Guest Post: You Don’t Need a Job to Have Value

Today we have a guest post about a topic I’m sure that many of you are experiencing first hand – a job equates to value. I, of course, think that statement is pure crap and so does our uest contributor. Below you’ll find out why and what you can do to stand out from a sea of job seekers.

This Guest Post is written by Samantha Peters, who is a strong believer that recent graduates should build additional skills in Blogging, SEO, and Social Media to help find meaningful careers in todays job market.

You Don’t Need a Job to Have Value

These days graduating from college with a degree is no guarantee you’re going to find gainful employment right off the bat. Many graduates, needful of student loan rewards and living expenses, will jump at the first menial job they can get, without thinking of the value of their time. Instead of spinning your wheels working for a coffee shop, your time may be better spent equipping yourself with some new valuable business skills that might have been overlooked by your professors. Here are a few ways to have value on the job market without necessarily having a job:

Become a Blogger

It can take time to really start generating significant revenue off a blog, but in the meantime you can use blogging as a way to network and build connections. It’s the 21st century zine and the most prolific entrepreneurial bloggers are finding that it can easily turn into a lucrative career. Many times, if you’re looking for work in editorial or marketing fields, employers will be interested in whether or not you have experience managing blogs and using content management systems, so it’s a very valuable skill. Blogging is greatly optimized by knowledge of the below skills.

Be an SEO Expert

Search engine optimization is the ‘art’ of understanding how the Internet favors and gives value to certain sites. This involves a knowledgeable use of keywords, backlinks, and other SEO tricks of the trade. People who are proficient at SEO are highly sought after in many online industries, and in fact, it’s at the top of the pyramid in online marketing.

Learn to be a Social Media Pro

Social media’s not just for sharing pictures of cute cats anymore, it’s widely used now as a launching platform for new services, applications, and products, as well as a way to control the image of a brand. The use of social media is a powerful new business tool that has gone far beyond Facebook and Twitter. Sites like Pinterest have shown the power of niche communities, as further manifested by crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and e-commerce hubs like Etsy.

These skills are in high demand right now by virtually all online companies. Blogging, SEO, and social media can exponentially grow the outreach and marketing power of a company. Therefore, those skills are highly valued on the job market. New to the hunt and looking for work? Word of advice: don’t work at a coffee job, build your skill base.