Promoting yourself to a prospective employer can be a tricky business. On the one hand, you need to be able to get across all your wonderful achievements, but on the other, if you come across as arrogant or big-headed, you’ll likely shoot yourself in the foot.
People tend to be naturally uncomfortable about singing their own praises. After all, we’ve grown up in a world where we are taught that ‘blowing our own trumpet’ is ill-mannered and boastful and that humility is what we should aspire to. Despite this, however, we all know that we have to ‘sell ourselves’ in a job interview, even though this can often go against the grain. So, what frequently happens is that we either sit there sheepishly, hoping that the interviewer asks us the right questions to draw out our accomplishments without us having to lay them blatantly on the table, or we go to the opposite extreme and go for the hard sell.
Of course the trick, as in so many things, is in finding the middle ground – neither behaving like a shrinking violet nor a raving egomaniac – and one of the things which can often help to strike that balance is simply self-awareness. We all have both strengths and weaknesses and, by being aware of both, we can demonstrate sufficient belief in our capabilities and our accomplishments without going overboard. Another thing which can help to overcome the natural reticence that many of us have to truly recognize the unique qualities that we have to offer and so be able to sing our own praises though, is to imagine that you are describing someone else. If a good friend, for example, had the same education, skills, experience and personal qualities that you do, how would you convince an employer that he or she was worth employing and how would you describe the value that they could bring to the role and the organization?
Sometimes when we are at an interview, our keenness to sell ourselves can turn into providing what are nothing more than lists of our accomplishments, and this doesn’t go down well with many employers as it does tend to smack of empty boasts. Take your key achievements, however, and wrap them up in a story which demonstrates how you managed to accomplish them and the skills and qualities that you needed to bring into play and you are much more likely to hit the mark. Being yourself and showing an employer that you can do the job in this way isn’t bragging…it’s simply showing him that you can do the job!
May 18th, 2010 at 10:34 am
Great article. It is important to be able to sell but no one wants to feel they are “salesy.” Ask people you’ve worked with, especially previous bosses, what results you got for them, what they liked about what you did.
Then you can quote them in interviews. So while you’re saying great things about yourself, they are backed up by other people. You’ve created social proof of what makes you a great candidate and why they should hire you.
Let others toot your horn for you!
May 19th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Some great points there Katherine and many thanks for adding your comment!
May 21st, 2010 at 11:56 am
Todd:
You are right, it is tricky to find the middle ground and not sound boastful. I also agree with telling stories that demonstrate how you’ve used those talents. Everyone loves a story, as long as it relates somehow to them. So, make sure that when you tell a story that it is clearly relevant to the job/company you are interviewing with. That might mean leaving out specific buzz words used by your previous employer if they do not translate into other businesses. It also might mean clearly connecting the dots so the employer sees how your story relates.
STAR, PAR, CAR stories that are well crafted and practiced can really seal the deal.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:36 am
I totally agree Career Sherpa, and thanks for posting your comment. Everything from resumes and cover letters to interview ’stories’ need to be specifically targeted towards the priorities and concerns of the individual recruiter, and yes, often that does mean ‘connecting the dots’ as you so nicely put it.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:04 am
Great article! I often find it difficult to find the right balance between clearly communicating my past achievements without being boastful. I have found that telling stories not only helps me clearly communicate who I am and what I am most proud of if done correctly a story is a great way to engage the interviewer. If you think about it, when we were children we loved to listen to or read stories. I believe that fact still holds true as adults.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:47 am
Hi there Melissa and thank you for your kind words. You are so right about stories being a great way to engage an employer, and that is such an important point. Trying to create some sort of bond with a complete stranger when you probably only have about half an hour or so of his/her time and the atmosphere is tense can be far from easy. By telling stories though, you can put across some of your best examples and at the same time provide the interviewer with a sense of your personality and who you are. Employers typically don’t hire purely on the basis of a person’s qualifications and/or experience – there also needs to be a ‘connection’ between the recruiter and the candidate – and demonstrating your capabilities through your personal experiences is a great way to make that connection.