Goal setting & New Year's resolutions, Part 3

We are ready to move on to Step 3 in our goal setting and New Year's resolutions efforts to create an effective Job Search Action Plan (JSAP).

To summarize where you should be in your JSAP: You should hopefully have defined Step 1: commitment, Step 2: reflection, Step 3: researching options, and Step 4: working on self enhancement.

Today I am going to cover a VERY IMPORTANT aspect of job hunting that most people fail to even consider, Step 5: marketing yourself and personal branding.

In today's job-hunting environment, the most successful job-seekers are those who understand the value of marketing and apply to themselves those principles that companies have used for years to successfully sell their products. And that's what this article is all about -- helping you better understand how you can use and apply key marketing principles and concepts to better position yourself on the job market,

Step 5: Marketing yourself and personal branding

There is more to marketing yourself than just sending out hundreds of resumes. Additional tools for you to start utilizing include:

• Your elevator speech (sometimes referred to as elevator pitch). Think, "Tell me about yourself"


• Targeted resumes


• Customized cover letters


• Creating a uniform "look" to your resume, cover letters and other job hunting materials


• Business cards with contact information & SKILLS


• Defining what makes you unique


• Positioning yourself in the market; think networking


• Creating a Linkedin profile (www.linkedin.com)


• Depending on your profession, a custom website may be appropriate


• ATTENDING THE MARKETING YOURSELF IN A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE JOB MARKET WORKSHOP offered at the Winchester Workforce Center at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6. This workshop covers in depth information on the importance and methods of marketing yourself (and it is my favorite!).


• Attending our Networking Job Club every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

My next blog post will cover Step 6: utilizing your "online" time effectively and Step 7: tracking your applications.

Winchester Workforce Center Upcoming workshops:

• Networking Job Club: Tuesday Dec. 21 @ 8:30 a.m.


• Writing a professional/"High Definition" resume: Tuesday, Dec. 21 @ 9:30 a.m.


• Office closed Dec. 23 & 24

Please share your job search goals for 2011 and let me know if I can be of assistance.

Kind regards -
Sam