Guest Post: Positioning Your Experience Better with Miller Lite

Jeremy Johnson has a new guest blog post this week on how you can position your job experience like Miller Lite did for so many years with their advertising slogan. Hmmm…interesting concept. Read on for more. 

Jeremy is a recruiter in Kansas City for EHD Technologies, a recruiting, staffing and managed services company serving the IT, Engineering and Automotive industries. 

You can also follow him on Twitter at jsquaredkc

Positioning Your Experience Better with Miller Lite

Before anyone gets thoroughly confused or completely the wrong idea, I’m not advocating tipping back a Miller Lite as you job hunt (though no doubt folks may find it helpful now and then, especially if things get too frustrating.)

No, I’m going back in time, back to old-school television, back to the world of advertising. And that’s where Miller Lite comes in. They had some of the most memorable TV ads 30 years ago, all predicated on a simple slogan of contrasting positions: Less Filling! Tastes Great!

For some of you, you’ve just gotten nostalgic over that reference. For other – less experienced – job seekers, you’re probably just wondering how old I am.

Regardless, this simple advertising slogan is actually a good framework for thinking about how to position your background and experience to different jobs.

Less Filling! Tastes Great!

What was Miller Lite doing here? It was taking one product, and marketing it in two different ways, understanding different needs (or desires) of its audience. But, it does all start with the audience.

First, what would make someone want to drink light beer? Either it lets him consume fewer calories in this beloved pastime, or it lets him drink more overall with fewer ill effects. In other words, it’s less filling!

Second, some people don’t like light beer because they think it tastes like water. There’s no flavor. Miller is coming in here and saying, “Hey, that’s not true with our beer.” In other words, tastes great!

So, we have one product being marketed in multiple ways based on different attributes, depending on what the audience wants. This is a concept you should keep in mind when applying for or interviewing for different jobs.

You, as a job seeker, are basically the product. And there’s just one product. But the mistake I see so often is that job seekers with multiple skills sets, that can potentially fit in more than one type of role, is that they still market themselves the same way every time. They’re basically just assuming that their audience will “get it.” Or, at the very least, they’re not intentionally working to send a specific and targeted message based on what their audience cares about.

But it’s a mistake to take a passive approach to how you market, advertise or brand yourself – because that’s basically what you’re doing in a job hunt. Someone has a need (the job) and they’re looking for specific things they feel will fill that need (skill sets from a job candidate).

Just because you have a varied set of skills doesn’t mean that employers will see that as an advantage. Some might. But, mostly, they’ll see it as muddying the waters on whether you fit within that box of what they see as the ideal candidate.

They don’t want a “well-rounded individual with a variety of skills.” They want someone who can solve they’re specific problem, and you have to show how you can do that. Just like Miller Lite didn’t say, “We’re all things to all people. Trust me!” No. They were targeted and specific: Less Filling! Tastes Great!

You should do the same thing. Customize your message (whether it be your resume, cover letter, elevator speech, or interview answers) to the specific need of your audience. So, take a lesson from an oldie but goodie, and market yourself like that particular less-filling, great-tasting beverage.