Monday, November 16, 2009

Five Things You Need to Let Employers Know

Today's job market is highly competitive. If you can't sell yourself, you may have a difficult time finding a job 'super sizing those fries'. You MUST set yourself apart from the competition. Five skills emphasized in "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0) are:


  •  leadership
  • communication
  • action orientation
  • passion
  • cultural compatibility

 Not so long ago, every organization, department, unit, etc. wanted team players - people who could work well together. However, most of these team players are followers-sheep following sheep. Although people need to work together, we are in dire need of people who can motivate and inspire people to do things they didn't think was possible. There are many managers who prod the flock of sheep following each other, along, but there are very few sheep herders who inspire sheep to herd themselves.

 

Being able to clearly write or speak are not easy skills to find. After proofreading doctoral dissertations, I am amazed at how many people cannot complete a sentence without a spelling or grammatical error. Additionally, we have become so obsessed with being politically correct and using soft, 'fuzzy' words that often the message we are trying to convey, is lost. There is a huge difference between being direct versus rude and someone who can express him/herself clearly and succinctly is of value to an organization.

 

Bias towards action....hmmm....how many of us have said we were going to get into shape only to find that months later our diets have not changed nor have we increased our physical activity levels. Winners are people who are not afraid to take action, ask difficult questions (why are we doing 'it' that way) and are not afraid to make a tough decision. Too many of us want to play it safe. Many of today's luxuries that we take for granted were not developed that long ago. It's the people who ask "why not?" rather than "why?" or who say "it can be done" versus "it can't be done" that have developed the products we take for granted, have become famous and/or become major successes. Winners are not afraid to ask "why" or "it can be done" and then "just do it".

 

 When you love what you are doing, you will be a success. Success is not defined as making a huge amount of money. Successful people love what they do and that passion is something which is of benefit to an employer. People who have a passion tend to be more positive, more productive and less 'whiney'.

 

 Winners and winning organizations share a trust, have open communication and get along well with each other. These people move their organization in the same direction in order to achieve the goals and objectives.

 

 Make sure you are able to tell an employer how you can contribute