Job seekers fail by selling their past, not their future

You might have great experience, but if you don’t show how it helps the company, you’re out

Interview requests

Most job seekers struggle with the essence of job searching: selling themselves. Don’t kid yourself—a job search is a sales process, and your job in the “sales meeting” (interview) is to demonstrate your value.

Looking back at the jobs I didn’t land, I now see why: interviewers didn’t perceive me as offering compelling value to their business—or, in the case of recruiters, to their clients. My résumé and LinkedIn profile got me in the door, but I failed to connect my experience to their needs. I was chasing validation without providing proof.

It took several conversations with C-suite executives to grasp a hard truth: employers aren’t charities. Every employee must deliver value that justifies their salary. My mistake? I focused too much on what I’d done—my past—and not enough on what I would do for them going forward.

That perspective shifted when a recruiter told me, “It’s not the candidate who claims they’re most qualified who gets the interview—it’s the one who proves it.” From an employer’s view, being “qualified” means being able to contribute. And the simplest way they assess that is by looking at your results.

To earn interviews, you need to demonstrate a track record of measurable success that benefited previous employers. Your résumé and LinkedIn profile should show, not tell. Business runs on results, so support your claims with clear, specific evidence.

Here’s how adding scope and results to your bullet points makes your impact immediately clear.

• Instead of saying you “managed inside sales representatives,” say you managed a team of 12 inside sales reps and achieved an annual quota of $25.6 million for four consecutive years (2021–2024).
• Rather than “cleaned the warehouse floor,” say you maintained a 16,000 sq. ft. warehouse, ensuring it was free of debris and safety hazards.
• Instead of “called previous donors to raise funds,” say you made 60-80 outbound calls daily to past donors, increasing donations by 35 per cent since 2021, and raising over $2.85 million in 2024 alone.
• Rather than “managed social media accounts,” say you oversaw four platforms—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter—reaching a combined audience of 7.6 million followers.
• And instead of “followed up on online sales leads,” say you increased the conversion rate by 20 per cent by replying to online inquiries within 15 minutes, generating an extra $400,000 in revenue.

These examples show how results-based language sets candidates apart. Metrics bring your career story to life: highlighting what employers care about most—impact, scale, efficiency and revenue. In job searching, what you show is what employers know.

Highlighting my achievements with numbers helped me land more interviews—but not offers. I realized I was still focused on the past. While metrics opened the door, I needed to shift the conversation toward how I’d create value for them in the future.

Most people assume the “Where do you see yourself in five years?” question is about ambition, but it’s really about value. Over lunch, an HR manager told me, “I know candidates roll their eyes at that question, but there’s a reason we ask it.” It’s not about aligning career goals—it’s about whether the candidate plans to contribute over the long term. That question reminds us: results—not potential, not opinion—drive hiring decisions.

“Over the past three years, I’ve immersed myself in Five9, a cloud-based call centre software used to manage and optimize customer interactions. I used it to significantly improve Wayne Enterprises’ 130-seat, 24/7 call centre’s efficiency and customer satisfaction. I’m now exploring Five9’s new AI dashboard, which provides insights like customer sentiment scoring. My team handles over 25,000 calls per week. Thanks to skill-based routing, the average answer time is under 20 seconds. Based on your Google reviews, Parrish Communications has a high answer rate. Since you also use Five9, I can help reduce your average answer time and improve reviews. My goal is to become a senior executive at Parrish, overseeing the customer experience.”

This approach works because it:

• Shows you understand the company’s needs and challenges.
• Demonstrates experience solving similar problems.
• Makes clear that you’ll deliver the same kind of results.
• Aligns your personal growth with the company’s success.

In today’s job market, it’s not enough to share what you’ve done. You need to prove what you can do next and how it will benefit the employer. That shift in focus is what turns interviews into job offers.

Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers advice on searching for a job.