|
How to Pick the Best Career for You: Part 3
Marketing-with-Intent precisely drives you to your target and with greater speed because you are using the right mode of transportation, an accurate compass and a clear vision of where you're headed. You'll differentiate yourself from your competition by using the right vehicle to uncover the best career for you. Finding a job is easy. Locating a meaningful career is much harder but well worth the sweat. The traditional method of career transitioning moves you out of the driver's seat and into the back seat. Whenever your career marketing campaign is driven by your needs rather than the employer's, you lose control of steering your job search in the right direction. Today's customer-centric marketplace requires companies to selectively position each product properly, target it toward the right market and package it into an effective, memorable branding. You'll need this same laser-beamed approach to pinpoint the right career. It is not a one-shot, random deal. You must market with intent. Marketing is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer's point of view. We distinguish ourselves through our marketing. Sell solutions, not product. Create demand. Effective marketing both in business and career campaigning also demands continued: ?Diligence in tracking outcomes ?Courage to ditch non- or underperforming efforts ?Hands-on creativity to exploit hidden opportunity There is no such thing as "soft sell" or "hard sell." There is only "smart sell" and "stupid sell." If you try to appeal to everybody, someone else is going to sneak behind you and pick off significant chunks of your market. Translation: Your competition wins. You lose. Smart selling understands the critical difference between mass marketing and marketing segmentation: ?In mass marketing, candidates seek to appeal to a broad range of employers by passively utilizing a single untargeted and generalized marketing strategy. Dumb choice. ?In market segmentation, or Marketing-with-Intent, the job seeker proactively seeks to appeal to well-defined employer targets. This is accomplished through a strategically-designed marketing action plan that employs multiple strategies simultaneously. Smart choice. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter achieved a successful career marketing campaign because the voters' needs were understood, emphasized, reinforced and fulfilled. Jimmy Carter overcame a voter-perceived liability of being a Southerner and Farmer by getting on a tractor, wearing blue jeans, and making sure the people saw his boots were mud-filled from walking the fields. His Marketing-with-Intent effort dramatically and effectively linked the need for voters for a leader that understood their issues to the credibility of being "one of the people." Hot career tip: Want to transfer your skills into a better career and perhaps even a different industry and do so more quickly? Stop viewing and marketing yourself exclusively by what you've done. Tunnel vision severely underestimates your career options and income potential. Here are seven tips to ensure you're marketing with intent and the expedition won't be futile: ?Know the job market ?Know your functional and industry options, or employer's needs in these areas ?Recognize your marketing skills, where you are most marketable, and all you have to offer ?Develop a marketing plan of action to generate multiple, simultaneous interviews ?Shore up your writing skills to create the kind of highly effective resumes and letter that make the system work ?Allow time to run a complete job search coherently, independently, and productively ?Gain sufficient exposure (access) to ample numbers of decision-makers Marketing-with-Intent is a breakthrough market segmentation strategy that more definitively steers your career campaign by giving you back control of the wheel. However, this groundbreaking tactic consistently requires you to use the right tools to be effective: ?Positioning (posture yourself as a problem solver) ?Exposure (detect indications of hiring patterns and necessity for solutions) ?Marketing (create demand for your talents by communicating your benefit) When you identify employer needs through subterranean market research and then develop a personalized solution and communication initiative that aligns with those needs, you'll flawlessly yield a positive outcome. Never drive your job search blindfolded and certainly don't let hindsight be your tour guide. Zoom, Zoom. Marta L. Driesslein, CECC(http://www.interviewing.com) is a senior consultant for R.L. Stevens & Associates Inc., a career marketing firm and organization celebrating over 24 years of providing strategic marketing solutions for its clients' career transitioning needs.
MORE RESOURCES:
Jobs City of Rochester (.gov)
Careers Washington State University
Careers Gwinnett County Public Schools
JobFeed NSW Department of Education
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Searching for Jobs Online
Searching for jobs online is easier than ever, but also more confusing than ever. Any Internet user doing a job search online will find that they can choose from hundreds of national employment listing web sites and the numbers can often be staggering.
