Pursuit of a Career Changing Promotion
In this era of automation, we’ve thought a lot about the impact of online job postings, job boards and applicant tracking systems (ATS) have on a person’s ability to be competitive.
Can a person seeking a promotion effectively compete and get noticed?
Or is it the case where a resume being submitted online is no longer sufficient and the key to success (especially when looking for a promotion) is networking and relationships?
Networking and relationship building is time-consuming and requires a lot of effort with its fair share of dead-ends and frustration. There are also lots of opinions on networking, how to network, where and when to network and the types of people to network with which can be confusing and hard to follow.
But the real challenge on relying only on networking is that it’s a quid pro quo game. To get, you usually must have something to give. Not great when you are looking for a job. It is understandable why so many people avoid it. But can a resume makeover be enough to get noticed and invited to interview?
The answer is yes, if these 4 keys to success are followed:
Tailoring your content
Focus on quantifiable achievements (especially important for those advancing into or forward in leadership)
Consistency in content and presentation (resumés, LinkedIn and references)
Strategic use of keywords
Over the years, we have worked with several people who want to get promoted and/or need a change of position but feel stuck in their current role and are hitting dead ends applying online.
The issue isn’t that they didn’t spend enough time networking. The issue is that their resume was inadequate and was sabotaging their chances of getting noticed. Here are three examples. In each we share their situation, our observations and the changes we proposed (and made) to assist.
Notice that in each situation, there are a combination of problems and solutions. It is important to remember the saying “what got you here, won’t get you there”. When seeking a promotion, your professional image matters most and that is primarily reflected on your resume. Having a poorly formatted resume that contains mistakes, is not concise and doesn’t represent the experience required for your target role tells hiring managers you aren’t ready for next step.
On the other hand having a clean, well-formatted and focused resume demonstrates to hiring managers that you know how to communicate, and that you’ve invested time to consider the job posting before applying, getting you off on the right start and helping you stand out from others.