Recently,
in my workshops, I've been reminded of the “readiness factor”. When I present
Job Search Best Practices – those activities most likely to give a return on
investment – to groups, individual reactions vary greatly. In my 50+ (or nearly
50) Workshops, the differences are influenced by (1) the length of time in the
previous job; (2) the number of organizations employed by; (3) the position
status; (4) the company/organization status; (5) time spent in active job
searching.
For
example, when John insists that his lengthy experience is an asset and that putting “Over 27 years experience in the field of…” will give him an advantage,
I can surmise three things about John: (1) he has not been actively engaged in the search for three or more
months; (2) he is very proud of his previous service and does not want it to be
dismissed lightly; (3) he does not yet understand the new marketplace.
This
is not a criticism of John; his reaction
is a reflection of his past experience. John believes that his long standing
relationship with a Fortune 500 company is an asset…something desired by future
employers. In reality it is more likely to be seen as a negative - in today’s
market. Most job growth is with small to medium companies and John’s lengthy
experience with a high status organization may label John as an expensive,
outdated commodity. If the resume highlights those years, at the outset, John
may never get a chance to demonstrate that he adds value and not cost; that he
is contemporary and not dated, and that he is a strong candidate for the interviewing
process.
Months
into the job search, when many resumes have been submitted that do not lead to
interviews, when John is questioning his beliefs about how to market his value,
he will be ready to try a new approach. But not yet…
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