Your Intangibles: Shifting the Focus from What You’ve Done to What You’re Worth
Find the Spotify episode here: https://bit.ly/48sUuxQ
In today’s fast-evolving job market, where digitalization and artificial intelligence are reshaping every aspect of business, the traditional resume has become outdated. Listing job titles and responsibilities is no longer enough. Instead, the focus must shift from “what I’ve done” to “what I’m worth.” This paradigm shift is about capturing the intangibles—those assets that truly add value beyond job functions.
The Problem with the Traditional Approach
A traditional resume or CV often focuses on a list of roles, years of experience, and technical skills. While these elements are important, they don’t reflect the added value a professional brings to an organization. Why should we limit ourselves to describing job duties when, in reality, our influence and transformative capacity extend far beyond those roles?
Moreover, this approach limits the opportunity to highlight assets that can make a difference in a promotion or selection process. In a highly competitive job market, standing out is crucial, and intangibles are a powerful tool to achieve this.
Identifying Your Intangible Assets
Intangible assets are the unique, often unquantifiable qualities that set you apart. Unlike traditional skills or experiences, these assets reveal how you make an impact, foster influence, and drive change within your professional sphere. Identifying them requires introspection and a shift in perspective, moving beyond job descriptions to what you bring to the table in a larger sense. Key categories of intangible assets include:
Influence and Reach: This refers to your ability to connect with, inspire, and lead others, both within and beyond your organization. Influence is more than numbers; it’s about the resonance and relevance of your voice in your industry or network. Ask yourself: Do people look to you for insights? Are your ideas shared and valued?
Thought Leadership and Knowledge-Sharing: Many professionals contribute to their fields by creating, curating, or sharing knowledge that empowers others. This may manifest in speaking engagements, published articles, or leading discussions on industry topics. Thought leadership positions you as an authority in your area, creating a ripple effect where others benefit from your expertise.
Innovation and Problem-Solving: These are the contributions that change the way things are done—whether through creating new processes, tools, or ways of thinking. Intangible assets in this realm reflect your proactive approach to solving challenges and advancing efficiency, which often provides substantial value to organizations in ways that go beyond day-to-day duties.
Entrepreneurial Mindset: An entrepreneurial approach is invaluable in any professional setting, even outside of traditional business ownership. This mindset encompasses qualities such as risk-taking, innovation, resilience, and the drive to build and improve. Whether you’re launching a side project, spearheading an initiative at work, or bringing fresh perspectives to old challenges, an entrepreneurial spirit demonstrates your ability to see opportunities where others might see obstacles. This asset highlights your role as a proactive creator of value.
Employers value candidates with an entrepreneurial mindset who can identify opportunities, innovate solutions, and drive results without needing strict oversight. This reflects your ability to not only fulfill a role but also actively contribute to the growth and adaptation of the organization.
Network and Relationship-Building: Your professional network and the quality of your relationships reflect your credibility and trustworthiness. Strong connections often lead to new opportunities, collaborative projects, and long-term partnerships, demonstrating your capacity to build bridges and maintain valuable alliances.
Personal Brand and Unique Perspective: Over time, you build a distinct identity based on your experiences, values, and approach to your work. This personal brand shapes how others perceive you and underscores your unique value proposition. A well-defined personal brand not only strengthens your professional identity but also attracts like-minded collaborators and opportunities.
By identifying these intangible assets, you create a clearer picture of what makes you a unique and valuable asset to any organization. These qualities highlight your potential beyond standard qualifications, showcasing a multidimensional professional who brings more than just skills or experience to the table.
Integrating Intangibles into my CV
To make this shift in the CV, intangibles must be strategically presented. Here is how I have included those intangibles in my resume:
Impact Metrics: Social media influence, reach, and interaction frequency are quantifiable elements that offer a clear perspective on your ability to connect with others. For instance, having over 4.4k LinkedIn followers and 90k annual impressions demonstrates that my content resonates in the industry.
Value-Added Initiatives: Highlight specific projects, such as developing platforms or methodologies that have generated tangible benefits for the company or the community. They noy only add value to the audit department but also strengthen your profile as an innovator. Here I can include the self-developed Powerplatform apps that have captured many FTEs equivalents in my current position.
Consolidation of Personal Brand: Building a personal brand demonstrates commitment and positioning within your sector. In my case, the “ByBeites” ecosystem (that includes over 180 articles and a podcast with significant reach) shows consistency in creating relevant content and growing your expertise. It is also worth to consider that it has been a really positive impact back to myself, since by writting you get to learn much more than by reading.
Entrepreneurs: Brizna Restaurant is key for this intangilble asset. Being able to create, from scratch, a complex set of pieces all merged together to give service to more than 40.000 customer in 2 years is not as easy as you might think. This experience has given me the choice to manage a small real-business rather than managing a small part of a huge transatlantic.
Why Intangibles Matter for Career Growth
Including intangible assets on your CV provides a more comprehensive view of you as a professional. You’re not just showing what you can do but also how you can influence, innovate, and lead. These elements are essential for roles that seek organizational transformation or leadership in emerging areas like AI and digitalization.
By showcasing your value more broadly, you position yourself not just as a candidate but as a strategic asset. This approach can be a game-changer in role transitions or promotions, as it projects a holistic, forward-thinking vision.
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