Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
It’s no secret that an increasing number of men have opted to be stay-at-home moms, while even the most energetic career women sometimes have to leave the workforce because of family needs.
Even if years separate you from the last job and the new career goal, there are tricks to turning a potential negative into an asset – it’s just a matter of knowing what to do.
1. Never explain in a resume that you have been unemployed for a number of years.
Opening a resume with a negative immediately places you at a disadvantage to other candidates applying for the same position. Instead, you should focus on your skills and qualifications as they relate to the job opening. That’s really all a hiring manager wants to see.
2. Personal data regarding your hiatus should not be included in the document.
All too often, candidates feel they must be completely up-front in a resume, or somehow explain their absence from the workforce. Therefore, they include comments like: “Being a stay-at-home mom with Johnny was one of the most rewarding periods of my life.” (That may well be, but a hiring manager will wonder if that person will be effective and professional in a business environment.) or “A serious disease and subsequent operation took me out of the work force. However, now I feel quite well and am able to meet all work-related challenges.” (Most hiring managers would worry about hiring a candidate who was so seriously ill, and that person’s effect on the company’s health insurance premiums.)
3. Use a functional format that stresses skills, rather than a reverse-chronological format that stresses an unbroken history of employment.
Think of a resume as a marketing tool with you as the product. Showcase the positive (skills, qualifications, recent education in the chosen field), while downplaying the negative (employment gaps).
4. List any Volunteer work or Community Service that is relevant to your new career goal.
If you have organized numerous charitable functions, raised funds, directed a group of volunteers, or interfaced with the media about community-related events, these are all transferable skills.
5. Showcase only that Education and Training which is current to the career sought.
This is particularly true for someone in Information Technology. IT has changed so rapidly over the years that showcasing coursework or degrees attained even 10 years ago will date your document, and be certain to hurt your candidacy. Instead, current training – as it applies to the new career – should be showcased.
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Because internal promotions and lateral moves involve individuals that are already known entities, the key is to come prepared with proof of past job performance and answers to any objections that might be made.
Of course, this process of rating one’s worth should begin the very first day on a new job and continue until a promotion is offered or a lateral move requested.
1. Keep Detailed Records of Your Job Performance to Justify a Promotion:
No matter how fair an employer tries to be, they don’t have the same vested interest as you in personal career progression. What’s more, they have many staff to consider, while your focus is understandably personal in nature.
Therefore, don’t assume that an employer will recall the good you’ve done for the company. Keep detailed records of past projects, ideas, and successes in which you were directly involved. Quantify all accomplishments with dollar figures or percentages and time periods. Specify what you’ve done to improve work performance, whether that involves continuing education or learning a new technology.
In other words, prove your worth on paper and be certain to provide copies to those involved in the interview process. Once the interview begins, be well prepared to speak about what you’ve already written down.
2. Create a Proposal of How You Can Contribute to the Company in a Lateral Move:
Whatever the reasons are for a lateral move (eg: a more personally rewarding position, moving to a more profitable division, a chance to get away from an intolerable manager or co-worker), you should be prepared to state how the move will benefit the company.
Detail in writing and verbally your transferable skills and what a good fit you would be with the new department. No company will move an employee from one area to another if major training or adjustments have to be made.
3. Overcoming kneejerk objections:
Few managers like change, especially when you’re a good fit within a certain part of the organization. Some of the objections you may have to overcome are from those who like things just as they are (eg: a manager who knows you’ll get the job done) or those who don’t want to rock the boat (management that is skeptical of how you can positively impact their division).
The key is to always be prepared, and be proactive about what you have done.
Additionally, presentation is everything. When providing details about your accomplishments and qualifications, be certain that your work is flawless, easy to navigate, and showcases your talents.
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessary to have completely different resumes for each career goal. After all, your professional and academic experience doesn’t change. That said, how you construct an effective resume for multiple career goals does depend upon prioritization and organization of data, and answers to these questions:
1. Are the career fields similar?
2. Are the career fields diverse?
SIMILAR CAREER FIELDS
Let’s say as a Registered Nurse you’ve taught nursing students, you have served as an administrator at a nursing home, and you have worked in a hospital. Three careers, but all related. A resume in this instance can be both general (for application to many jobs) and specific (targeting one job) – it’s all in how you organize and prioritize the information.
