Simply Hired Blog

Six Marketing Fundamentals to Help Advance Your Career

By Josh Braaten

Could your lack of knowledge of marketing fundamentals be holding you back in your career? Landing that dream job and even getting a raise or promotion is often as much about marketing yourself as it is having the right knowledge or experience.

At its core, great marketing conveys value of a product or service to its potential consumers. In the context of your professional life, you are the product and service, and your current and potential bosses are the consumers. Here are a six marketing fundamentals and how to apply them to your career:

1. Develop a Unique Value Proposition - A unique value proposition (UVP) is a clear picture of what you deliver to those around you and how it helps them. For example, there are scores of Internet marketers out there, but how often do you hear of an organic content specialist with a focus on SEO, web analytics, and conversion rate optimization? Be specific about your talents throughout your resume and online profiles if you want to stand out to those looking for your passion and strengths.


2. Have a Strong Brand Promise - A brand promise is an expression of how a brand is different within a market. For example, FedEx's brand promise is reliable shipping. Avis's brand promise is that they try harder than their competitors. Make sure the aspects of your personality that set you a part are layered throughout your online presence.


3. Know the Persona - When preparing for interviews or performance reviews, get to know the culture of organizations by what they say about themselves on social media and their website. Align your UVP with the interests of a company to demonstrate how well you fit with the culture. It doesn't take a degree in organizational leadership to realize that you'll get more success if you speak the same language as your current or potential bosses.


4. Perform Competitive Research - Research LinkedIn to find others in your area with similar interests and skills. Doing this helps you stand out even further because you'll know what unique blend of skills and experience you bring to the table. Tip: work the name of the job title you want into your LinkedIn profile to appear above your industry colleagues in the search results of HR recruiters and industry head hunters.


5. Demonstrate Social Proof - Social proof is demonstrating the value of your product or service by letting others do the talking for you. Recommendations on LinkedIn, the number of friends and followers you have on social networks, and how often they engage with or share your content are all ways to let the words of others speak more about you than you could ever do for yourself. Tip: The best way to get a recommendation is to recommend someone else. Leave sincere and genuine recommendations and your colleagues will be sure to reciprocate.


6. Personalize to Build Relationships - Use social media to get to know your boss or your potential employer. Spend some time on their profiles to get a feel for their experience, their former employers and sometimes even their favorite books. Bringing these things up in an interview setting show that you’re interested in not only getting a job, but in the person you’re talking to as well.

Many marketing degree programs today teach these important principles. Apply them to your professional life to increase your odds of landing a job or earning that raise or promotion to advance your career:

What ways have you used marketing to advance your career? Do you have any examples that support the list here?

 

Josh Braaten is a Senior Online Marketing Manager at Rasmussen College. Josh holds his B.A. in Economics from St. John’s University. He blogs about business education, marketing and related topics on his Squarespace blog. Connect with Josh on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Your Resume vs. ATS: 3 Ways to Win the Battle

By Sean Weinberg

Your resume has a lot of enemies. Between competitors, scrutinizing employers, and computer crashes, your resume has to look out for itself.

Unfortunately, your resume has yet another enemy to worry about: an ATS.

An ATS, also known as an applicant tracking system, is "a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs." In other words, an ATS is what employers turn to when there are simply too many applicants and not enough time to sort through them all.

While ATS's are helpful for stressed out employers, they can be lethal for your resume. You might be the best person for the job, but if your resume can't convince the ATS, then you're out of luck.

However, there are ways to beat the ATS with your resume. Check out what you can do:

Choose your words carefully

Your word choice is, by far, the most important key to beating the ATS. Just like your blog, keywords matter. Pick keywords that are in-demand in your industry along with ones that you find in the job posting.

Additionally, pick "in work" keywords whenever possible. When you write about your time "keeping current with day-to-day tasks" or "presenting new products", your resume says in the here and now to the ATS.

Last but not least, drop titles (when it fits). If you are a good fit for one position but are coming from one with a different title, try including "similar to the responsibilities required of [insert title here]." You’re not lying about your experience, but the ATS will see you as more qualified for the position.

Count it out

Words are great, but numbers are even better. No, I don't mean your resume should be in binary (though that would be awesome).

Instead, numbers are solid, persuasive evidence of your qualifications. There's no disputing when you sold XX% in X months. Most employers are about the bottom line, so numbers help make that connection.

Make it readable

One monkey wrench that comes with ATS is that the first reader of your resume is a computer. Technology is moving in leaps and bounds, but even today, your resume might not be readable.

Selecting a universal font like Calibri, Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman, or Helvetica can help circumvent this obstacle. Additionally, avoiding excessive formatting (text boxes need not apply) and using a common format (like .doc or .pdf) can help make your resume as legible as possible.

What do you think? How else can job seekers help their resume fight the ATS? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free Web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes -- instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Weinberg has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes. You can connect with Sean and the RezScore team on Facebook and Twitter.

The Over-Looked Job Search Marketing Tool: Your Email Address

By Martin Yate CPC

In a competitive job search, the little things can make a big difference and the way you introduce yourself is one of them. As one of the first things any recruiter or potential employer sees, your email address is s a powerful marketing tool that the smart job hunter doesn't miss. But for job hunters like binkypoo@yahoo.com, bigboy@hotmail.com and DDdoll@live.com it's a lost opportunity.

Now might be a good time to retire those college era addresses like binky, bigboy, and DDdoll, or at least restrict them exclusively to non-professional activities where they won’t detract from your professional reputation.

Your ISP allows you to use a number of different e-mail addresses, so take advantage of this and add an e-mail account devoted exclusively to your job search and career management affairs. Create an email address that speaks to your professional identity, for example, SystemAnalyst@hotmail.com or TopAccountant@yahoo.com. A profession-focused email address acts as a headline that tells the recipient who is calling, and offers some idea of what the communication is about.

