Tips on Job Search Marketing You in the Employment Marketplace You will have to become a salesperson in order to sell yourself in the employment marketplace. And you will have to learn to sell yourself according to the way your customer buys. Meet the customer needs first in order to meet your personal needs. Become customer-driven instead of product-driven. The first step in the customer-driven marketing process is to understand the market in general and what potential customer needs may be. It does not do any good to have a super product if there is no market for it. There has to be an established need or want in the job market that is satisfied by the product you are intending to sell. Do you know what your market is? Who are your potential customers? What are the specific needs of customers in your market? The next step in the customer-driven marketing process is to develop your product according to the specific needs of the marketplace. Have you developed your product to meet the specific market needs? Unfortunately, most students end up taking a major with little or no thought about their intended market. While it is not the purpose of this guide to go into the entirety of career planning, I will forewarn you that if you are not able to: (1) identify your market, and (2) identify your product in relation to the market needs, you will fail either totally or partially in your job search. So consider yourself forewarned--you need to have a roadmap, an automobile, and a full tank of gas before you start on your trip. Most of us plan our vacations better than we plan our careers. The first step in your job search is to plan the direction you will take toward the type of career you will be seeking. If you have no plan for where you are going, any road will take you there. Don't start off your life blindly or in a random direction. Please make sure you know where you are going before you start your journey of a lifetime. Prepare to Make an Investment I have heard literally hundreds of college students talk about how they were going to 'coast' in their final year right up to graduation. Your class load may be down, your work load may be lower, and in general, you are finally ready to start living the good life. Have you forgotten something? If you don't have a job yet, you are spending fools' gold by coasting through your final year. It's a trap. Many students end up spending their final year hitting all the parties, developing a flourishing romance, or just 'taking it easy'. And then they talk about how they were 'too busy' to look for a job when they come up empty at graduation. Sorry to crash your party, but until you have landed a job, you still have work to do. In fact, more work than you have done to this point. If you want to be a success in your career, you have to be prepared to make an investment--now! First of all, you will need to invest your time. You should plan on dedicating a minimum of five hours per week and sometimes as much as fifteen to twenty hours per week to your job search. I know that sounds like a lot of time, but get ready--there is even more, You should also plan to use your Fall, Winter and Spring Breaks for full-time job searching. Your breaks are nonrefundable time that should be banked directly to your job search account. I realize I may be stepping on a lot of Florida party animal toes by recommending job search over Daytona, but this is the time for a reality check. One week in the sun could end up burning you badly at graduation. And don't make excuses that you cannot possibly fit anything else into your 'crowded schedule'. If you are taking more classes than you need to, drop them. If you are attending more social engagements than you need to, avoid them. Stop volunteering for everything that comes along. You onl