Got Job Search Questions? Send Them In Now.

Live Chat: Getting Your Resume Past The Black Hole is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. How To Circumvent The Resume Black Hole
2. Arrogance of Talent Supply Threatens To Continue Resume Black Hole
3. Two Tips To Avoid The Job Search Black Hole

So kick yourself in the backside and start today. Anyone who wants to create a successful career has to build momentum and market themselves regularly, no matter whether you’re touting your GPA or your Alumni Office social media work or your project management savvy.

Block off two or three hours three times a week to research job or internship possibilities, apply for them and follow up.  Then add one or two hours of networking and outreach time – some of it in person. Then dive into these six tricks and tips to land a summer internship or first or second job after graduation:

Create a real resume. You may only have ever held one paying job in your life (and that was at Wendy’s or McDonald’s) but you still need a professional resume. So come up with something that you did at that fast food restaurant that had real impact, or was far superior to the average 19-year-old burger flipper.  Then fill up the rest of your resume with volunteer experience and projects at the university, or other impressive moves. Leading a group of students to create a TedX conference or starting a fundraiser for a homeless charity demonstrates a lot of skills, from collaboration to problem-solving, which will look good.  Consider labeling one section of your resume “leadership” instead of “activities” and it will be “much more powerful,” said Mark Lyden, a college recruiter and author of the book College Students: Do This, Get Hired.

Then use this as your general or base resume, and take 30 to 45 minutes to tailor it to each internship you want. Use the description and add in some of the key words and phrases into your resume, he said. Without this, your chances of landing an interview “are slim to none,” he said.

Create real connections.  The internship coordinator must be flooded with applications this time of year, and she also receives dozens of follow up emails. So you need to be the candidate who cares. Find out when she’s going to arrive on campus and then show up to help with set up. Or pick up a half dozen Mrs. Field’s gift cookie cards and mail them with a short note to the intern recruiters or directors you most want to hire you. Craft a note that uses the cookie or sweet treat references, but don’t overdo them. The key here is not the cookies, but creative ways to build connections and rapport.

Create more options.  Identify seven more internships that work for you. Look for them on such internship sites as YouTern and Internships.com as well as your internal college career website. Many companies post their internships at the end of January or in February after they’ve finished their budget and reviews, said Lyden. Then pick two or three best and spend an hour researching the company, its products and financials. Create a document on each one so you have the pertinent details at hand to review just before your interview.

Develop great answers. Besides the occasional oddball questions, the inquiry is likely to be fairly predictable for internship interviews. Tell me about yourself. Describe your biggest strengths and weaknesses. “We’re looking for a structured answer,” said Lyden. “It needs to be 60 to 90 seconds long” and use the situation, behavior, outcome formula. Often young people are not succinct enough. So he recommends timing yourself and creating a “very organized story” to tell recruiters and hiring managers.

Create a backup plan. If you missed the deadline to apply for a wonderful internship, contact the hiring manager and express interest in being the backup if someone declines, suggests Lyden,  “I would also let them know that their company is at the top of your list to intern with and that you are both willing and flexible to consider any other internship position.”

Ask for the job. Remember too that when you have an opportunity to raise questions, one of the biggest and best things to say is that you really want to be hired. This is especially important if you’ve been nervous during the interview, which may give the impression that you are not so interested in the position. When Lyden interviews ten people, he figures only one will ask for the job. “It completely makes you stand out,” he said.

How to Create Momentum On Your Internship & Job Applications is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Five Internship Myths Debunked
2. How To Find & Land A Summer Internship At The Last Minute
3. Even A Bad Internship Is A Good Experience

As I point out in “’Headhunter’ Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever!,” there are all new “rules” in today’s hiring “game”—and that’s precisely how you must look at getting hired in today’s job market, as a “game”—and what may have worked, say, just a few years ago to land a new job no longer works, in many cases.

The major thesis in “‘Headhunter’ Hiring Secrets,” of course, is that the “rules” of the “hiring game” have changed . . . Forever! In the book I examine the entire job market and the many new rules that are operative in it. Then, I share hundreds of “secrets” that I have successfully used for nearly a decade to effectively work around these new rules and help hundreds of job candidates land their dream jobs—even during the Great Recession. The intent of the book was (and is!) to show job seekers whom I can’t personally help how they can, in effect, become their own “headhunters.” In this blog, I am going to examine five new rules that are quite common in today’s job market and then show you how you can effectively work around them to get where you want to go—to land your dream job in 2012!

