Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
I’m often asked why an individual isn’t getting any interviews with his or her resume. Generally speaking, I see these problems.
1. The content is too vague, especially in the opening summary. The beginning of your resume is valuable real estate. You need to get to the point quickly and explain why you are the best candidate for the position. Writing something like Proven success in closing sales may sound good to you, but it tells the hiring manager nothing. It’s a self-serving statement, your opinion on the matter, unless you add a recent/relevant/quantified accomplishment. Such as: Proven success in closing sales as evidenced by the 48% increase in revenue over a six-month period with the addition of XYZ and ABC companies, two Fortune-500 concerns.
2. You’re telling the hiring manager what you want, rather than proving what you can do for the company. Never use an objective that states your goals, ideals or wish list for a job. Hiring managers couldn’t care less. All they want to know is how you can make or save their company money.
3. You’ve included negatives in your resume. Telling a hiring manager that you’ve been laid off from a job or you’ve had a major illness or you have no experience in the job responsibilities you’re applying for is counterproductive. If you don’t have the skills, don’t apply. If you’re in good health, that’s all that matters. If you were laid off, the time to discuss the matter is during the interview, not in the resume. A resume is a marketing document with you as the product.
4. You’re including personal information that could hurt you. If you’re an accountant and you list collecting gold coins as a hobby, the hiring manager can’t help but wonder where you’re getting the cash to do something so extravagant. If you boast on your resume about loving and participating in extreme sports, the hiring manager is going to be a bit concerned about the health insurance benefits you’ll eat up if you get injured.
These are just a few of the mistakes you can make on your resume. If you’re not getting any calls to interview from yours, it’s best to have a professional create one for you.
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
Even though the job market isn’t anywhere near what it was before the Great Recession, now is really the time to be thinking about employment at other companies and sprucing up your resume.
You may ask why you should do that if you’re still employed. You’re one of the lucky ones to have a job. You’re in no hurry to look for work that might not be there. You’d just like to relax and get on with your day.
That could turn out to be a dangerous move.
In my part of the world, two major employers closed down at the end of last year. One of them employed a staff of 50. These individuals were told – three days before Christmas – that the company would no longer be operating on December 26. They were given only three days notice, no severance pay and the promise that they would get their accrued vacation days.
The second company wasn’t as forthcoming. Employees showed up at the door on Monday morning to find it padlocked. No explanations given. The owner simply closed the place. Close to 40 individuals are now without work and have little hope of ever seeing their last paychecks.
They may not have seen the end coming; perhaps it had been well-hidden from them by their employers. However, they should have been prepared for any eventuality. They should have been looking beyond their current company to other companies, perhaps a new trade.
At the very least, they should have had a polished resume at the ready. Those that did can immediately go out and apply for new positions. Those that haven’t are now faced with the prospect of writing a marketing document, with themselves as the product, when they’re at one of the lowest points of their lives.
Don’t allow yourself to become complacent in a job. It’s never forever. Be prepared by looking into other employment opportunities, and always always have a well-written, professional resume on hand to submit to other positions.
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
For some, 2010 was a year best forgotten. Unemployment, underemployment, taking what one could get to put food on the table and pay the mortgage or rent was the norm. For others, worrying about whether their hours or jobs would be cut were ever-present concerns.
Although January 1, 2011 won’t radically change the economic or employment outlook, it can be a time for you to regroup and actively seek employment, whether you’re moving from an old position into a new one or you’re going back into the work force.
Some experts believe that temp and contract jobs will dominate in 2011. What does that mean for you?
If you take it as a positive, a temp or contract position allows you to earn a living while still actively seeking permanent employment. It also gives you a ‘foot in the door’, so to speak, at a company that might not otherwise consider your application.
While on your temp position, treat it as permanent. That is, show the employer that you care what happens during your watch. You’re there not just to get a paycheck but to make certain that you help your employer make money or save money.
Ask for the more difficult assignments. Volunteer to do tasks others wouldn’t consider. Learn all that you can about the industry and position. Even if that employer doesn’t retain you after your contract expires, you have additional skills to bring to your next boss. By building upon what you know and what you can do, you’ll make yourself indispensible to a company. And you need to reflect that on your resume.
Make certain that each of your resumes is individualized to the company where you’re applying. Don’t make the mistake of using a cookie-cutter approach, hoping that one resume will fit all situations.
It won’t.
You have to prove, within 7 seconds or less, that you’re the ideal candidate for the position. The only way to do that is to dovetail what you know and what you can do within the resume’s opening summary.
Rather than looking at the downside of the economy and the job market, make it work for you. Use that temp or contract position as your stepping stone to a permanent position, a raise, more authority and the dream job you deserve.
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010
Think it’s your knowledge, skills, abilities? Believe it’s your solid, quantified accomplishments? Know it’s your steady rise through the ranks from an entry-level to a senior position?
While all of these are key to a great resume, the single most important thing you can list is what you can do for an employer.
That’s right. That’s what hiring managers and recruiters want to see. And they demand that it be up front in the opening summary.
In these tough economic times, with dozens or hundreds of equally qualified candidates vying for the same position, the hiring manager or recruiter will allow no more than 7 seconds to scan a candidate’s resume before moving on.
7 seconds. Not a lot of time. Therefore, the only way you can possibly grab their attention and hold it is to include one, preferably two, recent/relevant/quantified accomplishments in the opening summary that prove to them that you are the perfect candidate for the position and what you can do for their company.
If you fail to do that, you won’t be invited in for an interview.
Hiring authorities don’t have the time or patience to search for data. You may be the best HR, IT, accounting, marketing, customer service or what-have-you individual around. But if you don’t spoon feed that information to them at the opening of your resume, they won’t look for it.
Nor do they care what you want. So drop the objective. The resume isn’t really about you. It’s about them…and what you can do for their company.
Once you get in that mindset, once your resume reflects the value you can bring to their organization, the invitations to interview will start pouring in.
