You may not initially agree with this statement, but we believe everyone is in sales. Even if your job description doesn’t include selling products or services to customers, you are still in sales. As a professional, you are constantly selling yourself. Whether you’re currently employed or searching for a new position, every day is an opportunity to sell yourself to those around you.
If you are currently in the job market, make sure you are always in “sales mode” and working on your personal brand. Every resume submission, email exchange, and interview is a sales pitch. A helpful way to approach the situation is by considering yourself as a product in a store. If the hiring manager could walk up and down the aisles to choose the product (candidate) he thought would best fit his needs, what would make him choose you?
When you are shopping for flat screens TVs, what do you look for? Reliability? Performance? Cost? Consumer Complaints? Drawbacks? Differentiation factor? Here are a few things to consider when branding yourself:
§ What are your benefits?
§ What are your drawbacks/weaknesses?
§ What makes you better than the others? What makes you impressive?
§ What’s your image?
A crucial part of selling yourself during the job search is your resume. Your resume is like an advertisement for you, and it is responsible for creating interest and communicating your strengths as a candidate. If your resume’s content doesn’t stand out, there is a very small chance you will be selected for even an initial phone interview. You can make your resume stands out by listing your most recent and relevant work, any training you’ve complete or certificates you have earned, your key accomplishments, and impressive statistics directly relating to your job performance.
You should also evaluate your on-line presence as this will improve or degrade your personal brand. We will address your on line presence in future articles.
If you’re currently employed, you are selling yourself to your coworkers, managers, and clients. Having confidence in the ideas, skills, and qualities you bring to the table goes a long way with selling yourself to the people around the office. Upper management will take notice of an employee who shows initiative, is a natural leader, is always professional, has confidence in his abilities, and produces superior work.
Regardless of your position or employment status, don’t underestimate the fact that you are selling your personal brand every single day in every single interaction.
