Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Many jobseekers today are constantly reinventing themselves in order to stay afloat in our poor economy. For some, that means returning to a previous career when their current industry is downsizing.
While that can be a great move in terms of job prospects, it does present a challenge in updating your resume.
Let’s say for example that you’re in retail management and have been for the past 15 years. However, before you were in retail you were an accountant for 5 years. Given the state of the economy, you see that there are more accounting than retail jobs available and you decide to go for it.
You create your reverse chronological resume (latest job first) and send it out, knowing you’ll be called in to interview. Days pass, then weeks without one call.
You can’t figure out what you did wrong. You’re a seasoned professional. You have the requisite accounting experience. It’s all there near the bottom of page two on your resume. Didn’t the hiring managers see it?
Probably not.
Hiring managers are very busy. They scan opening summaries and then the most recent work experience. They see that you’ve been involved in retail management, so they move on to find someone with accounting experience. They never bothered to get to the second page of your resume, because they don’t have time to search for important data.
How do you overcome this problem?
Rather than writing a reverse chronological resume, consider a combo type format. It’s a combination of a functional resume and a reverse chronological resume, and is popular with those in career transition.
After your opening summary – in which you state clearly that you have 5 years of accounting experience – you would have a section titled “Relevant Experience” - here, you would list what you know about accounting in subsections. They might be titled: AP/AR, reconciliations, payroll, etc.
Following that section, you would have a section titled “Professional Accounting Experience” – this would be listed in a reverse chronological order detailing your accounting career. Following it would be a section you’d call “Other Experience” – here you would list your retail management experience. However, you wouldn’t detail it as much as your accounting tasks.
By showcasing your accounting experience first, you’re providing the hiring manager instant access to the data s/he needs to make an informed decision about your candidacy. You’re not forcing the individual to search for the data. Trust me, most won’t. They’ll simply move on to the next candidate.
Whatever path you’re taking in your career, it’s wise to remember to dovetail and highlight your skills as they relate to the job you’re targeting.
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Many in today’s job market have had to reinvent themselves in order to apply for positions in growth industries such as healthcare.
Perhaps you had your start in sales or accounting but are now looking for a position in a new field. What do you showcase on your resume when your past experience is in a completely different industry?
1. First and foremost, place your Education and Training in the new field above Professional Experience rather than below it. Be certain that you include coursework studied in your new field. Did you receive an internship in it? Include that. Was your GPA 3.5 or higher? Be certain you state that on your resume. Were you involved in any special projects that prove you excelled in this new field? List details of that in the Education section.
2. Include only those tasks and accomplishments in your Professional Experience that will dovetail toward your new goal. If you were a whiz with details in your accounting career, play that up if you’re moving into healthcare, IT or any other field that requires meticulous attention to detail. Although the career paths are different, how you handled daily stats, etc. will prove to a hiring manager that you’ll be equally responsible in your new position.
3. Never state in your resume or cover letter that you have no experience in the new field. That’s opening with a negative rather than a positive. Play up what you do know, what you have done/accomplished and how it translates well to the new field. Highlight your education and training in the new industry. Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses.
Moving from one industry/career to another is never easy. However, you can prove to the hiring manager that you have what it takes in the new field if you organize your resume according to what the new company needs and your ability to accomplish it.
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
If you’ve decided to enlist the aid of a professional resume writer in your job search, you should know what this type of service can and cannot do for you.
What’s not possible:
1. For any resume writer or service to guarantee you an interview or a job. Even if the economy wasn’t in such poor shape, a resume writing service has no control over your resume once it’s delivered to you. If you’re applying for jobs for which you are overqualified or under-qualified, then you won’t be invited to interview. If your industry is contracting, rather than expanding, then your chances of success go down no matter how great your resume is. If you give up and don’t use it, you’re guaranteed failure.
2. Guess as to what you want. If you have no idea where you’re heading, don’t expect a resume writer to know the answer. Asking someone to craft a resume without a firm plan as to the job you’re seeking is like asking someone to jump into a car on the West Coast and tell them to drive to a location in Manhattan without the use of a map. They may get there, eventually, but the journey will be a long and arduous one.
3. Fabricate data. Resume writers work from what clients give them. If you provide little to no data about your professional experience, they can go to the government’s Occupational Handbook and look up your job title and see what you’re supposed to be doing. However, all they can do is ask – “Did you do this? Or this? Or this?” Don’t expect them to read your mind. Give them all the data they need to work with.
4. Match the style you believe is best. Every writer has a unique style. Some you may prefer over others. That doesn’t mean the less preferred style affects the quality of the resume. The content is what’s most important, along with its organization. Just because a resume writer uses one word when you prefer another doesn’t mean that a hiring manager will reject you. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hiring managers and recruiters look at the whole picture, not one word or a series of words.
5. Be available 24/7. With any service you engage, you have to be realistic in terms of the time you expect from the writer. If you’re demanding round-the-clock service for the least amount of dollars, you will be disappointed. Only services that cost clients thousands of dollars will be able to provide a level of constant service, and even these businesses won’t work with any one client forever.
What is possible, and what you should expect from a professional service:
1. The terms of the service clearly stated on the website – eg: cost, turnaround time, any service guarantees, etc.
2. A level of professionalism indicated either by the writers being CPRWs (Certified Professional Resume Writers) or by the company being a member of the PARW (Professional Association of Resume Writers).
3. A clear idea of what the service provides in terms of business documents. The best way to show this is for the service to provide work samples on the site.
4. Membership and a high rating with the BBB.
5. Longevity of service. If a company has been around for more than ten years, then it’s doing something right.
6. One-on-one contact with your editor. This can be by email/IM/phone. Phone is preferred.
To make your resume writing or editing process a success, keep these points in mind before you hire anyone to work on your business document.
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
In this day of social media, there is a point – at least for a serious job seeker – when too much information will certainly reduce your chances of getting an interview, promotion or the employment opportunity you seek.
While we all enjoy posting our photos and what we’re doing on Facebook, it pays to remember that one day employers may very well be searching that database before they decide to call you in for an interview.
If you think photos of you getting wasted on a Friday night are funny, it won’t be to a hiring manager. If you rant and rave about a particularly touchy subject, a hiring manager will worry that you’ll do the same on the job.
Even if you behave yourself on Facebook, you may leave a trail of crumbs on various websites where you’ve left comments. For some, it’s sport to let loose with unacceptable comments as long as it’s being done from the safety of a computer keyboard. However, if your email address is tracked by a potential employer and they see anything disturbing in your comments, you can kiss that job opportunity good-bye.
In public, we all monitor our responses, never thinking to reveal our deepest thoughts or prejudices. It’s prudent to behave the same way online.
Before you apply for a position, check your Facebook and other social media pages and clean them up. A mentor from my past once told me, “Don’t write anything down that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.” Great advice. Revisit those sites where you left comments. If you can be identified via your email address, then change it on your resume before you apply for a position.
We’ve all acted foolishly…it’s human nature. But when your livelihood depends upon you behaving in a professional manner, you better make certain an employer can’t find anything negative about you on the net.
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