Are You Prepared to Market Yourself 24/7?
Curt Skene’s In2Win! Career Coaching Supplement.
In a career search you are always on stage. You need to be ready to promote yourself at all times and in all sorts of environments. I fully understand there is a strong likelihood you do not have a sales and marketing background. Don’t worry.
Contrary to what you may believe, marketing is not complicated. It is all about finding ways to make the product or service stand out. You are the product and you will deliver the service. And you are the only one who can showcase how brilliant you are.
Successfully marketing yourself requires a 24/7 mindset. Whenever you meet someone think how you can add value, how they can help you, then be proactive and initiate a conversation. Never assume that because someone doesn’t do what you do they are not a viable lead. You never know who is connected to whom anymore.
Always dress professionally, carry business cards, your one-page resume and something to record notes and contact information. It’s a great idea to create a “dedicated career search” portfolio and always have it at your fingertips when you leave home. One final thought—keep your negative energy to yourself. No one really cares why your world is lousy and you can rest assured they won’t be rushing out to help you if you keep reminding them.
Your reputation spreads through every interaction, so manage both positive and negative impressions carefully.
Why I Wrote This Page
Because most real opportunities don’t come from your closest contacts. They come from casual acquaintances, the ones you’d never predict, which is exactly why treating every casual interaction as a non-event is a mistake.
This is sometimes called the strength of weak ties: your close friends already know the same people and information you do, but a casual acquaintance moves in a different circle entirely, and that’s where new information and new opportunities actually come from. The person who ends up mattering most to your search is rarely the person you’d have guessed.
This is why being “on” doesn’t mean being exhausting. It means never writing off a conversation as unimportant just because it doesn’t look like a networking meeting.
Action Steps
- Treat casual conversations, at the gym, in line, at a family event, as real opportunities, not just downtime. You never know which one is the weak tie that matters.
- Always carry something simple to leave behind, a card, a one-page resume, so a casual conversation can turn into a real connection later.
- After any conversation, however small, note who they know and what they do. That detail is often more useful later than you’d expect in the moment.
In2Win! Afterthought
Curt’s current observations and updated guidance will be added here.
Suggested Reading Links
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