At first reflection I was thinking, “What on earth am I going to write about this week?” (hence the lateness of this post). No major trends were jumping out and I’ve probably be spending to much time sharing my own opinions. But, it seems that I haven’t seen anything overly new but I have seen some re-labeling or the labeling of what’s existed without a title so as to push the “latest thing”.

One example I’ve seen this week is the summary of skills at the top of a resume. It’s an effective and clear way to get an employers eye in some circumstances and it’s been around for years. The objective on the other hand seems to have lost popularity amongst professionals*, I would suggest, due to the fact that most of them state the obvious and do no extra good while taking up valuable page space**. I’m sure you’ve seen the same, and yet this week there was a number of articles proclaiming “The objective is dead” and the Profile summary/Skills summary/Personal Profile is far superior, as if it was some new concept that everyone just caught hold of this week and being breaking news many blogs followed with similar ground breaking stories.

This is great for marketers and businesses who are trying to capture the next best thing but it’s marketing without substance. So the lesson for me this week is, do the methods and ideas I employ actually get results. Not is it the latest and in trend, but to stay with some of the basics such as:

• Can my candidates sustain their career because it matches their goals and desires?
• Do my candidates get interviews?
• Can my candidates integrate into the business culture successfully?
• Do my candidates get job offers?
• Will my candidate be successful on the job?

Weekly Links

Here’s my recommended viewing this week:

Politeness never goes out of style

How I became a millionaire doing nothing – Just a bit of fun

Staples – Seems Staples in the U.S. are offering free resumes and business cards (conditions and fine print apply)

_{* Although because we have taught it so ardently the average person still seems to use it.}

_{** Please note that I’m not against a good objective it’s just that many aren’t that good.}

Photo by Sahba Sanai