Just this morning, I called a client to confirm his appointment with me.  The only number he’d given was his cell phone, which I dialed.  For approximately three full minutes (I timed it), I was constrained to listen to a piece of music the man obviously thought would entertain his callers.  Although the music was pleasant, I found it rather excruciating.  I had to listen to the piece in its entirety until his actual voice mail kicked in, allowing me to leave a message.  But that, too, was another minute’s wait as I was treated to the man blessing me in two languages and asking me to have an absolutely wonderful day in the light of the Lord.  As he represented business, I found the patience to hang on … by a thread.

That was four minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Had I been a potential employer contacting the man to schedule an interview, I would have hung up long before those four minutes were up.  I’d have granted the interview to someone else who

           a.       Displayed some common courtesy for my time, or rather, the lack thereof, and

           b.       Had set up his voicemail in a much more professional manner.

As much as it astounds me that self-professed serious job applicants demonstrate this type of behavior, I feel compelled to point out the obvious. 

Many job seekers have deep six’ed their landline phones, and have done so in order to

          a.       Reduce their expenses in this sinking economy and

          b.       Remain available to prospective employers round-the-clock.

If you are one such job candidate, please engage your gray matter; be considerate of the hiring managers.  Imagine the employers’ annoyance should they reach voicemails such as the one my client currently prefers.  If you are using a system similar to my client’s, do yourself a favor if you do not wish to sabotage your job search.  Change your voicemail!   If your friends and loved ones cannot deal with the lack of “warm and fuzzy” from your message mechanism, you have two choices:

          a.       Allow them to locate and secure a job for you or

          b.       Tell them to get real.

You are seeking employment.  You are supposed to be a professional.  Project that in your electronic message! 

When an animal displays a high level of intelligence and sociability, biologists and nature lovers praise the creature for its almost human qualities.  The inference is that human beings possess the most highly evolved brains of all the life forms on Planet Earth.  However, there is much that we can learn from the animal kingdom, particularly those of us who seek gainful employment in this lean economy.

Consider and contrast the ostrich and the chimpanzee.  The ostrich, at the first sign of danger, takes the most expedient route by burying her head in the sand.  While this strategy protects the most vital organ, the brain, it leaves the rest of the animal exposed to an untoward fate. It also effectively cuts her off from the rest of the herd (there is indeed safety in numbers).

The chimp is another tale.  A thriving member of his tribe, he is keenly aware of his environment, for it must sustain him as well as his family.  He senses every nuance of change in sound, light, odor, taste, touch, and temperature.  Interpreting change as potential danger, he explores outlying areas for safety as well as an abundance of resources that will enable him and his family to survive.  Once the new region tests positive, he gets the heck out of Dodge (or at least, the forest),

If the winds of change are blowing throughout your company, which animal will you emulate?  Rumors of downsizing, a merger, or change management and signs of decreased business equate, in your world, to modifications in the chimpanzee’s.   Most of us don’t enjoy change; it shakes us out of our comfort zones and shifts us onto an uncharted course.  Triggering our genetically encoded “flight or fight” response, your first reaction may be to bury your head in the sand and pray that the danger passes.  You may rationalize that you are one of the company’s oldest and most loyal employees, and may convince yourself that you are irreplaceable.  In this economy, the reality is that no one is irreplaceable.  Your safest bet, therefore, is to imitate the chimp.  Remain within the tribe and prepare proactively for change.

Your tribe consists of other business professionals with whom you must network to get wind of job openings.  Be creative and industrious, for contacts are virtually everywhere.  They are not only on major and industry-related job boards; they are on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.  They are your fellow college alumni and professors, and your former co-workers and bosses.  They are your local librarian, members of your Chamber of Commerce, your stockbroker, your banker, your hair stylist, and the group of volunteers with whom you erected that nice new house via Habitat for Humanity.  As the detective once told his protégé, “Someone, somewhere, at some time, heard or saw something.”  The more people you inform of your job hunt, the greater your chances of hearing about an opportunity.

