Stop Saying You Can Do Anything! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Stop Saying You Can Do Anything! - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Not long ago, I had the experience of working with a new intern. While we were having a coffee, I asked her about herself and how she saw herself helping us during her stay. Oh, I can do anything, she gushed. Im just so happy to be here that Ill do whatever you want me to do. Obviously, she had a great attitude! But I was actually really disappointed with her answer especially after I tried to prod her a little more and couldnt get anything more specific out of her. Why? Because telling everyone youre a jack-of-all trades is a big personal branding mistake! I actually learned this from my mother, a business-to-business sales expert. She taught me that the biggest mistake sellers make is to try to prove to a prospect that their company can solve ANY (semi-related) problem that prospects company might have. Jack of all trades, master of none The reason sellers do this is because they dont want to lose any business. So they expand their target market from (e.g.) mid-sized utility companies in the Midwest to any business anywhere in the world that send out monthly bills. If youre looking for a job, youre probably a lot like those sellers. Its so important for you to get the job that you dont want to disqualify yourself from any possibilities. Its even worse if youre running low on money and desperately need to win over the interviewer. But doing that will actually hurt your cause. The truth is, business prospects dont want to work with a company that does everything. They want to work with companies who work in their exact area and are experts on the unique challenges that prospects company faces on a daily business. The same goes for job seekers. Companies want employees with a great attitude, but its just as important to them that they get the people who are the absolute best for the position. They want to hear from people who are good at exactly the sort of job that they need to fill. They want the best When you try to ensure that you dont miss any opportunities, you arent viewed as the confident, competent person who can provide exactly what the company needs. Instead, acting like a jack-of-all-trades ends up causing others to think (that if youve spent the time learning how to do everything) you havent had the time to become really good at what they actually need you to do. To get other people to see you as the confident, competent person who can meet their needs, you actually need to be willing to close off some options even if someone approaches you. This gives you a chance to tune your personal marketing materials especially for the job you really want, and it helps you become really good in that specific area. Plus, when someone asks you what you can do, you actually are able to give them a concrete answer that will help them see how they can benefit from working with you versus an interchangeable robot who does whatever its told. Author: Katie Konrath writes about creativity, innovation and “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped!” at www.getFreshMinds.com.