When I saw the headline of an article titled Aspirin vs. Vitamin, I have to say I had no clue that the words to follow would be “Which Jobseeker Are You?” At first I couldn’t quite figure out how aspirin could be related to job seeking, but after reading the full article, I realized the analogy not only totally made sense but I wanted to share this interesting concept.
The basic concept of the article (for those of you that don’t like to read!) is that jobseekers generally, and often unknowingly, put themselves in the category of being either an aspirin or a vitamin when looking for jobs. Hiring managers are really looking and needing to hire an aspirin- someone to take away their pain. But most jobseekers are selling themselves as vitamins- something that is incredibly important to health and that will help keep future pain away but does not bring much immediate relief.
So your goal as a jobseeker is to identify the cause of pain for that manager and sell yourself as the cure—the aspirin to stop the pain! While vitamins are nice and beneficial to long-term health, they may not be necessary to fix something now. Genius analogy.
So how do you find the pain and determine if you are the cure? It all comes down to doing your homework. You should always be prepared for interviews but keep the aspirin concept in mind to help you focus your research and be as prepared as ever.
No one wants pain. But when a company has it, make it your job as a candidate to figure out how to be the cure!