If you're like most people, you start reading the want ads, registering with employment agencies and sending your resume to any and every company that's similar to the one for which you've been working, or that might take a beginner. If you're like most people, you suffer through a long, agonizing wait for a new job.
The standard job hunt, as described above, is a brutally inefficient way to get work. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people find jobs that way, but they tend to be lower level or "holding pattern" jobs. Once you've gotten through to the decision maker, you will need professional interview methods. As a necessary prerequisite, however, concentrate on de fining precisely what it is you want to do. The more clearly you can draw your target, the easier it will be to hit the bull's-eye.
The Best Resume Is No Resume.
There is NO SUCH THING as an effective resume.
I realize that that statement is heresy in a business world that places a "well-written resume" on a par with a fat profit margin, but it's my opinion that, if you're looking for happiness and a change of direction, the best resume is no resume.
Suppose you saw the following ad for a washing machine; would this ad make you want to run right out and buy this washing machine? Of course not. A salesman who tried to sell washing machines with that ad would starve. But this is exactly how most people structure their resumes. They simply provide a history of themselves that fails to sell their talents and abilities and restricts their vision of the future.
I usually advise people to conduct their job hunts without a resume. It's done by identifying who can benefit from your talents and abilities, approaching the employment decision makers directly, and ensuring that they perceive the benefits you offer.
If, however, you really do need to have something in writing, an alternative to the standard resume is a document that looks like a resume but doesn't name companies or list dates. I call it a "qualifications summary." It identifies your responsibilities and the results you achieved both on and off the job. (Remember, experience is experience whether you've made money at it or not.)
If your resume lists you as "VP/marketing, Brand X Corp., 1978-1987," you're putting yourself in a passive role and hoping that the information will be interpreted correctly by the reader. However, if you use a qualifications summary that states "As VP/ marketing for a national distribution firm, I planned and implemented a program that resulted in a 500% increase in sales in a two-year period," a potential employer is likely to think, "Wow! I wonder if he could do that for me."
One of my favorite examples of a man who used this technique successfully is an Army colonel I worked with many years ago. As a high-ranking officer at a major military installation, he was responsible for all of the housing on the base, and organizing moves and transportation for personnel all over the world. In effect, he ran a very large city.
If his resume had identified him as a 30-year military man, he would have gotten absolutely nowhere. Instead, he developed a qualifications summary in which he identified himself as, "Executive Director of a major unit of a national service organization." He then listed his responsibilities and, more importantly, the results he achieved on the job and the benefits he could offer an employer.
Eventually, he found himself in the running for a position as director of a community action team in a small Northwest city. Throughout the interview process, he flatly (but politely) refused to provide anyone with a work history. It was not until the final interview with the board of directors that he finally revealed that his experience had come in the Army. By that time, though, it was irrelevant. He got the job.
