Marketing Yourself
Oct 6th, 2010 by tiffrennick
As business students, probably one of the most important things we can get out of marketing is how to market yourself. This is especially true in the current job market, where companies are probably being more selective and restrictive in their hiring practices. Your resume, cover letter, and especially the interview process are all key aspects in how to market yourself out into the business world, and hopefully successful marketing will land you the job.
Your resume and cover letter are the first things a potential employer will see about you, so they are the key step in your self marketing process that will take you from the ‘unknown’ to the desire-able ‘known’ category. I personally think both these documents should be tailored for each specific job (meanwhile traditional thought is just to change the cover letter). Even though this may seem like a hassle, changing the skill set you choose to highlight on your resume could be really helpful. Take me, for example. I currently work in a restaurant, so if I were to apply for another restaurant I would include my past work experience in other restaurants as well as highlighting that I have my Serving It Right and Foodsafe certificates. However, if I was applying for more business/marketing orientated jobs, I would highlight my education (BCom degree) first, then go into explaining how my part-time jobs have created team-working and time management skills.
Another step that I think is important in marketing yourself is going to networking events. Even if these don’t necessarily lead to interviews, it at least gets your name out there and hopefully gets people talking about you (in a good way!). Take for example, if you meet a really interesting accountant at a career/job fair, but have no intention of going into accounting. If you made a good impression on this accountant, he/she may go to their friends in other departments that you are interested in and tell others how awesome you are. Word-of-mouth marketing is still the most effective way to get your name/brand out there!!
The somewhat down-side to the fact that you need to market yourself is that potential employers (just like potential investors for a company’s stock) will always be keeping an eye on you. If you happen to slip up, one negative story can affect you 10 times worse (while a positive story will probably only get you 2 times as much feedback). I’m not saying that people don’t understand that everyone’s human, I’m just saying that you should probably try to keep a positive and semi-professional side to everything you do.
Market your self effectively and efficiently, and you’re sure to make a good impression, even in the very competitive business world of today.