New ‘rule’ #1 – The hiring process is designed to exclude you as a candidate

This is one of the best-kept, least-understood and most under-appreciated aspects of the job hunting process today. Contrary to what you—and the overwhelming majority of other job seekers—quite probably think and believe, companies are not looking for reasons to hire you! The truth of the matter is, hiring companies today are looking for reasons not to hire you, i.e., for reasons to exclude you from the candidate pool!

Maybe they decide they don’t like the look of your résumé. They might categorize you as a “job hopper.” Or, maybe they call you up and, if you don’t have a professional greeting on your voice mail, they simply assume that you probably aren’t all that professional, either. Or perhaps they don’t like what they see/read about you on your Facebook® page.

Why do hiring managers and the companies they represent treat today’s job candidates in such an arbitrary, capricious manner? The short answer? Because they can! With literally hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of candidates for virtually any open positions in today’s job market, besieged hiring managers usually have one principal goal in mind: To winnow the number of candidates down to a manageable number as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Unfair? You bet! Still, that’s the way the hiring game is played today, and if you are going to “play” in this game, then you had first better learn how not to lose.

“Headhunter” Hiring Secret: If you are losing on offense in a game, oftentimes upping your defensive game can turn the tide, and that certainly can be a winning strategy in the hiring game. While your competitors, i.e., other job seekers, are making the same mistakes over and over again, make sure you are not making these mistakes. After all, that’s what the whole personal branding concept is all about, isn’t it? Making sure that, in comparison to other candidates, you appear to be flawless, or at least virtually flawless. And it’s really all in the details. Here are just a few areas to concentrate on during your job search:

• While others may not even think about the importance of having a professional voice mail greeting, make sure you do!
• Make sure you know the importance of using an email address that actually works with today’s computer-read screening software systems.
• Make sure you format your résumé in such a way that it invites being read, not challenges a hiring manager to “plow” through it.
• Learn how to properly construct your LinkedIn® profile, your Facebook® page.
• Ensure that all written communications involved in your job search are error-free!

New ‘rule’ #2 – HR is the new ‘black hole’

Human Resources was one of the hardest hit employee groups during the Great Recession. (“Hey, we are not hiring so why do we need all of these HR folks?!”) As a result, and as hiring is once again picking up, HR simply can’t handle the increased volume of candidates until they themselves increase their own numbers. Thus, more often than not, a résumé submitted to a company’s job opening actually has little chance of being reviewed by a real, live person. (In the recruiting industry, HR these days is referred to as “the new black hole.”) Generally, a computer scans the résumé looking for key words. If the right words are there, you may get a call. If not, you are excluded (see “Rule #1”)—even though you may actually be the best candidate! Humans can overlay judgment on your résumé, computers can’t. But seldom anymore does a human being ever lay eyes on a résumé submitted online.

“Headhunter” Hiring Secret: There are powerful ways to brand yourself as unique and get around the online application process. Companies want you to believe that the only way to get hired is to apply to their positions online. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Here is what you should do:

• Go ahead and apply online, in order to play the HR game. Then, go around the HR process and position yourself, in parallel, directly with the hiring manager, by launching a direct mail campaign (click on this link to learn more). Today, this single tactic is one of the strongest in a job hunter’s arsenal during the job hunt.

New ‘rule’ #3 – Some online job postings aren’t all they appear to be

Generally, the job descriptions you read online are only half the story, and many times, not even the most important half of the story. Hiring managers themselves almost always know precisely what they are looking for in a candidate. But sometimes, when this information is communicated to Human Resources, something gets “lost” in the “translation” when a job description is prepared. You, as a potential candidate, read the job description and think, “Hey, I fit that. I am the perfect candidate.” And indeed you may, at least ostensibly! You might even get an interview by HR, but then you could just as easily end up not being the successful candidate and never really know why! It could be something as ridiculously simple as your not ever having been made aware of “the three things” (requested by the hiring manager) on the interviewer’s checklist. Why? Because these “three things” were never communicated to potential candidates or included in the online posting!

“Headhunter” Hiring Secret: Network inside the hiring company to learn what makes both the company and the hiring manager “tick.” Learn what the “hidden criteria” may be for any given job—before submitting an application for a position. (Click here to learn more about the approach to take to accomplish this.)

