Toolkit = sales kit

The below diagram showcases the key components that make up the Career Transition Toolkit. If you have the most effective and polished toolkit possible, you’ll be optimising your chances of getting your dream job.

Your toolkit is essentially a sales kit. You are selling yourself in a variety of forms and mediums to various people/companies in the hope that they will see value in what you have to offer. Upon recognising this, they will ‘buy’ your product – in other words, progress you to the interview stage, offer you a job, say yes to a coffee, and/or invest in you.

So, before we go into more detail on each of the elements of the Career Transition Toolkit, we want to make sure that you’re aware of the importance of sales and how it is applied to this process.

Sales can be an uncomfortable process for many people. All too often they find it easier to sell a product, or some fitness class that they love. But when it comes to selling themselves, they find it difficult. They scramble around for things to say while they start to feel hot under the collar and panicky. Sound familiar?

What is the biggest factor underpinning sales? Your mindset!

The truth is, if you don’t believe in yourself, in the value you have to offer, then the person on the other side of the conversation (or the other side of the computer screen) simply won’t either.

If you master your sales mindset, you will be on the right path to more results because your confidence in your own abilities and belief in your value will shine through.

Coming in at a close second is preparation!

You don’t have to spend hours poring over a company’s website just to send the HR Manager a LinkedIn message. Preparation is about calculated, strategic research, coupled with some fool-proof templates, and a clear strategy for your action. This will make the process more efficient and effective, which we’ll go into in more detail in the next section.

Finally, one of the biggest factors affecting sales is awareness.

You can have a solid mindset and do all of the preparation work, but if you don’t have the awareness of when it’s best to deliver it (‘it’ being your pitch/your CV/your email, etc.), it’s going to fall on deaf ears. You need to have an awareness of who the key contact is, who you’re speaking with, what it is they do, what they’re interested in, and how they’re relevant to you.

What do you think?

How much of the toolkit have you already prepared? Is there anything else in your career toolkit that we haven’t mentioned? Share in the Comments section.