How to stand out from other candidates by using your Personal Value Proposition

How to stand out from other candidates when applying for a position -by Debbie Carr

"What is your PVP" = Personal Value Proposition? If you don't know this now is the time to find out, because this is what will set you apart from other candidates. .

In my case, I know immediately what my PVP is. I am an expert recruiter in sales & marketing and I come from a professional speaking background. As I also own a professional speaker bureau this gives me access to many other professional trainers and resources. When I talk to a client or prospect who is Sales Director or Sales Manager, my PVP is that as well as recruiting their sales team, I can also assist them in sales training as well as profiling their top performers to enable me to source people with similar traits.

There are so many recruitment consultants approaching the same clients, unless I stand out from the others and distinguish why I add value over someone else, why would any client choose me over another unless I have a great PVP?

How to create your own PVP

(a) - What is the employer really 'buying' from you and why would they choose you over someone else? This can be difficult to answer so let's break it down:

Have you ever been awarded for something that you have achieved?
Why do you think you were the most successful candidate for your last job?
What achievements did you have with your previous roles?

(b) - Create your 30 second introduction, for example mine is: Debbie Carr is a talented recruitment consultant and comes from a professional speaking background, (my skill base) specialising in recruiting for Sales, Marketing and Events positions (My Industry Experience). Debbie helps her clients find and retain the right people (what I offer) by delivering exceptional candidates (resolves my clients pain) resulting in repeat business for herself. (Proof of my ability). In other words, I offer the value add to my clients because I come from a sales training background and can offer courses and advice on how to train their sales team or with my Events background I can use my networks to source great people.

Going back to Step (a), let's make up an example that you are a Business Development Manager and you won your last few positions over the other candidates because you:

• You demonstrated how you always overachieved your targets
• You won "Best Business Builder Award" Award at the annual conference of your current employer
• You won three major accounts off your competitors when you worked at your previous position

Now we put it together: Debbie Carr is a results driven business development manager (Debbie's skill base) working in the logistics and freight forwarding industries (Debbie's industry experience). Debbie has won major accounts from her competitors (this is what Debbie offers) resulting in company growth of 15% (this is how Debbie helped her previous employer) resulting in winning "Best Business Builder Award 2008" (proof of Debbie's ability)

Other ways to stand out from other candidates

• Ensure your CV is easy to read and professional with dates of previous employers. Always mention your achievements in the CV. It is ok to add a photo but if you do that please ensure it is professional. I once received a CV from a candidate who had a snap shot of himself driving his sports car….hmmmm that didn't impress me too much and more recently a photo of a candidate riding an elephant! I don't really have to say much more about that!
• Follow up your application with a phone call. Recruiters are extremely busy and time-poor, however when a candidate makes a follow up call to me I always, without exception, will ring the candidate back or make sure I thoroughly look at the CV.
• When you are talking to the recruiter, remember you are being 'screened' so ensure you communicate clearly. If it is not a convenient time to talk ask the recruiter to call you back. We respect that you cannot always talk when we call and we are used to this, we know when you can't talk and will ask you to ring us back.
• If you get to the interview stage, dress as if you are going to see the client. I often have people come for interviews dressed down and they tell me that this is because it was 'just the recruitment agency'….Need I say more?
• At the interview you will need to impress your recruiter on why you are the person for this position. Remember it's all about what you can offer your new company, what you achieved for your previous employer, stability - employers spend a lot of money on recruitment and training so loyalty is important and being flexible.
• If you get to the interview stage with the client, make sure you have done our research. If you were to walk into the interview and the interviewer just said to you "so ask me questions" - would you be prepared? If you had not done your research on the company it would be very difficult to be able to start asking the right questions.

Debbie Carr is Director of True Colours Recruitment and Principal of Coyote Management International Speaking Bureau. She can be contacted through the websites for speaking or recruitment advice