Personal Value Propositions

Your constantly-updated definition of Personal Value Propositions and collection of videos and articles
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What are Personal Value Propositions?

A personal value proposition or statement is a brief summary of the strengths you have to offer a prospective employer. Morgane Peng, Design Director at Societe Generale CIB, introduces the topic in this video:

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As Morgane mentions, value propositions in general are intended to answer why people should be interested in your product or service. In the case of a personal value proposition (PVP), the question is more specifically why an employer should be interested in spending time on your CV or portfolio.

From Idea to Impact: Prototype Your Value Proposition for Success

1. Understand the context. This includes several factors such as who the prospective employers might be, the nature of the positions that most interest you and what skills or motivations those positions require. Part of this process is to understand your target audience and their immediate interests. If you are tailoring your CV or portfolio to a specific opportunity, it is important to consider the context in detail. While some of the required information will be found in the vacancy description itself, additional research may be needed to establish the bigger picture. Consider looking at industry overviews of the companies in question, their own news blogs and social media postings.

2. Identify your strengths. What have you enjoyed doing and felt that you were effective doing it? Don’t confine yourself to employment roles alone. You may be a great organizer in a community group or really enjoy promoting an important cause in your spare time.

3. Relate your strengths to the context. Your PVP needs to be concise, so don’t include everything you’ve identified. You can mention secondary strengths and beyond in the details of your CV or portfolio. Focus on those strengths that are clearly related to the context. Try to steer a middle path between exaggeration and modesty!

4. Elaborate your value proposition. Explain and support your strengths and the value you can add through success stories. Don’t make these too long or elaborate but give adequate and convincing details that prove your abilities.

Cat O’Shaughnessy Coffrin at Fast Company suggests that you prototype your PVP like this:

  • For [target audience description]  

  • Who needs [pain points/challenges you help address]  

  • I provide [your value and how you do it]  

  • Because it helps [the benefit for your audience and others who may benefit as well] 

This is the “full form” of your PVP. It needs to sound coherent and convincing, but you don’t always need to write it out in such detail. One important use for an abbreviated version would be as “hooks” in your CV or portfolio.

How to Craft Hooks Hiring Managers Can't Resist

In our course Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job, Morgane Peng explains the importance of hooks:

“Hooks are the attention-grabbing elements of any content, usually found at the beginning. Their purpose is to pique the audience's interest and compel them to continue reading or engage further. In essence, hooks serve as the initial "grabber" that draws readers in and makes them want to know more.”

Here are some guidelines from the course to achieve just that:

1. Include key skills or specializations: Incorporate essential skills or specializations directly into your headline to quickly convey what sets you apart as a designer. This allows hiring managers to identify whether your expertise aligns with their needs immediately.

Expert Web Designer Specializing in E-commerce Solutions

2. Highlight achievements or awards: If you have received notable achievements or awards in your design career, showcase them in your headline to provide instant credibility and make your portfolio stand out.

“D&AD-Award-Winning Graphic Designer with a Passion for Branding

3. Specify industry experience: If you have extensive experience working within specific industries, mention them in your headline to signal to hiring managers that you have relevant expertise in their field.

“Specialist UX/UI Designer in the Tech and SaaS Industries

4. Quantify results or impact: If possible, quantify the results or impact of your design work in your headline to demonstrate your effectiveness as a designer. This helps hiring managers quickly understand the value you can bring to their team.

Increased Conversion Rates by 30% Through Strategic Design Solutions

5. Use keywords relevant to the job: Tailor your headline to include keywords relevant to the job description or the specific role you're applying for. This can help your portfolio appear more prominently in search results and catch the eye of hiring managers.

Versatile Designer Skilled in Responsive Web Design and SEO Optimization

6. Keep it brief and scannable: While it's important to include relevant information in your headline, keep it brief and scannable so hiring managers can quickly grasp the essence of your portfolio. Avoid long sentences or unnecessary details.

Creative Designer | UX Expert | Branding Enthusiast

7. Be authentic: Let your personality shine through in your hook to establish a genuine connection with your audience.

Passionate about designs that not only look good but also make a meaningful impact on users' lives.

Learn More about Personal Value Propositions

Take our course Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job with Morgane Peng, Design Director at Societe Generale CIB

You can read and learn more about Personal Value Propositions in the following articles

Questions about Personal Value Propositions

What is a personal value proposition?

A personal value proposition or statement is a summary of the strengths you have to offer a prospective employer.

How do I create a personal value proposition?

