A Conference Board survey of 5000 American workers reveals that only 45% are satisfied with their jobs, and all categories and ages of workers show downward trends. These findings are a red flag to employers, who (if they’re smart) will be stepping up their efforts to engage their workforce, ensure new hires are a great fit with the job/company/culture, and find what really works to motivate and delight employees.

But I wonder if this report reveals an even more significant trend about how we view work and career. Once, work was just that – work we did, jobs we held to put food on the table and support our families. A hundred years ago, there was little notion of having a “career” or finding work that fulfilled our personal aspirations. If people were lucky, they found something they liked and were good at. But now there is much societal pressure on people to find meaningful work … to align our personal values with the work we do … to identify our greatest passions and fulfill them through our work.

Perhaps some of this pressure is due to the huge amounts of time and energy we pour into our work. The 9-to-5 is long gone for many people, and if you’re working 8-to-8 you’d better love what you’re doing! And in a culture where coaching has become commonplace and there is enormous emphasis on finding work that fulfills us, it’s easy to feel dissatisfied when our jobs don’t meet these very lofty societal goals.

So maybe workers need to cut themselves some slack – not expect to find total joy and fulfillment at work (at least not every day) – as long as there are pockets of satisfaction and an underlying belief that your work is worthwhile.

Nothing like hearing it from the horse’s mouth … or, in the case of job search, the recruiter’s.

I am impressed by the clarity, consistency, and honesty of these 100 tips shared by recruiters from EMC Corp. It’s a quick read but packed full of spot-on advice along with real recruiting stories (both horrifying and heartwarming).

Boiled down even further, the advice is simple yet profound: Know yourself, know your value to the company, be prepared. Never forget that job search is all about marketing and sales. Be passionate, curious, engaged, honest, sincere. Keep a positive attitude during what can be a long and frustrating process. Network!

And … have a great resume. If yours doesn’t showcase your skills, value, and successes, you’ll never get the chance to wow them in the interview.

I am very excited about story-telling techniques I learned at a workshop in New York on Saturday. Stories have an unmatched power to convey meaning and connect with an audience and are the very best way for job candidates to communicate their uniqueness and value.

What’s more, when you think about “universal” experiences – experiences that many people can relate to on personal level (emigrating to a new country, giving birth, surviving high school, choosing a career) – each experience is unique in its own way. Telling the story of your “universal” experience not only allows you to express your uniqueness, it connects deeply with your listenener who will tap into his or her own similar (but not identical) experience. I’m not suggesting that you discuss your birth experience or high school days during your executive interview, but do look for opportunities to share personal stories (as appropriate) and entice the interviewer to do the same.

For several years I’ve been using the “Tell Your Story” tagline for my business, representing my passion for helping my clients communicate their uniqueness in a way that is meaningful for their audience and helpful for their careers. The workshop I attended validated my approach and gave me some deeper insights and new tools to apply in my interview coaching sessions. And, I hope to wow them from the podium at my next presentation!

Executive recruiters are strongly biased toward passive candidates – those they have to seek out and who are already doing a similar job to the one they’re being recruited for. This attitude has always stuck in the craw of unemployed executives and those who work with them (coaches and resume writers) because it seems so shortsighted, so silly, so WRONG.

Maybe that attitude is changing, just a bit. Really interesting piece in Business Week about top execs leaving their jobs to pursue their goal of becoming a CEO, announcing it to friends and colleagues, and quickly landing new jobs.

Why? Perhaps because they were so forthright about their purpose, so clear about the types of opportunities they were seeking, and so unafraid to bear the supposed stigma of being unemployed. As a result, they generated some buzz and were quickly snapped up.

Takeaway for job seekers: Don’t necessarily quit your job, but do be clear about what you’re looking for and communicate such to your network. If people don’t know who you are, what you’re looking for, and how you can help your next employer, they can’t share appropriate ideas, leads, and opportunities.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m xx years old … and I look every day of it.” Nope, it’s always, “I’m xx years old … but I don’t look it!”

I am never sure how to reply when my clients (virtually all senior executives in in their 40s, 50s, and 60s) make that statement. I think what they’re trying to convey is their concern that their resume (which I’m writing for them) not make them appear “too old” and knock them out of the running before they get the chance for an interview – during which they’ll shine because of their youthful appearance!

While there’s no doubt that age discrimination does exist (and I know lots of techniques to disguise age on a resume), let’s take a step back for a minute and consider the issue from another angle:

If you’re interviewing for senior executive jobs, hiring authorities do not expect you to be in your 20s or 30s. They expect you to be mature and seasoned – in all the very positive aspects of those words that have taken on a bit of a stigma. If you are 50 and you look like you’re 30, you’ll probably have a hard time landing a job at the senior level! But let’s face it – how many 50-year-olds look 30?

