Has Your Pitch A Jobhunter's Compelling Narrative?

A holiday week flew by where I am at the moment. The broadsheets were keenly aware of this. With their slurry of articles displaying such clickbait titles as this one from London’s Telegraph; have you been working at the same company for too long. Complete with cheeky masthead pic of smiling Arsenal coach, divisively twenty years into his reign, Arsene Wenger.

After my initial smile at the telling insight, “special projects” is code for “too expensive to get rid of”, the author’s advice turned to becoming “achievement-based” in your thinking. I précis;

Changing “I was head of sales which involved reporting to the finance director” to, “As head of sales, I increased revenues by 95%” means you’re no longer “Candidate X,” rather you’re “the guy who doubled sales”

And so nailing the corporate catnip of a “compelling narrative”.

Leaving aside the scope for riffing on this example, taken from our world for a reason you hope, and the time say, my sales meant my firm’s owner could buy himself a Bentley, there’s a clear sanity check sprouting here.

It’s the common mistake of placing activity before impact. Names ahead of numbers. Job titles above award titles.

So does your pitch put technicals to the fore, leaving achievements floating unknown in the distant ether?

The impact here in this career tip is not a benefit but a value. Are you telling customers what you do, or what they’ll do? If not the latter, then you’ll be doomed to be seen as an also-ran, a mere “Vendor X”.