Yesterday I made a few suggestions as to how to respond should a headhunter call to sound out your interest in jumping ship to work for another company. (Or making an “unsolicited offer of employment”, as an email correspondent put it!)

I also mentioned in yesterday’s discussion that I actually ended up being headhunted into a web design role, despite having little commercial design experience, and having searched - and applied - without luck for a number of positions prior to that.

The prospect of being “headhunted” into a job began to intrigue me after hearing that is what happened to someone else I knew, who was also making a career transition into web design.

A local design studio had found her personal website, and the creative director was so impressed with what he saw, that he contacted her and almost immediately offered her a design job.

I quickly realised that there was little difference in the way she was “pitching” herself, to the way I was.

We both had a reasonably prominent online presence by way of our personal websites, we were both networking with other professional (or established) web designers, and we both also promoting ourselves by way of our involvement in various “sideline” web projects.

In my case this included being a then founder of The Australian INfront, a community that I was involved in establishing, whose aims where to raise the visibility and perception of Australian web designers globally.

While I know not everyone reading this article is looking for web design work, there are still a number of things that anyone can do to raise their visibility and profile, and put themselves on a headhunter’s radar.

Get yourself noticed (somehow, anyhow)
A great way to do this is to start a blog, something I explored in another article recently, which outlined how blogging can be an effective self-promotional tool in the career change, or job search, process.

In fact the article attracted a number of comments from people who mentioned that a blog had boosted their profile and even resulted in job offers.

I also recently read an article at manzkie dot com about recruitment managers who search through the blogosphere looking for potential employees.

Do I need to push this particular point any further?!

Develop a specialist knowledge
Build on your passion for what you want to do. Focus on an aspect of the job that is not as widely recognised as others, become an expert on it, and then make sure you advertise the fact!

In my case this was an interest in web standards. Put briefly web standards are a uniform set of rules web designers should adhere to when developing websites. For various reasons few designers were, ten or so years ago using standards, so by learning to work with them natively from day one, I was able to stand out from other web designers.

Ironically, despite the fact I no longer work as a web designer, I still receive occasional freelance work offers, because one former colleague or another’s clients have stipulated that the design work be standards compliant!

Network!
This goes without saying, and is just about the best way to achieve anything. As always it is a case of who you know, followed closely by what you know.

Look around for networking forums in the industry you are interested in, whether on or off line, and make yourself known!

MeetUp is an increasingly popular way of bringing all sorts of people, with all sorts of interests - both personal and professional - together, and you are bound to find an interest group near where you live.

Even if you don’t, members of the various Meetup groups often place their blog, or website, addresses on their Meetup profiles, so even if a like minded person is at some distance, you can still make contact and network with them.

And you never know, even though someone is in another city, or even country, they may know a former colleague, or associate, who is in your area and looking for staff.

Get involved
Can’t find a networking forum, or association, relevant to your industry or work interests, locally? Then start one! Taking some sort of initiative is exactly the sort of activity headhunters are on the look out for.

And once more thanks to ideas such as Meetup, this can be achieved relatively quickly and at not too great a cost.

Conclusion
While I’m not suggesting that you sit around waiting to be headhunted, you certainly have nothing to lose by boosting your profile, and self promotional activities, to the point that an employer may just spot you, and subsequently make contact.

And if you are making a career change, being headhunted into a job that you really want could be the lucky break you are looking for, as it was for me.

I was first introduced to the concept of skills registers several years ago by Bruce Badger who is one of the founders of OpenSkills, a worldwide association and network of IT professionals.

Skills registers are a great tool for people who wish to promote not just their experience, but also their skills, talents, and abilities. As such, skills registers could be of value for those changing careers, particularly when it comes to highlighting their transferable skills.

While OpenSkills presently caters more for people with an IT and computing background, I thought I would nevertheless write a short post about the basic purpose of skills registers, how they work, and how career changers can make use of them.

For those who are new to the idea, skills registers are literally an itemised list, or register, of a person’s skills, talents, and abilities, and in a way are similar to skills inventories, which I mentioned a few weeks ago.

Whereas skills inventories are more of a personal list of your talents and abilities, skills registers such as OpenSkills, allow you to publicly list these, plus your employment history or “engagements”, by way of an online database.

This database can then be searched by employers, globally in the case of OpenSkills, looking for someone with the skills, and expertise, they require.

A wide variety of skills can be listed, whether this be specific software or application knowledge, “soft skills” such as leadership or communication abilities, and even what some people would consider to be “non core” aspects of a job, such as training or presentation skills.

Often for career changers it is the “non core” skills, or those regarded as being of secondary importance, that can become key transferable skills, and the way skills registers allow you to promote these sorts of skills that can be especially beneficial.

This also applies to situations where key skills from one career, or job, can easily be redeployed and used in another career field, and a skills register is an ideal way to highlight these.

