January Newsletter | Career Killer Number One: Obsolescence

Mirriam-Webster defines obsolete as no longer in use or no longer useful.

I still remember my Blackberry phone. There was something about its physical buttons that somehow made the mobile experience more relatable. I found that clever use of that phone combined with my PDA (personal digital assistant) pretty much took care of all my professional and personal needs. Life was good.

I resisted new tools for a long time out of brand loyalty. But after a while it became clear that there was a whole new world of downloadable applications that were simply not a part of the platform. I noticed that my friends were able to do more on a single device than I could do with two.

Blackberry released updates, but it failed to track market trends. Executive leadership felt assured that the fact that their phones performed well would keep them relevant forever. They doubled down even as iPhone and Android ate their market share. By the time they accepted that the mobile market had moved it was too late. The last Blackberry rolled off their assembly lines in 2016.

Blackberry did not fail because the product was bad, it performed at a very high level throughout its lifecycle. It failed because the needs of its user community changed and it didn’t see it coming until it was too late.

Don’t be like Blackberry. Keep your skills aligned with what the employer market actually wants, not what you wish it still valued. Staying relevant isn’t complicated, but it does require intention.

The three-step process to avoid obsolescence

Step 1: Conduct a Simulated Job Search:

Even if you’re not job hunting, running a simulated job search once a year is one of the simplest ways to stay valuable and visible in the market.

An annual career self-health check not only helps to maintain market awareness, but it is also a great tool to make sure your resume and LinkedIn profiles are current.

Most in the workforce are not actively job hunting. LinkedIn reports that about 70 percent of workers are passive candidates, and more than 80 percent of recruiters now prioritize engaging this group. In other words, people get hired because they’re findable, not because they’re applying.

The approach is straightforward: Use LinkedIn, Indeed, or your preferred job site to search as if you were actively on the market. Because job titles vary widely, do the search using skills, software, tools, and responsibilities, rather than by title.

These searches will reveal how many jobs are out there, the titles companies use for those jobs, the requirements that employers list for those jobs, where the jobs are, and what the jobs pay. Because we are looking at hiring trends and not specific jobs, I advise searching nationally for a more robust assortment.

If you can’t find roles that match your skills, that’s a signal to explore a career shift. Don’t wait until you’re at risk. Career changes take thought, and you want the luxury of time.

Career coaches like Job-Guy help with that, of course!

Step 2: Align Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile:

Compare your resume to the responsibilities and qualifications in the job postings you found. If employers consistently ask for something you already do, add it to your resume.

If you use my resume building approach (recommended, of course) you would use paragraphs under each job in the professional experience section to claim day-to-day responsibilities. This gives you maximum keyword coverage in minimal space, since companies often use their own job‑posting language as keywords.

Using paragraphs for the basic stuff will enable you to use bullets for things you want to draw human interviewers’ attention to such as accomplishments, awards, or examples of when you picked up additional responsibilities.

This is also a good time to update those accomplishments. Most professionals can barely remember accomplishments from two years ago, let alone five. That becomes a real problem in both resumes and interviews.

Once the resume is the way you need it to be, it is time to update the LinkedIn profile to match.  Contrary to once-prevailing wisdom, it is appropriate that the work history on the resume matches that on the profile as closely as possible. Two areas in which they may be different are:

·         It is permissible to use personal pronouns on a LinkedIn profile especially in the “about” section. LinkedIn is, after all, a social media site used for professional purposes.

·         LinkedIn allows members to claim specific skills. Using skills from LinkedIn’s database increases the likelihood that your choice of words will align with employers’ keyword selections. You can either do this within each job by simply using the skills section in your job description or adding a skills section to your profile. For how to add this section to your LinkedIn profile, click here.

3. Address Skills Gaps

If you have completed your documents and can claim all the skills, you are done, confident that your skills are in line and you are ready to pull the trigger when an opportunity comes your way.

If you do have gaps, you should fill them.

