Technologies like digital media and data science have unlocked massive opportunities for future entrepreneurs. To get a job at a company that values innovation and entrepreneurship, you need to demonstrate a great depth of expertise to a potential employer.
Everybody can succeed with hard work and anyone can maximise their skill set if they want to. Yet not everyone succeeds at their goals – whether it is landing a job at their dream company or building their own business.
Following a recent study, Robert Meier, President of the US Government Recruitment Consultants Job Market Experts concluded that “98% of job seekers are eliminated at the initial resume screening, and only the “top 2%” of candidates make it to the interview.”
Employers want people who will make their lives easier. They want someone who can offer actual real-time value to their business as opposed to someone who promises miraculous results in the distant future.
What is the entrepreneurial spirit?
What’s the “it” factor that makes your CV different from the hundreds of others that a potential employer sees? What are the characteristics and mindset needed to demonstrate you have an entrepreneurial spirit?
Typically these qualities are more abstract or illusive than what you usually find in business; they’re about always being in-tune with your passion, having the ability to question continually, and above all, to execute.
To show the entrepreneurial spirit, first you need to pick a compelling CV format that emphasises your core strengths. Then, you need to describe achievements and professional experiences to prove that you have the core traits of an entrepreneur.
This is crucial because nothing is as persuasive as a proven history of success.
The Four Traits of an Entrepreneur
As the seasoned entrepreneur Mark Cuban says, sales is the “cure-all” in any business. So you need to be persuasive and get people to buy into your ideas without being manipulative.
It can be an example of being on the shop floor selling a physical product. Or perhaps how you successfully pitched strategic business ideas to higher ups.
Employers want to know that you can rely on yourself and take calculated risks. You must show that you can speak up about concerns, ask questions that bring new insights, challenge the status quo, and work with enthusiasm.
For example, if you worked in supply chain management, you can show how finding a more efficient supplier allowed you to reduce costs and improve product quality.
A business can’t exist without customers. So knowing what the customers want is the key to business success. Steve Jobs was known to obsess over emerging trends and customer psychology. This allowed him to develop the best user interfaces on smartphones and computers.
A true entrepreneur reads social signals and touches the ‘hot buttons’ to attract consumer attention and loyalty.
Someone with marketing experience can describe how they used behavioural analysis to optimise marketing campaigns and achieved a deep understanding of their demographics.
Successful people know that it takes many failures to win in business. Steve Jobs was kicked out of Apple. Bill Gates’ first startup, Traf-O-Data, was a failure. Russia’s top rocket designer spat on Elon Musk’s shoes when asked to sell a rocket that he was passionately working on. Neither of them gave up.
To give an example, you can perhaps show how you won new business from an incumbent. Take stock of your own failures and show how you turned them into opportunities.
Your CV has one job – it needs to be a testimony to everything that you have achieved. It should reflect your single-minded approach and that you don’t throw in the towel at the slightest hint of struggle.
Your entrepreneurial spirit is reflected not only from your past achievements, but also your biggest struggles.
Written by Akshay Gupta. Akshay covers career advice for the likes of Forbes, Next Avenue, and Top Resume. Check more of his work on his LinkedIn.
