Category Archives: Resumes

Make them want to hire you in your first 30 seconds

Posted on May 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

The greatest tool for your job search is an enthusiastic desire to help, not the job title you want. Let me show you what I mean.

I was talking to a local TV station manager.  He asked, “How would you like to stand in the middle of the biggest stadium in Pennsylvania and tell everyone there about your product?  That’s what a 30 second ad on my station is like.” Later he added, “You’d plan your speech well, wouldn’t you?”

Have you been telling a lot of people how good you are and getting no response?  Maybe you need to work on your speech.  Turn it into your 30 second commercial.

The biggest mistake most job seekers make is they start by saying, “I really need a job.  Can you help me?”  Why would that make a manager want to hire you?  You just asked him to give you money he needs for other things.

He’ll hire you if you can solve his problems, make his life easier, or earn him money.

He’ll hire you even if he doesn’t have an opening right now.

Sit down with a piece of paper and write each job type you are applying for.  Leave lots of space between jobs.  Under each job write what problems you can solve for the hiring manager.  Next write how you can make his job easier. Finally put down how much money you can make him in new income or save him in expenses. Would you pay someone to do those things?  Give examples of what you did in the past.  Give real examples.

Did you only write what duties you want?  I hope not.   If you wrote, “I can take care of the computers,” that isn’t enough.  Add, “I cut computer downtime in half at my last job.”  In addition to, “Do help desk duties,” write, “As second level help desk technician I cleared up all incoming calls in an average of 20 minutes per call.”

Can you write down accomplishments instead of duties?  What have you done?  How have you helped in the past?  Where have you saved money at your last job?  Did you figure out how to save time for 20 other people?  Did you bring in 20 new customers?  Were you better than anyone else?  Prove it with concrete examples.

For each job you need to write a 30 second personal commercial.  It should not say what you want.  It should say how you can help.  It should show your enthusiasm and your “can do” attitude.  Prove you can do it with examples.  Use that commercial when you are talking to people about your job search.  You’ll get a much better response.

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Something To Do Today

Make that list of jobs you are applying for.  List what you can do for the hiring manager.

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Resumes

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What if there are 6 ads and you really want the job?

Posted on March 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

You see 6 ads for one job you really want.  It is so good you would quit you’re your current job just to apply.  What do you do?

High Priority Jobs

Getting your resume into the hiring manager’s hands is your quest.

First gather information. 

Is there anything that makes you think the writer of one of the ads knows the hiring manager personally?

Check the date on all those ads.  When were they posted?  What day did they appear?  List when the company and each agency first advertised.  Did an agency advertise before the company itself?  They may have a close tie to the hiring manager.  Have the ads been going on for months?  The company is either getting a little desperate, has decided not to fill the job, or the job is full but recruiters haven’t bothered to pull the ads yet because they are still getting lots of calls.

How are the ads different?   Does one include a lot more in-depth information?  Is another extremely short?  Look closely.  Do any of them make you feel like the writer talked to the manager?  You want to talk to someone who has the hiring manager’s ear.

Second work your network.

Call the people you know at the company, or invite them out to lunch.  Call up recent employees. Connect on LinkedIn to everyone at the company you can.

What can you find out about the job?  Is there someone who can personally take your resume to the hiring manager?  How about to the hiring manager’s boss?  This is still the research phase.  Don’t give anyone your resume yet.  You only get to submit it once.

Is there a recruiter you trust?  Find out what information they have.  If they can bypass HR (Human Resources) or have other great connections then work with them.  For instance, there is one company I work with that requires all recruiters to submit resumes through their online system.  But I call the HR manager and tell her when my candidates go in so she can immediately extract them.  She is afraid of missing a truly hot candidate.  Other people who submit themselves are first sorted through by the receptionist.

You really do have to quiz recruiters about their connections.  If you answer a particular ad when there are 6 ads out there, you have a right to ask why you should send a resume in through them.

Third decide how to apply.

If the job is not exciting, it doesn’t matter how you submit your resume.  Just do some quick cosmetic changes and submit it through an agency or the HR department.

For the job that really turns you on, figure out who should submit your resume.  For any company it could be you, a friend, a recruiter or an acquaintance.  Choose in this order:

  1. Someone who can hand your resume to the hiring manager and personally recommend you.  It doesn’t get any better.
  2. Whoever can get your resume past HR and talk to the manager.
  3. The person that can talk to the HR manager or screener and get you past the first cut.
  4. At this point all submissions really are equal. Do it yourself, have an employee there submit you to HR or let a recruiter you trust and who gets back with you do it.

Fourth get your resume perfect

Put the bullets on your resume in order of importance.  Put a few key words in bold to make sure the screener and manager sees them.  Get rid of bullets, lines and sentences that do not apply to the job!!  A two page resume is fine for most jobs, but the second page may never get read.

Do the 10 second test with several people.  Hand your resume to a few friends and ask them to read it for 10 seconds.  Time them.  Take it away in 10 seconds.  Ask what they remember.  Do they mention your most important qualifications and accomplishments? If they do, it’s a winner.  If not, change it.

The 10 second test is critical because most screeners and managers give all the resumes a 10 second review to try to find the best ones first.  They will probably throw out your resume without further reading if they can’t see what they want in that first 10 seconds.

