Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference Between These Mumbo-Jumbos. Stay Close!

Yes! We know that the title arouses your curiosity! 

And seriously, we do not exaggerate! The differences that we are about to tell you – though no corporate directly mentions  – they actually want you to be able to distinguish. 

So that when you apply for any job, you know the right documents, speeches to give your interviewers. Not only do you increase your level of professionalism, but you also save a lot of time for yourself and the recruiters. 

Let’s keep reading on and differentiate these popular mumbo-jumbos. 

So first, corporate wants you to find the difference between… 

Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference Between These Things
Corporate wants you to find the difference between these things. Source: Know Your Meme

CV, Resume, And Portfolio – Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference

When you submit an application, don’t send it along with an as-long-as-possible document to show your achievement. 

Because lots of time, oversharing is unnecessary. If you put in a bunch of irrelevant experience that blurs your recruiters from seeing the talents they need in you, they might put your application aside. 

CV, Resume, and Portfolio are three common documents that showcase an overall description of your talents. However, they do have distinguished functions and serve different purposes. 

CV, Resume, And Portfolio
CV, Resume and Portfolio. Source: Pexel 

CV 

CV is known as curriculum vitae, which means course of life in Latin. It is a long document that lists out everything you have achieved professionally and academically throughout your career. 

It is often 1-2 pages to even 10+ pages long if necessary. Most of the time, in the US and Canada, you submit your CV for academic purposes, not for non-technical jobs. 

You can include any achievements, such as scholarships, grants, publications, internships, academic jobs, research fellowships, etc. And don’t forget to update your CV every time you gain more academic and professional recognition.

One of the things you need to include and distinguish in your CV is the date conferred or expected. Don’t let this nuance ruin your chance.

Resume

Meaning sum up in French; it is defined as a concise document summing up your relevant experience to the job you are targeting.

The ideal length is 1-2 pages. Recruiters always prefer direct and short resumes. Therefore, it is vital you make it eye-catchy, concise, and crisp.

If you are a professional, your resume should focus on your job experience. 

However, if you are a beginner, better highlight your skills and career goals. Or simply add your shadowing experience or internship in your document.

If you are a fresher or simply can’t figure out what to include in your resume. We have collected The best skills for resume for you.

Portfolio 

Meaning leaf, sheet in Latin; it is a collection of your artworks such as paintings, drawings, or photographs. It gives viewers an insight into your identities and works ethics. 

A good portfolio can also showcase to your employers that you have organizational, communication, and tangible career-related skills.

You should represent the portfolio in your creative style and be very selective in demonstrating your artwork pieces – may be your most proud, enjoyed, and learned the most while doing. 

You can either make a digital portfolio and send it along with your online application. Or you can get portfolio folders or cases from good art & design stores, print them out on high-quality paper. Here’s a concise guide and samples of good portfolios.

Watch this video to make your portfolio:

Soft Skills, Hard Skills, And Transferable Skills – Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference

The more skills you have, the better. However, it is never an advantage to have one set of skills only and lack all the others. 

Therefore, having a proper understanding of skill types will help you balance your working capacity.

Soft Skills, Hard Skills, And Transferable Skills
Soft skills, Hard skills, and Transferable skills. Source: Pexel 

Soft Skills 

They are a set of behaviors, personality traits that show how you work and interact with people in and out of the workplace. They are essential in communication, building trust and dependability, and creating a productive and healthy working environment. 

These include interpersonal skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, verbal/non-verbal communication, listening skills, assertiveness, etc. 

Developing soft skills in the workplace is a (uncomfortable) process. It requires resilience and self-reflection to figure out which soft skills you need to train. 

You should prepare yourself with a learning mindset, which means you are eager to learn from success, failure, person, and feedback. 

Most of the time, cooperation is the most effective way to develop your soft skills. 

Hard Skills

These are abilities that help you manage job-specific assignments and responsibilities, such as literacy & numeracy, programming, financial analysis, designing, etc. 

Hard skills are not that hard to obtain!

While soft skills are natural traits that no one can teach you in the classroom, hard skills are teachable and measurable. You can learn them through attending courses, vocational training, and working. 

To show proof of your hard skills, first and foremost, you should have specific certifications or working experience that are relevant to the job you apply for. 

Second, computer skills are definitely a must because well; we are working in a digital era. 

Third, equip yourself with some foreign languages like Spanish, German, Chinese to expand the chance of working with multinational partners. 

Transferable Skills 

These are skills that can be used across different careers and help you change your jobs or working industry easier. 

Telling apart transferable skills vs soft skills is like trying to tell apart in which vs where. Soft skills are necessary everywhere for better relations and healthy working environments; therefore, they are transferable.

