If you follow me on LinkedIn (you can do so here) you know that I basically believe everything about job searching is a sales and marketing campaign.

You market yourself to get interviews, and then you sell yourself in interviews to get offers.

That's basically what successful job searching comes down to in a nutshell.
 

At the end of the day, the job doesn’t go to the best candidate, it goes to the candidate who sells themselves the best.

Succeeding in interviews is not about being authentic. 

It's about curating a relevant career narrative. 
 

If you aren't familiar with sales tactics, using a sales analogy may sound uncomfortable or aggressive.

But remember, when you are job searching and interviewing you must convince the hiring team you are the best hire, aka you must sell yourself.

Once you accept this concept and understand how to effectively communicate (which is what sales really is) your outcomes will start going through the roof.

So now that you know what I think about that.

Here is another sales concept that is v helpful to improve in your job search.

It's an acronym called WIIFM.
 

WIIFM, stands for "What’s In It For Me?"
 

Deep down WIIFM is what we care about when someone reaches out to us.

Because we all have egos, we care most about ourselves first. 
 

So when you message someone with an ask, they are thinking WIIFM.

 -Trying to book an informational interview? 
WIIFM.

 -Writing an email to ask for a referral? 
WIIFM.

 -Asking someone to get coffee? 
WIIFM.
 

The key to crafting a compelling message that gets them to respond is to always make it clear what’s in it for them to engage with you.

Your messaging has to be crisp, concise, and clear.

Make sure you personalize your message and make it relevant to the reader so they understand what’s in it for them.
 

Btw, the WIIFM doesn’t have to be complex or grand.

What's in it for them could be as simple as making a great hire, buying lunch, building a connection, getting exposure, growing their network, getting paid, etc, etc, etc. 

The more personalized the WIIFM, the better your outcomes. 

You can get creative and v personalized by just paying attention to people and what they share publicly. 
 

Then when you reach out, ask yourself if your message has a clear WIIFM.

If it doesn’t, keep editing your message.

Also, make your messaging more about them then about you.

Cuz it's not about you it's about them.

Next time you reach out to someone in your network and ask for help keep the WIIFM in mind in your messaging.