Job Search - The Voice of Job Seekers

Resume Trends of 2020 with Ashley Watkins

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Welcome to our annual résumé trends show. It is the only show this year we focus solely on writing and preparing a résumé for your job search. This year, I chose Ashley Watkins to give the 411 on the latest trends in résumé writing.

Let me introduce Ashley:

She is a nationally certified résumé writer, job search and interview coach, and former recruiter. She is the founder of her company. Write Step Resumes. Her services help clients craft high-quality career documents (résumé and cover letter) and LinkedIn profiles to highlight their unique value offerings and communicate the distinct benefit to the target employer during interviews.

Got comments about the show? Here’s how:

– Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number

– Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message

– Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Here are highlights from our conversation:

Ashley compares and contrasts a few of the past trends
The need for proof of your skills to stand out
It’s more important to stand out than to a pasted & copied resume
Communicate your brand and how you add value
Ashley discusses the importance of the top 1/3 of a resume

Write what’s valuable to the employer while communicating your unique value proposition
Employers need to know can you solve my problem
Trying to fill in space and using jargon can talk yourself out of your brand
With the emphasis on keywords now, personality can get lost. Remember that it’s a person first.
You must show enough keywords without the person missing
Show what you master, not as a jack-of-all-trades
We discuss the use of “I” in a resume – know your audience – often depends on the posting
Once a job posting is published if you have to wait to update your resume, you’re already behind

Sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page to receive free e-Guide, “320 Modern Job Search Tips for 2020!” This year, it will be free for a limited time.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Modern Job Search Trends of 2020 Part 2

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Welcome to part 2 of “Modern Job Search Trends of 2020.” If you missed part 1, I encourage you to listen to the first show in this series.

Let me reintroduce my guests on this panel:

Sarah Johnston, founder of the Briefcase Coach, a company is helping many job seekers with their resume writing, LinkedIn strategy, job search strategy, and interview preparation. She recently was elected by LinkedIn editors as “LinkedIn Top Voice” for careers and job search.

Nii Ato Bentsi-Enchill is the founder of AvenirCareers.com. Before going full-time as a business owner, he was Ivy Exec’s Senior Content Manager & Career Adviser. In addition to networking/job search strategy, LinkedIn and resume writing, he uses his Psychology and Mental Health education as part of a holistic approach to career coaching.

Hannah Morgan is a return guest (this is number five, I think). She is the founder of CareerSherpa.net and loves helping people understand what actions they need to take to find a job faster. Her popular site and her US News and World Report column is a large part of being a nationally recognized expert.

Got comments about the show? Here’s how:

– Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number

– Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message

– Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Here are highlights from our conversation:

Networking gives you advantages few get.
When you (the job seeker) are empower your job search, you avoid bad jobs, and your mentality gives you the competitive edge.
Nii Ato says job seekers are overwhelmed and not empowered.
Empowered job seekers choose companies rather than waiting to be selected.
Sarah mentions the email tool hunter.io to find hiring people’s business email addresses and verify it. Also, she mentions Mailscoop.io.
We discussed the benefits of personal branding: how do you deliver, how you help others, and the help you offer.
We talked about the importance of brevity and how it produces effective communication.
Customize your message to different types of audiences.
Sarah discussed how MBA website programs are offering terrible resume samples. They are not achievement-based.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page to receive free e-Guide, “320 Modern Job Search Tips for 2020!” This year, it will be free for a limited time.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Kobe Bryant: His Thoughtful Second Act

These are my own musings of what I’ve gleaned from Kobe Bryant’s career. I was not particularly of a fan, but it was interesting how he created a second act. Everyone will have to create several acts for their career. Even if you don’t follow basketball, you can follow along.

Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash, along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven others. He was much more than an NBA player. He mastered reinvention after a long successful sports career without interruption, which is something most professional athletes struggle to do. Most professionals struggle to seamlessly navigate the new world of job search. His nickname was the “Black Mamba” — and rightfully so as if the characteristics of his nickname fit his style of play.

Like the aggressive and quick black mamba, future projects and career change was the prey for Kobe Bryant. He treated career change with meticulous preparation as a career change. He aggressively readied not as retirement. I write this not particularly as a fan of his impressive work on the court, but I believe he was about to change the game off the court.

Kobe Bryant’s shortlist of achievements:

Spoke three languages (English, Spanish, Italian)

13th Round Pick overall

Five-time NBA Champion

Two-time Finals MVP

18 All-Star appearances

Two-time Olympic Gold Medal Winner

Academy Award Winner (Dear Basketball)

For this moment, there are two takeaway themes to learn from his career.

“Detail.”

Bryant said about his ESPN show, “It’s not for simple-minded people.” Most people didn’t know he had a show on ESPN+ more for the basketball player than the average basketball fan. One of his shows, he uses Scottie Pippen as the ideal defensive player. Kobe said if he were a newly drafted player, he would focus on defense and watch a lot of film because if you do the homework, it has all of the answers.

What if your mentality to your job search had a similar approach before you plan to leave your current job or just separated from your last one? We have too many tools now to go to a new team (or employer) without studying. I’ve suggested repeatedly you should stay engaged in a job search even if it’s just studying. Test time is rough, and so is a job search without job options.

Storytelling

Kobe created a story, EPOCA: The Tree of ECOF, “is the inspiring tale of two talented and diverse young track and field athletes who must “race” to find their inner magic and grana in order to save their classmates (and each other) from evil forces.” But if you followed his Facebook page for the last several years, his posts were all about storytelling as was his show. Even as the narrator and writer of the short film, “Dear Basketball,” based on the letter he wrote announcing his retirement, you’re riding the waves of his experience.

Think about what this would mean in the storytelling of your career. You should want employers who hear your career story to hear your voice as someone who belongs beside them, and not as a kid who is looking through the window at a candy store. If you look at Kobe’s Facebook page, you can tell the clear and riveting way he used storytelling.

Kobe’s reinvented career was as seamless from playing in the NBA to being a player in entertainment. Kobe won an Emmy and an Oscar as a creator, as it’s as similar to the MVP and championship trophies he won as a pro basketball player. The main lesson we can learn from his career is the preparation for the next phase begins now.