MARKETING YOURSELF: The Key to Self-Promotion

Marketing isn't limited to brands and agencies. In fact, it can be as simple as a resume sent to your dream company. In order to snag that job, you'll have to sell them on one product: YOU. In this episode of J&See: Views on Marketing, VP of J&C Meg Goodman sits down with career coach and recruiter Michelle Barnard to discuss how you can successfully market yourself to potential employers. Read on for a few key points from their conversation. And don't forget to subscribe to J&See: Views on Marketing to hear an interview like this once a month.

Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re self-promoting?

A: They rely too much on online job postings. Really what that means is they’re just sending off a resume to online [applications]. They hit that “reply all” on Indeed. They go to all these different job postings and they don’t remember where they applied. It really does a disservice to them because they can apply to the same role multiple times and that recruiter on the other side of that computer would [think] “this person really doesn’t know what they want.”

Number two ... is the resume. It is the bridge between you getting that job. If your resume isn’t up to date and it has mistakes and different things that don’t fit your skill set or if it doesn’t really show any highlights as to what you’ve been successful with in each of the jobs that you’ve held.

The third mistake I feel like a lot of candidates have is job-hopping. Your resume will look like you aren’t very committed or dedicated to the jobs that you’ve had in the past.

Number four is not networking. LinkedIn is such a great resource and tool to be able to reach specific people at the specific company at the specific job that you want. All you have to do is do your research.

Q: What are the three biggest things to remember when marketing yourself?

A: One of my mottos is “dress for the job that you want, not for the one that you have,” because that just gives you the confidence to market yourself … It’s really important that your resume is clean and up-to-date because you can’t get an interview without the resume … Reach out to the third-party staffing agency that you feel comfortable with, connect with your recruiter and build a relationship there because you’re also interviewing me as much as I’m interviewing you.

Q: In the past few years, we’ve seen a massive increase in temporary jobs as opposed to long-term hires. How has this change affected how people market themselves? How has it affected your job as a recruiter?

A: As far as longevity for someone who’s been at a company and has strong tenure, it looks really good on your resume. However, in the market and industry today, it’s not looked at as a great thing … I’ve had this trend right now where a lot of my clients want recent graduates. They want somebody out of college, fresh on the market. They want to train and groom that person because a lot of people who stay in those long-term jobs and have that strong tenure are almost set in their ways and are not looking to really learn more things or grow. With recent graduates, they're hungry. They want to roll up their sleeves and get the job done as well as grow, learn and gain new skillsets … Internships are so vital for growth and getting your foot in the door … You learn exactly the kind of position you could be possibly looking for in the future.

Q: Would you recommend people keep notes as they progress through their job?

A: Absolutely, because you don’t want to forget the highlights. I always tell people to [quantify]. Make sure you use numbers and data because a lot of people are data-driven. A lot of people love to know what is the volume that you’ve done that you’re working on. They want to know if you can handle the workload that they have … The numbers are important for a client to see.

Listen to the whole episode to hear what Michelle the best ways to prepare for an interview. Download J&See: Views on Marketing on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or you can listen to the episode on Google Podcasts and Simplecast. And remember to subscribe to get a new episode every month.