DE Oracle @ UMUC

Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies

Edwin Sapp

Collegiate Professor

School of Undergraduate Studies

Published: November-December 2008

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies

The salesmen in The Music Man were right: "You gotta know the territory!" Times have changed in the workplace, but unfortunately, the strategies we have advocated to our students seeking employment have not. We need to change our approach so that we can be more effective in teaching our students how to get a job. This article provides a brief overview on the many changes in this "territory" so that instructors who teach job search strategies, including résumé writing, will do so in a way that benefits today's students.

New Realities in the Workplace

Two major paradigm shifts—the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age—have made substantial changes in the workplace, redefining what a job and career are, and now the housing market, lean manufacturing/six sigma, outsourcing/downsizing, and dual-income families have put the icing on the cake.

Businesses have realized for some time that their most expensive overhead is human resources. Companies have gone through a spiral of downsizing, "rightsizing," layoffs, outsourcing, mergers, divestitures, reduction in insurance and retirement benefits, lean manufacturing, six sigma, just-in-time delivery of components, and replacement of middle management with "team leaders" who receive no extra pay for partial management responsibility.

Consider the following scenario:

Joe began working at the Widgit Corp seven years ago as a frassis assembler. Then Mary and Al quit. Rather than hire new people, the company gave Joe a new computer and all of Mary and Al's work load. Finally, Joe sees that this is not going to get any better and quits so that he can take another job with more pay and less work at another company. Widgit Corp advertises the vacancy with three times the duties (and expertise requirements) at a starting salary far lower than what Joe made when he quit. 

This scenario is an example of the cycle of employer desperation that has now entered its fourth generation in worker replacement throughout many industries. Nearly all vacancies now require exceptional worker skills to do consolidated and complex jobs correctly—skills not expected of the original hires a decade before—and most of these jobs provide a marginal income for the would-be worker.

Many workers today must also manage their own retirement funds, obtain their own health insurance, care for their parents, and be prepared to change jobs on an average of once every three years or less (Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose, 2007). Other data also speak to what it means to be in the workforce now:

• College diplomas are important as far as earnings go. Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose (2007) point out that today's college graduates earn nearly 20% more than they did 30 years ago—but high school graduates earn 13% less.
• A longitudinal study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2008a) noted that between the ages of 18 and 42, baby boomers held an average of 10.8 jobs; what might this detail foretell about the next two generations in the workforce, Generations X and Y?
• Many career centers and employment specialists note that workers today can expect up to seven career changes in a lifetime (see The College of William & Mary Career Center, n.d., as an example).
• As of October 2008, it took an average of 19.7 weeks to find a new job after losing the old one—an increase of 2.7 percentage points from one year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). Workers aged 55 and older spend about 22 weeks searching for a new job while their younger counterparts take about 16 weeks (Pope, 2008).

The Changing Job Market

The job market as a whole has seen significant changes, due in part to fluctuations in the economy. Consider these recent numbers that probably will not see significant change (for the better) in the near future:

• Employers cut 1,200,000 jobs in the first ten months of 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
• The unemployment rate jumped a full percentage point, to 6.1%, between April and August 2008 (Bernstein & Shierholz, 2008). At the end of October, the rate was 6.5%—a 1.7 percent rise in the past 12 months (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
• "[T]he Labor Department said the number of people applying for unemployment insurance [in June 2008] jumped by 16,000, to 404,000, the highest level since late March" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶9).
• "There were 8.5 million unemployed people as of June, up from 7 million a year earlier" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶10). This number jumped to 10.1 million in October (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
• In June 2008, "5.4 million Americans—about 3 percent of the labor force—were working part time either because their hours had been cut or because they could not find full-time employment, a figure unchanged from May but up 1.1 million from a year earlier" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶12).

All of these sobering facts and changes—in the workforce and in the job market itself—have forced significant alterations in the rules of engagement that impact what instructors of job search strategies need to present to their students.

Job Search Changes

More than 10 years ago, economists Steven Bortnick and Michelle Ports (1992) reported that "unemployed jobseekers most often contacted prospective employers directly. However, the most successful method was registering with a private employment agency" (p. 29). Compare that to the more current Bureau of Labor Statistics's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, which identifies personal contacts as the first job strategy and follows that approach with 11 others, recommending that the job seeker try multiple avenues to increase his/her likelihood of success.

In other words, if you are still teaching students how to respond to classified ads or Internet postings, only a small percentage will be successful in their job searches. The ratio of success in each of four categories of job searching has changed dramatically in the last decade. Provident Living (2008a) provides the following graph that shows where jobs are found today versus which source job seekers tend to use:

It is important that we educate our students on these changes in job searching so that they can focus their efforts on the sources that tend to yield the best results.

