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Mary Lynn Engel

MARY LYNN ENGEL of Yarmouth is an assistant professor in the business department at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine.

What is the most important product you can ever market? Yourself. If you are looking for a job, you are marketing yourself. So use the same thing you use for any other product you take to market – a marketing plan.

Why do this? Well, for a number of reasons:

• By going through the process, you will see how much you have to offer and that it is right to feel good about yourself in a difficult time.

• When asked questions, you will already have worked out the answers in the way that best presents yourself – using a single, consistent message that leaves no room for confusion.

• Having a plan helps alleviate some of the frustration you are going through and keeps the search on a professional level.

• You will be using the skills you want to use in your next position and can prove just how great they are.

YOUR PERSONAL MARKETING PLAN OUTLINE

Where are you now? Let's take a good look:

• Strengths: Don't be shy! Are you good with people? Love to make sure that every detail is perfect? Put everything down, whether you think it might be important to your ideal position or not.

• Weaknesses: We all have them. Be honest. You are not going to tell anyone about them, but you might need to be able to explain them away.

• Opportunities: This can be very specific or general, but it's not about you, it is about forces that you can take advantage of. What is happening in the workplace or industry of your choice that could help you?

• Threats: Again, not about you, but about forces out there that could be holding you back. You need to know to pursue a reasonable course of action.

• Competition: Who is trying to get the same kinds of positions that you are? What do they have that makes them more or less attractive to the prospective employer?

• Collaborators: What resources do you have available to you in your quest: parents, friends, relatives, former employers, professors? If there are gaps, make an action plan to fill them.

Where do you want to go?

Yes, you want a job, but what is acceptable for the short term and long term? So set goals that are:

• Specific enough to provide focus

• Reasonable and obtainable

• Easy to visualize yourself fulfilling the responsibilities and exceeding expectations

How are you going to get there? By strategizing – remember the 4Ps and the consumer-equivalent 4Cs? Use them! And keep in mind, it's all about the customer (employer).

• Customer need: What does a prospective employer need that you can fulfill?

• Customer convenience: Can you travel? If needed, do you have a reliable car? Will you be on time when it is snowing?

• Customer value: Are you worth it? It doesn't matter if this is your first or seventh job; you will be expecting to get paid for your initial training. What can you offer the customer (employer) in exchange?

• Communication: It's a dialogue. You need to craft your message, deliver it, listen and respond accordingly.

PUT YOURSELF IN THE BEST LIGHT

The devil is in the details. Now you have to get from sitting with the computer and surfing the Internet to getting out there and networking.

Who you know will get you in the door, what you know will get you the job. So ...

• Develop a resume. Talk yourself up! Not what you did, but what you accomplished. Sometimes it is hard to appreciate the difference, so here is an example:

Sailing instructor and outdoor educator during summers versus sailing instructor and outdoor educator during summer months, guiding approximately 100 participants through rigorous and challenging experiences and impelling them into value-forming experiences. All students completed the courses and successfully learned the school's core values.

The first assumes you showed up to get a paycheck. The second highlights your skills as an instructor and a leader and what you were able to accomplish – all important to the customer.

• Your Facebook page – are you shown partying? Make that private for your friends – prospective employers definitely check to see the "real you."

• Does your custom cover letter highlight what you can do for your prospective employer?

• Get organized. How are you going to start networking, keep track of responses, connections, meeting dates, etc.?

• Be ready with your 30-second explanation of who you are and why someone should hire you.

• What other tactics should be on this list?

Now that you have your marketing plan, put it to work! And remember to review, update and modify it.

And please, don't despair if you don't get what you think to be the perfect job. We all change directions multiple times over our career, so look for the advantages in any position compared to your goals. No one said that this would be easy, but really, aren't you worth all the hard work?