1. Instead of searching for a job, find a problem you can solve.

This is a proactive approach, and forces you to network and interact with a variety of people and to research problems facing organizations requiring your expertise. Identify thought leaders in your field and begin to insert yourself in their conversations. (One good tip is to discover and read blogs targeting your industry. Check Alltop.com for a great list or use Google’s blog search.)

Trying to find a problem to solve instead of a job requires you to consciously identify skills you plan to use in your next opportunity and to outline your accomplishments. If you stop searching for a job and start paying attention to what you have to offer, you will recognize you control more than you may have realized when it comes to your search.

Read the rest on my NEW, weekly blog on U.S. News & World Report’s Careers site…

Don’t Look for a Job – Make the Job Come to You

Photo by Jeffrey Beall

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First, Don reminded listeners that the resume is about the future, not the past! How often have I told my clients that very thing? It is very important to remember that demonstrating how you can be useful in the future – how you can solve the employer’s problems – will make the difference in helping you land a job. Don’t write a resume full of jargon from your past positions if that is not the same jargon your targeted employer understands or speaks. That is akin to ordering in French at a Chinese restaurant; you are unlikely to get the food you crave.

Don reminded us how important it is to illustrate how you solved problems and achieved results on the resume. He also noted that focusing on relative results – in context – is key. That is, if you improved sales by 15% in a downturn, when averages were in the negative numbers – say so! If you overcame obstacles to achieve a desired result – the reader wants to know! Focus on transferable skills without stifling yourself as a result of misdirected modesty. Don notes, the story is about the job seeker, not about the company.

Remember, having a great resume is one way to help you prepare to successfully network, interview and negotiate an offer, as Don remarked while I nodded…Yes! Having a great resume helps you bridge to your next job. I always say, “Show, don’t tell.” An action-packed, fully optimized resume is key.

I’ve written about how to evaluate your resume – how to look at your resume and decide if it is answering the key questions. Are you doing more than listing a bunch of “stuff” on your resume? In a competitive market, you must ensure that your materials are optimized to help get you to the next step. Take a good, long look at your materials. Are they a bridge or a roadblock to your targeted opportunity?

photo by Sandy Austin

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I also have to give a shout out here to the Atlanta Business Marketing Association and Kris Elliot (@regusatlanta) from Regus AtlantaOffice Solutions for hosting a terrific event in their beautiful office space! (Win one year of fully furnished office space at one of their 23 Atlanta locations enter HERE!)

I had a feeling that I’d get some great ideas to share with you from John, and I was not disappointed! The fact is (can’t say this enough): Job search is nothing more than marketing YOURSELF. And John’s definition of marketing absolutely hits the spot:

“Getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you.” What a great way to define the point of the job search!

All too often, job seekers fail to connect and land because they don’t focus on what the organization or employer wants. Big mistake. Find this information by studying the job description, thoroughly reviewing the organization’s website and social networking sites and making good use of information from people you have met via informational interviews.

What are their problems? (Their “pain points.”) You need to understand those problems before you can try to solve them. (Follow THIS LINK for a story that helps explain why!)

Job search is not about you. Your resume is not even all about you – it is an opportunity to make connections between what you offer and what the organization desires. If you ignore those all important NEEDS, it is unlikely that you will connect with an employer in this very competitive market.

Take a good look at your resume. Are you taking into consideration who will be reading it and what appeals to him or her? Do you make an effort to connect your skills and accomplishments in a context that resonates with your audience? What can you do to incorporate information with the “hooks” to appeal to the jobs you are hoping to “catch?”

Stay tuned for more that John shared that really resonated for me and related to job search!

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Certainly, styles have changed. Content has changed. (The previously required “Objective” is no longer even suggested, for example.) Suffice to say that a lot has changed! Do you really want to be sending the equivalent of “your father’s resume” when you apply for a job at that hip start-up? Or, even to the newly redesigned and rebranded business down the street? Probably not!

So many people forget that the resume style they used right out of school isn’t going to be the right choice now that they have actual “work experience.”

I hear from many job seekers who have many years of experience, but are still spending a lot of time listing awards won in college that have no significance for today’s reader. Many job seekers fail to move their “Education” section to the bottom of their resume once they have a position and enough experience under their belt (and no specific reason to keep Education on top).  A few still list their high school diploma, even when they have a bachelor’s degree.

