How to Differentiate Your Resume From the 12,879 Others in t

An article in today's Journal about an increasing number of recent college graduates heading to China to gain their first working experience, either as interns or full-time employees, underscores that in today's competitive job marketplace, unique and challenging may now trump prestigious and high-paying.

That is, you don't have to have a gig in Shanghai (a slice of which is pictured at left) on your resume (although it surely helps) but you do have to have something out of the ordinary on there in order to stand out. In other words, no longer will simply a household-named firm in bold and/or ALL CAPS turn heads and give hiring managers pause; instead, what will, and what will be required in order to, at the very least, get by the first round of interviews, is having experiences that few if any others can speak to.

Or, of course, you can get a job the old-fashioned way: network until you get to someone on the inside.

Which reminds me of something a friend told me over the weekend. When I asked him how he landed his latest job, he told me, "I used LinkedIn to the utmost. The guy who hired me was my friend's brother's sister-in-law's nanny's boyfriend."

Speaking of LinkedIn, its stock was down more than 7 percent today, meaning LNKD is now hovering around $82, and thus anyone who bought some LinkedIn stock since its astronomical debut two weeks ago has lost several (hundred, thousand or, perhaps, million) dollars.



(WSJ: LinkedIn Now Below $82)