Many times we see less qualified candidates get the job, simply because they have prepared themselves better and can present themselves to others in a much more compelling way. In other words, successful professionals are also excellent self-marketers, although they may not have the ability to properly do specific jobs. In a highly competitive job market, it is not enough just being qualified. Employees should also be able to demonstrate to employers that they are the best candidates for specific jobs. Depending on our age and our education, we could be operating under specific wishful thinking mode based on the concept of meritocracy. We could have specific ingrained assumptions and cultural messages that are drilled into our heads by teachers and well-meaning parents.
As an example, parents could say that success in life is guaranteed if we get good grades. They also say that being smart is about doing better than those who are less smart. They often assure us that hard works have their own rewards and one reward provides the best to other rewards. We could often see that recognition and achievement go hand-in-hand. Put differently, many people ask us to do better. The employment landscape is increasingly difficult, while accomplishments and strong qualifications are essential, but they are not sufficient. We should also look for a job that we love and consistently earn what we deserve. Many times, other candidates are just as capable as us, if not better. In this case, hiring managers need to look for others things and their decisions could be influenced by how well someone market, sell and position himself/herself.
At the end of the day, those best self-marketers consistently get the job. So, we shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that the model business world is all about meritocracy. It is not! This could be either bad or good news, depending on how we react to this situation. It all depends on how we position ourselves in this point in our career. We should boost our self-marketing skills, so we are able to land a proper job, in spite of the rampant unemployment, declined economy and even the latest Wall Street catastrophe. For this reason, we should use basic marketing concepts to present ourselves during the hiring process. We could try to position ourselves in different way than other competitors. If we have something unique, it is quite possible that employers will notice us. However, we shouldn’t become too unique that employers wonder whether we fit for the position.
We could position ourselves better if we know what are common characteristics emphasized by other candidates. In fact, many successful self-marketers are those who failed to present themselves in a meaningful way, but they work hard to find methods to make themselves more noticeable. Once we are sure that we are unique enough, we could use standard marketing concepts to present themselves. We could show ourselves like we are explaining about a product and how it could benefit the buyer (employer, in this case). With proper self-marketing, it is possible for professionals to gain success in business world.