The Second Most Important Bullet In Your Gun

Posted: January 25, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Resumes | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Even in this technology laden world, job search is still all about the documents.  You’ve got to have a good resume, a target list (see my earlier post), a reference list and a salary history.  All of these should be formatted similarly so that they’ll help to support your personal brand. Clearly your resume is the most important but what is the second most important document?  I contend that it is the often neglected cover letter.

To continue the gun analogy (perfect for a Friday evening) a resume is like a shotgun blast.  It covers your entire employment history and range of skills.  While you should modify it for every job you apply for, it is still intended to tell everything a recruiter needs to know.

The cover letter, on the other hand, is a rifle shot.  A well written cover letter gives you the chance to focus the energy of your resume on the specific requirements of the job you are applying for.  It is your one, and often only, chance to show the recruiter why you are the perfect candidate for this job.

Cover letters need to be concise and direct. They need to point specifically to what the company needs and how you are uniquely qualified to meet those needs.  I suggest you avoid fluff and a lot of jargon.  Don’t talk about what you are looking for – the recruiter could care less.  Talk about what you can do for the company and support those assertions with proof from your experience. (What if you don’t have that experience? That’s for a future post but one key lesson is don’t lie.  Dishonesty is not the answer.)

As to format and style there are two main considerations.  First, this is a business document and should appear as such. It should be well laid out, typed of course, with no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors and, very importantly, if you are addressing an individual you must spell their name and the name of the company correctly.  On the flip side, like your resume, your cover letter is a personal document.  It needs to reflect your style and help you to reinforce your brand.

Be original but don’t get too clever.  I once had an applicant send me their resume and cover letter folded into a paper airplane with the tag line “if you want your sales to soar, then hire me.”  I didn’t – but I did remember the resume.  I also had one resume arrive with a Staples Easy Button. The pitch was “That was easy – just hire me.”  Personally these approaches are too “cute” for me, but clearly they were memorable.  You need to find out the best way to professionally distinguish yourself from the crowd.

So the moral of the story – don’t neglect the cover letter. Always include one or you may find yourself holding a Starter’s Pistol and firing blanks.

On Being Overqualified …

Posted: January 5, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Job Search | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Has anyone ever told you that you were “overqualified”?  Have you used that phrase to eliminate a job applicant?  What does overqualified really mean?

I see both sides of the “overqualified” debate.  The basic premise is that if you have a candidate with significantly more experience than is required by the position that you are recruiting for, that candidate will not be happy in the job and will leave as soon as she finds a job more closely aligned with her experience.  Then you are forced to start the recruiting process all over again.  While I understand that argument, I’m not sure it is always holds water.

But how does this apply to the job seeker?  When you are trying to find a job and you are the one that is overqualified, what do you do?

Well, you could dumb down your resume, scale back your accomplishments and leave off some of your earlier jobs to that your age and/or experience does not jump off the page.   You could understate your salary requirements in the hope of negotiating the salary up after they’ve fallen in love with you.  But those things aren’t really my style.

First you need to be honest with yourself.  Is this a job you really want?  Are you willing to take that big of step back in your career progression?  Can you afford to live on that salary?  If you can’t say yes to these questions don’t apply for the job.  You won’t feel good about it and you’ll be wasting everyone’s time.

Next, look hard at the job and the company.  I’m a big fan of being ‘open-kimono’ – what you see is what you get.  Are there advantages to this smaller job? Will you be able to work fewer hours and get your work/life balance back in balance?  Will this job be less stressful and maybe healthier?  Does this company offer better or different benefits that may offset some reduction in salary?  Are you attracted to the mission/vision of the company – would you feel good working there?

If you can answer yes to these questions, go for it with your kimono open.  Tell the hiring manager the truth – that you probably do have more experience than they are looking for – but it is a win-win situation.  They will get a worker that does not need as much training and who brings extra skills to the table.  You will get a job that answers the questions we just talked about.

If you can all look objectively at the situation and be honest with yourself, being overqualified can be a blessing.

New Year’s Resolutions …

Posted: January 1, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Networking | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Day is about putting last year behind us and making plans for a new beginning.  While it may be a bit corny, New Year’s Day is about making resolutions.  If you lost your job in 2013 and you want to start a new one ASAP, here are some resolutions you might consider…

In 2014 I resolve to …

  • Make a target list of at least 25 companies that I might like to work for and update it weekly with new information I learn
  • Identify and reach out to at least 10 new contacts every week so I can tell them my story and ask if they know anyone I can network with
  • Have a human resources professional critique my resume and cover letter for content and appearance
  • Write a list of at least 10 accomplishments from my career that I can mix-and-match on my resume based on the job I am applying for
  • Identify job clubs in my neighborhood and attend at least two meetings per month
  • Ask a friend (or professional) with good typing/page-layout skills to help freshen up my resume and cover letter
  • Work as hard at finding a job as I am willing to work at my new job
  • Search the Internet for lists of interview questions, then write out my answers to those questions and practice saying those answers out loud
  • Keep myself healthy so I can interview more effectively and be a better worker once I land that job
  • Stay positive – I will find a job this year that utilizes my skills and helps me to provide for myself and my family

Clearly there is a theme here.  Finding a job is hard work – but it is work that is proven to have rewards.  The economy is improving.  January is traditionally a good hiring month.  Let’s work together and get you back to work.

Best wishes for a fantastic 2014!

Resume Magic Part II – Accomplishments vs. Responsibilities

Posted: December 22, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Resumes | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

You’ve been working on creating the perfect resume.  But something seems to be missing. What is it?

