Approaching Your Job Search with an Entrepreneurial Spirit

Taking an entrepreneurial approach to your job hunt is a way to stand out in the masses of jobseekers now on the market. People have been known to stand on the sidewalk hawking their availability with sandwich boards or to buy billboard space. These people reached a point at which they will do anything to get a job…and their tactics reek of desperation.

What are some ways to show your enterprising spirit without seeming weird and crazy? Here are some ideas to jump-start your thinking:

• Make your 30-second “elevator speech” less conventional. Spotlight a remarkable success you had rather than your laundry list of skills or jobs.
• Create unusual business cards. They could be a unique shape, have a fold-over flap, come in an electronic format…use your imagination.
• Start a blog and submit articles as a guest blogger—use every online opportunity to promote your blog (and you), without being pushy.
• Become an active blog commenter on popular, influential blogs in your field. Get noticed by sharing your expertise.

Instead of your resume, prepare a Qualifications Statement as if you are a consultant for hire and send it to the companies where you would most like to work. Sometimes you can get in the door full time after showing off your skills as a consultant.

Since this is Global Entrepreneurship Week, use the occasion to launch your own branded, entrepreneurial job search. Within professional parameters, you can have fun with it and demonstrate your creativity. It can’t hurt!