Create a personal value proposition by considering the context (the organization, the opportunity and connected issues like the business and economic environments), your strengths, and then relate the two. Elaborate the result into a full statement of what you can offer, but trim it for use as a hook in your CV or portfolio.

How should I use a personal value proposition?

Use a short version of your personal value proposition as a hook early on in your CV or portfolio. Use a longer version in the more detailed section of your career story.

What are the advantages of a personal value proposition?

A personal value proposition directly addresses whether the recruiter should spend time evaluating your CV or portfolio in detail.

What are the main elements of a personal value proposition?

For the long form of your personal value proposition, you need to address each of these phrases:

  • For [target audience description] 

  • Who needs [pain points/challenges you help address]

  • I provide [your value and how you do it]

  • Because it helps [the benefit for your audience and others who may benefit as well]

What is an example of a personal value proposition?

A “long form” proposition might be:

  • For [web site and mobile app developers]

  • Who need [customer-focused user experience design]

  • I provide [expert user research and UX design]

  • Because it helps [developers to build the right solution and to captivate customers]

How is a personal value proposition going to help me land my ideal job?

A personal value proposition is a quick and powerful to demonstrate your suitability for a job or project. Recruiters and managers often have large numbers of applicants to review. Your ability to show your specific worth concisely will be a powerful incentive for reviewers to pass your CV or portolio on to the next stage of evaluation.

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What is the main goal of a personal value proposition (PVP) for job seekers?

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Which of the following components is NOT part of prototyping a personal value proposition as suggested by Cat O’Shaughnessy Coffrin?

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Question 3

What is the primary purpose of a "hook" in a CV or portfolio?

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Question 4

Which element can make your headline more compelling to hiring managers?

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Question 5

Which of the following should you avoid when crafting a hook for your CV or portfolio?

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Literature on Personal Value Propositions

Here’s the entire UX literature on Personal Value Propositions by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Personal Value Propositions

Take a deep dive into Personal Value Propositions with our course Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job .

“Your portfolio is your best advocate in showing your work, your skills and your personality. It also shows not only the final outcomes but the process you took to get there and how you aligned your design decisions with the business and user needs.”

— Morgane Peng, Design Director, Societe Generale CIB

In many industries, your education, certifications and previous job roles help you get a foot in the door in the hiring process. However, in the design world, this is often not the case. Potential employers and clients want to see evidence of your skills and work and assess if they fit the job or design project in question. This is where portfolios come in.

Your portfolio is your first impression, your foot in the door—it must engage your audience and stand out against the hundreds of others they might be reviewing. Join us as we equip you with the skills and knowledge to create a portfolio that takes you one step closer to your dream career.

The Build a Standout UX/UI Portfolio: Land Your Dream Job course is taught by Morgane Peng, a designer, speaker, mentor and writer who serves as Director of Experience Design at Societe Generale CIB. With over 12 years of experience in management roles, she has reviewed thousands of design portfolios and conducted hundreds of interviews with designers. She has collated her extensive real-world knowledge into this course to teach you how to build a compelling portfolio that hiring managers will want to explore.

In lesson 1, you’ll learn the importance of portfolios and which type of portfolio you should create based on your career stage and background. You’ll discover the most significant mistakes designers make in their portfolios, the importance of content over aesthetics and why today is the best day to start documenting your design processes. This knowledge will serve as your foundation as you build your portfolio.

In lesson 2, you’ll grasp the importance of hooks in your portfolio, how to write them, and the best practices based on your career stage and target audience. You’ll learn how and why to balance your professional and personal biographies in your about me section, how to talk about your life before design and how to use tools and resources in conjunction with your creativity to create a unique and distinctive portfolio.

In lesson 3, you’ll dive into case studies—the backbone of your portfolio. You’ll learn how to plan your case studies for success and hook your reader in to learn more about your design research, sketches, prototypes and outcomes. An attractive and attention-grabbing portfolio is nothing without solid and engaging case studies that effectively communicate who you are as a designer and why employers and clients should hire you.

In lesson 4, you’ll understand the industry expectations for your portfolio and how to apply the finishing touches that illustrate your attention to detail. You’ll explore how visual design, menus and structure, landing pages, visualizations and interactive elements make your portfolio accessible, engaging and compelling. Finally, you’ll learn the tips and best practices to follow when you convert your portfolio into a presentation for interviews and pitches.

Throughout the course, you'll get practical tips to apply to your portfolio. In the "Build Your Portfolio" project, you'll create your portfolio strategy, write and test your hook, build a case study and prepare your portfolio presentation. You’ll be able to share your progress, tips and reflections with your coursemates, gain insights from the community and elevate each other’s portfolios.

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