What Do You Bring to the Table?
8:30 AM
If you're still in college and feel like you're unqualified, join the club: there's a whole group of recent graduates out here who feel the same way. Sometimes I look at "entry-level" job description and I'm like what? How in the world am I supposed to know how to do all of this?? I just graduated! It's hard to feel like you're truly qualified for a position because you don't know what makes you different from the other candidates. So, when you're applying for a job, ask yourself these questions and you'll see what you can (and will) bring to a new position:
- Gender. According to the U.S. Census that measured resident population by sex from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014, there are nearly 4 million more women in the United States than men. Even though there's more of us, capitalize on that! A closed friend of mine is the president of the medical honor society at our university. Not only is she the only female executive board member, she's the only female in the organization. Don't go signing up for orbs that you don't care about or get involved with groups that you hate to be the only female. Just think: in her interview, she can say that she headed an organization of nearly fifty males and, in her presidency, that chapter received regional and national recognition and record-breaking community service turnout. How great do you think that sounds in an interview? Many of the jobs that I applied to were very male-centric. When I got hired, it gave them a brand new female outlook on the company.
- Leadership. Perfect Segway into our next point: are your leader? Showing that you have leadership experience that pertains to your career field shows that you take initiative and guess what? Employers like that. But I'm sure you already know that so let me tell you what employers don't like. Expecting to eat at the table but not remembering to bring a dish. Showing up late and expecting a seat at the adult table. Constantly waiting for someone to tell you what to do and expecting to make your own plate. (That last one was a bit of a stretch but you got the idea.) Leadership and initiative go hand and hand, guys.
- Ethnic background. Most people don't like to discuss their ethnic background, especially when they're looking for a job. But think about it: if you're Hispanic and grew up around a lot of Spanish-speaking people, you have insight into that culture. Not saying that you should write "Fluent in Spanish" on your resume if you aren't, but a company whose key demographic is young Hispanic people are going to care about who you grew up with and what you know about the culture living there.
- Adversity. Merriam-Webster defines adversity as a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune. Well guess what? Everyone in the world has overcome adversity. Whether you finished your paper at 2 am only to discover you'd followed the wrong prompt (been there) or locked your keys in your car and soon after realized your spare key is also in the car (done that). But no surprise here - it doesn't matter what it was. What matters is how you handled it. When you ran out of butter, did you waste time freaking out or did you improvise with some applesauce to make the best freaking sweet potato casserole ever?
Regardless of your major or career path, asking yourself these simple questions and focusing on what makes you perfectly you will help you tremendously when applying and interviewing for jobs. At the end of the day, it's not what you say. There are twenty thousand other people out there that joined the same orgs and are taking the same classes. How you can effectively communicate what you've done will always give more insight on what you can bring to the table.
What do you bring to the table? How would you prep for this question before an interview?
0 comments