Differentiate yourself

What can you learn from marketing to help your job search?

If you try to sell to everybody, you sell to nobody. That’s marketing 101. 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵. This is true even if you only offer a single product. I once worked for a software vendor that sold analytics. Its two main markets were healthcare and - you’d never guess…

Wine and liquor distribution.

Same product, but oh so radically different messaging. 

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵? 

100%

Because finding a new gig is a sales and marketing problem. 

So, applying marketing to your job hunt, here are three simple do’s and don’ts?

1️⃣ 𝗗𝗼: 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn (which, let’s be honest, is now a social media platform) expose vastly more jobs to vastly more people than ever. Which means you have to be pickier than ever. Don’t waste your time applying for jobs you are never going to get. The potential talent pool is so vast there are going to be many applicants who genuinely check all the boxes on the employers wish list.

2️⃣ 𝗗𝗼: 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲. Don’t use a generic resume. Same reason as above - vast talent pool etc. A generic one size fits all resume doesn’t work anymore. You need to fine tune the skills and experience on your resume to match the job description as closely as possible. Without making stuff up please. You have “market research” on your resume, but the job asks for “market analysis”? Fix your resume.

3️⃣ 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀. Don’t…well, be thoughtless, I guess. Sales and marketing 101 again. Put yourself in the hiring manager's shoes. Hundreds of applicants for a single position. If you’re lucky, the ATS will weed out the time wasters. But I have a day job, so hiring is something I squeeze into my so-called lunch break. What happens to your resume? Basically, you have about 5 seconds. 5 seconds is what it takes the hiring manager to scan your resume. Then they toss it, or dig deeper. Put yourself in their shoes again. What would you scan? The summary and the first couple of bullets in your last couple of roles. Tune your summary to match the JD, and add a couple of quantifiable achievements to the end of it. Shuffle the bullets in those recent roles so the most relevant pop to the top.

One thing in the job search hasn’t changed, and it never will. We all have the same number of hours in the day. Use yours wisely.

If you need help to think this through, use the button at the top of the page to setup a free 20 minute chat.