“I want a general resume.”- “I want to keep my options open and cast as wide a net as possible.”
- “I don’t want to leave out any possibilities for positions.”
- “I am very versatile, so my wide variety of skills will appeal to a lot of employers.”
I hear one of these almost every day.
They make perfect sense if you are using the old strategy of sending out resumes until you catch someone’s attention. They interview you, and you accept the job they offer.
Except that it will take you a very long time. And the job you get may not fit very well. You may find yourself dissatisfied with the company fairly quickly. So, there you are again, sending out resumes.
That is a fairly typical, traditional job search cycle. Here is the way to get off that particular merry-g0-round.
Focus
First, decide you are willing to work harder to have a shorter job search. What I am about to propose isn’t an easy answer. It’s plain old hard work. The difference is the results.
Still with me? Good. Now, let’s roll up our sleeves.
Part of what’s wrong with the traditional job search (with the general resume and keeping all of your options open) is that it is based on the assumption that the person who hires you knows what you want and is willing and able to give it to you in return for your salary. The problem is:
- In the traditional job search, about the only thing your prospective employer knows about what YOU want is the job. You want the job.
- Let’s assume they’re interested enough to ask you in the interview what you want to be doing in five years. Does that mean they will remember and take your ambition into consideration when updating the company’s strategic plan thereafter? “Jim, the new guy in accounting, wants to be head of the department by 2018.” Nope, haven’t seen that in a business plan yet.
The thing is, you probably don’t know what you want either. Except a job. You want a job that’s better than the job you have.
Use a new process
It’s going to take a new process to get a new job that will be better than the one you have. I’m going to outline the process here, and then later, we’ll go into each step.
First, decide.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Choose. Make up your mind.
Now. Not after you read the job boards or ask your sister’s husband’s cousin if they’re hiring. Now.
Before you can leave the traditional job search behind, you have to know:
- What you want to do.
- Where you want to do it.
- For whom.
- For how much.
If you don’t want to wait that long to find out what you need to do to leave the traditional job search behind, contact us to talk about what YOU want.
