Be a sticky phoenix and pivot. Huh?
Five ways to stand out from the crowd as a graduate
- Gradvertise®:
You want to be the best at a sport - you train, you join a team and you get coached. You want to pass
your driving test quickly - you get an instructor and you take the lessons. You want to get the best job -
you get a career coach and you Gradvertise®.
Gradvertising is all about effective management of the job finding process. It's about having an objective,
a strategy and then playing tactics (the Gradvert OST gameplan) and in that order. A good coach will work
with you to launch an effective Gradvertising Strategy®, as follows:
- Vision: Understand and define your vision: where do you really want to be in three
year's time? How will you know when you get there? Why is this so important to you? What might a
plausible alternative look like?
- Needs: To make that vision a reality, what knowledge, skills and experience do you
need (internal requirements) and what contacts, opportunities and qualifications might you
need (external requirements). Think - if you're shopping for a red car, you go looking for a red car.
It's the same for recruiters: be what they're searching for!
- Plan: What steps will get you there fastest and most efficiently? What must you do
in the short term vs. what must you invest in longer term. Is each step specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic and timely (SMART)?
- Action: No more procrastination: be bold, step out and act - the only way to find oil
is to dig! And, with that, be sure to make use of the resources available to you.
For example, make sure your CV absolutely and positively sings out to the recruiter
by getting it written by a recruiter. Use your careers service, read the company recruitment
information and use the online CV and interview services available to hone your application to perfection.
- Review: Be critical about progress made. If you're not moving forward or you're putting
something off ask yourself why and what an alternative move might be: don't let it hang over you. On the
flip side, make sure you acknowledge the progress you've made. Celebrate each mini-success because you're
heading in the right direction.
- Capitalise on trends:
Trends are prevalent in every industry and in every market. They will be the topics getting the most airtime in business literature,
online forums, conferences and the Board room. So, make sure you understand each trend and its significance
to the business you're interested in. Furthermore, don't just know the trend; be the trend: be armed with
examples of times when you've been e.g. innovative and be ready to show how you can apply your thinking
to e.g. the Glocal (local application of global solutions) market place.
- Pivot:
Sometimes you can't have what you want when you want it. So, take an entry level job, one that will help
you to plug some of your development areas and whilst you've got one foot standing still; pivot with the
other. In the meantime, continue applying for bigger and better jobs, continue to network and
continue to Gradvertise®. It's
far easier to find work when you're working than when you're unemployed. Plus, you never know what
further opportunities a 'smaller fry' job might open up to you!
- Be sticky:
If a cappuccino is the art of selling air: being 'sticky' is the art of memorably selling your potential: sticking in people's minds!
The market is flooded with talent, we know this. So make yourself sticky by being the master of exclusion -
refining and selling your key messages - and standing at the edge of the herd - showcasing what no-one
else has.
Define your core value proposition (what makes you commercially viable) and bang that message home -
the most memorable graduate is the one likely to be discussed in the post interview reviews and the
one most likely to be hired. Make sure you have (relevant) interview examples that no-one else has and show how your learning can be applied to that recruiting company. Talk as if you're already working
for that company. Tease them with ideas you could implement and skills you can bring. Be brave.
Be bold. Own that stage and you'll leave them feeling that they can't do without you!
- Be a phoenix:
We've grown up in a world where failure is deemed so negatively that it is a taboo subject. It
leads us to play it safe and cover up failed attempts. This is tragic because without pushing the
boundaries we'll never learn; never reach our full potential. The best entrepreneurs are those
that have lost it all and come back from the ashes. Look at Sir Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannentyne
and Richard Branson.
So, fail fast and learn from it. Get outside of your comfort zone and into that stretch zone because
this is where the best learning and fastest growth takes place. To do this, develop a complete
disregard for where your competencies end: don't let other people place their own personal limitations
on your ability; jump in and sink or swim!
Fancy some one to one advice? Get in touch with Lisa Bean, the founder of Gradvert. lisa.bean@gradvert.com | 07969 075633 | www.gradvert.com
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