New ‘rule’ #4 – The interview ‘process’ is seldom a process

Candidates invited in for interviews are oftentimes subjected to interviewers who are ill prepared for the interview. Off-the-wall, irrelevant questions are asked, or virtually the same question (or type of question) is asked over and over again. And just when you think things went well, you are invited back for yet another round of interviews. (As a “headhunter,” I call this “death by interview.”) Unfortunately, even among some of the “best” companies in the world, the overall corporate interview process is, more often than not, considerably more whimsical and directionless than it is scientific and integrated.

“Headhunter” Hiring Secret: By learning to use the technique I have dubbed “leading the witness,” you can literally take control of the interview—without becoming overbearing or boorish. (Click here to learn more about this technique.)

New ‘rule’ #5 – Cast ‘shadows on the wall’ and, again, you’re excluded!

If you have ever watched any type of criminal TV show or movie (and who hasn’t?!), you are undoubtedly quite familiar with the so-called Miranda warning read to alleged wrongdoers: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. . . .” All too often candidates, in the spirit of wanting to be completely open and honest, share way too much information during a job interview. While I certainly don’t advocate lying or being dishonest, I do strongly advise against “baring your soul” during an interview. If you do this, you could easily end up casting “shadows” of the interviewer’s/hiring manager’s office wall. These “shadows” consist of mentioning anything that could cause the interviewer’s/hiring manager’s “antenna” to suddenly perk up. Let me give you an example of how this can work (true story, by the way).

A hiring manager interviewing one of my firm’s candidates remarked, as he rubbed his shoulder, “Boy, I need to get some surgery done on this shoulder. It continues to bother me.” The candidate himself had a bad knee, and in trying to relate as well as be empathetic, responded, “Yes, I know what you mean. One of these days I need some knee surgery too.” Needless to say, the candidate wasn’t hired. The candidate cast a “shadow on the wall.” The hiring manager later told me over the phone that he had several concerns: “How long will he be out if he does indeed have surgery?” “What other medical issues does this person possibly have?” “How much money will he end up costing the company?”

“Headhunter” Hiring Secret: First, be aware of the necessity for avoiding casting “shadows on the wall” during interviews! (Many, if not most, job seekers are not!) Then, take any steps necessary not to cast “shadow on the wall” by anticipating questions you may be asked during an interview and by practicing “safe” answers to such questions. Unfortunately perhaps, rarely in today’s job market is it the best candidate who is ultimately hired for the job. Usually, it is the safest candidate!

Study after study indicates that many currently employed people are looking to make a job change as the market improves. That means the competitive playing field will become even larger and more challenging than it is today. So, if you intend to be among those landing their dream jobs this year, it is even more vitally important that you strongly brand yourself as being different from and better than the “average” job seeker. Learning the new “rules” of the hiring “game,” and then using “secrets” such as I’ve suggested in this blog to work around and/or within the confines of these new rules will certainly get you headed in the right direction. Guaranteed. – Originally posted on the Personal Branding Blog by Skip Freeman

5 ‘Rules’ You Must Learn To Get Hired Today is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Are There New Rules To Job Searching?
2. Five Job Search Rules You Should Break
3. Why Talented People Don’t Get Hired

There are a number of great keywords that could make a difference in your resume. The key is choosing the right ones for your circumstances, then utilizing them appropriately to have your resume make the greatest impact when applying for a new position.

Why Keywords Make a Difference

Although you’ve probably read over and over again that keywords have an incredibly positive impact on resumes at every professional level, you may be wondering exactly why keywords make a difference. In short, a single keyword, if used correctly, can communicate multiple skills and qualifications.

For instance, if you use the keyword sales when applying for a job, an employer will assume you have experience, not just in business development, but also sales closing, negotiations, and customer relations.

It’s also good to keep in mind that keywords function as the backbone of resume-scanning technology. This technology scans your resume to determine if certain keywords are present. If they’re not, you may be declined for a job because the technology assumes you’re not truly qualified.

10 Great Keywords and How to Incorporate Them

Enhancing your resume with specific keywords can be a tricky proposition, mainly because you don’t want to just choose popular keywords that don’t relate to the position for which you are applying. You have to pay attention to keywords found in the job posting— as well as those that relate to the company—to decide which to add.

