Do you recall being asked during job interviews, “Why should we hire you?” Its another way of asking you, “Why are you good for us?”.

Determining your value proposition for your potential employer is important. What makes you different from the other candidates who are also vying for that job? To be able to answer that question, first you must ask yourself, why do you want to fill that role? If your answer is, because I need a job, or because I need to stay employed, or because its a good company for my CV, none of these answers will empower you to take possession of the role.

You need to ask yourself – what value will I bring to the role? What’re my USPs? To be able to answer these questions about yourself you need to be able to answer these questions about yourself:

• what were my top three key achievements in my past roles?
• what are the top three key transferable skills that keep recurring in these different roles?
• what motivates me most at work?
• what are my key values towards work?
• what are the three key areas of improvements I feel I really need to make further progress on myself professionally

Once you have the answers to the questions, you’d be able to visualise more clearly, what kind of roles or organisation will match your strengths and values. When you fill a role which utilizes your strengths, and which coincides with your personal values, and which engages and motivates you, you will find that adding value for that organisation comes easily. Without making a great deal of effort.

This is the epitome of a win-win situation in career development.