Creating an effective marketing profile
One of the tools we use to help market our candidates is our weekly newsletter to our employers. Our database consists of over 700 local employers who have specifically asked to be contacted weekly with our candidate list. When you (the jobseeker) arrive at our office at our info session, we ask that you put together a short profile for us to put on our newsletter. A short profile consists of about 2 to 3 sentences explaining the job you are looking for and your skill set. It’s a preview of your skills so the employer will request your resume after reading it. Here’s an example of what we like to see in an profile:
Dave
CAD Draftsperson
Project Coordinator
Four years of drafting/design experience with AutoCAD in the steel detailing industry. More than five years of customer service experience and well versed in various MS Office applications and AutoCAD 2006, 2007 and 2008.
We try to keep the profile as tidy as possible, and by this I mean, highlighting the hard skills. We find that employers don’t really find descriptions such as, “value added” or “a quick learner” or “can work on a team and independently” to be helpful at this stage. Employers are really screening for the more “tangible” skills. The more focused you are with your description, the better the profile.
Another way to look at this exercise? Elevator pitch – you know, a 30 second explanation of your skills. And it’s good practice as well for interviews. Some people end up using it on their resume for a short profile/introduction of their skills.
