Trends

The white paper from the second annual 2011 Career Thought Leaders Global Brainstorming Day, is now available. As GCDF professionals, I'd place this high on your reading list. The report looks at trends in a variety of areas such as resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn, job search, networking, recruitment and hiring, career planning and career management. In October, 250+ career professionals from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom met in 15 live and virtual events. Their focus was to brainstorm best practices, innovations, trends, new programs, new processes, and other observations that are currently impacting, and projected to impact, global employment, job search, and career management. Page 18 of the report gives mention to "The New" and plugs that "Professionally led job clubs and networking groups provide ongoing support for job seekers. Instead of or in additiuon to a one-on-one relationship with a coach, job seekers are finding increasing opportunities to stay in touch and gain ongoing advice through a job club led by a career professional."

I especially like the layout of the report in that each topic of focus is broken down into “the now”, “the new” and the "the next". You will be sure to come away from reading this report with an edge on where future trends are going and how to better serve our clients.

Video Resumes

"Savvy job seekers know that the paper resume is a dated approach to your job search. Having a professional video profile complete with your traditional resume, personality profile, and relevant accomplishments will increase your chance for hire by 30% or more - it just works."

- David DeCapua, CEO TalentRooster


While recently visiting a staffing agency in Lexington, I learned about emerging video resume technology from a company called TalentRooster. TalentRooster allows job seekers to create a video profile that employers can use as a preview of the candidate. Employers, staffing agencies, and recruiters are also using technology such as TalentRooster to conduct initial candidate screenings and to determine who to invite to the interview. Employers can pre-select which questions they would like for the candidate to answer. The candidate then answers the questions using a webcam or built in computer camera, and emails it back to the employer. It is inexpensive and convenient for the employer. A benefit to candidates is that they have time to think about their responses and can record their answers until they are pleased with their responses. Good Morning America even recently spotlighted this new tool. Learn more at TalentRooster. As GCDFs, do you see this type of technology replacing a traditional paper resume?

Trends to Watch

As GCDFs, it is part of our job to keep up with the latest trends. Last December, career counselors from around the globe linked up to brainstorm best practices, new programs, and trends that are impacting and projected to impact global employment, job search and career management. A white paper from the first ever Career Thought Leaders 2010 Global Career Brainstorming Day: Trends for the Now, the New, & the Next in Careers was recently published outlining their discussions. A few things I found interesting were the general consent that resumes are quickly going by the wayside. Google searches and LinkedIn will be the new tools. Another resource that was mentioned was Wordle.net. Wordle allows you to paste any text into it and then it creates a word cloud based on the words that occur the most frequently. This will prove to be extremely helpful in branding and making sure that our clients have the most effective industry key words in their resumes and LI profiles. Just last week I spoke to a group and one gentleman said is HR department just started using Wordle.

GCDFs, what are your thoughts on these new trends and how they may emerge in your region?

New Career Lingo

As a GCDF, keeping up with the latest career trends is our job. The following are some terms I recently learned.


"VUCA" World - Sounds like it could be derogatory, but it is just an acronym for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguos. A career development author who spoke at a recent conference used this term to describe our rapidly changing world. You can bet she touched upon the importance of remaining flexible.


"Slash Careers" - This term recently came on my radar in a blog that I follow. It is used to describe how so many professionals these days are combining their interests and skills into more than one job or career - often simultaneously. For example, a client could be a Dental Hygienist/Professional Photographer or a CPA/Jewelry Company Representative. Some people are slashing careers by choice, others are having to combine fields inorder to recreate themselves in this tight economy. Do you have a slash career?

"Slow Careers" - You've heard of the slow food movement that started in Piazza di Spagna, Italy several years ago in protest to the communities first McDonald's restaurant? The "Slow Movement" is a conscious cultural change toward slowing down one's life pace and making decisions in a more sustainable way. The "Slow Career" movement acknowledges that career transitions give one a chance to re-evaluate their life values and strive to obtain greater balance in each life role. What does slow career mean to you? What is your ideal work environment?

What are some new terms you could share with the group?