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Chapter 15 LECTURE NOTES
The Job Search and Résumés in the Digital Age
CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
Finding a job in today’s job market is increasingly complex. To successfully compete with other
job candidates and land a fulfilling position, your students need to develop job-search strategies
that reflect an understanding of the changing job market, the sources of jobs, and the use of
digital tools. This chapter helps students develop job search skills using traditional and digital
methods, create a customized résumé, and write effective cover messages.
Chapter 15 describes the changing job market and underscores the importance of getting ready
for the job search by analyzing interests, qualifications, and career opportunities. The chapter
offers strategies for pursuing jobs in both the open and hidden job markets and new coverage on
building a personal network, using social media to network, and the importance of developing a
personal brand.
Chapter 15 also presents two kinds of résumés: chronological and functional. Students learn to
organize, format, and produce a customized résumé. They also learn to optimize their résumés
for today’s technologies, including techniques for maximizing keyword “hits,” showcasing
qualifications in an career e-portfolio, and creating a video résumé. Finally, students study
methods for composing customized cover messages.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Prepare to search for a job in the digital age by understanding the changing job market,
identifying your interests, assessing your qualifications, and exploring career opportunities.
2. Develop savvy search strategies by recognizing job sources and using digital tools to explore
the open job market.
3. Expand your job-search strategies by using both traditional and digital tools in pursuing the
hidden job market.
4. Organize your qualifications and information into effective résumé segments to create a
winning, customized résumé.
5. Optimize your job search and résumé by taking advantage of today's digital tools.
6. Draft and submit a customized cover message to accompany a print or digital résumé.
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS CHAPTER
For one of the most important chapters in the book, researched hundreds of current articles
on the latest trends, tools, and practices affecting the job search and résumés in this digital
age.
Revised the chapter significantly showing how to prepare résumés and cover messages for
submission and viewing on many digital platforms.
Developed Figure 15.1, a new job-search process graphic, to visually summarize the steps in
a job search so that students know what to expect.
Created Figure 15.2, a new graphic summarizing the sources of today's jobs, showing that
networking accounts for 46 percent of new jobs and Internet job boards account for 25
percent.
Presented strategies and practices to help job hunters in both the open job market and the
hidden job market.
Emphasized effective networking techniques, including a three-step plan, so that students
recognize the importance of building a personal network, as most jobs are found in the
hidden market through personal referrals.
Explained how to use LinkedIn, the No. 1 professional social media site, to build a profile
and make connections.
Provided specific advice on how to build a personal brand so that students can stand out in a
highly competitive job market.
Stressed the importance of including a summary of qualifications in the top third of a résumé
because a recruiter may be viewing it on a tablet or smartphone.
Strengthened the explanations of résumé content by presenting poor and improved examples
to enhance readability and heighten immediate comprehension.
Updated all résumé models, cover messages, and plain-text examples so that students can see
how their documents should look as well as learn how to submit them digitally.
Expanded the discussion of career e-portfolios, video résumés, and infographic résumés.
Added five Reality Checks that offer practical advice from career specialists and student job
hunters.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Job Searching in the Digital Age (p. 543)
A. Understanding the Changing Job Market
The most successful job candidates customize their qualifications for each
opening.
The job-search process begins by analyzing yourself, developing a job-search
strategy, preparing a résumé, and grasping the complexities of the hiring process.
Figure 15.1 Job Searching in the Digital Age
B. Beginning Your Job Search With Self-Analysis
What are you passionate about? Can you turn this passion into a career?
Do you enjoy working with people, data, or things?
Would you like to work for someone else or be your own boss?
How important are salary, benefits, technology support, and job stability?
How important are working environment, colleagues, and job stimulation?
Would you rather work for a large or small company?
Must you work in a specific city, geographical area, or climate?
Are you looking for security, travel opportunities, money, power, or prestige?
How would you describe the perfect job, boss, and coworkers?
C. Assessing Your Qualifications
What technology skills can you present?
Do you communicate well in speech and in writing?
What other skills have you acquired in school, on the job, or through activities?
Do you work well with people? Do you enjoy teamwork?
Are you a leader, self-starter, or manager?
Do you speak, write, or understand another language?
Do you learn quickly? Are you creative?
What unique qualifications can you offer that make you stand out?
D. Exploring Career Opportunities
Visit your campus career center.
Search the Web.
Use your library.
Take a summer job, internship, or part-time position in your field.
Interview someone in your chosen field.
Volunteer with a nonprofit organization.
Monitor the classified ads.
