Want a job Ignore these Outdated Job-Hunting Beliefs

Want a job Ignore these Outdated Job-Hunting Beliefs **I am a member of the Career Collective, a group of resume writers and career coaches.   Each month, all members discuss a certain topic.   This month, we are talking about job-hunting “rules” to break and old job-search beliefs. Please follow our tweets on Twitter #careercollective.   You can also view the other member’s interesting posts at the end of the article. +++ Despite a wealth of great job-hunting advice, many prospective job seekers are still clinging to outdated job-hunting and resume writing guidelines that hinder their search for a job. If youve been sending your same old resume from 10 years ago with a “Dear Sir or Madam”, then youve probably learned that these methods have become obsolete. If any of the following job hunting problems match you, then you need to implement corrective measures as soon as possible if you want to achieve success in 2011: 1. Not studying your competition Candidates fail to check out their competition when they start their job search. They reason that their generalized resume worked in the past and that it will continue to work in the future, but that just is not the case any longer. You resume will be stacked against incredibly high skilled competition who probably have seen and done things that you present as standout attributes on your resume. If you have a diverse set of skills, youll need to go the extra mile to get into your chosen career. Youll need to establish connections and contacts with people in the industry to help fill in any career gaps you have and to boost your education and work experience. And youll need a compelling resume that clearly develops a connection to your prospective employer. 2. Not caring about your online identity Social media is the way of the world now, and like it or not, its not going anywhere and people pay a lot of attention to it. Who do you think an employer is going to choose, the guy with the drunken Facebook profile picture or the business professional LinkedIn page? 10 years ago no one thought about having themselves Googled, no one really even knew what Google was but now you have to have an online profile to get noticed. You have to make yourself an online brand and highlight yourself above the pack. 3. Disregarding trends in resumes If you cant get past the old resume template with your list of qualifications, then you are going to find the job market in 2011 to be very harsh. Companies receive hundreds of resumes a day, so it becomes critical for potential employees to document the impact of their work and to back up their accomplishments through quantitative means. For a business to hire you they want to make sure that you are going to positively impact their business, and that means on the bottom line, are you going to make their business more profitable. You have to have something on your resume that shows how you have positively impacted growth in one way or another. For executives or senior-level employees, personal branding has become the newest trend in the job hunt. This is a delicate process and you will need someone who understands developing a branded persona. You have to become the expert in your field. Hopefully these tips will help you get past anything that was holding you back and put you on the road to new employment! +++ Read the posts below for other great advice/ideas/tips from these top career bloggers: Juice Up Your Job Search, @debrawheatman Its not your age, its old thinking, @GayleHoward Want a Job? Ignore these outdated job search beliefs @erinkennedycprw Job Search Then and Now, @MartinBuckland @EliteResumes Break the Rules or Change the Game? @WalterAkana The New: From The Employers-Eye View, @ResumeService Job Search: Breakable Rules and Outdated Beliefs, @KatCareerGal Job Hunting Rules to Break (Or Why and How to Crowd Your Shadow), @chandlee @StartWire, Shades of Gray, @DawnBugni 3 Rules That Are Worth Your Push-Back, @WorkWithIllness Your Photo on LinkedIn Breaking a Cardinal Job Search Rule? @KCCareerCoach How to find a job: stop competing and start excelling, @Keppie_Careers Be You-Nique: Resume Writing Rules to Break, @ValueIntoWords Modernizing Your Job Search, @LaurieBerenson Dont Get Caught With an Old School Resume, @barbarasafani How Breaking the Rules Will Help You in Your Job Search, @expatcoachmegan Beat the Job-Search-Is-a-Numbers-Game Myth, @JobHuntOrg 25 Habits to Break if you Want the Job, @careersherpa