I used the opportunity to talk about the fact that while the fundamentals of marketing, still taught in most college programs, had not changed much, the way we need to view and think about marketing and markets has changed dramatically.

One student set this up nicely for me when I asked for her definition of marketing and she promptly offered the four Ps of Marketing as a definition.

As most of the students in attendance had either recently accepted a position with a firm or were in the throes of a job search, I took the opportunity to offer some marketing advice tinged with just a bit of parental preaching.

I believe that anyone, regardless of job title, that approaches the completion of their job with marketing thinking can make themselves indispensible to the organization they choose to work for and in effect control their destiny.

This talk was aimed specifically at students, but what I had to say is a recipe for success, regardless of where you currently reside in the career process.

Here’s how I suggested they employ marketing thinking.

Find mission first – Yes, you may need to take what seems like a good job so you can move our of your parent’s house (trust me they want this as much as you do), but dig deep and find out about the culture of this organization, find out why they do what they do, find out what their story is, and find out if their mission (not mission statement) is something that excites you.

Ask people that already work for the company you’re considering what they love about the company. Ask them to tell you a story that illustrates what the company is really passionate about.

In The Referral Engine I recounted Zappo’s now well known practice of offering all new employees $2,000 to quit upon finishing their training. The thought is that if someone is willing to leave for $2,000 this isn’t the place for them. I challenged them to apply the reverse thinking and asked them how much someone would have to offer them to not take the job they were considering. It just might be one way to measure the connection with the organization.

Get good at content and context – We’re all drowning in information overload and one of the master marketing thinking skills is filtering and aggregating content in ways that allow us to gain deep knowledge in subjects without having to invest our days and nights in it. Bonus points for being able to condense and communicate reams of information into snack size educational value.

I implored them to subscribe to blogs, create content alerts and connect to every social pipeline available for the companies and industries they were considering.

Question everything you’re asked to do – They liked that one, but I had to clarify that I didn’t mean that as in question authority, I meant it as question why you are doing what you are asked to do, how it connects with the overall objectives of the department or company, and how, particularly if it benefited the customer, you could improve upon the experience.

Anyone with a college degree can operate from the manual – difference makers have the confidence to create value.

Create change in favor of the customer – In almost every job situation there will be a manager. Now, great managers encourage growth, change, innovation and maybe even the occasional flat out challenge of authority, but great managers are rare.

Most managers want to know that you will do what’s asked, not ruffle feathers and keep hitting assignments and deadlines.

But, even weak managers will come to trust you if you make them look good by creating change that benefits the customer. Think this way and you’ll soon be on your way to creating change the impacts your entire organization as well.

Construct a platform – Look all around you and start asking what your boss, managers, co-workers, vendors, and customers need to be more successful. What resources and other professionals could you assemble to become the go to person to help other get what they need?

College students and young professionals are always instructed to go out there and meet people and network with folks that might help them get ahead, but what if we showed them instead how to build a platform for helping others get ahead?

Now that’s marketing thinking applied at its most effective level.

So, let me ask you this . . . if you’re employed by an organization, even if you run that organization, are you applying marketing thinking to all that you do? What other advice would you give these students and job seekers?

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Like years past, always provide a cover letter. When your resume is sitting in a stack, you don’t want a list of previous jobs, qualifications, and your work related summary to be what’s seen. Having a professional cover letter which helps your work stand out has been, and continues to be a benefit.

Now that we’ve covered what not to change, here are some of the new rules for resume building. First, it is absolutely vital that you keep your resume as short as possible without leaving out crucial information. The maximum length of your resume should be two pages. The optimal length is one page, however, if you have a long enough list of qualifications then include them. No matter how much experience you have, no resume should ever go longer than two pages. You’re not writing a novel.

An objective mission statement is something you’ll want to leave off a resume these days. Replace it with a work related summary of yourself. Really show your interviewer what it is that makes your qualified for this position. This is different from your qualifications in that it allows you to open up and really drive a point or two home as to why you’re the person they need for the open position.

Within your summary, you should be sure to list keywords relating to the position you’re applying for. It’s important to get this part of your resume correct as it’s your opportunity to shine above the rest of the stack. After all, your qualifications are probably going to be similar to everyone else. The summary is a small look into who you are as a professional.

