Eight New Trends Every Job Seeker Should Know About

The depth and richness of content -- across a vast range of topics related to careers, employment, job search, social media, personal branding, resume writing, and the like -- was phenomenal!" Here is just a sampling of some of the top career trends.

Resume trends

Keep it short. Ten years ago, resumes
were two, three, or four pages long, showcasing a candidate's
qualifications, achievements, and more. Today's resumes, however, must
be short and should only span one or two pages. Yet, the modern resume
must still incorporate all of same elements as longer resumes --
qualifications, successes, value, and accomplishments; it's simply
written tighter, cleaner, and leaner. Shorten two sentences to one.
Eliminate an extra bullet point. Summarize all of the tech skills into
one line. You can do it!

Google has replaced the resume as the preferred introduction to job seekers. Dick
Bolles, author of 'What Color is Your Parachute?' and a true pioneer in
the employment industry, was recently quoted as saying, "Your Google
results are the new resume." Today's recruiters are using Google
searches and LinkedIn to source candidates instead of trolling job-board
databases

Social media trends

Twitter is an interesting and advantageous technological innovation. Job seekers who are active on Twitter can use Twitter
to display their resume. All they need to do is upload a copy of their
print resume and it will appear as the background on their Twitter page.
This is a great tool especially for younger job seekers.

Online identities are more important than ever before.
Your online identity used to be something that you could worry about
later. Not now! The time to be concerned about your online identity is
today, as the vast majority of recruiters and companies will Google
potential candidates or look them up on LinkedIn before initiating
contact. Every single person -- job seeker, happily employed worker,
entrepreneur, CEO, consultant -- must be dedicated to building a strong online presence and doing it now.

Job search trends

Vocational and skilled trades jobs are in demand.
There is a huge market today for plumbers, electricians, welders, and
other skilled trades people. Unfortunately, there still exists a stigma
that those types of careers are not "enough." As we continue to move
through this economic recession, we hope that the perception of these
careers will change to more accurately reflect the high pay scales,
great benefits, and other perks of these professions. College isn't for
everyone, and that's OK!

Master job applications are a valuable tool in today's job search market. A
"master job application" includes all of the data that job applications
require: job titles, employers, dates of employment (months and years),
locations, phone numbers, contact names, salary,
reasons for leaving, and more. This comprehensive document will be your
single source for all online job applications. Do it once, do it right,
and you're all set.

Networking trends

Networking skill leads the way. CareerXRoads publishes an annual Sources of Hire survey
of Fortune 500 companies. Their 2010 study showed that, of all external
hires, 26.7 percent came from referrals, 22.3 percent from employer
career sites, 13.2 percent from job boards, and the remainder from other
sources. As in years past, the largest number of new hires came from
referrals.These are today's results and what we anticipate for tomorrow.

LinkedIn is THE online networking place to be seen.The
consensus of career coaches, career counselors, resume writers,
recruiters, outplacement consultants, and others is that LinkedIn is now
the No.1 online networking platform for job seekers, both active and
passive. It is essential that job seekers devote the time necessary to
write well-branded and comprehensive LinkedIn profiles, because these
sites are used daily by recruiters and hiring managers to find quality
candidates.

To find out more, you can download your own free copy of the findings of the 2010 Global Brainstorming Day.

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