There’s a lot of conflicting career advice online.
- “Make sure your resume is only one-page!”
- “It doesn’t matter how long your resume/CV is!”
- “Add the fact that you’re a dog lover to your LinkedIn profile.”
- “Nobody wants to see that you are a dog lover in your LinkedIn profile. Keep it professional.”
- “Don’t put up a LOOKING FOR WORK banner on your LinkedIn profile. It makes you look desperate.”
- “Put that LOOKING FOR WORK banner up. Closed mouths don’t get fed.”
- “Have a personal brand.”
- “Ain’t nobody care about your personal brand!”
Exhausting, isn’t it? I hear you.
Here’s the real reason why there appears to be conflicting career advice online: there are no standard rules.
Yes, once upon a time, if you had a degree in ABC discipline and they were looking for you, you got the job.
Today? We’re in a competitive market and a degree alone is no longer impressive.
And not just that.
Every recruiter is different.
Every hiring manager is different.
Work cultures are different.
Business needs for the same type of role even within the same company are different!
The reality is, depending on all of these factors (and more), each of the pieces of advice can be correct. But they are not correct all that time, and in every situation.
It’s one of the reasons I don’t lean heavily on any particular job search tactic. I’ll share a few examples.
For my first two science communications roles, I didn’t follow standard resume advice because it was confusing to me. The one thing I did do was to boil my 4-page CV into a 1-page industry resume that highlighted my writing skills. This one move ended my >1 year streak of looking for a job.
Numero dos: I didn’t use the very popular STAR format to discuss my past experience on my resume or during interviews. I didn’t even know what the STAR format was! I since have learned what it is and I think it is a brilliant framework. I followed it for the first time during an interview a few months ago and got an offer a few weeks later. So it works…but I did without it for years.
Thirdly, while I have benefitted greatly from having a professional network, so far, my roles have come from cold applications. I knew nobody at the companies and got no inside recommendations.
The one time I DID get insider help was for a role in academia which I ended up turning down.
No, I am not telling you to wing it in these wild times.
What I am saying, however, is that there was a common thread with each of my experiences that didn’t necessarily depend on a tactic.
I’ve asked recruiters and they’ve confirmed this common thread.
I’ve also spent almost 100 hours talking with over a hundred PhDs with varied backgrounds who have transitioned into various roles. This common thread runs through all their stories.
Here’s the common thread:
At every turn – from resume to the interview – it is important to show a future employer how you will solve the problems they’ve stated in their job description.
Answering this question (and doing it well) doesn’t lean on any specific job search tactic.
Tactics can work. But only when they also answer this crucial question.
So, before you get overwhelmed by another tactic, ask yourself, “Does this help me present myself as the problem-solver a company/hiring manager/recruiter is looking for?”
In next week’s email, I’ll talk more about a major way to present yourself as a problem-solver to potential employers.
In the meantime, hit REPLY and let me know what you think. I read every email.
Until next time.
Gertrude Nonterah, Ph.D.
Creator of The BoldPhD.com | Author of Navigating the P.I.V.O.T.
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