There are thousands of brands in every super market. Each box is trying to leap off the shelf and get your attention. If you have ever sat and stared stupefied at the hundreds of options for chips or soda you have a small idea of the difficulty hiring managers face.
This is the problem Michael faces when hiring a new remote engineer. Michael1 is a development manager for Sun Microsystems working in a European city. He has three remote engineers on his team and they are all great engineers who handle working remotely without a problem. But Michael doesn’t want to hire new remote engineers.
Hiring remote engineers is a big risk. Michael wouldn’t know what they were doing or if they knew how to work remotely. How would you convince Michael to hire you as a remote engineer? You could tell him you’re a great engineer, but every other engineer says that. You could show a strong resume, but many other engineer have strong resumes. If you want to stand out you need to brand yourself.
In the super market you buy Kellog’s Cornflakes because you know them. You know what you are getting. Kashi Crunch might sound good, but Cornflakes are dependable because you know them. Market yourself to Michael, and other hiring managers, by becoming a known quantity. The focus of this chapter is making potential employers stop thinking of an engineer in general terms and start thinking specifically about you. The first part of the process is making someone know enough about you to want to learn more. Offering you a job comes later.
Before someone can want to talk to you they need to classify you. You are already helping them do that with the word, engineer. With that simple word potential employers know you aren’t looking for a job in marketing, sales, or accounting, but it isn’t specific enough. There are a lot of engineers.
The first section of this book are all about finding your next remote job. It starts with marketing yourself and making it clear to potential employees who you are and why they should hire you. After you have created a brand for yourself you can find your next remote job. The last chapter in this section shows you how to transition an in the office job to a remote one. It is all about giving you the opportunity to work remotely, and that all starts with getting to know you.