What is the Fifth Step of Jobpreneurship™ 101?

The fifth step has two components. First, once you know what the hiring manager wants, you need to be able to tell her what you offer in such a way that it answers their question, “Can you give me what I want and what I am looking for to hire?” In other words, what is your value to me that is different from everyone else I am interviewing? Second, once you know your unique value, you need to be able to express it in ten words or less.

Now you may have a lot of values. You may be able to do a thousand things for a company. But the hiring manager has in mind a problem or a need for a solution that is driving the justification for them to be hiring someone. So, of your thousand wonderful abilities and prior experiences, what is the one phrase that summarizes what you can do for them to give them what they want and are looking to hire. In other words, what is your value to them in a short phrase that causes them to have immediate interest in learning more about you?

The next time you watch the news, notice how just before they go to a commercial break, one of the commentators will summarize one or two upcoming news stories in such an intriguing way that entices you to stay tuned to their channel in order to find out more about that story after the commercials. You can call that phrase a teaser, a tag line, or a Value Proposition.

The idea is that when someone hears your well thought out teaser/tag line/value proposition, it is short, memorable, intriguing, speaks to how you are someone valuable to know, and someone who others (including hiring managers) should know because you might be what they need and want.

This concept is part of your branding effort but it is also part of your communication plan. It communicates in a short phrase your value to others in a simple why that is memorable so that others can tell their friends about you and your message can go viral either online or through your networking community. It also is a phrase that should intrigue interested parties to want to ask you to tell them more. You might call it a hook to get their attention and give you the opportunity to stand out in a crowd.

 

What is the Fourth Step of Jobpreneurship™ 101?

Just think of what might happen if you start networking and calling on people before your product is ready for the market. How many first impressions do you get? What would happen if all the key people in the companies and industry where you want to work have already met you before your products were ready for the marketplace?

Now we are going to talk about how to present your finished product to the market. The first key point is that you are your brand. Your reputation is part of your brand. Your image, your personality, your intelligence, your creativity, your problem solving…all of your capabilities and who you are is part of your brand. How are other people seeing you? How do they describe you to their friends?

If you are a great finished product but hide in the closet, will anyone know who you are? If you go to network but don’t speak to anyone, will anyone know you or remember you? If you stand up and speak but don’t make a memorable impression, do you exist? Seriously, you may feel embarrassed, nervous, or lack confidence but don’t worry. Unless you make a spectacle of yourself, no one will remember you. Of course, if you are trying to get noticed to get a job, trying to develop relationships with those who can help you, or trying to establish yourself within your industry, you should not only want to be noticed but to establish your reputation and brand as someone who is credible, respectable, and valuable to know and to help.

Think about the brand of car that you would like to own. If you don’t care about the car and only want transportation, then you might be willing to buy the lowest cost vehicle in the market. If you want reliability, you might want to purchase the car rated the highest reliability in the market (a form of branding). If you want the fastest car, the smoothest riding car, the most luxurious car, or the most expensive car then you would be looking for the car whose reputation and brand met your perception of what best fits what you were looking for.

You can apply the same concept to clothes, shoes, hair products, etc. The best product to buy may not always be the latest style, highest quality, highest cost or only available at exclusive stores. However, it must have the perception of being the style that you are looking for, the quality that you are looking for, the cost that you are looking for, and available at the store where you shop.

Why does a young person spend $500 for a pair of jeans with holes pre-cut in the fabric when I might spent $30 for a pair of jeans that has no holes and may actually last longer? It is all about the branding and the image you are projecting about yourself.

So, what is your brand for your product (yourself)?

The first question is, what brand is the company looking to buy for the job that you want? Does that brand match who you are? Does that brand match who you are transforming yourself to become? If not, there is a gap of perception. You may be able to do the job better than anyone else, but if the perception is that you are not the brand that they want; someone else will usually get the job.

Are you a $500 pair of jeans want-a-be who comes across like a $30 pair of jeans? What steps are you taking to take to create your brand to match the career that you wish to have?

