You’ve caught attention, captured interest, and created desire. You’re at the last step in the sales process-ask for the order. Obviously, at this juncture it’s pretty hard to ask for the job. What you’ll want to accomplish, however, is to get your reader to take action-any step that will bring you more face-to-face time to create trust so that you can eventually “ask for the sale.”
You’ve passed the first and second benchmarks in the advertising sequence: You’ve got your reader’s attention and you’ve generated an interest in you. Your next move is to create desire.
Positioning information is the critical element in capturing the reader’s interest. If you don’t deliver the goods at the visual center of the page, you’ve lost the reader.
It is your job-not the reader’s-to prove that you fit the position to a T. Organize your material in such a way that the reader cannot miss your key selling points.
Using these advertising principles has helped thousands of people in their job search-some of whom were up against formidable odds. These principles can help you promote yourself as well and give you the ammunition and confidence to target higher-paying jobs.
A quick method to think about your brand is to use the grammatical framework of nouns, adjectives, and verb phrases. For example, if you were in education.
Authentic Image
Your Authentic Image is the genuine you-not costumed to play the part of someone else, but cast in the right role-a role that allows you to be radically rewarded and enthusiastically engaged in work that adds value to others. This requires some careful analysis and soul-searching. The Magic F.I.T.™ is a model that will help you zero in on your authentic image. The acronym stands for ingredients that are critical to career success:
Strangers have made their way into your home. But you don’t know it. You’ve put in a long workday. It may have included dealing with a cranky boss, picky customers, colicky coworkers, and a crowded commute. You arrive home, only to find that salespeople have finagled their way into your abode. You know who I’m talking about. They’re there every day as you plow through the snail mail. The outside of the envelope is typically stamped with, “You’ve earned a platinum credit card with no annual fee.”