Are You Being Authentically You, Like Ginger Zee?
Photo From Ginger Zee’s Twitter Bio
Did you catch Ginger Zee doing a snow angel as part of her weather segment on Good Morning America?
She’s not shy about showing her fun and exuberant personality. She’s being authentic and this engages her audience.
I’ve written about Ginger Zee before in my post, “Makeover Your Too Technical Resume”. Ginger is my muse for good reason. Since my post, Ginger’s gotten a promotion from the Weekend Edition of Good Morning America to the Weekday Edition of Good Morning America!
And that prompts me to ask you and my coaching clients…
Are you like Ginger Zee?
Or are you suppressing the authentic you in your job search?
Many of us are hiding ourselves.
Take a look at the majority of LinkedIn profiles or listen to the typical answer to the interview question: “Tell Me About Yourself”.
It’s a robotic litany of roles, dates and skills. Assembly-line, boredom-inducing sameness from one candidate to the next.
Are you feeling your mind drift? Is the gray matter in your head turning more gray, tipping into the blackness of zone-out?
Guaranteed that’s what happening with the hiring manager’s mind.
You Are More Than Roles, Dates and Skills
You say “Sure, I know I need to highlight my accomplishments, not just roles, dates and skills”.
You’ve Got The Job!
Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Absolutely, right — accomplishments are key.
But, reciting dry facts and figures and even awards and recognition aren’t enough.
The beef is still missing (paraphrasing that iconic Wendy’s Hamburgers commercial) — and the beef is you.
Let’s say you’ve made it into the final round. It’s between you with your accomplishment of a 35% increase in productivity and that gal with her accomplishment of a 45% increase in productivity. Will she beat you out for the position? Will that 10% be the deciding factor?
As a former hiring manager I can attest that what can count more is you being you and getting a resonance going between us.
If you can do that, the extra 10% achieved by the other candidate will be looked at as a rounding error — and you’ll be able to say “I’m so excited to accept your offer!”.
