If you’ve been to a big city lately, there’s a good chance you’ve seen someone standing on a street corner wearing a sandwich board. Usually, they’re advertising a restaurant that is a little off the beaten path, or a sale, or even a place that sells gold… cheap!
And, if you’ve been to a networking event recently, there’s a good chance you’ve met the sidewalk walking billboard’s slightly less conspicuous cousin: the job-seeking walking billboard.
Unlike the walking billboards you encounter on the sidewalk, you usually can’t spot a job-seeking walking billboard a mile away. Instead of wearing sandwich boards, they’re camouflaged in suits and skirts. Instead of coupons, they offer business cards, and sometimes the resumes they’ve brought with “just in case”.
Most of the time, you won’t even know they’re there – until you ask them about themselves and they reply with a five minute long list of their accomplishments. And then it’s too late: you’re 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 aren’t 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. It’s a nervous reaction and it could happen to anyone.
So, here are a couple tips to help you avoid becoming a walking billboard yourself:
Keep it focused. Don’t 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 you’ll do a much better job explaining why that one thing is important, and you won’t bury the person you’re talking to under a mountain of forgettable information.
Be a storyteller. People don’t care about boring bullet points on resumes. When they meet you, they’d much rather hear about the interesting things you’ve done. So, when you’re networking, focus on what’s behind your accomplishments. If you can slip your bullet points into a memorable story, the person you’re talking to might not even realize you’re bragging at all!
When you’re 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, you’re not branding yourself as an accomplished go-getter who would be perfect for any project or job they have in mind, you’re branding yourself an annoying person they can’t wait to get away from!
Remember, you want them to stick around to get to know you
If you don’t 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 they’re not constantly searching for an excuse to escape, you can actually get to know them! Then, when they’re 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.
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Getting singled up on somebody like this at a networking event is painful — although humorous at the same time. My favorite point from this post is that you need to be able to tell a story. People love stories and they have the ability to bring people in and make them feel that you’re genuine. An equally great point was that you need to be direct and to the point when answering questions. My favorite part of “live” networking events is listening to others, I’ve found I learn so much more and can follow up after the event is I choose to.
Great post Katie!
When you’re networking with people at an event, the worst thing you can do is to spew everything about yourself to them in one great rush. Great advice. I spread the word on your article.
Kate, I think ability to still maintain personal dignity is key to getting new job. That a person lose a job does not remove his/her dignity. It calls for tacts, great knowledge for individual to forsake the “I need a job syndrome and please help me now attitude exemplified in your title above’. If anything at all, such individual destroys his image more.
Find a strong angle to discuss with one person at a time and move on. That helps.
Has anyone used a Harvey Milk approach like “Hi, my name is Rufus and I’m looking for a job.”
Not sure if I would prefer people introduce themselves like that or not, but it sure would cut to the quick about why this person is suddenly talking to me!
I love the “gushing firehose” comment. I have met some people at events that literally seem to take no notice of their own excessive “verbal spewage”. How can you network if its one-way communication? Good post!
I’m going to be attending my first job social this week, and hadn’t planned yet how to approach the situation. I’ll definitely take this into account – thanks for sharing!