webinar communicating accomplishments

Communicating Your Accomplishments

PresenterDan Nelson, CEO

CareerCampaigns, LLC

Today’s Agenda

• The 30 Second Commercial

• Tip of the Iceberg Technique

• CAB Stories

• CAB Inventory

Law of Perception

• Marketing is a battle of perceptions• Interviewing is not a battle of candidates • Hiring decisions are based on perceptions• It’s what employers: See, Hear and Feel

The 30 Second Commercial

A brief verbal presentation of your employable assets.

• Background• Accomplishments• Objectives• Benefits

The 30 Second Commercial

• Use it at networking events, phone interviews, meetings with prospective employers.

• Present a limited amount of positive, attention grabbing information in a brief amount of time.

• Should never exceed 60 seconds.

Developing Your 30 Second Commercial

• Outline your assets in each of the 4 categories• Transfer the key points in each category to 3x5 index cards• Do not memorize your 30 second commercial• Only remember the key words and phrases in each category• Be able to present your commercial in a variety of patterns

Background:

• Briefly state your recent employment background and tenure. You may mention schooling, if degree is important.

“For the past ten years I have been in sales management and marketing, most recently with H.A. Smith Company in Ocala, FL.”

Accomplishments:

• Briefly state the accomplishments of your job career. Include quantitative details but do not give all of the specifics. Make them want to ask for more information.

“I have experience in territory management, marketing, training and team building. I also have a consistent history of increasing sales and exceeding quota.”

Objective:

• Briefly state where you see yourself fitting in., i.e. either positions, departments, industries or specific companies.

“I am seeking a hands on sales or marketing management position with a company such as Emergency One, Pall Pneumatic or Chariot Eagle.”

Benefit:

• Briefly state how you imagine a prospective employer might benefit form having you as a team member.

“I bring to an employer a proven manager, leader, motivator and dedicated team player. Jim, I am sure that with your help in identifying friends and business professionals to contact, the time of my job search will be reduced significantly.”

The Tip of the Iceberg Technique

• In an interview it is inevitable that you will be asked one of the following questions

“Why did you leave your last position?”

“Why do you want to leave your current job?”

Tip of the Iceberg Technique

• A brief , positive, factual honest statement about why you are in the market:

“My association with Alpha Company has been rewarding to this point and I have been able to enhance my skills and knowledge in sales and marketing, but further growth appears to be limited due to the decline of the industry. I have decided to seek a new association where I can apply the skills I’ve developed and make a major contribution. Does that answer your question?” Then SUAL!!

The Tip of the Iceberg Technique

• Apply this same technique for handling questions about any area of your professional or personal life, i.e. previous business failure, termination, demotion• Do not share your life history• Be positive, brief and upbeat in your response• Develop a Tip of the Iceberg for each position listed on your resume

CAB’s - Stories that Work!

• Are not about a wild ride with a taxi driver in NYC

• Real world stories about your past accomplishments • CAB stands for: CONDITION, ACTION, BENEFIT

The CAB Story Rule is:

“CAB statements must give credence to your talents, skills and abilities while fulfilling the needs and wants of the interviewer. CAB stories must be logical, provide impact and sound good!”

The CONDITION

• What was the opportunity, problem or challenge?• What had/had not happened which caused you to act?• How bad was it? (Quantify if possible)• What was the likely outcome if things continued as they were? (Bottom line effects)• How were you involved in the situation?

The ACTION

• What specific actions did you take?• List these actions in time sequence or structural

order• Use active verbs and personal pronouns to make

these sentences come alive“I formed a team of specialists…”“I instituted tighter controls…”“I developed a new system…”

The BENEFIT

• What were the results you produced?• Quantified in $$$, percentages, real numbers like man-hours, inventory turnover rate, rejection rate, etc.• Exact numbers are better if you know them• Good “ballpark” estimates are OK• Include time frame when the benefit was realized

Sample CAB - Focus on Problem Solving

Condition:

“When I was hired as a controller for the XYZ Corp. the major task at hand was to manage their operations budget of $15 million. This was the same amount in the previous year’s budget. They had not budgeted any increase and wanted to maintain their same level of service. This budget did not include the salary account, and I was told that the staff was already cut to the bone.”

