There are two distinct positions that are available for a potential recruit to have while filling out their resume and making an employment cover letter. The most important aspect of making a resume is to understand where you stand in this particular scenario in order to properly fill out the job resume as a whole for the employer you seek to know your current position and experience. Consider the following resume tips with concern to the different positions of employment.
Types Of Candidates:
There are 2 broad categories of candidates:
1. Employed
2. Unemployed.
Within these 2 broad categories, there are 3 types of candidates. Those with:
- Nothing to hide
- Nothing to hide but sensitive to age, race, weight, handicap, lack of experience, reentry into the job market, divorce, etc.
- Something to hide (dangerous avocations such as rock climbing or car racing; been fired; criminal convictions; heavy smoker; previous addiction; etc.)
In essence, there are at 6 strategies for applying job search techniques based on the type of candidate that you are and your background.
The trick is to package you by matching your strengths to fit the “want to knows” and “need to knows” of an employer.
Stigma Of Unemployment:
Being “unemployed” is not as much of a stigma as it was prior to 1990. Today with corporate buyouts, bankruptcies, downsizing, reorganizations, etc. employers are very understanding about the reasons that people are out of work. High-end headhunters are often not as understanding.
These high-end recruiters are often charging a fee of 25% to 35% of the first year salary of the person hired for a client. As such, they are trying to prove to a client that they did a lot of hard work for their 35% by sourcing “passive candidates” (i.e., employed individuals) and convincing them to look at the client’s opportunity. Submitting a whole bunch of resumes from unemployed individuals will not do much for a high-end headhunter’s reputation. It has been my experience that a high-end search firm may submit 1 resume of a person “in transition” out of 10 resumes submitted to a client.
I am personally aware of about a dozen hires over the past year where the determining factor was how quickly the unemployed candidate could start vs. the equally qualified candidate who would have to give 4 weeks notice.
Having said this about being unemployed, it is ALWAYS easier to find a job when you have one rather than if you don’t have one. So, in difficult economic time, you NEVER want to quit a position to look for another position, even if it’s difficult to go to work every day. My advice is “suck it up” as best you can and use your non-work time, evenings and weekends, to aggressively search for a new opportunity.
Understanding your position and how you can use that position to your advantage is important towards getting hired. The job search has to be molded so that you can utilize your position in the work-world, whatever it may be, to give yourself the greatest chance of being hired possible.
