There are different marketing approaches that a job searcher can use to find the suitable job and progress toward that interview. Foremost, the job search key strategies such as preferred work situation, target markets, and the obvious and hidden job markets, would have been addressed. If you are a job seeker most likely you are already using some of these campaign considerations how to approach potential employers including letter writing, telephone calling, networking, answering ads and agency shopping.
Marketing Approach Used in Planning a Strategy to Develop a Job Interview
- Advertised Openings - Published job vacancies that have been officially declared somewhere inside a company or organisation or in newspapers.
- Non Published or Hidden jobs - Job market in which the positions have not been advertised to the whole workforce or general public.
- Employment Agencies - Nearly all companies, especially the big ones, make some use of employment agencies to supplement their own Personnel Department. These agencies are varied and it will pay to understand their policies and practices.
- Search Companies/Consultants - Search and consulting firms work primarily for the employer and not for the applicant.
Generating enough interviews to produce two or three job offers will involve a substantial amount of activity and paperwork. This is a full-time job and will require every ounce of a job searcher's ability and ingenuity, not to mention persistence.
Like a skilled marketer, a job searcher does a lot of research to find out who will want a product because of the benefits buyers will get from having it. Among others, the research covers where buyers are located, how to reach them, what special features will make the product attractive to different customers and how much they will be ready to pay for it.
In the market place, you as a job seeker becomes the product and your target is to market yourself. The same marketing rules apply and research should be directed towards related questions that need answers.
Questions Needing Answers
- What kinds of companies or industries are interested in the skills you possess?
- What is the title of the individual who will actually hire you? That is, do you have to be interviewed by the General Manager – finance, the Regional Sales Manager, the Human Resources Manager, or the chief of the Production Crew before getting the job?
- Where are the companies you are interested in located? Do they have local, regional, or national offices? Which do you have to approach to get the job you want? Who is the individual you have to see to get the job?
- How can you best make contact with these companies? Should you do it through your personal network, agencies, sending resume, or direct telephone calls?
- What qualities – work history, educational background, or personality – would make you especially interesting to these companies?
- On average, what is the salary range for the position you are interested in? How does this relate to your last salary?
- In planning your job search campaign, it is important to make a realistic assessment of the size of the market. Are you limiting it to a local or regional area? These assessments are important to the design of a realistic marketing effort that will produce the result you want.
As a job seeker, it is necessary to set priorities. You will have to determine how much time and effort you should spend on mailings as opposed to calling or interviewing personal contacts. In terms of time management and efficiency, you will have to judge which activity will afford you the maximum chance of producing a job while requiring the minimum expenditure of your time and effort.
