Personal marketing Plan Assignment

A key tool in the strategic planning process can also be applied to career planning. This tool is a marketing analysis using the SWOT technique. A SWOT analysis focuses on the internal and external environments, examining strengths and weaknesses in the internal environment and opportunities and threats in the external environment. Imagine your SWOT analysis to be structured like the table below:

SWOT Analysis

 

I N T E R N A L	Your Strengths	Your Weaknesses
E X T E R N A L	Opportunities in Your Career Field	Threats in Your Career Field

To construct your own SWOT analysis to set a course for your career planning, examine your current situation. What are your strengths and weaknesses? How can you capitalize on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses? What are the external opportunities and threats in your chosen career field?  

I N T E R N A L	Strengths Internal positive aspects that are under control and upon which you may capitalize in planning Work Experience Education, including value-added features Strong technical knowledge within your field (e.g. hardware, software, programming languages) Specific transferable skills (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership skills Personal characteristics (e.g., strong work ethic, self-discipline, ability to work under pressure, creativity, optimism, or a high level of energy Good contacts/successful networking Interaction with professional organizations	Weaknesses Internal negative aspects that are under your control and that you may plan to improve Lack of Work Experience Low GPA, wrong major Lack of goals, lack of self-knowledge, lack of specific job knowledge Weak technical knowledge Weak skills (leadership, interpersonal, communication, teamwork) Weak job-hunting skills Negative personal characteristics (e.g., poor work ethic, lack of discipline, lack of motivation, indecisiveness, shyness, too emotional
E X T E R N A L	Opportunities Positive external conditions that you do not control but of which you can plan to take advantage Positive trends in your field that will create more jobs (e.g., growth, globalization, technological advances) Opportunities you could have in the field by enhancing your education Field is particularly in need of your set of skills Opportunities you could have through greater self-knowledge, more specific job goals Opportunities for advancement in your field Opportunities for professional development in your field Career path you've chosen provides unique opportunities Geography Strong network	Threats Negative external conditions that you do not control but the effect of which you may be able to lessen Negative trends in your field that diminish jobs (downsizing, obsolescence) Competition from your cohort of college graduates Competitors with superior skills, experience, knowledge Competitors with better job-hunting skills than you Competitors who went to schools with better reputations. Obstacles in your way (e.g., lack of the advanced education/training you need to take advantage of opportunities) Limited advancement in your field, advancement is cut-throat and competitive Limited professional development in your field, so it's hard to stay marketable   Companies are not hiring people with your major/degree

To further refine your list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, you may also want to ask yourself some critical questions adapted in part from an article by Dave Jensen, managing director of Search Masters International.

Explore your own self-perception of your strengths, but also put yourself inside a prospective employer's head as you consider your strong points. Avoid false modesty, but also be brutally honest and realistic with yourself. Start out by simply making a list of words that describe you; chances are many of these characteristics comprise your strengths.

One of your greatest strengths can be loving the work you do. Learning to "follow your bliss" should be a critical component of managing your career. Some people know from an early age what kind of work will make them happy. For others, nailing down the self-knowledge that leads to career fulfillment comes from a process of exploring interests, skills, personality, learning style, and values. Take a look at some career assessment and exploration tools, such as those described in  Career Assessment Tools and Tests . Take one or more of the tests and react to the results. Do the results match your general plans and expectations?

In assessing your weaknesses, think about what prospective employers might consider to be the areas you could improve upon. Facing your frailties now can give you a huge head start in career planning. 

As humans, we find it relatively difficult to identify the areas where we are weak. But this assessment helps to identify areas where we may need to improve. If you identify a skill that you know is in your chosen field, but you are weak in that skill area, you need to take steps to improve that skill. Past performance appraisals and even your grades and teacher comments from school provide valuable feedback.

From this analysis, you will have a road map that shows you how to capitalize on your strengths and minimize or eliminate your weaknesses. You should then use this map to take advantage of opportunities and avoid or lessen threats.

After you've analyzed your strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, you should use that information to plan how to market yourself. 

The marketing planning process entails a three-step process:

1.determining objectives.

2.developing marketing strategies.

3.strategizing an action program. 

Objectives —define your career objectives. What is your ideal job upon graduation (or the job you would like to transition to from your current job)? What are some other positions you could accept? What is your five-year career goal? 