For example, your Professional Experience can be broken down into three categories on your resume – Nursing Experience – Administrator Experience – Teaching Experience, with the appropriate employer and daily duties listed within each section (in a reverse chronological format). When applying for Nursing positions, that section would be listed first. When applying for a Teaching position, that section would be listed first.
In this way, one resume, with minor modifications, can be used for many postings.
DIVERSE CAREER FIELDS
You began your professional career in real estate sales, but then transitioned to the paralegal field, and finally chose yet another career in bookkeeping. Three very different careers that would seem to require three separate resumes, but that’s certainly not the case.
To avoid producing resume after resume for each job, and if at least some of the skills are transferable within different industries, then a functional format is best for you.
Functional formats stress professional skills, rather than employers or industries. So, instead of providing a reverse chronological resume that clearly shows you’ve been moving from career to career and back (which some employers might find troubling), a functional resume states core qualifications beneath varying subheadings.
The example given above would warrant three or more subheadings, namely:
Contract Negotiation (Real Estate)
Sales (Real Estate)
Contracts (Paralegal)
Payroll (Bookkeeping).
These subheadings can be organized in order of importance to the targeted position (eg: if Sales interests you, then you would list your Real Estate Experience first, followed by your other experience). The subheadings can also show broad experience that could very well be valued in an economy where employees are expected to wear many hats and to perform many functions.
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Category: Entry Level, Executive, Job Search, Military, Professional, Resume, Tips | Tags: Tags: challenging job markets, meeting employer expectations, resume format strengths, resume preparation, resume tips,
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010
Recent high school graduates, some stay-at-home moms, and those individuals who are just starting trade school or vocational college are faced with extra challenges in creating a resume that will prove their worth. As with all resume content, it’s imperative to focus on what you do have to offer, rather than what you lack. All it takes is a creative approach in putting your best foot forward.
1. USE A FUNCTIONAL FORMAT THAT STRESSES SKILLS, RATHER THAN EXPERIENCE:
Unlike the popular reverse-chronological format that details employers, titles, dates of employment, and job duties, the functional format showcases what you know.
For a recent high school graduate or those just entering trade school, that may mean clerical skills such as typing (including words per minute), computer proficiency (list software), data entry, 10-key, some bookkeeping, tailoring (sewing), cooking (home economics skills), or whatever was learned in high school that can be applied to a real job.
In the case of a stay-at-home mom, everyday tasks such as managing a household budget, paying bills (bookkeeping in the corporate world), childcare, scheduling pediatrician visits (appointment setting in the corporate world), planning children’s birthday parties or family get-togethers (event planning in the corporate world), can all have value in a professional environment, especially in an administrative assistant role.
2. USE VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE IN LIEU OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Many individuals erroneously believe that if they weren’t paid for work, then it has no value in the corporate world. Nothing could be further from the truth. Skills in fundraising, event planning & coordination, media relations (either speaking with the press or authoring newsletters), activities planning, and community outreach (providing after school activities for at-risk youth, organizing a soup kitchen, etc.) can be stated as skills on a resume so long as the volunteer work is relevant to the current job search. It’s equally important to indicate how these skills transfer to a corporate environment – eg: event/activities planning may be valuable in an administrative assistant position when clerical support is needed to make travel/lodging arrangements for an executive or when a corporate party needs to be organized.
3. SEARCH ONLINE JOBS (HOTJOBS.COM, ETC.) TO DETERMINE HOW YOUR SKILLS MATCH THOSE QUALIFICATIONS MOST WANTED BY EMPLOYERS:
Even a basic entry-level position such as reception requires skill in answering phones and greeting the public. Determine what employers generally want in an employee, through online searches, then dovetail your strengths with their needs.
For example, a recent high school graduate is seeking a job as a receptionist. The information to highlight on this individual’s resume is any school activity that would tell the hiring manager this is a people-person, with a pleasant demeanor, who is always willing to help. Information that might relay this would be functioning as a hostess at a school-sponsored Las Vegas night or a fundraising supper, or perhaps this individual represented the school to prospective students during campus visits and tours.
