I sometimes feel a pang of regret when I do something cool and resume-worthy, only to realize it’s an unrealized gain until I look for another job. In internal interviews over the years, I’ve always been pleased when hiring managers compliment my strong resume, but I didn’t realize how powerful that document had become until I posted it to Careerbuilder.
Everyone hesitates to expose themselves, fearing their current management or HR department will stumble across it, so I held out for a little bit. But within 24 hours of posting it I was getting calls - a few duds, but mostly calls from Recruiters with quality offers. These were more of the A players, who didn’t post their offerings for the masses to spam, but waited patiently in the shadows for the lions to join in the hunt.
To really get a sense of the difference, consider my current company. Employees are repeatedly beseeched by management to update our profiles in any number of “talent management” systems with the promise that it’s used for internal recruiting. In seven years, I never heard of a single example of it actually panning out for anyone.
That’s a scary thought for any employer - that the open market is vastly more efficient than internal movement. It evens the tables a bit, though: as employers demand more from their employees every year, employees know that if the company doesn’t similarly increase the rewards they can regain control of their destinies with a single upload.
