Help with Job Application Forms

Help with Job Applications

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ?
* to increase your company profits / revenues
* to demonstrate you are a high performer
* to satisfy your customer / clients
* to improve quality or service to reduce costs
* to increase quality
* that you are proud of
* to increase efficiency

HAVE YOU ?
* trained/supervised others
* received awards/decorations
* instituted new procedures
* reduced inventory levels
* identified problems
* installed new systems
* increased safety
* decreased scrap
* reduced absenteeism

ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS SUCH AS:
* What were the results ?
* What did this mean ?
* What could the company do now ?
* So what ?
* For what ?
* By how much ?
* How many ?
* Which ones ?
* Why were you chosen ?

Employers are far more interested in what you can do for them, than in what skills or abilities you have as an individual. The interviewer will try to establish what benefits you might bring to the organisation and where those benefits outweigh those of other candidates.

Your CV should be presented as a benefits package to the your prospective employer, a useful tip before the interview is to practice putting together useful phrases starting with:-

Which means that
Which resulted in
So that
The benefit was
We gained because
The advantage was

Employers are far more interested in what you can do for them, than in what skills or abilities you have as an individual. The interviewer will try to
establish what benefits you might bring to the organisation and where those benefits outweigh those of other candidates.

Your CV should be presented as a benefits package to the your prospective employer, a useful tip before the interview is to practice putting together useful
phrases starting with:-

Which means that
Which resulted in
So that
The benefit was
We gained because
The advantage was


TO EMPHASISE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS, STRENGTHS, SUCCESSES
QUANTIFY FACTS WHERE YOU CAN: USE POSITIVE ACTION VERBS
WHERE YOU CAN.


POSITIVE/ACTION VERBS:

STAR EXAMPLES

S.T.A.R. represents three types of information to demonstrate behaviours and accomplishments, or in other words how your key skill
qualifiers were applied in the work environment. S/T - describes the Situation or Task preceding the A - or Action expressing specific
activities taken by you. R - is the Result describing the impact or consequence of the actions taken. The results are your 'value' and will be
expected by hiring managers to screen and select candidates. Your STAR examples should reflect as much as possible your depth of knowledge, level of
ability and value for each key skill/qualifier.


KEY SKILL/QUALIFIER MARKET RESEARCH:
Situation While in the Consumer Division as Product Manager, assigned to a team of product developers on a high risk product.

Task / Action I performed market research using PC based systems and customer
surveys to identify historical trends for yearly projections and successfully restructured the proposals.

Result This effort eliminated redundancy and efficiency
providing opportunity for success.





STAR EXAMPLES

The results are your 'value' and will be expected by hiring managers to screen and select candidates. Your STAR examples should reflect as much as
possible your depth of knowledge, level of ability and value for each skill / qualifier. Identify the time frame (begin - end dates) for each STAR example
and monetary or time savings to the company if you can.

KEY SKILL
TIME FRAME _______________

Situation




Task / Action


Result