​How to… self-promote if you’re an introvert

Sweaty palms and nervous laughs, thoughts receding out of reach in your increasingly blank mind. You’ve been asked by an important stakeholder in a meeting to voice your opinion in front of a room full of peers. Or you’re in a job interview and you’ve been asked to talk about yourself.

For an introvert, self-promotion can often be a huge social obstacle to overcome, and as introversion often goes hand in hand with certain forms of anxiety, any introvert will know the feeling of self-consciousness that immediately befalls you. You don’t like writing this sort of thing on social media, let alone speaking in front of other people.

Similarly, with day-to-day self-promotion, there are certain words and phrases that introverts can be immediately spooked by; words and phrases like ‘networking event’, ‘team building’, and ‘please give us a short presentation about yourself’. While it’s certainly the case that attendance at, and participation in, these sorts of activities can work very well to help raise your profile in a business, an industry or ahead of an interview, it isn’t the only way you can express yourself as an introvert.

Networking events suited to extroverts are great for collecting LinkedIn contacts, a hundred different business cards and for extroverts to boast to strangers about how good they are. But for introverts, scenarios like this can often be anxiety-inducing nightmares that leave them looking for the nearest exit.

It is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the population are introverted. For many of those people, they will view their introversion as inhibiting, particularly in the workplace and their careers. While not the case (see below why introversion is a workplace superpower!), it can often leave people failing to show their true potential. So how does almost half of the world make sure they’re not drowned out by their louder, more extroverted colleagues?

We look at a handful of ways even the quietest, most self-conscious person can subtly project themselves in the workplace, without getting that tight awkward feeling.

Change what self-promotion means to you

Even the mere concept of talking about yourself, or self-promoting, can be enough to make an introvert squirm. However, this could be entirely down to the perception of what it is you’re doing.

For example, try and reframe your self-promotion into a different light. It doesn’t have to be all about shouting the loudest or making the biggest scene. Imagine you’ve produced a piece of content you’re proud of that’s been shared on social media by your employers. You want to reshare it and promote this piece of work to your own network but hate the toe-curling concept of writing ‘look what I made’. Instead, write something like ‘It was great to work on this piece of content, and thank you to my collaborators [if there were any]’. Tag them in and show appreciation and expand on how the content came about. In this way, you’re getting the content out there while also overcoming the sense of anxiety that you’re boasting about what you’ve done. You’re selling the story behind it, not hogging the spotlight for yourself, while also acknowledging that you’re responsible for it. This can work well for both verbal self-promotion and written self-promotion.

Become a mentor to someone else

Introverts are often suited to professions that require a caring, considered, and thoughtful approach. A great way of raising your profile as an introvert is to lean into these skills and become a mentor to a junior member of staff. This will allow you to build the confidence of another person and subtly promote yourself to the rest of the business.

Mentorship can be a great way of developing your own skills and building confidence in yourself. Eventually, this may lead to you making bolder steps and putting yourself out there more than you would have before.

Be gracious, kind and caring in the workplace

Nobody likes a person who gatekeeps information, knowledge, and skills. While introverts can often be mistaken for people who want to avoid conversation because they’re rude and standoffish, very often the complete opposite is true.

Be genuine, gracious and kind in the workplace. Offer to teach someone a skill you have, offer yourself as a person that can be confided in. Consider volunteering for charity work within the business or make yourself available as a mental health first aider. Introverts often possess highly sought-after traits such as emotional intelligence and empathy, so use these to help others. These traits will not go unnoticed around the wider business and it’s another way to reframe your profile-raising into something more positive that is less like self-promotion for personal gain and more a shared experience.

Create meaningful relationships with stakeholders

Even for the most introverted, creating strong relationships across the business is essential for profile-building, and it doesn’t have to be built on social occasions or networking events.

Fortunately, for anyone feeling awkward, there’s always something to talk about – work. Show interest in people in other areas of the business and show curiosity and willingness to collaborate. Creating these meaningful relationships is a way of ensuring your profile is raised throughout the business, as these stakeholders are sure to discuss you with their peers.

Why being an introvert is a workplace superpower

Many people who consider themselves introverted will also consider this a weakness or somehow inhibiting to their career progression, and introverts are often misread as people who wish they could change. In fact, introversion is in its own way a superpower, since many of the skills and traits that introverted people usually have can be powerful tools in business, and often underrepresented. Here’s why:

Silence is golden

Exclusively gregarious, loud and bashful people are often not the best communicators, despite being the ones with the most to say. Despite having the loudest voice in the room, and the one heard most frequently, they sometimes lack the ability to stay quiet and listen to what others have to say and read a situation accurately.

Being quiet, attentive, and listening to all views in the room before presenting your own is a rare skill. To quote Stephen Hawking, “quiet people have the loudest minds.”

Don’t underestimate the power of emotional intelligence

Often, introverted people are ones who possess high levels of emotional intelligence. This is a capacity to be self-aware, in control and express emotions and handle relationships empathetically.

Therefore, introverts are often seen quietly reading the room, listening to everything that’s said and forming a balanced, bias-free view of events and situations. This makes them skilled in conflict resolution and overcoming interpersonal challenges, as they consider a wider variety of viewpoints and feelings.

Introverts are often strategic thinkers

In summary to the two points above, introverts possess unique emotional intelligence and analytical skills that can be a breath of fresh air in a crowded environment filled with empty noise.

As introverts can often be found reading the room and taking everything in, they are in turn among the best place to think into the future, armed with this knowledge. They are also likely to be more risk-averse, which is in direct contrast to louder, more self-assured individuals.

It’s important to stop considering introversion as something that limits you personally or professionally. In fact, not only is it a superpower in its own right, it also doesn’t stop you from promoting yourself, often in far more widely celebrated and effective ways than your louder counterparts. Embrace your inner introvert, celebrate it and use the skills it brings effectively.

One important time to be razor sharp at the self-promotion game is with your CV. Read our handy guide to getting your CV to stand out from the crowd by using a skilfully written summary here.