Below your summary should be your experience. This portion of the resume should list past employers, titles, length of time you held position, and 3-5 bullet points per listing which highlights what you’ve accomplished.

The bullet points should list your “accomplishments”. Don’t put simple duties, and functions, but what you did in your particular position which benefitted the company you worked for. If you created a new ad which helped bolster revenue, then list it as such. Including something along the lines of “Created ads for the company’s network” isn’t enough. That’s really not an accomplishment.

Below your experience should be education, certification, and other related qualifications. Do not include activities un-related to the job your applying for. Do you enjoy doing charity work? Great, just don’t add it in your resume. Unless the position your applying for deals directly with charity work. More than likely you’ll be asked about extra-curricular activities in your interview.

The last piece of advice for a new resume is to never pay someone to create your resume. This document is one of the most personal write-ups you’ll ever have to create. It needs to come from you. You can hire services to proof-read and provide tips to clean up the structure of your resume. However, the words need to come from you.

Hopefully these tips will allow you to build an effective resume for the job you’re seeking. Just remember that this resume is about presenting yourself as a solution to your employer’s puzzle. Be sure you’re the right piece.

This agency owner’s response to that comment: “I don’t want people who ‘need a job’, I want people who want a job HERE.”

I thought that statement summed up a lot of what I’ve seen and heard in the marketplace lately, too. I hear a lot of “I need a job.” That’s the wrong approach. Here’s why:

* It’s no one’s job to give you a job. There are no more handouts. It’s as competitive as its ever been out there. You have to take that damn seriously. And that agency owner I spoke with? It’s not his job either. His job is to find the best talent that is going to help him achieve the best results for his clients (and ultimately, his agency).

* “I need a job” is too general of a statement. When you’re looking for a job, you need specificity. Both in organizations and agencies you’re targeting and in describing yourself.

It’s tough out there. No doubt about it. But, in environments like this, the most committed wins. It’s always been that way. Those that are willing to bust their tails, WILL find a job. It’s the difference between those who say “I want to work in PR” and those who say “I NEED to work in PR.”

Let me tell you a bit about my personal experience. Coming out of school 15-plus years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was working at a golf course to pay my “bills” (I was living at home). A friend of mine said I should come join her working for a mortgage company focused on mobile homes. Essentially the job was faxing and a lot of office-type coordination.

I lasted one day. Never went back.

That experience drove my decision-making for a long time. I knew I didn’t want to “survive” at a job like that. I wanted to be excited to go to work each day. I wanted a career. I wanted much more. And that motivated me. I wasn’t going to settle. I wasn’t going to just “get a job.” I wanted a job in PR. And I started devising a path to get there (which included three UNPAID internships).

Now, I don’t recommend taking my path. But, I do recommend taking a more methodical approach to the job search. You have to if you want to compete against the hundreds of other candidates out there. The good news is: Few people are still playing the game the right way. It’s easier to cut through the clutter than you might think. Trust me. Sarah Anderson, a young student who’s working a bit with me now, is a perfect example of that.

So, what do I recommend? Consider baking the following components into your job search:

* Start a hard target search. Again, don’t just look for a job–look for the right job. I’m not saying you hold out all hope for that dream job working for The White House. But, I am saying you should develop a list of all the organizations and agencies you would love to work for. Start there. And focus ALL your time and energy on those targets.

* Master your elevator speech. I was pretty surprised last Thursday at our HAPPO Hour event. I met some incredible students. But very few of them had a polished elevator speech. When asked, “what do you do”? I got some pretty soft answers. Hone your speech. Write it out. Practice it. And make damn sure before you go to a networking event you have that thing down to a science.

* Brush up on the basics. Like I said above, it’s not all that tough to stand out from the crowd. Case in point, the first time I met with Sarah (see above), she came prepared with specific questions and had clearly done her research on me. She knew who I was and what I cared about (for the most part). I will tell you VERY few people put in that time and effort prior to a meet-up. Be one of those people. It will pay off. It certainly did for Sarah.

