Show, Don’t Tell

Early in my career I set my eye on a role at eBay. I fixed my resume, wrote a cover letter & applied online.

A week later I got the dreaded “unfortunately…” email.

I was so upset that I did something really stupid…

I reached out to the recruiter to explain why I was the perfect candidate.

I basically said “you are are wrong, I am right. Hire me”.

The result: I never heard back.

Years later when I was a hiring manager I got the same email from a candidate & realized why I never heard back from eBay.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳

Especially if you are early on in your career, you need to prove you’ll be able to get the job done.

Here are a few examples that got my attention:

1) Results from your work at a student club

[co-hosted 5 events, 50 attendees each, NPS score was 89!]

2) You created something tangible: a website, blog, survey, an online community….something that demonstrates you can take an idea and do what it takes to make it a reality

3) Results from volunteer work or internship

[I updated 100+ blog posts to revamp our SEO strategy. Increased traffic by 13% m/m]

Anyone can claim they are capable.

Great candidates prove it.

Originally published at https://www.mayagrossman.com on August 11, 2020.