Posted to a networking group to which I belong:
“I was recently consulting in finance for 8 months and got let go. My position was in marketing, but now I want to explore other opportunities either outside of finance or other marketing or possibly even sales outside of finance. I need a new challenge and stability at the same time. Does anyone have any suggestions? I posted my resumes to numerous different job posting website and sent it out to headhunters and also applied to a few jobs…I have also joined Linked in and have been networking. I don’t have the money to pay for career counseling or anything like that. Any ideas?”
My answer:
Here’s one thought – post messages that clearly lay out your target and what you can accomplish for that target – a very results-oriented statement. For example, what did you accomplish in marketing? What are the types of “other opportunities either outside of…” that you want to explore?
Look at your resume and make sure it is very results-oriented and communicates “what’s in it for me?” to the hiring manager. This is the difference between, for example, a meaningless Objective statement at the top of a resume like
“Financial Analyst”
and a marketing headline like
“Financial analyst who identifies, develops, and implements innovative process improvements and cost controls that transform productivity levels.”
Here’s more on results-oriented messages.