* Solid follow-up is critical. When and how you follow up after that coffee or networking event is absolutely critical. My suggestion? Start with email (provided you have it). Send a short note thanking him/her for their time. Mention a point/issue you discussed when you spoke. And then, offer up information you think might benefit that contact. For example, after the HAPPO event the other night, I sent someone I spoke with briefly a quick note. I noticed during my time chatting with this person that he’s a bit of a beer snob–me too! So, I included a link to a great beer community site I thought he might enjoy (Pintley–if you’re interested). Not a huge deal, but just a nice way to separate myself from others in this contact’s frontal lobe.

Those are my tips. What about you? How can students separate themselves from the massive competition out there right now?

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Well you can do that with the LinkedIn Resume builder which is free to use.

In this video tutorial I share:

1. How to use the drag and drop interface and choose which sections are visible in your resume

2. Important considerations for your privacy options so that you control what other people can find out about you online

3. The ability to share your resume through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter or your About.me profile.

You can also print your resume or CV using the LinkedIn Resume builder once you have created it.

If you are looking for support to get the most out of LinkedIn and are looking for LinkedIn training, I facilitate both public and in-house programmes for your companies and professional services practices – you can contact our support desk for more information.

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This is where people go through school or college, get a diploma, degree or whatever, and then use that to inoculate themselves from having to do any more studying. I member the late, great Earl Nightingale recounting a conversation he had with a young man, who had recently graduated. He told Earl he would never read another non-fiction book again. He was done with learning and wanted to start working.

The challenge with that extremely common approach was highlighted by Jim Rohn. Jim used to tell us:

A formal education can make you a living, but a self-education can make you a fortune.

Life-long learning

I was a very poor student at school, but committed at the age of 21 to dedicate myself to life-long learning. I determined to read the books, attend the courses and do whatever was required, for me to be the best that I could be. Almost 25 years later, I am still a ferocious reader and am more committed to learning than ever. I can tell you with total certainty that my decision to embrace life-long learning, is directly responsible for every success I have achieved.

In my experience, learning, true learning, means more than just blindly accepting everything you read or hear from an expert. It means gathering information from the best sources you can find, and questioning what they say! Those you see online, accepting and agreeing like drones with everything their gurus tell them, are learning nothing. They are simply gathering information, of often dubious value, from people who are just as fallible as you or I, and treating it as fact.

I see the process like this:

• Read the books
• Attend the courses
• Listen to the audio programs
• Put what you have discovered to the test
• Measure your results and keep what works
• Repeat

What is your approach to learning? Do you set time aside to read? Do you challenge what you learn? I would love to know your thoughts on this!

Comments

“I am a recent graduate. I just made a huge mistake in a salary negotiation and am wondering if there is something I can do to fix it. This was the first interview and I was not prepared to discuss salary, as I know it is a huge no-no. Unfortunately, the interviewer’s second question was, “What is your salary expectation?” Instead of answering with the question, “Well, what is the range for the job?” I said, “Between $37 and 45,000, but it is negotiable.” I said this before I even knew what my duties would be. I don’t know what I was thinking! That is well below the average for the position in my area; the range is $50,000 to $60,000 with a median of $55,000. Do I have to stick with what I said at the job offer, or can I begin negotiating at a higher level? The salary that I had given was for a position from another company.”

Well, at some level I feel like it’s too late and you’re stuck, but on the other hand, it’s sure a good test for your future employer for you to have a frank discussion with them about the situation and explain what happened.

In general, if you get a question in an interview that you’re not prepared to answer, I would encourage you to say just that: “Ah, well, I haven’t really thought about a salary: at this point I’m still trying to see if I’ll be a good fit for your company and at what level I’ll be able to contribute” would be a good way to defer.

I’ll also point out that until you were to get an offer in writing from the second company, the number they threw out about a starting salary isn’t worth much of anything, and would certainly be a dangerous basis for negotiation. Remember, if you tell your new employer that you’re not happy with the salary, they could think you’re greedy and invite you to join the other company, who could then explain that they no longer have a position for you.

Am I offering up conflicting advice? Yep. Its a tricky situation you’re in and I would encourage you to tread carefully. Decide which would be worse: having a job and gaining industry experience at a salary lower than you believe you’re worth, or ending up with no job and you’re back in the market?

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do and how it goes…