Who Are You?

I'm a news junkie. I watch the Jim Lehrer Newshour almost every day. I Tivo Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I read news blogs every day. And often when I have a few minutes spare, I turn on CNN.

It's a habit really. Something important might be happening, so I turn on the 24-hour news channel. But the fact is that it's less and less likely that 'the most trusted name in news' will actually be showing anything newsworthy.

Last night, in prime-time, the announcer who has recently replaced Paula Zahn (who seemed to replace someone else not all that long ago) breathlessly announced an upcoming segment on a wild dog attack, followed by "... and you won't believe what was happening to these kittens!"

Huh?

They still call themselves the most trusted name in news. Who knows - maybe they have a poll that actually says they are. But as a long-time viewer, it seems to me that it's been a long time since their regular content actually matched the slogans they use.

What's happened at CNN is similar to a process I see happening to many job seekers.

Back when the network started, CNN knew why they were. They knew their audience and they produced a good product. But then they hit problems - Fox News came on to the scene and snatched away some of their viewers. The networks started to mix news with entertainment - especially in the mornings - and CNN lost even more viewers.

I don't claim to be a CNN historian - I'm just a regular viewer and can only speak of my personal impressions and perceptions. To me, it seemed that as these changes happened, CNN lost its way. Instead of clarifying who they were and who they wanted to reach, they seemed to try and please everyone. They made themselves into Fox News Light. They added lots more entertainment. And every time a change didn't work, they fired anchors and hired new ones.

It was almost as if they were just making changes blindly, in the hope that one day ratings would turn around because they accidentally found a magic formula. And that's where I see the similarity with people looking for work.

One of the keys to resume success is focus - knowing what type of work you want so that you can target all your efforts towards finding that kind of work. If you have a clear focus on your target audience, and know what you have to offer, you can create a resume that clearly communicates your value to those employers. You can target your search. You can plan interview anecdotes that highlight your value.

But too many job seekers start out like CNN - wanting to be all things to all people. Others begin their search with a clear focus but then get discouraged by a lack of initial response, and start to broaden their message. The truth is that doing this will never be as effective as having a clear target and sticking to it.

If you find your search efforts are going nowhere, revisit your search strategy. Make sure you clearly understand your target audience. Check that your resume and letters are narrowly focused to address that audience (have more than one resume if you have more than one target). Take a good look at your search strategy to make sure you've identified all the ways to distribute your resume effectively.

There are many things you can do to revive a flagging job search - but the very last thing you should do is pull a CNN.

 

Visit DiversityJobs.com for information on Diversity in the workplace.

Comments

[Frank Roche]

Louise, very well said about CNN (or job candidates) wanting to be all things to all people. I couldn't believe when they swapped out the brilliant Soledad O'Brien and her cohort, Miles O'Brien, in the morning. They were great together, and presented a smart, sophisticated look at the news. Then they tossed them out like yesterday's trash and brought in the Fox News Face of the Day, Kieran Chetry. Ugh. It's total pandering, but to whom? Not me. I try to go back, but I can't. So, it's more online news for me...or Stewart and Colbert. That's my favorite one-two punch on TiVo.

[Louise Fletcher]

Frank I thought I was the only fan of the o' Briens! Totally agree about Colbert and Stewart - and they both know EXACTLY who they are.