What’s a Job Lure?
In 1997, Tom Peters wrote about “The Brand Called You” and started the “Personal Branding” movement. Social media and “Web 2.0″ have brought this idea to fruition. You now have the opportunity to create an online presence that will attract opportunity in the form of promotions, job offers at other companies, and consulting gigs. This online presence is better described as a job lure.
The Job Search is Broken
I don’t believe anyone has ever solved the simple problem of “finding a job” or “finding opportunity” very well. Employees struggle to position themselves for lateral moves or promotions at their current places of work. Pounding the pavement and sending off resumes to other employers isn’t terribly effective, and it’s horribly time consuming for those employers to read poorly-targeted submissions.
Ever notice when a company announces jobs, there are exponentially more applicants than there are jobs? In one story I spotted, over 20,000 people applied for 877 jobs in Alabama! Why bother?
What about the other side of the coin? In some industries, employers can’t fill open jobs! While there’s potentially a skill gap between the two examples, it also suggests that we just haven’t really solved the problem of matching talent to opportunity.
If job searching is broken, what’s the solution?
Career Management 2.0 includes two simple parts:
- Alignment of skills to opportunities, to deliver the most value.
- Use of inbound marketing techniques to solicit the interest of those with opportunity to offer.
For those who aren’t yet decided upon their direction, we know that aligning your skills to opportunities is complex. JobLure.com provides frameworks and processes to help you identify how you can maximize your value in the open market. We have more material on this under Choosing a Career.
If you are confident in your career direction already, it’s now a matter of putting evidence of your expertise in the right place to lure in the opportunities. Inbound marketing for job seekers–the original concept for the “Job Lure”–requires work as well as knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. Our first drill-down into this topic ca be found under Inbound Marketing.
Peter Drucker famously stated:
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
It’s time we apply this philosophy to career management. I’ll explain how to define and position yourself as a solution to employers’ problems, and build a job lure that will act as a magnet to opportunities that match your skills.
What makes me qualified to help?
In my five years as a product manager, I’ve learned that you can’t just build something and assume people want it, but rather you need to work hard to figure out what people need, and solve the underlying problems. Meanwhile, I’ve run successful inbound marketing campaigns for numerous ProductCamp events in Austin and Atlanta, and participated in inbound marketing work for my employers. As a side-effect, I’ve observed the added visibility involved in running ProductCamp has led me to increased opportunity.
Now, I’m here to apply those combined insights to your career. Let’s get started!
Join the conversation! Comments and questions are welcome!
TL;DR: This blog will teach you how to lure in jobs that match your skills. Let’s go!
*image from Stock Xchng
