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Career Marketing 201

Posted on 06. Jul, 2005 by Bill in Employment News

Career Marketing 201

As an executive recruiter and search consultant, I review more than 10,000 resumes each year. Many simply blend into the background, but others truly stand out. What makes a resume compelling? What is it that makes me say, “I get it! I understand what this person is all about!” and then pick up the phone? What makes me want to present a candidate to one of my clients, or causes clients to get excited about a candidate?

Viable executive candidates convey a unique value proposition — a distinctive set of skills, competencies and experience that brings value to employers. That is, these candidates explain the following in a resume and in person:

The context in which they’ve worked. The size, scale and scope of their responsibilities. The industry and specific functions in which they have been engaged. The revenue they have added or the costs they have reduced through their efforts. The enhancements they have made to an organization’s reputation, and the risks that they have reduced. Portions of stories that get at the exact actions they personally took to achieve these useful results. By clarifying the information outlined above, candidates form the foundation of what I like to think of as “career marketing” — a strategy that can supercharge your networking efforts.

Why Networking Alone Isn’t Enough

Many job seekers fail to network effectively because they view networking as merely an exercise in talking or meeting with the people they know, or with those with whom they share affiliations. They expect their acquaintances to analyze their careers and then take actions to get them a better job or a promotion. More often than not, this approach leaves contacts feeling puzzled as to how to help the job seeker.

To make full use of your network, you need to know more than just people who are in a position to help you reach your goals. You need to know how to summarize what capabilities you bring to the market. You need to make the people within your network understand the value that you offer an organization specifically as it centers on revenue, costs, reputation and risk. Career marketing takes networking to a whole new level, because it involves the exchange of something thoughtful and potentially valuable.

Know Thyself

Through career marketing, you are essentially accomplishing two things: You are carefully determining your exact competencies and capabilities — or, in marketingspeak, your value proposition — and you are making your value proposition known to people who can derive something substantial from what you can do.

The first step in launching your career marketing effort is to figure out what you can do for an organization or business. You do this by discovering what differentiates you from the masses. I often advise executives to use the following step-by-step process to define their “brand”:

Step 1: Summarize in a few bullets what you think you are really good at — the competencies that set you apart and have allowed you to get pay increases, promotions or other types of advancements in the past. This bullet-point list of core competencies constitutes the foundation for the next step. Step 2: Write down the seven work episodes related to your list of core competencies that have brought you the most satisfaction, the most pride and the most joy. What was the challenge at hand? What actions did you take? What were the results? Step 3: Pinpoint within your “seven best” work stories three or four common themes about the organizational value of your skills, and learn to verbalize them in a concise, compelling way. These themes form your value proposition. The ability to articulate your brand will fuel-inject your networking engine. Once you summarize your brand and provide powerful examples, the contacts from whom you request information or introductions will readily understand the value that you bring.

Moreover, when an interviewer asks you what you are really good at, you can reply in a very succinct and compelling way: “I’m good at X, Y and Z. But the capability that comes forward most frequently is X. Let me tell you a story.” You can then outline from your seven best work stories a situation, the task at hand, your actions and the results. This approach enables you to communicate your biggest strengths and support your claim.

Finally, your value proposition becomes an integral part of your professional experience.

Take Charge of Your Career

Don’t leave it to a former co-worker, an acquaintance, a recruiter or a hiring manager to connect the dots that form your career. Instead, lay the groundwork ahead of time and describe your top three contributions along with compelling stories that support your points. Very few people I have interviewed are able to articulate their value proposition with the detail that I’m suggesting. More often than not, I have to tease the most important information out of them.

Conveying what you bring to the table shows that you’re thoughtful, you’re a great communicator, and you’re in charge of your career. You have thought things through. You are not asking anyone to figure out what you are going to be “when you grow up.” You are not asking for career counseling. On the contrary, you have thought seriously about what you do, how you do it and whether you are good at it. Moreover, you have outlined your story in a format that is easy to understand.

People are busy. Make it easy for them to understand who you are, what you’ve done and what you can do in the near future. If you do, you will be dramatically different from others in this crowded field.

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Tags: Employment News