Push vs. Pull Effect

👋🏼 Welcome back to the 9,648 of you opening up today's Personal Brand Brief. If you're new and want to receive my weekly articles, click the “SUBSCRIBE” button above. Also, if you're trying to improve your Linkedin strategy for 2021, check out my new video course launching in January! 🚨

This week’s set-up:

🆘 Problem: People that apply for jobs online have a 2% chance of hearing back about an interview...

💡 Solution: When you create a memorable personal brand that aligns with your industry, people will naturally hear your story and contact you about relevant opportunities.

🗺 Next Play: Turn your job application process into a personal brand that’s aligned with your dream role so you can pull in relationships rather than pushing for a 2% chance of an interview.

📌 Have you already set your goals for 2021? 

Maybe your list includes the names of different recruiters or industry leaders you’re wanting to connect with this next year. Or maybe you’ve been already been applying for jobs over the holidays, hoping you’ll land an interview to prove yourself 🤞🏼

Regardless of what your goals for the New Year are, I want to share a framework I use to build great relationships in the online world. It's called the push vs pull effect.

It's a phrase I use to teach people how to pull in opportunities to their inbox vs working 100x harder pushing their resume to as many online portals as possible. And whether you're looking for a new job, another board role or speaking opportunity, the framework works exactly the same way.

🤜🏻 The Problem with a PUSH Formula: 

As soon as you apply for a job, you’re handing all the power over to the hiring managers or recruiters.

You’re giving them the power to say yes or no to you based on the answers you provide them. Now, these may be answers you have worked on until they are beyond perfection. But, you’re still giving your listener the ultimate opportunity to make a decision based on what they think of you. And in doing that, you’re giving them permission to pass you over.

But, Joel?! How else am I supposed to land my dream job at ____________ ?

Here’s the secret:

❌ Don’t “apply” 

✅ Draw them in

So often, I hear people get stressed about not having the right amount of experience or the proper education before applying to their dream role (push). Last year, I shared a short post around this pain point most millennials face (accompanied with some friendly wit) and it earned over a million views:

My main point here is if you're able to draw in and and build a relationship with the hiring manager FIRST (pull), the specifics of your exact experience can be addressed later in the process after they know your story.

Having the ability to lead with your story rather than your experience sets you up for a smoother relationship building process with the hiring manager. Plus, you standout not just a piece of paper in the application process but a person vetted by someone within the organization. So even if you don't have X amount of years in the industry, you're not disqualified from having a conversation.

The Power of a PULL Formula 💪🏻

If you're stressing about being a 1 in 100 fingers-crossed job applicant who finally gets invited for an interview at their dream company maybe it's time you try building a personal brand that draws your dream job to you.

How is this done?

Build a story (brand) around a problem you’re passionate about and position it to draw in executives, recruiters, and hiring managers that work at your target company

When you build a community of conversations with industry professionals on the problems you’re both facing, the natural next step that comes up is why not solve them together? 🔍

🔑 When you’re genuine and creative online, it sticks out, and your shared desire to fix a problem will do more for you than a typo-free cover letter ever could:

• Instead of convincing employers, why not draw them in with your story? Your brand? Your niche problem? Your personal solution?!
• Instead of a game of #’s and email updates on your application status, why not build your story for the world to see and apply to your skills and abilities? 
• Instead of waiting for a “yes”, why not start building a brand that leads them to ask “when can you start”?
• Instead of applying to jobs you don't hear from, check out free tech education programs like Correlation One that hear your story and pair you with companies looking for talent!

In 2021, I think the push vs pull framework is only becoming more drastic. 

In our new world of content, home-built websites, and personal broadcast studios in our apartments, why are you wasting time applying to jobs you’ll likely never hear back from? 

Instead, build an inviting story that draws people in from your industry.

Which path do you think has a greater chance of building a memorable relationship with a decision maker? 

1. Applying through an online portal and crossing your fingers for an interview 😴 

OR

2. Building a memorable personal brand that's unique, has emotion and draws in a community of like-minded individuals that align with that decision maker? ⚡️

I know my answer. What’s yours?

ACTION-BYTES

Ask, think, and do → 

🧠 Who are you trying to attract for a future employment opportunity? (new role in marketing/tech, new consulting gig in HR, speaking opportunities in coding etc.)

🧠 Where do they hangout so you can start building on conversations they’re having? (linkedin hashtags, online industry forums, podcasts etc.) 

🧠 What personal brand can you build that’ll align with key people you’re trying to have conversations with?  

📱 Be consistent. Don’t give up after the first month and send me an email saying nothing happened.

The career you build will last more than 1 month, so should your personal brand...

Here are some great examples of people that PULL in great opportunities through sharing their story:

1. Daniel Murray works in marketing at ServiceTitan but also hosts a Marketing Podcast where he regularly features quotes/guests in his content to grow his listener base.
2. Miri Rodriguez is the Head of Global Internships at Microsoft but also shares ideas and snippets from a new book she’s written called Brand Storytelling.
3. Jonathan Javier is the CEO of Wonsulting and consistently gives away free tips, webinars and advice to young professionals on Linkedin to build community.

With a healthy mix of clarity, creativity and consistency, people will learn about your story and relationships will begin to spark.

The important part is starting somewhere and being consistent 📈

After that, everything becomes easier.

If you need help building out the right Linkedin profile and content strategy for your goals, check out this new video course I’m teaching in January! 👇🏼

💡 Riff of the Day: 

To set goals that you want to reach, make sure you drop habits that you hate. Here's a goal setting template by Michael Hyatt you can use to set up your 2021 goals if you haven't already started. I use a combination of this and my own technique to kickoff my goals for the New Year.

Stay outta’ trouble; I’ll see you in 2021! 🎉

Joel

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