Match Your Skills to the Job

Your success in obtaining the job you want depends on how well you match your skills and interests to an employer's needs. How do you make the match?

•  First, you must analyze your strengths and weaknesses.
•  Then, you must sell your strengths to the employer.

  If you do not impress an employer favorably or if you cannot explain your skills, abilities, and personal qualities clearly, you may be passed over for another applicant who makes a better impression. How do you sell yourself?

•  Know your qualifications.
• What can you do well that this employer wants and needs?
• Believe in your qualifications.

 If you don't believe in yourself, the prospective employer won't believe in you either.

•  Think in advance about how you will describe yourself. 
•  What are your ambitions, your short-term and long-term goals?
• What is your experience, your education?

 Just as a successful salesperson must be able to convince a buyer of the value of a product, you must be able to sell yourself to an employer. You are a salesperson, and the product you are selling is yourself.

 

From How to Find and Apply for a Job by Doris Humphrey, Cengage Learning Quick Skills Series.