THE BEECHMONT CREST CAREER GUIDE:
SURVIVING AND THRIVING IN THE CORPORATE JUNGLE
Chapter 1: What do Employers Want?
Find a need and fill it.
A company succeeds in selling you a product or service by fulfilling one of your needs. The need might be transportation, whiter teeth, or a new lawnmower. Corporations pay marketing gurus and consulting firms millions of dollars each year to figure out what you need, what you want, and what you might be convinced that you need or want.
This doesn’t mean that marketing is about hoodwinking or manipulating anyone. Beyond the most basic items, “needs” are often difficult to define. As a consumer you are probably already aware that:
a) Sometimes needs and desires are indistinguishable.
b) Skilled marketers are often able to awaken needs and desires that you didn’t even realize you had.
Perhaps you had been going through life perfectly satisfied with your graying hair. Then one day you saw a commercial for hair coloring. It told you how much self-esteem and sex appeal you were missing out on because of your graying hair. Look, the commercial said, at how much better your life could be with a more youthful hair color. Look at how attractive you would be to the opposite sex. And—viola!—you were out the door to buy a bottle of hair dye.
Suppose that the hair dye made you feel better about yourself. Suppose that it gave you more confidence. If it did, then the marketers who conceived and delivered the commercial message made your life better in exchange for $3.59. But did you really need the hair dye? Perhaps this is the wrong question. What do we really need, except for food, water, basic clothing, and shelter?
A better question might be, did the hair dye provide a benefit that was worth what it cost? This is the question that you need to keep in mind as you market yourself to employers. Can you provide a bundle of benefits (services, skills, and knowledge) that will make the money spent on you a worthwhile investment?
Companies are usually not quite as impulsive as individuals. However, it is a mistake to believe that employers always know exactly what they want or need. After all, a company is nothing more than a collection of individuals. Therefore, you need to:
1. See yourself as a product
2. View your job search as a marketing campaign
3. Treat potential employers like potential customers
The similarities between job-hunting and marketing are a theme that we will explore in greater depth in Chapter Three.
Copyright 2006 Beechmont Crest Publishing