Today, the overly static and rigid term "job security", which masks a reality that has now disappeared definitively, has been replaced by the more fluid and dynamic term "employability". How else can we define employability if not as "all the personal skills and qualities that you must use in a specific yet constantly changing work environment"? This ever-changing nature of the job market and its structures has significantly impacted job-hunting tools.

The CURRICULUM VITAE, for example, is no longer just a chronological list of your past employers, duties and responsibilities. It is the commercial vehicle for your personal marketing strategy. It testifies to the past (by mentioning your achievements), but also reflects the present (highlighting your current skills) and above all it is the bearer of the future (by showing your career plan).

Your CV must not say everything about you but should elicit the desire to meet you. It is now considerably shorter; the four or five pages that a seasoned executive may have sent 10 years ago have given way to a maximum of two pages, or even one in the case of a thematic curriculum (i.e. one focused on skills).

A Curriculum Vitae no longer "tells your life story"; you analyse it in terms of a precise objective - the job you are seeking - and it is put forward in a deliberately chosen light - company X or Y with which you would like to work. A Curriculum Vitae is no longer a catalogue but a process. There is no point in sending out 500 copies; it is better to take a more subtle approach and produce a custom-tailored Curriculum Vitae (without going to the extreme of making a completely different one for each application)...

COVER LETTERS for Curricula Vitae have also changed. They do more than merely accompany and recite commonplaces or platitudes... They give the reader a first impression of you, your personality and your interest in the company to which you are writing. The standard letters addressed to the human resources division have disappeared and have been replaced by covering letters showing that real research has been done on the addressee: its activities, performances, missions, needs, problems... The quality of your research and of the information gathered about the enterprise or the position will determine the appropriateness of your offer of services.

If company X has a problem or need Y, you Z, are the solution (or at any rate a part of it). If the equation X + Y = Z has been properly formulated, the interview (the goal being pursued) will be inevitable. Only then will you have a real job prospect.

Let us return to the topic of exploring the market. There has always been another zone existing alongside the official one..., but it seems that the former has expanded considerably whilst the latter has grown dangerously rigid. In other words, 213 vacancies are currently being filled without ever having been the object of searches through the small ads circuit or that of employment agencies. Some 70 per cent of those who find a job do so while the need is still latent... which bears out the importance of strategically analysing a sector in general, then one or several enterprises in particular. You must therefore use your energy judiciously in hunting for a job: 70 per cent in the so-called ACTIVE market (spontaneous contacts with companies) and 30 per cent in the PASSIVE market (through adverts and employment agencies).

But how can this be done? By systematically using your NETWORK OF RELATIONS. The people you contact will give you ideas, advice and suggestions along the way. You will therefore be continuously building up a web until the day you meet a "recruiter/decision-maker" with the power to hire you to fill a specific need.

The INTERVIEW itself too has evolved appreciably. It is no longer a simple exchange of questions and answers in which you endeavour to show yourself in the best possible light... The advance preparatory work you have done on yourself (drawing up your career plan - the outcome of both your experience and your centres of interest) and in documenting yourself about the company (what it does, in what spirit, the problems it faces...), will enable you to position yourself as a provider of services. The spirit of the meeting will thus be necessarily different: instead of a dominant/dominated situation, you will find yourselves in a win-win situation. After being made to understand what you will contribute to it, the company will take the now logical decision to hire you.

Covered with laurels, you will be proud to make your entry... but beware, NEVER EVER FORGET THE NOTION OF "EMPLOYABILlTY". You will have to continue to steer your career with a firm hand, which will mean periodically reassessing yourself and undergoing regular training (be it in your occupation so as to upgrade your skills, or learning another occupation). Indeed, loyalty to an occupation, employer or company is now an outmoded concept at the close of 20th century, replaced by loyalty to yourself and to your legitimate aspirations...though taking care not to forget the market.