Marketing Strategies —a broad marketing strategy or “game plan” for attaining your objectives. What are the companies and organizations you're going to target to obtain your objectives—your ideal job? How will you communicate with these firms? The strategies you identify should utilize all of the resources available to you, such as your personal network and a partnership with a mentor. 

Action Programs —according to marketing principles, marketing strategies should be turned into specific action programs that answer a number of questions, including: What will be done? When will it be done? Who is responsible for doing it? Your key task here is setting specific timetables and deadlines for getting the career and company information you identified in the marketing strategy step. 

Preview of a Stellar Career A SWOT Analysis of Ken Erickson

By combining the top GPA in the business school with excellent work experience and campus involvement, I am poised to begin my career with a boom. Although the information technology field is highly competitive, with countless talented people holding a multitude of technical skills, the huge demand for skilled professionals allows a new college graduate to succeed.

Strengths With a finance major and minors in information technology and economics, I hold the top GPA in the business school-4.00. I have been working part-time for two years as a systems consultant earning a respectable salary at a $36 billion (gross revenue) conglomerate, ABB. I have worked for several departments on campus, managed the Stetson Reporter, played in the wind ensemble, won numerous scholarships and have been inducted into five honor societies at Stetson University. In addition to academic achievement and leadership skills, my computer skills include four hardware platforms, five operating systems, a programming language and dozens of software applications. The above are just some of my strengths as a student and potential employee. However, being married for two years has taught me the value of effective communication and the power of teamwork.

Weaknesses Even an unblemished academic record at the prestigious Stetson University cannot substitute for years of relevant work experience. In the information technology field, technical skills are the most important factor in job success, if not career success. Though I have abundant hardware and software experience for an undergraduate, a computer science major holds much more technical knowledge than an information systems minor. People working in the field for four or five years typically know many programming languages as well as enterprise-wide software, including Oracle, SAP, Novell, PeopleSoft, Informix, or others. Thus, lifelong learning and continuous improvement must be applied to my life for continued success.

Opportunities Systems analyst and computer engineer are two of the fastest growing job titles in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both are expected to grow more than 90 percent by 2008. Salaries continue to be relatively high because of an imbalance in supply and demand for skilled professionals.

Threats A great deal of publicity has surrounded the phenomenal growth in the information technology field, and more people are enrolling in training programs to take advantage of the trend. Many children have the technical skills in computer systems of entry-level analysts. Today's standard of technical competence will be tomorrow's level of incompetence. The technological landscape changes so quickly that being successful requires constant upgrading of skills and proficiencies.

Marketing Plan

1. Objective(s)

· Information technology specialist/systems analyst

2. Marketing Strategies

· Determine the top companies for IT professionals;

· Examine the potential of employment with dot-com companies;

· Find an employer with a corporate culture that aligns well with my values;

· Build and strengthen my network.

3. Action Programs

· Generate a list of the top fifty companies for IT professionals through a search of Web sites and periodicals, as well as word-of-mouth. Research name and title of IT hiring managers,

· Join one or more tech-related discussion lists to determine the pros and cons of working for a dot-com. If more pros, develop a list of the best dot-coms to work for.

· Visit each potential company's Website and obtain other information as it relates to the company's corporate culture. Obtain at least one per day.

· Develop, nurture, and grow at least three network contacts per week.

Market Research It's important to uncover and comprehend the trends in your career field as well as gather detailed information about the companies you would like to work for -- and using market research is essential to your success.

To uncover trends in your career field, you should review items such as the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook , which not only reviews the key characteristics of hundreds of careers, but also discusses the future potential for job-seekers. Another research tool is informational interviewing, in which you interview a key professional in your career field to pick his/her brain about future potential. Read more about informational interviewing .

It's absolutely essential to your job-hunting success to know how to research potential employers. Not only will this information help you in writing your cover letter (and perhaps tailoring your resume), but it is mandatory for when you get invited for a job interview. What are some of the best sources of information? Go to our Guide to Researching Companies .

Marketing Mix The rest of this article focuses on the 4 P's of marketing, also called the marketing mix. The 4 P's include product, promotion, place, and price. The marketing mix elements are the controllable factors that are used to achieve the organization's objectives -- or as it relates to job-seekers, the controllable factors that are used to achieve your job search success.

