July 2009

NYTimes: Helping the Job Seeker without hurting yourself

in Job search

Flckr

If you are getting requests from people you (and people you don’t know) to help out with their job search, you are not alone. It is indeed a noble endeavor to do so, however it could quickly eat up into your time and you’ll end up becoming overwhelmed.

Here are some quick tips from the article and you can read it here.

  • Start by asking callers what they want — whether it’s an introduction, job search advice or résumé assistance — and then determine if you can help
  • If you plan to refer the caller to someone in your professional network or at your company, take time to sit down with the candidate first, because your credibility is on the line
  • If the best you are prepared to offer someone is general career advice or information about your industry, you can talk over the phone
  • Use your connections sparingly and wisely, and tap your most treasured contacts only for very important favors
  • If you know you will never be able to help the person, tell him or her that you appreciate the call but don’t think that you can be of any assistance

According to the article, if you happen to the job seeker requesting for help, here are some pointers:

  • One of the worst things you can do is to ask point blank if a contact knows of any jobs
  • Give a very brief — and well-prepared — explanation of your skill set, background and what you have to offer an employer
  • Approach your networking call as you would an informational interview
  • Have very specific requests like

    • asking someone you know at a company to forward an e-mail you have written to a hiring manager, as opposed to asking that person to write an e-mail on your behalf

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Poll: What are the biggest challenges for your job search?

in Job search

We would love to hear from you what your biggest challenges are when it comes to looking for a new job.

Challenge
Thank you for your time – Gracias / Danke / Mahalo!

If you are on LinkedIn, use this poll: http://polls.linkedin.com/p/49846/vwxel

OR use this one:

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Job Search Handbook Part III: Defining your USP

in How-to,The Job Search Handbook,Tools

Unique
USP, according to Wikipedia entry is “The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands. The term was invented by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company. Today the term is used in other fields or just casually to refer to any aspect of an object that differentiates it from similar objects.”

Companies have been involved in a continuous process of (re) defining their Unique Selling Proposition for their products and services. This applies to not just in the business world but also during job search.

Why have a USP

Competition in today’s job market is fierce and you really need a tool that puts you at an advantage over others much before the interview process actually starts.

A great job search strategy a great way to have a competitive edge when it comes to finding your next job. During this process, the real kicker would be to have that competitive edge, a unique set of skills that sets you apart from the competition.

To the external world, a job seeker’s USP is manifested in a elevator speech, a cover letter, a resume or just simply any form of communication with potential employers.

Internally, it’s about how you can take the entire collection of skills and experience you have and jujitsu style, turn it into a clear, sharp and attractive USP.

So how can you identify and define you USP?

There are two elements to your USP:

  1. Role: the role is the specific type of position(s) that you are aiming as your next job. It could Sales Manager, Director of Operations, Business Analyst, Database Architect etc
  2. The unique set of results or experience that you would like to highlight; it could be any combination of the following:
    • specific results that you have already accomplished
    • unique experiences that you might have that nobody has
    • touch problems that you might be known for solving

      • . For example, you might be a Sales Manager that is known for increasing revenues in challenging markets, plus you know Japanese, or you are Director of Operations that reduced vendor costs by 20% last quarter plus you have great communication skills, or you are a Business Analyst that developed specifications for a killer products and knows how to turn ideas / concepts into new products / services.

Once you have created a basic framework for this USP, you are ready to go onto the next level which is developing your communication based on this USP:
1) Create an elevator speech
2) You resume’s summary section
3) Your LinkedIn profile
4) Your blog profile

And here’s the best part – you can have multiple versions of your elevator speech depending on the type of setting you are in and who your audience is.

What would you like to include in your USP?

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