How to pitch yourself to employers

How do you stand out in a crowded jobs market? By selling yourself. That is how Antony Firth-Clark, 25, from Hertfordshire, got his job at Syncoms.

The philosophy, politics and economics graduate, who also has an MSc in industrial economics from University of East Anglia, says that his passion came over at a London graduate recruitment fair last October.

“I started talking to someone very impatiently about the fact that I had the right qualifications and work experience and wanted to work immediately,” he says. “The person I was speaking to turned out to be the CEO.”

A few days later he was offered a job interview at Syncoms and started working for the company as a digital marketing executive four weeks later.

“Put yourself in front of companies,” is his advice. “If the worse comes to the worst, go knocking on their doors.”

With a new book by Paul Tough highlighting the fact that persistence, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and optimism — or character — are at least as important as IQ, Antony’s case seems to prove the point.

But how do you convey that you have the right personality without appearing pushy — or worse, arrogant?

The answer is to avoid saying you have these traits. Instead you need to show employers by giving them examples, according to David Winter, a senior careers consultant at The Careers Group, University of London, which is organising the London Graduate Fair on October 16 at the Business Design Centre in Islington (londongradfair.co.uk).

“Find out as much as you can about the company,” he says. “Asking, ‘So what do you do then?’ will give the impression that you are too lazy to bother to find out.

“Be interested and ask intelligent questions such as what the work involves, what the job is really like and what responsibilities employees take on. So rather than saying you are interested, you are demonstrating interest. This is not about generating an artificial persona. It is important to be genuinely curious.