There is much more to say about branding, but I think you understand how important this topic is to your future.

 

What is Product Development in Jobpreneurship™ 101?

We suggested earlier that you are a product/service that needs to be salable to the buyer (hiring manager) more than your competition. So, are you?

Many companies make products that never sell. They spend millions of dollars, but nobody wants their product! They love their product. In their mind, everyone should want, need, and demand their product. But if the buyers are not interested, all the time, money, and labor that went into making their product is wasted.

The secret is to come up with an idea that the market wants to buy. Then you need to be the best product that fits what the market wants in your space. If not, who will purchase you?

If you do not know what you want to do, will anyone other than your parents care? Not unless you are asking for help.

If you do not know where you want to work, how to describe in detail what your vision is, will anyone else know how to point you in the right direction?

If you display red lights in the market where you want to work, will anyone be willing to stick their neck out for you? If you are not willing to discover and work on your red lights, will anyone be willing to help you?

Red lights are often an emotional issue to you. But they are a red light for those around you, especially those who can help you or even hire you.

Identify and fix your red lights or at least try to change them into yellow lights.

All three of these areas are part of developing yourself as a product that companies want to buy (hire). If you match what they want and what they perceive as competitive, then you are ready to begin presenting yourself and marketing yourself to the world.

Later, as you find additional areas for improvement or areas hiring managers want to see, you can make those changes. This is how wise job seekers become successful.

 

What is the Third Step of Jobpreneurship™ 101?

Once you know your passion and narrow vision of what to do and where you want to work, you now can zero in on how to be sure others first impressions of you don’t immediately disqualify you from the job or from others wanting to help you to get a job.

I call these areas Red Lights.  Some red lights you can easily change, such as dress and appearance. Some red lights may be difficult or impossible to change, such as being four feet tall trying out for a professional basketball team.

What happens when someone sees you with what they consider a red light is that you are automatically disqualified, in their mind, of either the job or them wanting to help you to find a job.

Isn’t that unfair? From your perspective, it is unfair. From their perspective, it is wise.

Why is that? A first impression is often made is around 10 seconds. What they are looking for is whether you fit into their impression of being presentable and successful for the type of job that you are seeking. The hiring manager can lose her job if she hires you and you fail or embarrass her. So, she is looking for any hint that you might be inappropriate, not a fit, questionable, or raise any suspicion about you. The person who might be able to help you has their reputation to consider.  If they refer you and the hiring manager does not like you, or worse is appalled by seeing what she sees as a red light, then she will question that person’s judgment. So rather than risk a negative mark on their reputation, most potentially helpful people will be nice to you but not stick their neck out for you.

What are typical red lights? We have a long list in the book. They also include not knowing your passion or vision.

Instead of repeating the list, there are two key concepts that might help. First, a red light in one profession, industry, or part of the country may be a green light in another profession, industry, or part of the country. If you are focused on your passion and vision, then you can easily research through networking and informational interviewing if you have any red lights for where you want to go. If so, then you can either develop a plan to change your red lights into yellow lights or even green lights. Any improvement will make you more competitive.

Second, a red light is not just with the first visible 10 second first impression. The second impression is the first 10 seconds when you begin speaking. Again, each profession, industry, and part of the country evaluates how you speak, your grammar, your vocabulary, your knowledge, your appropriateness, your enunciation, your accent, your turn of a phrase, your quickness of thought, and many other signs that are picked up in dialogue that may disqualify you long before they ask for your credentials or look at a resume.

Your job is to see if you are putting your best foot forward in both visual and auditory first impressions. If not, they may not hear anything else you say. If they see green lights, most will usually want to know more and may consider helping you.

Remember who is the helping you and who is the buyer. You are selling yourself as a product. If there are issues with the product, the helper and the buyer will keep looking for someone else who does fit their image of who is a green light for the job (a better product). That needs to be you.