There is a fine line between promoting yourself, bragging and presenting yourself as something you are not. Self promotion is essential in job search. The days of “my work should speak for itself” are gone. The candidate to land the job is the one who can clearly articulate what they have done and more importantly what they can do moving forward. Desireable candidates can artfully connect the dots between what they can do and what the prospective emloyer needs. Too often the weight of the conversation gets out of balance when job seekers masters self promotion but neglects to link it to the perspective employers needs.
Growing up in our modest Midwest culture self promotion has been deemed as bragging and therefore bad manners. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is appreciating our skills, talents and gifts and not being ashamed to acknowledge them and share them. Remember employers are hiring because they have a need, a problem to be solved. Our ability to talk about our strengths is helping them potentially solve a problem.
Self promotion comes hand in hand with self confidence. When the job seeker is self assured and confident about their skills they inherently become more attractive to the employer. Learning how to present their capabilities requires a well crafted message and practice. The key is however is not just learning how to talk about yourself it is being able to connect the dots for the prospective employer as to why they should care.
