How To Market Your Résumé

The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.” – Tom Fishburne

In my last blog post I talked about how the Bible is a marketing resource, and that much of the New Testament is God’s marketing plan, intended to get His story out. You can learn strategies from His approach that will work to get your story out as well. The concept we talked about was Onion Layer Marketing.

In this post we’ll talk about Joseph’s Marketing plan…

Joseph’s Marketing Plan – Pomegranate-seed Marketing…

One of the primary marketing strategies God used in Joseph’s life was the hard-work approach, the concept that
excellent work performance attracts new opportunities.

Saint Augustine gave us a great perspective on the balance of hard work and dependence on God when he said,

Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

In Genesis 39:2-4, 20-22 we read:

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.”

When you put in hard work that uses your God given skills, others will notice. They’ll see your hard work and how God is blessing you, whether they recognize it as being from God or not, and they’ll speak well of you.

These people will be your best marketing representatives. They’ll know other places you could be effective, and will help you get there.

Paraclete marketing:

While in prison, Joseph was made a supervisor over all the other inmates, and given special charge over two specific prisoners.

Genesis 40:1-4 tells us:

Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.”

Joseph got to know these two men; he had a relationship with them. The Christian life is in the business of relationships. In speaking about business and relationships, billionaire businessman Ross Perot said,

Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.”

Joseph’s two charges were having a hard time adjusting to prison life. Genesis 40:6 informs us they had troubling dreams that affected their performance and behavior. Being an astute supervisor, Joseph inquired into what was
bothering both men, and they told him their dreams.

God used Joseph to interpret the dreams. While it wasn’t such good news for the baker, it was great news for the
cupbearer.

Joseph told the cupbearer that in just a little while, he would be released and reinstated to his former position. After telling him the good news, Joseph made a request of the cupbearer, as we read in Genesis 41:14,

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.”

Joseph knew he had more to offer, and he asked the cupbearer to help him out.

Whether your contacts are in supervisory, management, or line positions, they can all be helpful and good spokespersons for you and your skills. Employers value employee referrals, because they know employees will only refer good workers.

Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream no one could interpret. It was only then the cupbearer remembered what Joseph had done for him in prison.

Based on the cupbearer’s recommendation, Pharaoh brought Joseph from prison to interpret his dream. Joseph told Pharaoh that interpretations only came from God, and God would give it to him. He deciphered Pharaoh’s dream and the king was duly impressed.

Look what happened in Joseph’s case. Pharaoh’s response in chapter 41:39ff: Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,

Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.”

Nothing indicates that Pharaoh was a follower of God, but after the interview with Joseph, he spoke of God’s hand being on Joseph and saw that as a reason to hire him.

That’s a pretty good example of hard work and coming-alongside marketing. God used both to move Joseph to a position of prominence.

Allow your coworkers to see who you are, what motivates you, how you relate to others, something of your values and you’ll leave a much greater impression. Don’t be afraid to let your nature shine through just as Joseph did.

We can see that God used the hard-work marketing strategy as well as the coming-alongside marketing strategy on Joseph’s behalf to get him out of prison and into a new job. If it’s good enough for Joseph, then there’s no doubt that it’s good enough for you too.

In my next post I’ll talk about Paul’s Marketing plan – Target Marketing

This is an excerpt from my book “The Christian Job Search Manual,” click on this link to purchase the book.

If you would like to explore working with a Christian centered Career Coach, Contact me for a no-obligation 60-90 minute job search consultation with America’s Job Searching Coach, or text me at 425-220-0707  and we can discuss your situation, your résumé, what you would like to achieve, and structure your job search to fit your uniqueness.

I am also available to speak to groups.

(My book, “The Christian Job Search Manual” offers worksheets and examples that will help you be more effective in your marketing plan.)