Key Points
How to make yourself an asset to any company
Hello, I read your profile and you seem to have work experience as an Artist, Lawyer, Doctor and Chemist. Right now you may feel like you hit the home run, jack of all trades. Your resume looks full and your shoulders are held high in self admiration.
Sorry to burst your bubble. Companies hire professionals, not people who cannot specialize in one job role. If I need a doctor, I will look for someone with over 3 years experience as a doctor and not someone who has had 3 different job roles in 3 years.
If you have been rolling in the unemployment market for a while, unable to find suitable work and you are guilty of this. This may be why you are yet to land a job. You need to define what you can offer the company you are applying to. If you are into customer service, focus there. If you think you are better at Marketing then describe yourself as a marketer. List your experience as a marketer and write a cover letter specific to that job role.
How do you focus skills and define yourself on your resume?
Start with your short description. Write about what makes you the best at what you do. For example: “I have been working in customer service for two years. During this time I have worked on improving myself. I have taken classes and courses to ensure I can deal with difficult clients.”
Next, focus on your skill set. What skills do you have that make you desirable? If you are a Sales Agent being persuasive is a great skill to have. Avoid putting useless skills there and ensure you limit your skills to ten things.
Next item on the list, what do you list as your experience? What experience have you had in marketing? (If you are applying for a marketing job). Remove the work you did in high school when you used to help clean pools and keep your resume relevant.
Ensure you either provide contact information of previous employers or include the line: References are availability upon request.
How can you make yourself an asset?
There is no shortcut to greatness. You have to put in time and effort to become an asset at the company you work for. So how can you begin this journey that will lead you down the line of success?
You can start by becoming reliable. Are you someone that people can depend on? Do you get the job done? Are you the type of person your Boss can rest easy when you are assigned a task or do you need to be micromanaged? Being reliable means you are able to meet your targets/deadlines. It means you have great work ethics and time management skills.
You need to make smart decisions. By this I mean that you have to become a person who uses initiative, a person who does not require to be told what to do step-by-step. Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering food. Half way through the chef calls you into the kitchen and asks you. “Please can you tell me how to make your burger? I have done this before but I am just calling you to confirm”. You will most likely become very confused and you will wonder if the chef is a professional. This is the same rule that applies to you. A client says, I need to know now and you know the answer but you are too scared to say anything. You call your boss to confirm because you are unable to make decisions by yourself. Get ready to hold that same post for the next ten years buddy.
Give every job 100% effort. When you are known as a person who goes over and beyond for projects or clients you will catch the eye of the senior management. They may have never seen you but seeing your work or hearing about you will definitely make you someone no company will want to lose. I have received five star appraisals and feedback because of this one rule. I will not put my name on project that is shabbily put together or work done in a rush.
In conclusion, I hope this article will be able to help shed some light on what areas you can improve on. Please like and share with your friends.
