Going Proactive in Your Job Search: The Resume

In my last blog I concluded with going pro-active in your job search is the key.

Before I launch into the multiple methods of the 'pro-active job search' and dealing with the 'fear factor' that prevents us from applying these methods, we need to discuss more thoroughly what the job search is...and how your resume plays a staring role.

Whatever tactic or medium you use in your job search, essentially it all comes down to Marketing and Sales.

Now, some of you are saying, marketing? OK, I can live with that, that's reputable...but sales? Wait a minute. Don't tell me about sales and you conjour up images of a pushy guy, in a cheap suit trying to talk you into something you don't need or want.

Now stay with me on this and let's explore what these 2 terms really mean, and why an understanding of them is crucial to your job search.

In Marketing, the Key concept is: Customer is KING. Your #1 goal is to satisfy the customer's needs; the buyer, and in this case, the employer.

Sales on the other hand is satisfying the sellers needs, and converting that need into cash, or in our case, a job.

See the difference? Take a look at your resume? What are you doing? Marketing or selling?

If your resume begins with "Experienced professional looking for an opportunity to enhance my career and utilize all the wonderful talents and ideas I have to..." What are you doing? What is the potential employer thinking?

Remember, an employer is only interested in what you can offer them. That's what you need to make your #1 priority.

Think about it. What can you offer an employer and how can you demonstrate it? Say it? Talk about it? Put it into a one-dimensional resume? Is your resume doing that? Is your cover letter doing that? Are your telephone screenings and interviews doing that? If not, you are only selling and not marketing. Are you unknowlingly selling like the guy in the cheap suit?

So think Marketing. Think Employer is King. Think, how can I satisfy their needs. In other words, how can you provide solutions to their problems.

That's where the beauty of marketing and sales merge. That's the idea you must grasp.

It's all about providing solutions to other people's problems. If you think about it, that's what every job is whether you are a shoe salesman, a doctor, or a president. If you can't provide a solution, the sale doesn't happen (or if it does, it rarely happens again), and no sale in this case means, no job.

So to start, take a good look at your resume. Are you providing powerful, exciting, solutions to a company's problems? If not, research the company, direct your resume to the company and to the job description. If you can prove you can solve their problems, you have taken a very important step in getting hired.

Surplus and demand in the job market

Just to start things rolling in this first Job Seekers Support blog, I'd like you to think about the supply and demand of those looking for work and actual openings. Some reports coming out are stating for every 10 openings there are 35 to 40 seekers. Wow! So what can you do to compete?

Is a great resume enough? Is going on social networking sites helpful? Is reading this going to get you a job? Obviously I could go on, and on, and on...

Personally, I have been through 4 different careers, and in total maybe 6 different employers. Not one of them was ever gotten by sending out a resume or putting it on-line. Sure, some resumes work great for that, i.e. a CPA with international tax experience; a RN with surgical experience, etc. But many of us don't fit into such catagories...

My take is going pro-active in your job search is the key...it amazes me that someone with say relationship building skills, sales skills, or experince at managing, can't do some research, find out who a decision maker is in a company, pick up the phone and sell themselves.

I would guess less than 10% would do this. Why? Fear of course. So how can we get past this?

Keep watching this blog...I need to make calls!