Post-graduation self-promotion plan is a systematic process and activities that portray a graduate as an expert in their field, attract the ideal and potential employer and reveals how the graduate can help the business. A graduate should understand (Nelson, 2015):
The target audience to whom you will direct the promotion
Why you are going to promote yourself to the identified audience
What you are going to say about yourself during promotion
The plan has goals that it should meet to help the job candidate succeed in the process of job hunting. Some of the goals are (Georgiou et al., 2012):
To help provide direction thereby eliminating trial and error that would lead to saving time and money
To help and network with the main industries that fit the candidate career
To help the job candidate identify the skills that can be transferred
Determine various industries where the transferable skills fit
Resolve any challenges that hurt the candidates career and prevent the candidate from being invited for interviews
Candidate’s mission statement should appear in their plan. The mission state should, however, say what is important to the job candidate. The mission statement helps the candidate get his job hunting on track while also connecting with organizations with similar values and beliefs (Nasser & Abouchedid, 2012).
Key Self Promotion Tools
Market research: The tool involves the job candidate understanding trends in their field. They should also consult various resources such as the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook while also interviewing the professionals in the industry. They should also study the company they would like to work for and then use the information to write a cover letter and the resume (Tziner, Vered, & Ophir, 2004).
Marketing mix: The candidate should be familiar with the 4 Ps of marketing otherwise known as marketing mix that are a product, promotion, place, and price. The job candidate should then translate them regarding themselves and their career for success in job seeking (Tziner, Vered, & Ophir, 2004).
Product: The job candidate is a unique product with unique features and skills. The candidate should expose the features in the resume. They should let the employers know about the relevant job and leadership experience, membership to professional bodies, relevant skills, training, and education. On the same note, the job candidate should ensure their online promotion tools such as Facebook are clean and ready for the employer (Tziner, Vered, & Ophir, 2004).
Marketing: The tool addresses the cover letter, resume, phone calls, and interviewing. Marketing includes various things the candidate can use to get invited for an interview and eventually a job offer (Tziner, Vered, & Ophir, 2004).
Place: The tool includes various places the employer can access the job candidate. The candidate should ask themselves how they are reaching potential employers or people who can connect them to employers. It includes Internet job searching, cold calling, and networking among others (Tziner, Vered, & Ophir, 2004).