Selling Yourself Without a Discount
How to find a good job with a high salary is an eternal question. The current time of crisis often opens a «window of opportunity» for a new round in the career of ambitious candidates. About what else, besides experience, skills and good recommendations, an applicant who wants to get a well-paid job needs today, «MK» was told by experts — specialists in recruitment and personnel management.
Let's start with some tricks that employers use in small firms where there is no large-scale personnel department, that is, the business owners themselves are looking for employees.
First of all, of course, they throw a cry among friends and acquaintances. If this does not work, they post vacancy announcements, and not everyone is ready to pay for using large services, therefore they use specialized groups in social networks and instant messengers, or smaller ad sites with one or another professional bias.
Letters without an attached resume are immediately dismissed, with questions like “Is the vacancy still relevant?” or a paragraph of general text about yourself, for example: «I have extensive experience in my specialty and all the necessary skills.»
As for the resume, the employer, as a rule, immediately dismisses non-core ones in the style of “no experience, but I want to try.” It is especially annoying when the ad contains clear criteria, and applicants who do not meet them still send their profiles.
Of course, those who sent their resume first will have more chances — when the employer starts testing several candidates, he is unlikely to deal with the rest, saving time.
If you sent a resume for a vacancy, be ready to take a call at any time and answer questions right away — from the first quick interview, an experienced employer, as a rule, immediately understands whether a person is suitable or not. Well, then it already checks on specific test tasks. You can also be checked on trifles: for example, asked to call at a certain time. If you do it at the wrong time or forget, you will have a minus in karma. The same applies to the time of arrival for a face-to-face interview.
Alevtina Andreeva, an independent expert in the field of personnel management: “I propose to dwell on the following key points that will help those who wish to find a well-paid job.
The first point: since we are talking about top positions, networking is a good tool for searching or an employee using the power of social connections.
When there is no ideal candidate for the right position, dating will help. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of all jobs are found through networking. In other countries, the situation is similar.
According to a well-known NAFI study, in Russia more than half of citizens prefer to look for work with the help of acquaintances, and only a third use the Internet for this.
Creating and developing networks of useful acquaintances in the modern world is no longer just a recommendation from HR managers — it should be part of an investment in the future of ambitious candidates who want to climb up the career and professional ladder and constantly increase their income level. The larger the candidate's personal networking portfolio, the more opportunities they have to find their dream job. This story was trending before, but now it is becoming more and more relevant.
The second point: when looking for a good job, you need to widely use both well-known Internet resources and specialized platforms and communities. These are not only universal employment resources familiar to everyone, but also highly specialized sites for searching, for example, programmers or designers, and even groups in social networks and instant messengers.
The third point: the applicant needs a well-written resume — this is the visiting card of each candidate or the “passport” of the applicant for employment. But here the story is as follows: if a candidate is looking for a job in several directions, then he should have as many unique resumes compiled for specific positions, and sometimes for specific companies, with appropriate emphasis on knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as the results achieved at previous jobs.
For example, a candidate is looking for a position as a personal assistant to a manager or an HR employee. In a resume for a personal assistant, all the experience that he has gained, he needs to formulate and highlight in such a way as to describe the functional responsibilities and personal qualities, skills, projects and results that are important for this position. In a resume for an HR manager position, he does the same, but already focusing on those qualities, knowledge and skills that are important for this position.
I also recommend that you create a version of a resume in a free format, where you can bring a mini-self-presentation of your professional strengths, results and experience to the fore under contact information and before listing work experience.
This form is useful for sending out to point contacts not through websites, but to the personal mail of company employees. The task is to make a resume so that it is “tasty”, the only way you can sell yourself to any employer. Who, having opened his resume, should say: “Yes, this is exactly the candidate who will become part of my team.”
Fourth point: in addition to the resume, I strongly recommend that you prepare a cover letter in addition to the resume, which is prepared for each offer from the employer, where you should write down and convey to him why he should choose you, what interested you in a particular employer, what you and the company can do be useful to each other, which will express the value of your cooperation.
The fifth and last point, which seems to me to be key, is the basic principles of the candidate's behavior during the interview. When meeting with company representatives, I recommend taking a partner position: after all, not only the employer chooses you, but you also choose your future employer.
Behave confidently, openly, demonstrate your key knowledge, skills and abilities, do not be shy sell.
I do not recommend lying at the interview, misleading the employer, embellishing your experience with something that you have never done and about which you do not have a detailed idea, in this case, any clarifying question can undermine your reputation in the eyes of the employer. I also do not recommend demonstrating your superiority to the employer and acting like a “star”, answering questions about experience in the style: “Well, you saw my resume — everything is written there.”
