There is a saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know", that really captures the career journey. The elevator pitch is something that helps increase the number of people you know and when done right can lead to people feeling invested in your career and success. Read on to learn the tips on how to do it right. The way to a new job is clear. At least 70% and maybe even as many as 85% of new jobs are secured through networking like networking events, informational interviewing, reconnecting with your current network and even social media networking.
You know what that means, you need a great elevator pitch as anytime you talk to someone new or reconnect with someone you haven’t spoken with in a while you will need to tell them a bit about yourself and what you are looking for. You want to hook someone in, someone who either wants to hire you or feels invested enough in your future to advocate for you within their own network. They won’t feel that way if you don’t create a connection with a good elevator pitch. Are you in a role and company that you love and think that this doesn’t apply to you? Well I have news for you, it does! I have heard about CEOs who literally get into the elevator every day and ask a different person for their elevator pitch. I know one who points to someone and says “elevator pitch – go!” I know another who is a little more subtle, “so what do you do here?” Think about wowing the head of your company and what sort of opportunities could arise from that, simply from having an elevator pitch. So what is an elevator pitch exactly? It is a quick, compelling short story about who you are, what you are looking for and how you add value. You are selling yourself as a product right? Think of the pitch as your “commercial” and remember that it allows you to create a lasting impression leading to stronger connections with individuals. Things to ponder: Before crafting your pitch there are a few things that I want you to keep in mind about the perfect elevator pitch:
Some Tips for Success:
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Have you exhausted all the traditional ways to finding a new job? Today is the day to step out of the box with these 2 game changing ways to find your next job! I’ve written about ways to GET NOTICED on LinkedIn and with your Resume, how to get past those pesky Resume Reading Bots and how to CREATE CONNECTIONS through the different ways of networking. Well, what I’m going to write about today is game changing. It will introduce two completely new ways to network and engage with hiring managers using two of the most popular social media channels - LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn is obviously a great way to reconnect, engage and build your network. But this article really changed the way I thought about how to leverage this social media site. When a new job is posted or comes available it is very common for recruiters and hiring managers to share it on LinkedIn and the premise of the above article is to use that information to your advantage! Meaning, use those posts as a way to get your name in front on the decision makers using the tips below. In the search bar at the top of LinkedIn put in your ideal job title, for example “Business Development Manager”. Followed by AND hiring AND location (ie “Toronto”) and hit enter/search. The key is to click on CONTENT then you will only get the posts and you won’t have to wade through thousands of people! Don’t forget to change things up to – different job titles that could be used (ie Territory Manager, Outside Sales Rep for this example), other words for hiring (seeking, looking). If there are certain companies you are looking at you can include the company name as well. Next you engage with them. You can comment on the post or send them a connection request with a note attached. The note should highlight why you are interested (why this company) and one way that you would provide value. As a recruiter, whenever I post that I’m looking to hire someone I love the influx of connection requests with notes! I check out their LinkedIn and if interested I’ll email them back asking for their resume and setting up a time to talk. For you, this way allows you to bypass the tedious application process or at least increases the likelihood of your application being read with a careful eye. When I say social media strategy for Job Search, most people immediately and only think of LinkedIn. They may think about making their other sites more job search friendly but that is generally about it. Adding Twitter to your strategy makes sense for multiple reasons but since your “competition” is most likely not using it, it means you will stand out more. In my email course, The Job Search Roadmap, I talk about the importance of creating a personal brand and twitter is a great place to showcase that. Create a professional twitter account with a handle that showcases who you are and what you can bring to the table. If you have any content of your own to share, then share it and use relevant hashtags so that it can be easily found. Start following twitter accounts that help you in your job search. Begin with your list of your top companies that you want to work for, business leaders, job forums and professional associations. For professional associations, keep an eye out for any Networking Events coming up that would make sense for you. Next begin engaging; retweet, comment and/or like articles not only posted by your top companies and business leaders but also share articles and tweets that showcase your knowledge and interest in your field. The LinkedIn search I mentioned above? You can also do that on Twitter! Search “Business Development Manager” and “hiring” and “Toronto” and see what pops up. Engage in the same way as above by replying to a tweet or Direct Messaging them. When applying traditionally to a job, I