Your Career Commercial

By Wendy Y Bailey

Whether you're looking to land your ideal job or you’d like to tighten up your networking spiel, your career commercial is your most influential, most powerful and most critical job search and networking tool. It offers the greatest opportunity for you to showcase your best asset – YOU!

Creating your career commercial is a lot easier than you think because the elements of your career commercial are things you already know. You already know your strengths, skills and abilities so begin from that place of familiarity to style your career commercial. Your task is not only to identify areas that are truly of benefit to the organization but also to emphasize how your talents may serve hiring managers and the organization as a whole. The key to a great career commercial is to weave each of the elements into a natural and effective portrayal of who you are and the highly specialized abilities you have to offer.

The ten elements of your career commercial are:

1. Identifier – Determine how you refer to yourself. Make this statement with great confidence and assurance.

2. Profession or Industry Background – Briefly state your industry experience and history.

3. Specific companies or clients with whom you’ve been associated – Communicate your mini-reference to build credibility and to breed awareness.

4. Noteworthy career accomplishment – Demonstrate your skills and abilities in action.

5. Skills and Strengths – Think legacy…how do you want to be remembered?

6. Educational background and/or specialized training – Focus on one or two areas of specialization rather than recite your resume.

7. Awards or recognition you’ve received – Illustrate how highly you are regarded by others.

8. Personal attributes – Make a statement about your character and what makes you uniquely you.

9. Where you’re going in your career, or what you’d like to have happen as a result of this interview or meeting – Share with great clarity how you view yourself in your ideal career/job.

10. Ask an open-ended question to draw the interviewer into the key areas you’ve mentioned – Offer an opportunity for the interviewer to provide feedback and solicit your response to specific questions related to your background.

Here are a few guidelines to use while creating your career commercial:

  • Keep it short. Try not to talk for more than 60-75 seconds.
  • Write it down. Rewrite it to make it conversational. Write for the ear and not the eye.
  • Become one with your career commercial. Don’t memorize it and don’t get bogged down in the details. If you aren’t able to comfortably address each element, increase your comfort level with the three or four main points of emphasis.

In conclusion, your career commercial represents your prime opening to summarize your career focus; to highlight your skills; and to bring to light your strengths and assets. Invest time developing a career commercial that’s represents you well. Then, delight in knowing you made an outstanding impression on your next boss.

About the Author:

Wendy Y. Bailey is a Personal and Business Coach with Brilliance In Action, a professional coaching business that helps women entrepreneurs and business professionals blend their business and personal lives successfully. Wendy says, "You're brilliant and I want to show you how to Set It Off!"

Wendy Y. Bailey may be contacted at www.ebrilliance.net or by email at brilliance@wendyYbailey.biz.