Selling Yourself Part 2
As I have stated from my first post, finding a new job is part begging, part marketing and part selling. Let's take the rest of the selling in this post. We actually are conducting a form of selling all the time. At our current job, we are selling our abilities to our customers, our bosses and our coworkers. We are always walking that thin line between trying to do our job and trying to continue to let others know we know what we are doing at our job.
That type of activity is somewhat selling. We have to keep doing our job well in order to keep doing our job. We may not like it sometimes, but we have to keep doing it. When we are looking for a new job, the selling of ourselves is stepped up. It is not just a casual thing we do every day at work. It is magnified to where it is blatantly right in front for all to see. At work we can hide things or slink by on a task or two and most people would not know. But when we are looking for a new job, our tasks and activities many times don't produce the results we want. So our selling process is not working.
Why is it that many times we don't do the real work until we realize the easy stuff doesn't work or if it does, it is few and far between? I don't think it is malicious. I think we try and cut corners to hopefully make the process easier on us. We do activities that do not work very well like posting our resumes to job boards or for listings and wait for a response. These activities don't bear fruit very often but we continue them.
Selling yourself to a new job is difficult many times. It takes creative thinking on determining how you fit into the new working world. Once you have grasped how you fit, you should put together a job search campaign that centers itself around YOU. Because YOU are the product here and YOU are what a company is looking for and YOU have the skills and talents to do an effective job. So it is YOU that YOU are selling.
Selling YOU should take many forms. The one area most people try to ignore is the area of personal connections. I know it is tough to network with people by asking them to do something for you because it opens up a bunch of psychological challenges that make you feel uncomfortable. This is normal and your feelings are normal. When you are nervous about an activity, it is a good sign. It is a good sign because it signals the "pot of gold" on the other side. What I mean by that is that the only thing keeping you from finding your next job (the pot of gold) is you getting a little nervous to ask for help. That may be all it takes.
The statistics show that the most effective way to find a new job is to tap into our own personal network. Why it works is because these are the people who can vouch for you on a personal level. These are the people who know you best. Just like you think you know them best, they know you and many times are willing to go to bat for you. They do it because they are connected to you in some way. This connection in its simplest form is selling. The most effective selling you can do is when you have made a connection with someone. It is not manipulating it is just fact.
Give it a try and see how it goes. Ask 10 people in the next two days these three questions:
1. Do you know of anyone hiring (for the type of job you are looking for)?
2. Do you know of anyone who works at a company who may have the type of job you are looking for?
3. Most importantly, ask them if they don't know anyone off hand, do they know anyone who might know someone who does?
The most important question is number three. It is important because it opens up their network in a way you can only imagine. These three simple questions may change your life. Go try them today and let me know how it goes.
I just picked up a new bag of coffee from the Village Coffee Roasters yesterday. It was about 100 degrees and I left it in my car for a couple of hours while I met a friend for lunch. When I get back into my car, the aroma was fantastic. It was almost like I was sipping on an expresso all the way back to my office. What a great day.
Today I have no coffee because I wanted to get this post out before my morning run. I almost made one anyways but know it would probably mean less for me during the day when I need it most. Today is going to be a doosey, I think.
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
That type of activity is somewhat selling. We have to keep doing our job well in order to keep doing our job. We may not like it sometimes, but we have to keep doing it. When we are looking for a new job, the selling of ourselves is stepped up. It is not just a casual thing we do every day at work. It is magnified to where it is blatantly right in front for all to see. At work we can hide things or slink by on a task or two and most people would not know. But when we are looking for a new job, our tasks and activities many times don't produce the results we want. So our selling process is not working.
Why is it that many times we don't do the real work until we realize the easy stuff doesn't work or if it does, it is few and far between? I don't think it is malicious. I think we try and cut corners to hopefully make the process easier on us. We do activities that do not work very well like posting our resumes to job boards or for listings and wait for a response. These activities don't bear fruit very often but we continue them.
Selling yourself to a new job is difficult many times. It takes creative thinking on determining how you fit into the new working world. Once you have grasped how you fit, you should put together a job search campaign that centers itself around YOU. Because YOU are the product here and YOU are what a company is looking for and YOU have the skills and talents to do an effective job. So it is YOU that YOU are selling.
Selling YOU should take many forms. The one area most people try to ignore is the area of personal connections. I know it is tough to network with people by asking them to do something for you because it opens up a bunch of psychological challenges that make you feel uncomfortable. This is normal and your feelings are normal. When you are nervous about an activity, it is a good sign. It is a good sign because it signals the "pot of gold" on the other side. What I mean by that is that the only thing keeping you from finding your next job (the pot of gold) is you getting a little nervous to ask for help. That may be all it takes.
The statistics show that the most effective way to find a new job is to tap into our own personal network. Why it works is because these are the people who can vouch for you on a personal level. These are the people who know you best. Just like you think you know them best, they know you and many times are willing to go to bat for you. They do it because they are connected to you in some way. This connection in its simplest form is selling. The most effective selling you can do is when you have made a connection with someone. It is not manipulating it is just fact.
Give it a try and see how it goes. Ask 10 people in the next two days these three questions:
1. Do you know of anyone hiring (for the type of job you are looking for)?
2. Do you know of anyone who works at a company who may have the type of job you are looking for?
3. Most importantly, ask them if they don't know anyone off hand, do they know anyone who might know someone who does?
The most important question is number three. It is important because it opens up their network in a way you can only imagine. These three simple questions may change your life. Go try them today and let me know how it goes.
I just picked up a new bag of coffee from the Village Coffee Roasters yesterday. It was about 100 degrees and I left it in my car for a couple of hours while I met a friend for lunch. When I get back into my car, the aroma was fantastic. It was almost like I was sipping on an expresso all the way back to my office. What a great day.
Today I have no coffee because I wanted to get this post out before my morning run. I almost made one anyways but know it would probably mean less for me during the day when I need it most. Today is going to be a doosey, I think.
Let's Get Started!
Jeff
posted by Jeff at
3:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home