How to Find Your Dream Job in 2019

Job seekers: Now is the time to plan your next move. Accelerate your career with advice from 10 career coaches so you can start your 2019 where you want to be. These subject matter experts share trending insights, trustworthy business practices and their record of success to help you achieve next-level results.

I'll take it away to start:

1. LISA RANGEL :: CHAMELEON RESUMES: EVALUATE THE EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITER'S RECOMMENDATION + EXPERTISE BEYOND RESUME DEVELOPMENT

"Verify the writer's success in the form of client job changes that are similar to the caliber of positions you seek. Your resume writer should help you use the marketing documents they create and position you to land your dream job. 

Look at the quality of their LinkedIn recommendations:

• Are the recommendations from actual clients?
• Are these clients who have held similar titles?
• Has the recommender had a successful job-change resulting from using the writer?

​Landing your dream job depends on so much more than the resume – ensure you are hiring a successful job-search strategist who understands the overall recruitment process."

2. MARIE ZIMENOFF :: RESUME WRITING ACADEMY: USE RESEARCH-BACKED DESIGN ELEMENTS

"You've probably heard that recruiters spend about 6 seconds on the initial review of your resume. What you might now know is that you can increase the amount of content they consume in that short time with your formatting choices. Although aesthetics are an important consideration in resume design, there are strategies that research shows increase readability. These include using lines, borders or shading to move the eye through the document, putting the most important information on the left where readers will skim and using white space to create chunks of content that make it easy for a reader to locate what they are looking for.

Research shows the use of one color will increase a reader's attraction to your document. Keep your design clean and professional but don't be afraid to use elements that improve readability and draw the reader to the critical information while honing a distinct look. Don't buy into the myths that these formatting features will harm your score in an applicant-tracking system. Create a visually appealing, highly readable Word document using these elements and it will be fine in ATS, via email or any other way you want to share it with your network and recruiters."

3. ERIN KENNEDY :: EXCLUSIVE EXECUTIVE RESUMES: DON'T IGNORE YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE

"It's easy to let your LinkedIn profile lag when you don't need it. However, when you're in job-search mode, it can be the difference between leading the next organization or not. Most hiring managers and recruiters use LinkedIn to find their next star. If your profile isn't current, you're hurting your chances of being discovered.

Even if you dread the thought, update your LinkedIn profile with your most current story, or at least the last 10 to 15 years when you've had the most progression in your career. Don't forget to create an interesting career summary as well. Just a little investment of time and effort on LinkedIn goes a long way."

4. JACQUI-BARRETT POINDEXTER :: CAREER TREND: USE A STORYTELLING ARC TO ENERGIZE YOUR CAREER NARRATIVE

"Everyone says that a resume should actually be written as a story, an idea with which I agree. But what does that really mean? Simply put, your resume achievements should be composed in a way that articulates a beginning, middle and end and includes a story climax in which the rising action starts to fall, requiring a solution or conclusion.

For instance, the story arc could show how you (the candidate) were a crucial character in your company's rags to riches story. The company and the departments therein may experience several such rise and fall moments throughout your tenure and as such your resume should present those mini stories within your bigger picture. 

The point is to draw the reader in. Create the drama and sway the reader that you were influential, using both your hard and soft skills culminating in more profitability, market share, etc."

5. DAWN RASMUSSEN :: PATHFINDER CAREERS: DON'T BE AFRAID TO TAKE CLASSES + INCLUDE THEM ON YOUR RESUME

"Boards and employers are interested in seeing how executives are willing to keep learning. This is, afterall, a test to see how you can innovate and carry this company forward. So, actively seek out professional development opportunities that are particualrly thought-leadership oriented. Understanding where the industry or economy will take the organization will be critical for the next executive. And you can demonstrate that progressive knowledge acquisition and cutting-edge understanding of opportunities and challenges to not only evolve the organization but stand out among competitiors."

6. MARY ELIZABETH BRADFORD :: MARYELIZABETH BRADFORD.COM: BE BOLD – GO DIRECT

"Do you have a favorite list of companies you would like to work with? Why not reach out to them directly? If you are an executive – this technique is especially effective and involves reaching out to another CEO or top title to see if the timing is right that they may want to speak with you – as you are currently vetting new opportunities.

It's important to understand the spirit in which you are reaching out is entrepreneurial, rather than sales or marketing-driven. it works in part because at the $300,000 level, only about 10 percent of positions available show up online. So, by reaching out directly you do a few things:

• You demonstrate your initiative and strategic leadership.
• You capitalize on the 90 percent of potential for unadvertised positions or positions that are being filled quietly.
• You potentially save the company not only time, but a hefty recruiter search fee.

Early interest before job parameters are carved in stone and sitting with a board, HR, recruiters or a combination thereof are often much more flexible and you can affect the evolution of terms."

7. ANNETTE RICHMOND :: CAREER INTELLIGENCE RESUME WRITING: BREAK AWAY FROM CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME FORMAT + TELL THE STORY BEHIND YOUR CAREER PROGRESSION

"Take time to think about your career trajectory when writing your executive resume. Were you recruited by a competitor or former client? Were you promoted because you landed a big client or developed a process that was adopted company-wide? The story behind your promotion can make a difference. One of the reasons employers prefer reverse chronological resumes is because they show a candidate's career progression. But once you've reached the executive level, you need to show momentum.

Let's say you've been promoted three times since being recruited by your current employer. That's great. But being promoted based on your achievements is better. For example, after two years with ABC company the manager of another department recruited you to come and work for her. She piecked you to run the product merchandising team because she liked your work on an interdepartmental project. That's more impressive than being promoted due to seniority."

8. SANDRA INGEMANSEN :: RESUME STRATEGIES: EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES + JOB DESCRIPTIONS – LONG STORY SHORT

"There's a way to engage readers in your career story in half the time and make sure they remember about 34 percent more content.

Who wouldn't want to make themselves more memorable to executive hiring decision makers, right? Here are some key takeaways that take human reading behavior into account:

• Write tighter to shorten lines of text.
• Compose compelling, well-written headline statements.
• Frontload your main points first because readers do the same thing for body text.
• Use subheadlines to categorize critical points into scannable information

Increase white space so readers aren't hampered by clutter:

• Create simple navigational structures for written and visual content.
• Change long paragraphed content to bulleted items.
• Bold important information."

9. MARTIN WEITZMAN :: EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITER: IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT THE IMPACT

"In developing your resume, LinkedIn Profile and other related career documents, it's always about 'how much and your impact on the company.' How much did you help them save; how much did you help them make or what did you do to support your company's cost or revenue goals? What issues was the company facing and what did you achieve in resolving those issues? Potential employers want to believe you can help them.

10. DONNA SVEI :: AVID CAREERIST: VET YOUR WRITER CAREFULLY

"It's important that you respect the writer's work. When you look at the writer's samples, verify that the resume represents a real person. It's much easier to write a good fictitious resume than a resume for a real person.

Don't wait.

The beginning of a new year is a perfect tie to land the job you've been dreaming of and these tips should definitely get you on the right track.