Surveying the landscape of today’s job search
Much has been said about the changing landscape of today’ job search. What with LinkedIn, ATS (automated tracking systems), online jobs board, video interviews, etc., this is not the way you looked for a job when you first entered the workforce.
That’s all well and good, but there’s more.
Your Personal Marketing Collateral has changed as well. If you can even find and are able to dust off that 1983-version of your resume, you may still find yourself starting from scratch when assembling your job search tools.
Take your resume for example. If your last resume was prepared in the 1980s or early 90s, that design, that style, that presentation – most likely done on a typewriter – just aren’t going to cut it in today’s job seeking world.
Today’s resumes can feature type that is bold, italic and of different fonts, font sizes and colors. Bullet points are a common design technique. Some resume experts recommend using boxes, tables and columns in a resume. You can even insert images if it’s appropriate.
Of course not all those approaches will help you if you’re talking about a digital resume that gets submitted through an ATS. In fact, some ATSs will reject a resume with boxes, tables and the like on that basis alone.
Are we suggesting that you have two resumes – one for digital and one for in-person sharing? Depending on your circumstances… yes!
If you’re lost and confused, don’t assume that it’s necessary to hire a pro to create your resume – although for many job seekers that may be the best approach.
The point is that there are hundreds of examples of modern, contemporary resume designs (personal and digital) out there which can provide ideas and direction. A simple Google search of “sample resumes” generated 529 million responses. The website resumegenius.com is only one possible source of inspiration. (Note: we have no relationship with, and are not specifically recommending resumegenius.com.)
Your best course of action? Look around. Pay attention. Ask friends and colleagues. Mix it all together and – viola – you can have a resume that can portray you as competent, capable, contemporary and ready for work.