With the number of academic institutions churning out fresh graduates every year, the search for job opportunities is stiff, and it makes it all the more important for an individual to remain marketable in the field they are pursuing.
What is Marketability?
Being marketable means that you have skills and experience that makes you a valuable and desirable employee. You are, in essence, able to sell product "you" to companies that you would want to work with. It's vital to be marketable in this economy because competition for jobs is increasingly high and desirable job availability is equally low.
So how can you make yourself more marketable?
Go Back to School
Whether you are in the job market already or are still trying to penetrate it, the surest way of becoming more marketable is to further your education. It is never too late to go back to school. By taking on that master's degree to compliment your bachelor's degree, you better your chances of stepping up the management ladder and being sought out by other organizations. Aside from furthering your studies with degrees, you should sign up for certification courses that are in line with the career choice you want to delve more into. This puts you in a better position to learn more about current trends and developments so that you can keep at the forefront of your field.
Learn New Skills and Improve Existing Ones
Working on bettering the skills that you have already acquired is a sure way of making yourself more marketable. If you are already proficient with computers, you could take up a new challenge in the same field and learn more about software development which could give you an edge over someone who just knows the basics of computer knowledge.
Brand Yourself
There are many ways to do this, and you need to be careful about how you put yourself out there. If you have created an online profile, ensure that it always looks and sounds professional. In line with this, your e-mail address should portray you as a serious professional. E-mail addresses that contain words other than your name will not reflect your professionalism. A marketable person should have an e-mail address that reflects his or her real name, not a screen name that was chosen to remain anonymous online. When sending out professional e-mails, always ensure that you sign off like a professional.
Join Professional Associations
Join a professional association that is appropriately matched with your career. By doing this, you give yourself much more credibility and make yourself more marketable. Employers who are hiring are impressed when they come across an individual who is a registered member of a professional association.
Challenge Yourself
If you already have a job, challenge yourself by taking on a new project without being pushed. This will give the impression that you are ready for other new challenges, and you may start being chosen for more challenging tasks that may result in better pay and associated perks.
Amanda Moses is Operations Manager at Universities.com. Universities.com has a simple mission: to connect people with the information they need to make the best decision about which colleges and universities are the best fit for their educational needs. Since 1995, over 30 million potential students have used Universities.com to find information about online universities and schools. Learn more about online degrees at http://www.universities.com/Distance_Learning/Degrees_PhD_Programs.html
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