Common Résumé Mistakes
Using a general résumé.DON'T DO IT! You cannot successfully use the same résumé to apply to several different jobs.
Ask the Recruiter
We all have career goals, big or small. Here are some questions I have recieved over the last month from those actively seeking new employment.
Rekindling Passion for Work
Passion comes in many forms. I'm focused on the version of passion that is "boundless enthusiasm".
Are You Suited for Self-employment?
A recent poll conducted by Yahoo! Small Businessshowed that nearly 3 out of 4 Americans have consideredstarting their own business. In fact, of more than 2,200 adults surveyed, over half (51 percent) said they wouldlike to launch their small business within the next 5 years.
3 Creative Job Search Tactics
It's a fact: the best jobs attract loads of competition. So it pays to do whatever you can to stand out as a persistent, creative candidate, one that any sane employer would love to hire.
Job Interviews: Plan Your Appearance to Make a Great First Impression
Your personal appearance is a critical component of that all-important first impression when you walk into the room for your interview.So plan ahead!Some people don't think about what they're going to wear until the morning of the interview.
Fun At Work Leads to More Success
Common sense at work: Such qualities as loyalty, energy, intelligence and hard work are certain to be in any consensus of what it takes to build a successful career."However, there's another essential ingredient that is too often overlooked," says Ramon Greenwood, senior career counselor at www.
Your Goals Must Be Within Your Reach
FIRST STEP --
Set short-term, incremental goals. Work up to larger plans later.
Job Dissatisfaction
Job dissatisfaction is a driving force behind individuals seeking employment elsewhere. When evaluating your employment it is important to distinguish between the work you do and your workplace.
From The WorkWise Collection: Job Hunting in the New Economy
To succeed in today's global marketplace, companies must hire the best and the brightest. Having talented employees can make the difference between success and failure.
Overwhelmed and Overworked: The Myth of American Productivity
Employment finally seemed back on track during the first few months of 2004. Politicians crowed that "Our tax cuts are working.
Job Interviews -- The Four Worst Objections You'll Face and How to Deal with Them
Dealing with tough questions and objections is an essential part of job interviews. Here are four common ones that derail many candidates.
Reinventing Yourself for Multiple Careers
In many countries around the globe, people are born into their station in life and hence their professions. It is unnecessary for them to plan a career as they are expected to perform one specific job their entire lives.
From The WorkWise Collection: Ten Ways to Win the Job Search Mind Game
Are you one of the thousands of job seekers who question their sanity, marketability, and capacity to make smart decisions-just because you've lost your job? Are you wondering how to overcome these psychological challenges, rebuild your self-confidence, increase your marketability, and regain your sense of sanity?In today's competitive job market you need more than a killer résumé and great interviewing skills to survive. Twenty-first-century job seekers must be able to deal with ambiguity, maintain a winner's mindset, demonstrate customer focus, and have a blow-your-socks-off résumé and excellent interviewing skills.
Ten Great Careers For Computer "Geeks
The universal acceptance of computers into our daily lives, both at work and at home, has decreased the image of computer users as being "geeks." The word geek itself has evolved a bit - going from meaning a socially inept person who gets along better with computers than people, to someone who is an expert with computers, a guru even.
American Idol Syndrome
I like Simon, one of three judges on American Idol. I find his feedback refreshingly honest.
History Reports: When Your Resume Equals, I Did This, I Did This, I Did This
Do these sound familiar?"I worked for?" "My responsibilities were?" "My duties included?"Does a prospective employer care about what you "did for other companies"? Of course they do, but that doesn't mean that's what they really want to know. Conducting a job search is a marketing campaign, moreover, a sales process, not your personal history lesson.
Writing Resumes That Attract Your Perfect Job
Let me introduce you to Ben. He made it happenBen was a comptroller.
The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting - As Seen Through The Eyes of a Seasoned Telecommuter
Janelle Delacorte has been happily answering calls for the Home Shopping Network and various infomercials since November 2004.Several nights out of the week she tucks the kids in to bed, turns around, takes 20 or so odd steps, and arrives at the office.
|