You Are the Product – An Effective Strategy for a Job Search

What's your strategy to market yourself for that promotion or job?

If you are ready to search for a job or are planning a career change, take the time to develop a compelling story about your qualifications for your ideal job and don’t sell yourself short. I have had many a sales or marketing person come to me for career coaching that was doing such a poor job of marketing and selling the product they know best – themselves! Perhaps they were raised to be modest and bragging was frowned upon, but consider the old saying “It isn’t bragging if it’s true”. Why not share with potential employers all of the powerful, positive attributes you possess?

If you want to make a career move and are going to launch a job search, or just want to explore opportunities to change careers, you need to consider your marketing strategy and prepare for the sales call. Since sales is a subset of marketing let’s look at marketing first.

Your resume and Linked In page are your personal marketing tools. They need to get, and hold, the attention of the audience you want to reach and connect with so that they want to know you better and take the next step by scheduling the interview or the “sales” call – be it by phone, video or face to face interview. Understanding the buying behavior and motivation of your targeted audience is vital.

What are the key factors hiring managers look for in the field you are searching in? How do you match up?

Your Value-Adds - What you can bring to a job and organization can be broken down into quantitative, easily verified attributes such as:

• Education - Schools will verify your dates of attendance and what degree you earned.

• Intelligence - IQ

• Training - Continuing education and professional training is almost always documented.

• Certifications - Many jobs require or recognize certification by an independent body.

• Experience - Important to many hiring managers but I think it’s overrated.

Other attributes that are key factors most hiring managers look for that are qualitative and not as easily measured or verified include:

• Work ethic

• Honesty and integrity - Sometimes referred to as “Doing the right thing when no one is looking”

• Reliability, aka dependability. Showing up on time, fully completing assignments, etc.

• Perseverance - Tenacity in seeing a job through in the face of challenges

• Goal oriented

• Collaborative, team-oriented personality

• “Likability” – This one is highly subjective, but we have all met people that just seemed easy to like. Often, they are extroverted and affable and just put us at ease. Or they exude a quiet confidence while remaining humble. Some call this the “it” factor as in “I can’t really identify a specific trait in her, but she just has it”. (More on this in a follow up post)

• Soft skills, often referred to as Emotional Intelligence, often referred to as EQ. There are behavioral instruments that indicate a person’s EQ and they can be very helpful for a leader evaluating “fit” and “chemistry” when adding people to your team, especially when close interaction and collaboration among team members are required for team success.

Be sure to communicate all of the attributes you can bring to a position and to an organization that will make you a top choice. This is no time to be bashful about your best product - you!

Frank Manfre

Job Search Sherpa & Career Coach

www.frankmanfre.com