Most people are reluctant to act as their own direct marketer, but that is what searching for a new job is all about. Those who are successful ‘create their own luck’. It starts with marketing the best product that you have, which is…you.
Look around and see which industries are hot right now and identify good companies within those industries. Network constantly and aggressively, but with focus.
Direct your networking to where there are real opportunities that have the best fit. If you’re going to find that ideal job in that ideal industry and ideal company, you will have to do a phenomenal job of self-promotion. Understand marketing and use it. You will need to sell yourself to the organisations that you want to join.
Think about the opportunities, problems and goals of your preferred industries and companies, on the one hand, and your ability to help solve the problems and achieve their goals, on the other.
Develop your resume so that it dramatically and effectively communicates your credentials, knowledge, skills, experience and philosophy as key ingredients for helping employers achieve their key goals.
Assess your value - Who are you? Who do you think you are? What do others think you are? What do you want others to think you are? If the answers to those questions are different from question to question, you have some work to do.
They should be congruent so that you could reduce internal conflict and dissonance and arrive at a consistent message and image that is crystal clear. It should be authentic to yourself and the people who matter the most.
Dig deep into yourself to extract your core abilities, technical and soft sides of you as a whole. Create and develop marketing collateral that communicates how awesome you are, based on past deliverables, accomplishments and interests.
By investing time and money in developing your personal brand and using personalised marketing collateral, you will differentiate yourself from your job searching competitors and become more desirable to employers.
Most interviewers remember more of what they have said (during an interview) than what the applicant has said. To get beyond this, and to set yourself apart from others, you should impress the interviewer with your own knowledge of the company and its industry.
The best way to do this is by asking concise, focused questions that allow you to demonstrate that you’ve done significant research about the industry, about the company itself -including its products, its market and its competitors.
Take a step backward if need be. If it appears that you may have to accept a position at a lower level on the executive ladder than your previous one, don’t assume that you are losing opportunities to move forward.
In a hot company, or a hot industry, you may move ahead faster than if you seek higher positions in companies or industries that are contracting. Unfortunately, not many Sri Lankan employees consider this, and as a result they miss golden opportunities.
You should network wherever you can and wherever you can meet people, and collect market intelligence – its people who know where the opportunities are.
There are a lot more job opportunities than what are advertised. Networking can occur in formal and informal venues. You might find your best advocate or employer in the most informal setting.
Whatever you do, recognise that you must understand yourself, identify your interest, know how much you are worth, provide extraordinary value, establish your brand, and network strategically, so that you will be able to secure the best fit job, best compensation and benefits package, and most fulfilling job experience.