Your success in a job hunt – and I would argue over the long-haul of your career – revolves around understanding, showcasing and improving your MM (most marketable skills). Too little time, effort and thought are typically invested by most people.

Why is it important to identify my marketable skills?[private]

There are three reasons for doing this.

1. The first, and most logical, is that it will help you to write a more powerful resume. Keep in mind we will use this information in our Standard and Standard++ resume formats.
2. The second is that it will help you to present your qualifications in a way that is most likely to be relevant to an employer’s need. You will feel confident about what you have to offer and will sell yourself better.
3. The third is that by identifying the skills that are most in demand, you can focus on sharpening those skills and getting the kind of experience that will guarantee your skills and qualifications will always be in demand.

You will consistently use your MM skills in:

1. Your resume
2. Your LinkedIn profile
3. Your interview discussions
4. Your Facebook posts
5. Your Twitter feed
6. Everywhere you professionally engage

You have three types of MM skills

At a high level, there are three basic skills that we will be concerned with. They are:

1. Job Skills/Knowledge – These skills are unique for a given job and consist of technical or specific abilities required to do the job.  These essential job skills are typically included in the job posting and the position description, although it is not unusual for these listings to be ambiguous, inflated and/or devoid of some critical elements.
2. Cultural Fit – These skills are most often referred to as “personality traits.”  They are very important because these are the skills that allow you to fit-in to the employer’s work environment.  This includes the ability to work with a team. Failure to mesh with the employment culture is often quoted as the number one reason people are fired or laid off for cause.
3. Transferable Skills – Transferable skills are skills that you bring to the job from other work, education, or life’s experiences.  They may or may not be directly related to the position but show that you can do more than the basic requirements required.  These skills show you are experienced, demonstrate versatility, and provide incentive to hire you.

MM skills and personal branding

In today’s world it is important to work on developing your own personal brand. This includes development of your USP (unique selling proposition) as discussed in module 3.

More specifically, personal branding is all about identifying the unique and differentiating value that you bring to an organization, team, and/or project…and being able to communicate that in a professionally memorable and consistent manner in everything you do, both online and offline to everyone that you work with and/or meet during your career.

Determining which MM skills are most desired

Every job/profession has an ever changing set of skills that employers want to hire. While many of the basic skills remain, they do change over time. This is caused by a variety of factors which include, new technological advances, changing market conditions, product/service market competitiveness, etc. They are market driven, don’t forget that.

You must keep a constant vigil on what the market is demanding and be diligent to ensure that you are getting the kind of work experience that provides you with these skills. Next, you must become better than average at executing these top-desired skills.

You can keep up with these demands in a variety of ways, but one of the easiest is to read job postings for your profession which will help you stay current. There are a variety of other methods, which are discussed in our coaching discussions.

Identifying your MM skills

I recommend that you have regular discussions on this topic with your boss, co-workers, friends and outside colleagues. I would suggest that you make a list, and then ask these other people to make their own independent lists. Then you have the basis for discovery and discussions.

What follows is a model on which you can work through your discovery process to focus on your most MM skills and any skills that you need to acquire or want to strengthen.

Your basic foundation

Write down your differentiating strengths, i.e. those you feel makes you stand out from the rest). At first, just list them as they come to mind. Collect the lists from the others and then identify your top 3 t 5 strengths.

Tie your accomplishments to your strengths

For each of the top 3 to 5 MM skills, write a minimum of one accomplishment that showcases that MM skill. It is better if you can write 2 or 3 for each skill.

Develop your MM skills to communicate

Next, write each accomplishment identified in the previous step, into a concise statement using the “mental yard stick” concept which requires a measureable, results oriented format. You should have a written version and be able to easily articulate a verbal version. Remember, you will be using this information in all six areas as defined above.

Showcasing your MM skills to the world

You want to get you MM skills in front of your target audience and be sure that your message is always consistent across all of your marketing channels.

1. Create a LinkedIn Profile – As covered in Module 3, you should develop a personal LinkedIn profile that uses you MM skills and be sure they are intertwined throughout your profile. This includes proof in the form of recommendations and can also include downloadable documents.
2. Join associations or networking groups – LinkedIn is a great place to start with this. Details are in module 3. Try to attend their events to build your contacts. Remember to bring lots of business cards and they MUST include a link to your LinkedIn profile.
3. Get recommended – Work to get recommendations on LinkedIn that provide proof of your MM skills.
4. Conduct polls – LinkedIn offers the opportunity to put together polls to get opinions on relevant topics and it’s free.
5. Create an Internet property – This could be a blog or your own personal website. Here you can showcase not only what you have done, but include more proof of your claims. We offer a service to provide you with a customized WordPress blog/website as an additional package.
6. Participate in relevant online discussions – We cover how to use LinkedIn Groups in module 3. This includes LinkedIn Answers as well, or similar forums that cater to topics that are relevant to your brand.  Here is an underutilized avenue where you can not only contribute to the discussion of your professional colleagues, but you can also discover new trends and skills that you need to acquire.
7. Publish – You can write white papers or co-author papers on topics of current interest. You could also self-publish an eBook or report on Amazon. It’s free to do and Amazon is looking for quality content. You can even be paid when someone purchases your book. However, the biggest benefit is the solid brand that you’re building.
8. Tweet – Write tweets that are relevant to your MM skills and what the market is talking about.
9. Reach out for advice – Whenever you’re working on a project, whenever possible network with a few key people and get their advice and insights on a couple of key issues you’re facing on the project.
10. Sponsor an event – Consider sponsoring a local or national event on a relevant topic. This could be done economically via a webinar. Google+ offers handouts which can bring up to 6 people together for a discussion and it’s free.

Press Releases and the Media – One source to get quoted in the media is to use HARO (HelpaReporter.com) by contributing advice, experiences, and insights to writers and journalists seeking expert source.

Tie your MM skills to the market

You will need to determine what functional area, geography, and industries/companies you want to target. Once you know the target, you will want to network your brand with the key stakeholders in those areas as outlined above.

Using all of the above advice, here is the test to determine just how well you’re doing in having the relevant MM skills. This will also help you gauge how effective your job search is going to be. This effectiveness will determine how many opportunities you are likely to have available, how fast/long you job search will be and how well you can expect to be paid.