Proactive preparation for an employment search includes an honest self-evaluation of your skills, strengths, weaknesses, achievements, and career-related likes and dislikes.  This knowledge will enable you to craft at least two different resumes and two basic but different cover letters. One set will target your industry; design the other to facilitate your entry into another field where your general abilities will have value.   With so many doors closing on job hopefuls, find a way to open others.

Maximize exposure of your skills and accomplishments.  Post your documents onto large, traditional Internet boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder.  Don’t neglect to post, also, on industry-specific boards as well as actual company (employer) websites.

If danger threatens to come calling in the form of a pink slip, rub the sand out of your eyes.   Be the intelligent problem-solver that always aims for higher ground. 

Commanding officers and enlisted service people in every branch of our military often strategize and live by an interesting and sound concept whose adage advises, “If you want to eat an elephant, eat it one bite at a time.”  Unless stranded on the African veldt or the jungles of India with the barest of supplies, our armed forces are not advocating initiating a giant barbeque featuring a pachyderm as the main menu item.  Rather, the United States military recommends that, when confronted with an enormous task, one should break it down logically and methodically into manageable parts and then tackle each portion one step at a time.

Thrust into this plummeting economy, job seekers can derive genuine benefit as well as emotional relief from this military strategy.  The task of job-hunting, when viewed in its entirety, appears overwhelming and even insurmountable.  When it becomes patently clear that the search for a new position is itself a full time job, many applicants press the panic button.  They immobilize themselves with fear, making little progress toward their goal or worse, running on an ever-spinning hamster wheel by approaching their search via tried and no longer always true methods.  If you number among the swelling ranks of the unemployed or soon to be unemployed, consider that these counterproductive methods include leaping directly into the job market the way that a person who cannot swim may jump into the deep end of the pool.

Viewed systemically and logically, the proper steps that you will wish to take in your job search include the following:

• A genuine, unbiased evaluation of one’s background and skills
• Understanding that your career has been marked with accomplishments, even if you were a member of a large team striving toward common objectives
• A true understanding of the state of the industry in which you may have maneuvered for many years
• Creatively assessing how and where your existing overall skills and strengths can dovetail and have true value via a new job title or a different industry
• Deciding upon the direction or directions of your search; meaning, knowing where you would like to see yourself
• Resolving what you will and will not do in order to achieve placement in a new job.  Will you pull up stakes and move to another State?  Will you accept a position that you may have held prior to your latest promotion(s )? Will you perform the same or similar functions of your last job for a notably lower rate of pay if the salary is bolstered by the provision of benefits, which you may have lost when your former job went away?
• Designing and preparing the strongest resume, cover letter, and follow up letter that you can either craft yourself or contract a well-established professional resume writing service to generate
• Networking, networking, and networking through every viable source, even the ones that you may feel uncomfortable, at first, accessing.  Networking opportunities include the following -
  - Internet job boards both massive (highly generalized) and niche (industry-specific or company-specific)
  - Business networking sites such as LinkedIn
  - Independent, recruitment-oriented sites
  - Social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace
  - Expanding the scope of all potential leads by joining a charitable organization, connecting with former schoolmates and faculty at alumni events and whenever possible, employment-oriented meetings, and becoming a member of pertinent industry associations.
  - Alerting virtually everyone you know that you are seeking a new position. This includes vendors to whom you give regular business, as well as your priest, deacon, minister, or rabbi, your neighbors, and the parents of your children’s friends, to name a few.

Approaching your job search by way of this manageable, step by step approach, you will not only ingest the elephant more easily, you will see better results, and more of them, faster than you would have if you view the pachyderm as “biting off more than you can chew.”

