomplishments, abilities, and skills, the more interested they will be in you as a candidate. By following these five points, you will be helping yourself to get noticed by recruiters and will thereby be successfully selling yourself to future employers.