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Resume Writer Matthew
Greene, M.Phil.
Is your resume good enough for hard times in 2012?
When the job market is as tough as it is today, ALL resumes will need to be better and
stronger. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Earlier this month, SimplyHired released its April job trends report highlighting national and local market outlooks, and industry and employer trends. After returning to pre-recession levels last month, nationwide job openings continued to increase in April, gaining 6.7% month-over-month and 33.9% year-over year. In March, SimplyHired.com reached pre-recession numbers of job listings, and the government released the most optimistic employment report we've seen in a long time. (The Career News, May 16, 2011) The outlook for hiring in 2011 is much better than it has been in the last two years. With the slight uptick in consumer spending, retailers and automakers are hiring. Manufacturing hires are also up. Other job postings on the increase include accounting, health care and telecommunications.Internet job listings have surged to 4.7 million as of December 1, 2010 compared to 2.7 million from the same period a year ago. This is according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal and is taken from AOL Daily Finance by Vishesh Kumar posted on 12/29/2010]. Many of the new jobs are in the retailing, accounting, consulting healthcare, telecommunications, and defense related industries, according to data from the job search website Indeed.com. (Farming, manufacturing and construction jobs are under-represented in the survey.) On 9/21/09, Career News reported from Washington as follows: "We are in the worst recession in over 20 years, but employers still have millions of jobs going unfilled. "According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, outplacement counseling programs are struggling to assist job hunters get the job done. "Bob Gerberg Jr, the CEO of ITS, said that this is partially because many people are doing the wrong things and some counselors are still advising job hunters to use methods from the 1990s."But, traditional job hunting is no longer effective. Gerberg says too many people still start by preparing a self-written historical resume (instead of the focused or tailored resume required in today's job market). Then they just start answering ads, networking with some friends, contacting a few recruiters, post their resume once or twice and they stop there. "It is hard to believe, said Gerberg, but that's all that tens of millions of people still do. In a typical month they generate only one or two interviews. "Today, much more is needed. A great many job hunters have good experience and backgrounds, they just need a better approach. The market may be down, but there are still millions of jobs out there." The choices of jobs may not be as numerous, but they are still out there -- from smaller mom-and-pops to larger government organizations like the U.S. Census Bureau. Private companies in health care, smaller or boutique financial firms like Broadpoint, Pinetum Capital and BTIG, human resources, startup technology companies and biotech companies like FluGen, animal companion nutrition & drug companies, public relations firms, time-shares, security firms, and supermarkets are still looking for people to hire, as others scale back and trim down their staff. In October 2009, AOL Career News reported that the following companies are hiring for Management, Sales and other positions: AT&T, Z.Zep, Inc., Domino's Pizza, Allstate, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Meineke, Sodexo, Aegis Therapies, Family Dollar, Interstate Bakeries Corporation, CVS Caremark, UPS, Aflac, Verizon Wireless, Sears, Roebuck & Co., Dollar General, adidas, Olan Mills Studio, Quest Diagnostics, H&R Block Tax Services, etc. GREEN JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR MBA's. And what about jobs in all of those "green" alternative energy industries that President Obama has been stimulating? Shannon Small, an MBA coach and senior consultant with nextsteppartners.com, says: "In this economy, one of the greatest benefits of an MBA is the broad exposure. Companies that are trying to do more with less are more willing to put them to work knowing they have capabilities in business fields. With an expansive network they can tap into the greater reach of the alumni networks." Small says that many of her students have gone onto jobs in "green tech and clean tech," two popular fields in the environmentally conscious Bay Area, alongside financial services firms and computer and internet startups. Some students are taking an MBA as a "hedging strategy" against unemployment. High Demand for Skilled Labor Employers are begging for qualified applicants for certain occupations, even in hard times. Most of the jobs involve skills that take years to attain. Welder is one, employers report. Critical care nurse is another. Electrical lineman is yet another, particularly those skilled in stringing high-voltage wires across the landscape. Special education teachers are in demand. So are geotechnical engineers, trained in geology as well as engineering, a combination sought for oil field work. Respiratory therapists, who help the ill breathe. And with infrastructure spending now on the rise, civil engineers are in demand to supervise the work. The hospitality sector has been hardest hit, with retail not far behind, as national chains announce closures and cutbacks. But Wal-Mart is hiring! While almost every other large retailer is cutting jobs, Wal-Mart says it will add 22,000 new workers this year. (Reported on June 4th) It says a great deal about the world's largest retailer's strength and success during the recession. Wal-Mart has been adroit at keeping its prices low during the downturn. While the chain has often done well bringing in low-income shoppers, the middle classes now shop at the stores as their credit has been pinched and their salaries frozen. With today's high unemployment rates you've got to work SMARTER to find a job. Job listings are not coming in as rapidly as before but you can still find them out there if you look hard enough. DON'T STOP LOOKING. You just have to use ALL of the resources available to you -- from traditional classifieds to online job boards and continue to build your network. AMERICA IS GOING GREEN It's no secret that America is going green. Green jobs are popping up everywhere, whether it's the technician installing solar panels on a home, the scientist researching ways to build better batteries for electric cars, or the executive looking for ways to reduce waste, eliminate unnecessary packaging and cut costs. Job growth in this area is expected to top 50% by 2016, nearly four times the job growth for all other occupations combined. To any recruiter, you are only as good as your resume makes you. So, how well are you SELLING YOURSELF ON PAPER – in your resume and cover letter? Are you presenting your value as strongly as you should? Do you come across as someone who should be interviewed and hired? Do you look like a "perfect fit" for any job in 2012? Can you compete in today's job market? Can your resume compete successfully against professionally written resumes? In any pile of 50-100 or more applications, a "basic" or traditional or home-made resume WON'T impress because recruiters want you to address their SPECIFIC needs. Only a skilled writer knows how to do this because resume professionals have taken years to fine-tune their craft. Like most people, you have probably studied one or more SAMPLE RESUMES to see how others have done it – to try to save money by doing it yourself. But how much can you learn or copy or adapt from someone else's resume? Very little! First, your information and work history are NEVER the same. Second, you can't tell what additional data was included or left out, downplayed, and so on. Third, sample resumes do NOT reveal their construction and writing secrets to you. You see, it took a lot of thought and effort to create a "perfect" or winning resume! RESUME WRITING IS AN ART. To beat the competition for fewer jobs, your resume has to be carefully designed, written, and presented. Good resume writing is the art of EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION. Very few people can do this because it is NOT easy at all! To be successful, you must FOCUS your job search. What are you looking for? What is or are your most realistic option(s)? The more specific you can be, the more FOCUSED and successful your resume and job search will be. The hardest job to find -- not the easiest -- is what anxious job seekers refer to as "ANY JOB". As Yogi Berra has correctly pointed out: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else." Either nowhere or in some McJob that pays you much less than you're worth! The COST of having your resume revamped, improved, redesigned, or rewritten in 2012 by top resume writer Matthew Greene is highly affordable! Only $75 or $125 or $250 or so for senior executives. That is very little to pay, even nowadays, for a revamped or tailored resume that helps you to get hired. In the Recession of 2009, a professionally-written resume has become a "MUST HAVE". Let Matthew Greene assist you as he has been doing since 1984. Greene delivers superior quality resumes and cover letters for a very reasonable fee. He will help you succeed in these uncertain times. The year 2012 may be the toughest job market anyone of us can remember. Don't delay. Act NOW! [ Visit WINNING RESUMES BLOG for valuable recession "tips".
mattgreene@aol.com
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