When I was looking for my first real job out of college, I got myself really worked up because I was convinced that if I didn't land it at this one certain place I'd never make anything of myself. At this point, I'm well aware of the fact that I was being ridiculous back then, but it really held me back from marketing myself to prospective employers.

Before you do anything else, stop beating up on yourself. If you take the opportunity to be a little kinder to yourself, then you'll find yourself in a better position to sell yourself to prospective employers. Now, don't get me wrong, I totally get it. It's really tough to relax at a time like this, but you're not doing yourself any favors by acting up. Once you're in a better place, you'll be ready to start the serious part of marketing.

Find Some Examples

For the longest time, I had this pretty bad habit of either shortchanging myself or going the whole other way and trying to promote myself using some kind of slick gimmick. Until I started to look for examples from other people, I kept doing one or the other and therefore had a tendency to make myself look somewhat fake. While it might seem like you're somehow being inauthentic if you start to take a look at what others are doing, it's actually a great way to learn.

Depending on the type of job you're applying for, you might consider taking a look at people's LinkedIn profiles or other online information sites that showcase what aspects of themselves other people are trying to promote. Take, for example, marketing expert Nicholas Beugg who has maintained a landing page that connects to his various online profiles. You may want to try something like this, especially if you're looking for something really techie.

That was another mistake that I was making for the longest time. My first big job was in technology, or at least it was supposed to be in technology. I didn't realize that employers were looking for candidates who had a GitHub page and a whole bunch of other social accounts. While it might seem kind of silly, this actually does make a little sense since people want some evidence that you know what you're doing and are up to the task.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to build up your online presence while you're engaged in the job hunt.

Building an Online Profile & Keeping Your Options Open

Though you might have your heart set on one particular job, don't limit yourself. There's a good chance you're not going to get the first thing that you apply for, and for that matter, there's a pretty good chance that you might end up working in a different industry than you had originally intended. Make sure that if you're trying to market yourself online you don't put yourself into too small of a box.

Back when I was still in college, a number of my professors loved to bring up the fact that there was a strong possibility that we'd be working in a field that wasn't really all that related to the degree program that we were in. I didn't listen to it then, but it turned out to be really true. I spent some time doing administrative work because, well, I marketed myself and promoted the fact that I had a degree on my profile. Turns out many employers don't really care about what kind of degree you have.

They merely want to know that you have one.

However, I have plenty of buddies out there that have been hit hard because they never earned that piece of paper and the kind of jobs they do are starting to vanish.

That's where you need to get creative. Cold calling isn't necessarily a good idea, but it's not too bad to start emailing companies that you think you might fit in with. Start sending out some messages to their social media accounts as well.

Sure, it's not exactly going to be fun but putting a little effort into all of this now is going to go a long way toward ensuring that you will get a serious job that you can at least hold down.