How to Write a
Looking-for-Work (elevator) pitch: a useful Guide for the Jobseeking
Social Media Group Member
With the growing
trend of Australian employers following the lead of American businesses in
becoming social media active – and savvy – many employers and recruiters are
now using Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Google Plus, Pinterest and the plethoric-gamut
of other social media platforms to carry out a bit of background information research
on applicants applying for their vacancies, and use that information to gain
insight about the candidate and determine the person’s suitability to the
company and position, oftentimes without the candidate even knowing they have
been ‘checked out’ or considered.
Many jobseekers
are also turning to using their social media accounts to help them with their
quest to gain employment; joining local jobseeking groups on any of the social
media platforms to network with other jobseekers has so many wonderful
benefits, including the opportunity to connect directly with employers and
recruiters.
As a jobseeking
group member, you have a wonderful opportunity to not just search for a job,
but also to be found!
After observing
jobseeker pitches in a couple of Facebook Jobsearching Groups over the past few
months, and witnessing far too many pitches that do absolutely nothing to create
a positive impression or support the persons jobseeking plight, and worse, ends
up leaving a negative one instead (which completely eliminates them instantly
to any employer and fellow member viewing), today’s article will cover the
basics of writing a looking for work ‘elevator’-style pitch.
But first...
What is an elevator pitch?
An elevator pitch,
for today’s purpose, is a concisely delivered spiel where the speaker is trying
to persuade a listener to the speaker’s particular point of view.
Think: a scriptwriter
pitching their movie or television show idea; an author pitching the storyline
of a book; a lobbyist pitching a political view to a politician in the hope of
gaining support.
In a typical scenario,
the scriptwriter, novelist or lobbyist will have spent many times and ways
trying to gain a few brief moments with the producer, publisher or politician
only to be blocked and shut out from being able to pitch their wonderful idea
to the person with the power to make it happen.
Then, after weeks and months trying, in this sudden, unforeseen miracle
moment, when the producer, publisher or politician is relaxed and out of their
office – and away from that dratted, nastily strict gatekeeper of a secretary
who never puts the calls directly through and never passes the messages on – it
happens: the person with the idea is suddenly presented with a short window of
opportunity, and they have only a short elevator ride alone together for them
to finally tell their idea to their target.
It’s very much
like jobseeking, isn’t it.
They have 30
seconds to get the listener interested, and cannot afford to waste even a
fraction of a second. So they pitch their well rehearsed spiel... and, as the elevator
doors reopen and the decision maker steps out, he or she hands the idea-pitcher
his or her business card and says, ‘Make an appointment with my secretary for
next week and we can work out the finer details’.
Woohoo, the person
successfully pitched their idea – finally, it might be about to all happen!
This only happens
to the screenwriters, novelists and lobbyists who know their basic product so
well that they are ready for those miracle moments. Unfortunately, those that don’t deliver a
perfect pitch which generates interest are left to travel back down the
elevator alone – opportunity over.
In the jobseeking social
media using world, you get opportunities to pitch to employers and recruiters
and people who you network with, who may be able to introduce you to an
employer or recruiter friend of theirs, so you need to be able to tell people a
little bit about yourself at any given moment: you have 30 seconds to get the
listener, me, interested – Go!
You don’t have
time to ‘umm’ and ‘err’ Time is already ticking and you MUST make a good
impression, or the listener will reject your idea, dismiss you as a candidate –
and that is not an option! Is it?
Were you able to
rattle off your perfect pitch just then, or are you now travelling back down in that elevator
alone?
The Jobseeker’s Social Media Group pitch
As a jobseeker
using a social media platform to connect with employers and recruiters, you
aren’t pitching to employers and recruiters verbally, in an elevator;
but, you still only have a small window of opportunity to get your message
across to your audience. Jobseekers aren’t
pitching an idea for a movie, book or new law; jobseekers are simply pitching an
‘I’m looking for work’ spiel.
But as you have
already realised by now, Facebook doesn’t provide you with the opportunity to
pitch your ‘I’m looking for work’ spiel verbally. No, but it does provide you with the
opportunity to leave a written pitch,
which can be read and judged until it eventually falls too far down in the
newsfeed that only the most determined readers will bother to scroll down to...
until you bump it.
Scary, huh? Having however many forum / group members –
all people who know people – able to read your pitch and make judgements about
it.
Yes, judge it –
often harshly.
But don’t complain
about that: as humans, assessing a situation and making judgements is a
necessary fact of life. It is our ability to assess and make judgements that
prevents us from being harmed by that sinister looking stranger lurking over
there with... is that a knife in his hand?
Employers too are
skilled at making assessments and judgements, just like you are. They just make judgements about you.
And they make those judgements in a social media Jobsearching group when
reading your pitch and checking your profile.
So... before you
write your ‘I’m looking for work’ pitch, do yourself a favour, right now, and
check your profile.
What impression
does your profile create?
What are your
privacy settings?
Will the person
gain only a few basic details, or see everything, about you?
What pictures will
the employer find: you being a party animal, loving parent, shameless and
sexily posed?
Will the employer
or recruiter be able to read that post you wrote on Monday bagging out the
state of things?
Now ask yourself: if
you were a stranger and had to make a judgement (you are fully equipped to do
so), would you make a positive judgement of what you are seeing with your own
profile? If you were an employer, would
you hire that type of personality?
