In my line of work, I have daily conversations with ing and analytics
professionals who are exploring their options. Some are highly motivated to find
a position due to circumstance, and some are far less motivated. Most will agree
that it’s always better to be valued, well compensated and sought after, and if
you are in a place where you have all of that, you are likely among the less
motivated. But one thing is absolutely true regardless of your
situation…everyone enjoys being wanted.
In recruiting terms, you might call that “getting put in the yes pile” for
further consideration. Active candidates always ask how to get positively
considered in the hiring decision making process. Interestingly enough, it’s the
basic question every sales and ing professional must ask themselves each
day, and it’s a good way for you to think about things. Objectivity is key, and
while sales and ing professionals are very effective at objectifying and
positioning products/services, it’s harder to do with people…yourself in
particular. At the end of the day, your product is “insert your name here,” and
the question is “what’s the best way to and sell you?”
The fundamentals remain true and pretty much everyone knows them, so let’s
start with the 4 P’s of ing (product, price, position and
promotion).
Product
As with ing any product or service, definition, differentiation and
value proposition should be your focus. As you may have surmised, it’s far more
difficult for anyone to completely and effectively objectify themselves without
the help of friends and colleagues, so get assistance if you can. Whenever I
talk to and profile candidates, the first thing I try to do is figure out how
someone positions in the current talent . Everyone has a different mix of
experiences, education, skills and talents that makes them unique. As a career
ing intelligence professional that now spends so much time profiling
candidates, it’s something I’ve become highly proficient at. Things I explore
include…
- Education (educational experience
- Job training
- Past titles (applied experience)
- Past companies
- Career progression
- Technical capabilities
- Interpersonal capabilities
- Management capabilities
- The interesting things you have done
- The positive change you have personally affected
- Other impacts you have made
- Current/past compensation
- Etc.
Looking back, I have become far more capable at profiling based upon the
criteria listed above. But while I’m much better at it now, it was still
something I could do several years back, just not as fast or comprehensively.
Things that go a long way toward helping profile yourself includes talking to
friends and colleagues inside and outside of your core area of focus; networking
with industry colleagues you don’t know; reading trade magazines; reading salary
surveys; attending industry events; browsing blogs and relevant online content;
reviewing your employee reviews; understanding exactly why formal
recognitions/significant pay raises were received; and so on. One of the biggest
error/omissions I see on s is when someone takes their accomplishments for
granted or assumes accomplishments are inherent when they are not. Avoid that
mistake by fully thinking through your personal history and profiling yourself
so that you know how you position and what your strengths and weaknesses are. It
will help in building your , but more importantly, it will help you
interview better when the time comes.
When it comes to building/revising your , think of it as your personal
product factsheet, sell sheet, promotional material or billboard. It is the
outward representation of who you are and what you are selling, so make sure it
denotes exactly what you want. Make every word count. If a word or sentence does
not communicate the essence of who you are and what you can do for the hiring
manager/company, rethink whether it should be revised or deleted.
- Make it easy for the reader to understand your value proposition by using
relevant and concise language.
- Make it easy on their eyes by using attractive fonts, spacing and
formatting.
- Make it easy on their brains with linear progressions between positions
throughout your …and if here are gaps in the progression, come up with
interesting ways to fill them so the reader doesn’t do it for you.
- Take control of the one thing in the hiring process you have total control
over and leave nothing to chance.
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “you only get one chance to make a first
impression.” That’s obviously true, but sometimes you don’t even get that
chance. For example, your chance to make an impression can be completely
overlooked when your gets auto scanned for keywords it should have
contained and gets passed over. It can also happen when someone not as informed
about the nuances of your particular profession is asked for their first
impressions of a group of candidates, and then screens you out based on one or
two very specific criteria they were looking for but did not see in your .
I generally see three types of s in our industry, which is technical,
strategic or a hybrid of both. Technical s tend to be keyword rich, which
is great, but folks often struggle to keep the language active and flowing, so
be aware of that. Strategic s are higher-level focused and often have less
of the technical language, so be sure to work in those keywords wherever
appropriate while not breaking up the overall flow.
One thing to consider is that for many hiring managers, the process of
screening, interviewing and selecting candidates is not at the top of their list
of “things I really like to do.” There are exceptions of course, but most of the
hiring managers I know would rather spend their time focusing on their core job
function, whatever that may be. Everyone is pressed for time these days and no
one likes to have their time wasted, so take control and make it easy for the
reader to say yes by presenting yourself in your best light. If you need help,
get it. You’d be amazed how much friends/colleagues will want to help you,
provided that you ask.
Note: since I get so many questions about and analytics and s
(format, look, feel, content, etc.), I’ve decided to follow this up with another
piece, along with some sample templates. Please click here to be referred to that post, which includes templates in addition to videos covering how they were created and how to work with them.
Price:
Compensation is an interesting topic and is dependent on so many things. It’s
dependent on location, industry, technical experience, interpersonal experience
and all of the attributes in the list above. Some and analytics
professionals are fairly compensated, some are undercompensated and some are
well compensated relative to their colleagues. At the very least, you’ll need to
answer and justify the following things, so them and think it through
beforehand…
- How much do you need to get paid to be happy
- What is your current annual base compensation and bonus
- What is your historical compensation
- Specifically why you deserve to make “insert happiness figure here”
Place
Now that you’ve got that killer and you know how you position, where
will you yourself? What placement strategy will give you the highest
likelihood of success? Generally speaking, the best placement strategy in order
of highest likelihood to succeed is…
- Family/friend recommendation for position
- Colleague recommendation for a position
- Recruiter (internal/external) recommendation for a position
- Answering select targeted ads for positions you are highly qualified for
- Answering ads you are somewhat qualified for
- Answering ads you are overqualified for
- Answering ads you are remotely qualified for
Promotion
Lot’s of and analytics professionals struggle with promoting
themselves. Only the truest extroverts among us are genuinely comfortable with
it, and generally speaking, it’s not something the majority of us have
experience doing. Like everything else, it requires practice and time to do
well. Having gone through the process above, you should hopefully have a clearer
perception of who you are and what you’re worth, which is crucial to the
process. You should also be more prepared to give anyone your personal elevator
pitch…and follow it up with a killer via email. Confidentiality is
often very important, especially for those gainfully employed, so please be
careful when proceeding with any of the below.
- Networking (personal/professional)
- Updating/posting your credentials as appropriate
- Blogs, Twitter, Facebook
- Public speaking
- Attending events and tradeshows
Many candidates I speak to say they’ve been given conflicting advice by
experts regarding content and approach. Such opinions are determined by personal
experience, style and past successes, so they are varied and highly
individualistic. When working with someone on how to best present themselves, I
always do my best to discern these and work in harmony with them, preferring to
tweak rather than overhaul. Sometimes overhauls are needed, but more often than
not, varying levels of tweaking is what’s required. Without a doubt, time and
energy put into the process above will be reflected in the final product. As
ing ers we continually advocate for doing the legwork ()
up front, enabling companies to launch successfully or position effectively
right out the gate. Follow the same advice for your personal ing. I
guarantee that if you do, you’ll significantly increase your chances of getting
put in the “yes” group.