However, there are some keywords that work well and often span multiple fields. Although the following are not guaranteed to suit your resume, they could be considered good choices: 1. P&L responsibility, 2. new business development, 3. corporate administration, 4. organizational leadership, 5. crisis management, 6. multi-site operations, 7. consensus building and teaming, 8. joint ventures and alliances, 9. best practices and benchmarking, and 10. performance optimization.

Once you’ve chosen which keywords should be added to your resume, it’s good to incorporate several into your career summary at the beginning of the document since the scanning software will be immediately searching for these words. Also, it’s good to add them to your job target/headline—and even consider creating a separate section titled Qualifications Summary (or similar) that allows you to group several together when listing your skills.

Both the resume-scanning technology and human eyes of a prospective employer want to see relevant keywords added to your resume. The more you incorporate (without spamming, of course), the more detailed your resume will feel to recruiters and employers searching for their next great candidate. – Originally posted on onTargetjobs by Jessica Holbrook Hernandez

10 Great Keywords To Use On Your Resume is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Easy Steps To Customize Your Resume For The Job You’re Applying For
2. Ten Things Career Changers Need On Their Resume
3. The Biggest Mistake You’re Making On Your Resume

Your accomplishments.
Your history.
Your personality.
Your unique perspective.

Right? Wrong.

If your personal brand is all about you, no one is going to care.

You will be ignored. People will yawn.

Your personal brand needs to answer WHY: Why do they care?

Its not about you, It’s all about them.

Effective personal brands convey the value that you bring to others and exactly what they are going to get out of a relationship with you.

This means that your personal brand shifts, changes and adapts to new circumstances and new audiences. It’s malleable, just like your personality or your appearance.

The three foundational questions of your personal brand:

If you aren’t sure of the most important question of your personal brand, “Why do they care?”, you can build it by answering the three foundational personal branding questions. You can use these questions to build your “general” brand or apply them to specific situations, to help you personalize your brand for every interaction.

Question #1: Who is your audience?

If you don’t know your audience, you really can’t go any further. After all, your personal brand is all about them, right? The more clarity and specificity that you can describe your audience with, the more effective you will be.

Question #2: How can you help them?

Now that you know your audience, it’s important to identify exactly what they want and what you do to benefit them. Start by identifying their problem and the difference in their results if they build a relationship with you.

Question #3: What makes you different?

Surely you are not the only person in the world who can solve their problem, so why should they choose you? This is where your personal brand will shine! Perhaps you’d like to showcase your personality, your past success or your innovative ideas. In this question, it’s okay for it to be about you.

How to answer the essential question: “Why do they care?”

Now that you have answers to the three foundational questions, it’s time to go back to answer the essential question, the foundation of your brand, Why Do They Care?

A simple, effective way to answer this question is to frame it like this:

I help [your audience] solve [their problem] by [your differentiator].

A (my) real-world example: The Resume Revolution

Question #1: Who is your audience?

My audience is intelligent and highly motivated job seekers who want freedom in their lives and choice in their job search. They want to learn how to work smart and are open to innovative ways to stand out (and excel) at their job search. They see the value in branding, marketing and sales.

Question #2: How can you help them?

I get people job offers. My clients have 92% interview rate on submitted applications. They get detailed instruction on innovative tactics (that work) and thorough coaching that identifies and distills their best stories and qualities, not to mention, boosts their confidence!

Question #3: What makes you different?

My job search tactics are hyper-innovative. I don’t teach people how to do normal better, I teach people how to stand out effectively, at every stage of the application process. My job is to make them remarkable — their emails get opened, their resumes look different and their references do a whole different job.

The essential question: Why do they care?

I help highly motivated job seekers get job offers with highly innovative marketing tactics that enable them to stand out effectively in the job search. By working smart, they earn the freedom and confidence of multiple job offers.

And now, a question for you: Tell Me, Why Do They Care? – Originally posted on the Personal Branding Blog by Rebecca Rapple

Your Personal Brand Is Not About You is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Why Personal Branding Today Is A Must
2. The Value Of Building Your Personal Brand
3. Have You Built Your Personal Brand – “Me, Inc.”?

“Really?”

Honestly, when I review a resume (and maybe cover letter) I’m interested in getting answers to three questions:

(1)    Does this person have the background, experience and/or skills to do the job I’m hiring for?

(2)    Why does this person want to work for me in this role?

