by Wendy S. Enelow, CPRW, JCTC, CCM
President – Career Masters Institute

Job Search is sales. You have a commodity to sell – YOURSELF. Be sure to package and present it as professionally as you would any other product you were selling. Remember, you’ve got lots of competition, so be sure to highlight your product’s outstanding features, benefits and performance.

Job Search has a defined process. There is a beginning (assessment and planning), a middle (implementation, job search and interviewing) and an end (negotiations and final offer). It is a natural progression through which every job seeker must pass. Each stage is essential to success.

Know “who” you are. Any effective job search begins with a clear analysis of “who” you are – your most distinguishing qualifications and characteristics. What do you enjoy? What do you dislike? From what activities have you achieved the most satisfaction? Develop a clear picture of the “professional you” as a baseline to guide your career planning and job search.

Define your objectives and determine “how” you want to be perceived. Your resume must communicate an immediate message of who you are. This may be different than Item #3 above. This “who you are” relates to how you want to be perceived, and links directly to your current objectives. For example, if you’re a customer service representative seeking a sales position, you’ll highlight your skills in customer relationship management, product presentation, negotiations and the like. However, if you’re that same customer service representative interested in a management career, you’ll highlight your skills in training, team building, personnel supervision, budgeting and related management functions.

Write a performance-based resume. Success sells. It’s that simple. The most powerful and effective resumes are those that highlight success, results and achievements. They don’t over-inflate them; they are clearly and succinctly highlighted.

Never underestimate the value of your cover letter. Here are the stats: 33% of all recipients NEVER read cover letters; 33% of all recipients glance at the cover letter after they’ve read the resume; and the remaining 33% ALWAYS read the cover letter first. Your letter must immediately communicate your value to an organization for you never know which 33% will receive it.

Key words are essential. Although you do not want your resume to be a “laundry list” of key words, you do want to be sure that you have integrated them within the text of both your resume and your cover letter. Many companies and recruiters utilize information technology tools to review incoming resumes. If your resume does not contain the “right” language and key words, you’ll never get past the gatekeeper.

Job Search is multi-channel marketing. For any product to sell, it must be merchandised through the appropriate marketing channels. In job search, those channels include targeted direct mail and email campaigns, Internet resume and job postings, job lead reports, networking, advertisements and more. How you design your individualized marketing strategy depends entirely on your career objectives (e.g., type of position, type of company, size of company, geographic preference).

Leverage the Internet to your advantage. There are two ways you can use the Internet in your job search. Option 1 is to search for job postings, an extremely viable strategy for many job seekers (especially those in the technology industries). For other professionals, and for most senior-level executives, searching the Internet for jobs is not a good use of your time. The other option is to post your resume on the Internet for review by companies and recruiters. THIS is a great strategy for everyone!

Interview to win. The interview is the final stage in the sales process. You’re there to present the product, negotiate the deal and close the sale. It’s that simple yet, as we all know, very competitive and complex. It is critical to research as much about the company, its products, services and operations as you can. This allows you to focus your answers on their critical issues. Know that you’ve already passed the first test (the phone screening or initial resume review) and approach each interview with confidence and strength.