Value Proposition, not Job Seeking
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 8.24.2016
Over my long career in management and teaching, I have seen thousands of people looking for jobs at my company, and many students asking for advice on résumé writing.
You know what is the most common mistake they made? They were looking for a job, rather than making a value proposition to me or to the company.
They will spend a lot of time telling me their strengths, skills, training, experience, affiliations, and even their hobbies, but very few will tell me why that is relevant to the position they are seeking or what values they will bring to the job or company.
There is an old saying, ‘the strength of a chain is determined by its weakest link’. In any program or department of a company, there are weak links and broken links. Your value proposition is to bring special skills, ability, and experience to help the company to add that missing link or strengthen the weak ones.
So, please do your homework and find out the hiring unit’s objectives and the weak links in their value chain. Then you can tailor-make your résumé and letter to explain your value proposition. Let your value, not the laundry list of courses and skills, do the talking for you. You’ll get noticed, and hired.
不是找工作，是要價值定位
– 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
在長年從事企業管理與教學的職涯中，我經常看到許多人到我們公司來求職、也常遇到學生們來找我給他們寫履歷的建議。
你知道他們最常出現的錯誤是什麼嗎？他們總是想著為自己謀求一份工作，而忽略了告訴我(面試官)或應徵公司，自己的價值定位是什麼？
他們總是花很多時間解釋個人的強項、技能、受過的訓練、經歷、人際關係、甚至是嗜好；但卻很少有人告訴我這些特質與他應徵的工作有何連結？未來可以為這個職務以及公司帶來哪些價值？
有句諺語說道: “一條鍊子的強度取決於它最薄弱的環節”。事實上，公司的任何一個專案或部門，都會有最弱最需要補強的環節。而你的價值定位就是透過你所擁有的特殊技能、能力、經驗，來協助公司補強那個最薄弱的環節。
所以，求職前請先自己做好功課，找出應徵單位的目標、以及它的價值鏈上可能需要補強的環節。這樣，你便能量身打造一份足以說明自己價值定位的履歷表；讓你的”價值”，而非一連串冗長的學程名稱或技能項目，為你表達呈現自己。如此一來，你將更能爭取到審閱履歷者的注目、進而獲得聘用！
