Career Success Through Self-Marketing

Marketing shouldn't be limited to advertising companies. Finding a job or enhancing your current position requires good self-marketing skills. What is self-marketing? Basically, self-marketing is communicating your benefits to potential or current employers. Think of yourself as a "product" and explain to employers what differentiates you from other "products."

Why is self-marketing important? Landing a job or improving your current position requires effectively selling your skills, abilities, and knowledge to employers. How do you market yourself? Self-marketing can be accomplished through networking, resumes, interviews, and salary negotiation.

Reports estimate that as many as 85% of jobs aren't advertised. Networking is one way to get at the "hidden job market" - those unadvertised jobs. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job. They just may know of someone who is hiring. Develop a contact list including: family, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, co-workers, former co-workers, neighbors, doctors, dentists, and lawyers. If you live in a large city, chances are you can find a job search support/networking group to attend. Remember, more contacts equals more job opportunities.

Resumes are often your first contact with an employer. Your resume should highlight your skills for the job you want, not the jobs you've held. If you present yourself well on paper, you will have an opportunity for a face-to-face meeting with an employer.

Interviewing is your chance to really sell yourself. The interviewer is trying to determine if you're a good fit for the position and the company. Practice commonly asked questions. Be prepared with success stories that emphasize when you've effectively used your skills, abilities, and knowledge, leading to exceptional results.

Don't forget to send a thank you note after the interview. The thank you letter lets you express appreciation for the interview and strengthens your candidacy. It allows you to reemphasize your strongest qualifications, restate your interest in the position, and provide additional information not previously given.

Salary negotiation is a useful tool to ensure you are paid what you're worth and what the market supports. Negotiations can be conducted with your current or potential employer. In either situation, be prepared to talk about what credentials, skills, and accomplishments justify your requested salary. Besides money, other things that you can negotiate are: flex-time, extra vacation days, tuition reimbursement, and hiring bonuses.

Joan Runnheim, M.S., founder of Pathways Career Success Strategies [http://www.pathwayscareer.com]in Hudson, WI, is a career consultant who helps individuals reach their career goals by developing an effective career development plan or job search strategy. As a career advisor for Monster.com,[http://forums.monster.com/forum.asp?forum=3560] Joan has been able to reach out to millions of people with her career-related articles and advice.

For more information call 715-549-6432. Email: joan@pathwayscareer.com


More Resources

Preparing For Your Job Interview: What You Need To Know To Be Successful
In the limited time an interviewer has with you, their mission is to know you and assess your worth, especially in relationship to the other candidates interviewed. Asking you questions is the way they accomplish that mission.
One Step at a Time in the Job Search
What is the first step to take in a job search?Let's start with "Who Am I?" If the job seeker can answer that question easily, then the rest of what to do, comes easily.It is often the hardest thing to do in a job quest, or anything else in life.
Why Human Resources Are The Real Key To Success In This Information Age
The rapid changes that have mainly been brought about by the information age are numerous and irreversible. They have affected our way of life on virtually every front and have left many old companies in ruins while causing other new ones to swiftly emerge and grow to great unprecedented profitability, literally overnight.
How To Get a Job Offer From Every Interview
About four years ago a friend told me one night that she had an interview the next week and was looking for some comfort as she was extremely nervous, as most people are about interviews. I thought back on my my carreer and realized that in the nine year of my career I had been to thirteen interviews and, more importantly, that I had received a job offer from every one of those interviews.
20 Ways to Advance Your Career
To survive and thrive in today's competitive environment, it is not just what you know. You also need to be competent.
Rekindling Passion for Work
Passion comes in many forms. I'm focused on the version of passion that is "boundless enthusiasm".
Recruiting Excellent Job Candidates
An independent recruiter, recruiting agency or executive search firm is charged with tracking down excellent potential candidates for available job positions. Despite the fact that there are innumerable people seeking positions of employment in the 21st century, it often seems to a typical recruiting agency that qualified men and women are few and far between.
How to Get Hired by Being Obvious
If you want a drink of water, do you hire a focus group or pick up the Yellow Pages? No. You go to the kitchen, fill a glass and drink.
How to Get Paid More Without Being Pretty or Good Looking
Guess what. The results are out they are ugly.
Job Interviews: Answering Whats Your Greatest Weakness?
Many interview guides advise candidates to answer the common "What's your greatest weakness?" question with a positive trait disguised as a weakness. For example, "I tend to expect others to work as hard as I do," or "I'm a perfectionist.
Can You Compete?
Are you looking to hire the best talent? Are you thinking about adding a new employee who will significantly impact millions of dollars in YOUR business? Do you want to hire the best? Then you need to show and convince your next hire that you are serious about him joining your team.In March, we received the following candidate's response to two high level interviews.
12 Steps to Targeting Success in Your Career or Job Search
Is your job search sagging? Are you still looking for that ideal next job? Or are you about to begin looking for new work and are not sure of the best way to go about it? What you need is a way to evaluate your job search strategies to see whether or not they are working effectively for you. Ready to get started? Here are 12 building blocks to a successful job search and the goals that will help you get to where you really want to be in the world of work: 1.
Job Interviews -- The Real Reasons Why You Need to Follow Up
Effective follow-up after a job interview is often a key reason why someone gets a job, even though there are other equally qualified candidates. Many candidates treat follow up as an optional add-on to their job search.
7 Tips for Writing Winning Resume Cover Letters
Writing a good resume cover letter is something you should seriously consider when preparing to send off your resume to potential employers.Here are seven important cover letter writing tips:Address the individual by name.
Is a Career Change on Your Horizon?
Making a career change is nothing new in today's job market.I've heard it said that the average American changescareers at least once in his or her life.
From Bumbling Bosses to Cranky Co-Workers - How to Overcome What Makes You Hate Your Job
I'll be the first to admit that I hated my job. It took many years for me to come to this realization since I kept accepting promotions in the hopes that the awful ache inside of my chest would go away.
Supplement Your Skills and Improve Your Work Position
It is often said that the majority of people are but a few checks away from homelessness. Without a consistent income, this may be a true statement.
Stand Out From the Crowd with Simple Marketing Methods
Although today's job market can be very competitive, many job seekers overlook simple techniques that will catch potential employers' attention. Apply these eight ideas to stay ahead of your competitors and get hired now!1.
Have Enough Money to Change Careers - Five Key Steps
At every talk I give, I ask the audience to tell me the reasons why people don't change careers. The most common answer given each time is "lack of money.
Overcoming Inertia in Job Change
If you can hold on to an optimistic belief in the possibility of success, you have a very powerful motivator of change. But not everyone can, or will need help to do that as some are naturally more optimistic than others.

