"Productize" your skill set!!

Quick, you are in an elevator with someone who tells you they are looking for sharp people within your industry. You have 5 floors to make an impression! Can you do it?

The sales and marketing pro's among us recognize this scenario as the classic "elevator pitch". You have 2 minutes. Make your audience WANT to buy. But what happens if you are not a sales person, never been a sales person or tremble at the mere mention of the word (see previous post "The 'S' Word")? You'll remain unemployed or underemployed unless you are surrounded by people who can sell on your behalf.

Every day, I work with people who have trouble coming up with an answer to one of my basic questions. "What do you bring to the table that can make an immediate or near term impact on a new employer's profitability?" Have you ever thought of that? If you are not contributing to your company's profitability, you are detracting from it. If you are not contributing to your company's profitability, you are expendable (and probably sooner rather than later).

I suggest every job seeker take a few minutes to develop a FAB sheet. FAB stands for:

• Feature - This would be a skill or specialization that you possess that makes you of value to the career marketplace. It is what makes YOU marketable.
• Accomplishment - This is how you have applied that skill in a real world experience. It is how you have made money, saved money or changed a process to impact your previous employers bottom line!
• Benefit - This is how you tie your features and accomplishments into how you can solve your prospective employer's pain.

This process doesn't need to be painful, in fact it should be no more than 4-6 bullet points for most people. Know your FAB points. Write them out and practice saying them out loud in front of a mirror (silly sounding and your family will think you are nuts, but it is extremely effective) until you own them, and the next time someone asks why they should hire you, knock 'em out!