When a person conducts a job search, they usually monitor the job market, research companies, network, attend events, join professional associations, and perhaps, even obtain certifications or go back to school to improve their marketability. Job seekers do all these activities to position themselves to compete in the job market. However, once a job seeker lands a job, they tend to immediately stop doing all the very things that helped them get it. These activities should not be viewed as “job seeking” activities, they should be seen as development activities. Development is never something you are “finished” with, but rather, something that is on-going and it is a constant process relevant to building your brand.
What Inactive People Realize When They Lose Their Job
Imagine a person who has been in their position for 10 years, who has stopped doing all of those activities that got them their job 10 years ago. Now, imagine that person being terminated because of a reduction in work force (RIF) at their company. We all know people like this – what happens? That person freaks out because they realize they haven’t touched their resume in 10 years, they haven’t had an interview in 10 years, and they find that the world around them has changed dramatically but they have not changed with it. All of a sudden, these people scramble to try and find a job only to find that the very process of finding a job has changed, the market has changed, and the competition is fiercer. Unfortunately, people don’t realize the situation they’ve put themselves in because of their lack of on-going development and research until they lose their jobs.
Brands that Don’t Evolve Go Out of Business
The job seeking process is a marketing process and companies hire candidates based on the value they add to their organization. Job seekers are all brands in constant development attempting to increase their potential value added to an employer so they can gain a competitive advantage. We promote our brand through print advertisements, online advertisements, and even word-of-mouth marketing. In the job seeking process, these advertisements are our resumes, our online social profiles, our network, and our reputation graph. What happens to brands that don’t evolve? They go out of business! It can be difficult to stay informed of job market trends, continue exploring interests, and to continue developing yourself, so I’ve provided some easy ways to get started.
5 Easy Ways to Maintain Relevance and Continue Building Your Brand
- Create Google Alerts – Monitor topics of interest, companies, or market trends. You can’t know how to adapt or evolve your brand unless you know what’s going on in the market and in your areas of interest.
- Follow companies and news sources on Twitter – Monitor activity in areas of interest. Twitter can be used as a great source of current information and trend monitoring. Many companies are also increasing the use of Twitter to advertise jobs. The “unadvertised” job market is now on social media through the word-of-mouth social media facilitates.
- Create automated email job alerts using Indeed – Monitor the job market in areas of potential interest because even if you’re happy where you work, you never know when that next great opportunity will be available. Wouldn’t it suck if you missed the chance to apply simply because you didn’t know your next dream job existed?
- Join LinkedIn groups in areas of interest and seek new connections. Meeting new people, joining discussions, and engaging communities of interest is a great method of continued professional development.
- Continue Gaining New Experience – get involved and gain new experience. Don’t limit yourself to what you are paid to do!
