Thanks for your great questions regarding job search strategies. Here are a few that represent what you’re asking:
Q: I’ve worked hard on my resume and have asked for feedback on it. Everyone has a different opinion about what it should say, what it should look like, etc. What are the ‘rules’ so I can fix it and be done with it?
A: Your goal is to produce a quick and easy to read, accomplishment-focused resume that matches the job advertisement to which you are responding. Keep it under two pages, maintain wide, clean margins, use 12 pt type, serif font, and a reverse chronology of where you’ve worked, when, and for how long.
Here’s how you can maximize space: Lead with an objective and leave out a summary. Your resume is a summary. Your resume is a work history, so leave out what is clearly personal. Leave out ‘reason for leaving’ explanations. Leave out laundry lists of job responsibilities that don’t indicate how well you did at each. Instead, focus on bulleted, quantifiable accomplishments that do.
Key words are critical. These are the words in the advertisement that name the job and its requirements. If you have the requisite experience, use those identical words in your objective and throughout your resume, including your cover letter. Scanners identify them and you as a potential match.
Apply those basics and you can stop asking for feedback on your resume and start asking for feedback on how you’re presenting yourself, which takes us to the next question.
Q: I envy people who have always known what they want in life and in a job. I don’t. Because of that I don’t know what to say when people ask me what I’m looking for. Responding with, “I just want a job”, doesn’t get it. What should I say?
A: You’ll need to think your way to the answer. To help get you started, here are some questions to consider:
What do you want? Do you want appreciation and compensation for a job you do well, enjoy doing, and can stay with long enough to make a difference? If so, outline what you like to do and do well, and/or what you’re interested in doing better, and/or what makes you curious and want to explore more.
If you’re a problem-solver, what are the problems you like to solve, where do you like to solve them, and what difference do you want to make when you arrive at a solution?
If you focus on what works… your strengths, interests, and abilities… you’ll head in a positive direction. If you don’t know what they are, reach out to people who know you best and ask them to weigh in and share their experience in working and being with you. Combine your perceptions and theirs, then network for places who need what you do and will pay you to do it.
If someone asks you what you’re looking for, say, “I want more than a job, I want to make a difference.” Then tell them how you plan on doing just that.
