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How to Successfully Market Yourself
What would you do if tomorrow you were terminated or you decided to resign?
In today's business climate, you have to prepare for what has become inevitable. Sooner or later, by your own choice or your employer's, you will need to market yourself to other companies.
During the past few years, I've regularly received calls from all levels of people who are unexpectedly forced to market themselves. Most people are surprisingly inexperienced in creating a successful recruitment strategy. Typically, they possess the skills and experience to get a new job; only their lack of job-hunting knowledge stands in their way.
Consider yourself fortunate, if your company provides a comprehensive outplacement program. Many displaced workers receive little support outside of some networking referrals. Having to go it alone can be a frightening prospect in a business environment in which the competition for top paying jobs is so fierce. But you can win this competition. What you'll need is a Self Marketing strategy.
A Self Marketing plan is one that provides a diversified approach to securing interviews. The interviews are the key to getting the job. Obviously, you can't get a job without interviews. The more interviews you go on, the better your chances of getting hired. Many people who do very well in interviews have trouble securing those interviews.
The Self Marketing strategy breaks down to a few simple steps.
Step 1: Qualify Yourself
Write on a sheet of paper:
a) What you want and need from a job, and
b) What you have to offer an employer.
Clarifying in your own mind what you have to offer--referred to as "Why Hire Me?"--is a crucial part of your preparation for the job hunt. List three "why hire me's" to accompany each feature you "want" and "need" from a job.
Step 2: Analyze Your "Why Hire Me" Points
The job seekers often fail to inform potential employers of key facts about themselves, because they do not fully acknowledged their own strengths and skills. Ask your associates what they see as your strengths and weaknesses. Identify these points with others' input to reach a total of at least 25 reasons a potential employer should hire you. This will help you be more honest and enable you to fully express yourself and to improve your chances of being hired.
There are many laws that restrict an employer from asking you key questions that will give them information. However, there are no laws preventing you from asking any question and offering information that makes it safer for them to hire you. This will reassure their fears by making it very safe to hire you.
Step 3: Prepare a Resume that will Secure Interviews
The real purpose of your resume is to get you interviews. If necessary, enlist professional help to develop an effective resume that summarizes the key strengths you identified in Step 2.
Step 4: Implement Your Self Marketing Strategy
Many professionals market themselves solely through resumes and networking. These tactics are limiting. You'll do better by creating multiple paths toward the central goal of getting interviews. List on a sheet of paper every method you can think of that could generate leads, and then follow up every lead until you get either the interview or another lead.
The following are ideas you might not have thought of doing:
Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job.
This wouldn't apply as easily if you're still employed, but even unemployed people sometimes keep their job hunt a secret. The most well-meaning people can't help you if they don't know you're in the market. Broadcast your search and enlist support. Practice saying this in a request format. "Will you tell me about any leads or openings you hear about?" or "Will you ask your president if he will give me an informational interview?"
Call people and companies you've always wanted to work for.
Whenever I receive a call from someone who says, "I want to work for you," I almost always grant the caller an interview. Try expressing that idea to people you truly want to work with, and you'll likely get the same favorable reaction.
Visit company’s website and view their posted positions.
Most company’s may a career section on their website and post their current positions. By reviewing their current posting you can determine the areas where companies have high turn over and critical needs to fill. Appling for positions that you may feel you are over qualified for will get you in the door, from there you have an opportunity to shine and secure a position that was not posted, for many reasons.
Ask for information interviews.
Call companies and ask an executive for an "information interview" to obtain information about the firm and the industry. This is just a meeting of one person speaking to another. Also, it may generate additional leads for you.
Ask for other names.
When someone turns you down for an interview, he or she usually feels badly about it. Most people want to help if they can, so ask the person for ideas or the name of a good recruiter who may generate interviews for you.
Field prospects from the news.
When you read about the accomplishments of companies and people, send them notes acknowledging their successes. Then follow up with a phone call, and ask for an information interview or a lead. Or use this opportunity to try the "I am interested in working with you" approach.
Join a job-seeking networking group.
There are many free networking groups that offer support, supply leads and make available computers and phones.
Post your resume on the Internet.
Today, many recruiters are going online to find the best candidates to interview. This service is often free to the job seeker. Consider posting your resume on our site, other internet recruiting sites, your college alumni site, and your industry's trade association site.
Take advantage of our "Personal Search Assistant"
The Personal Search Assistant takes the drudgery out of finding a job by helping locate suitable positions for you. In addition to your own job search efforts, the Personal Search Assistant works on your behalf in searching out job leads, posting your resume, investigating target marketplaces and providing administrative support to you.
Step 5: Secure Interviews
When you target a person and company, call before you send your resume. Request an interview at least twice.
If your request is denied, counter with: Do you know someone who is hiring? Which search firm do you use? Will you keep my resume on file for future reference?
Make your job hunt a daily routine. Don't go to bed until you've taken some direct or indirect action toward getting an interview. A direct action might be calling a prospect to ask for an interview; an indirect action might be mailing out a resume or developing a new lead.
The combination of fully acknowledging why someone should hire you and implementing a diversified marketing approach can give you the confidence that if you are displaced for any reason, you will know how to go about finding a job. This knowledge may ultimately be as important to your security as the skills you've learned on the job.
The EMAC Group offers a variety of Candidate Resource options that can be individually utilized to meet each candidate’s search requirements.
At THE EMAC GROUP, we practice the golden rule: “Partnering for Success”. We will take your career goals and aspirations as seriously as you do.
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