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Shameless self-promotion and me
One of the reasons I went to Tales of the Cocktail was to see if I could get my name out there in the wide world, connect with people, and increase my chances of getting the kind of job that I really want. I don't have any job offers directly from the conference, but I feel that I had some success.
I've got to credit Lis for most of it. She helped me work out how I'd go about promoting myself, and designed the materials to do it. Lis re-worked my resume into a tri-fold brochure, which I'll put up here soonish so you can all see it. And, well, if you want to print it out and hand it out, I'll not say no. We put stacks of this brochure on the literature table, as well as carrying them around personally -- and I think that we managed to distribute about 200 of them.
Think of that. 200 copies of my resume in the hands of people who, while almost all of them won't be in a position to hire me, may well know people who are.
Getting 200 resumes out in this sort of shotgun approach is not the same as getting it into the hands of 200 hiring managers, or even 20 hiring managers. But it's still worthwhile.
Lis pointed out that, in order to get people to take the brochures and, even more, to hold on to them, we had to give them a reason. So we (and by "we," I mean "Lis") put four recipes that I developed into the thing -- so people may well hold onto it.
Further, the brochure has photos of me in it. Which meant that, on the last day of Tales, someone came up to me and said, "Are you Ian Osmond?" He was a bar manager in New York, and recognized me from my photo. And decided to say "hi" based on that.
I wore a button which said,
It didn't get much direct response, but the fact that I had my name written on my chest did help -- the conference badges didn't have names, so someone came up and addressed me by name, and then, after I apologized for not remembering who they were, they laughed and said we'd never met, but I had my name on the button. And we talked.
Lis's button got a greater successful response -- hers said, "Hire my husband -- ask me how!" People saw that, laughed, and occasionally asked her how.
It's tricky learning how to shamelessly self-promote. It's, of course, easier if you've had the standard male socialization in this culture than the standard female socialization, but it's not that easy even for us.
The trick is, for me, to try to express, "Yup, I'm awesome," without expressing any sort of, ". . . and that makes you LESS awesome." I'm trying to project confidence without arrogance. I want people to know that I'm great, but without diminishing anyone else in the process.
The resume is, of course, only the first step. The point of the brochure, and of the buttons, is simply to start conversations. And if I can't demonstrate myself to be an interesting and attractive person in conversation, then I'm done for.
It's easy to be an asshole. And it's easy to be a doormat. But presenting yourself as someone people like, respect, and enjoy hanging around with? That's harder.
I think I did okay at it. People recognized me, people talked to me, people talked to me a second time after they talked to me a first time.
One of the best things about Tales of the Cocktail was the people. And my shameless self-promotion helped me meet many more of them than I would have without it. It was worth it for that alone. But I do hope I get an awesome job out of it, too.
I've got to credit Lis for most of it. She helped me work out how I'd go about promoting myself, and designed the materials to do it. Lis re-worked my resume into a tri-fold brochure, which I'll put up here soonish so you can all see it. And, well, if you want to print it out and hand it out, I'll not say no. We put stacks of this brochure on the literature table, as well as carrying them around personally -- and I think that we managed to distribute about 200 of them.
Think of that. 200 copies of my resume in the hands of people who, while almost all of them won't be in a position to hire me, may well know people who are.
Getting 200 resumes out in this sort of shotgun approach is not the same as getting it into the hands of 200 hiring managers, or even 20 hiring managers. But it's still worthwhile.
Lis pointed out that, in order to get people to take the brochures and, even more, to hold on to them, we had to give them a reason. So we (and by "we," I mean "Lis") put four recipes that I developed into the thing -- so people may well hold onto it.
Further, the brochure has photos of me in it. Which meant that, on the last day of Tales, someone came up to me and said, "Are you Ian Osmond?" He was a bar manager in New York, and recognized me from my photo. And decided to say "hi" based on that.
I wore a button which said,
Ian Osmond
Ask me about my resume!
Bartender Geek
It didn't get much direct response, but the fact that I had my name written on my chest did help -- the conference badges didn't have names, so someone came up and addressed me by name, and then, after I apologized for not remembering who they were, they laughed and said we'd never met, but I had my name on the button. And we talked.
Lis's button got a greater successful response -- hers said, "Hire my husband -- ask me how!" People saw that, laughed, and occasionally asked her how.
It's tricky learning how to shamelessly self-promote. It's, of course, easier if you've had the standard male socialization in this culture than the standard female socialization, but it's not that easy even for us.
The trick is, for me, to try to express, "Yup, I'm awesome," without expressing any sort of, ". . . and that makes you LESS awesome." I'm trying to project confidence without arrogance. I want people to know that I'm great, but without diminishing anyone else in the process.
The resume is, of course, only the first step. The point of the brochure, and of the buttons, is simply to start conversations. And if I can't demonstrate myself to be an interesting and attractive person in conversation, then I'm done for.
It's easy to be an asshole. And it's easy to be a doormat. But presenting yourself as someone people like, respect, and enjoy hanging around with? That's harder.
I think I did okay at it. People recognized me, people talked to me, people talked to me a second time after they talked to me a first time.
One of the best things about Tales of the Cocktail was the people. And my shameless self-promotion helped me meet many more of them than I would have without it. It was worth it for that alone. But I do hope I get an awesome job out of it, too.