Which one of two marketing jobs would you choose, if at face value equal in all other perspectives except that one of the jobs deals with “cool technology” and the other doesn’t? In many cases we, specially we with a technical background would gravitate to the company with cool technology. Why? Somehow we feel proud and get satisfaction out of the fact that the products or services are hard to understand, and this blurs our decisions in the job selection process. I claim that in many cases when we look for a new job, we should put aside the whole technology consideration and give it a lot less weight. Very few jobs are about the technology itself, and much more emphasis needs to be put on factors like future job prospects and company culture. Technology can be cool and give satisfaction in ones daily work, but might also focus you on the wrong things and doesn’t necessarily give you any better long-term prospects.
Summary for job seekers
Here’s my top-level advise for anyone looking for a job. In the next blog posts I’ll be drilling deeper into each of these, with some more details.
- Manage your time
- Keep records
- Find out what works for you
- Networking versus On-line
- About being flexible
- Get a support network
- Being clear on what you want
- Recruiters
- How to overcome rejection
What kind of company are you talking to?
I got a new job a some time ago and thought about how to be successful in the first 90 days. To help me in the process, I purchased this book that talks about strategies and gives suggestions of how to approach this. One of the topics covered explains that it’s really important to know in what “phase” the company is in, because this will determine what they need, what to do and also prevent you from stepping onto the land minds. The book identifies four different types of companies / phases / situations: a) start-up, b)turn around, c) re-alignment and d) sustaining success, each requiring different type of marketing actions and maneuvering. For example, for a start-up the need is often around establishing processes, compared to a turnaround situation, which generally quickly requires some tough decisions. In the sustaining scenario, the trick is not to destroy what is working while moving the organization forward. I found this information quite valuable, not only when you landed a job, but while you’re in the interviewing process, because if you can figure out what the state of the organization is, you’ll also be able to tailor your resume and answers in your interviews towards solving the real needs of the organization while being sensitive to things the organization definitely does not need, and you’ll come across as a better fit.
A job seekers journey 