"Employers and Job-Hunters Speak Two Entirely Different Languages"

"Assume that the employer's world is like a foreign country; you must learn their language, and their customs, before you visit."

Employers and job-hunters are not speaking the same language (not literally).  They have different understandings of the same words.  For example, an individual may not be hired by an organization because he lacked "skills" but what the organization meant is that he lacked "experience."

The job market is a hiring game to you, but an elimination game to the employer.
An average employer receives between 118 and 250 resumes and applications, but have the intention of only interviewing about 5 candidates.

You want the employer to be taking initiative toward finding you.
If you have this mentality, you are wrong.  You should be working hard toward finding them. The employer prefers when you take the initiative.

You want your past performance to be all that gets weighed.
There is more to consider than just your past performance (summarized on your written resume) when it comes to hiring someone.  They also consider your behavior from their first interaction with you.  Many other factors come into play here.

You want the employer to acknowledge that they have received your resume. 
Typically, only 45% of employers do this.

You want the employer to hunt for you the same way you are hunting for them.  
There are two words to consider here:  Risk and Time.  Risk is the main value The employer wants to hire with the least amount of risk, and the job hunter wants to spend the least amount of time job-hunting.  The way job-hunters and employers look for one another are the exact opposite!  Employers want the least risk, because it will save them the most money.  An estimated $55,000 can be lost on a bad hire, so the employer is always being cautious.

However, do not fear.  View these as challenges to overcome.  The way we used to search for jobs no longer works, but we have the opportunity to adapt to the new job-hunting ways. "In today's world he or she who gets hired is not necessarily the one who can do that job best; but, the one who knows most about how to get hired."  —Richard Lathrop

This Fall, I will be reading through one of the All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books entitled What Color Is Your Parachute? 2016 Edition and posting as I work my way through chapter by chapter.  I will be blogging about what I found most interesting and most helpful. If you would like to be updated when I post, enter your email into the side bar where it says "Follow by Email."