June 22, 2010
Guest post by Jessica Holbrook Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast.
Have you ever heard someone suggest that the only way to get a job today is to lie on your resume? I’ve heard several people say this over the last few years. That said, consider this: I’ve also heard just about every recruiter and hiring manager I know complain that they are tired of reading resumes that dramatically overstate a candidate’s qualifications for a job.
Little white lies: Who’s going to know?
Some job seekers think that the goal of a resume is to get them a job. In reality, a resume is a tool designed to get you an interview. It is then up to you to actually “close the deal” and get the job during the interview. By listing experience on your resume you’re inviting an interviewer to ask you more about it. When you fabricate experiences you don’t really have, it becomes readily apparent when an interviewer presses you for more details.
Overstating your case
Sometimes job seekers don’t intend to be misleading on their resumes, but they don’t know how to describe their previous experience both truthfully and impressively. This is where hiring a professional resume writer can be especially helpful. It’s important to hire a writer who will take the time to conduct a personal interview with you; professional resume writers are trained to make your experiences sound as impressive as possible. You don’t want the person who must evaluate you based only upon what he has to read to inadvertently overestimate your abilities or qualifications.
Underselling your product
In contrast, job seekers who do a personal consultation with a professional resume writer often find that they have unintentionally been underselling their professional qualifications. Having someone else on the outside looking in will create a whole new vantage point and can frame your experience in a way you never previously considered. We often hear clients say “I’ve done all of that, I can’t believe I never thought of that before.”
No matter how much experience you have, there’s a way to successfully—and truthfully—market your accomplishments on your resume. It’s just being able to find the balance between impressive, uniquely qualified and not overstating accomplishments you can’t back up in an interview later.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Posted by Natalie Joan. Posted In :
Resumé Tips
May 21, 2010
Guest post by: Jessica Holbrook of Great Resumes Fast
Recently, we’ve been discussing resume aesthetics. What looks pleasing, what doesn’t, what makes a great first impression, and well … what doesn’t. In the last article, I talked about bullets and paragraphs. In this brief article, I’m going to elaborate on margins.
I am sure there could be debates on many sides as to what margin sizes to use and why. But as a former hiring manager for fortune 500 companies turned executive resume writer, I’ll tell you what really looked best to me. One-inch margins make your resume look as polished as a college term paper. Anything less than .5 and you are cutting it too short for print quality—and it will look like too much text on the page, with no balanced edges.
For me, the happy medium is .5 – .7 inch margins. Not so much white space that you seem juvenile and unprofessional—but just enough so that the information doesn’t look crammed, and your document looks well balanced all the way around. I know this probably seems like a miniscule detail, and I am not saying hiring managers will not consider you if you don’t have .5-inch margins all the way around; that would be petty and unrealistic. I am simply trying to provide some advice on aesthetic appeal and point out what the human eye tends to be drawn to.
The more drawn in the reader is, the more likely they’ll invest the time to read. Not to mention, you want your resume to look professional and polished. I suppose I could joke that celebrities have stylists so they look nice, so shouldn’t your resume have one too? I guess you can consider me your resident “resume stylist”. Until next time …
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Posted by Natalie Joan. Posted In :
Resumé Tips
April 20, 2010
Guest Post from CareerAlley
"Stick to the knitting - stay with the business that you know." - Tom Peters and Robert Waterman
Career paths do not always lead us to exactly where we want to go. Many of us take small detours (intended or not) and later in life very often wind up in a career that is very different from what we set out to do.
Early in my career I opted to take a huge detour, which was more like an off ramp. Thinking that I always wanted to be a programmer (my education is Accounting and Finance), I took a job that would allow me to get my "foot in the door". I quickly learned (the hard way) that, not only wasn't I qualified to be a programmer, I was not very good at it.
The "off ramp" scenario can sometimes be career-threatening and is very different from the occasional (and somewhat common) detour.