ACTION:

“My first step was to review last year’s budget in detail - line item by line item. There were four separate cost centers in the budget. Each operation had its own manager. My next step was to meet with each manager to review my evaluation with them and determine what were critical areas, high ticket items, expendables. I established our overall goals and helped them set goals for their particular departments. One of the areas I keyed on very early was the unusually high expense for paper, ink and printer accessories spent at the branch offices. I instructed each manger to discontinue purchasing supplies and I established a central purchasing procedure. At the end of the first quarter it was apparent that one of the managers had more than a pure business relationship with one of our suppliers. This resulted in an immediate dismissal of the employee and a change in vendors.”

BENEFIT:

This action along with other cost cutting procedures reduced the operating budget by $3,320,000 - a savings of over 22%.

• Always end a CAB story with a Control Question

“Is that the type of cost reduction (CAB title) you are looking for at ABC Company?”

Developing a CAB Inventory

General Areas of Experience

Improving productivity Budget preparation & controlReducing expenses New business developmentMeeting deadlines Personnel managementAttention to detail Recruiting and hiringProblem solving skills Training and motivationPolicy & procedures Peer group interactionsIncreasing sales/profits Presentation skillsStrategic planning Regulatory requirementsStart-ups/turnarounds Industry/product knowledge

Developing a CAB Inventory

Senior Management

General mgmt. experience Marketing campaignsCorp. strategic planning Financial managementCompetitor analysis Lender & investor relationsHigh level client interactions Organizational structureBoard of director experience Public speaking/presentations

Developing a CAB Inventory

Manufacturing

Materials requirements (MRP) Plant/preventive maintenancePersonnel scheduling/work flow Quality control/assurance Plant layout & design Warehousing/inventory control

Developing a CAB Inventory

Distribution

Customer service Transportation systemsQuality control systems Proposal preparation/costingPersonnel & working schedules Distribution systems

Developing a CAB Inventory

Operations

Managing inventory turn Equipment selectionDistribution facility design Regulatory requirementsAutomated inventory control Routing & schedulingMaintenance

Developing a CAB Inventory

Administration / Human Resources

Recruiting; exempt, non-exempt Affirmative action, EEO programSkills & management training Labor relationsCompensation program admin. Union negotiationsBenefits & insurance programs

Developing a CAB Inventory

Accounting / Finance

Automated systems Financial statement prepPurchasing procedures Taxation, regulatory reportingVendor relations, A/P Stockholder & Lender relationsCredit & collections, A/R Cash managementCost accounting Capital budgeting

Developing a CAB Inventory

Sales & Marketing

Customer relations Product line knowledgeIncreasing sales/exceeding quota Business developmentDirect/distributor, OEM sales Sales training & motivationSpecial promotions Advertising campaigns

Developing a CAB Inventory

Engineering / Information Technology

System design Project managementApplication development Program managementSystem analysis Communications/non-technicalHardware evaluation Client relationsSoftware development New product developmentSystem installation/maintenance User trainingDocumentation & security Technical skills (Languages,

Applications)

Using CAB’s in an Interview

The Initial Question Flow

Interviewer: Tell me about yourself.Your response: Personal or business?Interviewer: Business.Your response: Certainly-I am very proud of my business accomplishments in areas such as: Improving productivity, reducing costs and long range planning. Which would you like to hear about?Interviewer: Selects the CAB he/she wants.Your response: Tell the CAB story that has been selected.

What is CareerCampaigns?

• A web based candidate sourcing solution designed to help Florida employers fill their open positions.• Our online Talent Center is based on a new model for delivering qualified candidates directly to a hiring manager’s inbox from our pool of job seekers.

What we do:

• Our researchers source top active and passive candidates• We built a pipeline to connect talent with potential new opportunities• Proactively market candidates to employers via email marketing campaigns

Our DIFFERENTIATORS

For Job Candidates• A proactive search methodology • Exposure to thousands of talent managers weekly• No charge for hosting your web page.

Our DIFFERENTIATORS

For Employers

• Using permission base email marketing, new candidates delivered to their inbox weekly• Hiring managers get to see, hear and feel what the candidate has to offer• Employers pay our fee of 9.95%, a savings of 50% – 70%

Upcoming Webinars

• Tuesday, May 19 CareerCampaigning• Thursday, May 21 Responding to Liabilities• Thursday, May 28 Creating Your Strategy

Register at www.CareerCampaigns.com/webinars.htm

Questions and Answers

Dan Nelson’s Blog

careercampaigns.wordpress.com

Thank You for Your Time and Consideration

Dan NelsonCareerCampaigns LLC

941.371.1037dnelson@careercampaigns.com

www.careercampaigns.com