Marketing Matters

Posts Tagged ‘Job seekers’

It’s no secret that, a year ago, I lost my job due to the recession and that’s when I returned to my roots as a consultant. Since I’ve had the opportunity to talk publicly about what it means to lose your job and how to find a new one (on Fox News and on behalf of TheLadders.com, respectively), I’ve thought a lot about how to keep your head above water when you find unemployment has robbed you of your routine, your community of colleagues and your self-confidence.

Here are four suggestions on how to make the best of a bad situation:

Connect with family and friends.
Build your community at home and make time for the people and things you didn’t have enough time for before. Personally, I spent a lot of time with my (now) two year-old son. Nothing takes the edge off your worries like playing with a baby.

Network with every business contact you’ve ever made.
Smart networking is in everyone’s best business interest. You’ve probably gone to great lengths to build up your social media contacts (if you haven’t, do so), but most deals are sealed face to face. Find your Twitter followers, LinkedIn contacts and Facebook friends who live in your area and arrange to meet. Are you a member of an online business group? Arrange for the whole group to get together to meet and put faces to those names. You’ll keep in touch online, but you’ll find the relationships are deeper and more useful once you’ve met in person.

For me, one of the best occasions I’ve had for this has been monthly meetings of Brandhackers. Nothing reminds you of your talents like being in a room full of colleagues, whether you’re a new-found freelancer or just looking to connect.

Create a sense of accomplishment for yourself.
Do all those things you always said you’re going to do but never had time for, be it cleaning out your basement, getting more involved in local politics or unpacking that last box from your most recent move.

I never thought I’d be inclined to fix a roof, but when I realized mine needed fixing, I taught myself how. And since no rain is pouring in at the moment (and it’s raining hard right now), I’m guessing I didn’t do too bad a job.

Learn. They say a wise man knows just how little he knows, so invite someone you consider accomplished to breakfast or lunch and have them tell their story and learn from their successes and failures. You’ll be amazed by how generous people are with their knowledge.

I do this every chance I get. Those conversations have led me to returning to my roots as a consultant as well as to finding new clients. And I’ve learned a lot about people I truly admire at the same time.

There was a very kind article written about me in the Career Advice section of TheLadders.com yesterday. It was a bit unexpected – while I had spoken to a journalist they had hired, I thought it was background on a different project.

The article wraps up a very eventful ten days for me – last Monday I was on Fox & Friends. Two days later, I was taping a segment for a new venture I hope to be writing about soon, and now this article.

If you’re a Ladders subscriber, you can read the article here, along with a lot of other great career advise. Otherwise, you can see it below.

Many thanks to TheLadders.com for this great story!

Marketing Pro Remakes His Image
Marketing executive details his job search and offers tips to other marketers looking for work.

by Patty Orsini

William Scheckel is a marketing executive skilled in marketing financial and technical services. He had never thought much about marketing himself, though, until one day last May, a couple of weeks after he had been laid off from a management consultancy in New York.

“A colleague, who is the chief marketing officer at a company I respect, pitched me back to me,” Scheckel said. “It was an eye-opener. I realized that I needed to put together this pitch, to get the word out about me. It was very helpful to get that kind of support.”

For Scheckel — who was still upset about being laid off and the way his former employer had handled the situation — it was the right thing to hear at the right time. “I could continue to be angry, shocked and concerned about the layoff,” the Montclair, N.J., resident said. “But I pushed myself to take that fear and anger and turn it toward making the effort to market myself.”

The MktgLadder member had many reasons to regroup as quickly as possible. “A few weeks before I was laid off, I had told my wife, who is a teacher and was miserable in her job, to go ahead and take some time off, rethink some things and then find a new job,” he said. “And my son had just turned 1. So, talk about putting everything in perspective! I knew what I needed to do.”

A video introduction
One of the first things he did was redo his Web site, adding a video introduction that would make that all-important pitch. “I put it to together with a friend of mine who is a film editor, who offered to do it for free,” he said. “We created this introduction that says, ‘Here’s what it’s like to talk to me, here’s what we will be talking about. If you like what you hear, let’s continue this conversation in person.’ ”

That exercise led Scheckel to rewrite his resume, using much the same language he had used for his Web site. On both his Web site and in his resume, he is doing the same thing, he said: marketing his brand.

“If I were a marketing consultant to myself, I would be hammering out the different aspects of my brand,” he said. “I know what I am good for: small- and medium-sized businesses. I wanted to make sure my messaging says this. If I do it right, I will display my value properly.”

While Scheckel is looking for a full-time position, consulting work is keeping him busy, in between job interviews, networking and taking care of his toddler son. His sense of humor keeps him going. “There are extra hours in the day when other people sleep,” he joked. “I stay up late, I get up early. I’m home with my son a couple of days a week, and on those days, if I can tire him out by 1 p.m., I can get a good three hours of work in. There’s not a lot of time to watch Battlestar Galactica re-runs.”

Scheckel has structured his week to fit in job hunting with consulting and refreshing his Web site. “Wednesdays and Fridays are job hunt days,” he said. “Mondays I have a regular gig with a company doing marketing work. I do like to have one day that’s flexible. But getting into a routine, where my day is structured like a job, is important.”

Beware of pigeonholes
While he is looking to broaden his search to other industries, “no matter what I try to do, I get tagged as someone who does marketing for financial and tech companies,” he said. “Marketing is marketing, and it can be applied across the board. In the 1990s, I worked in Germany, and my clients came from a lot of different businesses. But the places that are most likely to talk to me are financial companies, and no one is hiring there right now. With tech, I prefer small to mid-sized companies, and finding something viable can be difficult.”

But if he could choose any industry to market? “If Carnegie Hall or Jazz at Lincoln Center came knocking on my door, I would bend over backwards to work there,” he said. “I’m a musician; I would love to work in the arts.” But he is being realistic right now. Scheckel said he has been told by people in other industries that “no one is taking a chance right now. They want you to come in and be up to speed. They expect you to know the landscape, know the people. There is no time for ramping up.”

Career Advice from TheLadders

• Designer Clears Security to Land Defense Job in D.C.
• Hired! Creative Possibilities in Software Sales
• Sales Rep Leaves High-Volume Quotas for Higher Elevation
• Real Estate Director Plans Exit Strategy

Some days are tougher than others, he said. “My outlook varies from moment to moment,” he said. “It can go from staring into the abyss to feeling like something has got to give.” One big relief: His wife did go back to work, as a part-time teacher and part-time administrator at a local college.

And he keeps marketing himself, even to himself. “I’m good at what I do, and somebody is going to see the value,” he said. “I never let a contact rest. I never know where an idle conversation is going to lead. I’m in marketing, I’m not a salesman, but I’ve become a good salesman. I pull on whatever thread I can find.”