Anyone who wants to get ahead in life needs to get into the business of selling. For real. The number one product you should be pushing, of course, is you!

The value of this proposition is being made clearer through another course that I am taking this term, called COMM 202 – Career Fundamentals.

A few weeks ago I attended a Networking Event where they set 400 COMM 202 students loose in the CA Hall and told us to shake hands and make friends with only a dozen guests. This week I’m preparing a cover letter and a resume for a marketing internship with an oil and gas company in Calgary. After spending countless hours highlighting and framing my skills, knowledge, and interests, I’ve got a great sense of how many of the marketing concepts we have learned in COMM 296 overlap with the techniques we are being taught in COMM 202 (in no particular order):

1)   Forming Relationships with Consumers: Focus on the quality of your friendships rather than the quantity. Sure, it’s great to have connections everywhere, but take the time and effort to really nurture the relationships with friends, teachers, and colleagues who you feel are really going to help you get where you want to go. The people with whom you have proven  yourself to are the most likely to refer you to your dream job!

2)   Building a Brand: Your reputation is on the line; word of mouth and other sources of information about you play a crucial role in how you are perceived by potential employers. Remember to behave yourself!

3)   Advertising: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are only a handful of online tools that you can use to grow your network and get your face (and resume!) out there. While these advertising mediums are a relatively low-cost option for advertising your CV, one of the nasty side effects of social media is that some of your information and pictures can be accessed by others before you know it’s been posted. Refer to number 2 on this list about reputation…

Stay tuned for the continuation of this list.