It’s Time to Change Your Mindset!
If you still think your “powerful resume” and “knock ‘em dead cover letter” will get you in the door and in front of the hiring manager, good luck. The traditional system of finding employment has turned to C*R*A*P:
Clicking on a job title
Reviewing the job description
Applying for the job
Praying the phone will ring for an interview
Here’s some advice to those of you who remain stubborn, still engaged in mass resume distribution and waiting for the phone to ring: CHANGE YOUR MINDSET! You need to conduct a strategic vs. traditional job search that focuses on broadcasting your VALUE to the business community, not your resume. Your biggest challenge in job search is differentiation. Right now, how do YOU stand out from the millions in a highly competitive job market?
Think your resume makes you stand out from the crowd? Think again. You’ve probably tweaked your resume to death since you began your job search, and now you think your resume is one in a million. Well guess what….it is. It’s one of millions. Regardless of how much you paid someone to prepare your resume, no matter how professional your resume may look, how stunning your experience and accomplishments may be, or how impressive your education is, at the end of the day a resume is a resume is a resume. Therefore you look like everyone else. Get the picture? And like everyone else’s, your resume will inevitably end up in HR – sitting in a stack a foot high. And there sits some overworked personnel jockey who, if you’ve been lucky enough to get past the screening software, will glance over your “powerful resume” for no more than 15 to 30 seconds. Do you really want that personnel jockey deciding if you’re valuable enough to put in front of the hiring manager for an interview, or do you want the hiring manager making that decision?
Don’t misunderstand me; you need to have a professional resume. It’s what I call a “necessary evil.” Your resume is a critical component of your job search. But use it as backup, as reinforcement, and provide it only when specifically requested by a hiring manager. If you must submit your resume when responding to a posted position, understand that whoever you send it to your resume will end up in Human Resources. HR is what I call “Hiring Resistance” because the whole process starts with rejection. How good are you at handling rejection over and over and over again? Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Things have changed, times have changed, and times are tough. Stop wallowing in the C*R*A*P. Job search in today’s new economy calls for a nontraditional, strategic approach to shorten your time in transition. Change your mindset and target companies, not jobs. Educate the business community about who you are by broadcasting your value directly to hiring managers. Once in the door you’ll need to continue to separate yourself from the competition by conducting a strategic interview that will greatly enhance your chances of getting the offer.
How will you avoid the C*R*A*P?
