Effective job searching is all about marketing. If you know anything about how to market products and services, you know how to job search.
One basic tenet of marketing is that you should never try to be all things to all people. Find a target audience and speak directly to those people. Show how the things you have to offer will benefit them. How does that translate into conducting an effective job search?
Mass mailing campaigns are rarely effective
When you mass mail hundreds of generic resumes and cover letters to hundreds of employers, your job search is generic and untargeted. This job search strategy is rarely worth the time, effort and price of postage it takes to mount a mass mailing campaign.
Your resumes and cover letters will not speak to employers’ need because they will be generic and untargeted; therefore, they won’t make much of an impact. Also, you will have no evidence that any of those companies are actually hiring, so your mailing list is untargeted and not nearly as effective as it could be.
Sure, from time to time someone may find a job using this strategy, but it’s rare, and there are much better ways to use your time, money and energy when you are job searching.
If you’re looking for more than one type of job, you must have more than one resume
Your resume is an important marketing tool. If you are looking for more than one type of job, that means you will be targeting different employers who have different needs and priorities. When an employer reviews your resume, you have a matter of seconds to make an impression. That means the skills and experiences that are most crucial to each individual employer must be front and center on each resume.
You won’t need to completely rewrite your resume each time you apply for a different job, but it is very smart to re-order and reorganize your resume to ensure that the skills and experiences that will be most vital to the job are always front and center on each resume your submit.
Keep the employer’s perspective in mind when answering interview questions
One of the most common mistakes people make in job interviews is not speaking to the employer’s needs. Remember, you are selling yourself to employers in job interviews, and that means you need to show how you will meet their needs.
Imagine you’re watching a television ad for a house cleaning service. The executives at the company may have purchased the ad because company profits were down and they needed to increase profits in order to get their annual bonus. That’s their need; it’s the real reason behind the ad, but it’s not your need. You don’t really care about executives getting fat bonuses, but you do care about having a clean home and saving time out of your busy schedule.
So the ad is not going to say, “Hire our cleaners so we can increase profits and get a big bonus this year.” even though that’s why the ad exists. Instead, the ad will speak to your needs, “Hire our cleaners, and you and your family will enjoy a healthy, happy sparkling clean home. Don’t waste precious family time scrubbing floors when our friendly, reliable staff can do that for you.”
It’s important to take the same approach with job interviews. You may be interviewing for a new job because you need the money, because your current boss is insufferable or because you’re tired of commuting. Those are your needs, and that’s not what you’re selling to an employer during a job interview.
Instead of talking about all of your needs, focus on the ways you will meet the employer’s needs. You have the skills he or she is seeking, you have a proven track record in the industry, you have outstanding industry contacts. Assess what the employer needs and promote those benefits during your next job interview.