You need to prepare for each interview and, in addition to resumes, cover letters, you should open the employer’s page and read the necessary information about it. It will also help to successfully pass the interview, demonstrating to the employer the applicant's interest in this particular company and awareness of its history, key figures and projects.
The labor market today is undergoing great changes: the era of artificial intelligence (AI) is coming. Russia is already actively testing ChatGPT and its analogues, which have gigantic capabilities for working with a large amount of data. Artificial intelligence tools provide competent answers and ready-made solutions to user requests in various areas, and therefore managers need to understand that it is possible that in the near future AI will be able to replace ordinary and middle-level positions in the accompanying divisions of companies. And the managers themselves will be required to have knowledge and skills to work with artificial intelligence tools.
The value of those categories of employees whose knowledge, skills and abilities cannot or is extremely difficult to replace with the capabilities of AI and similar neural networks will remain. For example, the list of such skills is demonstrated by the well-known «4K theory»: communication skills, cooperation (cohesion and ability to work in teams, group work skills), creativity and critical thinking. In addition, I would supplement this list with such important skills that, in my opinion, every manager should have — this is adaptability and flexibility, which AI cannot replace either.
Today, the labor market is most in demand for representatives of IT professions and, in connection with the latest political events in the country, import substitution specialists. Also, with the era of digitalization, a large role is given to manual labor specialists. In a word, those positions that cannot be replaced by AI will be a priority — this includes all rare working professions, for example, designers, electric and gas welders, installers, architects … Workers whose labor cannot be replaced by a machine will be in demand — this applies not only industrial enterprises, but also construction, medicine and other areas.
The second trend, which is already clearly visible today, is the desire of employers to form a “forge of personnel” within their companies, to train and nurture young specialists for their needs. But at the same time, there remains a need to search for those point and rare specialists who lead these forges. Employers want to get such specialists ready-made, in connection with which the recruitment period increases from a month to six months or even a year, and vacancies can be open for a long time — with a relatively frequent refusal of candidates who do not completely meet the requirements of the employer.
The events of the last year have also affected the labor market: the outflow of personnel abroad has increased, employers have become more flexible in their approach to the working conditions of hired candidates — there are more remote jobs with the involvement of specialists from other cities. At the same time, employees, for their part, began to hold on to their work: the fear of uncertainty increased among candidates, they began to be afraid to go “nowhere”, there were fewer open vacancies and employment opportunities for specialists from the market. In a situation of uncertainty, employers also began to pay closer attention to candidates, choosing only those who are 100% suitable for the vacancy and not opening additional positions. At the same time, there is and will be a growing demand for highly qualified specialists, because professionals are always valuable.”
Elena Limonova, Development Director of the Staff-AP recruitment agency:
“You need to understand that the wage market is growing only in the segment where there is a shortage of personnel — production, construction, logistics. But for candidates applying for managerial positions, salary offers are reduced from 10% to 45%. And if for the «blue collar» it is not a problem to find a job with a decent income, then office workers have high competition for a job offer and it is not easy to find a high-paying position. However, by following certain rules, you can increase the chances of an interesting offer. The first step in the job search is posting resumes on career sites. I will list the main principles of its compilation:
1. Brevity is the soul of wit. Try to fit two pages of experience and education. To do this, indicate only those places of work and functions that are related to the desired position. It is not necessary to list all the seminars and trainings that you have taken, as well as the work experience of 20 years ago.
2. Write about the results and benefits that you brought.
3. Specify responsibilities, professional and personal qualities in accordance with the desired position. For a manager — the organization of processes, for an expert — implementation. For a leader, it is the skill of managing a team (experience with a distributed team is more valuable), for a young specialist, learning and activity.
4. A business photo in its current age without unnecessary details in the frame.
5. Information in the section «about yourself» should be informative: the level of foreign language proficiency, the availability of motor transport rights. A resume is not a place for creativity, and career sites are not dating sites. This is a platform for business communication. Do not surprise a potential employer or recruiter with private details of your personal life, multiple hobbies, football fan status, or culinary habits. Unfortunately, this is common.
The importance of professional and personal qualities depends on the desired position. For an expert, skills and professional qualities are more important, for a leader, personal qualities are more important — leadership, result orientation, adaptability, critical thinking, internal level of control, emotional intelligence.
During the interview, it is not recommended to criticize the former employer, especially if it is an emotional personal assessment. Do not be cunning and appropriate other people's achievements, talk about issues in which there is only a basic theoretical understanding. As a rule, the time of the interview is limited and it is impossible to tell about all the available work experience in one meeting. It is worth mentioning the neat appearance and business style.
