Resumes, Networking, Headhunters - Useless without Marketing

There"s no such thing as a bad job market, only bad

marketing. Know how to turn a frustrating job search into a

satisfying career find? You"ve got to cross-pollinate the right

elements of strategic marketing and remix all you know about the

job hunt and exposure to opportunity.

A career transition is no longer about getting your hands on

a list of contacts, networking with headhunters, or going online

to look for work.

It"s better than that.

Want to neutralize most of your rivalry? Hot-swap the

traditional means of securing a job with these new tactics and

you"ll warp-speed your search:

тЂў Stop looking for a job

тЂў Increase your visibility

тЂў Decrease your competition

тЂў Create buzz and you"ll multiply your exposure to decision

makers

тЂў Create need and you"ll generate quality interviews,

simultaneously

тЂў Create solutions and you"ll gain an opportunity to design your

own position

Stir up the buzz and you"ll stand out in a saturated

market. Develop a reputation for being a subject-matter

expert. This time you"ll want to be the topic of the next water

cooler gathering. Make sure that you use your full name when

identifying yourself on any of these venues, not a pseudonym.

You can"t stir up the buzz about you, if you"re hidden behind

some funky moniker. Don"t forget to create an email address that

sounds professional wherever your name publicly appears.

There are eight over-the-top ports to gain higher

visibility:

тЂў Chamber of Commerce (networking events and / or committee

participation)

тЂў Local trade associations (meetings and / or committee

participation)

тЂў Blogs (industry trade associations, online publications, job

boards)

тЂў Teleseminars (trade association-sponsored, industry-oriented)

тЂў High-profile volunteerism (civic, community, business projects)

тЂў Broadcasting (radio and television guest appearances)

тЂў Ask-an-Expert content venues (online and print)

тЂў Newsletters, white papers (online and print)

Get employers drooling for your talents by demonstrating a

consistency in your marketing message. Recruiters and

decision makers routinely perform a Googleт„ў or Yahooт„ў key word

search to learn more about you. Put your name (and its

variations) into these mega-search engines to find out what pops

up.

If you"ve made disparaging comments about anyone or anything,

either on or off record, these will harm your marketing message.

For the sake of your professional branding, publicly, shut up.

If what you want to say or do communicate oddity,

inappropriateness, or lack of civility and good taste then you

become a liability to your industry"s culture and you"ll be

blacklisted.

Branding is a yardstick that measures not just what you do,

but who you are and the perception others have of you. Make

sure that whatever you say or do (professionally and personally)

sends a consistent positive message about your leadership,

industry competency, ethics, maturity, and interpersonal

relations. This constancy is your branding; an awareness of you

which captures an employer"s attention and interest in you.

Mastermind solutions and you"ll improve the odds of a

securing a customized job role. Borderless thinking solves

problems, particularly those deemed by others as too troublesome

or impossible. You"ll release yourself from dependency on open

or publicly-known positions when you pitch personalized remedies

for an employer"s toughest business challenges.

Annihilate your competition by doing the thing that they

wouldn"t dare to do...stop looking for a job. Concentrate on

subterranean research to uncover тЂ˜spot opportunities" тЂ” patterns

that would signal upcoming hiring activity. Yeah, it"s

labor-intensive, but the pay-off is huge in terms of edging past

Human Resource department screeners.

Classic market research involves S.W.O.T. Analysis.

Successful marketing thrusts are achieved using a thorough

analysis of Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats

for Growth. Can you count the times on one hand, your

buddies took the time to do this kind of extreme exploration

when they were on a job hunting expedition?

The more you know about a targeted company, its industry, and

the associated threats to its success, the stronger your

posture. Instead of seeking a job, pursue opportunity to use

your talents to better an organization"s own branding before its

employees, customers, and business relationships. Pitch directly

to first-string decision makers.

Slamming a baseball out of the park isn"t rocket science;

it"s about reading and reacting to the pitch тЂ” knowing what you

have to do, and when to do it. It"s also capitalizing on the

bat"s sweet spot to connect the raw capability of the bat to the

sheer force of the batter"s swing.

A professionally-run job search does the same things; you

pitch your solutions to the right target, at the right time,

using the right resource and strategy. The career marketing

sweet spot is that critical moment where targeting and timing

intersect. Goal sighted, energy harnessed, successful outcome

achieved.

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