Have a Game Plan

For a company, a marketing plan outlines the specific actions they intend to take in order to interest their target audience in their product or service and persuade them to buy the product or service they’re offering. Similar to any company who is about to market a new product with a marketing plan, a personal action plan can help you communicate your value to your target audience – employers.

Entering a job search with a good game plan can cut job hunting time in half, save you money, and often can mean the difference between landing your next great job or remaining unemployed. In today’s competitive job market, a personal action plan can be especially beneficial. Most people will never get enough interviews with a hit-or-miss approach because it leaves too much to chance.

A personal action plan is your blueprint for marketing yourself to potential employers. It’s your step-by-step track to follow on your job hunt that should consist of the following facets:

Surface the right information about yourself and set clear goals. Set goals that will increase your chances of landing a job and advancing your career. These goals can be anything from specific job titles to income goals.

Pinpoint what you should be marketing, especially your transferable skills. All of your assets and skills need to be identified. Then, they need to be incorporated into your resume, cover letter and personal marketing website.

Identify industry alternatives to target. Look into what else is out there. The key is to identify industries with characteristics that match those where you have experience or where your degree can translate.

If you have liabilities, you need strategies to neutralize them. If you have liabilities, such as little related work experience, that may restrict your success in the job hunt, as part of your personal marketing plan, arrive at ways for minimizing their impact in all written materials and conversations.

You need a step-by-step game plan to get your story told to all the right people. You want to lay out a step-by-step plan that will guide you in a search. This should be a weekly agenda that includes a plan for how you will search and a plan for interviewing if you are given the opportunity.

Often when it comes to job searching, equally talented people can produce widely varying results – one will struggle while the other moves with speed. The ones that see results rapidly during their job hunt usually have the benefit of a good game plan.