Although Taylor’s public pep talk underscored both his devotion to his music and his commitment to landing a lucrative record contract, it also presented a dichotomy.  The kind of music that swept commercial radio represented a calculated, formulaic route too narrow to allow the undeniably talented and diverse, albeit unknown, artist to set off on a path of his own making.  Taylor understood that in order to get his foot in the door, he had to reinvent or repackage himself, balancing the primal need to remain true to his musical roots with the necessity to market himself to a broader audience.  As demonstrated by his song choices and as demanded by the judges throughout the Idol process, these were the decisions that informed Taylor’s strategy.

Although the three judges rarely achieved total consensus during the competition, they all emphasized that it was vital for each contestant to tell his or her unique story, to stand out artistically on the stage, to be memorable.  Interspersing the selections of older masters such as Sam Cooke with that of a gifted and little-known 21st century songwriter Ray LaMontagne, as well as widespread favorites such as Elvis and The Beatles, Taylor built a repertoire of soulful, emotional songs.  Over the weeks, they told the story of the type of music that he had moved him from the age of nine, when the pain and beauty of soul music compelled him to “liberate” an old Otis Redding LP from a friend’s parents’ collection.

Compressing three and four-minute radio-format songs into the two-minute offerings necessitated by Idol, he rearranged (”Taylorized”) each of the songs’ endings himself.  Telling his story in this manner, Taylor Hicks appealed to the broadest possible audience while maintaining the integrity of his musicality.  His eponymous, first post-Idol CD was fabricated on the premise of what he termed Modern Whomp:  a sound that honored the past while embracing more current forms of music.  With his newest CD “The Distance” sailing under the flag of his own Modern Whomp label, Taylor evolves his rich mélange, spinning the story of where he has been and where he is headed musically.  Integrating the sounds of yesteryear’s soul-blues luminaries with more contemporary genres, Taylor Hicks continues to reinvent himself, opening the widest possible markets for his genius and laying the foundation for continued success.

In this economic environment, employees, particularly older workers, would be wise to take a page out of the Idol winner’s book.  Instead of entering the job market like a singer walking cold into an audition, define and execute a strategy that will position you in the spotlight when reinventing yourself for potential employers.  Consider honestly the skills that you have acquired and honed over the life of your career, including both discernible and not so obvious abilities.  Proficiency in creating MS PowerPoint presentations, coordination of administrative aspects of clinical trials, and management of a medical office are examples of more palpable skills.  Not as obvious but no less valuable are, for instance, the ability to negotiate positive change with management, identify more efficient means of accomplishing departmental functions, and reduce overhead without cutting quality.  Viewing your skills in this manner will enable you to broaden your view of how you might best transition into a new industry or division.  And, this perspective will facilitate the telling of your own unique story.

In narrating your tale, do not neglect to bring to light some of your achievements.  As Einstein taught us, all things are relative; in order to illuminate your successes, you must first relate them as problems.  Explain the crux of the problem, how you perceived it, and how you turned it around.  If feasible, indicate measurable results (i.e., “Improved processing time by 20% over the previous system.”).

Bullet points on a resume are more effective than paragraphs for ease of digestion, but abbreviated bullet points cannot tell a story.  If this advice has you wondering if you need to write a book, you don’t.  The key is to encapsulate your story, using a reverse-chronological, functional (skills-based), or hybrid style of resume.  For most applicants, a two-page career synopsis is not only acceptable, it also enables narration of the salient factors that we have discussed above.

It is human nature to remember stories better than facts, so use this to your advantage when crafting your own memorable resume.  And don’t forget the importance of a cover letter.  As the precursor of the resume, the cover letter lends itself to writing a strong, succinct introduction.  By weaving a compelling story, you will prompt employers to schedule interviews during which you will have the opportunity to tell, in the words of the late, great Paul Harvey, “the rest of the story.”