For most resumes that I see, what is missing is context.  Someone tells me they managed this, or implemented that, but there is nothing to suggest that they managed it well or implemented it successfully.  Without the context, their “responsibilities” are empty statements.

A list of accomplishments tells the recruiter what you’ve done and how successful you’ve been.  The theory is: what I’ve accomplished for my prior organizations, I can accomplish for you.  The good news is that theory often holds up.

Rather than highlight your career and various functions you’ve been responsible for, your resume needs to quantify what you’ve accomplished.   Your resume might say “Responsible for managing a staff of 14 with an operating budget of $500,000”, but what it does not say is if you did those things well.  If instead it said “Successfully managed a staff of 14 with an operating budget of $500,000 with turnover substantially below the organizational average and expenses within budget” then we’d know a lot more about you.

Showing that you’ve improved operating margins by X percent or reduced expenses by $xxx gives context to your statements.  Tell the recruiter how much you increased sales or profits, reduced expenses, expanded market share, etc.  That is what will open their eyes, and get you the interview.

Here are a few more resume guidelines to consider:

When emailing your resume, send it in a PDF format rather than in Word (or your word processor’s format).  This will ensure that it looks like you want it to, rather than how their word processor formats it.  This also avoids problems if you have a newer version or an incompatible software.  (There are several free software packages to publish your documents as PDFs.)

While a well formatted resume is great, often times a company wants you to copy and paste your resume into a text box on their website.  That typically means that all formatting is stripped away and your once beautiful resume is not very functional.  So, keep a .txt version handy.  After you’ve “finished” your resume, convert it to plain text and clean up the formatting so that it looks good again.  This will ensure that those nasty uploads work well and still look good.

Back in the day when I was starting out we were taught to put a “Career Objective” as the first thing on our resume.  We’d craft a bold statement like “To use my education and analytical skills to allow me to grow with a strong and forward looking company.”  While that might have been good advice in the early ‘80s (emphasis on might have been) it’s not anymore.  Now recruiters want to see a 2-3 sentence (or bullet points) elevator speech that tells them exactly who you are and why they need to read the rest of your resume.  Words like proven, experienced, customer-focused, market leader, etc. show energy and drive.  Craft your summary so it makes peoples say “wow, tell me more.”

I imagine some of you are shaking your head or rolling your eyes.  I’ll admit, some of these suggestions are a lot easier for me to say than they are for you to do, but trust me, they work.  If your word processing or editorial skills aren’t up to the task, get some help.  Find a friend who can help.  If necessary, use a consultant.  But if you get help, make sure they give you “your” resume and not “theirs”.  Make sure it reflects you, because that’s what you’ve got to sell when you land that interview.

A great resume can open doors.  Spend some time on yours and you’ll get more interviews, which will lead to getting the job.  Happy Holidays!

Resume Magic – What Makes a Great Resume – Part I

Posted: December 3, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Resumes | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

There are lots of resources on the Internet for making a resume with tips and templates galore.  Out of all that, what is the most important?  We’ll I’ve talked with some search pros and we’ve put together these suggestions for creating resume magic.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get all of these tips in one post, here is part I – stay tuned for the remainder.

Let’s start with why you’re doing this at all.  What is the purpose of your resume?  Is it simply a written version of your career history?  Is it your opportunity to tell others your goals and aspirations?  Is it a chance to detail everything you know and highlight your incredible mastery and technical expertise?  Well, yes … and no.

The purpose of your resume is to be your personal brochure and sales pitch indicating why someone should hire you.  With a resume you’re not trying to meet your needs, you’re trying to meet the needs of the recruiter and hiring manager.  You are attempting to show them that you are the perfect candidate for the job they are trying to fill.

Your resume is a paper representation of you.  It should be a personal statement that reflects your technical skills, competencies, expertise, involvement, awards and accomplishments.   While templates and sample resumes are great for giving you ideas, your resume needs to be distinctly you, not a template.  As you expand your brand, make sure that your cover letter, reference page, thank you letters etc. all have the same look and feel.  They need to consistently support your brand.

Here are some guidelines to remember:

  • Choose the format that is best for you – Chronological vs. Functional (we absolutely prefer chronological).  Use your career progression to support that you know what you know.
  •  Lead with your strengths. Start with a summary of why you are the best candidate. Add your accomplishments to support those statements. Show your career history as proof of your success and list your education as the foundation for it all.
  •  Be concise and keep it to no more than two pages – and one page is better.  Remember, if you are lucky a recruiter will read the first half of the first page.  If you haven’t caught their attention by then you are not going to get that job.  If they have to wade through 4 pages of jobs, references and citations you have no hope.
  • Customize each resume based on the position and/or company you are applying to.  Research the company and tailor the resume to fit what they are looking for.
  •  Be industry specific, but here’s where some balance is needed.  You should include industry buzz words so that companies who use computers to scan and evaluate resumes will find the keywords they are looking for.  But, don’t include so much jargon that others can’t understand what you are talking about.
  •  Be truthful – enough said.
  •  Make it look good.  Use a bright white paper and clean, simple font.  Make sure you have sufficient white space so it doesn’t look cluttered.  Use formatting to make it easy to read and to highlight the most important parts.
  •  Make it perfect.  Use multiple proofreaders.  Your spelling, grammar, and punctuation need to be perfect.  Your formatting (bold, underline, italics, centering, line spacing, etc.) needs to be consistent. Your margins should match.  Take the time to do it right.

A great resume won’t get you the job, but a bad resume will keep you from it.  Stay tuned for some more tips and a focus on accomplishments, the real key to success.

Newer Entries →