Toughest Job? Finding your next job!
What’s the Toughest Job? Finding your next job!
If you’ve had a long career working at one or two firms, finding a job 20 years ago was remarkably straight forward. You heard company XYZ was hiring, went over to XYZ company and completed an application and then you were hired.
Job hunting is very different today. It involves searching for a job on-line, completing an on-line application or forwarding your resume and crossing your fingers. Only rarely do you receive an indication that your application has been reviewed.
This new hiring practice can be very frustrating to the candidate. There are several steps a “mature” candidate can take to generate job interviews and find that next job.
*Don’t begin your resume with “over 20+ years of experience in…” In some cases, to the hiring manager, five (5) or Ten (10) years of experience can be as valuable as 20+, depending on the position. (Read the job description) Plus, the person reviewing your resume or interviewing you may only be 32 years old and may view you as a fossil.
*Include specific duties and accomplishments during your last 10 years. Don’t go back to your first job out of high school or out of the military.
*Don’t put down the year you graduated from high school or list your grammar school. It’s important that you have a high school diploma, but the hiring manager doesn’t need to know what year you earned it.
*During the interview, don’t launch into a laundry list of your frustrating experiences looking for your next job. The hiring manager doesn’t have time to listen to that.
*Discuss your skills, solid work history and how important it is for you to go to work every day and perform to the best of your ability.
*If appropriate, in the interview mention that at this point in your life, you don’t have major family demands—day care, school functions, sporting events, etc.—that requires you leaving work randomly.
*If the interviewer leads up to it, explain that you have no reason or desire to text people during the day or surf on Facebook.
Experienced employees deliver great benefits to companies.
To find that “next job”, focus on your positives instead of your longevity and frustrations.
Tom Deffke – Senior Account Executive
WFA Staffing Group
