The Business of Business Cards
Remember that last interview when the Hiring Manager asked if you had a business card? Remember how you had to say “no” and kicked yourself for not having one? Remember when your buddy told you two months ago to get one?
Whether you create your business card at home, or hire a printing service, online or offline, there’s no need to be without your own business card, ever again, as you explore new career opportunities. (Some people call these cards different things: networking cards, job search cards, job hunting business cards, personal branding cards.) Regardless of what you call it, you either have one, or you don’t. Once you have convinced yourself you need one, the next big question becomes: “What should it say?”
Consider the information below to decide what’s right for you:
- Name: Make it consistent with other career marketing and branding materials.
- Designations/Degrees/Certifications: Keep them relevant to your target goal.
- Address: For privacy purposes, some job seekers choose to reveal only their city/state on their business card and forgo a residential street address. If by chance your friend or relative is letting you use idle business space, or you’re renting a professional (commercial) address, you can state a full street address, in addition to the city/state and zip code.
- Phone Number: State one number, not three. Select the one where you can be contacted the first try!
- Email/Internet Addresses: Consider the relevancy of each address; select those with brand relevance (LI, Twitter, website, Visual CV, etc.)
- Language/Wording: Purposefully and intentionally choose words that best capture the essence of you and your brand in as few words as possible. Think: brevity, clarity and avoid clutter.
- Text/Color/Logo: Carefully select font, color, text, and logo to best support your brand and the message you wish to convey to your target audience.
- Photo: Some job seekers like to include a professional photo on their business card; others don’t.
While there is no perfect way to create a business card, you will want to produce a distinctive one that well represents you and your brand. If you are stumped for ideas, peruse that stack of business cards collected at the last networking event. Create a stand-out card that captures attention — for all the right reasons! And be sure, most of all, to hand them out! How about it…do you have a job hunting business card? Better yet, do you have any cool tips or ideas to share with others about making one?
Article by, Billie Sucher and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting.
