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Written by: Rob Sullivan
Author, "Getting Your Foot In The Door When You
Don't Have A Leg To Stand On" (McGraw-Hill)
When it comes to job hunting, IT people often have a more difficult time than the average person. But not for the reasons you might think. While it’s true that the current economy presents its own unique issues, that doesn’t tell the whole story. Indeed, to compete effectively in the marketplace, IT people have to overcome two important obstacles. The first challenge is common to most job hunters; the second is specific to technical and analytical types.
The Origin of Our Difficulties
After spending more than 12 years helping job hunters in a wide range of occupations, I have found that most people have difficulty talking about themselves. What’s even more fascinating is that the problem goes deeper. Much deeper. An overwhelming majority of the people who have a hard time talking about themselves have just as much trouble THINKING about themselves. In other words, they have difficultly acknowledging their own skills, talents, and contributions. Since the problem impacts almost everyone, I’ve spent a lot of time considering its origins.
For the most part, I am a firm believer in the value of accepting responsibility for the situations in which we find ourselves. However, as far as the self-assessment process is concerned, every one of us has to overcome the well-intentioned, but stifling demands and expectations placed on us by modern society. Quite simply, the reason we have difficultly talking about our accomplishments is that most of us have been taught—from a very young age—NOT to talk about ourselves.
If you have ever spent time around four-, five-, and six-year-olds, you know that young children are naturally skilled self-promoters. These kids will tell anyone willing to listen what great artists, ballerinas, and baseball players they are. But what do we, as parents, teachers, and role models do? We squash this ability by telling children that it isn’t “polite” to talk about themselves. The next time most of us are in a position to talk about ourselves is a job interview. That’s not a good time to practice.
The Art of Self Promotion
Overcoming the challenge described above is a multipart process that starts with an objective, thorough self-assessment. Think of it as the “It’s-A-Wonderful-Life-Approach” to marketing yourself. In the movie, George Bailey was given the chance to see how the world would have been different if he had never been born. In a very real sense, this is exactly what I’m asking you to do. Think back to all of your projects and ask yourself how the outcome was different—preferably better—because you were on the team. As an added bonus, you’ll get a much-deserved boost in confidence because you’ll see just what a difference you actually make in this world.
Later, when you’ve built a substantial inventory of accomplishments, matching your specific experiences with the needs of a particular employer will be easy. And, you’ll be that much closer to convincing an employer of the difference you can make for their company. The more specific you can be, the more likely it is that potential employers will think, “Wow. If this person can have that kind of an impact at their old company, just think what they’ll be able to do for us.”
Why Your Greatest Asset is also a Liability
For analytical and technical types, logical, left-brained, process-oriented thinking is exactly what makes them successful from a professional standpoint. Job-hunting, however, is a marketing challenge that relies more on right-brained skills rarely possessed by hard-core IT people. We’ll explore a few options that should help you think more creatively about your experiences, but don’t be embarrassed if you struggle with the concepts. You’re not alone. Just find a coach who can help.
A Quick Lesson in Marketing
Job hunters in general—and IT types in particular—miss most of the opportunities to leverage their experiences because they don’t understand the difference between an attribute and a benefit. Even marketers aren’t always clear on the concept. For years, Castrol Motor Oil has been running commercials focusing on the product’s ability to prevent “engine viscosity and thermal breakdown.” Unless you are a mechanic, that probably doesn’t mean anything to you. This is a great example of a company selling an ATTRIBUTE rather than a benefit.
For people at Castrol, the thinking stopped at what the product does. A benefit, in contrast, takes into consideration what the product does FOR YOU, the consumer. After all, if you don’t know what “engine viscosity” or “thermal breakdown” is, it probably isn’t keeping you up at night.
Let’s look instead at the BENEFITS. For the purposes of this example, let’s assume that by using Castrol Motor Oil you’d lower automobile repair expenses by $400 per year and your cars would last, on average, five years longer. If true, that would be the BENEFIT of using Castrol. It might even convince you to use the product.
Now, apply this thinking to your résumé. Your ability to use Java or C++ and your proficiency with Oracle databases are ATTRIBUTES. People who possess the same basic skills are EVERYWHERE. That’s not why people are going to hire you. True, companies are looking to hire people with those skills, but there’s more. Much more. What really matters is what you have done with those skills. That’s where you’ll find the BENEFIT!
Quantify Your Experience
There are six basic ways to quantify your experience: time, money, quality, quantity, safety, and compliance. Safety and compliance may not always be relevant, but the first four quantifiers almost always are. First, give people an idea of the types of projects you’ve done. Answer the basic questions:
· What problem were you addressing?
· How long was the project?
· How many people were involved?
· How much money did the company invest?
· Did you solve the problem?
· What were the results?
Then, ask yourself the following questions:
· Was this part of your job or were you specially selected to work on the project?
