Career Enhancement: Start Marketing Yourself

As you examine your path to success, you must determine how to get yourself on that path. This means you need to be in contact with the companies and/or industries you see in your future. As you already know, landing the job you want is not an easy task. That is why marketing is an essential part of career mapping.

Above all else, a self-marketing strategy for career enhancement should address these three issues:

Market Identification:
Just like a business must decide on the customers to whom it will sell its product, you must decide on the companies and industries to which you will sell yourself. Be specific, having only a general idea will leave you unfocused. Make a list of specifics so you can properly allocate your time and effort.

Strength/Weakness Identification:
When a business sells its product, it does not just to tell you the product's name. Advertisements emphasize the advantages of a product. You need emphasize your strengths and downplay your weaknesses as you market yourself. Have your closest friends and colleagues help you compile a list of your positive and negative characteristics.

Mission Statement:
It may seem trivial to actual develop a mission statement for yourself, but they perform a very valuable function. Creating a mission statement requires you to concisely explain your goals. In doing this, you remove frivolous details and better focus yourself.

Ten Tips for Writing Effective Cover Letters

A creative, well-written cover letter is often the best way to make your résumé stand out from the endless sea of applicants and find its way into the ?must read? pile of the person making the hiring decisions. Here are 10 simple tips to help your cover letter wow:

1. Make yourself stand out. Get the competitive edge by writing a cover letter that focuses on your unique and exceptional qualities. What makes you an ideal candidate? Be strategic, persuasive, and concise.

2. Target the right person. Sending your letter to the proper person can make all the difference. Avoid generic addresses such as ?To Whom It May Concern? or ?Dear Sir or Madam.? Instead, call the company and find out the name and title of the person who does the hiring for the job that in which you're interested. Remember to ask for the correct spelling of his or her name.

3. Stay simple. Keep your cover letter brief. Never send a letter that is more than a page in length; half a page is ideal. Be sure to use clear, professional language while steering away from buzzwords, acronyms, jargon, or anything overly personal.

4. Make it shine. The overall visual impression of your cover letter can be just as important as what's written on it. Make sure to use crisp, quality stationery. Match the style of copy on your cover letter with the style of your résumé. Stick with one font and avoid solid walls of text that make the reader?s eyes bounce right off the page. Break your text into digestible morsels with lots of white space.

5. Be an attention getter. Don't waste your first paragraph by writing a dull introduction. Grab the employer's attention from the start by pointing out how you can make a difference in a way no other candidate can. Keep in mind that you have only about one to two seconds to get your initial point across before the reader moves on to the next letter.

6. Sell yourself. Don't expect to wow a prospective employer with a lengthy checklist of past accomplishments and titles. Instead, position your accomplishments in terms of how you could bring the same benefits to their company. Your cover letter needs to answer the question ?What?s in it for my company?? Clarify how your expertise will benefit them directly.

7. Hire a proofreader. Never underestimate the negative effect of bad writing, which can greatly hurt your chances of landing a new position. Invest in your career by hiring a professional writer or editor to check your cover letter for spelling, grammar, and overall readability.

8. Avoid exaggeration. There's nowhere to hide when you finally land an interview and the prospective employer wants to know what you meant by ?best in the world.? Avoid saying anything that sounds like hyperbole, which can project the wrong image and damage your credibility. And remember never to speak poorly of former employers or coworkers.

9. Close encounters. Don't depend on the employer to take action. Request an interview and tell the employer when you will follow up to arrange it.

10. Don't forget the follow-up. After sending in your cover letter and résumé, it's imperative that you follow up. You'll greatly increase your chances of getting an interview if you call the employer directly after writing, rather than just sitting back and waiting for a call.

Career Change - 5 Tips For Taking The Fear Out

1. Have a game plan.

There's an old saying that "Fail to plan, and plan to fail." This is as true with career planning as anything else in life. A great way to do this is to sit down with a notepad and write down your goals and asperations for your life, as well as your next career.

Ask yourself if you really need an entirely new career, or would a change of employers make you just as happy? Sometimes a change of scenery and a new work environment are enough to rekindle a person's passion for their current career. Another option is to move into a new sector of your existing career field.

If you do decide that a new career is the answer, then you'll have to set out to learn as much as you can about your prospective career. Some things you'll want to know are what kind of specialized training you'll need, how long and how much it will cost to get that training, and if your new employer would be willing to hire a trainee with no experience in that career field. This last question is especially important for older workers. You'll also want to know how many working hours are typical for that career, the typical benefit packages, and of course the average salary in that field.


2. Consider a job placement service.

Job placement services can be great places to find out information about new careers. This can take much of the anxiety out of a career change. For example, you can find out what the demand is for a certain career, how many companies in your area are currently hiring, salary, benefits, and other important information. And if you're lucky, the service might even be able to place you in a position immediately, or at least get you a temporary job working in your target career field (which is a great way to get your feet wet and find out of that career is really for you).


3. Network with other career changers.

Another way to reduce your stress level is to talk to other workers who have just gone through their own career change. If there are recent hires at your existing company, talk to them and find out what their experience was like. What challenges did they face? How long did it take them to find a new position? How did their spouses or partners feel about the career change? What advice would they give somone in your situation?

If you can't find anyone at your present job to talk to, try contacting a company in your target career field. There are usually people more than willing to answer questions, and help steer you in the right direction. And if you can, speak to a few people who've been working in your prospective career for awhile. Do they still like the job? Do they still find it challenging? Given the chance, would they choose that career again?


4. Do your research.

If there are vocational schools or colleges in your area that teach subjects relating to your target career, contact them. Many professors and instructors once worked in the profession or career area in which they teach, and they can tell you a lot about what to expect. If you can't speak to anyone directly, go online do a search for topics relating to your target career. There is a wealth of information online regarding almost every field imaginable, from starting your own business to education options to financing a career change.


5. Put your career change into perspective.

Don't tie all of your hopes for your life and your future into a new career. Sometimes people think that if they could just find their dream career, everything will fall into place and their lives will be perfect. But this is usually not the case. Simply making more money or having an more impressive job title won't make a bad marriage better, or change your relationship with your kids. Just make sure you're changing careers for the right reasons, and realize that your identity and place in the universe are defined by more than your choice in careers.

These are just a few ways to help take the anxiety out of a career change. You can probably think of a half-dozen more. The important thing is to have a game plan, stick to that plan, and move ahead with resolve and determination until you've made your new career a reality.