This past spring, I attended a workshop led by Jack Derby, a marketing professor in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies Department at Tufts. Jack has his own management consulting company and sits on the board of the investor network Common Angels. At Tufts, he teaches Entrepreneurial Marketing. Students in the class requested a lecture focused specifically on the job search. In part 1 of this post, I thought I'd highlight Jack's advice for preparing your job search tools. In part 2 of this post, I'll highlight his suggestions for the interview process.
PREPARING YOUR TOOLS
Targeting the best you
Look at your strengths and weaknesses, and work from there.
One trick is to find someone on LinkedIn who has the job that you want, and look at their qualifications and strengths and how they present themselves - then aim for that as you build yourself. In the short term, you need to prepare for interviewers to ask about your weaknesses - have a response ready to counteract their concerns. To evaluate yourself, try using a SWOT analysis - a template frequently used in business to break down Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. You can find more on how to do a personal SWOT analysis from Forbes and Monster.com.Resume
Your resume...is actually only “moderately important,” according to Jack. What’s more important is your CVP or Customer Value Proposition. If you want more on resumes check out the Career Center’s links on resumes or schedule an appointment this summer to have someone look over your resume. (Yes, the Career Center is open 9am-5pm during the summer!)CVP (Customer Value Proposition) trumps resume, aka, “Why Cheerios is the best-selling cereal”
This is the part of Jack’s presentation that really stood out to me, and I think it’s an idea that I will keep in mind for the rest of my life. He took out a little box of Cheerios, and told us that Cheerios are the best selling cereal in the world - with twice the sales of any other cereal. He asked us why, and people said because they’re healthy, they’re good for your heart. And that is the Cheerios value proposition: that’s what they say they’ll do for you.The nutrition facts on the side of the box? That’s your resume. It’s dry and boring, and it’s not important in the purchasing process. People don’t buy this product because it has 3 grams of fiber and the ingredients list has whole grain oats and trisodium phosphate. Yeah, 3 grams of fiber, so what? People buy Cheerios because Cheerios are pitched as being healthy and good for your heart. What does this tell us? Well, it’s not really about your specifications. It’s about the value you will deliver.
I think this mentality is the most important thing I’ve learned from Jack. Look at your resume (or any answer to an application/interview question) and ask yourself, “So what?” Okay, I did this internship and I completed these tasks. So what? I have experience in A and B area. So what? I can help your company improve in this area because I bring X and Y to the table. That's what you need to get to. What is your value? I don’t care about ingredients - what can you do for me?
- Complete profile (i.e. fill things out)
- Professional-looking headshot
- At least 150 connections
- At least 5 recommendations (written positive reviews - not to be confused with endorsements, which are just a +1 for a particular skill)
Email signature
Here’s what you should have in the automatic signature at the bottom of your email:- Name
- School & graduation year
- Cell phone number
References
Keep in contact with past employers so they remember you and retain a positive impression. Ask them to write you recommendations on LinkedIn and then potential employers who might not bother to spend time actually calling people will still get positive reviews of you.Personal blog or website
Many people might claim to be really passionate and experienced with x topic, but with a blog, you’re putting your money where your mouth is. It’s an extra step that makes you stand out from your peers (more on that in our previous blog post on How To Get A Job With Fluffy Liberal Arts Skills)Next time, I'll highlight Jack's thoughts on the interview process.
Reach out to Jack!
I know this sounds cheesy, but Jack really is dedicated to helping students succeed in their careers. He stays in touch with his students, and one day in class he mentioned that he’d woken up early for a 4am phone call with a former student in Singapore (12 hour time difference). He has a very extensive network and frequently recommends students to his contacts. He's been giving me frequent advice on a tricky situation I've been dealing with, and connected me to his friend who had done a talk for our class. I met with him for an informational interview, and he's now going to forward my resume to some of his contacts. But don’t expect Jack to hand you a job on a silver platter. Do your homework and show him you’re worth it.His email is on the last slide of the presentation (I don't want to write his email out because of spam bots), or you can find him on LinkedIn.
