Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Recently, I spoke to an individual who wanted to use her resume for a position as an office manager, legal assistant, customer service rep and retail associate.
She had all the skills and experience required for each of the above positions, so that wasn’t the problem. However, to submit the same resume to hiring managers in different industries is inviting failure.
Why?
First – an applicant who is applying for everything looks scattered – the proverbial ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. Secondly, a hiring manager will wonder about an individual who’s had so many career changes. Does the applicant get bored easily and move on with little notice? Is the candidate incapable of holding a job for very long?
Whenever you’re applying for a position, it’s best to stay on point with that industry’s requirements and leave all the other data for other industries. It’s never wise to use a ‘one size resume fits all industries’. Resumes need to be tailored and targeted for each field – preferably for each job opening.
If you’re going after a legal assistant’s job, why would the firm’s hiring manager care if you’re great in the retail trade? Although your people skills there and in a customer service position might serve you well in the legal arena, it still dilutes your impact if you’re talking about another industry.
Even worse is if your resume makes you look desperate. Trying to write a resume to fit more than one, perhaps multiple industries is simply stating: “I’ll take anything. Anything – please.”
That’s not the image you want to portray. Your resume needs to show that you are the single best candidate for the position in a field overloaded with other equally, qualified applicants. It needs to show your commitment to the position, the field, the employer and the industry. You can’t do that if you’re targeting several in the same document.
It needs to convey to the employer that you are interested in their opening and that you will do well at it.
Only a targeted and well-tailored resume will be able to do that.
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Although this may seem like a simple question with an equally simple answer – my objective, work experience and academic history – it’s not really. It’s also the incorrect way to look at a resume.
What you want on your resume doesn’t matter at all. What the hiring manager or recruiter expects or hopes to see on the document is all that counts.
An effective, interview-generating resume will have the following attributes:
1. An opening summary with an overview of your skills that proves you’re the best candidate for the position. To support this statement, you should include one, preferably two, recent/relevant/quantified accomplishments. What you want from the job/company isn’t important. How you can fulfill the employer’s needs is paramount.
2. Quantified accomplishments. Note: not daily duties, but the results of those duties. Coming to work on time isn’t an accomplishment. It’s expected. Saving your company money or making it money – that’s an achievement. Employers are particularly drawn to accomplishment-oriented individuals. Past performance is generally predictive of future performance.
3. Work history that is tailored to the job you’re targeting. If you taught history but are now in accounting and you load your resume down with the tasks you did while teaching, you won’t be getting an interview. Stay on point. Provide only those tasks that are accounting related. The rest isn’t important to the employer and should be excluded from your resume.
4. Academic history that supports your ability to do the job. Again, if you have a PhD in history but are targeting a new field – accounting – list only the degree you have in it. A PhD in history won’t impress someone who’s looking for an accountant. It could very well confuse hiring managers and make them pass you over for an interview.
5. A business oriented focus. That means, no listing of hobbies, at home activities, likes or dislikes. Hiring managers don’t care if you love baking, walking your dog, gardening, going to Boy Scouts with your kids or anything else that’s personal. They want to know if you can do the job. Leave the personal details to the interview or after you’ve received an offer.
Remember: What you want to see on your resume isn’t as important as what an employer hopes to see. Your audience is the person who can grant you an interview and make you an offer. To succeed, keep their preferences in mind.
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
What now?
The rule of thumb is preparation, preparation, preparation.
How do you do that? By rehearsing your answers to some of the most common questions asked during an interview.
Here are just a few:
• What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?
• How has your college experience prepared you for a business career?
• Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.
• What influenced you to choose this career?
• At what point did you choose this career?
• What specific goals have you established for your career?
• What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?
• What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
• How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments.
• Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?
• What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?
• If you could do so, how would you plan your college career differently?
• Are you more energized by working with data or by collaborating with other individuals?
• How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?
• What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
• Given the investment our company will make in hiring and training you, can you give us a reason to hire you?
There are obviously hundreds of possible questions you may be asked. However, by practicing on key questions as to what you can bring to the company and what you want from it, you’ll go a long way toward acing your interview.
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
We all like to think that we’re good at our job; that we not only deserve what we’re being paid but should possibly be earning far more.
However, it’s one thing to consider yourself the best at what you do, and quite another to present that attitude at a job or when you’re seeking employment.
In this economy, it’s a hiring manager’s market. They have dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of equally-qualified individuals all wanting to be hired – or to take your place.
If you arrive for your interview with the attitude that the employer is lucky to be interviewing you, don’t expect to be called back. In today’s workplace, a sense of entitlement is a job killer. If you’re continually whining at work about how you’re not appreciated or you’re misunderstood, don’t expect to be there long.
What companies are looking for are individuals with a collaborative spirit, the proverbial team players. Those who accept responsibility easily and own up to any mistakes.
Is that you? Or do you duck projects whenever you can and make excuse after excuse as to why your work product wasn’t up to par?
If you’re finding it hard to get a job, or to keep one, it’s time to look at what you’re doing wrong. Could be your sense of entitlement is the 500 pound gorilla in the room. One you refuse to recognize.
