Commodity

With a sinking economy and many people continually losing jobs, being a quiet job prospector in today's market is the same as being invisible. Getting a job requires making sure you are the one that stands out and is best suited for the job. This is something you already have to be showing before an employer is even involved.
Having a tailored resume is a basic step in promoting yourself. Having one resume that is copied and pasted onto each job site is not going to be impressive. In fact, it will probably be buried and never see the light of day. The resume should show that you have done your homework on the company you are applying for, and you have matched your skills to that specific job. Giving detailed examples of the particular skills can also make the difference in your resume and hundreds of others.
Being involved in social media sites is a must to securing jobs. Networking is the way to get jobs. It may sound snobbish, but it really is who you know. With a job market that is very tight and not letting up anytime soon, who is an employer more likely to hire a) someone who has taken the time to get to know them and their company or b) someone who just applied online and has never been heard of beforehand? It is pretty obvious. The employer is going to pick option A. Why would he risk hiring an unknown when he already knows option A is more than capable of doing the job?
The main thing to remember when marketing yourself for employment is that you need to think the same way as employers. This means always keeping at the forefront of your mind what they need, and that is what you can do for them. The way of showing employers that you are what they are looking for is to find an effective way of communicating that. Again, this can go back to social media sites.
Marketing yourself is as simple as knowing your strengths and selling points. That is the whole point. Make it obvious with sites that you join and groups that you participate in that you have something to offer, and it is valuable to those around you. This will make you attractive to the employers and employees of companies that interest you. The more people that know how valuable you really are will make you are prized commodity. That should be a goal for people in today's market because after you get the job, you also want to hang onto it when others are being shoved out the door.
The true way to get jobs is by making yourself appealing to those around you. Even people who have never met you should be attracted to what you have to offer. Being unknown does not win jobs. So, join groups and communicate. With every person that knows your skills, there are two others that are waiting to know.