Job Seeking Skills are Actually Self Marketing Skills
/Here’s the short version of how I found my dream job: I went to see someone like me for advice. After working in homeless support services, I was feeling blocked about what to do next. I was sitting opposite the Career Counsellor watching her work when I had the realisation: I really want your job.
I sought her advice then and there: ‘how do I do what you do?’
A week later, she rang me. She’d been contacted by a university promoting studies in Career Development. Would I be interested in learning more? I said yes.
Two years further on in my studies, I contacted a Local Employment Service for advice. I asked the Manager if she would meet with me and she said yes. She gave me an hour of her time, even arranged for me to work shadow for a morning. I said yes to that opportunity and came back to do it.
I didn’t ask for a job, instead I asked: ‘how do I prepare for working somewhere like this?’
A few days later, she contacted me that she had heard of a vacancy in a similar service. I applied and interviewed and I brought my purposeful preparation and passion into the room with me. And I arrived at my destination: the job I wanted.
Jobseeking is an Ongoing and Deliberate Self Marketing Campaign
Self Marketing means you focus on your employability, not on being employed. You want to create and sustain your own opportunities in work, learning and life.
The good news is that you can do it.
The first step is to keep a structure to your day. Get up at the same time. Make space in the day for making connections and give time to it every day.
Know what you’re looking for and know where your weaknesses are. Tell yourself: I’m going to fill those gaps and I’m going to persevere and practice until I have it done.
Is there someone you could speak to who could identify where your gaps are and how to bridge them.
Put the scaffolding in place to purposefully move your career forward.
Purposefully target the jobs you are serious about.
Be a Serious Candidate
Effective Self Marketing is a process of converting ignorance on the part of another person into a buying decision on what you have to offer. They’ve got a job to fill, and you want to show that you have the strengths to do it. To do this, you need an edge.
Be aware of how serious a candidate a hiring manager may view you. Make sure you are setting a high enough bar for yourself. If your application merely states that in your view you fit the job, then you will not be seen as a serious candidate.
A basic application will only go so far as to list how your past experience fits the job content. This is too low a bar to set for yourself if you are genuinely interested in the job.
But how do you communicate that you are a serious candidate?
To be a serious candidate, you will need to put some work in. You will need to concentrate on matching your skills to the selection criteria, person specification and job specification. Each word should demonstrate good communication and self marketing. The information should be precise and factual and not merely opinion.
You would preferably provide something quantifiable. Can you prove that your efforts improved sales, profits, retention, response, customer satisfaction? Then provide the proof.
In the recruitment industry, if you demonstrate ‘knowledge’ level self-marketing skills, you will be viewed as a serious candidate.
Follow these tips and see if it positions you as a serious candidate. Give your job applications the leverage you need.
Self Marketing Recommendations[i]
Indicate your previous employer’s use of you; e.g. promotion, secondment, rehiring, being assigned special projects, training investment etc.
Include things you have stopped, started, made better, and quantify the effects on profits, assets and people.
Indicators of success can include your final education, qualifications and training.
Consider the new employer’s known problems – show how specific bits of your experience can make an instant contribution when applied.
Be precise. Engage your thinking. Use facts, precision, proof rather than general statements. Imprecision is one of the biggest flaws in job applications and interviews.
Comply fully with requirements: instructions, disclosures, timing, forms. Strive for excellence and relevance, all properly presented and understood.
For self-improvement and to overcome bad habits that may come across in interview, get impartial advice from someone who knows you well. Consider if you have a habit of overstating a point, being brash, speaking in excesses.
Proof reading is important on job applications. Remember the person who writes a document is the least qualified to check it.
Don’t overstate something. Listen closely and use self-discipline. Demonstrate your confidence that your experience meets their need.
[i] Self-Marketing Recommendations sourced from John Courtis (1999) Getting a Better Job. Chartered Institute of Personal Development UK.
Imagery Sourced with thanks to UnSplash.com