always recommend finding the Hiring Manager on LinkedIn, well I would add Twitter to that. If they are on Twitter engage there – follow them, retweet or reply to a couple of tweets, and DM them letting them know you applied. Not many people follow a job application up with a note but those that do tend to use email or LinkedIn. So the fact that you are doing so on Twitter means that you are standing out from the crowd even more! The way we job search is constantly evolving and with everyone being so busy it is hard to stay abreast of all the different ways to find a new job. To me, the best thing about being a Career Coach is the opportunity to research the latest trends and share my findings freeing up your time to devote to figuring out your next, best move! Book a free Discover Your Career call and we can strategize finding your way to a more fulfilling career. Would you love an audio version of this and all my articles, sign up for my newsletter and it will be sent to your inbox! Going by the statistics alone, chances are you have not been chosen for an interview that you should have been, meaning you have missed out on an opportunity. What do I mean by that? Well 72% of resumes submitted to jobs are read by an Application Tracking System and of those 75% are immediately disqualified, even if a person has the right experience! To me, as a career coach and resume writer, those stats are just downright scary. To a job searcher you may feel like it is a losing battle and will either stay put in a boring job or settle for any old offer because you think that dream job is out of reach. I don’t want that and you don’t want that, so I did the work and the research. I’ve listened to podcasts, read countless articles, reached out to Talent Acquisition friends to find out what you need to do to optimize your resume and your LinkedIn profile in order to get noticed! First off, what is an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), well it is a computer system that reviews and compares your resume (and sometimes LinkedIn) to the job description and gives you a grade based on how you match up. Then the candidates are ranked and a list is created that is sent over to the recruiter who then scans through the ones that scored the highest, on average only about 25% of the total number of applicants. To start off, I wanted to caution against coming up with some sort of wacky workaround just to get seen. At the end of the day a person will eventually review your resume. Some scams I’ve seen are filling white spaces on your resume with keywords in white so that they aren’t seen by a person but will be picked up by the ATS, sneaking keywords in (like learning to code in Java) and filling out your experience with keywords and nothing else. The thing is though, you still won’t get interviewed if you aren’t a qualified match for the job whether the ATS puts you through or not! So I sorted through all my research and have compiled a list of how to optimize your resume and LinkedIn profiles. Make sure you read to the end, there is some key information at the bottom of each section. How to Optimize Your Resume
How To Optimize LinkedIn So I know a lot of people optimize LinkedIn for recruiters and some have started to optimize for ATS but there are some things I’ve discovered in my research in talking with my peers within large organizations that I haven’t seen or heard about in my research. I’ll start with the basics of what you need to do with your profile and then go into the new findings.
After you have done the above, do a search. Plug in the keywords and job title of the role you applied for. Narrow down on location. And see where you land. If you land on the 3rd or later page, then you have work to do. The goal is to end up on the first or second page. Okay, you have done all the hard work on filling your resume and LinkedIn with relevant information and keywords and you still didn’t get the call. Well there could be another reason. A new function on some of the Application Tracking Systems is to scan your connections and your engagement. I know what you are thinking – what?! I know I thought that too. The reason for this is to establish how well connected you are within the industry. They want to see a decent number of connections and they want to see a good amount of connections within the industry. They also want to see how engaged you are within the industry, so are you liking or commenting on relevant posts and are you posting content/status updates relevant to the industry. Now I’m not suggesting you go out there and engage and connect with everyone within any industry for every job you have applied to. If you have completed my 5 day email course then you will know that I’m a big believer in focusing your work where it matters. So if there is a specific company within a specific industry (or even just a specific industry) that really excites you start there. Also, through my course, you know that I am also a big believer of networking and leveraging LinkedIn for that purpose. So by using LinkedIn to reach out to people within a specific industry and then engaging on their shares/updates and posts or commenting on articles they have also commented on, not only are you increasing your network as it looks to the ATS but you are creating valuable connections that will help lead the way to a fulfilling career! I hope those tips help. Let me know – engage on my Facebook page or through LinkedIn. If you want to sign up for my free email course you can do so below or my clicking here. And if you liked this article and want to get them straight to your inbox, then please sign up for my newsletter (just sent once a week). |
AuthorSara Curto helps people find a career they love by teaching them a new way to job search. The Secrets to finding a job you loveClick HERE to watch
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