How can you ensure your application makes the shortlist when applying for leadership roles? In this post, I share seven ways to see your application rise to the top of the pile.
Your combination of skills and strengths makes you truly unique. The qualities you’ve used to succeed in your roles to date provide a strong career foundation.
Yet many women tend to play down these qualities, especially when applying for leadership roles. If you’ve been hard-wired to put others first, defer to men, and not speak up and speak out, it can feel hard to promote yourself when applying for leadership roles.
However, the recruitment process requires you to ‘big up’ your attributes and experiences, which can feel uncomfortable. The very qualities that got you this far may mean you play them down in job applications and interviews. There’s a risk that your application may be overlooked as a result.
The limelight is not necessarily a comfortable place to be. However, that’s where you’ll need to be at an interview to present yourself compellingly for leadership roles. Don’t hide the very skills and experiences that will open the door to the interview.
You may hope your achievements will speak for themselves. Sadly, you only need to look at the gendered hierarchies in most workplaces to see that’s not the reality. Confidence all too often trumps (no pun intended) capability. Men are encouraged to compete from an early age and are less reluctant to promote themselves when it comes to job applications.
Men are also more likely to apply for roles where they don’t meet more than 60% of the essential criteria of the Person Spec, while women will be less likely to take a punt with those odds, assuming (often incorrectly) that they won’t be in the running.
With the odds already stacked against you, what can you do to make your unique qualities stand out?
1. Identify your Strengths
You can identify your Strengths by completing a FREE version of Cappfinity’s Strengths profile. A more comprehensive Introductory profile is available for £15.00.
On completion of the profile, you’ll receive a report. In addition to the strengths identified in you’ll also receive a strengths dictionary- a list of all 60 strengths.
It’s helpful to use the Strengths dictionary to seek feedback from others. When you’re applying your strengths, they’ll feel so natural that you may not realise you’re using them. It’s therefore worth seeking input from others who will have observed your strengths in action. Give them a copy of the strengths dictionary. Ask one or two people who know you well what they think your leadership strengths are. Ask them to give you specific examples. Check whether they identify things you’ve missed. Note them down.
Take each of your strengths and qualify them with supporting evidence. These examples will be useful for both applications and at interview.
2. Qualify your skills.
Use the Person Specification to highlight the skills required for the role. Using the STAR approach, take each skill in turn and identify when you’ve demonstrated the skill.
Next, look back at your strengths. Can you weave some of your strengths into your skills example to strengthen them?
3. Your values
Identifying your Values will help you answer questions such as “What made you decide to apply for this role?” If the role aligns with your values and the values of the organisation, your motivation for the post will be clear.
4. Professional qualifications
If you have a professional qualification, mention any relevant skills you’ve acquired through this. It’s not always obvious to others what these are. Your skills may help give you the edge over other candidates.
5. Reflect on times when you’ve been successful in your work roles
What were you doing and how were you doing it? Deconstruct your examples to identify the particular qualities you were using in combination to understand what made you successful.
6. Draw attention to relevant awards and prizes
Have you received any formal recognition for work you’ve done, especially where this reflected well on your current/former employer? Make this explicit in your application.
7. Capture your impact.
When presenting your relevant skills and attributes, lead with the impact you’ve made. Use strong action verbs to convey your achievements. Demonstrate how you’ve used your people skills to achieve business objectives.
Here are some examples of ‘strong’ action verbs you could include in your CV and application:
- Led
- Negotiated
- Implemented
- Integrated
- Motivated
- Optimised
- Orchestrated
- Resolved
- Spearheaded
- Transformed
In conclusion
Sharing your qualities at an interview and how you’ve harnessed yours to make a positive impact is an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to do the job. You don’t have to use superlatives to do this. However, knowing and owning your unique qualities will help you present yourself and your accomplishments confidently, increasing your chances of securing the job offer.
Ignore the glass ceiling and do your work. If you’re focusing on the glass ceiling, focusing on what you don’t have, focusing on the limitations, then you will be limited. Ava DuVernay