Communicate your search in 1 page
Once you know what you are looking for in your next executive role, you need to communicate it clearly to others
People want to help you. So you need to be prepared when people ask: “How can I help?”
If you've written a career thesis, that provides a great foundation but you can use the format below to articulate clearly how folks can help. This format described below:
- Articulates the type of roles you are looking for
- Engages people in your search and makes it easy to learn from them about people or companies you should look into.
The format of this doc matters because people are busy. This is not a résumé but rather a doc that can engage people who want to help you.
The Format
Here is a sample format that has been refined with talent partners and recruiters. It is optimized to make it easy for people to help you with:
- Elevator pitch about you: What you are great at and why you are looking?
- What is the key message you want people to remember about you?
- Explain simply why you are looking
- How people can help you:
- Target companies: What companies are you looking to learn more about or meet people at? When you share your target company list, people become dramatically more helpful!
- Ask for suggestions: In general, it’s more effective to ask what companies you should consider, vs. asking for introductions to specific people.
- Example Intro Blurbs: Write a short blurb that it’s easy for people to copy and paste. We've observed when you call it “ways others have introduced me” it allows you to toot your own horn more.
"It is hard to describe yourself as a badass rockstar but other people probably do. So frame it in their words". Whispered Co-Founder
- The Value you drive: This is what companies are trying to understand about you - quickly. Try to have these bullets speak to a pain your future boss has that you can solve. Keep this short, include metrics and ideally link to articles, to reinforce.
"People are having a very hard time quantifying their business value and that is now a table stakes expectation for every employer." Nolan Church (13:30 in HR Heretics podcast)
- Target Company/Role: Be specific about the roles and companies you’re interested in - even if you’re not 100% sure. See this template for how to get that clarity.
How to Use Your 1-Pager
Don’t send it to people before you meet them. (This might even nudge someone to opt out of the scheduled meeting!) This document is designed to be sent AFTER you talk with someone who wants to help you.
Other Tips
- When you talk about the company stage you’re focused on, we recommend using employee ranges rather than funding stages or revenue. It’s an easy stat to find on LinkedIn and more intuitive for most people.
- Getting specific is important. See this article on defining your niche.
- Give your 1 pager a title that pops. We recommend “(Your name) - What’s next!” as an effective and engaging title.
- You can use a google doc for your 1 pager but, to make it memorable, try bit.ly to simplify the URL - for example https://bit.ly/yourname.