5 Ways to Modernize Your Job Search

5 Ways to Modernize Your Job Search5 Ways to Modernize Your Job SearchIf youre still following job-search advice from a decade or more ago, chances are good that youre inadvertently sabotaging your own chances of getting hired. And if you think youre too young to fall into that trap, think again Its elend just workers with decades of experience who fall for this even 20 somethings fall victim, because theyre relying on outdated job-advice guides, parents who dont realize that hiring conventions have changed, or even college career centers that havent updated their knowledge for the way things work today. Here are five ways to modernize your job search to compete in 2014. 1. Remove the objective from yourrsum.Yes, you may have learned years ago that everyrsumshould abflug with anobjective, but that advice has long been outdated.Objectives now make yourrsumlook out-of-touchwithmodern conventions. Whats more, objectives are about what you want, rather than about what the employer want s and at the initial stage of the hiring process, employers are much more concerned with what skills and experience you can offer than with your hopes and dreams. Plus, most objectives sound stilted and generic anyway. Its been a long time since one did a job candidate any favors. After you remove the objective, replace it with a profile section a few sentences or bullet points that highlight who you are as a candidate and what sets you apart. Done well, these can serve as overall framing for your candidacy, explaining to employers the key facts you want them to know about you. In fact, profile sections have gained so much popularity thatrsums without them are starting to look a little bare.2. Dont list jobs from two decades ago. Jobs you held that long ago are unlikely to strengthen your candidacy today, and they can date you and your experience. If youve had an impressive career over the last 15 years, why waste space talking about more junior roles you held well before that? R emember Arsumis a marketing document, not a comprehensive listing ofeverything youve ever done.3. Remove references available upon request. Employers take it for granted that youll provide references when they ask for them, so theres no need to announce it up front. This is a convention left over from another time. No employer is going to reject you for including it, but it takes up space better used for something else and, like an objective, itmakes yourrsumfeel dated.4. Kill the sales-iness in your approach. Job-search advice used to center around tactics that today come across as uncomfortably aggressive to most employers. For instanceIncluding a line in your cover letter that youll call in a week to schedule an interview. (Youre not the one who decides whether to schedule an interview once youve expressed interest by applying, the ball is in the employers court.)Sending cookies or chocolate to the hiring manager, or other gimmicks designed to get yourrsumnoticed. (Youll comeacro ss as if you dont understand professional boundaries, and as if you dont think your qualifications stand on their own merit. Plus, fewer people these days accept food from strangers, so its likely your food gift will end up in the trash.)Overnighting yourrsumto the hiring manager to make it stand out. Pick up any job-search guide from a decade ago, andyoull find this advice still in it. But these days, youre more likely to look like someone who doesnt follow directions and worse, your materials might not be considered at all, because you didnt enter them into the companys electronic application system. 5. Dont pound the pavement. You might hear from your parents or people who havent job searched in a long time that you should show up at the companies you want to work for and drop off yourrsumin person. But with the exception of asmall handful of employers who specifically request this, this is no longer done and will come across as naive and annoying to most employers. Instead, mos t job searches these days are done ansprechbar primarily looking at online listings, emailingrsums and cover letters, filling out electronic applications and networking on sites likeLinkedIn. Of course, you should still connect with your network in person, but the concept of pounding the pavement looking for a job has mostly died off.Alison Greenwrites the popularAsk a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search and management issues. Shes the author of How to Get a Job Secrets of a Hiring Manager, co-author of Managing to Change the World The Nonprofit Managers Guide to Getting Results and the former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management.