02.10.2021 Elisabeth Sanders-Park
In the past, I’ve shared how to help clients prove they meet the employer’s most important needs for the job using proof from unpaid experience, such as volunteering, family responsibilities, life experience, and even prison. I introduced Jason who wanted to be an Assistant Manager in a Restaurant. He’d been a Cook and a Waiter, but never a Manager. Most of his qualifying experience came from taking-over as coach of a community softball team. When I shared his story, did you think, “That’s nice, but an employer is never going to buy that as proof that he would be a good manager”? Well, employers did buy it. And they will buy your proof as long as the proof is presented as valid, needed skills, without creating new concerns! This is easy if it comes from paid jobs or formal education, but not so easy when it comes from less traditional sources. Here are eight rules for getting employers to buy proof that the client can do the job using unpaid experience.
Rule #1 for Transferable Skills: Do Not Assume One Accomplishment Can Be Turned into Something More Than It Is
Growing award-winning tomatoes in your backyard proves you have the knowledge, skills and patience to grow award-winning tomatoes (and perhaps other plants). It does not prove that you understand the issues involved with growing them on a mass scale or managing a farm. And, being good at a skill doesn’t prove you can teach it to others. To make this proof work, supplement it with proof of the other needed qualifications.
Rule #2: You Must Have Done It, and Done It Well
Just because you have done something as a hobby or hold a title in your personal life (Mom, football coach, Sunday School Teacher) does not prove you are skilled at it. Being a Mom or Dad doesn’t mean you are good with kids. Your proof must demonstrate that you can do it well. To make this proof work, include specific examples that show you are proficient.
#3: Don't Make Big Leaps
Employers won’t take the leap from your personal life to your work life if it doesn’t make sense, so be sure the skill you are trying to prove is actually proven by the activity you describe. You wouldn’t hire a teenage girl to watch your children simply because she has been responsibly taking care of the family pet for the last 3 years. However, she could use the fact that she has gotten up at 6am, 6 days a week for the last 2 years to walk her dog (missing only 4 days) to prove that she is dependable.
#4: Don't Assume Employers Know
When pulling skills from your personal life, don’t assume employers know all that is entailed in doing a task, as they would if you mentioned a skill from their workplace. Stating that you were the chairperson for your class reunion does not prove you have organizational skills. To make this proof work, describe the skills used to successfully do the task.
#5: Use the Employer's Language
Paint a picture the employer can relate to before they discover where the skill was gained. For Jason, the softball coach— In the first 6 games our infielding errors went from 40% to 25%, became Within 6 weeks, I was able to decrease mistakes in a key area by 15 %. This works because we replaced situation-specific language with generic language and business terms.
#6: Look for Concerns. And Go SOLAR!
Once you have prepared your proof, review it for anything that might concern an employer. If the proof the candidate is using is from a source that raises additional concerns, makes you seem over-qualified, or aren’t directly related, etc., use our recommended “Five Solution Tools”, also known as SOLAR (Skills, Outlook, Look, Answer, and Resource), to reduce the employer's concern—
- Learn new Skills
- Adjust your Outlook
- Change where you Look for work,
- Develop a good Answer,
- and access Resources.
#7: Make it Verifiable
Since there is no official person to vouch that you did what you say you did, you must create a way for employers to verify the proof. Employers are more likely to buy if the candidate can share work samples, endorsement of trusted community members, a write-up in a publication, a brief but detailed description that demonstrates the knowledge needed to do the task well, or even notes of thanks from people you helped by using the skill. You could also offer to do a work trial.
#8: Always Have a Good Answer for the Interview
You must be ready to explain to the employer why their skill is relevant to the business, even if it was gained in a non-traditional way. Below, you will see Jason’s good answer.
So, how did we use Jason’s softball coaching experience to prove he’d be a great Assistant Restaurant Manager? First, we used general business language instead of softball terms. “The team won only 1 out of 5 games the first half of the season, but won 4 out of 5 in the second half when I was coach,” instead became, “As the leader of a team of 14 people, I increased success by more than 80% within 8 weeks.”
Using proof from his coaching experience on his resume got Jason interviews. Sharing his proof in the interview impressed the employer, but it also raised a question … Where did you get all this management experience? When people use unpaid experience as proof, they must also have a good answer to explain it. Jason’s good answer sounded something like this: “I have been successfully managing projects and teams for years… it’s one of my natural skills and interests. To date, my management experience has been unpaid. The examples I have given you come from my work with a losing softball team that I took to second-in-the-league in the first year. I’ve been the Manager for 3 years now. Sometimes, I think unpaid Managers have an extra challenge, because the team they manage doesn’t have the incentive of a paycheck to work hard or give their best. I’m really looking forward to getting a job where I can use my natural skills and experience to make us both money.”
Jason’s proof and good answer resulted in two assistant management job offers!
