While a resume is the main way jobseekers market themselves, you may want to add these 4 marketing materials to your toolkit.
While a resume is the main way jobseekers market themselves, you may want to add these 4 marketing materials to your toolkit:
Short bio. A bio should include your current position and highlights of your career. Your bio reflects your career aspirations. If you want to be perceived as an industry expert and you have worked for the top companies in your field, you want to list these specific names. If you are currently in one position but aspire to another, you want to highlight skills relevant to where you want to be. The bio is a sound bite that focuses you and the readers to your unique value proposition.
Elevator pitch. While some people associate this only with entrepreneurs trying to sell their work, an elevator pitch is useful for any type of networking interaction. You need to be able to convey who you are and what you want in a brief and engaging way. Remember to have a different pitch for situations where you have 20 or 30 seconds v. 1-2 minutes.
Portfolio. For artists, a portfolio is often more important than the resume. But a portfolio of work is useful outside of the creative arena. A business portfolio may include samples of presentations you have written, deliverables or summaries of projects you’ve completed, or a client list. My portfolio includes clips of my work for GlassHammer, as well as CNBC.com and others. While I am not a journalist, the published work helps establish my expertise in the career development sector.
Headshot. This is particularly useful if you speak at conferences or write for trade publications. Some organizers and editors want a picture to include with your bio or article. A professional-looking picture readily available demonstrates that you are ready for career exposure.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
