may be trouble ahead if you don’t make a good decision.
Beyond the Book
In addition to all the great info you can find in the book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Check out the Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/resumes for details on how to make your resume the best it can be, how to protect your personal information, and what to leave off of your resume.
You can also go online for more information about resume-related aspects of your job search. At www.dummies.com/extras/resumes, you can read about following up with an employer after submitting your resume, applying for a federal job, putting together a curriculum vitae, and finding folks to serve as references.
Where to Go from Here
Most For Dummies books are set up so you can flip to the section of the book that meets your present needs. You can do that in this book, too. I tell you where to find the information you might need when I refer to a concept, and I define terms as they arise to enable you to feel at home no matter where you open the book.
But this book breaks new ground in resume creation and distribution. To get ahead and stay ahead, start by reading Chapters 1 through 5. In this era of tweeting and texting, they help you say hello to new ideas that offer more reach for your time investment.
Part I
Getting Started with Resumes
✔ Find out why resumes remain relevant and get an overview of how technology plays a role in your job search.
✔ Mine the wide world of social media for job leads, networking opportunities, and self-marketing.
✔ Discover the ins and outs of using smartphones and tablets in your job search.
✔ Check out how employers gather information from your resume and see how formatting can affect this process.
✔ Understand why it’s so important to be aware of your online reputation and know how to keep it in top-notch condition.
Chapter 1
Seeing How the Digital Age Is Changing the Job Chase
▶ Growing your career with truly terrific resumes
▶ Blending human know-how with new technology
▶ Staying on the leading edge in job search
Are resumes outdated? Every few years an employment expert excitedly announces a “new discovery” – that resumes are old hat and unnecessary. The expert advises job seekers to forgo resumes and talk their way into an interview. This advice rarely works in real life. Very few people are eloquent enough to carry the entire weight of an employment marketing presentation without a resume.
One resume strategy depends not on oratorical talent but on technology. In some situations, recruiting professionals encourage employers who’ve grown weary of hiking over mountains of resumes to do away with them, replacing resumes with rigid application forms on the web – complete with screening questions and tests – to decide who gets offered a job interview.
Another scenario – also technology dependent – reflects the view that online profiles on social networking sites are pinch hitting for resumes as self-marketing documents. As I point out in Chapter 2, online profiles are equivalent to generic resumes. Because prospective employers are likely to hunt down your LinkedIn profile, the ideal strategy is to make it as targeted as possible to your current job target.
This book combines the details of how to create marvelous resumes and also puts a microscope on various technological delivery options in the digital age. This chapter previews what’s ahead in this comprehensive guide to resumes and how to use resumes and other career marketing communications to reach your goal in the great job chase.
Resumes Are Here to Stay
At some point in a hunt for better employment, everyone needs effective career marketing communications. That is, everyone needs a resume – or something very much like a resume – that tells the employer why
✔ You’re an excellent match for a specific job.
✔ The value you bring matters.
✔ Your skills are essential to the bottom line.
✔ You’re worth the money you hope to earn.
✔ You’re qualified to solve the employer’s problems.
✔ Your accomplishment claims can be believed.
Resumes that deliver on these decision points remain at the heart of the job search ecosystem.
Keeping Up with Resume Times
The ongoing need for terrific resumes doesn’t mean the job chase is frozen in time. Far from it. In this digital age – when 90 percent of young people (ages 18–34) are checking their social media updates when they first wake up, even before they go to the bathroom or brush their teeth – every job seeker needs to embrace the entire package of tools and strategies for getting a new job. The package contains new and traditional components:
✔ Digital tools that are rapidly altering the nature of how jobs are found and filled in America and across the globe.
✔ Timeless know-how and savvy developed by the best employment giants over decades.
Reset your concept of what you must know about resumes in the job chase. Writing great resumes is no longer enough. You must know how to distribute those resumes to people who can hire you, or at least can move you along in the process.
Job seekers, brace yourselves: Navigating the job market is getting ever trickier and requires considerably more effort than the last time you baited your resume hook – even a short five years ago. The generic resume, which I refer to as a Core resume throughout this book, is at the top of the list of job search tools on the way out. (Read all about it in Chapter 8.)