So that brings us to today's quote, which is very famous in the business world. For those of you old enough to remember the management book "In Search of Excellence", you will most certainly remember the quote. "Stick to the knitting" applies to job search as well. Always strive for your dream, but remember what you are good at and don't stray too far. And that, my friends is the perfect segue to today's topic - career research and transition (and finding the right career for you).
Career Research: Where do you begin?
- Finding the Right Career - Finding the right career can be a challenging task (as most of us know). This article, from helpguide.org, reviews the many reasons why you might be searching for the right career (job loss, limited opportunities, bored, etc.) and how you can discover new possibilities. The article also covers exploring new opportunities, overcoming obstacles to career happiness and identifying careers that match your interests. There are embedded links to free career tests as well as links for additional research. This is a good place to start, regardless of why you are rethinking your career.
- How Do I Choose the Right Career? - Question and answer. This article is from About.com and reviews some of the steps you may want to consider (such as a career counselor or a self-assessment). There are plenty of links for additional information and they range from planning for beginners to expert. Topics include careers by field, quizzes like "do I need a career change" and more related links.
Career Tests: Help on determining what might be right for you.
- Career Tests - Six tests and resource links from careerpath.com are listed on this page. The tests include: Career planner quiz, Job discovery wizard, career planner report, job satisfaction quiz and more. Some of the tests are easy and quick (like the career planner quiz) and others are quite comprehensive (like the Job Discovery Wizard). Try these tests to get started on understanding what you really are good at and want to do.
Career Transition: Moving from one career to the next (or no career to the first).
- Career Transition Guide - It's not very often that I find relevant links from the US Government, but this is the exception. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management provided this link and is a guide to transition. Topics include: where to get more information, reemployment, transition services and more. The article is very comprehensive, with 56 questions and answers that will help you with a career transition.
- Career Choice or Change - Another list of resources from About.com, this article has links to career plans, career change quizzes, choosing a career development professional and so much more. There are quite a few links to additional resources, most are relevant and worth a read (how about "Make your hobby work for you"?).
Good luck in your search.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Posted by Natalie Joan. Posted In :
Job Search
March 15, 2010
Guest post by: Jessica Holbrook
After countless hours of tweaking your resume or finally deciding to have a professional write it for you, you now have your masterpiece in hand. With renewed confidence you’re ready to step out in faith and start your job search. But where do you start? The following four strategies will help you successfully start your job search campaign with your new resume.
Post your resume on job boards
The first place to start is to take your resume and post it to the major job boards. You can do this yourself (it may takes many days to get all of the major job boards) or you can purchase a resume distribution service that will post it to approximately 100 job boards for you. Prices are reasonable and it saves you about 60 hours doing it yourself. Start here because this is a passive way to get noticed. Recruiters and hiring managers searching job boards will find you and contact you. Don’t just post to monster and careerbuilder. Those job boards have significant fees and some employers won’t pay to search or post. Instead post to a large selection of job boards free and fee based for employers you increase your chances of being discovered.
The inside advantage
We have all heard the saying it’s not what you know but who you know. How true! Especially it a tough job market, referrals are being placed before ads are even hitting the papers or the job boards. I have specifically had employers ask if I know of anyone that could fill their open positions so they didn’t have to post the job and wade through the thousands of applicants they receive.
Network like it's your day job
Make connections in person and online – as many as possible. LinkedIn is a great site to meet colleagues, prospective employers, recruiters, or chat with past employers. Keep your options open and even though it may be difficult always network with anyone you can. You never know who may be aware of an opening that isn’t out in the public eye and you could get the inside track first.
Targeted print campaigns
Mail your resume out old fashioned style. In today’s electronic age we’ve moved away from submission via snail mail this is your perfect opportunity to utilize an avenue that no one else is to get in front of the hiring manager. I once want to find a new position in recruiting so I targeted every recruitment firm within a 25 mile radius of my house. I mailed out a resume and cover letter to every single company and received more call backs from my mailed resume then I did from two weeks of applying online.
