What You Don’t Know Can Kill Your Chances of Getting a Job

Two weeks ago, along with my colleagues “The Big Game Hunter,” Jeff Altman, and Meredith Haberfeld, a premier executive coach here in NYC, I conducted a career seminar for a major social services organization to help them launch their new executive career services initiative. Whereas in the past they dealt almost exclusively with lower level employees and recent immigrants, today they are besieged by displaced senior level employees and executives from the financial services industry, as was well as from a myriad of $65k-$150k level employees in very conceivable industry who are clueless about what to do to get back to work. This phenomenon is not just happening in NYC, it is prevalent in large and small cities in every state throughout the nation.

What we found was the level of current knowledge and experience among many the job counselors who attended was not up to par with the needs of their new executive level clients. In the past few weeks I have also received a great many takers to my free offer to review and critique resume from LinkedIn users from recent 4-year college and MBA graduates. After spending 20-30 on the phone with them, we are both appalled at the quality of help and advice they received from their school, and in many cases how the advise was more detrimental then helpful to them in their job search.

I have said this before, and I will continue to say it again and again; beware where you get your advice from.

In all my discussions with job seekers and the people who are trying to help them, what I find most shocking is how few people understand the importance of creating and coordinating a social media image along with a resume to advance a job search. This is called developing a personal marketing portfolio and most people I talk to are unaware of its need and value, or are dumbstruck about how to put it all together.

In my recent seminar, and chats with academic advisers and professors this was something that most of the job developers and job counselors had heard about but had not put into practice, and the academics were just as in the dark.

In a recent Linked-In discussion a comment was posed that your personal blog has, or is about to replace your resume. As much as I understand the importance a blog can have to help develop one’s brand, I find this notion very far fetched. However, as I responded, I do believe that one’s social media image is equally as important as one’s resume and I think it may be more important than your resume in as few as 12-24 months down the road.

So my advice to you all today is, before writing your resume, collect all your information and decide what is of primary importance and what is of secondary importance. Then determine what needs to be included in your resume and how, and what information should appear and/or be repeated on your social media and social branding sites. Discuss this with a professional if you are not sure what this means, or how to do it in a way that sells.

Ask anyone in the know and they will tell you that your social media image is being scrutinized as often, if not more often than your resume.

Author:

Perry Newman, CPC, is the driving force behind First Impressions Resumes and can be reached at 646-894-4101 for a no cost personal consultation, or to conduct a seminar or webinar for your organization.

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Perry Newman

Perry Newman, CPC/CSMS is a nationally recognized resume writer, career transition coach, certified social media strategist, as well as a AIPC certified recruiter and former executive search firm owner known for his ability to get results. You can view his sample resumes and client endorsements at http://www.perrynewman.com, and request a free resume critique by emailing your resume with contact information to perry@perrynewman.com.