Selling Yourself

Resume's. This document shares with your potential employer everything they need to know about you to decide whether you're a fit for the job or not. The catch? You only have one page to show them what you're really capable of. This one page decides whether or not you get an interview. Without an interview, you have no chance of getting the job you want.

With Injaz, you’re already getting an interview – that’s the easy part. But how are you going to let your presidents know what makes you qualified for the position you want to apply for? That’s where your job application and the way you answer your interview questions come in.

For those of you applying to be the heads of departments, you’ve got to sell yourself on your Job Application sheet that I provided to you. The first part is obvious – fill out the position you want, the department you want and your personal information.

Next, you have to talk about your special skills. Why should you get this position over the other people that are applying? If you have excellent typing skills, mention your wpm.

Do you have any special experience with computers? If you do, by all means list them. If you have HTML skills, programming skills, etc – they all can come in handy depending on the position you are applying for. For example, if you want to work in the Finance department and you’re good at Excel, list that. Excel is a great tool for tracking money, figuring out budgets and balances, etc.

If you have any sort of teaching experience, list what you’ve done. This shows that you have what it takes to be a leader, that you know how to manage people. It’s not as easy as it looks – you have to be in charge of a group and you have to plan out what steps your department is going to take to contribute to the business. If you’ve got teaching experience, you’ve probably already done similar planning. It will help you in your role.

The same goes for supervisory experience. Have you ever been the president of another organization at ASK? Have you ever been elected into a position? Again, this will show that you have what it takes to lead and manage a group of people.

If you’ve ever done any work with organizations outside of ASK be sure to list those as well. If they are relevant to the position you are applying for, list it first.

However, don’t limit yourself to this application: If you’ve got more things to say about yourself and why you think you deserve the position you’re applying for, definitely attach a sheet explaining what these positions were and why they are relevant to your position.

If you have any questions at all, please email me. I’ll have a post up on Thursday about interview questions and how to answer them. Good luck everyone!