When names like TopAccountant@yahoo.com are already taken, you will be encouraged you to accept something like topaccountant1367@yahoo.com. You can do better, try adding your area code: TopAccountant516@yahoo.com, your zip code: TopAccountant11579@yahoo.com, combine them: Top516Accountant11579@yahoo.com, or your town: TopAccountantSeaCliff@yahoo.com. You might also try an address that is profession-specific: TopAccountantInsurance@yahoo.com and combinations of these, such as Top516AccountantInsurance@yahoo.com, which would tell a Long Island NY employer that you are a top accountant living in Nassau County. Each adds useful information to an employer in your local target market, but won't detract for someone outside of that market.

In a competitive job search, the little things can make a big difference and the way you introduce yourself is one of them.

 

Martin Yate CPC, is the NY Times bestselling author of Knock em Dead The Ultimate Job Search Guide, and Secrets & Strategies For Success. As Dun & Bradstreet says, "He's really just about the best in the business." www.knockemdead.com

The Job Seeker's #1 Time Waster (No, it's not Facebook!)

By Robyn Melhuish

If you are currently unemployed, you may feel like time is yours to waste. With nowhere to go and no one to report to, you've got nothing but time, right?

Wrong! As you probably already know, the clock is ticking on your job search. And the longer you remain unemployed, the harder it may be to land the job you want. So why are you wasting so much time?

It's not the hour on Facebook or the occasional game of Angry Birds that's wasting your valuable time. No, the larger culprit is probably an activity that actually feels productive. It seems like a task that will get you closer to your goal, but in reality, it’s just a big waste of time. So, what is it?

The #1 way job seekers waste time is by applying to the wrong jobs. Not sure if you're guilty? Think about it. Have you ever submitted your resume for a job that you knew wouldn't make you happy? Have you applied for a position where you were extremely overqualified? What about a job where you weren’t qualified at all?

Many recruiters believe the biggest mistake job seekers make is applying to jobs they are not qualified for. In the current job market, hiring managers and recruiters may receive hundreds of resumes for each position they post. The candidates that make it to their short lists have every minimum requirement and most, if not all, of the preferred skills listed in the job posting.  So when you submit your resume for jobs that you do not qualify for, you are not only wasting the recruiter’s time but also your own. The time you spent writing that cover letter and tweaking your resume for that particular job could have – should have – been spent elsewhere.

But what if you're not qualified for the job you want? Research the typical career path for someone who holds your ideal position and then go after the job that will give you the experience you need. Is there a particular industry that feeds into the industry you are pursuing? Could you volunteer for a similar position with a non-profit?  Think about ways to acquire the experience you need, not ways to get around the requirements. In this job market, there are no shortcuts.  

Anyone in the middle of a job search knows it can be frustrating, and no one would blame you for wanting to increase your odds by applying to every attractive job you come across. However, when you apply to jobs that you are clearly not qualified for you are setting yourself up for failure and possibly irritating the very people (hiring managers and recruiters) that you are hoping to impress. Save yourself time (and frustration!) by focusing your efforts on the jobs you are truly qualified for.

 

Robyn Melhuish is the editor at MedReps.com, the leading website for medical device sales jobs, pharma sales jobs, and biotech sales jobs. In a competitive industry like healthcare sales, the MedReps.com career center strives to offer candidates advice that will give them the advantage they need.

Graphic Design Career: 4 Factors that Influence Your Salary

By Jessica Bosari

When you embark on a graphic design career, you of course consider the challenge and satisfaction in creating art as a profession, but money is always a consideration as well. Careers in graphic design can be very lucrative, but exactly how much you will make depends on several factors. Here are just a few items to consider when trying to calculate how much you expect to earn in your career.

Experience

Experience is rated as one of the most important factors that can influence your earning potential, even more than your educational qualifications in many cases as those can be earned later as part of a career development plan. Whether you take a job with a company or decide to freelance, employers and customers want to know that you are able to create high quality work on a consistent basis. Putting together a good portfolio and taking jobs for experience early on in your career can translate to a larger salary later on.

Qualifications

While experience does rank higher than your education in the eyes of many employers, qualifications cannot be entirely discounted either. Think of your qualifications as your calling card. You introduce yourself to a potential client or employer with those and then use your experience as the proof to back up what education you have attained.

Location, Location, Location

If you are working for a company in Podunk, Iowa, then it stands to reason that you will likely earn less than a graphic designer in New York City. While cost of living definitely plays a part in your potential earnings, the availability of clients also factors into your salary. In larger cities, there are more people and more businesses with the potential for more clientele than in smaller towns.

Employee vs. Freelance

Deciding how you want to work will influence how much money you make as well. While jobs with large companies can be quite lucrative and are often greatly desired by those just starting in the field, you can easily get lost in such a large pool of designers. In smaller firms, you may not make as much money initially, but proving yourself indispensable in a smaller company can provide job security as well as ample opportunity for creative challenges.

Freelancing is also an option that can produce a large income, but comes with other responsibilities in addition to design work. As a freelance designer, you need to network and market yourself to potential clients. This can be a lot of work, but those with talent and skill at marketing themselves and producing quality work can make a fortune working for themselves.

Graphic design is hot career for those with creative skills and technical know-how. Because of the popularity of the field, competition is cutthroat. High-paying jobs require experience, talent, and education to get.

 

Jessica Bosari is a blogger for several publications, covering topics like saving money, technology, computer networking careers, writing online and more. You can reader more of her work and find hand-picked telecommute writing jobs culled from sites like Simply Hired at KillFive.com.