In a previous career blog post, we discussed an easy process to unearth your strengths for greater career satisfaction. Now that you have identified your top strengths, you want to let the professional world know what makes you different from other job seekers, employees, or consultants. So how can you start to promote them? Here are three ways to start promoting your strengths.
Update Your LinkedIn Profile. LinkedIn is an excellent platform to use to promote your strengths. Check your current LinkedIn profile for the following:
- Are your top strengths mentioned anywhere in your profile?
- Does your headline capture attention, or is it a default sentence that LinkedIn provides?
- Does your current summary showcase your strengths?
- What is your main purpose of using LinkedIn (job search, networking, etc.)?
Take some time to revise and customize your LinkedIn profile for your target audience. While you want to stay professional, don’t be afraid to be creative and to grab attention by using unique adjectives to describe your top strengths.
Craft Your Elevator Pitch. Your elevator pitch is, essentially, your sales pitch that showcases why you are unique. It is generally 150 words and should last the length of an elevator ride, 12-20 seconds. This is an effective way to get the attention of a hiring manager, attract new clients, and expand your network. There are three components of an effective elevator pitch.
- Identify your target audience: who do you want to address and why? This could be a new job, a promotion, a new client, etc.
- Identify what you deliver: the services or products you deliver and how it benefits your audience.
- Create an attention-grabbing opening statement.
When creating your elevator pitch, make sure that you have highlighted your top unique strength. Keep in mind that this statement should be about your listeners, not about you. How does your unique strength benefit them?
Use Your Email Signature Line. Knowing your strengths makes it easier to create a branding statement. Your branding statement tells others what you bring to the table and why you deserve a job, promotion, or another form of career advancement. Make sure that your branding statement highlights your strengths and then add it to your email signature line!
If you need help crafting your branding statement, download our free presentation, Three Keys to Unlock Your Strategic Career Plan.
