4 Steps to Begin Your Career Marketing Campaign: It’s not just a job search anymore!

A recruiter I speak with periodically at webinars likes to say “it’s not just a job search anymore. It’s a career marketing campaign.” So I started looking at job search from a marketing perspective. As a jobseeker, you are offering to deliver a specific service for a price to prospective employers—your customers.

Back 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.

After seeing the presentation I realized we have to look at job search from an entrepreneur’s point of view. This could be frightening to jobseekers who feel they have never had to market or sell anything. In fact, most of us use sales and marketing techniques to persuade others at our jobs every day.

Our approach will be to use a concept called the “marketing mix.” We’ll 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.” The analysis Curtis offered translated each element of the marketing mix idea to a jobseeker’s perspective. We’ll 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 his or her expertise in applying 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. Nonetheless, you are naming a price when employers ask what salary you are seeking.

Many career coaches recommend delaying salary negotiation as long as possible. Let the prospective employer decide 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 in states and municipalities with pay transparency or pay equity laws and rules. These statutes can require private-sector employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings or during the interview process.

Quoting a salary range is analogous, in my view, to what happens when you call a restaurant and ask for their prices. They will normally respond with a range of prices such as $14.95 to $39.95.

We taught clients at an employment program where I coached that the initial contact is “just a conversation.” You are not negotiating salary. The response can change when a prospective employer makes an offer.

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, job seekers that put themselves in positions where prospective employers can see them will get results. Volunteer to do relevant work with a professional association or non-profit 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. 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 YouTube videos or 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 sales people. Those that have worked in large, bureaucratic, organizations—Fortune 500 corporations, large non-profits, and public agencies—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. You will sell it!