Never show a resume to anyone

In the New York Times today, Eric Dash writes under the headline:

American Express Plans to Trim 7,000 Jobs to Save $1.8 Billion

In addition, a hiring freeze has been imposed, and the company said that it was suspending management-level raises next year.

This led me to think about the most common mistake made by those transitioning from one job to another.
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Never show a resume to anyone

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Realize it or not, the positioning statement of a resume is that something has gone wrong and now you need a job. Whether or not it is true, that is what the document proclaims. The trick is not to advertise your need, but rather, to resonate the need of a potential employer. The resume also reduces you to generic compensation--probably about half what you are worth at competitive market rates--but more on that later.

Conventional advice says that anyone wanting for a job, a new job, a career transition, a come-back or a "return from hiatus" needs to update their resume and circulate it where job openings have been announced. This advice, if followed diligently, will result in a 14-20 month job search--remember that Baby-Boomers are extending their careers at an age when our parents were withdrawing from the job market--that will likely result in a decision to retire or the acceptance of a position that is beneath one's station with a de-valued compensation.

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The Internet has changed the dynamics of the game. Whereas the announcement of a job opening used to represent a need, today it no longer does. The same day a job announcement is posted, they receive some 300 thousand resumes off the Internet, the need evaporates and what begins immediately is a process of elimination that does not benefit an executive of standing--a job candidate, if you will--to take part in.

Almost all of the expert advice on how to get your next job was designed to keep you away from where you need to be

Almost all of the expert advice on how to get your next job was designed to keep you away from where you need to be. None of the advice put you across from a CEO--or the board if a CEO position was being sought. All of it put you in front of a lower echelon functionary whose job it was to get rid of you, fulfilling his or her role as a filtering agent reducing the numbers to a workable level. Why do they give you this kind of advice? It was given to you for their convenience and not to advance your agenda. They deal in the so-called Law of Large numbers and, from their perspective, crowd control is a must. The Internet has impacted the dynamics of our lives in many ways. This is one of them. Don't get caught out adhering to an old paradigm.

The strategy for the new paradigm is to understand that visibility and value are inextricably linked. Stop seeing yourself as an employee hoping to get hired and realize that you are a personal brand with deliverables that can impact on the bottom line of any company your move into. The only statistic that will indicate your viability and forecast the speed with which you obtain your next job under enhanced terms and conditions is this: The number CEOs in the sector you want to operate in who are aware of your signature skills and deliverables. Simple, right?