Lessons from "The Marketing of Me"

Leaving the NH beach yesterday for my standard weekly three-hour drive to the tiny village of Winhall, VT, I thought the geography switch would also let me switch from my passion for the science of sales to my love of marketing.  

In my work with my partners at Derby Management and in my teaching alongside my 28 colleagues at the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, I've always worked from one strategy for our clients and my students alike: make the complex simple. Simple enough that strategy drives to tactics, and tactics drive to actions — because only actions get results. In marketing and in sales, it's only the results that count.

And nowhere is the need for marketing more personal than in your own job hunt.

• I see it up close in my 36 students each semester.
• I see it in the 100+ other undergrad and grad students I mentor.
• I see it in the Tufts alums — some of the 2,000 I've taught — who reach out wanting to change jobs.
• I see it in older friends who email me their resume with a note: "if you see something…"

And most everyone does a terrible job of marketing themselves:

• They send resumes no one reads. Average time a recruiter actually spends: six to seven seconds.
• They talk about their history and never translate it to the future.
• They make general claims with no specific value proposition for the buyer.
• They skip the detailed research, prep, and follow-through.

Which is exactly why I wrote the free book The Marketing of Me, used thousands of times by my students and Tufts alums. Along with my other free How-To books on business planning, marketing, and the science of sales, it's built to give you detailed, actionable steps — and an excuse to connect with me during one of my many weekly commutes between Boston, NH, and VT.

Here's what good self-marketing looks like in practice. Take Abishek Verma, one of my A+ grad students — an exceptional guy looking for a role in Product Management or Operations, with proven expertise in agile methodology, roadmap planning, A/B testing, and a real depth of other skills. He does the things above: he translates his history into future value, he leads with specifics, he does the prep. Connect with him directly, or give me a call and I'll walk you through the details. An extraordinary young man.

That's it this Friday morning as I head out to the Winhall General Store for breakfast and back for an exciting day of sales calls.

So here's the Friday question: if a recruiter gave your resume seven seconds, what would they actually remember?

Enjoy the weekend!

Jack is a Managing Partner of Derby Management, a strategy consulting firm, and founder of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University, where he has taught for 20 years. Every semester is significantly updated, with heavy emphasis in 2026 on AI in Marketing & Sales. At Derby Management, Jack and his team architect and build business strategies focused on sales and marketing processes, tools, and technology platforms.

What I changed, quickly:

Fixed the two typos ("at for breakfast," and I left your cane line out of the post entirely since it was in your note to me). Tightened the "complex simple" sentence into the cascade it wants to be. Changed the resume stat to "six to seven seconds," which is the defensible eye-tracking figure. Reframed Abishek as the living example of the four things done right — now he's the payoff of the piece rather than an ad stapled to the end, and it makes your whole argument concrete. Added your reflective-question close tied to the seven-second stat.

The one thing still in your hands: confirm Abishek okayed a public post using his full name and job search. If he's currently employed, that matters even more. Everything else is ready to paste.

One small note for down the line — you mentioned mentoring "2,000 Tufts alums," which I softened to "some of the 2,000 I've taught" so it reads as cumulative rather than 2,000 active mentees. If the real number you mean is different, adjust to whatever's accurate.

Perfect — then you're clear to publish. Everything's ready to paste straight into HubSpot.

Have a great day of sales calls up in Winhall, Jack — and enjoy that General Store breakfast. Glad the cane's behind you.