(3)    Can you solve my immediate problem, without me constantly holding your hand?

Seriously… in my non-ATS recruiting world, as long as these questions get answered and the applicant’s basic information is presented in a clear, well-organized, easy-to-read format… I’m good.

I’ve been where you are now. Over the years, I’ve had my own resume critiqued countless times by different career professionals. I also trained as a Career Consultant with Lee Hecht Harrison. So it seems that by now I’d have a resume that a group of experts could agree on, right?

Wrong.

Instead, it seems as if every career coach, HR manager and recruitment firm has their own “correct” format of how a resume should be structured. And… each of them is absolutely convinced their method is the right one – even though their preference directly contradicts the opinions of other professionals.

My advice to job and internship seekers: what matters most is the experience your resume details, not the font you use to represent yourself, or conforming to some format straight out of Resume Xanadu.

Should the resume be one or two pages in length? That depends, of course, on the level of experience and the industry. Should it be chronological or functional? Well, that (like any other piece of marketing material) depends on the intended audience. Should you emphasize your education, and does it matter where on the resume that section is placed? Not to me. But… again… if the employer has stressed in the job description the importance of education requirements, why not make that recruiter’s job easy when presenting your resume?

What is really important (at least to me) is that the document is well organized, contains action verbs such as “managed”, “developed” and “coordinated” and highlights, wherever appropriate, specific outcomes (such as “increased sales 100%”) . I also would like to see some evidence of problem solving skills; using quantified statements, and examples of what business problems have you solved for previous employers (Example: “I saved the company $500,000 annually by switching technology platforms.”).

Hiring managers, like me, love to see this in a resume – regardless of style, font or format! 

Bottom line: your job as an applicant is to show me that your skills and experience are relevant, that you are sincerely interested in working for me and that you can solve my problem.  If all of that includes eye-catching charts, infographics, or other interesting ways of demonstrating your abilities, then by all means, go for it!

Relax. Then tell me your story in a non-clone-like fashion. I’ll listen. – Originally posted on YouTern by Joe Gagliano

Avoid The Resume Clone Wars: Tell Me Your Story! is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Tips To Define Your Resume Story
2. Five Résumé Mistakes You Need To Avoid
3. Tell A Story In Your Resume Bullets

Creating a customized resume is not as time consuming as it may sound. Besides, the time you put in is well worth the effort if you want to increase your chances of receiving a coveted interview slot. Just start with the job posting and your generic resume, which is the one you’ve been using to apply for jobs.

1. Really read that job description. Make note of the credentials, skills and experience required. How does it describe the duties of the job? How does it describe the ideal candidate? Pulling from these descriptions, create a list of keywords and phrases to use when customizing your generic resume.

2. Target your title. If your resume begins with a title, don’t leave it generic in nature. Instead, use the exact title listed in the job posting. For example, rather than “Registered Nurse,” you might use “Registered Nurse – Surgery.”

3. Tweak your objective. If you elect to include an objective, customize it to include some of the keywords and qualifications you gleaned from the job description. For extra zing, mention the company’s name. For example, instead of writing “to utilize my skills and experience within a managerial position,” you might write, “to contribute to the success of XYZ Company by increasing departmental efficiencies through diligent management and thorough evaluation of processes.”

4. Include quality qualifications. If your resume contains a qualifications summary, remove statements that are not specific to the goals of the position for which you are applying. Add information about qualifications that are relevant. Reorder as needed to place the most relevant qualifications first.

5. Edit your job descriptions. They should be relevant to the position for which you are applying. For example, if your job duties within a particular position included two dozen main tasks, focus on the ones that correspond to the job for which you are applying. A hiring manager doesn’t really need to know everything you did at your last job, just what you did that is relevant to what she needs you to do.

6. Consider past positions in a different light. If you’ve only worked jobs that appear unrelated to the position for which you’re currently applying, don’t despair. A little careful thought should illuminate skill sets gained that you can word relevantly. For example, if you were formerly a dog walker and you’re now applying for a receptionist position, focus on skills such as responsibility and communication rather than actual duties such as dog grooming.

