The process of getting your dream job is essentially the exact same process a consumer goes through during a purchase, except you are the product and the manager is the consumer. Firstly, the manager realises there is a problem and a need for someone to fill a position. They collect the necessary information required to start making decisions and then select alternatives that would be suitable. Finally they make the decision and you land your dream job. Let’s hope there’s no cognitive dissonance.

This series of articles is about selling yourself as the product the manager needs to have. That manager must need you, your talent, your skill, your knowledge and whatever else you can bring to the organisation.

It’s actually quite simple, graduating like a rock star is about personal branding. You are one of many brands out there all fighting for the same thing. You have to stand out and do the things discussed in this series. And to do that, we can bring it back to the first lecture any student takes in Marketing 101: provide value. Marketing at its core is the exchange of value and for a salary and benefits, which ever graduate can exchange the most value is the one that lands the dream job and graduates like a rock star.

There’s a number of ways you can do this, some of which has been already discussed in this series. Don’t approach an employer and ask what’s available – you have to show that you are indispensible, that they already need you and without you they will be at a loss. Offer to volunteer and say that you’re willing to work for free until they find you of enough value to start paying you. Create work for yourself and show them how well you can do it. There’s a number of strategies you can take, but at the core of what you’re trying to achieve make sure you’re providing value.

If you’ve managed to become a passionate student, ditched the resume and started a blog, begun to network digitally and done something incredibly creative, show an employer how you can add value to their organisation and you will graduate like a rock star.

I hope this series has been helpful and I’d love to hear if you’ve gotten something out of it. I wish you all the best, don’t steal my graduate position and I couldn’t think of a better way to finish this series… rock the casbah.

Be creative is the fifth article in the ‘Graduate like a rock star‘ series.