At 4:30 AM on my commute into Boston — an hour designed purely to outrun the city's infamously wicked traffic — I caught a radio headline that stopped me cold: "The job market is a disaster."

A disaster was the 2008 bank meltdown. A disaster was COVID in 2020. Today's job market is competitive and unforgiving, but it is full of opportunity for anyone willing to work it with discipline and skill.

There are plenty of jobs available — if you know how to look, how to present, how to follow up and how to close. That's not wishful thinking. That's the same fundamental rhythm that drives success in Marketing and Sales.

The Science of the Job Hunt

I live in the deep reality of this every single day. Hundreds of my students and alums are somewhere on the bases right now — getting up to bat, charging to first, grinding toward second and third, and occasionally hitting one out of the park. But the home runs are rare. What actually wins is consistent training, daily outreach, crystal sharp value propositions, professional follow-up every 3–5 days, relentless networking, and an absolute refusal to just hope and wait, or worse...listen to the naysayers.

Control what you can control! You cannot control the economy or the politics!

At the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, I teach the mechanics of Sales and Marketing through what I call "Content in Context"— where my 10 instructors (all alums of this very course) deliver curriculum inside the structure of six real companies requiring actual marketing plans each semester. We already have a student wait list for this fall. If you're interested in being one of those six companies, reach out and let's talk.

The reason I wrote The Marketing of Me™ is simple: I ran out of time. I can work directly with roughly 100 students each year across two semesters — in class with four students every week delivering their 90-second personal value propositions to their peers for live feedback on content, delivery, and body language. The book was built to take that same framework further to a much larger population of students providing hundreds of other observations and real-world world tactics I've learned over the years.  

As professors, we have a responsibility not just to prepare students for their first job, but to help kick open a few doors to get them started.  If professors cannot do that...even in a minor way, they shouldn't be teaching. 

Beyond the Hill

Last month, in partnership with my colleagues at Tufts Advancement, we hosted an event called "Beyond the Hill"— and it really delivered! 

Our keynote was Jeff Stibel, CEO of LegalZoom, who was extraordinary in his openness about his own personal journey.

Four of our most dynamic alums, in a panel with me, rounded out the program with hard-hitting, direct advice:

• Rachel Blumenthal — Founder & CEO of multiple successful companies
• Ben Carson — Co-Founder & Managing Partner, FVLCRUM Funds
• Becky McCullough — VP of Talent & Mobility, HubSpot
• Kenny Nova — Managing Partner, NeoPrima Ventures

A few of their sharpest takeaways:

• Focus only on what you can impact. The economy and politics are not on that list.
• Build a detailed, highly targeted plan: geography, company size, industry, role and salary. 
• Write your personal marketing plan — and update it every two weeks.
• Don't wait. It won't be easier tomorrow.
• Don't focus on your resume: max read by a human is 10 seconds. Do have a professional LI.
• Be easy to find. Every email, text and follow up must have your cell and your LI link
• Create your own role at your target companies and pitch that idea directly to a senior leader.
• Block out two dedicated time slots every week for your own job search marketing.
• Ask everyone for connections and introductions — and go overboard in thanking them.
• Never give up!

After a rainy start, it turned into a beautiful Friday yesterday afternoon which led me to a run on the NH beach, so I thought that I would send this out early this Saturday morning to jump start your day. If you're in a job search, spend part of this weekend with The Marketing of Me™. If you're not, please pass it along to someone who is.

Enjoy the weekend!!!

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 Jack Derby is Managing Partner of Derby Management, a strategy consulting firm, and is the founder of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University, where he has been teaching "ENT 105: Marketing" since the course's founding 20 years ago. Every semester's content is significantly updated with a heavy emphasis in 2025 and 2026 in AI's use in Inbound Marketing. At Derby Management, Jack and his managers architect and build highly productive sales and marketing processes, tools and tech platforms.