Your Summary, Profile and Pitch

Your Summary, Profile and Pitch Fine-tuning your message is one of the most important parts of prepping for job search. Your LinkedIn summary, profile and pitch, highlight your most marketable assets in a way that entices the reader and listener and leaves them wanting to learn more! Your goal is to draw them in! So begin by deciding what you want to highlight. Inventory Your Assets Start by creating a list of all of your assets including: personality traits technical skills work-related processes and procedures industry experience projects accomplishments Personality Traits You can use this list to select the top 2-3 words someone would use to describe you. You dont have to use them all, but you do want to make sure you use an example or two that shows the trait in action. Accountable Adaptable Adventurous Alert Ambitious Appropriate Assertive Astute Attentive Authentic Aware Bravery Calm Candid Capable Certain Charismatic Clear Collaborative Committed Communicator Compassion Comradeship Connected Conscious Considerate Consistent Contributes Cooperative Courageous Creative Curious Dedicated Determined Diplomatic Directive Disciplined Dynamic Easygoing Effective Efficient Empathetic Empowers Energetic Enthusiastic Ethical Excited Expressive Facilitates Fairness Faithful Fearless Flexible Friendly Generative Generosity Gratitude Happy Hard Working Honest Honorable Humorous Imaginative Immaculate Independent Initiates Innovative Inquiring Inquiring Integrates Integrity Intelligent Intentional Interested Intimate Joyful Knowledgeable Leading Listener Lively Logical Loving Loyal Manages Time Well Networker Nurturing Open-Minded Optimism Organized Patient Peaceful Planner Playful Poised Polite Powerful Practical Presents Self Well Proactive Problem-Solver Productive Punctual Reliable Resourceful Responsible Self-confident Self-generating Self-reliant Sense of Humor Sensual Serves Others Sincere Skillful Spiritual Spontaneous Stable Strong Successful Supportive Tactful Trusting Trustworthy Truthful Versatile Vibrant Warm Willing Wise Zealous Technical Skills and Work-Related Processes/Procedures These are work related things you know how to do. If you were in accounting, you would know about these: month-end and year-end reports, bank reconciliation, general ledger, fixed assets, trial balance. Each occupation has its own list of must-know skills. You can also check job descriptions to make sure your inventory is complete. And if you are missing any in-demand skills, make a note and plan on developing or acquiring those skills ASAP. Industry Experience What industries have you been exposed to? Your breadth and depth of industry knowledge is what will help differentiate you. Create a list of all the industries you feel knowledgeable about. Projects Create a list of the projects youve worked on. What was their purpose and what was your role? You dont need to mention them all, but if there are any reoccurring patterns you should include that. For example, if you were regularly tasked with streamlining processes or developing new workflows, that would be important to call attention to. Accomplishments Every day you made a difference. These are called accomplishments and they can be big or small. If you are looking for a way to recall your past accomplishments, take a look at this list. Personal Brand Statement or Value Proposition Now lets spin this stuff to make it interesting to your audience. Yes, your audience determines your message, not you. You need to state your value in terms that are meaningful to others. Which means you have to understand what their problems are and how you can solve them. In order to do this, you need to answer three questions: 1. What problem do you solve (Look at your projects and accomplishments) 2.   How you do it uniquely (look at your personality traits) 3. Whom you do it for (check industry listing or projects) If you want to learn more about creating your personal branding statement (and see a link to examples, you can go here.) The Summary On Your Resume Every resume written today needs a summary. It may just be keywords or it may be a short paragraph, either way, it needs to convey your message. Based on the job requirements, you may have to fine-tune your summary to include the right words (as long as you do not lie.) Your LinkedIn Summary Your LinkedIn summary is more robust, thorough and static than your resume summary.  LinkedIn says your summary shares information about your mission, accomplishments, and goals. Your summary can use up to 2,000 characters (thats a lot of words!) Please dont copy and paste the exact same summary from your resume into your LinkedIn profile. Someone looking at your LinkedIn profile wants to learn more about you than what they can find on your resume. This is your opportunity to state what is important to you (values, work ethic, and what motivates you). Start by cutting and pasting your summary from your resume (if you must) but go back and add the words I , me and my to make it more personal. Include interests, stories, examples of your work to help the reader understand what makes you tick! Your Pitch Your pitch may include many of the elements above. It too, needs to be adjusted based on your audience. The pitch you use while introducing yourself at a gathering with family and friends would be different from the pitch you deliver in an interview. The formula is likely the same, but the words you chose to use need to be adapted. Heres a formula: What do you do? What do you offer? What makes you special and unique? (Relative to the person you’re meeting.) What is your goal/objective? What do you WANT to do? What impact do you have? What results do you create? How do you create positive results? Well, do you have something started? This isnt easy and it isnt set in stone. Continue to refine your summary, profile and pitch!