Resume Road Map

Resume Road Map

Linda Lupatkin, Career Counselor, Coach and Consultant

A resume is like a road map, leading to your destination and if yours is not, it should be. When you’re going on a road trip you have a destination in mind when you start and then you plot a course that will get you there. Each turn has meaning, designed to get you to your ultimate goal.

Your resume should be the same way. Each statement you make, each position you incorporate should be added with your destination in mind. For example, if you’re interested in landing a sales role, your resume and the positions you’ve held should emphasize the sales aspects of your past experience.

Adding information about a project you managed, while a nice accomplishment, may end up being a diversion that leads the resume reader off course. The problem is, they may not take the time to stop and ask for directions to get back on the right track.

Now I’m not saying you should eliminate the project you managed completely, just frame it differently. Did you need to persuade an employer or customer to take on the project? That’s sales.  Perhaps you had to interface with clients on the project and provide customer service and support. Also a skill found in sales. Maybe to implement the project you needed to uncover your customer’s or even your employer’s needs and then provide a solution, a technique required in solution or consultative sales.

That’s just one example to illustrate what your thought process needs to be when writing a resume. The first step is to think about where you want to go and the next step is to map a route that will get you there.

Whether your destination is one you initially set out for when you started your career or you’re setting a new course, your resume should be a road map, pointing the reader in the direction of your desired destination, otherwise the prospective HR professional, recruiter or hiring manager may be going down an entirely different road, leaving you in the dust.

Linda

Is Attitude Impeding Your Job Search?

Attitude Adjustment

Linda Lupatkin, Career Counselor, Coach and Consultant

You’ve done the work, made the grade and gotten the revered degree; or you’ve had a long and highly successful career, filled with accomplishments and promotions, but you’re going nowhere in your job search.

You’re stalled and you don’t understand why. The problem could be a sense of entitlement. A feeling that upon graduation you have a right to a job. For those further along in their careers, it could be the hubris derived from years of awards, accolades, and bonuses; you’re a proven top performer and anyone should be happy to hire you.

As the saying goes, “anything in life worth having is worth working for.” That has never been more true than in today’s competitive job market. The people who are getting jobs, and they ARE getting them, are putting in the effort. They realize that running a successful job search is akin to running a successful marketing campaign.

The first step is realizing that searching for a job is not a passive endeavor, it’s a job in and of itself. You should have a plan of action to follow, a marketing plan if you will. You should think of yourself as your product and determine your target audience. You’ll then need to develop a pointed message for use in your written (resumes, bios and cover letters) and verbal communications. The next step is to develop and execute winning strategies to get in front of your audience.

You can accomplish this on your own but, more often than not, the help of an expert career coach can save you time and ultimately money (fewer weeks and months of lost wages) by dramatically reducing the length of your job search.

Of course the first step is understanding that a job is not an entitlement and that while you may be the greatest thing since sliced bread, unless you’re actively getting your message out, no one out there knows it.

–Linda