I just moved back to Seattle after seven years absence, mostly having spent my time in Brooklyn and London. I'm what could be considered a global worker. I'd expect that my experience should be perceived as useful and worldly in the insular Seattle marketplace, however, I've yet to be hired.
The problem is one which I've encountered before, in London and in New York. You see, my work experience in the last five plus years has been centered within the conference industry. By centered, I mean confined. Or maybe an even more accurate description, trapped.
I've tried to escape it, move on, describe the skills that I utilized daily in a manner that is some what transferable to a different role in order to move beyond the confines of this industry with high turnover and an unproportionate emphasis on quantity and quantity and quantity (imagine a spoke in a really large, extremely outdated wheel, where cold calling is still king and social media is still an add on...) over even a sliver of quality.
I couldn't do it in London and I couldn't do it in New York. Just using the word conference in conversation, on a resume, at the bar, invokes false ideas and misrepresentations of what my role actually consisted of. Do you see me as an expert at ordering food, setting up chairs and giving out directions to the bathroom? You and everyone I know!
Although I'm capable of doing as you envision, and honestly, I am quite directionally inclined, these skills are not those of a conference producer.
But recently it hit me! The problem is not what you, my family and friends or potential employers envision, but the problem is me! More specifically, it's my failure to accurately paint that picture in your mind, like the rules of capitalism clearly state - the individual is responsible for the pursuit of his own economic self-interest.
After all, my resume and cover letter is not really an application - it's a self made brochure, similar to the ones that I made monthly to promote this or that corporate conference. The goal of this marketing of me is similar to the corporate brochure, to secure interest and hopefully secure revenue.
What's the first key in marketing?!
Know your audience!
And boy do I know them! The most important lesson that I learned from putting together an effective conference is the ability to talk to a senior executive. The second most important lesson that I learned, spinning that information back at them - sometimes word for word, without them even noticing.
You'll be impressed with how well it actually works.
And that, dear reader, is marketing.
