It’s no secret that to get ahead in life, people need to promote themselves to let others know what they are all about. Unlike earlier, self-promotion is not considered in bad taste anymore. In fact, people now love to big themselves up for jobs, promotions and even relationships.
A survey by international research group Catalyst has found that self-promotion is the single most effective key to women’s success, not just in business but romance and friendship too. Those who did the most to make their achievements known advanced further, and were more satisfied than those who didn’t.
Management consultants and recruiters have always reiterated that people need to speak up about their successes and should not end up selling themselves short. So how important is self-promotion?
Dinesh Wadhwa, a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, feels that in this day and age when only the loudest voice gets heard, it is important to promote yourself as far as growing in your professional life is concerned. He says, “If candidates brag about their achievements in an interview, they are most likely to be selected compared to candidates who remain tightlipped. When an employee is vocal about the amount of hard work he’s putting for the organisation, promotion will come his way sooner than expected. So, marketing yourself is quite significant for growth.”
It is perhaps a misguided belief that people who self-promote are low on self-confidence. We do self-promotion all the time, says author and media consultant Faraaz Kazi and adds that self-promotion instills a certain level of confidence and makes people strong enough to face the world. “Remember that 93 per cent of what we communicate is through our body language. The image that we convey through our behaviour, actions, dressing, signs and signals can make or break a lot of things in life. So when we communicate just 7 per cent with words, it becomes very important for us to utilise it properly. From the Indian writing industry that is seeing a surge in number of new releases each month, how do you think an author can make his work stand out?” he explains.
However, it is equally important to pull the brakes on time without sounding too boastful. Posing as an extrovert and excessive bragging can actually have an adverse effect. One has to toe the line, cautions independent recruiter Ankit Juneja.
“One cannot just go on praising one’s work or talent. Anything that works, works only when it is balanced and done in the right manner. As they say, excess of anything is bad,” sums up Faraaz.