Your Job Search is a Marketing Campaign
I’d say that only 10% of job seekers understand that looking for a job is not all that different from strategizing, creating and executing a marketing campaign. What are some simple aspects that drive the success of a marketing campaign?
- Choose a target audience carefully.
- Customize your offering and content for that target audience.
- Make sure the target audience can quickly and easily view your offering.
- Allow the target audience to interact with you in a variety of ways.
Translated into a job search, those bullets become:
- Pick a few audiences of companies and decision makers that are realistic targets.
- Don’t send the same thing to everyone; customize the content for the audience, company, and decision maker.
- Make sure the recipient of your materials can view resumes, cover letters and other credentials in whatever way they prefer.
- For godssakes, provide a number of options for getting in touch - email, phone, IM, blog, etc.
90% of the job inquiries I receive break at least one of these rules. Guess where those inquiries go? From the inbox to the trash - immediately.
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November 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Mark, I have to agree with you. Today I had blogged about what to do to hold on to a job or look for a job and in a lot of respects you need to be a marketer. When I recommended tools, I forgot to mention something that you mentioned - don’t “shotgun” a campaign.
Each communication to a hiring manager is its own campaign that needs to be personalized - you’re right.
Thanks for pointing that out.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Especially in today’s environment with hundreds of thousands of people looking for employment, I can’t imagine the “machine gun” approach (seems more appropriate than “shotgun”) working very well. The sniper approach, while perhaps more time-consuming, will likely end up the more efficient approach.