A lot of people have a negative stigma on the term “salesman.”  When we think about that word, we conjure an image of that pesky door-to-door salesman in the worn suit, trying desperately to get you to answer the door so that you listen to him for 30 seconds because he can change your life when you buy his Tupperware (Whew, that was a mouthful!)

Well, no, that’s not the way it works.  In the real world, everyone is a salesperson of some kind or another, you just don’t realize it.  Salespeople are good.  Matter of fact, salespeople are great!  They make the world go around! 

So why are you a salesperson?  Well, you sold your university on admitting you to their institution.  You might have sold your parents on paying for it.  These “sales” may not have been too difficult, but you did them anyway. 

Your next big sale is to sell a company on hiring your services!  The point I’m trying to make here is that you really need to prepare for your Career fair and for your interviews like you might prepare for a sales call: 

Finding out what the company is looking for, what their “ideal candidate” attributes are, and then by explaining how you match those to a T.

Ask questions like:

            “What kind of attributes are you looking for in your ideal candidate for this position?”

            “Describe for me your ideal candidate.”

            “What kinds of specific skills are you looking for?

Use these questions to get them talking, and then probe them with follow up questions for clarification and more detail as you see fit.  Asking these questions will give you a great picture of what they’re looking for in the candidate they want to hire.  After that, you need to “sell” them on how you match their needs. And that's a story for another aticle, here.

Feel free to explore the other articles on the website to get more in depth information about each one, or purchase our complete Job Search Guide!

Happy (Job) Hunting!

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E-Mail: coachbob@college-career-builder.com