As a pre-employment skill trainer, I have found the hardest counsel to give to a job seeker sometimes is explaining the changes that have occurred in the economy and job markets we are in. What employers are looking for has changed dramatically in some areas. For example, employers are looking for employees that have “been around” a lot and have acquired various skills. At one time that was a real negative. Another example is education. There used to be a time when education was discouraged. Not any longer. Companies were more exclusive twenty years ago. We live in a faced pace environment today. Our careers and businesses themselves have changed in dimension. What we as employees and applicants of jobs need to learn is the same lesson that businesses have had to learn through necessity. It is what Jack Welch, former C.E.O. of General Eclectic has known for some time. He said that our ability to learn and adapt it into action quickly is what is needed. Perhaps the number one quality employers are looking for today should be understood to be just that. Learn and apply rapidly!



Here is something to consider when putting your resume together. Learning and adapting are areas to re-develop in your resume. What have you learned? Are you learning things that are quickly transferable into today's businesses? Have you picked up skills at your job or even more importantly, have you acquired skills by working at many places? Twenty years ago this was a negative. That has changed. Employers are looking for an employee that has acquired many, even unrelated skills. Also, you must be able to prove you have done so affectively so cooberating stories would serve well.

I am happy to see that top on the list for qualities sought in an applicant are learning. Let's face it, some of us are better learners than others. It is true what they say that learning slows or stops shortly after school age years, but if you have been a life-long-learner, use this to your benefit. State so on the resume and be prepared to prove it.

How you have been learning is also important. Taking on-line courses speaks highly of you. It demonstrates you are not afraid of today's technology and you have adapted yourself to a faced-pace economy. Also keep in mind that today's kind of learning has changed from yesterday's. It's OK to jump from one thing to another in what you learn. That may not have been the case twenty years ago but today it shows you are willing to change rapidly amidst a changing employer's market. Have you had occasion to learn through O.J.T? It is quickly becoming the preferred way of learning. Employers know you are tested in real world experience and they don't have to waste time with a learning curve as they used to when hiring straight off the street.

Today everything is fast and saying that you are is OK. We can learn things when we listen to C.E.O.'s like Jack Welch. Take Jacks words seriously and you will be empowering yourself for a new job market before others have had a chance to act!