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October 08, 2005

What do You do for a Living?

I'm currently attending an excellent series of workshops in small business marketing led by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.

One of the exercises is just as applicable for career marketing as it is for my business. John asked us to think about what we do for a living - and not to frame our answer in terms of job title or function (for example "I am a resume writer") but rather to explain the end result of what we do ("I help job seekers transition to a better position by marketing them effectively").

I've written before about the importance of differentiating yourself in the job market and I think this is a very valuable exercise to help you do that. Try to develop an answer to the question "what do you do for a living?" that does not include your job title. Instead, begin with " I help companies to (do what?) by (doing what?)." For example, an IT executive might say: "I help companies to cut their costs and increase productivity by using the very latest technologies to streamline cumbersome business processes."

You'll be amazed at how much this simple trick of focusing on your core differentiator can help in resume writing, interviewing and even salary negotiations.

Posted by Louise at October 8, 2005 01:23 PM