What’s a Career Walking Deck & Why You Need It

In many of my coffee chats at Microsoft over the past year, many peers and managers have emphasized the importance of preparing a career walking deck. Quite a few people have even hinted that career walking decks are an “unsaid expectation” for interviews.

Save your spot in my Stand Out in Job Interviews With a Career Walking Deck course on Maven! Access Advanced Career Walking Deck Templates, live workshops, private LinkedIn support chat, and 1:1 career strategy sessions when you join my career community at 👉🏼 kkarenism.com/substack

What is a Career Walking Deck?

It’s your elevator pitch in a short presentation that introduces yourself and includes some of the following topics:

• Personal Life & Values
• Professional Experiences & Projects
• Goals & Aspirations
• Role(s) You’re Interested In + How You’re a Good Fit
• 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan

Why It’s Important

1. Break the Ice: It’s a great way to start a meeting whenever you’re meeting someone for the first time. Simply share your screen and give a brief introduction and background of who you are.
2. Stand Out: In a remote working world, you want to do everything you can to stand out and engage others in a virtual meeting or interview. Having a walking deck is great way to visually walk someone through who you are and where you want to go.
3. Show Thought & Preparation: When going into an interview, preparing a solid career walking deck shows that you’ve thought about the position you’re applying for and why you are the best candidate for the job.

Feel free to check out one of the first versions of my own Career Walking Deck here and stay tuned for more tips on how to create one for yourself.

Find everything you need to get started with creating a career walking deck below:

• Karen’s Career Walking Deck Examples
• Get a FREE Career Walking Deck template
• 3 Important Parts of a Career Walking Deck
• Career Walking Decks 101
• 3 Reasons Why Every Job Seeker Needs a Career Walking Deck
• How to Build a Career Walking Deck That Impresses Hiring Managers
• What’s a Career Walking Deck & Why You Need It
• Career walking deck templates (ready to use)

More job hunting resources

• The Career Community (find which recruiters and hiring managers are hiring)
• The Perfect Career Profile
• 10 LinkedIn Tips for Networking
• 5 LinkedIn Mistakes
• Resume Rescue & Career Walking Deck Services