job search – Career Ideas

March 19, 2010

5 Questions about Your Resume

Can you say yes to these 5 questions about your resume?

1. Do you have a Summary of Qualifications at the top?

In the old days people used an objective statement, and it was deadly dull —“…looking for a challenging position that can use the skills of a go getter…” They were not only boring—even for a resume, but also very general, predictable and of not much interest to the employer. They said this is ME and what I want.

Now it’s still says, this is me, but it is more attuned to what the employer wants. After all the employer has the money and the benefits and jobs, so it’s OK to figure what THEY want so you can get that money, benefits, and great job and career. For instance: “Problem-solver with 10 years experience in sales management who opened up 3 new states for an expanding business, helping their revenues grow by 35% in 2 years.”

If that’s what they’re looking for it will get their interest more than telling them what you’d like to be doing.

The Summary of Qualifications should be a short paragraph or 4 or 5 bullets.

2. Did you use all the main keywords and phrases you need?

The name of the game when trying to make your way past the profound wisdom and compassion of the computer screening programs that decides the first round of screening is to use keywords. Computers get their warm fuzzies by searching your resume for specific words and phrases. Go ahead and make them happy, which means you need to include the words describing what’s wanted in the job description. Use the exact phrases in the job description, even if you have a different and better way to discuss your experience.

Don’t spam the keywords over and over, but get them in there, get them near the top.

Tip—After the summary of qualifications you can also list all the keywords in a separate bulleted list of skills, assuming that is, you have those skills.

3. Do you customize each resume you send for each job?

It once was extremely difficult, but today it’s relatively easy, so you can and in fact need to customize each resume according to the job description and needs of each company. You don’t have to rewrite the whole thing each time. Just make sure you focus on what is most important to the company. If one company is emphasizing innovation, frame your accomplishments in terms of what you added that was new. If they want social media skills, include accomplishments with that, even if it is volunteer work. You want to be the one whose resume seems such a solid match, they have no choice but to interview you and be in a good mood about it, too.

4. Did you spellcheck?

A famous (or maybe infamous) career blogger wrote an entry saying, go ahead, blow off proper spelling for your professional blogging. No big deal any more. That post got lots of attention, which is great for the contrarian and intentionally provocative blogger. Bad for everyone else. As appealing as that idea may be, it’s nonsense for anything professional and certainly shouldn’t be extended to resumes. You aren’t too likely to find an employer who won’t flag a bunch of resume typing errors as an issue–not only because your spelling or typing isn’t great–but because it shows lack of attention to detail when getting it right is very do-able. Use the spellcheck. Don’t stop there. Have a human being, not you and preferably one who can spell without using the spellcheck, proof your resume.

5. Do your accomplishments include things that are measurable and/or observable and/or specific?

Employers want to know how wonderful you are, not just that you are wonderful. They learn this (or think they do) by seeing that you didn’t just “boost sales with a new training program” but “boosted sales by 23% with a low cost new training program adopted nationally for 300 sales representatives.”

Use the numbers, the results, the observable happiness that came from all of the wonderful things you did on your past jobs.

How did you do?

Were you able to answer yes to each of these questions? If not, don’t panic. You can make these changes and still get the ultimate passing grade of a great job. By looking online, you can find models of resumes that do all of these things well. The extra effort at this stage can make or break your job hunt, even though the resume at best is only a pass to an interview. Without that pass, though, you don’t even get in the door.

.…In case you’re wondering, I don’t write resumes for clients. Sorry. But I’d be happy to coach you about your entire job search and career search, including a thorough review of your resume.

October 3, 2009August 10, 2013

What’s at the Top of Your Resume?

What should go at the top of your resume under your name and contact info?

A. Your Education?
B. Your most recent work experience?
C. Your objective–the kind of job you are seeking?

Answer–None of the above.

Why? Because right at the beginning you need to give your resume a direction, a focus, a theme which a potential employer can skim and know what to look for in the rest of the resume.

You also need to show that you know your strengths and how they relate to the job you are seeking.
You also need to include those keywords and phrases that computers will use if they are the first level of screening.

The section that does all that is your profile or highlights of qualifications section. You don’t want the others first because:

A. Your education is generally very old hat, unless you just finished college. Even if you did just graduate, if you have solid interning and volunteer or work experience, education may not go to the top. If you worked for at least a few years, it really belongs at the end.

B. Your work experience goes after the profile and is the source of the profile highlights,t he explanation and proof of them.

C. Your objective has been replaced in recent years by a profile. Employers reading dozens or hundreds of resumes and cover letters aren’t going to be impressed or very interested that you want a “challenging management position where leadership and self-starter skills are essential.” Yet that’s the kind of pabulum that traditionally is written for the objective statement.

Instead, look at what strengths you want to highlight in the details of your resume. Then, repeat or summarize the best points in shortened fashion for your profile. Just make sure these points touch on qualities, skills and experiences that the potential employer is seeking.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

At the top of the profile, start with a title that matches the job you are looking for–yes, it is best to customize resumes for each job. For instance, if the job is for regional sales manager and the keywords you need include: problem solver, entrepreneurial, minimum 5 years experience in sales management, your profile might look like:

Entrepreneurial Regional Sales Manager

Problem-solver with 10 years experience in sales management who developed new events to motivate demoralized regional sales force. Event success resulted in company-wide adoption.
Entrepreneurial self-starter, opening new markets in 4 cities that resulted in 10 new clients for more than $250,000 of sales
Savvy manager who has successfully led small and large (25) sales forces, promoted 4 times in just 5 years for managerial skills

Then you would expand on each of these accomplishments in your specific work experience sections.