Product As mentioned above, you are the product. You need to examine what characteristics, features, and skills make you unique -- and thus stand out among competing job searchers -- in the eyes of employers. These features can include work experience, leadership experience, professional memberships, and, of course, your education and training. We use an advertising term here called the Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What is the one thing that makes you different than any other job-seeker applying for the same job? What are your accomplishments (not duties or job titles)? How attractive a product are you? What will make you more attractive to employers? Can you say your USP in 15 words or fewer? Read more about applying your USP .

But no matter how attractive a product you are, employers may not recognize and value you unless you have properly positioned yourself on the job market. Positioning, which involves developing a perception in the eyes of employers, is a three-step process.

1. Identifying a set of possible competitive advantages upon which to build a position. What are your competitive advantages for potential employers?

2. Selecting the right competitive advantages -- different employers seek different strengths and skills.

3. Effectively communicating and delivering the chosen position to the market. How can you develop a successful communications message? See promotion tools below.

Finally, there is the issue of packaging. In terms of job-hunting, packaging refers to how you present yourself and your credentials. Read:

· When Job-Hunting: Dress for Success

· Your Job Skills Portfolio: Giving You an Edge in the Marketplace

· The 10-Step Plan to Career Change

Promotion In some ways, the strength of your promotion tools may be the most vital piece of your career marketing mix. Promotion -- as it relates to job-searching -- includes cover letters, resumes, phone calling, and interviewing. Promotion tools include anything that you can use to get a job interview and ultimately get a job offer. How much time have you spent polishing these promotion tools? Do you have a solid resume? A dynamic cover letter? How are your interviewing skills? Do you have what it takes to sell yourself to the employer?

No matter how well you are positioned and how strong your USP, if you cannot properly communicate these benefits to employers, you will not get the job. We suggest you spend some time with these major sections of Quintessential Careers:

· Cover Letter Resources

· Resume Resources

· Interviewing Resources

Place Just as distribution is often the underutilized gem of a company's marketing strategy, so too is distribution often overlooked in the job search. Your distribution channel -- just as in marketing -- consists of a "set of individuals" who will help you distribute your product (you) to the consumer (the employer). In career counseling terms, your distribution channel includes all the methods you are using to disseminate your promotional tools in your quest for a new job.

Distribution channels include:

 Job Postings/Recruitment Advertising

 Cold Calling

 Networking

 Job-hunting on the Web

 University Career Centers/Alumni Offices

 Headhunters/Recruiters/Executive Search Firms/Employment Agencies

Which is the most important distribution channel? Most career experts agree that networking is crucial to a successful job search. Networking means developing a broad list of contacts -- people you've met through various social and business functions -- and using them to your advantage when you look for a job. Read Networking Your Way to a New Job .

People and places where you can network: current and former coworkers, colleagues, professional meetings, placement offices, alumni, recruiters, and almost any gathering of people. (We know of someone who received a job interview through networking at a wedding reception.) How strong is your network? How can you make it stronger?

Find the best networking resources -- on and off the Web -- in the Networking Resources section of Quintessential Careers.

And here are some other distribution resources and advice:

· Cold Calling: A Time-Tested Method of Job-Hunting

· The New Era of Job-Hunting: Strategies for Finding Employment on the Internet

· It's Never Too Early -- or Too Late -- to Visit Your College Career Office

· The Care and Feeding of Headhunters and Recruiters

Price This final piece of the marketing mix is price. From a marketing perspective, it's the determination of the perceived value of items in an exchange. For job-hunters, price refers to all aspects of the compensation you can expect from potential employers, as well as the strategies you need to follow to get the price you want -- and that the employer feels you deserve.

Many job-seekers focus only on salary, but compensation also includes:

 Medical insurance

 Dental insurance

 Optical/eye care insurance

 Raises, Bonuses, Overtime Pay

 Life insurance.

 Accidental death insurance

 Disability insurance

 Vacation Days

 Paid Holidays

 Sick/personal days

 401(k) plans

 Pension plans

 Profit sharing

 Stock Options/ESOPs

 Tuition reimbursement

 Health clubs

 Dependent care

 Employee Assistance Program

 Parking, commuting, expense reimbursement

Finally, job-seekers need to know the key strategies and tactics of salary negotiation -- knowing when to talk about salary, how much to ask for, and how to get what you want. Find all the answers -- and more -- in our Salary Negotiation Tutorial .