The No. 1 tip for landing a job offer in today’s tough job market, says HR expert of 20 years

A big mistake people make is thinking their value proposition lies in the tasks they’ve done before and can continue doing in a new job. But this can limit your value proposition and later negotiations because “your leverage is in your outcomes,” White says.

“When somebody goes in to get a job and they say, ‘I’ve done this before and I’m really good at it,’ that doesn’t mean anything. That’s just white noise,” White says. Consider instead that “the language of business is numbers.”

Highlight your value proposition by explaining the main problem you solved in your previous role, how you did it, and what the outcome was, backed by numbers.

For example, say you’re up for a job where your main objective is to introduce the company into a new market. Pull up the numbers that support how you’ve accomplished this before, White says: “In my last job, I did this, and I was able to gain 12% penetration in this particular target market with a 98% retention rate of customers.”

“All of a sudden, I want that [candidate],” she says.

White gives another example of the difference between discussing your previous tasks versus how those responsibilities helped solve a bigger problem: “If I’m applying for a job and I go and say, ‘I’ve done HR for 20 years, and I know how to do business succession planning and recruiting and training’ — everybody on their resumes has that experience,” she says.