Join professional organizations in your field.
PowerPoint slides 1-6
II. Developing a Job-Search Strategy Focused on the Open Job Market (p. 546)
A. Searching the Open Job Market
Explore the big boards: CareerBuilder, Monster, CollegeGrad, and Indeed.
Look beyond the big boards to company career sites, niches sites, LinkedIn, and
other social networking sites.
Figure 15.2 Trends in Sources of New Jobs
Figure 15.3 Protecting Yourself When Posting at Online Job Boards
PowerPoint slides 7-12
B. Pursuing the Hidden Job Market With Networking
Build a personal network.
Use social media to network. LinkedIn is the No. 1 social media site for job
searches.
Join Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to find job opportunities, market yourself,
showcase your skills, and highlight experiences.
Figure 15.4 Whom to Contact in Networking
Figure 15.5 Harnessing the Power of LinkedIn
PowerPoint slides 13-18
C. Building Your Personal Brand
Personal branding involves deciding what makes you special and desirable in the
job market.
Try to come up with a tagline that describes what you do and who you are.
Develop an elevator speech, which can be delivered in 60 or fewer seconds,
describing who you are and what you can offer.
Figure 15.6 Developing Your Own Brand
PowerPoint slide 19
III. Creating a Customized Résumé (p. 553)
A customized résumé is designed specifically for each position you want and helps
distinguish you from other applicants.
A. Choosing a Résumé Style
Chronological: Focuses on job history with most recent positions listed first
Functional: Focuses on skills
PowerPoint slides 20, 21
B. Deciding on Length
Make your résumé as long as needed to sell your skills to recruiters and hiring
managers.
One-page résumé—when you have fewer than ten years of experience, are
making a career change, or have had only one or two employers.
Two-page résumé—when you have more than ten years of experience.
Three pages or more—when you are a senior-level manager or executive or you
have a lengthy history of major accomplishments.
PowerPoint slide 22
IV. Organizing Your Information Into Effective Résumé Categories (p. 554)
PowerPoint slides 12-24
Main Heading
List your name, address, phone, and e-mail address (and QR code if you have an
online presence).
Career Objective
Include a career objective for a targeted job.
Ideally, name job title, area of specialization, and type of company.
Optional Summary of Qualifications
Present your most impressive skills and accomplishments in a concise list.
Education
Name your degree, date of graduation, and institution.
List your major and GPA.
Give information about your studies, but don’t inventory all your courses.
Work Experience or Employment History
If your work experience is significant and relevant to the position sought, place this
section before education.
Start with the most recent jobs. Include employer’s name and city, dates of
employment (month, year), and most significant title.
Use action verbs to summarize achievements and skills relevant to your targeted job.
Give evidence of communication, management, and interpersonal skills. Employers
want more than empty assurances. Try to quantify your skills.
Capabilities and Skills
Emphasize your proficiencies with the Internet, software programs, office equipment,
and communication technology tools.
Describe proficiencies you have acquired through training and experience.
Highlight exceptional aptitudes, such as working well under stress or interacting with
customers.
Highlight those talents that are relevant to your targeted job.
Awards, Honors, and Activities
If you have three or more awards or honors, highlight them by listing them under a
separate heading.
If not, put them with activities or in the education or work experience section, if
appropriate.
Include school, community, volunteer, and professional activities.
List awards and extracurricular activities, especially if they demonstrate leadership,
teamwork, reliability, loyalty, initiative, efficiency, and self-sufficiency.
Personal Data
Employers are legally barred from asking personal data, such as birth date, health,
and marital status. Therefore, omit such items from your résumé. You can include
hobbies or interests that might grab the recruiter’s attention or serve as conversation
starters.
References
Listing references directly on your résumé takes up valuable space.
Instead, most recruiters prefer that you bring to the interview a list of individuals
willing to discuss your qualifications.
The best references are instructors, your current employer or previous employers,
colleagues or subordinates, and other professional contacts.
Figure 15.7 Action Verbs for Powerful Résumés
Figure 15.8 Sample Reference List
Figure 15.9 Chronological Résumé: Recent College Graduate With Related
Experience
Figure 15.10 Chronological Résumé: Current University Student With Limited
Relevant Experience
Figure 15.11 Chronological Résumé: University Graduate With Substantial
Experience
Figure 15.12 Functional Résumé: Recent College Graduate With Unrelated
Part-time Experience
PowerPoint slides 23-36
V. Optimizing Your Job Search With Today’s Digital Tools (p. 564)
A. Getting Your Resume Selected: Maximizing “Hits”
Include specific keywords or keyword phrases.
