How to Manage Your Career Like a Business

Look upon yourself as a company with a product or service to sell. Understand your market and devise a dynamic marketing campaign, remembering that companies hire employees who offer them the best results and the best value for money.

Begin by identifying your skills, qualifications, and accomplishments. Adopt a customer-focused approach. What benefits and results can you offer employers? Are your skills marketable and up-to-date?

Employers are in the market for team-players and problem-solvers. They want to see evidence in your CV or resume of specific, quantifiable accomplishments.

Determine what additional skills you need to develop to make yourself more marketable. Take advantage of all opportunities for continuous learning and professional development.

Successful businesses win customers by developing a unique selling proposition. To give yourself a competitive advantage, analyse what other employees in your field are offering. It is not enough to emulate them; you must strive to differentiate yourself by offering something extra, something unique.

Try to assess yourself as objectively as possible in order to identify your marketable features. Analyse your performance appraisals and, if possible, enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague to help you evaluate yourself.

Define and prioritise your short-term and long-term career goals.

Study recruitment websites and the appointments pages of newspapers to familiarise yourself with the current requirements of employers.

Your CV/resume should be fine-tuned regularly and kept up-to-date to enable you to make a swift and targeted response to any suitable job opportunity that arises.

Learn all you can about job search strategies, job-specific resumes, and professional interview techniques.

By adopting a planned and proactive approach, you will maximise your chances of landing the job that best fits your skills and personality, and increase the likelihood of achieving your long-term career goals.

Gerard McLoughlin, author of 'Four Minutes To Interview Success', has contributed career-related articles to hundreds of recruitment companies, websites and publications throughout the world, including: USA Today, JobBankUSA.com, US-Recruiters.com, etc.

To receive FREE career tips on a regular basis, sign up today for The Assignments Plus Newsletter.

---

Your First Summer Work in the UK - Picking Strawberries The Right Way

Most jobs on farms in the UK involve picking strawberries... Read More

17 Surefire Ways to Annoy Potential Employers

Despite the President's encouraging words, the job market is still... Read More

Handing in Your Resignation and Serving Notice

Have you made the right choice? Before deciding to resign... Read More

Employees, Get Used to Working under Surveillance

Let's face it. Monitoring employees' e-mail, tracking their Internet use,... Read More

Effective Networking Skills: The Art Of Taking Your Job Search To A Whole New Level

Your network consists of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and former... Read More

Job Search Campaign Tip: An Activity Diary

Looking for a job involves a wide range of responsibilities:... Read More

Get Your Dream Job!

Anyone who is a jobseeker knows that looking for a... Read More

Are You Ready For A New Career?

Is your current or most recent job truly what you... Read More

6 Vital Tips For Creating A Superior Resume

1: Keep It ShortConsidering that initially HR personnel only spend... Read More

Getting Started: 5 Things You Need to Decide When You Get Started with a Job Search

There are few things more frustrating for a headhunter than... Read More

Writing Resumes

Use a resume as a foot in the doorWhen you... Read More

5 Key Factors to Consider When Selecting an Outplacement Firm

With today's economy, more and more companies are... Read More

Nine Career Zappers

Today, everyone is looking for the secret to business success.... Read More

Leave Your Dead End Job?For Good!

So here you are?stuck in a dead end job. Are... Read More

Rewriting Your Resume? 7 Easy Ways To Give Yourself An Upgrade

In today's competitive job market, a first class resume is... Read More

The Top 10 Reasons to have a Career Coach

Many people in the last decade have experienced for themselves... Read More

Workplace Melodrama--A Flair For The Dramatic

A flair for the dramatic is a theatrical term used... Read More

Inside Sales Jobs: A Job Worth Seeking?

Are you interested in inside sales as a career? Inside... Read More

Discontentment in the Workplace

While more people are finding employment, more employed workers are... Read More

How to Prepare for A Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal should be treated as an ongoing developmental process... Read More

Three Tips for Successful Networking

I generally shy away from using the word "networking" when... Read More

Your Resume is Just One of the Tools in Your Job Search

A resume is a tool. It allows employers to see... Read More

Do I Have to Provide a Salary History?

Often you see job postings with a request such as... Read More

Job Search Blurts

I coined this word to draw attention to the nervous... Read More

Avoid Your CV Always Ending Up in the Bin

Cover Letters must grab the reader's interest so that they... Read More

21st Century Career Success

When it comes to modern career development, one thing we... Read More

Get Off Your Butt and Out of the Rut

It's amazing to see so many people who are prepared... Read More

The Musketeer Approach

Stories of intrigue, treachery, politics, lies, double crosses,... Read More

Ten Things To Do When You Really, Really Hate Your Job

1. Begin focusing on what you want instead of how... Read More

How to Choose Your Ideal Career

They say that most people do complete and total career... Read More

Should You Seek Temporary Or Contractual Employment While Searching?

According to US Department of Labor statistics, the average time... Read More

How to Walk Away from an Opportunity thats Wrong for You

Q. I just finished a job interview. Everything went well.... Read More

Three Steps to Writing Your Own Resume

While most professionals hire a professional resume writer, some draft... Read More