In all reality, you do look roughly your age. And that age is the perfect age for the jobs you’re pursuing. So don’t worry too much about looking younger – on paper or in person – but for both, be sure to present the very best image that you possibly can. A great-looking suit, up-to-date haircut, trim physique, perfectly polished resume – all will help you create the image of a savvy, successful, up-to-date, high-energy professional. And isn’t that what companies are looking for … at any age?

Resume-writing colleague Arnie Bolt shared findings from a recent ExecuNet meeting he hosted, in which a panel of executive recruiters was asked how they work, how they evaluate candidates, and what they look for in resumes and other communications. Universally, the recruiters wanted to see an entire work history on the resume, even if it went back to the year “dot” and included irrelevant information.

My advice: Give them what they want – but not right away! Use your strategic, well written, concise, and on-target resume to spark that initial phone call. Then, if you are a strong candidate for one of their searches, go right ahead and give them chapter and verse on everything you’ve done. At that point, you’ve cleared the initial screening and won’t advance any farther unless you comply. But don’t shoot yourself in the foot by giving them what they think they want in your initial contact.

Let’s face it – you can’t possibly include everything you’ve done in your career on your resume. Go with the most high-impact, relevant, and meaningful information to incite interest. The resume is, after all, a marketing document. You can provide the entire prospectus once your audience is interested.

Interesting article in today’s Boston Globe about gaining relevant experience through volunteer work.

Key points:

• Don’t volunteer just anywhere doing anything; look for an opportunity to use existing skills or build new expertise.
• Invest time volunteering to determine if a new career path is right for you – you get to literally “try before you buy.”
• Take your commitment seriously – fulfill your obligation.

Good examples in the article included a woman doing volunteer records research for a nonprofit social agency and a former financial analyst who’s now assisting in a middle school math classroom. Both are seriously considering a permanent career switch that requires additional education – they’re very smart to get their feet wet and see if they really like the new field!

Yes, you can certainly put this experience on your resume. No, you don’t have to volunteer that you’re not getting paid for it. It might make up the very first “experience” segment on your resume or might appear towards the end, under “extras” such as professional affiliations. It depends how central it is to your current goals, perhaps how long you’ve been doing it, what your current employment status is, and other factors. Still, it can be relevant, solid, and meaningful experience that you can showcase as a prime qualification for your new career.

Verizon (telephone company) should answer their phones when you call them. Whole Foods should use good environmental practices. Hairdressers should have great hair. If these things DON’T happen, you lose faith in that individual or company!

The same is true for executives in a job search. Your resume content must match your elevator speech, your online profile, your networking chit-chat, your interview stories, and every other aspect of your career marketing messages to create a congruent, believable, provable image. All of the above should position you as “you” – just the best, brightest, most relevant “you” with regard to your current goals!

Love what Louise Fletcher has to say over at the Blue Sky blog: Calling Seth Godin on the carpet when he opines about job searching!

I agree 100% – both with Louise’s admiration of Seth’s marketing expertise and her disagreement with his career advice. To sum it up:

• Looking for a job does not mean sublimating your personality or corrupting yourself… not if you do it correctly.
• Self-employment is not for everyone!
• In every market there are opportunities. Good companies are still hiring, and smart, focused, value-oriented candidates will be found and hired.

Excellent piece in Fortune this month about “what’s working” for people in a job hunt.

What’s interesting is that what’s working now are the same things that have always worked. These job seekers haven’t re-invented the job hunt wheel or found anything new under the sun. It still – and always – comes down to clear messages, outreach, relationships, and persistence.

The only new twists are that some of these efforts involve technologies and services (LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, email) that didn’t exist in other tough job markets. Still, these are tools, not panaceas.

I was most impressed by the story of Rob Sparno. And – hey! – he’s 55! He set a tight target and methodically pursued people at his ideal companies. He created a positive support group. He used sales and marketing techniques to get to the right people. And he did his homework, so when his efforts produced a meeting, he was prepared with some carefully researched ideas about the company’s probable problems, and some carefully prepared ideas about how he could solve them. A home run!

And – as we enter baseball season! – it seems apt to mention that the greatest hitters are successful only about 1/3 of the time they step up to the plate. Every effort won’t lead to a job, but keep putting in the time and (smart) efforts, and you’ll reach “home” before long.