Persuasion sells yourself, shows you can meet employer's needs

By Andrea Kay
Gannett News Service

How do you sell yourself in an interview or letter?

If you're smart, you don't. You persuade.

This is not just semantics. It's the difference between trying to get someone to do what you want and motivating someone to take action. The latter is much more powerful.

I see people trying to sell themselves all the time, blabbing on and on about where they worked, job responsibilities and degrees.

This might be interesting to you and important, but it will not get the decision-maker's attention. It could even put them to sleep if you focus on it at the wrong time.

If you want to motivate someone, reveal information in a way that not only influences how that person sees you, but also gets him sitting on the edge of his chair waiting to hear more.

There are several key steps to persuading, says Tom Sant, author of "Persuasive Business Proposals" (Amacom). Although his focus is on how to win customers, clients and contracts, the principles are the same whether you present yourself to an employer in person or in writing.

The first step is to address the customer's needs — in this case the potential employer. "You demonstrate you understand the customer's needs, issues or problems," Sant says.

Obviously, you have to know what those are. You can figure this out to some degree by thinking about why the position you're applying for exists. What problems would a job like this solve? What types of problems or issues does this industry or company face?

If you don't have a clue, you're not thinking it through. Research the industry. Sure, you can ask, "What problems does this position address? How does this position make a difference in the company?" But there's no excuse for going into an interview clueless about the problems of the industry and how the job you do makes a dent in them.

"Focus on your customers' pain to get their attention," Sant says.

When you understand their needs, you're reducing their anxiety, he says. By showing them that you get it — what they need — it shows you

listened and understood what they told you (or you researched), which raises their confidence that what you propose will be appropriate for them, he says. As a job hunter, you're proposing that your skills and expertise are what they need to solve their problems.

The next step is to focus on the outcomes or results your potential boss wants to achieve. You need to explain how she will see results by investing in your services.

For example, you can help her expand the company's sales territory, which could result in so many millions of dollars. Sant says focus on their gain to get their commitment.

Another important step in persuasion is to prove you can do what you say you can. This is where you talk about your skills, knowledge and relevant examples from experience.

If you're in project management in information technology, you could tell about the time you created dozens of manuals documenting technical processes, creating consistent policies and allowing someone else to jump in and take over a process if the other person was ill.

You'll be tempted to rattle off your employment history. But if it doesn't address the most important issue that motivates someone to buy — resolving a problem — you're wasting your breath.