4 Reasons Why Downsized Federal Employees Find Job Search Challenging: It’s a job you have not done before!

This morning, I realized that 30 years ago this week, my coworkers and I were called to a meeting and told our Federal Government office would close in 90 days. This shocked the 120+ people in the room because the Federal Government almost never did mass layoffs—and layoff, or RIF actions of any kind were uncommon.

A quirk in our agency’s personnel legislation made it difficult for us to transfer into other agencies. (The “competitive area” was essentially defined as our own office) While some of us found their way into other federal jobs, many of us had to scour the “real world” for work.

Most of us, if memory serves correctly, had been at our jobs since college so we had little or no professional experience outside the Federal Government. We had to figure it out from scratch with limited help from an outplacement consultant and a publicly-funded downsized-worker pilot program. (I hung around that office so much, they hired me!)

Soon, I realized why that job search was, and still is, largely a marketing process. As government workers, we did not market anything in the traditional sense. Congress funded us to do a certain job, and we did it. (By law, most federal workers cannot advocate in Congress for their own agency’s budget)

Years later, in 2021, I was in the audience at a Pennsylvania Career Development Association (PACDA) Zoom panel on job search strategy where Curtis Jenkins, a project management consultant and “Visionaire,” also described job search as a sales and marketing function.

In other words, we must look at job search from an entrepreneur’s point of view. This could be frightening to jobseekers such as downsized federal workers who feel they have never had to market or sell anything.

Surprisingly, though, most of us use sales and marketing techniques to persuade others at our jobs every day. Your boss may have assigned projects to you, but you probably had to convince him or her to provide the resources you needed for the work to get done. You had to sell your resource request to leadership.

Persuasive skills you have learned at your job are a great starting point. A few specific marketing concepts will help you, too.

A concept called the “marketing mix” offers a better understanding of job search. We will show you how the marketing mix relates to what you do when seeking work.

The four elements of a marketing mix are:

1. Product,
2. Price,
3. Position, and
4. Promotion.

You will also see these concepts referred to as “the 4 Ps of marketing.” Curtis translated each element of the marketing mix to a jobseeker’s perspective. We will add our own observations and updates based on recent job market changes.

Product

The service you offer a prospective employer is your product. So, in marketing terms, for example, I might help an accountant market their knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when we collaborate on a resume. This is a novel idea for those of us that have been salaried employees for much of our careers. It requires a certain “mind reset” from a traditional job search perspective.

Marketing your service is not an analogy. This is what you are doing when you create and implement a job search strategy. Your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and related job search documents are “sales brochures,” sometimes called “marketing collateral,” for your product.

Price

The price of your product is the salary you ask employers to pay. Some jobseekers are accustomed to being offered a salary, rather than thinking in terms of quoting a price for a product. The concept of negotiating a salary, or price, may be especially alien when you have been in a government job for many years because your job probably has a specific grade and pay rage associated with it. Nonetheless, you are naming a price when employers outside the government ask what salary you are looking for.

Many career coaches recommend delaying salary negotiations as long as possible. Let the prospective employer decide whether their company must have your service and then name your price.

You may be asked about your salary requirements early in the screening process. The online application may ask about your desired salary. Or a staffer may ask about your salary expectations before agreeing to set up an interview appointment.  Coaches suggest offering a range based on research from sites such as Glassdoor.com, LinkedIn and the US Department of Labor.

Additionally, your task may be made easier because certain states and municipalities have pay transparency or pay equity laws and rules. These statutes can require private-sector employers to show salary ranges in job postings or during the interview process. As a result, it is becoming more common to see pay ranges in job postings.

You will probably have to request a salary within the posted range. It is possible, though, that the employer will redefine the job at a new salary range when you are the person they really want to hire.

Whether the employer shares their salary range or not, make sure you have researched your market worth and a realistic salary for the job you want. Otherwise, you will be excluded from consideration when your asking price is too high or taken advantage of when you ask too little.

Position

Marketers talk about putting the product in a place where consumers will see it most easily. For example, candy will be found on a low shelf at the store where children will spot their favorites.

Similarly, according to Curtis and other coaches, jobseekers that put themselves in positions where prospective employers can see them will get results. Volunteer to do relevant work with a professional association or nonprofit organization so you interact with people in your field. Attend professional events. Personally, I’ve found opportunities twice as a result of volunteer work, and once at a professional luncheon.

Also, you can position yourself to be visible online. Have a complete LinkedIn profile and review your LinkedIn Analytics to see whether relevant people are viewing your profile. (You will get best results with a LinkedIn Premium account) Post relevant information about your field and comment on posts related to your job target and the companies where you want to work. You can even produce your own LinkedIn newsletter or create YouTube videos and podcasts.

Promotion

Much of what we do in job search falls into the promotion category. You can create advertisements in the form of promotional LinkedIn pages. Your resume serves as a brochure, and your cover letters are promotional sales letters.

“But I’ve never sold anything before.”

A big challenge, I pointed out to Curtis, is that most jobseekers are not trained or experienced salespeople. Those that have worked in public agencies and other large, bureaucratic, organizations were never asked to sell anything. Others did the selling for them,

Curtis pointed out that we all sell. For example, we pitch projects to our bosses and quote prices for the projects in the form of a budget. We write promotional materials in the form of project proposals.

In other words, whether you have marketing or sales experience or not, you are prepared to market your product. Think about your marketing mix to help sell it!