You're Not Applying for a Job. You're Running a Campaign.

 Ever notice that presidential candidates don't 'apply' for the job?

Can you imagine a campaign ad that starts: 'Hi. My name is John McCain and I am applying to be your President.'

Applying sounds weak. It makes us sound subservient - we are asking for something when we apply for it.

So politicians don't apply. They run campaigns.

When a politician runs a campaign, he is engaged in the act of marketing. He is deploying a variety of strategies in order to communicate his value. He is being creative. He is engaging other people. He is offering solutions. That is worlds apart from 'applying.'

For most of my career, I applied for jobs. It was only in my last few years of corporate life that I began to think in terms of running a campaign. It made the world of difference. Once I stepped out of the application mindset, I began to do things differently.

Here are some of the things that changed:

• I didn't look for a job just when I needed one. Instead, I worked on keeping in touch with recruiters and building a network of peers in other companies.
• When I wrote my resume, I focused it on demonstrating how I had added value in the past.
• I stopped applying for posted positions and started contacting companies I would like to work for, whether or not they had advertised a vacancy. Often I had to get creative about how to find contact information and make connections.
• When I walked into interviews, I went armed with my suggested solutions as opposed to sitting down and waiting to be asked questions.
• And I approached interviews as conversations between equals rather than as terrifying rituals.

If your job search is getting you down, are there ways that approaching it like a campaign would help you develop some new and creative strategies?

And if you have already done this, what are some of the tricks and techniques you've come up with? Take a moment and share them in the comments - your strategy might be just the thing to jump-start someone else's campaign.

Posted by Louise Fletcher, Blue Sky Resumes

Comments

[Amy Smith]

Great article for everyone looking! I just read an article this morning that states that executive recruiters are seeing an strong increase in either new executive positions at companies, or organizations that are now actively seeking to fill senior executive positions.

[Louise Fletcher]

I've been hearing the same thing Amy.

[Lynda]

This article presents a refreshing new perspective on how to take advantage of interviews. Thank you!

[Dan Eustace]

Hi Louise, Another "Atta-girl!"

Please permit me to suggest other tactics.
-look for opportunities to excel doing ordinary things that others would pass on. At a meeting I was one of four speakers. Organizer was held up. Assumed the responsibility for assisting the other speakers and co-developed a back-up plan so that presentations went even better than expected.

-give things away-- sincere compliments, opportunities for younger professionals, help to those who seek it

-ask mentors for advice on new situations and use it. In teaching a class, I was asked to talk about what motivated me to do this as an adjunct. I asked a mentor who suggested all professors have office hours. So, I developed a social office hour concept over lunch where we could talk about whatever was on our minds. Seemed to have worked. Sent her a thank you. You can't imagine how that made her feel.

Dan

[Gail]

Great article and a reminder to those of us who are in the midst of "running campaigns."

[Ernie Perez]

This was great! Very insightful view of job search.

[Bill Morgan]

Very nice article. The key thing as mentioned is to change your paradigm. You are not looking for a job. You are marketing a product. Key differentiation in how you approach the process.

I constantly tell my readers and candidates not to think it's writing a resume and sending it off. it's a sales campaign and you are now in sales.

Bill Morgan
The Job Swami Career Blog

[RADHIKA GUPTA]

nice post!!!!!!!!

great idea for people applying for jobs."a must read"

best of luck!!!!!!

[AleciaPuppe]

Right on! With social media, you can really utilize the idea of running a campaign by building your personal brand. Tiwtter, blogs, sites, facebook, lindedin. So many tools to not shy away from, but embrace and use like any company does... brand building.

[Colin]

Well, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but this really is a great post. I am over 30 in a job in which it is impossible to support myself. This really helps. I am definitely "starring" it on my Google Reader feeds. Thanks for your time in creating this post and for your willingness to share.

Colin

[Puja Agarwal]

I heard about a job portal http://naukriforwomen.com which is dedicated to females candidates. I hope it will live our expectations.

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