The core of the Talent Exchange is its Offerings and Wants lists – the adverts describing what members are willing to provide and what they require. Yet if you look at the descriptions of many of the offerings you would think that some members are not there to provide anything; they are only there to see what they can get. In fact, many of the offerings advertised by new members are so poorly described that there is a feeling that they are given simply because offerings are one of the hoops they have to jump through in order to get an account!
The sad story that is often heard – “The Talent Exchange didn’t work for me” – is usually the result of these poorly described adverts. So if you want it to work for you, your starting point is your offering and want ads.
Think about it. If you are looking for something in the Yellow Pages, in a community newspaper or on the internet, which adverts do you take seriously: the ones that give you no information or the ones that describe their products or services with care and pride?
If you want your offering adverts to be taken seriously, go back to them and make them interesting and informative. All your adverts are editable. To access them, log into your account and click on the [Offerings] button at the top and then select ‘My Offerings’ from the drop-down menu. That will show all your offerings (if any). The first thing you can do is click on the ‘Update offer (to today’s date)’ link. That will bring your offering back to the top of the offerings list, irrespective of when you first added it. All offerings have a termination date, so the more regularly you update them the more they will be seen and the longer they will be there.
Next, change the title to something catchy so that it is immediately clear what you are advertising. Then describe your offering in a way that makes it irresistable! Finally add a photo to give it some life.
You can also add the same offering to other categories to ensure that it is seen by those who are looking in a specific place, and if your offering is generally meaningful you can advertise it in other exchanges and in other countries.
If you still can’t think of what to offer, go to our Inspiration List to get some ideas and to find more tips like the above.
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