Perfecting the Elevator Pitch

By: Emily Roome, Peer Advisor

Elevators for many are small, scary boxes that force us to spend a short period of our day with strangers. We may feel uncomfortable, awkward and maybe even claustrophobic. Luckily, the worry and panic only lasts for typically thirty seconds, and then we are free from our stress. Trying to answer the question “tell me about yourself” during a job interview is a lot like that elevator-induced panic.  What should you say? What does the employer want to hear? How long should your answer go on for? Well, all these questions can be solved by perfecting your elevator pitch – and getting over the fear.

 Like the ride, an elevator pitch typically lasts for thirty seconds. It is a time for you to tell the employer or interviewer about yourself, your experience and your goals. The trick to having a successful elevator pitch is to make the person you’re speaking with want to know more. In order to do this, you must not share every detail of your life history point by point from your resumé. Instead, highlight the main attributes you have and make it clear what you can do for the company. Remember, this is your time to control the conversation.

To prepare your elevator pitch, a good way to start is by making a list of your best skills and qualities. In order to make yourself stand out, try and cross out the generic qualities in order to highlight the unique ones that will make the employer or interviewer remember you. Then use past experiences to provide tangible illustrations of your qualifications.  After building your pitch, make sure you practice on friends, family or even in the mirror of an elevator in order to gain familiarity and confidence with it.

The most important thing about an elevator pitch is to be yourself! Now that you know a little bit more about creating the perfect pitch, you can take the stress and panic out of answering this often dreaded question. If you want to put your new skills to the test, the Career Centre is having an Elevator Pitch Contest starting in January. You will be able to create your pitch and deliver it, and have the chance to win a prize! Check out the Career Centre website www.wlu.ca/career  and our Facebook page for more details: www.facebook.com/lauriercareercentre

Create Your Personal Brand!

By: Shanelle Weber, Peer Advisor

I certainly don’t mean your specific brand of perfume, or clothing line, although you are more than welcome to try that. What I mean by a personal brand is your logo, and style that you will use for your resume, cover letter, business cards and anything else that you might need to catch an employers interest, including but not exclusively social networks.

If you aren’t sure where to begin, here are some simple steps that might help you market you.

1. Find your values and attributes. Write down four to five different ideas that you (or people close to you) might associate you with. For example detail-oriented, serious, witty, born-leader, or even something simple like a movie buff. Remember to pick words or ideas that are truthful to you. Don’t pretend to be someone you are not.
2. Think through each idea, and how you can talk about it. This is especially important when networking and going to interviews. I suggest recording yourself talking and listen back to hone how you articulate those attributes.
3. Align your online presence. If you haven’t already started this, you should. Take these four or five attributes and make them appear throughout your online identity. Take down those embarrassing photos and bad statuses and replace instead with things that better exemplify those attributes. For example, if you are well- versed in Photoshop, put a photo up with a before and after to show your skills, or add quotes to brighten your profile.
4. Be your brand. Live up to the attributes you outlined and don’t be afraid to be creative in the process!

The Winter Chills

By: Justin Tabakian, Peer Advisor

As the leaves fade, the thermostat drops and the rain turns to snow, let your career planning fire burning inside of you enlighten and motivate you this winter rather than diminish and keep you hiding in an igloo. As the winter season rolls around, many students may feel less motivated with their job search and more likely to just want to stay inside  to cuddle up and watch TV.  Here are a few tips that can help keep you motivated and productive through these chilly next couple months!

1. Set realistic daily, weekly and long-term goals. Set, accomplish and evaluate your goals!  Daily goals can be as simple as researching one new company or career each day. Try connecting online with 5 professionals (in careers you are interested in) per month. In the long-term, try scheduling 5 informational interviews per semester. Keep your goals reachable, yet challenging.

2. Keep up your diet, appearance and exercise routine. Look good, feel good! Exercise can help produce endorphins which can help a person feel more peaceful and happy. Keeping a healthy lifestyle can be essential to getting a high GPA and can help your confidence when entering the job search hunt.

3. Associate with positive and encouraging people! Involve people in your life that are motivated and positive. With these short, dark winter days, having a great support network to cheer you up can be a critical success factor to your academic life and job search. Stay cheerful, confident and driven!

Start this season with the end in mind. Get a head start this winter and get ahead of the competition that will be scurrying for a job in the spring. The Career Centre will be offering a large variety of different workshops and events throughout the winter so take advantage of the resources you are entitled to! Even though the weather will be encouraging you to stay inside and avoid the winter chills, remember to stay productive and make the most out of the winter!

Connecting With Alumni

By: Allison Lougheed, Peer Advisor

When it comes to networking, who really wants to do that?! It’s sometimes hard to even know where to start.  So why not start with connecting with people who already have a connection with you…such as Laurier alumni!  The Career Center has a number of resources such as ASK (Alumni Sharing Knowledge), which is available through Navigator. This resource allows students to research alumni based on degree or occupation and provides their contact information so you can arrange opportunities to converse with them about their careers.

The Career Centre also has an event coming up on November 7^th called ‘Career Connections’ (being held at the Senate & Board Chamber) where students can come talk to alumni about what they have done with their degrees, gain insight on different career paths and how they found work.  Events such as these allow for a wonderful opportunity to gain valuable career advice:

www.laurieralumni.ca/careerconnections

I personally have found ASK to be a valuable resource during my own career research as I have specifically looked at alumni with communications degrees to see the wide range of career paths I could possibly take. It also provides me with information on what these different career paths entail, such as their day to day responsibilities. I highly recommend this resource – it can greatly enhance your career knowledge and job search process!