There is no fail safe ”one size fits all” advice for resume writers, but most job seekers will want to make these changes and more to their job seeking documents before applying for their targeted jobs.  Otherwise, they will appear less experienced than they may be and jeopardize their chances for an interview.

Take a look at the “before” and “transformed” resumes on my site. Which one does your resume most resemble?

Need help with your job search? Contact me!

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Anita suggested that I should take inspiration from what is all around me. So, some NYC inspired thoughts for the job seeker…

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A few thoughts the museum inspired in me…

Forgive me for saying so, but am I the only one who thinks, “Art is in the eye of the beholder” whenever I visit a museum? Of course, the halls were full of masterpieces, but when I visit their famous collection, there is always something I walk by and say “hmm…THAT’s in the Met?”

To a certain extent, the same concept – art is in the eye of the beholder – applies to the job search.

I have written about the fact that there is no ONE right way to look for a job. If someone tells you that they offer the holy grail of job search, be wary. The fact is, just as certain art appeals to some more than others, resumes, job search techniques and approaches for the hunt can only be evaluated individually. Everyone brings a unique set of circumstances to the table – biases and personal preferences are an undeniable aspect of job hunting.

My colleague Louise Fletcher recently addressed the issue of including something on the resume that may not appeal to 100% of readers. Her client was concerned, but she argued that doing something that is  “calibrated to appeal to your target audience” has the potential to appeal to more people than not.

There are many nuances in job hunting…How you write your resume, what you say in your LinkedIn profile…If you should write a “social resume.” It’s not a “one size fits all” or a “come as you are” job market. Everyone has an opinion, and you want to be sure that you are listening to someone who is an expert to advise you.

Stay tuned for more thoughts…Feel free to share your insights!

There is no “one size fits all” career advice. Don’t you deserve the best, personalized information and help? Learn how I can help you with your search.

Frustrated that your search isn’t resulting in a job? In Atlanta? Join me and Stephanie A. Lloyd, CEO of Radiant Veracity for our series of in-person job search interventions. Read more about how to propel your search and sign up here.

Photo credits:  wallyg

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Food analogy #2: You need to spoon feed the employer exactly what you have to offer.
In other words, you would not hand an infant with no teeth a whole apple to eat; he or she wouldn’t know what to do with it. (For the uninitiated, take my word for it here. The baby may just throw it back at you and still be hungry. And crying.)

Instead, you would offer applesauce and manipulate the spoon full directly into the infant’s mouth. Similarly, (see where I am going here?), you need to give the employer exactly what he or she needs and understands with regard to what you offer that will help him or her. Just like a baby couldn’t really care less about YOUR needs, your potential employer cares most about his or her own requirements and is not all that interested in what YOU want.

To extend the analogy, you better not be serving up green beans if the baby employer wants bananas! To top it off, the bananas need to be peeled and mashed and on the spoon if you want a chance to succeed.

So, two lessons from this analogy.

#1 – The resume is about the employer and how you directly fit what he or she wants. Spending a lot of time including things on your resume that are unrelated to the job at hand is only going to confuse the employer and make him or her wonder why you are interested in THIS job.

#2 – Don’t expect the employer to spend a lot of time figuring you out. If you aren’t making it easy to “eat” your resume – if you are passing crunchy apples when applesauce is preferred, you are not likely to pass the initial screen, no matter how great your underlying skills may be.

The fact is, recruiters and hiring managers are too busy to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your job is to break things down for them into easily digestible, bite-sized pieces AND spoon feed it directly to them. When you do make solid connections between what they want and what you offer, you will find that your search goes much better and your chances of landing an interview increase exponentially!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by seandreilinger

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So, you are convinced that accomplishments are important for your resume? Good! The next key step is to quantify your accomplishments. The point of your resume is to entice the reader to want to know more about you. Demonstrating how you stand out in a crowd by quantifying your accomplishments is a great way to generate interest.

When you start to quantify, think about the following categories:

• Money (especially as you saved or earned it)
• Time (more efficient, less wasted)
• Amounts (sales, customers, etc.)
• Situations (fast-paced, difficult economic environment, etc.)

What do you think is more interesting or persuasive?

Before: Conducted patient interviews and managed data collection for survey.

After: Demonstrated analytical skills and cultural sensitivity as leader of team conducting, coding and verifying 1000 patient interviews using SAS in deadline-driven environment.

