All life is sales

After I wrote my post on luck last week, I made the realization that I could be doing a lot more to help improve my own luck through confidence, and that I should practice a little bit more of what I preach. After all, my hatred for hypocrisy knows no bounds, and what good is social philosophy if you don't put it into practice?

Anyway, being a college junior trying to get an internship in this economy had put me into a bit of a rut. It was like suddenly being back in high school, waiting for my college acceptance (or rejection) letters to come through. I had almost gone crazy then, and I could tell I was heading down that road again. I'm the type of person where if I don't like the way things are going, I find a way to change them in any way possible, and I hated the thought that my internship decisions seemed out of my hands. Two internship rejections later, I felt the impetus for change hit me like a sack of overpriced textbooks.

Selling yourself (not in that way):

So when Mandy (who made our lovely logo) called and wanted to hit up a seminar entitled "Recession-proofing your Job Search" presented by Eric Barron Live (who you can find online here: http://www.ericbarronlive.com/), I jumped at the chance, especially when I found out they were raffling off Sox tickets for the next day's game. I may be just a wee bit obsessed, but whatever, it was another reason to go. I'm glad I did, because his philosophy mirrored so much of what I had written on luck the week before I was sure he had to be a reader (I flatter myself WAY too much).

I'm not going to repeat all of what he said, but he made a few points that really stuck with me. Even in the recession, he said, people are always hiring, always looking to upgrade. It all comes down to how well we can demonstrate our key attributes as benefits to the company. Content, he said, is not as important as presentation. He rammed home the necessity to turn your skills into stories of your accomplishments, and turn those into ways you can benefit the company. If you can make them enthusiastic about your potential contributions, you win.

Sometimes lucky, mostly just good:

This sort of self-responsible view of the application process made me think of last week's post. Here, if you are confident in how you present yourself, you are leaving less and less to "chance" and more in your (confidently capable) hands. Here, you're making it happen, and if you have confidence in yourself, you will succeed.

P.S. Anyone struggling in their job search should definitely check out Eric Barron. He's got a very high energy and involved approach to showing you how everything you know about getting a job is wrong, and how to fix it.