Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

By DON ROULO

The following is the first of a two-part series:

As I meet with clients in my workshops or in one-on-one coaching, I am often asked if resumés are becoming obsolete.  The short answer is no, but there certainly is change taking place.  While resumés are still important, they are now a piece of a larger puzzle. It wasn’t that long ago resumés were the only source of information a potential employer would have regarding an individual.

Employees no longer have just a resume to look at to find out about you.  This is due to social media and technology. There are now sites like LinkedIn. I consider LinkedIn your professional online presence. It is really an extension of your resumé and is separate from your personal life.

Sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube play a bigger part of the employment puzzle too. These sites reveal the ‘real’ you to a prospective employer. It is critical to think long and hard about the language, topics, pictures, videos and articles you post online.

The pictures of you with your spouse at a nice dinner and a glass of wine is shown sitting on the table is perfectly acceptable. The picture, or video, of you with 10 bottles of beer on the table and you look like you are about ready to fall down is not acceptable. The use of four letter words and off color remarks will not be attractive to a company who may be looking for someone who will represent them in a professional manner.

Employers will also do an Internet search of your name to see what information and pictures show up as well. I recommend you search your own name every few months to see what information is available. There may be someone with the same name as you who has some negative information online and it would be good to know this exists so you know how to answer questions about this if they ever come up.

Everyone is familiar with sending in a cover letter and resumé online, but technology now allows for something which is growing in popularity for certain careers – a brief video resumé. Employers can now see and hear you before they meet you in person. This would be a type of pre-interview. They can see how you speak, dress, carry yourself and even get a glimpse of your personality.

Are resumés obsolete? No, but now they are a piece of a larger puzzle. There are other pieces of the puzzle you need to be aware of because prospective employers certainly are using all the pieces to put their puzzle together.

Next week we will look at how to have your resumé get the extra look it deserves. I have some free resources on my website. You will find 11 different sample resumés.  Most of them have notes on them to show why a particular style was chosen.  Go to the ‘Resources’ page at www.lifequestcoaching.net.

About the Author
Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.

As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.