Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Discovering Your Value Proposition – The Elevator Pitch, Part I

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Have you written your elevator pitch? Otherwise known as your value proposition or a personal infomercial, this is a brief (some say 2-minutes, I like 30 seconds) introduction to you with a focus on what you have to offer.  This technique is used all of the time in sales and marketing, and since your job search is all about marketing YOU, having a well practiced, targeted elevator pitch is a good idea. (The name comes from the fact that you could deliver your “speech” while going down an elevator with a great contact.  I guess the length may depend on the height of the building! Since most people have a pretty short attention span, assume most buildings are short.)

Just as your resume should be targeted to the reader’s needs instead of your own needs, your pitch should focus on how you can solve a problem for the listener. What do you offer? What is your hook?

Discovering Your Hook

What is special about you?  What skills and accomplishments set you apart from every other person in the room? In your industry?

You need to know two things:

  1. What the employer wants.
  2. What you offer.

You will find out the employer’s needs via research, informational meetings and networking.  Discovering what you have to offer may take longer!

Big brands like Disney decide what they offer before they create and place their advertisements.  When they want to advertise Disney World, they appeal to families and parents’ need for an affordable, yet magical vacation.  Their brand is all about magic and family fun.  Their television ads appear on shows with a high viewership of people Disney targets.

If Disney didn’t consider what they offer, they wouldn’t be able to target their marketing.  By defining themselves and what problem they solve, they can offer a hook (an affordable family vacation).

What is brand YOU all about?  What makes you special and unique? Think about what you offer an employer.  Consider your top five work and personal accomplishments. Write them down and think them over.

Read more about writing your elevator pitch…

Your Work E-mail Isn’t Private

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Your cat isn’t the only one reading your e-mail.ÂÂ

As everyone scurries around preparing for a recession and focuses on trying to secure a new job, new networking contacts and a stable paycheck for the future, it is a good time for a reminder about privacy issues with your work computer, e-mail use and online time.  In a word – they aren’t private.

Hopefully, this does not come as a surprise to anyone.  NBC’s Today Show reported today that 50% of businesses routinely scan their employees’ e-mail.  Around 19% of companies hire someone whose job it is to review e-mail coming from the office.

In theory, businesses are hoping to protect trade secrets and learn about potential harassment situations by scanning e-mails.  In reality, anything that you send from your work computer becomes fair game for review and potential disciplinary action, including termination.

So, be sure to review your company’s policy regarding work computer use.  Recognize that anything you send or receive on your work’s network is fair game for “big brother” to review.  If you are engaged in an active job search and have been spending a lot of time on job boards or sending resumes and applications, it could bite you when you least expect it.ÂÂ

It is best to do your job seeking activities on your own personal computer using your personal e-mail address.  You don’t want to invite a pink slip that may not have been earmarked for you as a result of your own actions.

Keppie Careers will write your resume and help you with your job search:

www.keppiecareers.com