Although your termination may have had nothing whatsoever do with your performance and everything to do with a lackluster economy, it may nevertheless be inevitable.  Before you succumb to the fears that can leave you wondering how you are going to get up off the couch much less conduct a job search, pull your head up out of the sand.  Rumors of takeovers and downsizing usually have their basis in reality.  The signposts pointing to layoffs and company closures are usually quite visible; face them squarely in order to be prepared.  The most glaring signal of all is the advice of an employer who assures you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about.  In most cases, we have usually found the opposite to be true.  So as not to precipitate a mass exodus of employees who must run the ship until it sinks, an employer is compelled to paint a rosy picture for you.  Don’t believe it.  The bloom is off the rose, so be proactive.

Conduct an honest assessment of your skills, strengths, and weaknesses.  No one can do this for you, and if you cheat, you only cheat yourself.  Your lists should indicate our specific skills (i.e., sales presentations, establishing meaningful relationships with clients) and accomplishments (i.e. “increased sales volume by 6% over the prior year”).  If you have traveled 60% of the time as a sales representative, for instance, and are weary of the road, determine what percentage of your week, month, or year you are willing to travel for business.

Make a second list.  What if the well of your industry is running dry?  What if, for example, the widgets that your company has produced for the past forty-three years are now being manufactured more cost effectively overseas?  If you had to transition into another industry, understand and be able to speak intelligently about the transferable skills that you have acquired, which will have value in another industry.

Start your job search.  Your first steps are a well-crafted resume, cover letter, and follow-up letter. Without the resume and cover letter that must sell your skills and drive a potential employer to contact you, you have little chance of getting your foot in the door.  And without a follow-up letter, you may be perceived as uninterested in the jobs for which you have gained interviews.

Network.  If you are a member of a professional organization (i.e., the American Nurses Association) and have caught the wind of change blowing through your company, take a more active role in terms of your professional affiliation(s).  Attend meetings regularly and speak with your peers, including those in the position to hire.  Join your local Chamber of Commerce, or several Chambers of Commerce, in order to make those vital professional connections.

If you have been blessed with a job that has provided you with a customer base satisfied with your service, and if you feel safe enough with several of your customers, you may wish to “put feelers out” concerning potential positions.

The Internet.  Never underestimate the power of the job boards:  the most wide-reaching tool for your employment search.  For additional information and guidelines, for those not quite familiar with the major job boards, please see other articles on our Website.

Interview, interview, interview!  Even if you are not fully prepared to make the break from your employer before he is forced to terminate you, arrange as many interviews as you can.  By familiarizing yourself with the questions that employers will pose, and by understanding the questions that you yourself should be asking the interviewer, you will gain the knowledge and confidence that you require to sail through what you may not have experienced in a number of years.  And, you never do know when one of those “test interviews” will yield your next job!

Looking out on the morning rain,
I used to feel so uninspired.
And when I knew I had to face another day,
Lord, it made me feel so tired.
Before the day I met you, life was so unkind,
                               But your love was the key to my peace of mind.
                                Aretha Franklin – “A Natural Woman”

Although the Queen of Soul first belted this hit over the airwaves more than three decades ago, its sentiments are as relevant now as they were then.  Today, every media vehicle teems with negatives.  Browser pages on our computers greet us each morning with news of natural disasters, violent crime, and the ever-sinking economy.  In such times, we grasp for and cling to encouragement wherever we may find it.  When truly fortunate, we are directed to something whose intrinsic worth is more far-reaching than immediate forms of respite and motivation.  Often, that “something” is a “someone:”  a role model.  Neophytes in business have dedicated mentors; sports figures have team captains and coaches.  While these are avenues and examples of traditional role models, we sometimes find our guiding lights through routes perhaps not as obvious as these.

