While you’re on prowl for job-hunting, treat yourself like an enterprise. Your skills are your products and services. And you’re CEO of "You, Inc." A CEO’s job is mainly to sell: selling change, selling his ideas, selling his vision and image. CEO in other words refers to the Chief Selling Officer. You need to bring out your entrepreneurial skills to push yourself forward on the course of life.
Starting a job hunting process is similar to launching a product or service. The only difference is: here you’re a product; you’re a brand; you’re a product manager; you’re a brand manager; you’re a sales manager. You’ve to position yourself. You’ve to bring out your Unique Selling Propositions. You’ve to craft your own marketing strategy. You’ve to open your own channels of distribution to make yourself ‘on-the-shelf’. You’ll press the launch buttons of your marketing campaign. For more elaboration, let me draw the comparison between job hunting and product launch.
Comparison between job hunting and product launch:
Job Hunting Product Launch
CV/Resume Brochure
Cover Letter Sales Letter Response
Pull Unsolicited letters/calls Cold Calling Interview
Sales Call References Celebrity endorsements
Maneuvering/approaching Hard Sell
Networking References
Salary negotiation Price negotiation
Follow up Push
Offer Letter Purchase Order
Internship Free Sampling
Probation Product trial
Job ads by employers Tender notices by customers
Professional degrees Certifications (Like ISO)
Today’s job market can be uncertain and unsteady. Times are really challenging. You’ll face turbulence down the road. It’s a buyer’s market. Buyers or employers have balance of the market tilted in their favor. But same is the case of so many other products that you consume from dawn to dusk. Here come your skills, your ingenuity, your finesse and your craftsmanship. How you plan your flight in the midst of turbulence will determine your success or failure.
When asked why Sony Corporation had been so successful, Chairman Akio Morita said, "We never follow. We do what others don't." That’s the essence of marketing: going where others have not yet gone! Most job-hunters confine themselves to traditional approaches like answering want ads and working with recruiters. That’s fine, but that’s where your competition goes too. Anyone who tries something fresh and different—will have a big edge.
Just as large companies cultivate their corporate brands, professionals can and should do the same for themselves. In fact, personal branding is becoming increasingly essential to professional success. Today, people want to buy brands—unique promises of value. Personal branding helps you put yourself ahead of the pack. And each of us has what it takes to be strong brand. Personal branding is a way of clarifying and communicating what makes you different and special—and using those qualities to guide your career. It’s about understanding your unique attributes—your strengths, skills, values and passions—and using them to separate yourself from your competitors or peers.
“What makes us unique makes us successful.” --William Arruda
(Ashraf Chaudhry can be reached at ashraf@ashrafchaudhry.com)
