How To Show Off Your Leadership Skills To Employers

Whether you’ve just graduated from university or you’re an industry senior, showing leadership qualities is important to landing your next job. As it turns out, leadership is one of the most highly prized qualities in job candidates, and yet, Australian workplaces lack effective leaders. If you can show your leaderships skills to a new employer through your CV and at your interview, you’ll have a huge competitive advantage over others who are going for the same job.

What is leadership?

The construction engineering industry was no exception to the majority of Australian businesses who once considered leadership synonymous with bully-ish Alpha-type behaviour. However, thanks to technologies and other advancements in recent years, all of this has changed for the better. Leadership is no longer about being extroverted, loud, or pressuring others to do things your way. Leadership now stands for being an effective communicator who can drive results. Leadership is about enabling and inspiring colleagues to produce the best work they are capable of.

How to Show Leadership Skills – Your CV

If you’ve ever had a leadership role, make sure you include this in your CV and highlight the exact skills and achievements that made you an effective leader: communication, enabling and inspiring. If you haven’t had a leadership role, entrepreneurial experience works just as well because it shows ambition, drive and a can-do attitude that employers love. If you don’t have either of these experiences then we suggest highlighting leadership traits you’ve demonstrated in non-leadership roles. Describe when and how you’ve set a good example for others, where you’ve taken initiative and confidently handled your responsibilities.

Showing off some more- The Interview

Your interview is your time to shine and really show off the leadership qualities you’ve gained over the years. You’ll be asked about your strengths and weaknesses, and for specific examples of achievements in prior roles. Here’s where you describe how you drove results through effective communication, teamwork and well-managed responsibilities. Remember, a good leader learns lessons from their experiences, so be sure to articulate what skills you gained and how you would do things even better next time.

Confidence

Confidence is another trait that comes hand in hand with leadership, but don’t be fooled! You don’t need to be cocky, loud or extroverted to exude confidence at your interview. Confidence comes simply from knowing your stuff: having a firm knowledge of how to achieve the expectations of the role and being able to express this clearly. For this reason, prepare carefully for your interview and practice what you’re going to say. By coming prepared, and with a smile on your face, you’ll show off your confidence and leadership skills and wow your future employer.

Read Commonly Asked Job Interview Questions And How To Answer Them