· What did you do or contribute that otherwise might never have happened?
· Were you able to convince the company or client to invest more time, money, or resources than they originally planned?
Answering the first set of questions will give people a better idea of the scope of your projects and experiences. This is important because employers want to know what you are capable of handling. The second set of questions looks more at your individual contributions. First, highlight any projects for which you were specifically selected. This is one of the best ways to show that others value your input.
In addition, it is always helpful to identify any ideas you had that impacted the outcome of the project. For example, if you came up with an idea and convinced a company to spend time or money to implement it, that can be very compelling. Come up with as many examples of idea generation and problem solving as you can. All companies have problems and all companies are looking for people who can solve them.
The process outlined above is especially important for people who are transitioning from telecom or related industries. This will give you an opportunity to highlight your skills in a way that isn’t necessarily industry specific. From there, you can leverage your experiences and make the case that whatever you want to do makes sense as the next, logical step in your professional development.
Combining Your Skills
When it comes to leveraging your background, here are two of the most important questions you can ask yourself:
· What unique combination of skills and experiences do I possess that might surprise a potential employer?
· What company or industry would MOST VALUE this combination of skills?
A participant in one of my job-hunting workshops had an experience that illustrates this point beautifully. Tom spent the majority of his career working as a teacher and trainer before he went back to school to become a web programmer. While there are probably millions of teachers and web programmers in the world, there are relatively few people who are qualified to do both. Recognizing this, Tom decided to focus his job search on companies dedicated to e-learning and online education.
Even though other web developers might be more accomplished from a technical standpoint, Tom can potentially add more value given his understanding of the fundamentals of teaching and learning. By COMBINING SKILLS, Tom has the opportunity to effectively change the job requirements in the mind of the hiring manager. If Tom can convince the company of the importance of hiring a web developer who is also an accomplished teacher, he will have succeeded in narrowing his potential competition. Think about it. A company would probably never spend money advertising for candidates with such a unique combination of skills because there are so few people who match the description. In Tom’s case, there are probably e-learning companies that would never have thought someone like Tom even existed. The more unique your combination of skills, the greater the opportunity to create your own position.
The Spin Factor
In almost every workshop I teach, someone has a truly interesting experience that they are hesitant to mention for fear it will somehow be misinterpreted. As the following case illustrates, the secret is in how you spin it.
Jason started as a programmer at a large technology company that had just put $2 million down on a new, highly rated $4 million software program. After implementing the software, Jason’s company realized it wasn’t living up to expectations, but they had no way to get out of the contract. Quite coincidentally, Jason was working on a project and took the initiative to test the security features of the new software. That’s when Jason discovered a major security glitch with the software that would have allowed competitors access to all customer records.
By discovering and reporting the security issue, Jason gave his company a way to get out of the contract with the software company. This not only saved the company several million dollars, but also gave Jason the opportunity to create a more effective program at a cost of just $30,000. Jason was justifiably proud of his accomplishments, but he had no plans to mention the experience on his résumé or in an interview because he was concerned that people would view him as a hacker rather than a programmer. While that may be a legitimate concern, it doesn’t have to be if he spins it correctly.
From obvious security reasons, employers may be reluctant to hire a programmer who is an accomplished hacker. However, the same facts can be used to present an entirely different picture that is actually closer to the truth. If Jason describes his discovery of the security glitch as “hacking,” that’s how it will probably be interpreted. Instead, Jason would be better off describing his ability differently. For example, he could say:
“As a programmer, I have always been passionate about security and finding ways to protect company information.”
From there, he can go on to describe his ability to identify and correct security issues from a problem-solving standpoint. This way, Jason can show that his passion and interest in security makes him a better, more effective programmer. In this case, Jason is not just selling his programming expertise—an ATTRIBUTE—but the peace of mind his employer will have knowing that Jason is writing programs with an eye toward company security—the BENEFIT.
Applying the Principles
To make these principles work for you, it is absolutely essential to think beyond generic job descriptions and raw skills to actual accomplishments. In this economy, there are countless people who have the same basic skills. Some are more qualified and some are less qualified. But most don’t take the time to QUANTIFY their experiences. That’s what will make the difference. Help people understand what you can do and how it will benefit them.
This is a particularly difficult challenge because marketing yourself effectively requires more right-brained thinking than you may be used to doing. Remember, jobs don’t always go to the most qualified people; jobs go to the people who know how to marketing themselves. It’s going to take time to do a thorough self-assessment, but I promise it’s worth it.
It all boils down to one simple choice. You can either invest your time upfront creating an inventory of quantified, compelling experiences or you can spend the time on the backend dealing with a longer than necessary string of rejections and the strong possibility of underemployment. Choose wisely.
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This article is © 2005 by Rob Sullivan and may not be reposted without written permission from the author and may not be reprinted for profit.