Anyone who has owned a car has sold it at some point. Cars don’t last forever. Some people trade in cars or sell them on a schedule, like after the warranty runs out or the odometer hits 50,000 miles. Years ago, people would lift the hood and look at the engine, kick the tires and examine old service records. Now with the Internet, you can do the same thing with a click and a screen.
A Forbes article, “How to Prepare Your Car For Sale,” has a lot of tips for newbies or experienced car owners who want to sell their cars using the latest websites and online tools. Want to know just about everything about a car before you are ever close enough to pop the hood? Go online and order a CARFAX report. All you need is the car’s VIN number and voila—you get registration, repair and accident reports, owner history, title history and odometer readings on the car in question. You may even get photos of the car from every angle. Great for the buyer, but even better if you’re selling a car. You can make a buyer feel comfortable about dealing with you when you provide a CARFAX report for the car you’re selling. Nothing to hide.
If you’re looking for a job, you might apply some of the car-selling tips to your job search. After all, a job search is pretty much a sales pitch. And as a former employee, you’ve got a history yourself. In fact, the type of information in a CARFAX report is the type of information you need to supply to a prospective employer.
Your resume is your CARFAX report. Have it available. But the job search is like a car sale in reverse. Sellers search the internet for information before ever seeing a car. But networking—meeting people face-to-face—is the preferred way to sell yourself. The best time to give someone your resume is after they have met you and liked you. Can you send your resume by email from your Smartphone? You can’t always carry a couple of copies of a resume in a briefcase, but you can send it electronically, instantly, from your phone.
If you love your car, your enthusiasm, as you relate how special and reliable it is, will be irresistible to a buyer. In a job search, you have to have confidence and feel comfortable talking about your accomplishments and how you’re the best choice for the job.
Selling a car, the article suggests, isn’t just slapping a “for sale” sign on the door and hoping for the best. You have to match the buyer’s needs with what you have to offer. The same for a job search. You have to target a job or company and then match your skills, experience and education to the job.
You may want to sell your car for $10,000, but it can sit in your driveway unsold for months if it’s overpriced. In the same way, you can remain unemployed if your salary demands are unreasonable or more than the current market will bear. You can find out what your car is worth by logging on to the Kelly Blue Book, AutoTrader or NADA Guide websites. If you want to find out what salary is reasonable for a specific position, access salary information from the Department of Labor or career websites like Nexxt. You don’t want to give your car or your talent away, either.
The more information the better, whether in car sales or a job search. And it has to be reliable. Falsifying job or work history information can cost you the best job of your life if your employer finds out later. Take some tips from car sales to find the job that’s the perfect make and model for you.
Photo Source: Freedigitalphotos.net
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