Your resume stinks and other things that keep you from getting what you want.

We’ve all heard the cliché, competition is fierce. When it comes to this job market, it may feel as though this really is true. But is it really that competitive out there or are you not stepping up to you’re A-game when going after what you want?

Try this cliché on for size: Cream always rises to the top.

I can’t tell you the number of cover letters and resumes I’ve received over the years that did nothing to compel me to read beyond their “objective”. Quite frankly, I already knew their objective was to get a job when they sent me the resume in the first place so reiterating this at the start is just a time waster. Beyond this, it was the tedious and painful reliving of every copy they ever made, phone call they ever placed, or report they ever wrote (three to five times over when working at multiple companies) that had me toss their resume aside in favor of a resume that would tell me what its author could do for my organization. Sometimes I was successful in my search and other times, not.

Competition will always exist – in good times as well as bad. That’s not the issue. The problem is that too many people believe that what worked for them when companies needed to hire warm bodies is the same thing that will work when real competition exists. A Google search of the term “resumes” produced more 5 million sites. It is not that information on how to write a resume is scarce; it’s that, for the most part, many job hunters simply don’t want to do what it takes to rise above the crowd. In plain English, their resumes stink. They are poorly planned and executed. Their cover letters, if they bother to write one at all, is littered with irrelevant verbiage. It tells the hiring company nothing about why they are the best person for the job. When you commit these job hunting sins, do you really have the right to complain about the employment situation?

The underlying issue is that some people just don’t want to do the work it takes to get what they want because it is hard. Spending several hours, days, weeks, and months writing, editing, and rewriting a resume for a specific job is tiresome; so it is with cover letters. But the people who invest – yes, ‘invest’ – the time it takes to write a moving resume and cover letters are often the ones who receive the call back for an interview. Not so coincidentally, they are also the ones who receive the job offers – even in bad times.

Can’t string together a sentence? Then get professional help. Just as you might not change out a carburetor on your car without the requisite knowledge, if you don’t know what you’re doing with your resume, hire someone who does. Forgo the movies, dinner out, or whatever it takes to hire the people necessary to whip that document into shape.

And, while we’re at it, take a course to brush up on skills that are non-existent or may be rusty. I believe it is de rigueur these days for hiring companies to ask that candidates have computer skills. You may think you are beyond this, what with your plethora of other skills and experience, but if they want Excel experience, give them Excel experience. Take a class.

I have seen some downright bad resumes in my time. I often wondered if the candidate would have had a better chance at getting an interview if just sending their name and phone number. A poorly written resume told me about their lack of attention to detail, that they were unable to effectively communicate, and, most importantly, they didn’t care enough about the opportunity to go the extra mile to get it. They would almost certainly bring that same attitude to the workplace.

This is not a job hunt tactic but a life philosophy. Do what you do better and more consistently than anyone else and you will find success.

Get the most out of your life: Understanding your time orientation

At a recent business mixer, I met a man who is in the business of meditation. An interesting discussion ensued, with the man demonstrating the power of simply being present. You know, the kind of activity where your focus is squarely on what is happening at that moment. All senses are engaged if only for just a few moments. I tried out this technique a couple of days later, and each day thereafter, floating in a bay in the Dominican Republic. It was, to say the least, restorative. Where my mind usually is running at full tilt 99% of the time, the act of just feeling the water, listening to the birds overhead, other tourists chattering and playing on the beach and in the water, the feel of the ocean against my skin, and the sun on my face, I was blissfully devoid of thoughts on how to fix every problem or change the world. I was just, for the lack of a better word, there.

Returning to reality, and getting the mind into full gear again, I wondered if there was a formula for balancing living in the now and thinking about the future. The daily news is enough to compel anyone to plan for the worse so that all actions taken today are to secure against doom and gloom tomorrow. On the other hand, there are those where the future is something that will take care of itself with little or no effort on their part. (Whether that will actually happen or not, of course, remains to be seen.) Still, a third type of individual exists, the kind who appears to be living a rich and full present while feeling comfortable about their plan for the future. As I have a tendency to deny fun today in lieu of a more secure future – even without guarantee – I wanted to know more about this third type of person.

Your time orientation time may provide the understanding.

Those who have a future time orientation are less likely to engage in risky behaviors (e.g., gambling, aggressive investing, etc.). Their focus is on the future so that decisions today are for the benefit of the future. This sounds responsible, but if exclusively focused on the future, you’re gonna’ miss out on a lot of today. Then there is the person with a present time orientation. This is the one who lives for today, enjoying whatever comes along. While I envy this sort at certain times, making all decisions based on what feels good today could have some repercussions tomorrow.

Alright, so how to blend the two?

I’ll be honest here that there isn’t a lot out there on the perfect recipe. One article, Past, Present, Future - Does Time Orientation Influence Procrastination?, in Psychology Today, by Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, offers an interesting examination of this under the topic of procrastination. He writes:

To the extent that we find ourselves thinking things like, "My life path is controlled by forces I cannot influence," we are now aware that this thinking may contribute to our task avoidance. Similarly, if we find ourselves thinking things like, "I am not able to resist temptations when I know that there is work to be done," or even, "Taking risk keeps my life from becoming boring," we should recognize that we're vulnerable to impulsive decisions to delay now and pay later. I think of these sorts of thoughts as "flags." They should serve to signal us that we're about to undermine our own plans and goals. They should be signals that we need to bring our conscious awareness to the choices at hand so that we are not simply victims of our habits.

I think I will start by noticing these flags.