Resumes just don’t cut it. It’s not enough, in this down economy, to submit a resume, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. You have to go through multiple avenues to make your mark and get noticed in a hiring process. Interviewing helps to a great extent, but a little boost can get you the job when it comes down to two candidates…yourself and another. That extra boost is a job proposal.
You may be asking yourself what a job proposal is. It is a tactic that is not used enough in job hunting, and is so beneficial to your portfolio. It almost sounds like something an employer should be giving you and not vice versa, right? Wrong. A job proposal is something you give an employer, once you get past the first screening process (the resume submission) to give the company an idea of how you can enhance the company and what you have to offer it. Resumes are great for reviewing your past accomplishments, and give a great baseline of your skill sets. Job proposals are designed to look towards the future, to show the hiring manager that if they choose you as their employee, you will accomplish several tasks for them.
The great thing about job proposals is the more creative they are, the better! You can submit a 1 or 2 page letter, you can do a PowerPoint presentation, or maybe even create a website tailored to your plan. If it’s appealing to the eye, creative, and has excellent content, you’re sure to catch someone’s eye. The point is you have to show the company that you understand their vision, and you want to help them achieve it. Some examples of what you could include in a proposal might be how to enhance an existing program (particularly useful if you’re going for a managerial position), introduce a new product or vision that you might have that can increase their revenue, or why to implement a new process.
This brings up another important point. The proposal should also be geared toward how you can improve the company’s bottom line. That could be through increasing revenue or improving accounts receivable.
Companies want to know why they should hire you over another. You’re going to have to prove yourself worthy, and proposals give you that extra edge over your opponents. They set you apart from the pack, and odds are that’s probably going to be one large pack. Combine multiple techniques, and you’re sure to get pushed to the front of the line.
Donald Tee Carson
President/CEO
