Marketing You!

The First Step to Landing Your Dream Job

By Laura Lake, About.com Guide

In the past I've reviewed numerous resumes for open positions in companies I've worked for. I must admit usually I've found this review process long and boring; very few of the resumes have grabbed my attention. This does not mean that the applicants are not qualified. They have just not taken to the time to create their resumes to grab a potential employer's attention. Are you making that same mistake?

It's a question you must ask yourself; especially when consider many individuals that are in the job market due to the state of our economy. If you are in the job market it is important to realize that your resume is your personal marketing tool; unfortunately very few job seekers treat it as such. Do not fall into the trap of grabbing a resume book and copying your information into a familiar format or just pasting your information into a commonly used Microsoft template. If you gain anything from this article it should be that job hunting is about having the skill to market you.

Take some time and single out the unique qualities and experiences that will make you stand out of the crowd. Remember in today's market an employer is inundated with resumes on a daily basis. However, do not let this be discouraging. You can use common marketing techniques and strategies to get that potential employers attention and land your dream job. If you don't know what makes you unique and you can't showcase the skills and talents that you posses, then how do expect a potential employer to see it when they give your resume a 5-second scan?

In the next ten minutes I will walk you through the process of creating a road map that will help you in effectively marketing yourself in today's job market. Take a few moments to grab a pen and notepad before you continue reading, so that you can answer each question below as you read it. Do not over analyze the question simply write down the first thought that comes to your mind. You can always review later and tweak as necessary.

• Step 1. What is your career goal? What type of job are you looking for?
• Step 2. What qualities have prepared you for this job? Do you possess more education or experience?
• Step 3. Who is your audience? Who are you targeting?
  Make a list of your targeted employers. Keep in mind your message must be designed for your audience. If you are applying for a technical job, they are more than likely not interested in a conversational novel regarding your personality, rather they are more interested in your technical expertise. However, if you are applying for a marketing position, you will spark their interest with a creative and conversational pitch.
• Step 4. Create your personal sales campaign.
  Now that you've listed your specific goal, qualities, and your target it's time to develop your sales campaign. You do this by embedding these components into the writing of your cover letter, resume, and the development of your two-minute pitch.

I posted this info by Laura Lake because its very interesting to know that we can also develop unique attributes to market our own selves which can be very useful when searching for job posts. A planned resume that has all the unique attributes can lift us a long way above the other candidates. Marketing You! seems to be very interesting as its entirely different from regular organizational product and services marketing. A deep understanding of positioning our own selves effectively is very much necessary to understand this entire marketing You! phenomena.

Reference: http://marketing.about.com/cs/marketingjobs/a/marketingyou.html