How Much Are You Worth - Your Employment Value

If you're considering a future career move or you're already looking for a new role, you probably have a relatively good idea of what remuneration you can expect to receive from a new position. 

Employment value is not what salary should you expect to be paid, but what specific value can you offer a potential employer?

How do you know your real 'value' and how to communicate this to a potential employer?

Some facts for you to consider:

• Eurostat statistics show Ireland's current rate of unemployment to be 5.4% as of March 2019. 
• Over the previous 12 months (March 2018 5.8%), we've seen a steady decrease in unemployment, which is good news.
• Currently, there are 131,000 people unemployed in Ireland.

What does this all mean for you and your job hunt? 

Well, it means there is a lot of competition for skilled people out there across every industry. As you will have noticed, there's a lot of vacancies advertised at the moment. On top of this, companies and recruiters approach you daily, asking if you would be interested in one of their opportunities.

No doubt, you'll consider most of the opportunities to be average opportunities.

But what about the exceptional roles?

The ones that offer the career trajectory, lifestyle and remuneration you're looking for? 

How can you be considered an 'exceptional candidate' with skills and qualities that are highly desired and are in demand for exceptional roles?

Now is the perfect time for you to truly understand your employment value.

Your CV and LinkedIn profile is an expression of who you are, your qualifications, where you have worked and the experience you have gained. 

Going further, your CV and LinkedIn profile should convey the value you can offer to a future employer, in a way that the employer can easily see that you are a high performer who can deliver exceptional outcomes.

Outcomes, achievements, call them what you will, but this is the stuff that gets the hiring manager and recruiters interested. Hiring managers want to know "what has this person actually achieved in their career" and "what can they achieve for me."

Where possible, these 'Achievements' need to be quantifiable, ideally in terms of euro value (saved/gained/billed), or an amount of time saved/gained, or a percentage increase/decrease.

Examples:

You may have been the lead on implementing a new process or system, which is an excellent experience, but what did it do for your company? Save them money, if so, how much in real terms? Improved efficiency? Super, how much time was saved in working hours? Or how much faster was the overall new processing times as a result?

Your 'Achievements' should be listed in bullet point format to ensure they stand out within the broad information you are portraying.

What is it that sets you apart from all other candidates looking for similar positions? It is critical not to present your skills in general terms. Be specific about the actions and results that support your value statement.

For example, do not merely say, "I increased our profit last year." Instead, say "In my current position, I partner directly with the Sales Director for Supermarkets. I was conducting a review of our sales of Product Z. In this review, I found that we sold more units of product Z in a smaller size than we did in a larger size, which is what I expected. I discovered that we could increase our sales and profit if the supermarket were to put the smaller item on a promotional display rather than the larger item. I spoke to the Sales Director about my findings and suggested that her team might wish to consider pushing this as a new policy. Once she reviewed the potential benefit to her department, she implemented my findings as a new sales policy. This recommendation increased the profitability and sales of product Z. Financially, the Sales Director saw her team increased profit by 7% and sales by 3%. 

At an interview, employers will again want to know "what can you do for my team and our business?", they will expect you to be able to impress them with your achievements and outcomes. You must know this inside and out, know your figures backwards and deliver them with confidence.

Inevitably hiring managers will want to know about a challenging situation you were exposed to, you should be ready to discuss what the problem was, how you resolved the issue, and what the end gain was for the company. You might have refined a process that increased efficiency or reduced waste. Any activity that you took part in that improved company financials is a good thing to discuss

YOUR EMPLOYMENT VALUE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOVE AND BEYOND THE JOB DESCRIPTION

Finishing Remarks

Hiring managers want to know what skills you possess that will help them reach and exceed the business goals. From a selfish viewpoint, they'll want you to support and achieve their professional goals along the way too. In essence, you become a reflection of them.

Hiring managers generally have an idea of the type of candidate they are seeking to fill a position. Though it is not possible to know what the manager is thinking, by taking preliminary actions, you can help to ensure that you are putting your best foot forward when marketing yourself for employment.

Know without a doubt what value you bring to the table, and be confident in your strengths and abilities.

By clearly positioning these, demonstrating your VALUE on your profiles, and giving a clear summary during the interview will set you apart.