TECC 151: How to Market Yourself to Prospective Engineering Employers

In this episode, I talk with Rebecca Geier, a marketing expert and author of the book: Smart Marketing for Engineers: An Inbound Marketing Guide to Reaching Technical Audiences and we talk specifically about how to market yourself to prospective engineering employers. Engineering Quotes: Here are the key points discussed on how to market yourself to prospective engineering employers: Define your key differentiators. When defining your personal brand, you should take the same approach as defining your company's brand or product, and a good way to start is to determine three key differentiators: Try to create at least three key differentiators, but no more than five. These key differentiators should be specific and should be added to your cover letter and your CV. Try to use bullets when you're creating your CV to make these differentiators obvious. Emphasize your key messages and practice verbal bridging. Turn your differentiators into short memorable messages that consist of only a few words. Be specific as possible with your differentiators as this will help you to market yourself to prospective engineering employers. Verbal bridging is a skill that is often used during press interviews. The concept is that whatever question you get, you answer the question and then you bridge to your key message (which of course means you must know your key message). Think about 5-7 questions that you might get asked in an interview and then practice your answers as this will increase your confidence and help to improve your ability to bridge. Demonstrate your commitment to customer success by telling stories. Talk about how you solved customer pains but do it through storytelling. Think about a couple of real-world experiences you experienced in your engineering career where your efforts directly impacted the success of a customer. Practice your stories and keep them to under a minute. Do not go into too much detail about the specific customer, focus on expressing your commitment towards customer success. More in this episode… In the Take Action Today segment of the show, we give you a few important tips on things you should and could do to build your own personal brand. About Rebecca Geier Rebecca has 25 years of global marketing experience and was named by The Wall Street Journal editors among the Ten Most Innovative Entrepreneurs in America, Rebecca leads the TREW team in building strategic, thoughtful, and sustainable marketing programs for a wide variety of companies. In 2016, Rebecca released her debut book, Smart Marketing for Engineers: An Inbound Marketing Guide to Reaching Technical Audiences.  In it, she details the steps, from the start with positioning to the end with measurement, to using an inbound marketing methodology to generate awareness and demand in B2B technical markets. Rich in data showing engineers' online content and browsing behavior and preferences, the book is filled with lists, templates, and examples from B2B engineering and scientific companies in industries including automotive, military/aerospace, manufacturing, IT and oil/gas. "For a truly effective social campaign, a brand needs to embrace the first principles of marketing, which involves brand definition and consistent storytelling." - Simon Mainwaring Books mentioned in this session include: Smart Marketing for Engineers: An Inbound Marketing Guide to Reaching Technical Audiences Resources and links mentioned in this session include: The Engineering Mastermind This episode is brought to you by PPI, the leader of civil engineering FE or PE exam preparations.