Jessica Holbrook is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. More from Jessica at http://www.greatresumesfast.com.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.
Posted by Natalie MacLellan. Posted In :
Job Search
February 8, 2010
Guest post by Sarah Semark, Triggers and Sparks
When I put out a hiring notice a little while ago, I was flooded with resumes. Now, like any business owner, I’m both hardworking and lazy, so I quickly developed a shorthand to help me sift through all the applicants. In short: if I could find a good reason to throw your resume out, it was gone.
In this charming economic climate, if you’re looking for a new job, it may be time to take a good hard look at your own resume, and ensure that you’re not committing any of these cardinal sins.
1. It isn’t proofread.
A resume that’s full of grammatical and spelling errors just screams “Hi! I’m undereducated and unprofessional, and you’d be embarrassed to have me representing your company!” Learn how to use apostrophes correctly, run your text through a spellcheck, and have a friend look over your resume before sending it out. Better yet, have as many friends as you can possibly charm, bribe, or blackmail to have a look at it—or have a professional write it for you.
2. It’s hard to read.
Most people won’t be reading your resume, they’ll be skimming it. You want to make it as easy as possible for them to absorb the information. Just say no to long blocks of text, and make use of section headers and consistent type styles for different pieces of information (job titles, company names, and dates should all have different type styles) to create a hierarchy of information that’s easy to read. Use a font size that’s large enough to be readable, and make sure lines of text aren’t spanning the entire page (for optimum legibility, lines of type should be between 50 and 70 characters.)
3. You’re using a generic Word template.
If your resume looks the same as twenty other resumes in the pile, you’re already at a disadvantage. Everyone judges a book by its cover, and you want to be War & Peace, not a Danielle Steele novel. (That said, you probably want to keep your page count a little less than War & Peace’s. Maybe The Metamorphasis, instead.)
4. You’re sending a .doc file.
Why is it still common to do this? Word files can contain macros, which can give your computer viruses. That’s bad—the last thing you want to do is give the hiring manager at the company of your dreams a virus. Word files also don’t retain their formatting very well—they’ll look different in different versions of Word. When people send me a .doc, I open it with a basic text editor, which destroys pretty much all formatting, but takes a teeny fraction of the time to load on my computer. Use a pdf instead, which will look the same to everyone. (You can export a Word file to pdf easily.)
5. It isn’t relevant
If you worked at McDonald’s six years ago and are now applying for a position at an accounting firm, they’re not going to care about the customer service and french-fry-handling skills you picked up there. It’s also unlikely that they care what you do in your spare time, unless the hiring manager is also a taxidermy enthusiast—but unless you know this in advance, keep the hobbies off the resume. Keep it relevant.
6. Your cover letter shows no effort
Find out who will be reading your resume, and address him by name. We’re all crazy egomaniacs, so we like this. Don’t use “To whom it may concern”, ever. Show that you know something about the company, and that you’re not just firing off a form letter at random. I once received an application from a person who regularly posted his cover letter as a Kijiji ad, and it was a touch insulting. Compare your skills and expertise to those outlined in the job posting and you’ll be essentially telling them exactly what they want, and that you have it.
In short, what you want to do is make sure that your resume is both well-written and well-designed, and that it represents you to the absolute best of its ability. If you’re having trouble doing this yourself, I’ve teamed up with Natalie Joan to offer a special deal: have a resume designed by me, and written by her, and save 10% off both services! For all the details, check it out here: http://www.triggersandsparks.com/resume-design-packages/
Posted by Natalie MacLellan. Posted In :
Products and Services
|
|
About Me
I am a writer, editor and adult education professional living in Halifax NS. I write and edit resumés, and offer workshops on resumé writing, job hunting, and interviewing. This blog is a place for me to post my favourite resumé tips, answer common questions, and occasionally rant about my pet peeves.
|
|
