Marketing yourself will get you a lot further and a lot faster. When you go for a job you are marketing yourself but you are also selling the most difficult product to sell - you, that's why getting a job is so tough. It's actually much easier marketing products and services to people who want your products and services than it is to get a job. Because there are so many people out there looking at the same jobs and opportunities, you have to outsell the other person. You have to equip yourself with the best strategy, the best preparation and skills required to market you as the product, demonstrating clear benefits to the prospective employer. Remember you are the product/service that needs to convince people to buy!!

SWOT Analysis on yourself

This is an important first step, just like you were going to plan a new product/service to the market you will need to understand various factors. Without doing this due-diligence in the first place I am sure you will fail to penetrate the market successfully. You need to sit down and consider the following:

* What are your talents? (features of a product)
* What benefits will you bring to your new employer? (Benefits of the product)
* What is your focus?
* Where would you like to be in 2, 5 and 10 years time?
* What are your weaknesses? How will this impact your effectiveness?

How can you turn these into positives?

Develop a Strategy

This is very important; again you would not launch a product and/or new service without developing a strategy. From your point of view you need to sit down and be clear on what it is you're looking for, you're areas of flexibility and your dream job!

How can I develop a strategy? You should look at the market, are you interested in competitors? Who are they? Do you know the type of company you are looking to join? The type of sector? The culture? These all need to be considered.

You need to decide which potential agencies to engage with, don't just engage with everyone. Pick suppliers who are targeted to specific markets and have a real knowledge of their sector. Research job boards, make sure you understand which ones offer the most opportunities with your skills and look into networking sites. This is a great way to make connections with hiring managers/companies directly ( , & are my favourites.)

The Basics: But forget them at your peril!!

Make sure you're CV is 100% accurate in terms of spelling, grammar and punctuation. This is the first way you can turn off a prospective customer. Would you buy a product that looked faulty or the packaging was messy/information was spelt wrong or inaccurate - I doubt it!

Make sure you have your CV proof read by others, the layout is impeccable, to the point and contains killer content that stands out. Not just I did this, I did that etc etc. You need to make sure it demonstrates real value throughout, like a brochure that would tempt someone to buy a product / service.

What you can do in your current job to help

Make sure that you constantly have a focus and plan as to where you want to go and be. Then you can align your skills towards that route, if you are looking to move in different directions look into training, self development and qualifications. Additional extra's to your profile will always help your CV and find out what your customers (potential employer) actually want to see on a CV.

Remember, when you have products and services that people want, marketing to them is easy, it will also mean you will then have more people coming to you as your skills will be in demand.

Be-Proactive

This is key to marketing yourself, as above you can help yourself get found but combine this with a pro-active approach and you will get where you want to go so much faster. Make connections on the job currently (you never know where you're boss will end up), facilitate the networking sites, research who you want to work for and go out there and get them. Don't rely on agencies and don't blame them if you don't get where you want to go - THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! Agencies can help you and use them as a tool, but make sure you act yourself. Remember a multi-communication approach is far more effective than relying on one avenue.

The Sales Stage

So you have got several interviews lined up - you have managed to market yourself successfully to this point and know you're really embarking on the crunch stage which will be the interview. This is getting you close closing the sale.

To prepare for this make sure you do the following:

* Thoroughly research your audience (company & individuals)
* Practice interviewing with members of the family, friends and/or a professional interviewer
* Read interview techniques & prospective questions, have all the answers in your head for any eventuality
* Make sure you are immaculately presented
* Remember to focus on your impact / initial impression - people form opinions of others within the first 10 seconds of meeting
* Remember to talk clearly, succinctly, to the point and with examples (your features and benefits)
* Build rapport and smile - this can go a long way

Hopefully all of the above has given you a useful insight into how you can market yourself to be successful in this tough economic climate - to stand out of the crowd you need to market yourself effectively. Without doing this you as a product / service may be left on the scrapheap.