Job seekers, here’s how to find a job using marketing principles. Because that’s what job search is – a marketing campaign. And job seekers are marketing themselves.
Smart marketers know that they have a product that is solving the problem of a specific target market. They then talk about the problem that the product solves, highlighting the product’s “features and benefits” and “unique selling proposition” or USP. They know not everyone will want their product. And that’s OK. Smart marketers want the right people to buy their product.
When you market yourself, you’re marketing your Core Value Proposition:
- work you like to do and want to do again
- skills you use at the good to excellent level
- having an impact that is meaningful to you, and
- working in a way that’s resonant with your values and working style.
When you get to operate in all those ways, you’ll be happy AND deliver great value to an employer.
Know what your Core Value Proposition is and capture it in your resume, with measurable outcomes as proof. Then apply for jobs where you can use your CVP.
By using marketing principles, you won’t have to substantially change your resume for every job you apply for. You’ll already have most of the right keywords in your resume, and certainly you will have the right concepts captured in your resume. Then you can make minor changes to use the keywords in the job description.
Marketing requires you to focus on YOU as a “product.”
- What needs do you meet?
- What problems do you solve?
- What kind of solutions do you consistently generate?
- What pain are you alleviating?
- What impact have you had and therefore will likely have on a new employer?
When you answer these questions, you begin to establish the right “market” for you: the field/industry, the kind of company, the kind of position you would be suited for.
And the answers to these questions also provides the center for your Core Value Proposition.
