Culturally speaking, we have come to believe that everything has a price, and that if you are willing to put up the dough, you can have whatever your heart desires. In most cases, that is true, but it is not an absolute. Job-hunting poses a prime example.
Once a résumé writer becomes well established,
inquiries from across the employment spectrum arrive. Calls from jobseekers
request résumé updates, modifications or something from scratch. The unspoken
assumption is that for a price, the
jobseeker will obtain what is wanted or needed.
In most cases—probably in the 80% range—that
assumption is true. The remaining 20% of job seekers may encounter what amounts
to a rude awakening. For that one-in-five, no amount of money will remedy there
job hunting desires.
Here is a common scenario: Joe-jobseeker loses his
position through no fault of his own. The individual may have been laid off,
company may have downsized, or the position outsourced. Joe may have received a
severance package or simply dumped on the open job market.
Bottom line: Joe’s gainfully employment status no
longer exists. A buyout or having substantive cash reserves will cushion the
blow, but for all intents, the individual no longer qualifies as being
employed. The five stages of grief set in.
Not everyone
processes stress in the same manner. Believe this or not, but some take an
employment sabbatical, which occasionally result in a prolonged vacation that
lasts until the individual qualifies for early retirement benefits! For others,
the sabbatical lasts until six months after unemployment benefits expire. In
either case, those individuals unintentionally fall into that 20% category.
On average, about
one-in-five jobseekers flirt with unintended consequences. The reality is that
the longer an individual avoids job-market reentry, the more challenging the
quest for substantive employment becomes. Most jobseekers, however, make a
bonafide effort to hit the job market running.
It is not
difficult to spot passive jobseekers. While they may entertain the notion of
being serious, in reality, they are merely wheel spinning. It takes no more
than a few probing questions, like “What’s your situation?” and/or “Why have
you waited so long to take action?” before the truth surfaces.
As a rule, no
amount of money spent on a résumé will overcome a demonstrated lack of
ambition. The first sign that you have reached the apex of your own demise is
when an established résumé writer declines to accept your money.
Call it pride or
ego, but most résumé writers want their clients to be successful. For that to
occur, the jobseeker has to fall within that 80%. For those who wait three or
five years to initiate a proactive job search, the individual has inadvertently
created obstacles no amount of monetary remuneration can correct.