The process of finding a job can sometimes be long and difficult.  I know I went through several weeks of 3-4 interviews per week with various companies during my senior year of college.  Once I finally got an offer and then eventually accepted it felt like I was home free.  My mindset was just that I could sit back and relax because now that I had a job I had it made.

I realize now that this was a pretty bad philosophy.  In college I was constantly looking for new opportunities to increase my chances of being marketable to the companies that I hoped to work for.  In today's economy, when employees are constantly changing jobs rather than working their whole lives for a single company, it's important for us to carry this mindset into our career.  Even though I have a job now it's not going to be my job forever.  It's important for me to maintain that mindset of preparing myself for my long term goals and making myself as marketable as possible for future jobs.

The first way to do this is to simply do outstanding work in your new job.  That has to be first and foremost because it's what you're getting paid for.  It's important because you want to gain the reputation of someone who always delivers.  It's also a good idea to seek out assignments or projects at work that are slightly outside of your comfort zone so that you're constantly growing, improving your skills, and learning new things.

The next way to make yourself more marketable is to propose a new project within your company.  Sometimes this is called intra-preneurship.  This is a great situation because you have resources and fellow employees to support you and help you achieve what you want.  Examples could be starting a new community service relationship in your city, starting a intramural team or sports league, propose a new revenue source that the company isn't currently using.  There are so many different ways to start something new so the possibilities are really endless.

Finally, my last and probably best idea for making yourself more marketable is to start a side project outside of work.  Again the possibilities here are endless and they don't have to be geared towards making money.  It should, however, be geared towards improving yourself in some way.  I think my friend Brennan puts it best when he considers it "something worth talking about."  What are you doing these days that's worth talking about?  Maybe you would like to have your own business one day (I do).  Start something small now.  Maybe you could start a non-profit organization based on a cause you're passionate about.  Maybe it's something completely different like training for a marathon or triathalon.  Maybe it's building a computer desk from scratch because you didn't have one for your new apartment.  Maybe it's creating a personal website and posting your resume and portfolio on it.  A great resource for building a personal website and establishing your own brand is Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel.

Now a good idea for starting something on your own is to find a close friend to do it with you.  It helps hold you accountable, and it becomes a lot more fun when you're doing something with a friend.  Your chances for success will likely be a lot greater when you're collaborating with someone instead of just trying to do everything yourself.

What are you doing that's worth talking about?  I'm interested to hear, and I'd also be interested on working together on any cool new projects.  Get started and have fun!