More Careers & Employment Information:

Related Articles

Mystery Shopping - An Excellent Part Time Job Or Additional Income Source
Though the name itself may seem a bit mysterious, the concept of mystery shopping is actually straightforward. Also referred to as secret shopping, performance evaluations, service checks and frontline evaluations to name a few, mystery shopping allows companies to obtain a "snapshot in time" by trained researchers who know in advance what they are to evaluate.
Loving What You Do
Man is a social animal and survival is his major need. There are needs that he needs be fulfill.
Job or no Job: The Certainty of Uncertainty
Headline from AP via Yahoo News! January 11, 2005: "Chrysler Expects No Job Cuts in 2005, 2006." Headline from Detroit Free Press, January 12, 2005: "Chrysler Cuts 200 Hourly Workers.
Medical Billing And Coding Profession
Medical billers and coders are in high demand among the allied health occupations. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), health information technicians are one of the 10 fastest-growing allied health occupations.
De-Bunking The "Follow Your Bliss" Myth
Hello Fellow Seekers!I don't know about you? but I'm pretty tired of hearing about how you can "follow your dream" in three or four easy steps. I've seen plenty of people leap before they sufficiently looked --and end up dissatisfied or broke, or both.
Finding Your Ideal Career
In the current climate, many people are looking away from the traditional job market towards working for themselves. The massive redundancies and job-insecurity has caused many people to radically rethink their career plans.
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.
Discuss Your Accomplishments During the Interview
When preparing for your interview, you need to be ready to discuss your accomplishments. Surprisingly, many people are reluctant to talk about their accomplishments.
How To Choose The Right Resume Format
After a thirty (30) second glance lots of resumes get thrown into the wastebasket. One of the reasons this happens is because the resume writer has failed to use the appropriate resume format.
Find Those People
"The Emperor's New Clothes" was a favorite childhood story of mine. It made me laugh.
The Six Figure Job Search
Before we start discussing how to search for a six figure salary job, let's set a goal. The goal I suggest is to double your income every five years.
Bullseye Interviewing
An interview is much like a blind date. You have sweaty palms, heart palpitations, shaky nerves and a preconceived notion of what could happen.
8 "Thurvival Skills" for 05
Just what is a "thurvival skill?" It's a skill that let's you thrive and survive at the same time. In today's economy it's not enough to just be good.
Are You Busy Living or Dying?
If you are not busy living, then you must be busy dying. Most of us do this subconsciously and are unaware of which side of this equation we reside on.
Writing A Great Resume, Part 1
Need a great resume to land that great job coming up? We are going to learn to create an eye-catching resume, using Microsoft Word.First, you need to collect all the information you will need to complete your Resume (dates of employment, education dates.
Giving Notice: 6 Things to Do To Prepare to Leave
After days, weeks, months or longer of interviewing, you have received a job offer that meets your needs and have decided to give notice to your employer and resign your current job.1.
The Perfect Resume
The perfect resume presents hiring managers with a four-fold vision of who you are and what you bring to the table: The perfect resume offers Logical Proofs:
How You Can Find Opportunities For Foreign Language Proof Reading Work
For those who are fluent in another language, foreign language (ie non-English) proof reading can be a great source of income. It is a difficult area for those who are not fluent to get into though.
We Rejected Your Résumé Today
Hi, I am Mr. Employer.
Interpersonal Skill Building -- Yank The Suckers & Weeds
According to the National Gardening Association, suckers are rapidly growing shoots rising from an underground root or stem, often to the detriment of the tree. They can be very irritating and annoying for they bear no flowers or fruit.