Marketing Yourself

Searching for a job is exactly that – marketing yourself.

So apply what you've learned about marketing/advertising to sell yourself as a job candidate.

• Identify your audience // Who are you targeting? Ad agencies? Design firms? Publications? Decide who you are going after, so you can ...
  
• Determine their needs // This will tell you what kinds of pieces to include in your portfolio. Also, it will help you determine which skills you have, so you can ...
  
• Let them know What's In It For Me (them, not you) // They don't care what you've done as much as they care about what you can do for them. Don't just talk about you ("I learned Flash in school") talk about how that experience/skill benefits the interviewer's company ("With my Flash experience, I can create better interactive sites in a short amount of time"). Then you can ...
  
• Make your call to action // Ask to set up an interview. Or see if you can drop off some samples. Then follow up. The worst they can do is say no. So why not ask?

Put your marketing abilities to work for your most important client. You.

(Also, here's a great post at talentzoo.com. You'll notice that much of the advice given to experienced professionals applies to you as well.)