However, transferable skills can be hard skills that benefit you in other jobs such as programming, data analysis, computer skills, etc.  

Highlighting these skills to convince the recruiters why you change your job is important, even when you are not a perfect match. 

Before making any career change, we recommend you to make a list of your achievements and strengths to the present.

Then try to compare your list to the requirements of your new jobs and question yourself. A question you should ask is: ”Are there any duties I’ve not done before, but my experience can help me quickly learn and tackle them?”.

That’s transferable. Showcase it on your application materials. 

Elevator Pitch And Personal Brand Statement – Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference

Telling the difference between an elevator pitch and personal brand statement is actually trying to tell the difference between how and why

Why do you need them? They promote you and make people genuinely interested in you within just a few lines. 

How do you use them? With an elevator pitch, you verbally state your personal brand. With a personal brand statement, you textually state it.  

However, corporate wants you to find the difference in details. 

Elevator Pitch And Personal Brand Statement - corporate wants you to find the difference
An elevator pitch and a personal brand statement. Source: Pexel 

An Elevator Pitch

It is a brief, persuasive speech describing an idea, product, or even yourself that listeners can understand within a short time (ideal 20-30 seconds) 

In an interview, you’ll be required to provide a summary of yourself, your background, and your goal for the next job. It is actually the question tell me about yourself that you are trying to answer.

Within this short amount of time, you should prepare a pitch in advance and practice it first in front of your friends and welcome their feedback.

You will likely know if your elevator pitch is good or not by asking your friends if it grabs their attention.

A few tips are to directly tell the interviewers your professional persona, highlight how well you can do it. STAR Method (Situation – Task – Address – Result) is an effective way of answering this question.

Personal Brand Statement

It is a two sentences summary of your expertise located on the heading of your CVs, work profiles, and proposals. This is the first impression about yourself you want to give the recruiters. 

No matter if you are job hunting or competing for a freelance project, 1-2 catchy sentences capturing your expertise will help you stand out from the competition.

To write an excellent personal brand statement, you should know your difference. What is your strength? How do you distinguish yourself from other candidates? Answer those questions and try to turn the answers into a short paragraph.

Vision, Mission, and Values – Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference

Since ‘you cannot be all things to all men’, visions, missions, and values help the company follow the right direction and achieve specific targets.  

Together, they define the core values of the corporates and how they expect employees to behave. 

Therefore, we recommend you research this information to articulate the characteristics that benefit the corporate strategy. 

Vision, Mission, and Values - corporate wants you to find the difference
Vision, Mission and Values. Source: Pexel 

Vision

It is a statement that focuses on the organization’s future and what they want to achieve ultimately. For example:

Apple’s vision statement is, “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products, and that’s not changing. 

Tesla’s vision is to “create the most compelling car company of the 21st century by driving the world’s transition to electric vehicles. 

Mission Statement 

Mission and vision statements can be easily confused. Even though they do have differences, many companies use them interchangeably.

While vision describes the desired future position, the mission focuses on its action to achieve that vision.  

A mission statement clearly states the purpose of the organization’s existence and business strategy. 

For instances:

Target’s mission is “to help all families discover the joy of everyday life “.

Microsoft’s mission statement is “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

Apple’s corporate mission is “to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.”

Values 

They are the beliefs, philosophies, and principles of a corporation that they are emotionally invested in. Values help to define the company’s culture and impact its business strategy. 

When you apply for a job, make sure that you share the same values with the company to avoid future conflicts. 

Knowing the company values also provide you with a moral direction to be a responsible person. Besides pursuing your personal interest, you should also be aware of the technological, environmental, and societal impacts you might contribute. 

Walmart claimed their four organization’s values:

  • Service to the Customer
  • Respect for the Individuals
  • Strive for Excellence 
  • Act with Integrity
Values - corporate wants you to find the difference
Knowing the company values provides you a moral direction. Source: Pexel 

Conclusion – Corporate Wants You To Find The Difference

To sum up, we know that these are only a few in a million things that corporate wants you to find the difference. 

Therefore, if you find the article helpful, or you want us to help you distinguish other mumbo-jumbo during a job application process, please comment to let us know! 

For more helpful and interesting information, visit our Job Application section. Everything is free and informative at Jobandedu.

Sophia Rose

Sophia Rose works full-time at JobandEdu and has been a sorority member and leader since 2020. She has authored hundreds of articles on determining the career path, sorts of employment, the job-seeking process, and self-improvement as a devoted leader and aid to others. Despite her countless accomplishments, Sophia knows the hardships of securing a position in the employment market as a novice. On top of that, she's eager to share her command and life-long experience through her writings.