Strategies for Building Effective Résumés Today

Not only has the "where to look" aspect of the job search changed considerably, but the content and focus of the résumé has followed suit. Consider the following elements for developing resumes for the 2008 job market:

• The resume is about what the applicant can do for the company, not about the applicant's list of past duties or responsibilities.
• Use fact-, quantity-, and impact-based "power statements" (Provident Living, 2008b) to list accomplishments. Note that naming a responsibility does not state that you have ever done it, how often, or how well.
• Applicants obtaining a degree would do better using a Functional-Chronological format. The Chronological format can actually lessen an applicant's chance for an interview.
• The company isn't interested in who you are until your resume "sells" you. So keep the contact information section to three lines at the most.
• Objective statements are obsolete and do not work well in the current job market because the potential employer, already reluctant to hire, is not interested in what the applicant wants from his/her new job. Instead, prepare a power statement that serves as a Qualification Summary placed at the beginning of the resume.
• Explain your experience with software and hardware rather than just listing it (i.e., don't just list Dreamweaver, Flash, Word 2007, etc.). 
• Cold-call sales training studies have proven for years that personal contact (i.e., Tupperware, Amway) beats cold-call marketing ("in your neighborhood; want new siding?"). There is a significant ratio of one sale in 1,000 contacts for cold calls versus one in three for personal contact.

Students should consider developing customized resumes with relevant information that provides examples of what they can do for the employer for whom they want to work.  

• Include a quote from a prior employer (relevant to the job description) immediately below the contact information.
• Special skills, licenses, clearances, or abilities should go on the line below the quote.
• A chronological list of employers should follow the functional list of experience.
• Under the education section, aggregate work training in an entry such as "100 hours of management training by XYZ Corporation's Education Department."
• There is no need to state the obvious "References Available Upon Request."
• Do not list hobbies or interests unless relevant to the job, as they can be a two-edged sword. (Scout leader? Won't work late on Fridays and may get a lot of personal phone calls.) 

A Note about "Power Statements"

Power statements are mentioned several times in this article. Power statements help job seekers stand out and make an impact by highlighting important, relevant information about themselves. Here is an example: 

As an experienced instructor, headhunter, staff trainer, and employment specialist at a center supporting job search coaching in six states and the District of Columbia, I have advised over 6,000 job seekers how to revise their résumés and use effective search and interview skills, resulting in a 90% placement rate at an average 20% higher salary and applicants who are better equipped to adjust to a rapidly changing job market. 

These simple steps outline the basics for constructing an effective power statement:

• Identify a value, skill, strength, or accomplishment you want to highlight that relates to your objective.
• Give a specific example.
• Show the result (if possible, use percentages, dollar amounts, or numbers to reinforce your claim).
• Make sure your statement matches the needs or goals of the organization. (Provident Living, 2008b, ¶2)

The job seeker must show how he/she will bring value to the business by saving time/money or making a profit. If the applicant has been recognized for cost-saving achievements, make that clear in a power statement. Power statements that are informative but not overconfident will help create a favorable and memorable impression and can help bring the employer to the very desirable action of hiring the applicant; they should be used in the resume, in cover letters, and during interviews.

Summary: Knowing the Territory

With many workers changing jobs every three years and changing careers multiple times, and with nearly as many remaining unemployed for up to six months, the strategies that got jobs a decade ago simply no longer work. Our students need a better plan than even a five-year-old concept in a costly textbook. Keeping abreast of the changes in the territory and changing what we teach students about preparing for and finding a job in today's economy is in everyone's best interests.

References

Bernstein, J., & Shierholz, H. (2008). Jobs picture: September 5, 2008. Washington, DC: The Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20080905

Bortnick, S.M., & Ports, M.H. (1992, December). Job search methods and results: Tracking the unemployed, 1991. Monthly Labor Review, 115(12), 29-35. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1992/12/art3full.pdf

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2007). Occupational outlook handbook, 2008-09 edition. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20042.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008a, June 28). Number of jobs held, labor market activity, and earnings growth among the youngest baby boomers: Results from a longitudinal survey. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008b, November 7). The employment situation: October 2008. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

The College of William & Mary Career Center. (n.d.). Career transitions. Retrieved from http://web.wm.edu/career/Alumni/AlumniTransitions.cfm

Fletcher, M.A. (2008, July 4). U.S. workforce shrinks for 6th straight month: Worries about the economy deepen. The Washington Post, p. D1. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/03/ST2008070302028.html

Kim, A., Solomon, A., Schwartz, B.L., Kessler, J., & Rose, S. (2007). The new rules economy: A policy framework for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Third Way. Retrieved from http://www.thirdway.org/products/71

Pope, E. (2008, March). 'They won't let me retire'—Hot jobs in a slow market. AARP Bulletin Today. Retrieved from http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles/labor_shortage_forces.html (URL Defunct) Article can be found at: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles/labor_shortage_forces.html

Provident Living. (2008a). Networking. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,5945-1-3038-1,00.html

Provident Living. (2008b). Power statements. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,5947-1-3040-1,00.html