"What Do Employers Want?
Find What Skills Employers Want
And
Key Attributes Employers Value...
Then Demonstrate Them!"

What do employers want?

In a nutshell they want YOU to possess the key skills and attributes they value highest.

Demonstrate them through the course of the interview, and the jobs as good as yours!

And when I say demonstrate, you have to give examples of how you have used these key skills to achieve previous objectives. Using tangible business language to describe the results of your actions. For example, "I used my problem solving skills to smooth a critical client problem, so saving our company the loss of a $450K per annum account"

PROOF! PROOF! PROOF!

But what do employers want? Will the job specification give me all the information I need?

I would say most job specs will give you 50 -75% of what the employers is really looking for. It's low for a number of reasons, often the spec is written by someone other than the person who will be responsible for the new role, often boiler-plate job specs are used for consistency and speed.

Also the spec will likely contain the key skills employers look for, as critical skills are hard to overlook. But the less obvious skills and most valued personality traits, are nearly always overlooked. And discovering these secondary skills and personality traits are your ticket to interview mastery. Because with them you gain the keys to your interviewers logical and emotional drivers, and Job offers that lies beyond. What do employers want? The answer is no two employers will be looking for exactly the same basket of key skills, and personality attributes. Which is why its so valuable for you to do extra research to flush out these hidden gems. However with all the research that has been done into successful recruiting there are a number of skills and attributes that always come top of any employer pole. These breaks down into technical skills sets such as accounting, lawyer, project manager, CEO, and soft skills or personality attributes or traits such as leadership, problem solving, mentoring, listening skills, honesty, creative thinking, the lists go on...

The real secret to acing interviews
is to research and build a clear picture of the unique basket of
technical and soft skills your target employers is really looking for.

As an example the following is a pole of the top 10 skills employers look for.

• Ability to follow instruction
• Leadership
• Willingness to learn
• Decision making
• Problem solving
• Communication skills
• Time management
• Organisation and Planning
• Computer skills
• Conflict management

If you can identify both the critical technical skills and soft skills / personality traits or attributes that apply directly to your target role and organisation, you'll be way ahead of all your interview competition

Carry on Reading :-

If you're struggling to get invites for interview, the most likely problem is with your Cover Letter's and Resume / CV.

CV / Resume Objective statement – This is your “irresistible offer” an attention grabbing headline that forms the cornerstone of all your most powerful marketing messages, be they delivered in writing or verbally through the interview process.

The CV / Resume itself.

Note: A CV / Resume without an Objective Statement are FAR weaker marketing documents; but if you’re uncomfortable really drilling down to the specifics, and prefer a broader approach you can use a CV / resume profile or summary statement instead.

You’ll also need cover and follow up letters / emails.

PROOF! PROOF! PROOF!

I've emphasised the word PROOF in a couple of places, simply because proof is your greatest weapon in beating off your interviewing competition, and turning interviews into job offers.

And when I say proof, I don't mean great references. Yes, I hope you have these, but references don't get taken until the end of the interview process - this maybe too late!

The next couple of chapters discuss two of the best job interviewing tips I know, these are tactics that will GUARANTEE you stand out from the crowd...

A Job Interview Brag Book or file containing “proof of” achievements, qualifications, self development, client and colleague testimonials. Though not often used potential employer’s love the effort and the PROOF of achievement these interview props provide.

The other optional document that you may want to assemble is a 30 – 60 – 90 day plan. This is a breakdown of what you’ll do when you’re in post. This is the ultimate job interview prop, and get’s staggering results for the very few people who take the trouble to use it. This is optional, and not for every role, but if your truly committed to your target role, this will elevate you above ALL your competition.

I would then recommend learning a interviewing answering technique; I suggest using the STAR story method for answering tough interview questions. This interview question answering framework ensures you include all the critical ingredients wrapped in a format that is enjoyable for your interviewer and easy for you to remember.

Prepare your intelligent and quality affirming questions to ask the interviewer, and when you should use them…

Finally; in terms or job interview prep… PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

 

 

Be prepared for the types of job interview you may face, competency, behavioural, structured; panel, case study, group and possibly stress interviewing techniques are commonly used.

We’ll also cover interview etiquette and the “not what you say but how you say it”, confidence and body language stuff that can undo the best laid plans if not managed.

After your interview; email or pen a thank you letter to all who interviewed you. It really does make a difference if it’s a tight decision.

 

Finally!! – I bet you thought it was never coming… successful Offer negotiation.

You haven’t gone through all the above NOT to get the OFFER!

Thank you for staying with me through all the interviewing answers, I promise that’s the end of it, and would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best of luck (though you’ve made your own!) with all the interviews you may have.

If you'd like our free e-Guide "Interview Sniper" containing ALL the detail in one place, please give us your name and email in the form above, and we'll send you the link.

Thanks again Richard.