The
Four Vital Questions help you focus on what you can offer an employer. They also help
you identify the kinds of jobs you want to pursue. The exercise below is
derived from the Four Questions, and is heavily geared toward communicating
your value to employers. To be able to do the job in an interview, you must
be able to explain the work you do so that others will understand it. Your
explanation must be clear and compelling.
Exercise: Your
company's top board is planning the company's future, and the directors need
to know what assets they have to work with. They need to know what their
single employee does that attracts customers and makes money. Describe the
work you do (include new things you would like to do) to help them plan for
the future. The board has provided you with the questions below.
1. What is the
product or service you produce? How good is it, compared to the competition?
What makes it as good as it is? What must be done to improve it?
2. What goals
does the company count on you to accomplish regarding this product or
service? How do your skills qualify you to accomplish these goals?
3. If the board
were to authorize you to hire a staff to do your work and ask you to manage
that staff, what specific skills should the new employees possess?
4. The new
staff will also need their own tools (you're keeping yours, just in case).
What tools will you have to purchase for them? What new tools should you add
to the arsenal? How would you get them trained to use these tools?
5. The new
staff will have to perform all the tasks you now perform. How will you
direct them, to ensure the continued success of the company? Show why these
new employees won't cost more money than they produce for the company.
6. Create a
report the new workers will submit to you each week, listing their goals,
responsibilities, and achievements. This will let you decide which employees
to keep, which to give bonuses to, which to promote, and which to fire.
7. Profits need
to be higher. How can you change these jobs so it will cost less to do them?
How can these jobs be changed to produce more revenue?
8. The board
thinks you're doing a great job, but they're afraid you might get hit by a
truck. They don't really understand what you do or how your work produces
profit for the company. They want you to do a brief presentation to explain
the business to them, so they'd be able to continue without you. Since your
grandmother is on the board, and she doesn't understand much about business,
they don't want to see anything too complicated. Use simple diagrams and
drawings. Put your presentation together and practice it in front of a
friend. Is your presentation good enough to present to the board? Will your
grandmother understand it?
This
exercise strengthens your Four Questions muscle. It reveals your value as an
employer sees it. It helps you develop the ability to communicate your value
in a compelling way.
