The Importance of Targets in Your Job Search
I see a lot of new job-hunters who are unfocused about their job targets. They feel that their background allows them to do many things (e.g., I can be a project manager, marketing director, or a corporate trainer). So their whole approach to the search is to position themselves as generally as possible, in the hope that others (recruiters, network contacts, etc.) will decide for them.
This approach doesn’t work for a few of reasons. First off, you’re watering down your message for any individual job target, vs. your competitors. Second, you need to make it as easy as possible for people to help you, and that means pitching yourself appropriately for a specific position. Don’t ask them to do the work to translate your varied background into specific targets– do this for them! Lastly, targeting is all about the benefits that accrue through
Work experience too “dated” for your resume? It depends.
by Robert Hellmann • Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo
I recently received a couple of questions about the most appropriate resume format, and whether a friend’s comment is true that all experience older than 10 years should be left off the resume. Here is my response:
1) You need to put your resume in “reverse chronological order”, meaning most recent experience first, because that is what hiring mangers are used to seeing. Try something different and they will either a) not take the time to figure out your format (given the