Standing out on the job hunt isn’t easy. If you’re ready to get a job, you’ve probably been told to beef up your strongest resume, write a new cover letter, and apply to more companies.
But it’s not working. They email you. Say, “Thanks for applying. But we’ve decided to go another direction.”
You try again. But no matter how in-depth your best resume goes, it’s still not helping you stand out.
That’s exactly why we ask you to create a pitch.
It’s the thing job-seekers are replacing their resume with. It gives you the tools and knowledge you need to impress employers and skip being added to the resume stack entirely.
I can honestly say it’s how to get hired.
But how do you create a great one?
That’s why I’m here! In this quick guide, I’ll cover:
- Pitches vs. resumes
- How to write a great personal bio
- Filming a pitch video that does you justice
- Adding valuable featured work
- Showing off the tools you know best with tech stack
- The social media profiles you can add
- How to showcase your best work experience
Really quick, what’s a pitch?
It’s the most effective way we’ve found to stand out as a job applicant.
Resumes are static, stale, and honestly, they’re boring.
Recruiters don’t notice them. They’re not doing their job of getting you a job.
But pitches are interactive. You can tell your story. They help you show what businesses actually value and prove you can do amazing things.
Here are the things we’ve seen to work best when you’re building a pitch.
⭐️Keep your bio short, punchy, about you, and honest.
Definitely:
- Satisfy curiosity
- Be intriguing
- Round yourself out
- Check grammar and spelling
- Share tangible truth about the cool things you’ve done or can do
- Have a good mix of personal (details that make you you) and professional
- Write only a few sentences (three to four work great. Six to seven are too much–unless you’re writing incredibly-short sentences)
Definitely shouldn’t:
- Write about someone else
- Be extremely random
- Make things up
- Be impersonal or too personal (remember: it’s all about balance)
- Be vague
And if you want to share more, utilize your pitch video to its fullest extent (more on that below).
⭐️Film and add that pitch video before publishing.
Just like an elevator pitch, where you’re given only a few seconds to tell what makes you interesting, a pitch video wraps your story and your skills, and the reason you’re worth interviewing into a beautiful package that showcases your personality and character.
A pitch video stands out to employers. It’s also one of the very first things they’ll see on the pitch: you.
But it’s an easy thing to skip. It requires effort and focus. But a pitch video is a huge part of what makes your pitch stand out from your resume.
No digital resume or profile pushes you to create an elevator pitch video. We do–because recruiters who see pitches with pitch videos say they love them, and that they replace the initial interview screen call.
⭐️The best pitch videos have a few things.
They:
- Give an accurate representation of who you are as a person
- Give a concrete example of how you once created value, or how you’re creating value right now
- They’re real–you don’t have to worry about it being perfect. Focus on what you say, how you present yourself, and how you make it you. Don’t paralyze yourself with perfection–can you hear yourself? Can you see yourself? It’s perfect
- They’re one to two minutes long
- They’re purposeful–they get to the point, they don’t ramble, and they showcase your value
- Are confident, not cocky–you could follow through with the things you claim if asked, but you’re not bragging
- Are fun–you can be as creative as you want
So add that pitch video before publishing. You can do it.
Featured work is more about quality than quantity.
If you could show someone one thing you’ve done to convince them you’re worth hiring for a specific role, what would you show them? That’s what featured work is all about.
Featured work gives you a way to proactively knock the question of, “Why should I hire you?” out of the park by showcasing the coolest projects or work you’ve done.
We’ve seen incredible pitches with only three featured works. We’ve also seen awesome pitches with seven. The important thing to ask is, “Does the project I featured add value to my pitch?”
Recommended read: 4 Types of Projects to Create Value (and Win the Job)
Stack Your Tech
A Few Top Tips for Your Tech Stack
This is the spot on your pitch where you show off the tools you know how to use. You’re able to add any tool you’d like, and you can link to anything you’ve done that shows you know how to use that tool.
⭐️ If you know them, try to add at least two tools to your tech stack.
Don’t leave your tech stack blank! Make sure to let employers know you’re ready to be hired and can use some of the tools they use on a daily basis–tools like time-management apps, the Google suite, marketing tools, or more.
⭐️ Prove you can use those tools.
When you add a new tool to your tech stack, you’re suddenly at a crossroads. You can choose to:
- Add the tool without proof
- Add the tool with proof (an outside link to anything showing you know how to use the tool you’re adding)
If you don’t have proof, it’s okay–the option to add without proof is there so you can still make your pitch awesome! But we’ve seen it’s even better to create something as simple as a one-minute Loom video walking through your knowledge of tools like Excel, Adobe Illustrator, or any other tool you can think of to prove your skill.
A few ideas you can totally steal as proof:
- If you add a video-editing tool, you could link to a video you made on Youtube
- You can show off your spreadsheet knowledge with a link to the sheet itself or a quick Loom video
- A link to a sign-up page for a MailChimp campaign
- A write-up of a design you created on Sketch, or a link to the design itself
- A Google document walking through the ways you’re able to use the Google suite
Link to your social media profiles!
This is a great way to let potential hirers get to know you even more. Right now, you can link to your profiles on:
- Medium
- Dribble
- Quora
- Youtube
- Github
- Your personal website
Feel free to add as many as you like–and make sure you’re good with employers seeing what you post on social media (they’ll probably check them out!).
Show off your experience
Right now, you can add work experiences to your pitches. They can be present or past. If you don’t have any work experience, try to think outside the box. Here’s a great tip from our community:
Experience could look like a job you held at a startup, a retail store, or a fast-food restaurant. Maybe it’s the summer you interned for a friend or did freelance writing. Maybe you taught yourself how to repair bikes or spent a few months growing a Youtube channel. Or maybe you hiked a volcano.
If you don’t have work experience, pick an important experience–any experience. Translate it into something you can highlight.
Here are a few awesome ways you can format your experience:
- Title | Company
- Title @ Company
- Title – Company
- Title at Company
Work experience is the place on a pitch to highlight what you’ve done and mention how long you did it. That’s it! Remember: you have experience, even if you don’t think of that experience as experience. What matters most is you did it.
~Career Hackers
I hope this guide has been helpful–if you have any questions, send it out at waris@careerhackers.com or joel@careerhackers.com – we’re always there for you!
It’s time to stand out to the right employers. Show your work. Win career opportunities.
This is better than a resume.
Oh also, here’s an example of how I did it.
