A recruiter friend received around fifty resumes this week for a GM role with a Tier 2 organisation. The majority were over 9 pages long, 40% had a career objective that did not exactly match the role, 80% had detailed chronological work experience going back further than ten years and 20% had relevant achievements to the advertised role.

Most of the applicants would be over forty years old.

Some hints; four pages is sufficient, if you have an objective write it specifically to the ad spec. What you have been doing in the past 5-7 years is of genuine interest so devote two pages at least with a clear outline of the role, your responsibilities, your reports and reporting lines.

List you achievements and be sure to show a benefit to your company. eg I saved the bank $5M in one year. The benefit to the bank was that we could fund two new projects and grab a lead on the opposition. This demonstrates that you are commercial and that your achievements are not just personal.

You might also consider writing a one page “pitch” on why you are the right person for the role and be clear, I would read that first because it would save me reading another 10 page resume.

Email me and I will send you a good resume template for free or call me if you need coaching.

I had a GM role a year ago and received a call from the HR manager of a major Bank who said, “your contractor Fred S is outside the parameter of our commercial paradigm for invoice collection and payment and he needs to be transitioned.” I was not sure what that meant but it didn’t sound too good for Fred -)

I was forever being told that we were “going forward” in every conversation and in every document I received. What did we do before hand, circle the wagons? And now my personal favourite, the epidemic of KPI’s; were we all unsuccessful before they arrived?

How about you, have you been corporatized in your speech or have you remained somehow untainted?

As an exercise, the next time someone speaks to you in corporate gobbledegook ask them to explain what they mean. I recently surveyed 30 people who used my old time favourite “paradigm”; 30% could not explain to me the meaning of the word.

Think about the words that you use and see if they truly represent who you are because future leaders need to be authentic, and that quality comes jargon free.

If you’re looking for work then think about making up a list of everyone you know that might influence you getting work. Take a few days and really think hard who you know and prioritise the most influential, to the least influential then turn the list upside down.

Start with the least influential and practice on them till you get your story right. You do not ask them for work, just advice on how to find work.

Your goal is to have them refer you to one of their contacts who may influence you getting work thereby expanding your network.

Don’t take a resume to these meetings; you need a one page “pitch” showing your six most marketable skills and six key achievements.

Call or email me today if you need coaching

Below is an article by Alicia Wood in the Sydney Morning Herald, October 10, 2010

What I find interesting is that I have surveyed 25 of my clients who are generally Tier 2/3 and not one has a strategy to either innovatively retain older workers, or has a strategy of engaging older workers. Staggering!

 I would be interested in your thoughts so please email or call me.

http://m.smh.com.au/national/job-boom-for-baby-boomers-20101009-16d1t.html

EMPLOYERS will need to target older workers over the next decade if they want to survive. New state government research shows 45- to 54-year-olds are the fastest-growing employee pool, and by 2016 there will be more people in NSW over 65 than under 15.

Next year will be the first time baby boomers – born between 1946 and 1964 – qualify for the age pension. From 2017, the qualifying pension age will increase every two years so that by 2023 it will be 67.But Anne-Marie Elias, policy manager for the Council on the Ageing NSW, said the government should base the pension on ability, not age.” We really need to develop policies that are based on capacities, not age,”

Ms Elias said. ”Older people are not a homogenous group.” Minister for Ageing Peter Primrose organised a discussion with the public sector, unions and corporations to figure out how to attract and retain older people in the workforce. The findings will be used at a conference for the Institute of Public Administration Australia on Wednesday.

To attract this group, Mr Primrose said employers would need to provide flexible hours, training, and roles that were not physically taxing.” If we don’t increase the participation of older workers, then we predict there will be a 7 per cent decline in the labour market,” Mr Primrose said. ”It is in the interest of the market and employers to think about this.”

But Mr Primrose said the duration of unemployment for older workers was a concern. People aged over 55 are unemployed for an average of 73 weeks but the average for those aged between 24 and 54 is 32 weeks. 

St George Bank human resources chief Ross Miller said the company had responded to similar findings by introducing grandparent leave, and allowing employees to work from home. A third of its workforce is over 45.IBM diversity and workforce manager Belinda Reynolds said the company looked only for the best person for the job but there were clear benefits from hiring older workers.

I spoke with a friend recently, an experienced Detective who lamented the lack of skills in the current generation. They are not intuitive….

Later, a mate from my Pub, an exceptionally skilled and experienced mechanic said how the generation coming through relied too much on technology and not enough on “gut feel.”

I spoke a day later with a nurse who said the young nurses coming through have a better education than we had but they know nothing…..

They may be right!

The generation coming through may not be as good! Or perhaps, they are just different.

Perhaps all my friends being at the end of their careers have lost perspective, and maybe it is them that need to change?

If we are not open, not trusting of the generation coming through, then they will not be open to our guidance; particularly if it comes as criticism and doubt.