Your job search is a sales and marketing campaign. To get hired, you must identify, qualify and contact prospects (decision makers who can hire you) and sell to them (convince them to offer you a job).Because most folks looking for a job have only a limited exposure to sales and marketing, here are four techniques you can use to get hired faster …1) Treat Voicemails as Radio SpotsHere’s an idea: Think of your voicemail mess...

If you’re in the job market now, you may be in search of new ideas.Want some?Good.How about four?I spoke with two career experts this week who shared the following four "people-powered" ways to get the attention of employers...1) Eliminate the NegativeThe wrong word in a job interview can spell disaster, according to Peter Clayton, producer and host of career-management resource Total Picture Radio.Clayton shares advice he...

You hear a lot of talk these days about personal branding and how you should brand yourself in a job search.But you hear very little about how you should sell yourself to employers.Yet, I submit, that if you want to get hired as quickly as possible, you should be selling yourself as much as possible...and let the branding take care of itself. First, let's define branding and sales, as they apply to a job search. Then decide...

Want to put an end to your job-search worries?You can. Or at least, you can channel worries into positive action that moves you closer to employment every day.That’s a message I got from the book, "100 Ways to Motivate Yourself," by Steve Chandler, who writes:The next time you’re worried about something, ask yourself, "What small thing can I do right now?" Then do it. Remember not to ask, "What could I possibly do to make t...

As a rule, most employers hate reading cover letters. Because nearly all of them are what I call, 3B: bland, boring and banal. In fact, most cover letters are such formulaic exercises in boredom that I suggest you stop sending them to employers. That’s right. Don’t send a cover letter. Instead, send a sales letter.After all, your goal in writing to employers is to “sell” them on hiring you, right? With that in mind, here’s...

Last time, I wrote about the three habits of highly successful job seekers that I have observed after counseling thousands of people since 1996. To recap, they are: 1) Begin with clarity; 2) Take immediate, intelligent, massive action; and 3) Leave your comfort zoneToday, I’d like to share three more habits that can put you on the fast track to your next job. Note: These are recession-proof. They work in good times and in b...

Despite the down economy, there are plenty of jobs and internships to be had for anyone willing to work smartly and diligently to meet more hiring authorities.You can do it the old-fashioned way - networking in person and by phone - or using new social media, like Facebook.Here are two recent success stories from job seekers who did both, with lessons you can use today …1) Work the Phone and the Room“I started my job search...

Your next job is out there waiting for you.Where?In somebody’s skull.More specifically, your next job exists - right now - in the mind of your next boss. That job may be murky and formless, a nagging problem that will eventually require a new employee to solve, for example.Or it may be defined and open right now, perhaps advertised in the newspaper.In either case, the job you seek must first exist in the mind of a hiring ma...

Precession, as defined by the American polymath Buckminster Fuller, is the effect that bodies in motion have on other bodies in motion.To illustrate, think of a honey bee (and, yes, this will help your job search!)A bee moves from flower to flower in search of pollen. While in motion, a bee produces a “precessionary” effect: it fertilizes those flowers, allowing them to develop seeds and fruit. Now. Ever had a job interview...

If you’re looking for a job, here’s an odd question: How much fun are you having?Not much? Well, you might want to change that.This is the advice of former Minnesota Viking Fran Tarkenton, who suggests you try to find the fun in every task: “If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right,” he says.Wouldn’t it be nice if you were as motivated to write your resume tomorrow as you were to play Little League or skip rope as a child...