Make yourself attractive to employers

In any market, but perhaps now more than ever, it’s really worth considering what makes you attractive to an employer and what you can do to maximise your chances of being where you want to be.
If you want to understand how to boost your employability in the market today, read on.

Experience

Your experience and exposure to specific types of work can be just as important as the practical experience you build up. It’s vital to manage your career to gain as much exposure in particular fields that interest you, especially if your long-term ambitions demand such experience. Being skilful in what you do and having a demonstrable track record is the most important quality.

Qualifications

Some roles demand specific qualifications, but all things being equal you need to work on your education as a differentiator. If you were not a first time passer, or the Business School you attended was not high ranking then focus on other areas of your education. Enrolling in personal development courses that are relevant to your task and make a difference to how you are perceived or how you execute your role can have just as much impact on your value to your current employer or indeed, future employers. Training people is an expensive business, factoring in the absence from the workplace as well as the course fees themselves. Employers are attracted to well-trained business people and those that have bothered to make a concerted effort to become real experts in their fields.

Performance

Any hiring, pay and promotion decisions are primarily based on individual performance. Meeting targets, motivating a team, making good on development plans, being positive, loyal, being reliable and determined to succeed is what being a classic high performer is about. Your calibre is tangible and obvious to most that come into contact with you, whether an interviewer or your current employer. Working on your performance is the first thing you should do to boost your value to an organisation. Sounds pretty obvious, but how many of us really do it? Studies indicate that most of us work at just 40% of our potential. Now that’s food for thought.

Perception

How you are viewed by your colleagues and managers can have a bearing on your value to an employer. If the perception is that you are no better than average then it will be hard for your manager to justify a higher value of you, even if the reality is that you have over-performed. Visibility and exposure to the decision makers is key. Know who the stakeholders in your future are and work on the image they have of you.

Responsibility

The number of people reporting into you is an indicator of your status in the organisation and the value it places on you. If this dynamic should change drastically, or the scope of your role grow suddenly, it is reasonable to think that your net value to the organisation has increased. Clearly seeking out positions of responsibility to increase your value to you employer is only a viable tactic if you are comfortable that you are fulfilling expectations in your current role.

Geography

Location can have a huge impact on your ability to fulfil your career ambitions, not to mention your salary. We all know about London weighting but there is an ever changing hierarchy amongst British towns, which our consultants are best placed to advise you on. But there may be other costs to moving to or from the city around work-life balance that people will have to consider on a personal basis.

Industry

It may be that your skills are transferable to numerous industries and that you could switch seamlessly tomorrow into a more fulfilling role whilst performing the same function. But increasingly commercial awareness within an industry is key to success when there’s a lot of competition in the market. Wielding deep industry expertise can put you at the top of a short list. Becoming an expert is a sure-fire way to improve your worth.

Economic climate

There’s no escaping the importance of the general state of the economy. It affects us all. Your value as an employee can increase in times of economic hardship should you be managing the firm’s last remaining multi-year contract or it may highlight you as nothing more than a superfluous overhead. It’s a factor which pervades all that we do in business and is never far from our minds, but one intrinsic to our current worth.

So – in summary of all these things. Here’s the rundown of what to take into account when assessing your employability.

1. Your Experience
2. Your Qualifications
3. Your past performance
4. Peoples’ perception of you
5. The responsibility you hold
6. Your geographical location
7. Your professional location (industry)
8. The economic climate

Take all of these into account and we believe you’re onto a winning formula for boosting your chances at survival in the current market.

Good Luck!