Why your career doesn't matter unless...
By Jacquie Liversidge
A nihilistic line to open today’s article up on, but, it’s not all bad news.
Whether you are an astronaut, an accountant, a customer service representative, an ICT specialist, a long-term volunteer, a mother, a teacher—you all have something in common:
Absolutely nothing you have done will benefit your chances in the job market if you don’t spell it out on your resume.
At this stage you might be thinking, “sweet, my most recent and most important achievements are on there, squished between the hobbies and the certifications section—I’ll be right!”
WRONG: It is not good enough that information is on there if it is unlikely to be read.
“It is the way you pitch yourself to the employer that is the different between getting ahead of the competition, or ultimately staying behind.“
Get thinking:
When applying for jobs, extensive volunteering might be extremely valuable, either in place of or to support your experience or studies.
What was the year? What did you do?
How important is it to the role, and how high should it appear?
Were you the recipient of awards?
Why did you get the award? Were there certain events that led to the award?
You have to really spell all of this out for the employer and use your experience to form a narrative.
Yes, automation is kind of to blame.
The digital age has automated a great deal of the job application process, making it easier to apply for roles whilst also increasing the number of applicants per role.
Employers have to sift through an enormous amount of applications in assessing suitable candidates for their vacancies and the decisions that you have made in content and design will be assessed and judged within a mere few seconds.
Ever wondered why that person you hated from University who was totally useless got the job?
Your competitor might not have achieved as much as you, but if they spell out their achievements, skills and experience in detail with an audience-optimised approach to design in their resume and you haven’t, they simply will get noticed over you.
It’s not the market.
Something I tend to hear a lot of from clients, is that ‘the market is hard’, ‘my skills aren’t up to scratch’, ‘I need to study more’, and whilst an easier market and more qualifications might make it easier, the thing that is really letting these people down is the choices they have made in the content, structure and formatting of their documents.
It is the way you pitch yourself to the employer that is the different between getting ahead of the competition, or ultimately staying behind.
Everybody has transferable skills or directly relateable skills from their experience, and absolutely everyone has something to offer the market.
Australia is experiencing a period of low unemployment. There are plenty of jobs to go around.
So, it’s not the market that’s not working for you. It couldn’t be. It’s your marketing documents that aren’t working for you.
So! Nothing you have done matters… Unless you frame it well.
Happy hunting!