Finish up with a quick review of what you’ve written. Have you mentioned all the skills, credentials and experience you originally noted? Have you used all your keywords? If you can answer yes to both questions, you can send the resume knowing you’ve done everything possible to capture the attention of the hiring manager and move your resume to the top of the stack. – Originally posted on onTargetjobs by Angela Rose

Easy Steps To Customize Your Resume For The Job You’re Applying For is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. 10 Great Keywords To Use On Your Resume
2. Announcing “The Easy 5-Item Checklist For Any Good Resume”
3. Ten Things Career Changers Need On Their Resume

I replied: VERY!

I explained that recruiters, hiring decision makers and other executives and board members with influence and hiring authority are sleuthing around LinkedIn daily. More than 135 million professional members subscribe to LinkedIn!

Some who are recruiting feel LinkedIn is THE best tool for locating candidates. I personally think it is a KEY site for visibility and in which to engage (via Groups, etc.) – one of only several that must not be overlooked in any professional job search.

Once you’ve embraced the idea that LinkedIn is vital to your career, the next step is creating a new, or enhancing your existing LinkedIn profile. Most profiles I view are incomplete, plain vanilla, lackluster and quite frankly, boring. The likelihood, I fear, is LOW that your current LinkedIn profile maximizes the opportunity to market your value and engage the reader.

The first question, and several follow-on questions you must know the answer to before delving into a revamp of your LinkedIn profile follow:

Question 1: Is there a difference between what’s on LinkedIn and what’s in your resume?

Answer: YES – in fact, the LinkedIn profile should not be considered a mini-me resume; you should not simply funnel your current resume into the LinkedIn walls.

Question 2: But why?

Answer: Several reasons exist why pushing your resume content into the LinkedIn profile is a no-no.

1. If your resume is content-rich, you will run into character-count barriers. LinkedIn limits the number of characters that can be included in each section. For example, if you try to push more characters into the Summary section than allowed, your career summary will cut off midstream, creating an incomplete message.
2. LinkedIn is a terrific resource for hiring decision makers, recruiters, executives, human resource professionals and other influencers to locate you and learn a bit more about you.

However, the likelihood is HIGH that they will request of you a Word-formatted resume once you are communicating outside of LinkedIn. To send them an exact duplicate of your LinkedIn profile is redundant.

Add value in each and every document you create for your job search, whether on or offline. This particularly holds true with the Resume versus LinkedIn debate. Though their message and content may cross over, they are distinctly different communication channels. Leverage them well, and effectively. Differentiate yourself with each message.

Question 3: HOW do I distinguish the content in my resume versus my LinkedIn profile?

Answer:  Initially, the most powerful area in which to distinguish yourself is via your LinkedIn Summary. My tack is to create a first-person narrative that weaves your personality into your concrete value proposition, spurring an emotional appeal. In other words, knit warmth and passion into your factual, and bottom-line focused message.

Depending upon your target audience, ways you may speak to that passion and trigger reader emotion could be to write about your leadership attitude and style; your committed behavior and risk-taking nature as it relates to surmounting mountainous obstacles; or your creativity in sculpting strategies for team initiatives. These are just a few examples. Brainstorm to drill down what makes YOU unique.

An example of an Operations Executive client’s LinkedIn Summary that I recently wrote follows. Note that this content complements, versus, duplicates, his Resume Summary:

In a future post, I will expand upon the other critical sections of your LinkedIn profile and my thoughts on the best practices of HOW to populate those areas, compellingly extending your value proposition!

The Value Of Writing A LinkedIn Profile That’s Different From Your Resume is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. How To Add Sections & Applications To Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile
2. SEO Your LinkedIn Profile For Greater Exposure
3. Quick Ways To Beef Up Your LinkedIn Profile

If someone had to assign a letter grade to your resume, what do you think it would receive?

RezScore, a free web app, does just that. Based on recommendations of hiring managers, HR directors, job search experts, and certified resume writers, RezScore’s algorithms read your resume and analyze it on more than a dozen metrics to determine your grade.

How does one achieve an A+ resume? I spoke with one of the co-founders of RezScore, Sean Weinberg, who had some insight to share about crafting the perfect resume:

Keep it concise

According to an analysis from RezScore, the typical resume is between 386 and 896 words long, and typically fits on a single page. While longer is worse, there is no “perfect length,” although the highest scoring resumes were between 600 and 700 words.

“Oversharing is one of the biggest mistakes job candidates make on their resume,” said Weinberg.