When Taylor Hicks first entered our living rooms in January of 2006 via American Idol, he seemed to have anything but “role model” stamped all over him.  Gleaning a single winner from the 100,000 hopefuls nationwide, Idol represented the back door, the “hidden job market,” if you will, to Hicks.  As one of the oldest contestants and the only one sporting prematurely gray hair, Taylor’s powerful, emotional voice was throwback-bluesy and flavored with old school soul; his stage presence recalled the iconoclastic and admittedly spastic Joe Cocker.  Hicks, a Birmingham, Alabama son born and bred, was 180 degrees removed from the ultra-cool vocal styling and fashion sense of the younger, hipper, more marketable competition that had historically reached the summit of the Idol ladder.  Taylor knew full well that he was facing an uphill battle.

However, as Simon Cowell unleashed a resounding “Nay” to this underdog’s entry into the competition, few could have envisioned that Taylor would not only win American Idol, but become a role model for so many, including the founders and members of charitable organizations that sprang up in his honor, and those of us now facing apparently fruitless job searches.  An obscure singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist touring the Deep South for nearly ten years, Taylor conducted his own brand of networking via his job search for a seemingly elusive record contract.  Half musician/singer/songwriter and half self-promoter, Taylor marketed himself ferociously to all potential employers.  Peddling his independently released and self-bankrolled CD’s, “In Your Time” and “Under the Radar,” from the back of his van, he pitched record producers, DJ’s, and other would-be reps:  the counterparts to human resources personnel, hiring managers, and recruiters.  But all of his knocking never opened a single door.  Undeterred, Taylor re-applied himself to his job search with unwavering focus and drive.

He researched, contacted, and sweet talk-badgered booking agents, gaining occasional buy-in’s from established luminaries such as Jackson Browne and James Brown, who allowed Taylor and his band to open for them … without pay.  The never-say-die Alabamian also networked with rising stars such as Dierks Bentley, a buddy from Taylor’s frustrating Nashville days and now a country music recording star.

The inroads that Taylor carved, however, were not enough for a man driven to make his living exclusively by crafting, recording, and performing his music.  In desperation, he turned to the one place where he was almost certain to meet defeat:  a reality show whose audience seemed to crave younger, moldable talent ripe for commercial radio.  In capitalizing upon his equivalent of the hidden job market, Taylor realized his dream, hopping a train to victory paved with the tracks that he had laid with faith, focus, and application.  Garnering the lion’s share of the final 63 million public votes, Taylor Hicks nailed a million-dollar contract with Arista Records.  When this relationship later dissolved via mutual consent, and through Taylor’s desire to gain full creative control over his work, the winner continued to market himself conscientiously, expanding his network of possibilities.

Now flying under his own label, Modern Whomp, Taylor will launch his newest work, “The Distance,” on March 10, 2009, as produced by Eric Clapton/BB King/Faith Hill collaborator Simon Climie.  His additional, independently won accomplishments include a bring-down-the-house role in the Broadway-gone-national gangbusters play, “Grease,” and a Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed by the renowned children’s medical research and services organization, the Shriners Hospitals for Children.  A clear winner on many fronts, Taylor does not rest on his laurels:  he continues to market himself constantly.

Attempting entry into a job market glutted with competition, we, as job candidates, can take inspiration from Taylor’s trials and triumphs.  If the job boards, print ads, and recruiters do not yield viable opportunities, we must network via less obvious routes.  We must establish connections and/or reconnect with members of industry/professional groups, school alumni associations, and various organizations, such as local Chambers of Commerce as well as charities for which we may volunteer.  (Taylor, by the way, was “giving back” to the community even as a struggling musician; primarily to Kid One Transport and Studio by the Tracks).  We must also capitalize upon opportunities inherent in the ever-growing member populations of Internet sites such as Linkedin, as well as the large social networking boards:  Facebook, MySpace, and the recently popular Twitter.  Like Taylor Hicks, with diligence, concentration, and the courage to step “outside the box,” we may yet emerge as winners.

In an ailing economy, a rigorous job search can be can frustrating and intimidating, particularly as some sources state that as many as 85% of available jobs never appear in newspapers or Internet job boards.  While the statistics vary, the truth underlying this certainty has long been known among astute job seekers.  Candidates hoping to expand their opportunities by way of this hidden job market need to identify its most viable points of access.

