How Not to be a Walking Billboard - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How Not to be a Walking Billboard - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If youve been to a big city lately, theres a good chance youve seen someone standing on a street corner wearing a sandwich board.   Usually, theyre advertising a restaurant that is a little off the beaten path, or a sale, or even a place that sells gold cheap! And, if youve been to a networking event recently, theres a good chance youve met the sidewalk walking billboards slightly less conspicuous cousin: the job-seeking walking billboard. Unlike the walking billboards you encounter on the sidewalk, you usually cant spot a job-seeking walking billboard a mile away.   Instead of wearing sandwich boards, theyre camouflaged in suits and skirts. Instead of coupons, they offer business cards, and sometimes the resumes theyve brought with just in case. Most of the time, you wont even know theyre there until you ask them about themselves and they reply with a five minute long list of their accomplishments.   And then its too late: youre stuck there listening to them blab on and on about themselves while you desperately wish you had pre-arranged a get me away from this wacko signal with a friend. Luckily, most people arent that annoying by choice.   Those walking billboards are probably so desperate to get a job or make connections and so confused about how to brand themselves that they just spew every point on their resume in hopes something will stick.   Its a nervous reaction and it could happen to anyone. So, here are a couple tips to help you avoid becoming a walking billboard yourself: Be prepared. Think ahead of time about the type of people who will likely be at the event and identify a couple accomplishments that would be interesting/memorable to your target people.   Then youll have an idea about what you want to say, and will be less likely to turn into a gushing fire hose that scares everyone away. Keep it focused. Dont talk about your article in Fast Company in the same breath as your victory in the 8th grade spelling bee. Keep your answers short and focused on one accomplishment. Then youll do a much better job explaining why that one thing is important, and you wont bury the person youre talking to under a mountain of forgettable information. Be a storyteller. People dont care about boring bullet points on resumes.   When they meet you, theyd much rather hear about the interesting things youve done.   So, when youre networking, focus on whats behind your accomplishments.   If you can slip your bullet points into a memorable story, the person youre talking to might not even realize youre bragging at all! When youre networking with people at an event, the worst thing you can do is to spew everything about yourself to them in one great rush. When you do that, youre not branding yourself as an accomplished go-getter who would be perfect for any project or job they have in mind, youre branding yourself an annoying person they cant wait to get away from! Remember, you want them to stick around to get to know you If you dont go overboard and can tell people the most important things about yourself in an interesting way, however, you will have a much better chance of sticking in their mind. Plus, since theyre not constantly searching for an excuse to escape, you can actually get to know them! Then, when theyre looking for that perfect person to do a dream job, they will be much more likely to remember you and your accomplishments. Author: Katie Konrath writes about “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped” at getFreshMinds.com, a top innovation blog.