I was working with a job seeker whom was
extremely frustrated. Many of her frustrations were due to her circumstances.
This woman had never found it so difficult to land employment before in her
life. She was 55+ years old, too young to retire, and considered to be too old
in many employers’ eyes. Having been a hard worker her entire life, she could
not understand her prolonged period of unemployment and how it was not enough
to just tell an employer how badly she wanted a job.
During our conversation, I discovered that her method in selling herself to employers dated her to the past tense. I gave her some information with many of the tips and tricks of the trade, but I could tell that she was fearful of changing her ways. She did not really understand why her résumé format needed an upgrade and why she needed to take advantage of networking opportunities. That’s when I told her to be a hamburger. Not just any hamburger, but THE hamburger of an employer’s desires.
Every day on my way to work, I drive on the interstate highway. As I approach the city I work in, traffic slows down to either a crawl or stops completely for a few minutes. At the points in my commute where this happens, there are strategically placed billboards that catch my eye. At least one of these billboards is for a fast food restaurant. The restaurant will display one of its most famous sandwiches-usually a hamburger. Most people don’t get overly excited at the thought of eating hamburgers from fast food in the era of posted calorie counts on menus and forbidden trans-fats. Fast food restaurant have to work exceptionally hard at marketing. As you are driving, they have to make you want it so badly, you are begging for it.
Each billboard of a hamburger is not showing random meat on bread; it is showing a burger experience. First, the bun. The bun is ever so perfectly baked to perfection with its color and placement of sesame seeds. Next comes the meat patty. In real fast food life, you might need a search party to find the beef, but in fast food marketing land, the burger has a distinct thickness. The meat’s edges imply excess by hanging over the outer rim of the bun. Then the toppings arrive. Leafy green lettuce with slightly curled edges, tomatoes red like a fire truck and donning small beads of moisture crowns the patty. Even onion, whether it be sliced or diced, can be seen. The pickles are not hiding. Need a sauce? It does not matter if the sauce is secret or plain ketchup, if it is on the burger, you can see it in the advertisement. The reality of your fast food experience is probably different, but after seeing that billboard, you want a hamburger.
Job seekers are hamburgers and they need to market themselves like hamburgers on bill boards. A résumé must make an employer salivate at the lips. Each statement a job seeker makes to sell himself must make an employer want to know more. This is not only true in résumés and cover letters, but on social media. Are updates posted on social media that cause engagement on Linked In and are tweets just boring updates or catchy quick reads? Does the job seeker’s brand sell himself? Does the job seeker portray an image that is a cheap fast food less than desirable piece of meat or does the job seeker market himself to invoke a high end sandwich experience?
Job Seekers need to think like the marketing department at a fast food restaurant. Meet someone at a networking event? Does the job seeker just collect business cards or take the time to develop relationships? Forget fries with that. How about meeting over a cup of coffee to discuss potential opportunities.
As a workforce development professional, I work with customers on all levels. Many times to really make someone understand, I need to give them something that they can relate to. The Hamburger Approach to Job Seeking is something many people can relate to. It can make them understand the process and how to sell themselves.
Hungry for more? Feel free to leave comment below or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. ~ Karen Cirincione
During our conversation, I discovered that her method in selling herself to employers dated her to the past tense. I gave her some information with many of the tips and tricks of the trade, but I could tell that she was fearful of changing her ways. She did not really understand why her résumé format needed an upgrade and why she needed to take advantage of networking opportunities. That’s when I told her to be a hamburger. Not just any hamburger, but THE hamburger of an employer’s desires.
The Hamburger Approach to Job Seeking goes
like this…
Every day on my way to work, I drive on the interstate highway. As I approach the city I work in, traffic slows down to either a crawl or stops completely for a few minutes. At the points in my commute where this happens, there are strategically placed billboards that catch my eye. At least one of these billboards is for a fast food restaurant. The restaurant will display one of its most famous sandwiches-usually a hamburger. Most people don’t get overly excited at the thought of eating hamburgers from fast food in the era of posted calorie counts on menus and forbidden trans-fats. Fast food restaurant have to work exceptionally hard at marketing. As you are driving, they have to make you want it so badly, you are begging for it.
Each billboard of a hamburger is not showing random meat on bread; it is showing a burger experience. First, the bun. The bun is ever so perfectly baked to perfection with its color and placement of sesame seeds. Next comes the meat patty. In real fast food life, you might need a search party to find the beef, but in fast food marketing land, the burger has a distinct thickness. The meat’s edges imply excess by hanging over the outer rim of the bun. Then the toppings arrive. Leafy green lettuce with slightly curled edges, tomatoes red like a fire truck and donning small beads of moisture crowns the patty. Even onion, whether it be sliced or diced, can be seen. The pickles are not hiding. Need a sauce? It does not matter if the sauce is secret or plain ketchup, if it is on the burger, you can see it in the advertisement. The reality of your fast food experience is probably different, but after seeing that billboard, you want a hamburger.
Job seekers are hamburgers and they need to market themselves like hamburgers on bill boards. A résumé must make an employer salivate at the lips. Each statement a job seeker makes to sell himself must make an employer want to know more. This is not only true in résumés and cover letters, but on social media. Are updates posted on social media that cause engagement on Linked In and are tweets just boring updates or catchy quick reads? Does the job seeker’s brand sell himself? Does the job seeker portray an image that is a cheap fast food less than desirable piece of meat or does the job seeker market himself to invoke a high end sandwich experience?
Job Seekers need to think like the marketing department at a fast food restaurant. Meet someone at a networking event? Does the job seeker just collect business cards or take the time to develop relationships? Forget fries with that. How about meeting over a cup of coffee to discuss potential opportunities.
As a workforce development professional, I work with customers on all levels. Many times to really make someone understand, I need to give them something that they can relate to. The Hamburger Approach to Job Seeking is something many people can relate to. It can make them understand the process and how to sell themselves.
Hungry for more? Feel free to leave comment below or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. ~ Karen Cirincione
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