It’s best to check
your profile out now, and make it completely jobsearch
friendly. If you don’t want to change your profile and settings, maybe you
should open a second account, and use it purely for your Jobsearching purposes.
So... now that you
are 1. a member of a Jobsearching group and 2. have a ‘clean’ profile for
employers and recruiters to look at, just how do you write a pitch that will
entice employers and recruiters to check you out and give serious consideration
that you might be suitable for their vacancy they haven’t yet told anyone about?
How to Write a ‘I’m looking for Work’ pitch
Employers with a
vacancy are generally looking for a person who is interested in gaining that
type of work and therefore they want to learn a lit bit about you (looking for
that type of work) as a candidate. In an
interview, they often start the line of communication with, ‘Tell me a
little bit about yourself’, and here on your social media forum / group,
they have the very same question.
During interviews,
too many jobseekers answer by telling the potential employer details of their personal
situation, which is not the information the employer is seeking. As I discussed in my post ‘Answering Interview Questions: Tell Me about Yourself’, which you can view by clicking
the link, when asking this question employers are fishing for a brief overview
of your professional history and interests.
So, in crafting
your ‘I’m looking for work’ pitch, you need to write sentences that present
your professional history and interests.
Simples? Not really.
Not sure what to write?
A simple formula
that you can follow is:
- Introduce yourself
- State what type of work
you are looking – please, only one type of work (or you are being
untargeted in your jobsearch approach)
- Mention whether you are
seeking full, part time or casual employment
- Briefly (and concisely)
describe the skills, experiences, licensing and qualifications that you possess
that are relevant for the type of work you stated you are looking for
- Briefly (and concisely)
pitch why you would make a good candidate
- Conclude with details on
your preferred method for how employers can contact you e.g. PM (Private
Message), phone, email etc.
For example, if I was looking for work I might
write:
My name is Char Mesan, and I am seeking clients who
want their resume assessed or totally rewritten as well as blog readers who require
their jobseeking advice and assistance from an industry professional. I have
ten years experience writing and creating visually-attractive, market-effective
resumes and training jobseekers from all types of backgrounds and circumstances
how to use effective jobsearch strategies. I am the holder of qualifications in
Business, Administration, Employment Services, Management and Training and
Assessment. I enjoy helping people who are looking for work to become empowered
and motivated by their jobsearch instead of frustrated, and have experiences as
the person who culled candidate applications and of working closely with
employers to share so that my clients gain a competitive edge, faster and
easier results in gaining a job, and yet my services are still affordable. I am
happy for anyone interested in becoming a client to private message me, and I
encourage all forum members to interact with me in the forum, like my Facebook
page, and become regular readers of my Char Mesan Job Training blog, which you
can access by visiting www.charmesanjobtraining.blogspot.com.au.
Did you learn anything about me in that pitch?
I may not be looking for paid employment, but my
pitch still lets jobseekers know in only a short Facebook post a bit more about
me and what I have to offer – and this is precisely what you are attempting to
achieve with your pitch in looking for paid employment.
Now, there are a number of things that can go wrong
with a written pitch.
The Do’s and Don’ts of
Writing an ‘I’m looking for work’ pitch
Do
- Use proper Spelling,
Grammar and Punctuation. If your skills are poor, get someone to proofread
before you post your pitch!
- Use only positively
worded language
- Use concisely worded
sentences
- Keep the pitch to a single
paragraph, under 200 words in length
- Remember, employers visit
your jobseeking group too (often lurking without you knowing they are there)
and will form an opinion about you based on your words and behaviour in (and –
depending on your privacy setting – out of) the group
- Remember, employers and
recruiters are likely to check your profile before they make contact, so make
sure your profile isn’t going to turn an employer off
- Specify the work you are
seeking – “I’ll do anything” is untargeted and is not helpful in creating a
good first impression or gaining you a job
- Take your time and carefully
craft your Looking for Work pitch offline, and once you are satisfied with your
pitch and have had it checked by someone else, then, and only then, post it
Don’t
- Don't highlight what you
can’t do and or your jobsearch frustrations. Your aim in
writing the pitch is to generate employer interest and make connections with
Group Members who may be able to put you into contact with suitable employers,
not whinge and vent your frustrations (share those with family and friend offline).
- Don’t pitch then ditch. Too
often I have seen jobseekers pitch their looking for work, often claiming they would
‘do anything’, and then when a few members let them know about opportunities
they ‘ditch’ their pitch (and the opportunities). Even if you have already
applied for the role, or the job is completely unsuitable, the only response
you should give is ‘thank you, I’ll follow up on that’ or ‘thank you, I’ll look
into that!’ or even, 'thank you, I found that vacancy too and have already applied, but thank you so much for letting me know, and if you find any other vacancies like that, please continue share the details with me'
- ·Don't use the word ‘but’
or the phrase ‘I can’t’. Tell employers
what you can do, not what you can’t. Highlight your positive skills and attributes;
don’t draw attention to your prejudices and weaknesses.
So, now you have learnt the basics of how to write
a looking-for-work pitch to use in your social media platforms, I hope to see
lots of well-written pitches on the forums I frequent in the very near future!
Did you find this article helpful? Please leave me a comment below, and feel
free to share this article with other jobseekers.
Happy, motivated jobsearch!
Char Mesan
