Rich DeMatteo in cooperation with Brazen Careerist published an e-book called What I Know About Getting A Job (1.5 MB PDF).
It’s a good looking book, full of short but good takes from many of the folks on John Sumser’s top HR digital influencers list.
If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know the advice I give in the e-book isn’t any different than what you’ve seen here in the past. In fact, I checked it out and my answer is simply a variation of a post I did on the subject nearly two years ago about interview advice. I said then:
Answer their ultimate question at every point possible: how do you uniquely fill their need and meet/beat their expectations for the position?
I said in the e-book:
At every point in the job seeking process, understand, communicate and market yourself based on the value you will bring to the companies you want to work for.
A little less company centric but basically the same concept. If you understand what you do and how you bring value to organizations you work for, you hammer that every time you interact with people. When you network, when you’re putting together a resume, when you’re interviewing, when you talk to customers, clients and competitors… everything.
And it isn’t like this is easy. Or that I’ve figured this all out how to do this myself. But I’ve done better by focusing on what can I bring rather than trying to encompass everything I’ve ever done ever. That’s just a losing strategy.
I used to say I knew very little about getting a job. I knew what worked for me but I realized that many HR folks didn’t share my views on quite a few things. After two unexpected job losses in a year (and two total weeks of unemployment between them), maybe I know more about it than I thought.
Knowing something about yourself and not being apologetic about marketing yourself is key. Everything else is just details.
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“Knowing something about yourself and not being apologetic about marketing yourself is key.” That’s a nice reframing, Lance. I think of your advice this way: Instead of reactively responding to a potential employer’s questions, be really clear on why you thought you cold do this job in the first place and proactively prepare to speak from that place.
Perhaps its because I’m young, but I feel like the idea of branding/marketing yourself is a developing one. Those who know how to do it successfully will find infinitely more success in their job searches than those who simply follow along. The avenues one can take to market themselves are endless and can really show employers who an individual is. I’d love to hear some of your suggestions on how to pursue a successful self-marketing strategy- i.e. what works and what doesn’t.
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