Page 25 - Complete Idiot's Guide to The Perfect Resume

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Chapter 1 ➤ Mapping Your Job Hunt

11. What new job or chain of jobs would advance my career (examples: a series of promo-
tions from sales representative to district sales manager in the pharmaceutical indus-
try; a steady job at a bank supplemented by some personal online trading)? __________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

The answers to the questions in this worksheet are important in
forming a road map for your life journey. You may not be able to
answer all of them right now, or your answers may change as your
job search and career progresses. That’s okay. This worksheet is for
brainstorming; you can revise your answers at any point.

Job-Hunt Hint
Right Resume Timing
Consider the following possibili-
Were you surprised to see “Write your resume” third on the job- ties when deciding how to
search strategy list earlier? A lot of people think it should be first. advance your career:
They say, “I have to write my resume, figure out what kind of work
➤ A promotion with your
I want, and then go get a job.” Big mistake!
current employer
As you’ll read in Chapter 2, “A Resume for All Reasons,” your ➤ A similar job with a new
resume is your marketing piece for your job search, not a historical employer in the same
document about your past. Just like any other marketing piece, industry
your resume needs to be created with an objective in mind.
➤ A similar job within a dif-
A marketing professional for an event production company would ferent industry
never create a poster for a concert until she knew what type of ➤ A different job within the
music was going to be performed, where it was being held, and who same industry
the target audience was. It’s the same with your job search. Before
➤ Self-employment (owning
you can produce your powerful marketing piece, you need to know
a business or consulting)
what job you’re going after, what skills are required for the job, and,
if possible, who the reader of your resume is. After you have that
information, you can put together a resume that’ll get your foot in
the door.

With that in mind, start out with some career planning to decide
what role (for example: outside sales or marketing communica-
tions) you want to play for an employer. Second, investigate the
job market to learn what positions you want to apply for. Then
write your resume to emphasize the qualifications that are relevant Career Casualty
to that line of work.
If you’re pursuing two career
Out of breath already? Don’t worry, it’s not as arduous as it sounds, objectives (for example, teaching
especially when you follow the guidelines in this book. and sales), don’t make the mis-
take of using one generic resume
for both applications. Create two
versions of your resume, one for
each career objective. That way
you’ll have two resumes that
each stand against its competi-
tion, instead of a generic one
that looks weak in both fields.

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