The events of the last year have affected the labor market. The outflow of the economically active and able-bodied population, the consolidation of enterprises in the defense industry, the reduction in the number of foreign companies and the decrease in the number of small enterprises — all this makes adjustments and puts the employer before the fact of a lack of hired workers on the one hand and an excess of managers on the other.
Natalya Yurina, head of the recruitment and adaptation department of the MyOffice software development company: “It is important that the look at the photo in the resume is not lifeless. It seems to be a trifle, but it really reads.
The employer will prefer to take an employee with burning eyes: he has a lot of plans and energy to fulfill them. In order for the resume to attract attention, the first line in the responsibilities should answer the questions: what is your position in the company for and what are you paid for? And also contain 5-6 key responsibilities, indicating the size of the team, the size of the company, location.
The rest can be expressed through the prism of results. Show your success and achievements! This is a very important point. Indicate everything that can be digitized in the volume of tasks, documents, percentage of completion, money. Of course, without disclosing the amount, but showing its effectiveness through comparisons. This is the answer to the question why you are an employer, what problems you can solve.
The ideal resume length is 2 pages. No need to paint what was more than 10 years ago, it is no longer relevant and outdated. If your career started as a bartender in a cafe, as a part-time student, and now you are an agile practitioner, remove the information about the first job altogether.
Elena Calacey, HR Director at Cyberprotect: “Let's highlight the top 3 personal qualities that HR specialists pay attention to first of all. The first quality is communication. In any position, you need to communicate not only with your team, but also do not forget about inter-team interaction.
The second key competencies are the ability to make decisions on complex problems and not be afraid to take responsibility for further events. No less important is the «anti-crisis» skills of candidates — employers are always looking for such employees who will be able to cope with their tasks in conditions of stress and constant change.
Yulia Shlyakhova, Talent Acquisition and Development Manager at Unilever in Russia and Belarus: “Prepare an elevator speech for the interview — this is a short self-presentation with the main facts from your biography and track record that may be important for the vacancy in question. Think of 4-5 examples of key skills for a job that you could cite from your work experience. Be prepared to answer questions about the reasons for leaving previous jobs.
For your part, you can also ask questions about the vacancy, about the company. Prepare these questions ahead of time to show you are interested. Remember the standard rules of business etiquette: be on time, dress appropriately for the situation, remember the names of those you are introduced to, be polite, keep the conversation moving. The main thing is to be yourself and remember that not only you are chosen, but you also choose the company.”
Olesya Svistunova, co-founder of the SOFI Consult HR agency: “For a highly paid job, anti-crisis management skills and leadership potential are important. It is important to be able to collect, analyze and systematize information, identify and coordinate business processes. There must be a willingness to constantly learn new things, master new approaches and schemes of work. In the future, this allows you to optimize business systems and make them as autonomous as possible.
Today, workers and technical specialties are in demand on the labor market of the Russian Federation. With the increase in production volumes, there was a shortage of machine operators, engineers, technologists, mechanics, designers of machines and equipment. As always, salespeople are in demand — those who know how to sell a product or service — but in a modern upgrade. Sales are moving away from the level of intrusive phone calls, and employers are looking for good negotiators with an analytical mind and a marketing bias. The top 10 most in-demand professions also include marketplace managers, logistics specialists, marketers and SMM specialists, professions at the intersection of design and IT.
Over the current year, partial mobilization has affected the labor market the most. Many companies have become more willing to hire women, considering them a more reliable workforce. And in the manufacturing sector, interest has appeared in mature candidates: 50+ specialists with solid experience and the potential of mentors.
Yulia Denisova, ICF certified coach, business coach, specialist in the development of oratory skills, business and personal communications: “I recommend paying attention to the skill of self-presentation. This is the ability to clearly and clearly describe oneself and form an expert image in order to interest a potential employer. This skill becomes more and more relevant with the development of competition in freelancing, self-employment, startups. In addition, the ability to present yourself will come in handy to write an effective resume.
I will give some recommendations on how to talk about your professional experience in order to highlight key points:
— We describe our experience in active verbs: implemented, developed, initiated, increased, launched, attracted, collected;
— We emphasize the logical connection between our actions and results: implemented — it allowed;
— We use numbers and comparisons: it was — it became. Example: “For two years she worked as the manager of an offline acting school. During this time, I increased the school's profit by 70% by attracting new clients and introducing new training programs.
The next skill that the candidate needs is the ability to conduct effective negotiations. Such a skill can be useful during business networking: for example, at conferences, forums, exhibitions, where there is a high probability of meeting a potential employer. At the interview stage, the ability to negotiate is also necessary. After all, even a specialist with extensive professional experience, but who does not know how to properly build communication, can fail at an interview. And a less experienced candidate with developed soft skills (soft skills) will easily pass this stage.