If you’re a manager who was laid off recently from your job, you will need to learn how to sell yourself for a management position in another organization. You cannot just go to potential employers and say you are a manager but they laid me off because of the current situation. That will not get you the job you want.
Most employers know from experience, other companies don’t let their best people go. Even when the business environment is not good, they always try to keep their best employees hoping the situation will get better quickly.
How to sell yourself as a manager is not a difficult thing to do if you have the right experience. But to just talking about being laid off for this or that will not convince potential employers to offer you that management position.
So, you will need to sell yourself the best you can, by showing employers that you are an outstanding manager who can do a good job.
What is Selling Yourself for a Job Position?
Selling yourself is to communicate intelligently about your professional qualities and experience to persuade an employer to offer you that job position you want. It is not about lying or manipulating to get the role.
Also, selling yourself is not only to talk about how good you are. Your prospective employer may be having some specific issues that require a particular set of skills. So, whatever you tell a potential employer needs to fit with their requirements.
In a job interview, for instance, you will be describing your experience, projects you managed, skills skillset, achievements, and link them to the employer’s needs. It will help you secure the position you want.
How Do you Sell Yourself in a Manager Interview?
1. Be Specific About Why the Position Interest You
Don’t be afraid to tell the employer I want to manage a team here, and explain with strong reasons. Also, be specific about what you want to do and give clear examples.
Most employers want to see you have something that can add value to the position and serve their organization better.
It is important the employer gets a sense of who you are very early in the conversation. But this does not mean they need to know the whole of your life.
You don’t need to tell them about everything you have ever done. It is up to you to highlight the things that you feel you can draw the most relevant experience and skills from.
2. Describe Your Management Experience
Talk about your qualities and how you have accumulated the skills and experience to deal with all sorts of management challenges. The role description may be different from your previous role. That should not be a problem if you can show some type of relevant experience.
One of the most important skills for any manager is the ability to manage people. So, if you have experience of managing people, it will help you sell yourself to employers.
Read also: 12 Examples of Being a Leader at Work
3. Match Your Skills to the Management Position
Show potential employers you have transferable management qualities to manage in an unfamiliar environment. This means you are flexible and adaptable to new experiences, cultures, and ways of work.
Talk about some of your skills and relate them to the management position you want.
Also, highlight some of the issues you dealt with in your last job — and how you went about dealing with them. Then promise that you don’t see any reasons why you cannot do the same at your new employer.
4. Avoid Using Corporate Buzzwords
Using words such as excellent communicator, motivated, passionate, team player, customer-centric can be counterproductive. These are a few of many overused words in workplaces.
You may also find that your competitors for the management position will use those words.
Those corporate jargons can be off-putting for employers, you need to avoid using them. Just use the simple words to let the employer know what you can do and what you will bring to the role.
5. Be Truthful About Your Ability
While it is important to sell yourself, avoid self-praising, or using superlatives.
Telling employers that you are excellent or superb at this and that will make them skeptical. You should instead persuade the employer to hire you via your skills, experience, and achievements.
It is a fact employers don’t want to hire incompetent people. However, exaggerating or lying about your qualifications and suitability, thinking it will give an advantage is a mistake that can backfire.
So, be truthful and provide only the information the employer needs.
Honesty plays an integral role in management. That is why many employers will try during an interview to establish whether the person they are interviewing is trustworthy.
There are many reasons for that but they want to know when things go wrong, will you be able to own up or you will be looking for scapegoats? Remember good managers always own their mistakes and learn from them.
Related: 7 Tips to Build Your Career with no Management Support at Work
6. Differentiate Yourself from Others
There are a lot of quality managers out there looking for new management positions. That means you will be competing against some of the great managers out there.
So, once you get a chance to stand in front of a potential employer, you want to be the best they want to hire.
You will have to be different from the crowd. Differentiating yourself means conducting yourself in a professional way that makes you stand out.
It will help you look different from everyone else who may be interested in the same positions.
7. Share Activities You Have Undertaken While Out of Work
If you have been out of work whether it is for the short or long time, employers will need to know what you have been doing within that period.
There is natural thinking on the part of employers to believe that once people have been out of work for any period, the less resourceful.
It is, therefore, crucial you maintain some sort of professional activities through continuing learning or voluntary work.
So, when you are asked, what have you been doing since you’ve been laid off? Mention those activities. One thing you must not say is that I have been at home doing nothing.
What potential employers want is to hear that you have been active doing something — that can help you improve your leadership skills within your industry.
Don’t just say you’ve been looking for work which can be a full-time job on its own. You want to let them know that you’ve been doing other things. Like taking online courses, related to your field of work or industry.
There are other things you can say such as volunteering or reading books to grow and your knowledge.
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