Job Search i.e. Navigating through the job market is no less than a Herculean task these days. The hike comes at a cost – you need to deal with scores of rejections and no responses; a sequence that often leaves people frustrated. The job that is easy to get is often not worth getting in the first place
So, if your resume isn’t attracting the right set of eyeballs, it could probably be an opportune time to step back and reflect on what’s going wrong. Are your efforts landing up in a black hole
Think of your resume as your brand ambassador. Its the first and loudest message that you send to any prospective employer. It has to make an impact – induce ‘love at first sight’. One way to evoke that is use the magic of using a voice that reflects you as a person, literally. The traditional resume fails miserably on that
Are you using those same jargons that thousands of other job seekers use. Is the only thing unique in your resume – your name, address, company and employment tenure.
Imagine for a moment, how would a HR manager react to standarised ‘run of the mill’ resumes that he/she is flooded with on a daily basis. So have a strategy how you could shine through the stack of applications
There is so much that you have on offer than just “Nine years of experience in internal audit” and your “motivated self-starter” status. Your story is your brand, in the end. Its a collection of life experiences that no one ever has nor will ever live. Own it and sing it. It’s you. You have nothing to apologize for and no one to impress!
Your life is not an assortment of standard building blocks – skills and certifications. You are a living person, with a unique value system and an own perspective on things. Not everyone needs to like you or understand you. Your job is to find the people who do!
Branding yourself the same way as others is ‘hara kiri’ . However its often not your fault. Resume formats are passed down generations often like a tradition, using that same jargon that is geared to kill someone through boredom
Do you think it really creates any impact if someone reads in your resume that you are a “results-oriented professional.” Countless other people think of themselves the same way. “Results-oriented professional” is such a lame, over-used phrase. For once, experiment with a phrase like “oxygen-breathing biped.”
Lolz 🙂 At least that way you would stand out!
However the caveat here is that a friendly and conversational resume will not strike success with search algorithms that are designed to work based on keywords.
If you really want to catch the eyeballs of your prospective employer, its important that you search for ways and means to reach him/her than the anonymous, techno-mechanical Black Hole recruiting portal where job-seekers are instructed to fill out an online job application.
Keyword-searching is the worst possible way to hire people or to screen job applicants, but keyword-search-enabled Applicant Tracking Systems became standard in the early 1990s and most medium-sized and large employers still deploy them
Now you’ve got a resume that speaks to your hiring manager directly, in a human voice; your job-search approach is more targeted, more direct and personal and removed from the keyword-obsessed Applicant Tracking System.
So far so good’ but remember that even the best of resumes will not cut the ice with each and every prospects. But for the ones that its does, it will certainly open gates to a conversation that a traditional keyword filled resume won’t
Once you have this in place, its time to reach out to your prospects – with a “What sort of Business Pain do I solve for you ?”
This answer is far more crucial that youThe answer endless skills and certifications. You are a pain-solver first and foremost. You are a specialist in relieving one or more business problems. Make that problem — and its solution — your focus!
Have dozens of stories ready – tell the interviewer in vivid terms how you came, saw and conquered in past assignments.
Well there will certainly be roadblocks – supposedly perennial artificial/real hiring freezes, uninterested HRs who are themselves frustrated with their lives etc. But winners see light at the end of the tunnel.
So its time to reinvent yourself. You are mighty. Managers in pain need smart people like you to help them. They are waiting to hear from you!
All the very best !!
Regards
Team cajobportal.com
http://www.cajobportal.com