Political Ad's Are Nothing More Than Dummy Downed Resumes

Experience... What is it? How does it pertain to your needs? Does it benefit your level of performance or hinder the availability of growing forward? It's been drilled into your head, "With age comes experience." If that proves to be true why are men and women forty five plus still standing in unemployment lines? The decision to dummy down a resume seems believable but is it feasibly possible to put you in places once stood? What is age? How old is too young? I went to a clear cut leader in business hiring: Monster.com They believe experienced workers considering the idea of dummying down a resume to land an interview for a position might not be putting your best foot forward. Experience, skills, degrees and other credentials are extremely important tools for the chest. Is it too heavy or too large for a restocked business geared to reshaping its future? Monster.com chimes in with these incredibly helpful views from the inside out: Special Circumstances Can Warrant It Tracy Parish, a certified professional resume writer and president of resume-writing firm CareerPlan in Kewanee, Illinois, has encountered situations when dumbing down the resume can work. “Obviously, a person needs to keep bread on the table, so accepting a lower position is becoming more common and the resume needs to be appropriately tailored.” While you don’t have to include everything you’ve ever done on your resume, don’t cross the line into dishonesty. “Never lie,” Parish says. “It will come back to haunt you.” If you decide to omit some of your credentials on your resume, you still must provide a thorough account on a job application. A resume is a strategic marketing piece, whereas a job application is a signed, legal document that requires full disclosure. What Are the Risks? “Job seekers should think carefully before dumbing down their resumes,” says Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, a staffing agency based in Menlo Park, California. “Employers can easily learn about job seekers’ work histories, education and credentials online or through references, so they should be truthful.” “We do not recommend that job seekers hide relevant information,” says Carrie Stone, a former Disney executive and current president of cStone & Associates, an executive search and leadership consulting firm in San Diego. “If job seekers misrepresent credentials, they are seen as dishonest and employers will question their integrity.” William Finlay, PhD, professor of sociology at the University of Georgia and coauthor of Headhunters: Matchmaking in the Labor Market, also agrees that job seekers shouldn’t dumb down their resumes. “Misrepresentation, if it is discovered, is a deal breaker because it calls the candidate’s honesty into question,” he says. Overqualified Workers May Have an Edge Finlay’s research suggests some good news for job seekers who are willing to accept lower-level positions but are concerned about being perceived as overqualified. “We may be entering an era in which being overqualified is no longer a liability,” he says. “A generation ago, a college degree became a requirement for jobs that previously required only a high school diploma. Now, we are seeing evidence of people with JDs and MBAs being hired for jobs that previously would have gone to people with undergraduate degrees.” Stone has seen this trend in her recruiting career as well. “Previously, employers may have been concerned about hiring overqualified individuals, fearing that when the economy rebounds these employees may leave for other opportunities,” she says. “Since we are not seeing a robust rebound in the market, savvy employers are hiring these overqualified employees while achieving value pricing.” Smarter Strategies Parish, who agrees that dumbing down the resume is generally not a good idea, says job seekers should shoot for the stars. “If experienced workers are armed with an extraordinary resume and launch an aggressive job search, they could find their ideal jobs and won’t have to settle,” she says. Here are three strategies for experienced job seekers who don’t want to dumb down their resumes: 1. Customize: “A resume needs to be custom-designed, highly targeted and well above average to gain interest,” Parish says. Include a targeted resume title so employers understand your career goal, followed by a qualifications summary that provides an overview of your value. 2. Summarize: “It’s perfectly fine to omit details that aren’t relevant to the position you are applying for,” Hosking says. “For example, you don’t need to include a job you held in high school 40 years ago or expound on a job in another field that isn’t relevant to the position you’re seeking.” Parish recommends detailing only the past 10 to 15 years of your employment history, and relegating older employment to an “Additional Experience” or “Early Career” section at the bottom. Unrelated degrees or specialized training can be downplayed or eliminated as long as they are appropriately listed on an application form, she says. 3. Overcome Objections: Stone says job seekers should anticipate objections employers might have, and use the cover letter to address how age and experience can be a tremendous asset to the organization. “Seek to understand employers’ concerns and then sell around those concerns with brevity, clarity and confidence,” she says. If putting America back to work was supposed to be an easy task it wouldn't be fed into the veins of political radio and television commercials. Today's campaigns are dirty laundry. We know more about what the candidates think of each other more than we do about their individual selves. American's have been dummied down to accept their resume. They're getting away with it. Wouldn't it be great to debate for a hired position? Put ten of your best resumes in a room and begin the process of addressing the real issues that could and will bring better days to your business. The culture shock in current terms isn't necessarily a lack of forty five plus willing and wanting to work but the fear a fresh from college twenty five year old holds knowing the person they're interviewing has more knowledge and experience. Therefore their position on the pyramid of success is threatened. I had a dream. The vision of civil war. Not of man and woman against the government but a battle between the ages. The experienced stood straight, didn't get lost in sudden conversation, carried facts, figures and instruments that bettered productivity rather than slowing it. Against them were freshly unearthed graduates who had studied the entire plan, involving other nations into the equation while harnessing control of proven ways to demand not better quality but quantity. And as much as I want to type in video games, smart phones and IPods. That's not being fair because Generation's X and Y are much smarter than Boomer's think. And that's why they win the war. Being smarter checkmates experience. Play smart and doors will open. Rely on experience and what you know becomes luggage. Don't be afraid to market ideas, needs and ways to feed a community. Conquer the Social Networking way of communication and invisibly you'll uproot the basics found on foundations ancient but still worth their weight. Mastermind a better way to play a smarter game. What is age? How old is too young? You are never too old to win. Winning is a choice! I will always believe in you first...