You can also consider adding a Skills or Key Competencies or Areas of Expertise section right after the profile information. These too can be keyword rich according to the job description and your knowledge of what’s required for each job you seek. Again keep it specific—not just good communicator, but Consensus Builder or Conflict Resolution Expert or Motivator.

This is just one way to write a profile. It could be more of a paragraph. It could include more emotional terms– “passionate about…” but it needs to remain clearly focused and accomplishment oriented. Remember that you are offering solutions to a particular employer, not reciting your history.

January 21, 2009January 21, 2009

Obama’s Online Portfolio–Visual Resume

Yesterday, I wrote about job search and related visual resumes or portfolios online, and today I see from Allison Doyle of about.com on Twitter that our new president, who’s team is always on the cutting edge of online things, has a visual resume. You wouldn’t compare yourself to him in terms of background for a job search (unless you want to be president maybe), so no need to compare yourself in terms of all the videos and the depeth of his resume site from a tech perspective either.

WIth that in mind go on over to his visual resume.

January 20, 2009February 13, 2009

The Emerging Social Media–Visual Resume/Portfolio Trend

As with everything else in the career and job search front, the expectations keep rising for what you can or should do online. That’s apparently becoming true of resumes. There are many sites to post your resume, usually with a variety of standard but helpful templates. You also can easily post your resume with a URL that at least includes your name.

Most sites still offer pretty standard looking examples and templates that seem helpful but not much different from resumes 20 years ago (except they are online). But there are also newer options to consider like more dynamic pages, with more photos, live links, examples of your work.

Graphics designers and artists have quite a number of sites for portfolios, but to extend this concept to the rest of us is what’s emerging now.

Some call it the social media resume, though this can mean anything from listing your Facebook URL to extensive use of YouTube video links, audio, links to blogs and other profiles, RSS feeds and even the chance to track visitors to your resume through Google Analytics.

They blur the line, if there is one, between a qualifications resume and your own website or blog or page on Squidoo or HubPages. In fact, people also use social media bios when not looking for work as such, but to have a presence for selling services, products, or just being ready for someone to notice. People use their blogs soley for this, rather than ongoing posts.

Check out a couple of the visual or social media resume services for yourself here and here, for example. Here’s a link to a brief blog post about what to be careful about when relying on social media for job searches.

What do you think? What’s your experience with online resumes, social media resumes? Feelings about this trend? Stories?

Remember to sign up for my free creative problem solving and career ideas ezine for more articles and special offers.

January 15, 2009April 6, 2009

Career Coaching Mantra–Dig Deeper For Your Job Search

I just read a good article in Fortune about job opportunities. It spoke of possibilities in health care and green jobs, as everyone is. But what is great about this article is that it illustrates a principle I keep repeating to my career coaching clients and in my ezine–Discouraged? Then dig deeper.

Digging deeper means, as the article shows, that the horrible unemployment rate (7.2%) is actually much lower for college grads at 3.3% (hint for anyone wondering about the value of completing college). By digging deeper, you may find such relatively encouraging statistics to replace the more depressing ones we keep hearing.

It also means finding what is opening up even in fields that are otherwise depressed. For instance, construction has over a 13 percent unemployment rate, but maybe if you are an expert in green construction–a rapidly growing field, you may be able to stay afloat and be in great shape as the economy takes off again.

The article also points out that unemployment may be hitting some companies very hard while others may be hiring. You have to know where to look. Don’t assume every company in a field is in the same situation. Dig deeper. It also points out that being able to move can give you a big advantage, especially if you an executive. Not every city has the same opportunities for every field. Dig deeper. According to Fortune, “TheLadders.com researchers looked at metropolitan areas around the U.S. and found that out-of-work executives have the best chance of getting a new job in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, two cities where the ratio of candidates to openings is lowest (3-to-1). … Los Angeles is the most crowded (hence most competitive) executive job market, with a 7-to-1 ratio.”

Of course, digging deeper can give you info that is not encouraging, but still necessary. For instance, if you assume hospitals are steady places for jobs because medical care isn’t a luxury (and please tell that to your legislator this session), insurance pays claims, etc. But hold on. All the VPs I talk to even here in Minnesota with a great health care environment, are upset with the layoffs they were forced to make. This includes nurses and is due to a lot of red ink on the books. One friend of mine was a successful manager at a hospital for over 30 years and was laid off.

I’m not adding that to discouarge you (and especially not into going into nursing or managing in health care which are still expanding fields over the long term).

What I do suggest is that generalizations and headlines often depress us or mislead us without intending to. If you are want a job in a particular field, dig deeper than the usual classifieds and headlines about it. Go find where the openings are–the specific companies, the specific cities, the specific niches in the industry–and seek results there.

Good luck with your virtual shovels!

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