Unemployment vs Underemployment on Your Résumé

The question comes up repeatedly in this economy: "Why should I even consider a low-paying job when I can continue to draw unemployment?" This is a great question, and one that there is no easy answer to.

From the standpoint of benefiting your state and national economies, working at any job will put you back in the group of citizens who are contributing taxes into the system. Whether you can truly afford to take a lower-paying job will probably be the final deciding factor. There are those who have adequate savings, or other income, that allows them to take a lower-paying job for a time until "the dream job" comes along.

Does having several lower-paying jobs in a row on your résumé draw unwanted attention to the fact that you are, at times, willing to settle for less salary and/or benefits? Perhaps yes. It is certainly something to think about. On the other hand, it demonstrates a work ethic that does not allow you to "take handouts," which can be a plus in a tight job race.

Be careful how you list short-term, low-paying jobs on your résumé. They should be at least briefly entered (as little as one line per position) to fill in the time frame, but should likely be underplayed, especially if they are not in your normal career area. If a position is in your normal career area, or is an internship that is on your path to a new career area, give some thought to how this can be beneficial to list along with the rest of your experience.

Ultimately, working at any job gains you skills and knowledge that can be transferred to future positions. So consider every job opportunity carefully, and weigh its pros and cons as they related to your overall financial needs and future goals. ©gJones2011

To Pro or Not to Pro

When an individual is preparing to write a résumé, the question generally comes up whether to "do it yourself" or hire a professional (like me) to do it for you. While it is true that many people are not confident in their ability to produce a superior résumé that will get them called in for interviews, many employers prefer to see a résumé written by the prospective employee -- it is a demonstration of skills and abilities, and initiative.

In making the choice of whether to hire a professional résumé writer, take a look at Your Resume: A Crash Course as an option. You not only get my expertise in the book, but you have the option of having me do an inexpensive review/critique of your résumé when you have finished the course.

Whichever way you go, make sure that your resume is the best it can be. You owe that to yourself in this ultra-tight job market.

To Video or Not to Video

As I listened to a commentary on the radio about whether or not submitting video résumés was a good idea, I had to concur with the commentator that, in most cases, they are not. HR people are busy people, and with the job market bringing in sometimes hundreds of applicants, who has time to watch a 10-minute video presentation? Stick with paper or online postings, if applicable, and "get the job done."

FFA CDE Interview Competition Resource

FFA CDE competition is tough enough even if your FFA team is fully prepared. It is even tougher when they are not as prepared as they could have been. Your Résumé: A Crash Course now contains a bonus section covering virtually all areas of the FFA CDE Interview competition. This is a must-have resource for your team for the coming year's competitions!

Senior Exit Portfolios

Virtually every high school in America today has some form of exit portfolio requirement for seniors; and virtually every one of those senior exit portfolios contains a résumé. High school teachers, generally one or more English teachers, do their best to teach their students how to create a résumé to include in this portfolio. Because résumés for high-school-aged young people are a special challenge, this task does not always result in the student actually having a well-written résumé he or she can successfully use in a job search. Having a résumé-writing instructor provide the resources to help students learn what they need to know is why I wrote Your Résumé: A Crash Course.

Résumé Writing for the 21st Century

As we move into mid-summer 2010, it is clear that although there are some temporary jobs created by the "ARRA", (I actually did see some of them as we were driving through Montana to and from Yellowstone last week) they will terminate as soon as the weather turns sour in late fall and that will be the end of that until next summer (if they continue with the funding next year).

Because the job market is so very tight, it is even more important that your résumé be clear, concise and contain enough detail to "set you apart from the crowd."

Sometimes getting your résumé to the top of the pile is as easy as having the only one that isn't folded!

Welcome to The WORD Company USA. As the weeks, and hopefully years, go by, we will be exploring career trends, job search tools, and providing commentaries on a variety of career-related topics.