Personal Branding For Job Seekers Step 4: Company Specific UVPs
Previous articles in this series on Personal Branding For Job Seekers:
So here’s the problem: most people looking for a job focus on their past and discuss themselves in terms of their most recent role. However, this approach forces your audience (hiring managers and their employers) to figure out what you have to offer as an employee.
A UVP is a short statement that addresses the needs of a prospective hiring manager by showcasing how your unique combination of skills and experience can enhance their success, solve their problems, and contribute value to their organization.
But in order to communicate your value effectively, you first need to understand what matters to your audience.
So buckle up buttercup, because it’s time to stop thinking like a job seeker and start thinking like a hiring manager.
Target Companies
Before you start researching your target companies, refer back to your Deal Breakers and Dream Job lists and make a note of anything you wrote about your ideal company.
Start by creating a list of at least 20 companies, including any you identified when you did your industry research.
To make this easier, I suggest checking out this free tool I found yesterday called, “CareerBot 3000.” You tell it your top job priorities, give it your resume and it identifies 10 roles and 20 companies that fit your education, expertise, and preferences. Plus it gives you 20 relevant keywords, suggestions for resume improvements, and a list of potential interview questions and answers.
Here’s the link to try it out: thejobinsiders.com/blog/2023/3/15/introducing-careerbot-3000-get-your-own-ai-career-concierge
WARNING: it doesn’t seem to save your results, or at least it didn’t save mine, so make sure to copy and paste your results into a Google doc.
Company Research
Once you have your list of 20 companies, next you need to research each one to understand their goals, challenges and culture. Depending on the size of the company and information that’s publicly available, you will want to do the same for the department you’d like to work in as well.
Use Perplexity.ai or another AI search engine and just copy and paste the questions below to collect data on each company (add the company name in the brackets and make sure to fact check results by visiting the cited sources):
What is [company]’s primary product or service?
What is [company]’s target market and ideal customer?
What are [company]’s mission, vision and values? (How do these align with your values, beliefs and career goals?)
What is the company’s market position in 2024?
Is [company] declining, stable or growing? (Look for companies that are hiring rapidly, opening new offices, or launching new products, these are signs they might have unlisted job openings)
What news has been published about [company] in the past six months? (make note of any recent mergers, acquisitions, or major business changes)
What do [company]’s customers say about its products/services?
What is [company]’s reputation?
What do employees say about the pros and cons of working there? (if reviews are a mix of amazing and terrible with little in between, that’s a 🚩 and could suggest that the company is trying to counter balance 1-star reviews by getting new hires to give 5-star reviews).
Who are the key executives and what are their backgrounds and reputations? (company culture is shaped by its leaders)
Who are the company’s main competitors and how do they differentiate themselves?
Based on the data you’ve collected so far, please summarize the company’s culture, and biggest goals and challenges in 2024.
Additional sources of company data:
Company websites
Annual company reports, investor presentations and press releases
LinkedIn Company pages — Pro Tip: on the “About” section of the company page, look to see if the “I’m interested” button is enabled. By clicking it, you can privately express interest in working for a company without having to apply for a specific role.
Glassdoor, Indeed, and Comparably.com for employee reviews, salary information, and insights about workplace culture
Social media
Write Your UVP
The research was the hard part, now you can have robots do the rest.
Use the ChatGPT prompt below to generate UVPs that demonstrate how your skills and experience can help a company/department in different ways.
To use it, add your information to these sections of the prompt:
[job title], [company], [insert skills and strengths], [Company Goals:
Company Challenges:]
You can also attach your resume if you’d like to provide more context.
ChatGPT Prompt:
You are a career coach with over 20 years of experience who specializes in personal branding for job seekers.
I am a [job title] who would like to work for [company].
I will give you detailed information about my experience, skills and strengths, and a description of my target company’s goals and challenges.
Your task is to analyze the information I give you, map my skills and experiences to the company’s goals and challenges, and create 5 Unique Value Propositions (UVPs) that position me as a great hire.
Write the UVPs using the following formula:
“As a [role/expertise] with [key skills/experiences], I’ve [achieved specific results]. My ability to [unique strength] can help [company name] [achieve their goal/solve their challenge] by [your approach/solution].”
Format the output using the following structure:
[Company]:
Goal:
Challenge:
Job Seeker UVP:
Example:
Facebook:
Goal: Improving targeting capabilities
Challenge: Competing in a dynamic landscape
Job Seeker UVP: “As a Sales Representative with deep expertise in data analysis and interpretation, I’ve refined targeting strategies that improved client engagement by 25%. My innovative mindset and adaptability can help Facebook stay ahead in the competitive landscape by continuously enhancing targeting options and leveraging precise data insights.”
Use bold, confident language, strong action words and concrete, attention grabbing examples.
Here are my skills and strengths:
[insert skills and strengths and/or attach your resume]
Here is a description of the company’s goals, challenges and culture:
[Company Goals:
Company Challenges:]
That’s it! Now you can use these UVPs in your resume, cover letters, and outreach messages.
In my next article, I’ll talk about how to use the elements of your brand foundation and target audience intel to craft your origin story and define your brand voice.
Stay tuned and get ready to take your brand to the next level! 🔥
If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share it with your network. And if you have any questions or need further guidance, email me at diantha@dianthaboardman.com. Let’s elevate your job search game together!💪
