Monday, November 16, 2009

Job Search Extra Point | Are you ready or are you already sunk?

This morning I came across a startling headline from the Phoenix Business Journal in my Google Reader: Survey: Workers ill-prepared for job search. The article reported a Robert Half International survey that stated 44% of office workers have not updated their resume in more than a year.

HELLO?!?!?

I was quite astonished at this apparent apathy of the respondents. Have you read the papers, watched TV at all in the past 12 months?  Have you heard of the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping?

Although I don’t think folks should panic (if they currently have a job) and run screaming into the night marking the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb (Oops! Sorry - wrong holiday season).  But, if you’re sailing through icebergs in the North Atlantic on a ship made of iron (tortured analogy to the current job market), you might want a life jacket within arm’s reach.  Remember, hope is not a strategy.

The Phoenix Business journal quotes Reesa Staten, senior vice president and director of workplace research for Robert Half International, as saying “a current resume is an essential career tool. The longer it remains untouched, the harder it is to update, since specific achievements are not always easy to recall.”

Staten also adds “Workers who are prepared in the event of a sudden job loss also are ready when new employment opportunities arise, including those within their own companies. A compelling resume is just the first building block of a successful job search.”

Are you ready?

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