The job search game is a buyer’s market right now

Everybody has to know by now that the current recession has taken a terrible toll on many companies. One of the results is that huge numbers of well-qualified people are out of work, many for the first time in their lives.

The stories are sobering

Sandra K – age 45, worked for a national firm for more than 15 years and was steadily promoted to the Vice President level with sterling reviews and a comfortable salary. Laid-off with one day’s notice and is now working a full-commission individual contributor sales job.

Kevin B. – age 24, finished his BS in Finance at a prestigious university with nearly straight-A grades and loads of extra activities to his credit. When he entered college he expected to land a $75-80K job and a choice of companies if he worked hard and did well. Now he is struggling to just get an interview.

Sarah A. – age 59, a senior sales and marketing professional for the same company for 17 years and a very generous compensation package. Laid off with no notice and is now a substitute teacher; loving the job but struggling financially, not to mention the damage done to her self-esteem.

There are dozens of stories like those about good people who have worked hard and done well and are now in a state of transition, wondering what they will do next. Some wonder if they will ever work again at all, let alone get an equivalent salary.

The rules of the game have changed

However, even in this economy there are jobs available and employers are still hiring. But the game has changed and it is important to change the job search strategy.

The old approach when starting a job search is to update the resume. That is exactly backwards.

The first step must be to examine the job market and analyze what employers are looking for. Only once that information is understood does it make any sense to update the resume. The resume must be a reflection of how the candidate can meet the employer’s needs and be a problem solver for the employer. It is not enough to simply hammer together a resume based solely on what the candidate has done and what her qualifications may be. The employer’s needs come first.

That sounds simple but it is not. Doing the research takes time and thorough attention to details. One must cull through job descriptions and lists of required skills and qualifications for the kinds of jobs that are of interest. That information is vital and will provide the framework for building an effective resume that will show the candidate is the best hire for the employer.

The resume must be tailored to the employer.

This does not mean the resume becomes a work of fiction. It means that the resume will provide only the information that will help the employer make a decision to interview and hopefully hire the candidate. It means the resume is no longer the full story of one’s career, and certainly not the story of one’s whole life.

In short, if the information does not support a decision to interview the candidate, it should not be on the resume at all.

We have to change our thinking

Most of us are too enamored of our own accomplishments, too much in love with all the great things we have done. The fact is that employers do not care about all that detail – they care about what the candidate can do for them as an employee. Period. We have to put ourselves in the mind of the employer and give them the information from our background that meets what they need from us.

Is it easy? No.

Is it do-able? Of course.

It simply requires that we change the way that we think about our resumes and even our careers. Think like an employer and the job search will go a lot more smoothly and end more quickly, even in these challenging economic times.

Find Out How to Make Your Resume Employer-Centric