Why should you be given the job over someone else? The vast majority of people I speak to in my role as a career coach stutter and laugh nervously when faced with this question. It requires them to consider their own capabilities in comparison to others and find themselves better positioned to fulfil the obligations of the role. It takes a confident person, with strong self-esteem, to be able to highlight their particular value to the role they are applying for.

I have recently volunteered to work with people experiencing unemployment and I took them through the process of writing a résumé. Key to being able to put this document together is the development of self-awareness: you need to know yourself to sell yourself. This involves getting to know your strengths and skills, your knowledge, how your qualifications impact your work options, together with your areas for learning. It requires you to think about what you want to do each day, focusing less on the job title and more on the actual daily grind, while also thinking about what your minimum requirements are regarding salary, location, hours etc., which will, in turn, allow you to identify what you will and won’t negotiate on for the right job. 

Writing these elements down can be a really important part of the process, as it gives you something tangible to see and read about yourself that connects you directly to the world of work. This is the first step to being able to develop your pitch and position yourself effectively in relation to the job that you are applying for.

One of the biggest challenges that people experiencing unemployment face is losing their sense of self-identity and with that comes a loss of self-worth. I have previously written about this phenomenon where many of us feel defined by our job and once we lose that job, we struggle to fill the void and as such, the longer we find ourselves without work, the harder it is to perceive our intrinsic value to a prospective employer. Why would a hirer choose to hire us over someone else?

This is a question that we need to be able to answer to present a strong application for the jobs that we apply for. Too often we talk ourselves out of the role by trying to appear humble, when the trick is to really walk the line between modesty and arrogance. Walking this line requires us to understand the value that we bring to the role and to find the confidence to share it with others.

Writing the list of skills, tools, qualifications, goals, and knowledge down allows you to identify your particular areas of expertise that are applicable to the job. This knowledge arms you with the ability to identify suitable opportunities with greater confidence because you have conscious, tangible awareness of what you bring to the table and what you are looking for.

Knowledge is power and this appropriation of self-knowledge is one way that you can take the power back when you are experiencing unemployment. When you are asked why you should be given the job, your answer should be ‘because I have the skills and the ethic that you are looking for.’