This is my series of Finding a job in today’s Job Market… series (1 of 5) – How to Make Yourself Marketable. I received a lot of great feedback on this series on my previous site and have updated it now for today’s economy

Welcome to the first in my series of: Finding a job in today’s Job Market – How to Make Yourself Marketable.

This article is about finding a job any time. Whether it’s a down economy, or growing economy, or flat economy. One thing is for certain… there are always job openings somewhere. I want to go over first making yourself marketable. And then, in my next article I’ll show you how to market yourself. From there, my third of a series in finding jobs, we’ll discuss actually marketing yourself.

First, it’s obvious that you have to make yourself marketable. For instance, if this was the 1980’s, and you were a vinyl record producing company, looking back now, it’s obvious that you should have gotten yourself educated on creating CD’s, DVD’s and now Blu-ray.

If this was the late 1970’s and you were a carburetor manufacturer or carburetor technician it’s obvious that you should have gotten educated on fuel injection systems. Again if you were a TV antenna installer, you should have learned about satellite dishes or cable TV systems. And the list goes on and on.

I love the original Star Trek series, and particularly where Scotty would always give credit for well known sayings to the Scottish people by prefacing with “there’s an old Scottish saying”.

Well, in one episode he takes Scottish credit for saying ”fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. If you lost a job, or simply could not find a job, due to your skill set or education, that is quite normal. But in the words of Scotty to Captain Kirk, don’t let it happen twice… if it did, well…

Who was it that said do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Perhaps, Mark Twain. In any event, if you are at a job simply to fill in employment because you lost your career job, take this as an opportunity to take stock of yourself. But… don’t take too long . I always tell people, if you want to find yourself, look in the friggin’ mirror… there you are.

Did you realize that certifications in today’s day and age is as respectable as college degrees often times. Why?… because certifications show you actually know how to apply yourself for a specific job function.

For instance you can get certified in Microsoft Office products, Microsoft Networking, Microsoft Windows, Novell, Oracle… and that’s just from the technical standpoint . You can get certified in home care, babysitting, technical writing, just do a google search on certifications.

Certifications can take 6 months and typically longer. Being in the process of obtaining a certification will also make you marketable.

I had a friend recently give me a whole slew of Microsoft and Novell system manuals. Everything you ever wanted to know about those systems in these 2 dozen books. I donated them to the Salvation Army. Why? Because everything you ever want to know is available online. Subscribe to blogs, free magazines, web sites, etc. that can help you.

My final couple of thoughts. Perhaps the best and quickest way to increase your marketability, is to enhance the skill sets within your current career if you enjoyed what you did.

For instance if you were skilled in the use of specific software, or specific machinery, or specific techniques, then stay abreast of all the latest and greatest techniques. Another old saying “the difference between extraordinary an ordinary is simply the word: extra”. Do the extra.

All that I mentioned above, I’m sure you read it before, and already knew much of it. My next article is techniques that have helped hundreds of people in any economy to find jobs. It’s how to market yourself. Don’t miss it. Look for it and thanks for reading.

Click here for Part 2 of 5: Finding a Job in Today’s Job Market. Series 2 of 5 – How to Market Yourself in Any Economy

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