Every serious candidate is aware of the significance of networking through direct contacts in the business world.  By attrition, however, the swelling ranks of applicants either unemployed or confronting imminent unemployment has diminished the potential openings available via this avenue of traditional career networking.  Consider using different approaches to yield greater results.

One such approach is cultivating new contacts via participation in volunteer efforts.  Philanthropic and other organizations provide an opportunity for you to work with others sharing common goals and interests.  Affiliation in such organizations enables job seekers to widen their circle of contacts and create references who can vouch honestly for the work ethic and commitment of the applicant.

The addition of volunteer work also enhances the content and quality of one’s resume as it speaks of the candidate’s dedication to others and more.  Interviewers will often ask prospective employees to explain intervals between jobs.  Memberships in volunteer organizations allow candidates to initiate meaningful dialogues beyond the usual response of, “I was looking for a job.”  Volunteer work presents an opportunity to demonstrate allegiance to a worthy cause as well as to highlight one’s duties, including the communication, negotiation, organizational, and problem-solving skills that also have value in the business arena.  Such traits and community service are attractive to potential employers.

Another means of accessing the hidden job market is both obvious and often overlooked: the general media and the business press.  The most cursory, daily perusal of any Internet browser’s home page will reveal news of companies launching new products or services, entering into previously untapped markets, or instituting new management at the executive level.  These scenarios indicate firms undergoing transitions that may equate to employment opportunities.  The same may be said of organizations that appear to be increasing their advertising in broadcast or print media.  Seeking to create new consumers and elevate sales, these employers may require staff skilled in a broad array of job functions to support those initiatives.

Other business publications provide potential access points into the hidden job market.  Across diversified industries, most business publications compile lists as well as information concerning the largest and/or most rapidly growing companies in their area.  On an annual basis, this data will appear in books or catalogues of lists that serve as useful reference tools for serious job seekers.

Social groups present yet another career networking opportunity.  Should the group be affiliated with a specific profession or field, part of its mission is to disseminate knowledge of emerging industry trends; knowledge that is not only practical, it is often vital in one’s job search.  Although many such groups do meet face-to-face, virtual networking is increasing in popularity, bringing individuals together for the sake of common, non-job related interests.  Once formed in cyberspace, friendships often transcend the anonymous nature of Internet boards to coalesce into genuine, supportive relationships that can broaden one’s network of potential opportunities in the hidden job market.

In addition to the usual electronic job boards, recruiters accessing the Internet broaden their own search for viable candidates through sites such as LinkedIn, a resource that uses postings from a job aggregator known as SimplyHired.  Through these sites, applicants can create and revise profiles that can be viewed by recruiters, both internal and external to employers.  Obviously, serious job seekers will wish to establish and maintain profiles that portray them as professional and reliable.

On resumes, active memberships in general-professional or industry-related organizations indicate candidates’ desires to continue to hone their skills and build upon their existing base of knowledge:  mindsets focused on professional excellence and appealing to hiring managers.  In addition to the obvious, direct-networking benefits of professional or industry affiliations, employers sometimes conduct on-line searches of applicants by using such affiliations as part of their search criteria.

Through capitalization of schools’ career centers as well as direct contact with one’s old classmates, alumni associations also provide job seekers with a means of expanding their networking opportunities into the hidden job market.  However, alumni associations are not limited to institutions of higher learning; employer alumni associations are exactly what they sound like:  groups of people who once worked for the same company and who may be able to assist the serious job seeker with potential leads.

As with most things in life, one must strive for balance.  In desiring assistance from others to access the hidden job market, seek to return the favor.  Considerate response to your colleagues’ own needs is not only “the right thing to do;” it can also assist in maintaining and even expanding the networking lifelines that many find indispensable in advancing their careers.

