We All Have Our Own Genius--What is Your USP?

Tonight we began the second half of our class and started to work on the nuts and bolts of the job search, including resumes, creative job searches and interviews.  Keep in mind that everything that we are doing is building on the first half of the class where you established your mantra, mission statement and goals.  Tonight we learned how to include and focus on a skills summary in a functional resume rather than  writing a chronological resume where the focus is your history more than where you want to go. The skills summary should include key parts of your mission statement and your goals. It should be a true honest reflection of your skills and abilities but not necessarily the major focus of your current or most recent job. In other words, don't list in your skills summary all the everyday tasks involved in your job that you are hoping to leave behind.  Dan Miller said in the video, "We all have our own genius.  What is your USP--Unique Selling Proposition?"  You should be able to state in a few sentences your USP and this should be reflected in the skills statement.   Another key point was the cover letter included with the resume and the follow-up phone call.  As Betsy emphasized, the resume is just one more tool in the process of selling yourself. The resume will not get you a job, but it will hopefully get you in the door for an interview, which is what we will be discussing next week.  Next week we will be covering chapters eight and nine:  Creative Job Search Strategy and Preparing for the Interview.  In particular, take a look at the questions on page 90-102.  I might just ask you to tell me a little about yourself...what is your USP?