If you’ve been to a big city lately, there’s a good chance you’ve seen someone standing on a street corner wearing a sandwich board. Usually, they’re advertising a restaurant that is a little off the beaten path, or a sale, or even a place that sells gold… cheap!
And, if you’ve been to a networking event recently, there’s a good chance you’ve met the sidewalk walking billboard’s slightly less conspicuous cousin: the job-seeking walking billboard.
Unlike the walking billboards you encounter on the sidewalk, you usually can’t spot a job-seeking walking billboard a mile away. Instead of wearing sandwich boards, they’re camouflaged in suits and skirts. Instead of coupons, they offer business cards, and sometimes the resumes they’ve brought with “just in case”.
Most of the time, you won’t even know they’re there – until you ask them about themselves and they reply with a five minute long list of their accomplishments. And then it’s too late: you’re stuck there listening to them blab on and on about themselves while you desperately wish you had pre-arranged a “get me away from this wacko” signal with a friend.
Luckily, most people aren’t that annoying by choice. Those walking billboards are probably so desperate to get a job or make connections – and so confused about how to brand themselves – that they just spew every point on their resume in hopes something will stick. It’s a nervous reaction and it could happen to anyone.
So, here are a couple tips to help you avoid becoming a walking billboard yourself:
Be prepared. Think ahead of time about the type of people who will likely be at the event – and identify a couple accomplishments that would be interesting/memorable to your target people. Then you’ll have an idea about what you want to say, and will be less likely to turn into a gushing fire hose that scares everyone away.
Keep it focused. Don’t talk about your article in Fast Company in the same breath as your victory in the 8th grade spelling bee. Keep your answers short and focused on one accomplishment. Then you’ll do a much better job explaining why that one thing is important, and you won’t bury the person you’re talking to under a mountain of forgettable information.
Be a storyteller. People don’t care about boring bullet points on resumes. When they meet you, they’d much rather hear about the interesting things you’ve done. So, when you’re networking, focus on what’s behind your accomplishments. If you can slip your bullet points into a memorable story, the person you’re talking to might not even realize you’re bragging at all!
When you’re networking with people at an event, the worst thing you can do is to spew everything about yourself to them in one great rush. When you do that, you’re not branding yourself as an accomplished go-getter who would be perfect for any project or job they have in mind, you’re branding yourself an annoying person they can’t wait to get away from!
Remember, you want them to stick around to get to know you
If you don’t go overboard and can tell people the most important things about yourself in an interesting way, however, you will have a much better chance of sticking in their mind. Plus, since they’re not constantly searching for an excuse to escape, you can actually get to know them! Then, when they’re looking for that perfect person to do a dream job, they will be much more likely to remember you and your accomplishments.
Author:
Katie Konrath writes about “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped” at getFreshMinds.com, a top innovation blog.
