Don't Be Afraid of Job Searching

Learn New Ways to Reach Your Goal

It wasn't long ago that hourly paid employees, with few exceptions, did not require an employment resume. When you wanted a job, you simply read the newspaper want ads to find out who was hiring, and then stopped by the employer's plant or office facility and filled out an employment application. Or, alternately, your neighbor, who worked at the employer's facility, stopped by the Human Resources department, picked up an application form and brought it home for you to fill out.

Back then the job-hunting process was pretty simple and well defined. You simply visited enough employers' offices, wore some shoe leather down, and filled out tons of employment applications. Sooner or later, if you were lucky and worked hard at the process, you would get a phone call and be off to the job interview. Assuming the interview went well; you then packed your lunch pale or brown bag and started work the next day.

Well, that may have been the way it was a few years ago but, today, the world of job hunting, as you have known it, is changing dramatically and rapidly. As an hourly paid worker, you need to be fully aware of these changes and adapt your job-hunting strategy accordingly. Failure to do so is bound to leave you out in the cold, looking in, and wandering what went wrong.

Let's take a look at how things have changed and what you now need to do differently to be sure that you are on the right track and that your job-hunting campaign will be successful.

The New Job Market

The first thing you need to know about the new job market is that newspaper advertising, the major source of jobs in the past, is now being rapidly replaced by Internet job boards and direct advertising on company Web sites.

Why are so many companies now using the Internet to advertise their jobs instead of newspapers? First, Internet advertising is far cheaper. Where a reasonable sized display ad in a newspaper (especially larger newspapers) could easily cost a company $2,000 or more for a single day, an ad on a major Internet job board is likely to cost only a couple hundred dollars or so. And, it will run for 60 days or longer. This is a sizeable difference.

Further, when a company decides to list the job on its own Internet Web site, instead of advertising in a newspaper or on a commercial job board, the cost to the company is zero. That is pretty tough to beat! So, you can easily see why companies are rapidly shifting from newspapers to advertising their job openings on the Internet.

But cost is not the only reason why companies are making the switch. The other is the size of the audience reached. Newspaper ads reach only a local or regional audience of job seekers. Stated differently, ad exposure is generally limited to only those reading that particular newspaper. By contrast, Internet ads reach a global audience. There are no geographical limits, and the audience reading a given ad can be huge. Further, by having the Internet ad run for 60 days or more, as opposed to the typical one-day shot in a local newspaper, employers can expect to receive a substantially greater response than they would ever get from their newspaper!

So, the bottom line is that jobs advertised on the Internet are considerably cheaper and are far more likely to get greater candidate response than those run in newspapers. This being said, it should be obvious (if you are not already doing so) that you will need to refocus your job-hunting efforts away from the newspapers and more toward the Internet. This is not to say you should stop reading the classified want ads entirely. Not so! You will want to continue to read these, but you will also want to focus more and more of your effort on the Internet. It's the place to which the bulk of hourly job advertisement is moving!

Dr. J.E. Burke, President, J.E.B. Resume Service and J.E. Burke Writing Service is writer, researcher, educator and entrepreneur involved in various business enterprises through Burke Publications. He has published many articles on a variety of topics. Please visit http://burkepublications.com or email jeb@burkepublications.com .

Career Change - Resume Problems

What can I do about gaps in employment?

There isn't much you can do about your work chronology—what's done is done. However, there are a few ways to present your work history so that the gaps are less apparent:

• Consider including only years worked (rather than months and years).
• Place employment dates next to job titles in parentheses.
• Never showcase employment dates around large areas of white space—this draws attention to your chronology.
• Think about other activities that you pursued during your employment gaps. You might be able to "fill in" your gaps with volunteer activities, training, travel, or development of a new skill.

My recent work history makes me look like a job-hopper. What can I do?

Try to take a positive spin on your work history. If you've moved around a lot, you demonstrate an ability to work in diverse industries or environments and to step into a role and immediately make a positive impact on the organization. Also, in some industries (such as technology and construction), it's common for employees to move from position to position to take on new projects. Sometimes, not moving around is a sign of stagnation. However, if you would like to minimize the appearance of job-hopping, you might be able to group similar positions under one employment heading.

How should I approach my resume if I'm transitioning from a military to civilian position?

Many civilian employers are unfamiliar with military terminology, so try to minimize military jargon, and replace it with terms used in the corporate world. If you achieved a long military career, some of these terms might be so ingrained that you don't even realize that you're using them. If that's the case, show your resume to colleagues and friends with no military background and see if they understand your document.

Military experience offers great opportunities for training, advancement, and performance awards, and you should certainly highlight these on your resume.

How do I transition from a corporate position to the nonprofit sector?

Your passion for the nonprofit sector of your choice should shine through on your resume and cover letter. Be clear on why you are making this transition and show how your skills developed in the corporate world would be valuable to a nonprofit organization. Nonprofits are organizational structures that need dedicated workers just like corporate structures, so demonstrate that you have what it takes to make an immediate and enduring contribution to a nonprofit organization.

Dr. J.E. Burke, President, J.E.B. Resume Service and J.E. Burke Writing Service is writer, researcher, educator and entrepreneur involved in various business enterprises through Burke Publications. He has published many articles on a variety of topics. Please visit http://burkepublications.com or email jeb@burkepublications.com .