Laura Stack - Self-Promotion and Self-Presentation Skills: Marketing Yourself for Success

Today, I have good news and bad news. The good news is thatyour mother loves you for whats on the inside. The bad news is that peopleoften evaluate you on the outside. So when youre in a job interview, how doyou increase your perceived value? Through powerful self-promotion andself-presentation skills.

Now, self-promotion skills may not be listed in a jobdescription, but they certainly play a crucial part in your career, especiallywhen youre interviewing for a job. The ability to handle yourself properlyoutweighs even your sales or technical skills in many instances. If you knowwhat to do, when to do it, and how to do it with grace and style, youll havecompetitive edge over those with the same knowledge, skills, and abilities.

This ebook focuses on improving your professional image wheninterviewing for a job. So lets start with that. What is image? Well, basically its the picture you project to others. Websters Dictionaryformally defines image as, a mental conception held in common by members of agroup and symbolic of a persons basic attitude and orientation.

Remember back to the last time you felt like a millionbucks, then think about the service you received that day when you walked intoa store or a restaurant, or the upbeat way people treated you, and the wayeverything just seemed to fall into place for you. You were projecting astrong, positive image to the world, an image that said, I look great! I feelgreat! And Im loaded! And everyone you met seemed to pick up on thosemessages and respond to them in an equally upbeat way.

Coincidence? I think not. Was it a phony image you wereprojecting? Not at all. In fact, it was an extremely accurate one. You werein fact feeling positive and confident, and everything about you wasbroadcasting those feelings, just as you broadcast your feelings on your baddays the ones when your spirits are low and you look and feel like twocents. So whether you talk or not, youre practically shouting information toanyone who comes within 20 feet of you.

I do an activity in my seminars where I ask two people whodont know each other to meet and talk for two minutes, just very lightly aboutthemselves, their backgrounds, jobs, families, et cetera, and after two minutesI separate them, give them a piece of paper and ask them to briefly answer thefollowing five questions about their partner:

1. What do you think is this persons favorite kind of music?

2. What TV programs do you think your partner likes to watch?

3. What make, model, and color car does your partner drive?

4. What do you think your partner would really like to be doing fora living?

5. List three words that you think best describe your partnerspersonality.

Now remember, they just met this person in the last twominutes of chatting. How many times do you think they guess correctly? Itsactually scary how many times a person can get all five things exactlyright...after two minutes spent talking with a complete stranger.

You may have heard that impressions are set in the first10-30 seconds of a meeting. What we experience in this exercise is known asthe primacy effect in psychology, and its very hard to erase. So in the jobinterview, its critical that you make a favorable first impression so that thedecisions made about you will also be favorable.

Whenyou step into a room, though no one in that room knows you, or perhaps has evenseen you before, people will make decisions about you based solely on yourappearance. Fair? I dont know. Reality? Yes.

And when you meet someone new, you take a fast, almostunconscious inventory of that person. Weve heard things like shes a classact, or I dont know, but I just dont trust this guy. Why is that? Itsthat impression. Its that instinct. So when you first meet someone on theinterview, there are some things that you can do right off the bat to increaseyour odds of leaving a favorable first impression and projecting a strongconfident image.

Sometimes were our own worst critics, and we look toeveryone else for approval. You have to give credit to yourself and build fromthe inside. Reverse the dynamic so that your sense of confidence comes fromwithin. Dont count on someone else to do it for you. You must learn tobecome a self-recognizer and regularly give yourself credit when you deserveit. This is not bragging. You must learn that its okay to self-promote.

Now, maybe you were taught as a child not to brag, not tospeak until you were spoken to, not to think you were so attractive or sotalented because people might think youre conceited. And I still hearcomments today from adults like, I dont feel comfortable talking about myself. Or, People will think its obnoxious. Or, If youre good at something, youdont have to advertise it. And other ridiculous expressions.

So we need to dispel these myths and change your mindsetabout being too modest. By appreciating yourself, you enhance yourself-confidence and project that to others. And unfortunately,self-appreciation is something that most of us rarely allow ourselves toexperience.

Most of us are our own worst taskmasters. So if I were onthe phone with you, and we didnt know each other and were just chatting and Iasked you to take two minutes to tell me what youre really good at, what doyou love and admire about yourself? How would that question strike you if Isaid, What are you really good at? What do you love and admire aboutyourself? Would you blush? Would you feel uncomfortable? And whatever youwould tell me, is that the same thing you would tell someone youreinterviewing with?

Sometimes were so busy trying to make other people feel goodthat we forget about ourselves, and if its not easy for you to say positivethings about yourself, thats really good information to notice. So what if Isaid, Take two minutes to tell me that? Would you have trouble filling uptwo minutes? Thats important to notice too, because you want this informationat your fingertips.

Self-appreciation clearly enhances your self-confidence, andif you want to go far in your career, you have to know how to do this. In mostcases, management doesnt take enough responsibility for recognizing peakperformers. Youve probably found this to be true in your experience. Theonus instead falls on the performer. You must learn to become aself-recognizer and regularly give yourself credit when you deserve it. Thatsnot bragging. Its not being conceited. Its simply telling other people whatyou believe and know to be true about yourself.

You need to have a commercial prepared, so that when youmeet someone for the first time, you can present it to them. Whether its on abus, on a trip, in a hotel, or at a conference, someone will invariably askyou, So, what do you do? Most of us answer with our job title and a companyname, and that does little to enhance your value. A title can mean many differentthings, and that person may not be familiar with your company.

So what Id like you to do instead is practice doing acommercial for yourself. It should be 15-30 seconds, not long, just somethingthat you have down pat for when someone asks you, So, what do you do? Illnever forget two people in one of my seminars who used this technique afterdiscussing it in a group; they came up with commercials that planted a picturein my mind of them at their very best. For example, one was a marketing rep;so instead of saying, Im a marketing rep with ABC, one person told the classI help people get the word out about their products and services. Last week,one of my clients was featured in the