Chapter 1

Digital Age Changes Job Chase

In This Chapter

arrow Growing your career with truly terrific resumes

arrow Blending human know-how with new technology

arrow Staying on the leading edge in job search

Are resumes outdated? Every few years an employment expert excitedly announces a “new discovery” — that resumes are old hat and unnecessary. The expert advises job seekers to forgo resumes and talk their way into an interview. This advice rarely works in real life. Very few people are eloquent enough to carry the entire weight of an employment marketing presentation without a resume.

A newer resume attack turns not on oratorical talent but on technology. In one scenario, recruiting professionals encourage employers who’ve grown weary of hiking over mountains of resumes to do away with them, replacing resumes with rigid application forms on the Web — complete with screening questions and tests — to decide who gets offered a job interview.

Another recent scenario — also technology dependent — reflects the view that social networking online profiles are pinch hitting for resumes as self-marketing documents. As I point out in Chapter 2, online profiles are equivalent to generic resumes. ...

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