Before: Met all sales quotas.

After: Only salesperson to meet 100% of quotas in down-trending economic environment. Won top award for sales closed (2008).

By contextualizing what you have to offer, you help the reader gain a clear picture of your value.

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Not sure how to implement good resume advice? Need some help to give your job hunt a boost? Visit Keppie Careers online for information about our services, including resume writing, interview preparation and job hunt coaching: www.keppiecareers.com

photo by Paul likes pics

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Almost every resume I see reads like a laundry list of “stuff” the person has done at work. The problem is that everyone applying for the job you seek probably has a similar list of “stuff.” What makes you stand out? Why are you special – why do YOU deserve to win an interview and the job?

It certainly isn’t because you were “Responsible for” something or that you were “Recruited to” do something. A prospective employer wants to know what you’ve accomplished. What impact have you had on past employers? What obstacles did you overcome to achieve a positive result in the past?

Quintessential Careers compiled a comprehensive list of accomplishments employers seek.

Describe how you:

• Make money
• Save money
• Save time
• Make work easier
• Solve a specific problem
• Help the company become more competitive
• Build relationships
• Expand the business
• Attract new customers
• Retain existing customers

I suggest you answer the following questions:

• What problems did you solve?
• How did you improve your organization?
• What innovative ideas did you introduce (and what were the positive results)?
• How did you make a difference?

When you re-focus your resume spotlight to shine on what you have to offer instead of just listing what you’ve done, you will be much more marketable.

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Who doesn’t want to hire a knight in shining armor, ready to take on the problems of the day?

When you focus on your resume, don’t just focus on you and what you offer. Remember to focus on the target – the potential employer. It is just as important to know what the employer wants as it is to know your own skills and accomplishments!

Figure out what problems your target organization is trying to solve. Sometimes, this is easy to discover by reading their website and job description. Other times, informational interviews and keeping up with the news of the day helps. (If the Wall Street Journal just ran an article about the organization, you’ll want to be sure to know about it!) Be sure to Google the organization; don’t just rely on what they say about themselves. What are others saying about them?

Once you know their needs, determine why and how YOU can provide the answers to their problems. Make a clear connection on your resume. Show them that you are their knight in shining armor, slaying dragons left and right.

photo by Ms. Kathleen

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Have you looked at your resume lately? Really looked at it with a critical eye? Does it highlight your skills and accomplishments? Or, is it a laundry list of “stuff” you’ve done? Are you sure it demonstrates all that you have to offer a potential employer?

Sure, you’ve shown it to your friends, maybe even a colleague or two. They think it looks fine, even great! When is the last time they studied the art of resume writing? Do they realize that, in some cases, human eyes will not even see your resume until after it is screened by a computer? Did they explain that you’ll be lucky to get a 10-second glance for your resume on a first go-around?

The fact is, most people are not resume writing experts. While everyone has an opinion, we all know how useful an uninformed opinion can be.

Have you been sending your resume out but not getting any response? Blaming it on the economy or your experience level? Those factors certainly have a role, but it is more than likely that a professionally written resume would yield better results. Do you really want to face the job market with documents that are not optimized?

Many job seekers donâ€t stop to consider how much money a less-than-optimal resume costs them. Consider, if you are unemployed, how much money do you lose for every day that you are out of work? If your resume isnâ€t top-notch, you may not appear qualified for the salary that you seek or deserve. A professionally written resume will help shorten your job search and may qualify you for a higher salary. Your return on investment in yourself may pay off substantially!

Does everyone need to hire someone to write their resume? No, I don’t think so. If you are a great writer and have kept up with resume trends, understand how to focus the reader on the key points and can objectively assess your document to ensure that you aren’t letting misplaced modesty prevent you from incorporating your very best accomplishments, you might be a great candidate for writing your own resume.

On the other hand, who has the energy or the inclination to keep up with “resume-ology?” I do! Helping people successfully navigate their job hunt is my passion. I keep up with the market, learn about new technology and approaches and stay plugged in because you donâ€t have the time, expertise or desire to do it.

Do you want to achieve your career goals and save money? Your career is one of your most crucial financial investments. Whether you are actively engaged in a search, underemployed or unhappily employed, it makes sense to hire an ally for your job hunt. An ally tells it like it is and helps you get where you need to be. Are you committed to discovering what you have to offer an employer?

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