Samuel Lopez ⋅ Silver Spring, MD Federal Reserve ⋅ 11 years experience

If you’ve ever seen the Office (UK), there’s a line where Dawn alludes that “Tim says its better to be at the bottom of a ladder you want to climb, then in the middle of one you don’t”.

Jeff Martin ⋅ Ashburn, VA The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ⋅ 25 years experience

I’d suggest that you network at the target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people already working there and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process and if they are willing, ask them to submit you as a referral. These activities require much more time on your part but in my opinion would greatly increase your chances for success. Good luck!

Jo Prabhu ⋅ San Rafael, CA International Services Group ⋅ 20 years experience

Hello Thomas, I thought I would add my 2 cents to the mix. After being in Recruitment for 25+ years, there are 2 avenues one should consider: 1). A job that pays the bills 2) A career path to pursue. It is incumbent upon you to sit down and discover yourself by writing down a list of a) Things you enjoy doing/learning and b) Things you don't like to do/learn. You can have both with one Employer but that is not likely at first- so you may want to try working various jobs until you decide what industry/corporate environment you prefer. This is the point you build upon your career path. What's of the utmost importance is that you enjoy going to work each day. FYI, the average tenure in a Job is 1-2 years while the average tenure in a Career with each employer is 3-5 years by which you build a reputation, collect a history, shoot for upper Titles with increases in salary. Employers understand and plan for turn-over but a resume with a history of building upon the same skills is a lot more desirable to them than one who has been a job-hopper. Your last stage which we all arrive at, is once you are an expert, is the ability to pick and choose roles as a highly paid Consultant with your own demands. Most people don't plan but planning your life path is key to your success. I wish you the best!

Ron Yu ⋅ Cupertino, CA Denodo Technologies ⋅ 30 years experience

Hi Thomas - well that's a multi-faceted question. I'm also happy to review your resume as well but overall you want to first take inventory - what do you want to do? Does it align with some or all of your experience? Based on those answers you can position your personal brand towards to roles/companies you want to work for and structure your resume accordingly. In that process, you may identify skills or experience gaps you may need to fill with training/courses or volunteering for example (but not knowing more that's just a generalization). Happy provide guidance, resume advice. - Ron

Sheila McCormick ⋅ Oakland, CA UC-Berkeley ⋅ 35 years experience

What is your current experience? do you have a resume? I can give you comments on it if you send it to sheilamc@berkeley.edu.
I have done that for several others via ACP.