The world is awakening at a pace and degree never seen before in history.

There was a time when you would be born, then study hard, go to a good school, get a degree, and with all that, somebody would give you a stable job. In other words, so long as you did what you were supposed to do, you were safe.

Over the past 100 years or so (a short time relative to the history of mankind), we have been led to believe that this is it. Do as you’re told, and in return, we keep you safe.

Fit in.

Just like anything that isn’t sustainable, there is a time when the system breaks. This time is right now, and the current economic crisis is just a small consequence of something much more profound and lasting.

We’ve hit the big Reset button. Everything is coming back to the fundamentals.

Michael Jordan doesn’t look for a basketball job. People beg him. That’s not only because he’s good at what he does, it’s also because he delivers much, much more than throw a ball in a basket. He delivers magic by daring, trying, failing. A lot. He does a million things that he’s not supposed to do. To our delight.

If Michael Jordan had a resume, people would laugh at him, run away, and he would be without a job! Rather, he delivers, and he’s in control: he gets to pick the people he wants to work with, and he has fun doing his work.

The concept of a resume was invented relatively recently, when society wanted you to fit in. That’s long gone. Now, society wants you to stand out, and rightfully so.

Before: Fit in.

Now: Stand out.

There are only two ways to get and keep a job.

One way is to create it.

The other way is to do more than what you are supposed to do, every second of each day. Be generous with your time and efforts. Care first about “the users”, the people who benefit from your work. In due time, the right people will notice you, will value your gifts to the world, and will want you. Infinitely more than anyone with a better-looking resume.

Do you need to have Michael Jordan’s gifts to survive in this world?

You can be anyone, and do anything.

You can be a waiter in a restaurant. In theory, anyone could do your job, making you a cheap and replaceable commodity. However, you do more than your job description. You actually care about customers. You connect with them. You recommend them the dish that’s not the most expensive, but that you think is the most tasty today. You actually arrive early every day to try dishes before the place opens to the public. You change the light bulb if it’s broken. You answer the phone when the Maitre D’ is in the restroom.

Most of what you do, nobody told you to do it. It’s not just initiative, it’s caring.

Customers come back because they know they are cared for, and that is the best gift anyone can ever receive.

Well, if you’re that waiter, I want you in my restaurant. Very badly. And guess what: I will pay you well. I will give you freedom to make decisions to please customers on the spot without having to fill out a form and without me looking over your shoulder. I will let you experiment and make mistakes, because failures are necessary steps to success. I will do everything I can to keep you. You are the boss now! As for your resume, I couldn’t care less, thank you.

Your real value is everything that is NOT in your resume. From now on, society rewards you on your real value. Back to the fundamentals.

Got a business degree? Great. Have you started a business yet?

Got an engineering degree? Great. What have you invented today?

Your real job is everything that is NOT in your job description. What your job description describes, there’s a truckload of other people who can do it too, and probably at a fraction of the cost.

Whatever is in your resume, it is screaming the following message: “I have done everything society told me to do! I fit in the system! I am the same as thousands of other people! Won’t you hire me, and keep me safe under your warm blanket?”

Companies don’t even look at resumes anymore, or they automate the process with keyword searches. Which means that in the less than 1% chance of you actually getting that particular job, this will be a job in an average office making average products for average people, and you’ll be treated like a robot with a unique number to help identifying you. If that’s how they treat people even before they recruit them, guess how they treat them after? Is this what you deserve?

Destroy your resume immediately, for God’s sake, it’s killing you. And Linkedin is just an electronic resume: boring, ugly, static, lifeless, colorless, totally un-original. It’s sending the wrong message to the whole world. Go ahead and close your Linkedin account as soon as possible (I did that a long time ago, despite having thousands of connections on it: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dupouy returns “Profile Not Found”).

“But wait!”, one might say. “How will recruiters find me now, if I’m not on Linkedin?”

Right. How many calls from recruiters have you received today?

This is like saying, “If I don’t advertise my San Francisco restaurant on every newspaper in the world, how will people who live in New Zealand know and eat at my restaurant every day?”.

Market segmentation, baby. Be a big fish in a small pond, never the other way around.

Be like the waiter in this hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and you have true job security. Even if that restaurant went out of business, you’d find another job faster than anyone else because the owner and the customers will be the first ones to praise and recommend you, rightfully so.

Security isn’t earned during the few years spent at school anymore. Now it’s earned every second of each day.

If you don’t do this, someone else will, and get your job.

The saying goes, “It’s about who you know”. That is false. Any dummy can go to events, shake hands, and collect hundreds of business cards. Then what?

It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you. Who trusts you. Who values you. Who appreciates you for what you really bring to the world.

Only people who already know you can offer you a job, or recommend you to one. Think about all the people who know you, and talk with them only. The time you do NOT waste sending around your resume to hundreds of websites will free up. You will use this time much more wisely and effectively by talking with real people who have real power to hire you for your real values.

Do your best at all times, and do more than what’s required of you. Others will beg you to work with them.

In due time, jobs will find you when you’re not even looking.