Eliminate Friction In Your Job Search (From Your Messaging)

Eliminate Friction In Your Job Search (From Your Messaging) If I had to choose one thing that job seekers do that are full of friction, Id guess it is the 30 Second Pitch. Have you ever had to sit through dozens of 30 second pitches? It is painful close to torture.   Maybe Im exagerrating a little. Just a tiny bit. But really, most 30 second pitches are off.   They are full of jargon, or cliche, or they are too long, or they are too cute but dont tell me anything. And when a job seeker shares a weak 30 second pitch they are spewing friction and confusion. They are getting further away from their goal. I know all about friction. For the last almost-12 years Ive created this little thing called JibberJobber.   It seems like 90% of the time weve created stuff that is really cool, but too much.   Too much = friction. Now we are on a mission to reduce that friction. This might mean reducing or rewording. In some cases it means eliminating. Because of the size of JibberJobber this is definitely an overwhelming Elephant Project and Im figuring out what bite to eat next. There are so many areas to reduce friction that its not that hard to pick one. Each of my team is working on their own bites, and recently Ive found a gold mine of opportunity: cleaning up the Getting Started Videos. I highlighted the length of videos because that is what Im working on. This all started because a smart user (and Product Manager) Linda emailed asking about a discrepancy in one of my videos so I went to look at it. To my dismay, I found that at least 60% of the video was garbage. Friction. Babbling. Worse, the video was about 12 minutes long.   Heres what happened: a while back I had a series called Focus Friday. This was a Friday morning call Id do with users where we talked about (focused on) one topic. I recorded those and then chopped them down a little (not enough) but still, easily 60% was friction. Everyone has friction, and everyone has a story to explain why they do. But the reasons why you have friction dont matter. What matters is your message and your message really shouldnt have friction. Ive been going through my Getting Started videos, picking out the good stuff, and then re-recording the trainings.   Yesterday I took a video down from 14 minutes to 7 minutes then I chopped more and took that down to about 4 minutes.   4 is a little longer than I want, but its a lot better than 14! And, there is no fluff. Im on a mission to reduce friction, and the pain of having to sit through long training videos. I want you to go on a mission to reduce friction. You have to understand what your message should really be, and then focus in on that. If there are any words that you dont have to use then eliminate them. Having said all this, my blog post is too long so Ill stop here. Please go reduce your friction! Eliminate Friction In Your Job Search (From Your Messaging) If I had to choose one thing that job seekers do that are full of friction, Id guess it is the 30 Second Pitch. Have you ever had to sit through dozens of 30 second pitches? It is painful close to torture.   Maybe Im exagerrating a little. Just a tiny bit. But really, most 30 second pitches are off.   They are full of jargon, or cliche, or they are too long, or they are too cute but dont tell me anything. And when a job seeker shares a weak 30 second pitch they are spewing friction and confusion. They are getting further away from their goal. I know all about friction. For the last almost-12 years Ive created this little thing called JibberJobber.   It seems like 90% of the time weve created stuff that is really cool, but too much.   Too much = friction. Now we are on a mission to reduce that friction. This might mean reducing or rewording. In some cases it means eliminating. Because of the size of JibberJobber this is definitely an overwhelming Elephant Project and Im figuring out what bite to eat next. There are so many areas to reduce friction that its not that hard to pick one. Each of my team is working on their own bites, and recently Ive found a gold mine of opportunity: cleaning up the Getting Started Videos. I highlighted the length of videos because that is what Im working on. This all started because a smart user (and Product Manager) Linda emailed asking about a discrepancy in one of my videos so I went to look at it. To my dismay, I found that at least 60% of the video was garbage. Friction. Babbling. Worse, the video was about 12 minutes long.   Heres what happened: a while back I had a series called Focus Friday. This was a Friday morning call Id do with users where we talked about (focused on) one topic. I recorded those and then chopped them down a little (not enough) but still, easily 60% was friction. Everyone has friction, and everyone has a story to explain why they do. But the reasons why you have friction dont matter. What matters is your message and your message really shouldnt have friction. Ive been going through my Getting Started videos, picking out the good stuff, and then re-recording the trainings.   Yesterday I took a video down from 14 minutes to 7 minutes then I chopped more and took that down to about 4 minutes.   4 is a little longer than I want, but its a lot better than 14! And, there is no fluff. Im on a mission to reduce friction, and the pain of having to sit through long training videos. I want you to go on a mission to reduce friction. You have to understand what your message should really be, and then focus in on that. If there are any words that you dont have to use then eliminate them. Having said all this, my blog post is too long so Ill stop here. Please go reduce your friction!