If for example you are a bar manager wishing to become a caterer, you may find it particularly helpful to be able to give prominence to skills that are common to both roles, such as customer service, leadership, and organisational skills, for instance.

Some skills registers can be more than just a way of promoting your abilities and talents however. OpenSkills for example has members worldwide, and this offers the opportunity to tap into a global network of like minded professionals, which is a potential source of job leads and contacts in itself.

As I said OpenSkills at the moment is focussed towards the IT professions, but there are plenty of other skills registers around if you go looking for them, as a quick Google search reveals.

Some are specific to particular industries, or geographical locations, but a little research may uncover one that suits your particular work interests.

Elevator statements are usually the domain of marketers and small business owners, but with a little adaption can also prove useful for career changers as a self promotional and networking tool.

Far from being some sort of presentation you make to the occupants of a lift (though I could imagine one or two would be stand up comedians, or politicians, relishing such a captive audience), an elevator statement is in-fact a way of effectively conveying information quickly, and where time is short.

Such as the brief amount of time you are in an elevator.

Here’s how it works. You walk into a lift and another occupant nods at you, and you nod back. By the time you have reached your floor, they have introduced themselves and explained their company provides various training and motivational courses for small to medium size enterprises.

You marvel at how, in the space of what seems like ten seconds, you have the lowdown on the services offered by the business of a complete stranger whom you are sharing an elevator with!

In a way an elevator statement is like a small pitch for business, and in a competitive marketplace such a simple device could be all it takes to snare a deal.

Despite the name though, they can be used in any situation where an opportunity to mention your work, or business, arises and time is very short. This could be in the queue at a bank, a taxi rank, or a chance encounter with a former associate as you are hurrying along the street to an appointment.

And while being great for those in sales and marketing, the concept can also be used by career changers as a way of networking and generating job leads.

Now I’m not suggesting you devise a self promotional spiel and then start eyeballing everyone you meet in an elevator. Rather, what you can do is prepare a short statement outlining your career change ambitions, that can be dropped into everyday conversation.

And sometimes just the simple fact that you are looking for something new is going around the grapevine can be enough to bring opportunities your way.

So think of your “elevator statement” as being more of a way of networking and spreading the word, like a mini press release if you like, that summarises your career change intentions.

Now it’s time to get to work. What’s the best way to describe the sort of work you are looking for, while being descriptive and also concise? How much could you say in the space of 20 seconds? In ten seconds?

Time yourself, you’ll be surprised at just how much information you can convey in that sort of a time frame, if you think it through carefully.

Try this “elevator statement” as a starting point:

“I’m a photographer but have spent the last few months doing IT courses, as I would like to do some web development work going forward.”

You are not only clearly expressing your intentions to become a web developer, but also conveying your commitment by mentioning your studies. Now start telling people, anyone, family, friends, neighbours, whoever you come into contact with.

It may only take the single instance of a say a neighbour, to hear that a business colleague is looking for a web developer, to set things in motion!

Here’s a summary of the benefits of a career change elevator statement;

1. Not only are you creating an elevator statement for public consumption, you are also composing a personal “mission statement” of sorts, as it put your objectives, and the way you intend achieving them, in clear focus.

2. Getting word about your career change intentions around through interpersonal networks just may generate the job lead you are looking for. Remember personal recommendations are often highly regarded, we all like hearing a “good word” about something, or someone, from a person we know or trust.

3. Also, bear in mind that only a quarter to a third of jobs are ever advertised, meaning the rest are filled by other means. Having word going around the streets you are after work can therefore only be a good thing.

4. Crafting a personal elevator statement is relatively quick and simple, and there is really nothing to lose from having one, even if nothing comes of it.

Here’s something we’ll be discussing in more depth later, but I thought I’d touch on the topic today since this little promotional gimmick from Sydney plumbing company, Chiswick Plumbing, arrived in my letter box this morning.

So let’s open it up and have a look. The “letter-box drop” essentially comes in two parts. First up there is a “cash back” offer if you use this particular company’s plumbing services.

While that is an enticement in itself, what for me makes this particular gimmick eye catching is the inclusion of a “lucky penny”. By the way, the term “gimmick” is used in its most positive connotation here.

The lucky penny is something that definitely makes this promotional campaign all the more unique, and most importantly, memorable.

And finally, that staple of all letter-box drop campaigns, the “fridge magnet”.

But what a simple, yet effective, way to make an impression! Out of all the fridge magnets that arrive in my letter box, vying for attention, this one wins it hands down!

To me this stresses the importance of self marketing and promotion, during the career change process, especially while searching for work in a new field. Particularly a field, or industry, where you have little or no experience.

If the proverb “first impressions last” holds true, promoting or marketing yourself in a unique and specialised manner may work wonders. Doing something that draws attention to yourself could very well tip the scales in your favour, and lead to the opportunity you are looking for.

In summary, don’t worry so much about who to impress, but rather how to impress.