Personal Marketing Statements & 'Selling' Yourself

Personal Marketing: How The Right Self-Marketing Words Help You Sell Yourself

I'm sure you already know that self marketing skills are important to your career change, but the only problem is that the art of marketing yourself can be difficult for a lot of people.

Selling yourself well doesn't mean talking just about yourself or arrogantly telling others how great you are. By selling yourself, in an interview or an informal networking meeting, I mean thinking first about the employer's needs and expectations and figuring out how you can create value for their organization.

Approach 'Selling' Yourself This Way:

What does the potential employer really need from a new employee? What specific technical work skills and workplace competencies and personal qualities is the employer looking for? Now if you can ask those questions dispassionately, you should be able to identify your own strengths that match and gently weave them into every conversation you have.

So what I'm really saying is that it means tapping into the employer's aspirations for new workers and reducing their anxieties about employing you because any new hire could prove to be an expensive mistake. By meeting needs and building rapport with the interviewer, your success rate will rocket.

This page is about self marketing and how you can 'sell yourself' by using adapted statements about your skills and strengths which match the required characteristics being sought.

I've included tips on your 'Elevator Pitch', a longer introduction that I call your 'Career Overview' and an 'Exit' statement. But the most important of all which supports everything else in your personal marketing and self introduction repertoire is your 'Key Strengths' statement.

Self Introduction

The importance of a good self-introduction in your interview should not be under-estimated, because if you get that part right, the rest will be easier, so please work on it first. Neither should the value of an outstanding CV be forgotten because once you know you have a great CV, your confidence will soar. One of the key points for great CVs is in starting with strong CV Personal Profiles which form a CV summary that encompasses your skill level, job type and scale of responsibility, giving a great first impression.

These personal marketing statements can easily be learned and delivered when you need them.

When you think about self marketing as being about how to add value, what you need is a value proposition. The elements on this page: your summary profile, your career overview and your key strengths statements all become part of this approach. The ideal value proposition is concise and appeals to the customer's (the hiring manager's) strongest decision-making drivers. A value proposition is a short statement that tells your prospective boss why she should buy your skills and experience and your career overview self marketing statement, which is the real answer to 'tell me about yourself' should be exactly that; communicated effectively it will achieve optimal results.

Add Value Rather Than Taking...

A strong and differentiated value proposition can go a long way to position you to succeed in your target market as it opens the door so that someone might be willing to meet with you. It should create a strong differentiation between you and your competitors for the same job and align your background more closely to their needs, creating interest, so that your interviewer wants to learn more from you.Focus on adding value to the prospective employer's organisation, rather than your own career goals and you will achieve a better end result.

Check these examples of personal marketing statements I've given you and then prepare your own.

Your 'Elevator Pitch'

You've got maybe 30 seconds to deliver a pitch that illustrates who you are, what you do, and benefits of you to an employer:

• What you are
• What you have done
• What you can do
• You core strengths
• It must only last for approximately 30 seconds

Your Career Overview

In most cases this is the answer to the "Tell me about yourself" question and should be arranged something like this statement, all within 3 minutes:

• Must have an interesting storyline
  
• Highlights your strengths and achievements
  
• Is keyed into the needs of the buyer
  
• Is lucid, clear and succinct
  
• Include a brief version of your leaving story
  
• Lasts for approximately 3 minutes

"Tell me about yourself" is by far the most common job interview question and is often the first thing that is actually asked of you. You need to have a short yet concise answer, so that you do not babble on and aggravate the interviewer.

However, do not over rehearse, as this will become evident when you start talking. The best way around this is to use bullet points on a piece of paper that you can build upon (but only use this for preparation - do not take this piece of paper into the interview).

Remember that the aim of this question is to find out your skills and suitability for the position. It's not the same as when out on a date and the other person asks this same question; in an interview, the hiring manager wants to know who you are in a more professional sense...they don't care if you've got 3 cats and like to ice skate. They care about your attitude, career aspirations and previous achievements so your top interview answers must include them; use your personal marketing skills. This also works really well as part of a Telephone Presentation when you are networking for jobs.

Your Exit Statement

An “Exit” statement is used to express positively why you left (or are leaving) your last job

An Exit Statement or leaving statement helps to protect you from the emotions of a difficult job loss. Some thoughtless interviewers try to put pressure on by asking questions like:

"Why did they get rid of you?"

"Why did they make you redundant?"

Your exit statement might go like this:

"Following a difficult year for the business, the directors decided to reduce the number of staff in the manufacturing division. A number of people including me were affected, but I understand the reasons for the decision and don't regret my time working there. I learnt a lot and had some very good colleagues. I also know I have developed a good range of skills so I'm pleased to be here to discuss this job with you today."

See how you can make a clear statement that satisfies the interviewer but also leaves it looking forward positively.

You can answer this question with confidence when you've prepared an exit statement that gives the facts in a positive light and leaves you in control.

Your Key Strengths Statement

This is a statement as a summary of your most powerful skills and attributes, think about the core competencies we use to point up your unique skill set on your CV.

This page has two very good examples of Key Strengths statements so give some thought to yours now using the tips I've given you.

Get some examples of how to present these key skills on your CV in readiness for your job application.

Your personal marketing skills will be transformed and are the key to these personal marketing presentation statements I should also point out to you that every opportunity to market yourself, using your personal marketing skills and reinforce your suitability should be used ruthlessly and thank you letters after the interview can be used to do precisely that. And when it comes to it you can use these negotiation strategies to help you win the best job offer and salary package.

What you must think about is POTENTIAL so don't just talk about past successes, although its a good indicator of future performance, you should identify clearly the areas where you can be more than what you already did, but what you will do.

As I hope you can see, Personal Marketing Statements that are well prepared can be the key to interviewers or hiring managers understanding why you are the best candidate to hire for the job. And I hope that this page will help you to 'sell yourself', but you know what?

Everything you say - think about a behavioral interview for example - or write is based on Your Words which are the most powerful weapons in your career change armoury. Quite simply they are are what will build your career or your business for you. Words are the building blocks of information that people are seeking.

When it comes to creating your future through career change or starting a business, your words are what really make people sit up and take notice.

Return to Your Career Change home page.

For an example of a Marketing CV and Marketing Cover Letter click Marketing CV or continue to find a Marketing Resume.

You might also want to visit Career Planning for more career advancing techniques.

Be sure to visit our Career Books Shop for extra reading and information about your personal marketing skills.

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