Don’t use a template

Templates and tables constrain your resume, said Weinberg. “This makes formatting a time-consuming and annoying process. Instead, you should feel comfortable creating your own basic format in Word that follows a general outline.” Here’s a great layout to follow:

• Name in large font and bolded
• Address in smaller font – include email, one phone number, and a link to your LinkedIn profile
• Professional headline in large font and bolded, such as “Online Advertising Sales Executive”
• Selected accomplishments section (or go right into experience section) – maximum of five highly targeted, relevant accomplishments in bullet form
•  Experience – include the name of the company, location (city, state), job title, dates of employment, bullet point describing accomplishments/experience
• Education
• Skills
• If relevant – industry affiliations, interests, and volunteer work

Show off your accomplishments

“Specify what made you a successful employee framed in the context of particular accomplishments,” said Weinberg. “Always lead with your most significant accomplishment and give it meaningful context. i.e., if you saved the company money by renegotiating a contract, you should include items like dollar amount saved or turn around time reduced or increased length of term or negotiating a set currency exchange rate.” Simply put, numbers make more powerful stories.

Use active writing and specificity

The ideal resume includes adverbs and numbers. Remember that an employer does not know anything about you, so you need to show them through words why they should hire you. Using first person or passive writing makes it more difficult to write concisely, which is key to a great resume.

Have you had your resume graded before? What were its weaknesses and how did you improve it? Let us know.

How To Write An A+ Resume is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. Resume Must-Haves: Relevance & White Space
2. Tell A Story In Your Resume Bullets
3. Ten Things Career Changers Need On Their Resume

The answer is, ‘It depends.’

I suggest your goal is to culminate in Expanded Achievements Stories; so, don’t initially overwhelm yourself with rules of achievement length. Instead, focus on the aerial perspective of what you contributed, and then break the bigger picture down into smaller chunks.

A quick checklist will help walk you through the process of achievement ‘ferreting’:

• What has been your overarching impact at your current position? This is your starting point in teasing out your achievements.
• Start with the bird’s-eye view of what has improved at your company since you came on board; e.g., profits multiplied; customer service skyrocketed; your company’s marketplace exploded.
• Write a 1-4 sentence overview of your impact at your current company, and then drill down into the mini stories from there.  My preference is no more than 2-4 lines for each bullet, so as to ease absorption by the reader (big blocks of text can overwhelm).

Here is an example of an Expanded Achievements Story that is introduced with the Overarching Impact.

If you’d done your career introspection ‘homework,’ you also will have taken a few minutes to jot down job requirements that will help you to target your achievements based on your audience’s needs. This culling of your audience’s needs will intuitively help you trim, edit, tweak and maintain control of the content quantity (and even more importantly, ‘quality’) that lands on your resume pages.

• For example, does your target reader need someone experienced at expanding existing products into the marketplace? Great. Show that you have done that and how you did it, as in the above example.
• Do they want someone keen on fixing customer service issues? Bingo – the above example proves you’ve been there/done that.
• Moreover, if they are looking for someone who knows how to squeeze savings from existing vendors and / or other resources, thus bolstering profits, then this sample shows proof of success.
• However, whatever aspects of your story do ‘not’ resonate with your target reader should be left to the cutting room floor.
• So, if they ask you about expanding your company’s product presence into the market, and you focus only on how you led the latest technology improvements or software implementations, then you’ve missed your mark.
• Of course, if you can succinctly and compellingly tie the technology improvements into the method of expanding products into the market, then you may be okay.

If you do not connect the dots for the reader and prove, beyond a shadow of the resume doubt, that what you have done resonates with their specific needs, then you have bragged about the ‘wrong’ achievements. The bottom line of the resume is that it’s less about what ‘you’ are most proud of and more about ‘why’ they should care.

Moreover, it is about the context of the situation as well as the shades of gray, personality and skills (leadership traits, problem solving talent, collaboration, innovation), that you possess that must also be knit into the fine threads of your resume.

Finally, if the focused, meaty content and story of how you solve problems that clearly resemble the target company’s / hiring decision maker’s / corporate board’s needs, then it’s less about achievements length, and more about capturing their attention so they’ll care to digest your story; and ultimately, they will call you in for that interview.

Resume Achievements: Are Yours Too Long, Too Short Or Just Right? is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:

1. New Grad: Don’t Sell Yourself Short On Your Resume
2. Tips To Define Your Resume Story
3. Does Your Resume Dampen Your Achievements & Personality?