Best 3 Ways to Market Yourself to Future Employers

In our previous blog, we referred to various ways, on How to Get Noticed by Recruiters. This included how to market yourself and the brand you portray. We looked into what prospective employers see when they look at your CV or online presence. In this article we look at the best 3 ways to market yourself which will enable you to your skills and experience to ensure you showcase the best version of yourself to future employers.

Throughout the whole recruitment and interview process, hiring managers are determined to know if you are a good fit and what value you can add. What will set you apart from the competition?

The importance of knowing how to sell your skills.

First impressions are very important. The first time hiring managers or recruiters will be exposed to who you are and what you can do will be through your CV and any other online profile you are on. It is your responsibility to sell your skills and experience and stand out from other potential candidates.

Today, companies are not just looking to hire someone for the position, but rather an individual that is a good fit for the company and will fit in with their culture. Most companies look past the extensive list of skills and experience and will rather look for team members whose brand is in line with the company’s values and culture. By marketing your brand correctly, you will help hiring managers to understand how the company will benefit by appointing you.

1.     Build Your brand.

This is the first impression you give the possible employers, whether it is through an online CV, online profile or social media profile, your description of who you are, what you love and what you can do should always be consistent through social media, online professional profiles, applications, and your CV.

Your brand should be built around the following:

• Professional photo and/or an introduction video can be included.
• Logo or colour combination on your profile/CV.
• A personal statement or quote that will establish your personal views and build your brand.
• Easy to follow layout with highlights about , background, strengths, achievements and skills along with the position you are seeking.

Remember to keep it simple but memorable for hiring managers to differentiate you from other candidates.

2.     Demonstrate your soft skills.

When screening candidates for interviews, an ideal candidate would be a combination between the right personality, soft skills (example: communication skills), and hard skills (example: specific technical skills for the job).

Experts have found that hard skills may lead to an interview, however it is the soft skills and personality traits that ensure that you get the job. In the modern workplace, soft skills and your personality traits are highly valued and will ensure that teams are more productive and effective.  

It is therefore imperative to ensure that you showcase your soft skills as well as personality traits when creating online profiles or your CV. It is also to remember that each Company has a specific Culture. If we look at the table below, in short it highlights how each position within a company needs different skills and how certain personality traits is a match for that position, there are also culture fit assessments, to ensure the best skill-set is matched not only for the position, but for the company as well.

Recent studies have further confirmed that certain personality traits are a better match for certain positions, the study was based on the Big 5 personality trait test. Here is a summary of how a certain personality type is related to a certain role.

Big 5 personality traits

*Please note that roles have various attributes required for those roles, the above is just a breakdown for the purpose of an explanation of the concept.

Most job descriptions indicate a list of soft skills needed for the position, use this to your advantage by demonstrating how you have used and applied your skills and abilities to improve your company. Be specific when describing a scenario. Should the job description not indicate a list of soft skills required use the internet to your advantage and research soft skills required to enable you to showcase your skills. 

This is also a great learning curve to help you identify a lack of skills or new skills that are high in demand. There are a lot of free online courses that can help you to learn new skills.

3.     Online presence.

The days of faxing or dropping off hard copies are something of the past. Your whole work-life must be portrayed online. You can publicly share your skills, personality, interests in certain companies, and pages you like for potential employers to view.  Ensure that all content is appropriate and positive, as future employers might catch a glimpse of something that might be to your detriment.

To better showcase your skills you can even have built-in links or a website that features previous projects. Social media in the past have given companies great insight into the individual’s values and if they will be compatible with the company’s values and culture. With an online presence, you can always include posts relevant to the company you are applying for, that will also capture their attention.

The key is to stay active and not create a profile and let it gather dust. Post updates and share interesting pieces where you voice your opinion on relevant matters. Tweet live updates when attending events. Being active on your accounts will help you get noticed by recruiters.

In Closing.

To know what value and culture you are looking for in a company, you have to know who you are and what you portray to hiring managers. Like selling products, it is a development of new concepts and the ways you can market yourself is an ever-evolving journey.

Although we’ve discussed just a few ways to market yourself online, these are by no means the only methods. If you have other ideas or strategies for putting your best foot forward, please share them in the comments below. And finally, remember that it takes time and effort to build a strong personal brand. Be patient, keep at it, and before you know it you’ll be landing your dream job!