CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Career Counselors Blog

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."....Albert Einstein

I speak to frustrated job seekers every day, people who have been looking for a career change for a while. Sometimes a month...sometimes over a year.

In particular, older workers blame a broken system and age bias. I agree...the hiring process in most companies is dysfunctional. There is age bias. It's unfair.

But this broken system can give the smart job seeker an unfair advantage. Would you like to know how to exploit the cracks?

I'm surprised that most don't. Many job seekers want to stay in their comfort zone of what they were taught many years ago, and what worked earlier in their careers - before electronic resumes and CareerBuilder...back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Not only do many job seekers do the same thing over and over, expecting different results....when the going gets tough, they do MORE of the same thing, expecting different results.

These are some examples of insanity that continue to be used by many job seekers.

• Expecting a recruiter will do their job search for them
• Confusing a headhunter with a coach
• Continuing a job search strategy based on paper resumes
• Writing a one page, or even a two page resume
• Using your resume for more than a single job application
• Customizing cover letters, when they aren't included in database searches
• Use LinkedIN to talk to someone about their company, then turn it into an ambush interview
• Go to local Chamber of Commerce networking events, but looking for a Fortune 500 job
• Poor use of Resume Real Estate
• Writing your resume as an autobiography
• Describing about what you managed instead of what you accomplished
• Mailing or faxing a paper resume
• Defining yourself as a generalist
• Blaming the system, instead of changing your tactics to beat the system
• Applying for more than 20 jobs per week
• Junk mailing or email spamming your resume

Ask yourself honestly, are you using any of these?

Article by Phil Rosenberg, President, reCareered & Rainmakers Global and courtesy of reCareered blog.