Focus on nouns.
Use variations of the job title.
Concentrate on the skills section.
Skip a keyword summary.
PowerPoint slides 37, 38
B. Showcasing Your Qualifications in a Career E-Portfolio
An e-portfolio is a collection of digitized materials that provides viewers with
a snapshot of a candidate’s performance, talents, and accomplishments.
An advanced portfolio might include links to electronic copies of your
artwork, film projects, or blueprints that may be difficult to share with potential
employers.
Video résumés enable job candidates to present their experience,
qualifications, and interest in video form.
Figure 15.13 Making a Career E-Portfolio
PowerPoint slides 39, 40
C. Wowing Them With an Infographic Résumé
An infographic résumé uses colorful charts, graphics, and time lines to
illustrate a candidates’ work history and experience.
Figure 15.14 An Infographic Résumé That Snagged a Job
PowerPoint slide 41
D. How Many Résumés and What Format?
Basic print-based résumé:
Prepare one attractively formatted basic résumé that can be customized
and altered.
Use during job interviews, for person-to-person networking situations,
for career fairs, and for a job that does not require an electronic
submission
Plain-text résumé for digital submission:
Begin with your basic résumé.
Remove images, designs, colors, and any characters not on a standard
keyboard.
Remove page breaks, section breaks, tabs, and tables.
Replace bullets with asterisks or plus signs.
Consider using capital letters rather than boldface type—but don't overdo
the caps.
Use white space or a line of dashes or equal signs to separate sections.
In Microsoft Word, save the document with Plain Text (*.txt) as the file
type.
Send yourself a copy embedded within an e-mail message to check its
appearance. Also send it to a friend to try it out.
PowerPoint slides 42, 43
E. Submitting Your Résumé
Formats for submitting your résumé may include the following:
1. MS Word
2. Plain-text
3. PDF document
4. Company database
5. Fax
Figure 15.15 Portion of Plain-Text Résumé
PowerPoint slide 44
F. Checklist for Preparing for Employment and Submitting a Customized Résumé
Preparation
Analyze your strengths.
Research job listings.
Headings, Objective, and Summary of Qualifications
Identify yourself.
Include a career objective for a targeted job.
Prepare a summary of qualifications.
Education
Name your degree, date of graduation, and institution.
List your major and GPA.
Work Experience
Itemize your jobs.
Describe your experience.
Promote your “soft” skills.
Special Skills, Achievements, and Awards
Highlight your technology skills.
Show that you are a well-rounded individual.
Final Tips
Look for ways to condense your data.
Omit references.
Resist the urge to inflate your qualifications.
Proofread, proofread, proofread!
Submitting
Follow instructions for submitting.
Practice sending plain-text résumés.
VI. Creating Customized Cover Messages (p. 524)
Although most job listings don’t specifically mention a cover messages, a well-written,
persuasive cover message should accompany every résumé sent out. Without it, your
résumé may never be read.
A. Gaining Attention in the Opening
1. Openings for Solicited Jobs
Refer to the name of an employee in the company.
Refer to the source of your information precisely.
Refer to the job title and describe how your qualifications fit the requirements.
2. Openings for Unsolicited Jobs
Demonstrate an interest in and knowledge of the reader’s business.
Show how your special talents and background will benefit the company.
Figure 15.16 Solicited Cover Letter
Figure 15.17 Unsolicited Cover Letter
3. Promoting Your Strengths in the Message Body
Describe your strongest qualifications in relation to the needs of the employer.
Discuss your personal traits.
Refer the reader to your résumé.
4. Motivating Action in the Closing
Ask confidently for an interview, not the job.
5. Sending Your Résumé and Cover Message
Always include a cover message, even with résumés submitted by e-mail.
Figure 15.18 E-Mail Cover Message
6. Final Tips for Successful Cover Messages
Reduce the number of sentences that start with I. Make activities and
outcomes, not yourself, the subject of sentences.
Use a traditional letter style, such as block.
Print on the quality paper.
Proofread carefully.
PowerPoint slides 45-53
B. Checklist for Preparing and Sending a Customized Cover Letter
Opening
Use the receiver’s name.
Identify the position, where you found it, and your information source.
Gain the reader’s attention.
Body
Describe what you can do for the reader.
Highlight your strengths.
Refer to your résumé.
Closing
Ask for an interview.
Make it easy to respond.
Sending
Include a cover message with your résumé.
If you e-mail your cover message, put your contact information in the signature
area.
