The job market is brutal right now.

Every week, I talk to 15-20 expats looking for their next opportunity.

There are few openings that don’t require German. The competition is intense. When they do get to it, they often get passed over at the final stage.

My recommendation? Develop your “Personal Niche Positioning”.

This approach helps you stand out, get more interviews, and become the top choice. But if you google things like developing a personal brand, you get all kinds of woo woo, such as defining your long term mission and vision, auditing your personal brand equity, and so on. This is too complicated for me.

Here’s my simple two-step plan to draft your personal niche positioning in 30 minutes or less.

Step 1: Reflect on these four questions.

1. What part of my role excites me, or do I excel at, the most?
   • Ex — implementing scalable architecture, ensuring my team adopts best practices, mentoring my team
2. What specific outcomes am I great at achieving?
   • Ex — faster product development cycles, aligning engineering efforts with business objectives, improving system uptime
3. What industries do I have experience in?
   • Ex — e-commerce, cloud computing, FinTech
4. What types of businesses or teams do I thrive in?
   • Ex — early stage startups, mid-sized manufacturers, software scaleups

Step 2: Use this template to put your answers together.

“I specialize in [Part of Role You Excel At], helping [Type of Business/Team You Thrive In] [Industry] companies achieve [Specific Outcome You Help Achieve].”

Example:

I specialize in team leadership and technical project management, helping e-commerce scaleups achieve faster product development cycles and align engineering efforts with business objectives.

That’s how you quickly position yourself in a crowded market and avoid getting lost in a sea of sameness.