Would You Hire Yourself?

Think about what you offer: if you’re a business owner, think about your product or service; if you’re in a career, think about what you do on the job.

• If you were a company that was looking to hire in your field, are you sure you’re the best candidate?
• If you were a manager that was deciding on bonuses and promotions, would you select yourself?
• If you were a customer in need of the product or service that you provide, would you buy from yourself?

Whether or not you can say a confident YES to any of these is something within your control. The volatile economy is outside your control. It might seem like competition is super tight and there are fewer opportunities, but even if that’s true, you can increase your competitiveness for the opportunities that remain. Rather than spending time feeling anxious or blaming difficult external circumstances, reframe your focus around what you can proactively do to help yourself: What can you contribute? It is not helpful to offer a laundry list of skills and ask a prospective employer or customer to figure out where you fit. That puts the work back on them. Instead, get to know the company you want towork for (or the client you want to land) and talk to them in their language about their problems and about your solutions. When you offer your marketing expertise to a prospective company/ client, know how they do marketing currently, where they are stumbling, and talk specifically about how your marketing could contribute to them. How will people know about you? In the above example, you’re talking firsthand about your contribution, which really is the best way to ensure that you are able to share everything you offer in the best light possible. This implies that you are meeting with decision-makers and having substantive conversations. If your job search or business marketing consists of sending out resumes or marketing pieces and hoping people will call you, then you are hoping people happen to get to know you. You need to be out and about and talking to people directly.
When people are ready for you, will they be able to find you? The best relationships develop over time. When you meet a decision-maker, they may value your contribution but the timing may not be right – maybe they are in the middle of trying a different solution, maybe they don’t have a budget or resources to shift gears. This could change in a month or several months later or in a year, but will they think of you then? You need to stay front of mind consistently over time, not just in fits and starts. For a business, this might mean sending out a regular newsletter or posting regular updates to social media. For a job seeker, this means contacting your network on a regular basis to stay on their radar.

I hear many people who say they want to work for Google, Amazon, Viacom, insert brand name company/ client here. But what are you doing to make yourself attractive to these places?
Caroline Ceniza-Levine helps people find fulfilling and financially-rewarding career paths, as the co-founder of SixFigureStart®, career coaching by former Fortune 500 recruiters.

This is a repost of a feature from www.forbes.com