Image by Paul Dufour — from Unsplash. (Thanks Paul)

How to get the job you want #3

The skills gap — how do I make myself attractive?

We’re half way through our job-hunt journey.

We’ve explored our options and narrowed down our personal criteria for what we are looking for. We are in control. We know what we are aiming at and feel confident making our choices. Now, how do we get our skills noticed? In fact, what are our skills? Lord.

No matter how many times you’ve hit apply, no matter how many times you’ve dusted off your cv or updated your LinkedIn the questions remain the same. How can I make myself attractive to the companies I love? What is my value in the market? What can I do with my skill set? What if I want to make a huge leap into something different? Are my skills transferrable? Why am I not hearing back from companies I’ve applied to?

Setting yourself up for success has a lot to do with alignment of skill and a lot to do with mirroring. If you’re going for a similar role in a similar industry, your job is easier than someone who is making a drastic change. The honest truth, for those of you in the latter camp, is that you might have to pivot, practice and progress your way to your dream job. A process that can take years. Not every business is open to accept career-changers and that’s ok. You might have to step sideways before you can step up.

But, you can do it. And it is so worth it.

Tell me. What are you profoundly great at? What can you do better than anyone else? What value can you bring to a business above and beyond anyone else? Where do you succeed when others have struggled?

The number one reason why people don’t get the job is because they have not clearly demonstrated that they have the attitude and skills required to do the job well. This isn’t the same as being capable or talented enough. You only really get one shot at the title so you gotta swing hard. If you use a cv and cover letter it really has to make an impact. If you use your LinkedIn, there are some quick and easy steps to set yourself up for the trophy. (More on this in the next post). The second reason is that you are just not quite what they need right now. That’s disappointing, but at the end of the day that’s okay too.

My friends, the crux of the issue is this: Companies want to see people who have already done the exact same job they are hiring for. And candidates want to move on to a role where they can learn something new whilst bringing all their skills to the table. Enter the problem: the skills gap.

And the solution: skill alignment.

Cal Newport describes what I am calling skill alignment as ‘career capital’ in his book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You. He argues that career capital can be used to leverage a career on your own terms, as it refers to the possession of a valuable skill set that you cultivate and then narrate. If you have one, great. If not, no drama. If you’re breathing, you’re valuable. You just need to shop, select then shine.

Importantly for career-changers, there is a growing need for flexibility emerging within our modern work place. Moulding to circumstances and wearing different hats are the cornerstones of building an agile business. Businesses in 2018 will have to be more agile than ever so the market is primed for capable, intelligent, brave individuals like you. Even a generalist skill set is highly valuable when aligned properly to an opportunity. No matter your background, or your direction, you can align your skills and attributes to get the job you want.

So first of all, think about where you have added authentic value in your previous roles and companies. So let’s look at our skills — outside of the roles that we let define us.

1. What skills and attributes enabled you to really step up and make a difference to your team or during big projects?
2. Where have you truly excelled and what was the outcome?
3. What would your colleagues say has been your biggest success to date?
4. What would the people you manage say is your ‘superpower’? Or what would your boss say?
5. What would you happily do every day for the rest of your working life?
6. Describe a ‘peak moment’ in your working life (a moment you were ‘in flow’ and felt like you were in your element) and ask yourself: what made that moment so special, what was I doing, who and what contributed to making it, what circumstances helped to produce it, do I want to do it again?
7. Where have you failed and what did you do in spite of it?

Dig into those experiences — this is your life we are looking at, not just your cv.

Go past the tasks themselves and uncover the skills you demonstrated that enabled you to succeed at the task. Write them down. Also keep note of good examples of these moments for use later on. Be sure not to write the task you do, but the skills that make you good at it. You don’t just sell — you negotiate, you listen, you communicate, you build trust, you follow through on promises, you are commercial….

Go deeper still and identify (generic but attractive) attributes such as grit, ability to learn quickly, initiative, creativity and the ability to fail that enhances your skill level. Think of these attributes as multipliers to your skill set. Jot these thoughts down too, they will provide the backbone for your applications and are things which can be transferred.

So, we now know roughly what we are looking for. And we also know what we have to offer. Identifying organisations which will value you as your entire whole whilst giving you the right conditions to thrive should become easier when mapping your decision criteria across to your skills, desires and needs.

Tip: The attributes you identified above will crop up in company manifestos, job descriptions, other people’s LinkedIn profiles (of those you envy/admire) or cultural values and principles.

So, if you are looking for businesses that will value YOU, do your research. Look online and find similar words that match your skill set and your attributes. Look on job descriptions that echo the same language. You want the role to reflect YOU rather than to force yourself to reflect the role.

This will help to guide you in identifying places that would suit you personally. Any vocabulary overlap in job descriptions and company websites with your work values and skills/attributes is a clue you are on the right track. Then, mapping yourself onto these roles becomes easy and fun. Mirror the job description, make it easy for them to say yes to you.

Tool: If you are still unsure what sure where your strengths lie after mining your past experiences, then check out Lesson #3: Self-Knowledge and the One-minute Strength-Finder Trick from our Escape Lessons Series. This trick is designed to help accelerate your understanding of your skills. Give it a go.

If you are getting feedback from applications that you’re still not quite right even after doing all the above, then use it as fire! Use it to up-skill, to pivot, to learn.

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. — Brené Brown

If you need to up-skill yourself then it is a calling to become who you were meant to be.

If you find yourself here then firstly, understand why you want to upgrade your skills (why, why, why?) and identify which ones you want to master according to where you want to go. Reach out to people who have already mastered the skills you are interested in and ask to pick their brains.

Resources to learn a new skill:

1. 45 free online courses you can finish this year.
2. Head to future learn and take a course.
3. Join your local coding school and upgrade your IT skills
4. Come along to an Escape the City event and learn how to pivot in your career or start a business.
5. Check out sites such as upwork and prosky to practice what you already know and adventure into freelance work.
6. Go to Skillshare and teach, learn and share your talents whilst learning new ones.
7. Coursera offers interactive online courses you can take in your spare time.
8. Find some credible podcasts to listen to and absorb information from those who have ‘been there’. Such as rocketship or one of these entrepreneurial podcasts.
9. Reach out to someone you admire, working the space you wish to move to and ask them to show you how they do what they do.
10. Go to meetup.com and find likeminded people who are doing things that interest you and speak to people. Getting off your page and into the world is the best way to test whether you are really committed to making a change.
11. Get out there and teach yourself.

”Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” — Jaime Lyn

The next two posts will cover:

#4 → how to write a good CV; we’ll look at how to intelligently arrange all of the above into a one-pager that will get interest.

#5 → how to demonstrate your potential; it is easy to say what you’ve done, but how can you let companies know what you are capable of?

(And if you’re lucky: bonus material we will cover blockers: what is stopping you? Allies: who can help you?)

If you liked this post, please put two hands up. It lets me know I am on the right track and should keep sharing and lets others know this is good stuff.

Check back tomorrow for the next instalment. If you have any thoughts, would like me to answer specific job-hunting questions or even review your cv, hit me up on LinkedIn or tweet me @mellyndaniamh. I’d love to hear from you.