Be Bold | How to Pitch Yourself for a Job That Doesn’t Exist (Yet!) PART I was originally published on Idealist Careers.
You’ve probably heard “Be productive in this pandemic” hundreds of times now. For some of us, it was easy to start back up a project that we never had time for when life was normal. For others of us, it has been very difficult finding our groove at home managing many priorities. Adjusting to a new schedule and feeling motivated. So here is something you can do that is easy, will help you feel productive, and pay off in the long run. You can practice your pitch in preparation for things opening back up, or even a new remote job. So right now, you may be unemployed and looking or you may be furloughed and wonder how you can impact your work when you return and maybe earn a promotion in the future. The best thing is to have your pitch ready. A pitch is a way of presenting yourself in way that entices employers to want to learn more about you. The pitch is short in nature and only hits on key points. Also, a nice addition to your pitch maybe how you developed a new skill during this pandemic.
So, Why not pitch yourself for a job that doesn’t exist yet? Here are our best tips for creating and pitching for that nonexistent dream job.
What are you looking for?
Whether you’re scanning the job listings on Handshake clarity is your best friend. It’s not enough to know you want a job or that you want a promotion; you need to know what you are looking for. If you know at least some important details—such as your target job title, desired salary, or ideal organization size—that can help you focus and be more discerning about available opportunities, as well as shape what your dream opportunity looks like. Be open, because with the changing landscape of employment due to COVID-19 you may want to reevaluate what your ideals were and how they can be modified now.
Identify opportunities as a job seeker
Once you know what is important to you, if you need some guidance learning what’s important to you, pause here and take the Focus 2 Assessment.
Next, you should identify opportunities that are relevant for you and use a career coach for help. The best-case scenario is that you find a job description that is an exact or close enough match to what you’re after.
Then there are those other times when you find the right organization, but there are no relevant, open positions. So what can you do?
- Do a deep dive. Research that organization’s projects and pay attention to the ones that pique your interest. Why do these appeal to you?
- Know—and list—your strengths. As a job seeker, you probably already have a good grasp of what your strengths are, but now you’ll need to consider them more specifically. Write down what all your professional strengths are, then circle the ones you actually want to enhance. For instance, your writing and networking abilities could both be strengths, but you may be more interested in networking than writing.
- Identify transferable skills. Are there areas of overlap between your organization research and your strengths? For example, if you are most drawn to donor relationship projects and one of your strengths is networking, your strength could help serve similar project work.
- Make connections. Now, write down what you specifically bring to the table. It’s not enough to jot down “networking.” You want to write down, “I know how to find new prospective donors for this cause and, because of my past outreach experience, can organize and lead a quarterly call to onboard new donors.”
- Design a new job description. Using your research and brainstorming, create a new job description. Include what this job entails, such as qualifications and responsibilities.
This is a good way to start developing yourself and you embark on your job search…
