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Chapter 3
How to Identify and

Sell Your Strengths

Whatever industry you represent, field you’re in, or expertise you possess, when
you’re looking for a job, you’re in sales and marketing.
You’re selling a product: you.
You identify the target market: potential employers.
You price the product: a realistic salary range.
You position the product: draft a resume and cover letter.
You test your positioning with the target market: answering several
ads. If your efforts result in interviews, you’ve probably done some
decent marketing. If not, you’ll need to reassess your product, market,
pricing, or positioning, and try again.

This is precisely the process that marketing executives follow to sell laundry
detergent, pickup trucks, gourmet cat food, club memberships, and retractable
swimming pool covers.
Thus, the majority of the letters you’ll write in the course of finding your next
job will contain self-promotion. In your Ad Response and Resume Cover Letters
you will trumpet your talents. After an interview, a Follow-Up Letter will once
again reaffirm your excellent qualifications. If the hiring process seems to be
idling, you’ll rev that engine with a reminder of your unique talents. And un-
doubtedly, if you attempt to negotiate salary in writing, your special skills will be
of vital importance.
Since self-promotion is an area in which recruiters have found most people
either underwhelming or overwhelming, it pays to learn how to boast. It is possi-
ble to be modest, yet effective. The trick is to avoid speaking solely of your own
merits in every line. Instead, link your talents to the concerns of the recruiter, em-
ployer, or firm. Think of your qualifications not as merely a feature of your can-
didacy, but as a benefit to your next boss. The worksheets that follow will help you
accomplish this.

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