Understanding the critical role of online job sites in a serious employment search, and given the plethora of such sites, the situation begs the question, “Where to post your resume?”

The most obvious answers to “Where to post your resume?” are the giants whose names, as a result of their scope and longevity, are renowned.  These include but are not limited to Monster, Yahoo Hotjobs, and Careerbuilder.  Although it can be time-consuming to post one’s resume on and navigate through these super boards, it is advisable not to avoid them for the reason that employers don’t.  In addition, the super boards boast hundreds of partner sites; careerbuilder, for example, currently enjoys more than 1,100 such partners representing that many more potential opportunities.

Hub sites are the next best bet for “Where to post your resume.”  The hubs are often industry-specific or geography-specific, providing postings within, for example, the IT industry or jobs within the entire State of New Jersey.  Employers find these sites attractive as their rates are more cost-competitive than those of the super boards.  Employees find them appealing for their specificity as well as the industry news and general information that they provide, that can be useful when facing the “where to post your resume” issue.

Serving smaller populations of job seekers (specific professions, age groups, industries), niche sites can be valuable outlets for “Where to post your resume.”  The niche sites are usually affiliated with professional associations or other professional groups that engaged in business prior to the emergence of the Internet and now have a presence on the Worldwide Web.  More cost-effective than the larger boards, the niche boards represent savings to employers.  What they represent to recruiters are targeted means of identifying qualified candidates more quickly than trawling through the super boards.

On our Resources page, you will find a broad array of super, regional, and niche sites to which to post your resume.

Job seekers today can find themselves in the same predicament as the seven blind men asked to describe the elephant.  Touching the beast’s trunk, the first man exclaimed, “The elephant is shaped like a snake!”  Exploring the elephant’s leg, the second man argued, “No, the animal is like a tree.”  As the lack of consensus continued with the remaining men, not one of them was able to form an accurate picture of the elephant, because each had perceived the animal from his own limited perspective. 

When preparing resumes, job seekers often make similar errors in judgment by failing to see the big picture.  Although candidates, with no plan for the distribution of their resumes, may be eager to incorporate minute details of every job that they have ever held into their job hunting documents, they often fail to consider what the employers themselves wish to see.  Confronting mounds of resumes either prepared directly by candidates or by resume writing services, employers are more concerned with what applicants can bring to their specific job opportunities.  Therefore, in conducting job campaigns, job hopefuls should configure their resumes so that their current skills mesh with the demands of the available positions.  This can mean tailoring or “fine-tuning” resumes according to responsibilities defined in the employers’ job descriptions.

When such a task seems daunting, savvy job seekers turn to professional resume writing services.  Such services possess the expertise to accurately portray candidates’ skills while giving employers the information that they want and need to make an informed hiring decision.

Not all forms of prejudice are as blatant as Karl’s situation.  Although Equal Employment Opportunity legislation was enacted to prevent job-related discrimination, the law, as written, can differ vastly from its practice.  In a society that prizes and glorifies its concepts of good looks, bias based upon an applicant’s appearance is often so subtly ingrained that an employer can be unaware of the fact that he or she is prejudicial.  Married to tall, well-conditioned frames, handsome or pretty countenances can open doors faster and wider than their plainer counterparts.  However, there are exceptions.

Is it possible to be so beautiful that looks can eclipse one’s abilities, clouding the hiring manager’s vision so that all he or she sees are the applicant’s external attributes?  The popular television program, “Beauty and the Geek,” revolves around the accepted premise that attractive individuals are considerably less intellectual, and less capable of reasoning problems through to successful resolution, than their ordinary-looking, more scholarly partners.  Over the months that the program airs and the contestants evolve, this supposition is debunked to a certain degree.  However, a job applicant does not have that luxury of time. Numerous psychological studies have indicated that human beings form impressions of others within the first thirty seconds of meeting them.  How will you be perceived when you face your prospective employer?