Plotting Your Job Search Roadmap
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells yourself.” – Peter F. Drucker
Where are you going with your job search?
Most drivers who are focused on an unfamiliar destination take time to check the roadmap, whether online or an actual paper map. God provides a roadmap for you in your job search in the form of job opportunities. Are you reading yours.? Can you tell what it says and what He’s saying to you?
Now that you’ve formatted your vocational GPS in the assessment section, and have seen how God has woven the threads of your experience in the résumé section, you’re ready to establish your destinations through a diversified marketing plan. This marketing plan becomes your distribution highway to get your résumé into the hands of the people who need to read it.
It’s not enough just to get your résumé read. It needs to be read by those people with the authority and responsibility to be able to hire you. Those that are interested in what your story has to offer them.
Peter Drucker, considered one of the leading management consultants of our time, says, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
That’s what this Secret is all about…
How do you find readers who want what you’re selling? How do you present them with an opportunity to buy what you’re offering?
Remember, your job search is much like a three-legged stool.
Each of the legs on that stool represents one major technical area of your search.
Your marketing strategy is the second of the major legs, and it needs to be as strong as the other two to contribute to a strong search strategy.
Just like the three-legged stool, if the marketing leg isn’t as strong as the other two legs, your job search effectiveness will break down and ultimately collapse. All three must be equally strong to move ahead successfully.
What kind of marketing plan are you using to get your résumé out? Is it a tsunami, vagrant, or Superman plan? Each of these represents a plan some people choose, but they’re all ineffective approaches.
The three kinds of marketing plans…
- Tsunami marketing: Some people think the tsunami approach‒saturating the market to get as many people as possible to read your résumé‒is the key to an effective job search. The problem is that it takes a lot of work
on your part to get your résumé read by people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. Readers will run the other way, as if from a tsunami, because they know it’s one more time killer. If this is your approach, you’ll learn a more effective and efficient approach to marketing in the pages that follow. 
Vagrant marketing: Is the approach you’re using to marketing like the story of a homeless person begging employers to look at your résumé? “Need work…Will work for food…Family man with children needs work…God bless.” This type of presentation will turn many people off. It represents a need, but it’s the wrong approach. You’re a gifted person with a King as your father, and you don’t need to beg. You’ll learn how to identify and approach employers that can use someone with your skills in the following pages.- Superman marketing: Do you take the Superman approach to marketing? You leap tall buildings with a single bound, you’re faster than a speeding bullet, and more powerful than a locomotive. We know that’s just not true. If you oversell yourself as having all the answers and being able to do everything, the reader will see it as a sham because no one can do it all. If this is your approach, you’ll learn how to capture and present your skills and abilities effectively without over-selling.
Your story has to fit the customer’s needs. As the late David Ogilvy, called the father of advertising and a principal at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, described it, “You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they
can make or break them in the marketplace.” Your résumé presents your image. Taking the time to get it right is worth its weight in gold. The image has to fit the customer’s values and priorities, as well as fit what you’re bringing to the market.
According to a successful American film producer discussing how to get a film produced, “In every place there are
100 people who can say no and only one person who can say yes. You have to get a good piece of material to the right
person.” Any number of people can read your résumé, but you need to have it read by those who can have the
greatest impact.
Get your story of in front of the right people, and you may have opportunities you never anticipated. It’s your story. It’s your adventure. Others need to read it.
This is an excerpt from my book “The Christian Job Search Manual,” click on this link to purchase the book.
If you would like to explore working with a Christian centered Career Coach, Contact me for a no-obligation 60-90 minute job search consultation with America’s Job Searching Coach, or text me at 425-220-0707 and we can discuss your situation, your résumé, what you would like to achieve, and structure your job search to fit your uniqueness.
I am also available to speak to groups.
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