Many times there are ways to acquire skills in the workplace if you are creative. Employers place great value on candidates who use present‑day tools and techniques. But what if your employer doesn’t require you to perform those tasks? Often the answer is simple: do it anyway.

My favorite story in this vein is about a client who was in an administrative role but wanted to leverage his dual degrees in finance and economics. Every one of his target jobs required experience generating reports in Excel. His employer had Microsoft Office installed but had never used Excel for reporting and didn’t think they needed to. I suggested that he generate a report anyway, using VLOOKUP and pivot tables, and show it to his supervisor. Whether the supervisor liked it or not, he could truthfully claim the experience. The supervisor ended up liking the report, so things got even better. And he ultimately landed a finance job doing exactly what he wanted to do.

In larger organizations, there may also be opportunities to volunteer for projects outside your core duties that allow you to truthfully include key skills in the experience section of your resume, where they will be more easily found and valued.

If learning on the job isn’t possible, there are several third parties who offer great training at relatively low cost. Some of the most popular include:

· LinkedIn Learning: A large library of professional courses covering software, business skills, leadership, and creative tools. Completed courses integrate easily into your LinkedIn profile.

· Coursera: University‑level courses and certificate programs created by top schools and major companies. Ideal for structured learning and career pivots.

· Udemy: A huge marketplace of practical, skills‑based courses taught by independent instructors. Great for learning specific tools quickly.

· edX: College‑style courses from universities around the world. Many can be audited for free, with optional paid certificates.

· Skillshare: Project‑based classes focused on creativity, design, writing, and entrepreneurial skills. Best for people who learn by doing.

· Pluralsight: A respected platform for IT, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and software development. Designed for deep, technical upskilling.

· Codecademy: Interactive, beginner‑friendly coding instruction. Ideal for learning programming languages, web development, and data skills.

Choosing whether to pursue a certificate depends on whether you want to simply learn a new skill or claim a defined level of training. If you already use Excel at work and want to improve, you can save money by auditing a course or taking uncertified training.

If hard skills are required in your next job, it is usually worth investing in a certificate program that you can claim on your resume and display on your LinkedIn profile. Staffing teams tend to value certificates because many would struggle to measure a candidate’s technical competence using tools they are not familiar with themselves. Certifications provide reassurance that an applicant has achieved a certain standard of competence.

Job Guy’s Search Tip of the Month

Skills gaps are one of the fastest ways to get screened out. When employers are overwhelmed with applicants, missing skills become an easy filter, and applicant tracking systems make this even easier.

Human screeners want proof. Showing exactly how you used a skill to produce a result is the fastest way to check every box.

Preparing a small portfolio of work samples can be a game‑changer. Many hiring processes now include real‑life demonstrations of expertise — testing, presentations, or work samples — because employers want to see how you think and what you can produce.

No generation feels this more than Gen Z. Young professionals know how to match skills to job postings, and AI makes that even easier, so employers now expect proof rather than claims.

To learn more about challenges specific to GenZ, see my original blog post.

A Favorite LinkedIn Testimonial

Lisa was an executive assistant who supported multiple senior executives within a major financial services company that was downsizing. She needed to make a change but didn’t want to be restricted to financial services.

Together we developed a resume that captured her skills and in a way that would appeal to large employers across industries. Blessed by the fact that Lisa had maintained the skills needed to make this transition, we were able to hit a home run on the documents and interview strategy needed to nail the next great thing.

She started her new job supporting two VPs at a large tech firm within two months of starting the search. Two years later she was promoted to support the division president.

Here are Lisa’s words:

“I wasn't sure I needed a job coach,... I did!! John was instrumental in assisting me with composing a professional resume with a stronger focus more geared towards my market. As soon as I posted this more targeted resume, the number of potential employers contacting me tripled. John also coached me prior to my first and second interviews and I got the job!!! (and I love it!) I was employed within a month, of course that may never be a guarantee, but I am confident that John's preparation was a big part of my success.”