Fifth submit and follow up

Submit your resume.  Call up and find out what happened two days later.  Did your resume arrive there?  Did the manager see it yet?  When will he decide?

You really want that job? After your two day follow up call send a thank you note. Give them a nudge, short and friendly.  It is amazing how a thank you note can get someone to personally try one more time for you.

Keep calling back at least weekly.  Sometimes it does take a couple of months to fill a job.  Keep your candidacy alive until it is pronounced dead by someone who knows.

Take Your Best Shot

If you really want a job.  Go all out.  There may be 100 applicants.  In some cases there may be 1000.  Use personal contacts to set yourself apart from the herd.  Make sure your resume instantly says, “I’m qualified.”  And follow up in case you somehow get missed.

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Something To Do Today

Start prioritizing all the jobs you can apply for.  On your written list make sure the jobs you crave stand out.  Treat them differently.  It is worth the extra effort.

Next week:  Recruiters and the hair on the back of your neck.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Focus, Followup, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, Recruiters, Resumes, Time management

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A resume if you are overqualified

Posted on March 12, 2014 | Leave a comment

Did you climb the corporate ladder and find it was leaning against the wrong wall?  Tired of 80 hour weeks or being in airports constantly?   Did you get a degree that makes it harder to get a job?  Do you want to go hunting more?  I know a lot of people who managed to get a huge responsibility (and pay) cut.

One essential thought: Your resume has one job….to get you an interview.  It is not a confessional booth.

If you are overqualified but want the job anyway, make a new resume.  Put in what you did that directly relates to the job.  Leave the rest out.  Get over your job wounds.  Your future boss doesn’t need to know your deepest sorrows.  You don’t have to say that you led a team of 40 people in your last job. You need to say what you did that applies.

What you think of as a job title is used by screeners and managers as a job summary.  In one or two words they see what you did.  Since that is how screeners and managers use it, so should you!  If your job title hurts you, then make an accurate title that helps. Describe what you do using your job summary (title).  When you fill out the job application right before an interview you can put your official title.  Never lie.  Don’t deceive.   Be accurate.  Use the “job title” spot as a summary in your resume. The manager reading it does.

Over-educated?  Choose from these resume options: a) no education section, b) an “Applicable Education” section, and c) put your advanced degrees under “Hobbies.”

You can get a job you are overqualified for.   Make sure you are honest in everything you say and present to an employer.  Then blow your new boss away with how well you do your new job.

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Something To Do Today

Look at all the job titles on your resume.  Are they effective summaries of what you really did?  If not, change them.

Tomorrow:  Job Boards:  What if there are 6 ads for the same job?

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Tricks To Get Past The Screeners

Posted on March 11, 2014 | 1 comment

First of all, apply for every job you are qualified for.  It is impossible to tell if the job is real.  You may as well take 5 minutes and apply.

Did you notice I did NOT say take 15 seconds and apply?  Internet job boards let you send off a resume without thinking.  You can send off a hundred in an hour.  That just assures you of 100 failures.  If you take 5 minutes and send off an effective resume for each job, you’ll do better than if you spam every employer in your area.

Most resumes are screened out electronically for large companies.  Every company then uses a clerical screener to throw out 90% of the resumes that are left with only a 10 second glance.  The remaining resumes get a 45 second read through and often only 5 out 100 original resumes are seen by anyone outside of HR.

Machines only care about one thing….a perfect match.  You have to have every requirement.  Look at the job advertisement.  Does it have an acronym like “MS Word”?  Then have “MS Word” and “Microsoft Word” in your resume somewhere.  Does it ask for “PC experience”?  Then put the words “PC experience” somewhere.  You may want to put a “Technology Experience” section at the end of each job or the end of the resume.  You can put PowerPoint, Access, SAP A/R, Lawson GL and other cryptic requirements there.  The machine will find an exact match and you will get to the clerical screener.

The clerical screener really wants to throw out as many resumes as possible.  Every one he keeps means more work.  Look at the job listing.  What are they asking for?  Don’t bury your most important experience in a paragraph.

Screeners do not read paragraphs.  They read

  • The first 5 words in bullets and paragraphs.
  • The first 3 bullets only.
  • Job titles that are in bold type
  • Words that are in bold type.

They may read italicized words, but not as often as bold.  Warning:  Don’t camouflage your qualifications by bolding everything YOU think is important.  Only bold the things asked for in the ad.

Make sure a screener who doesn’t want to have to read your whole resume sees you match the job.

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Something To Do Today

For every job you are applying for, create a resume that will get past the screeners.  Bullet and bold everything the job ad asks for.

Tomorrow:  Job Boards:  How to beat the internal candidate.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Job Boards, Resumes

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I Dare You To Use This Resume Test

Posted on March 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

This test applies to resumes and often to job reviews.  The principles are the same.

Right now about 5 resumes out of every 100 make it to the hiring manager.  The average resume screener is NOT an expert in what you do.  If you are lucky he will know half of the technical terms on your resume.  The screener will decide in 10 seconds whether or not your resume comes close to being acceptable.  After this speed test, the screener will give your resume a 45 second read through.  If you pass that test you will finally get in the pile that the hiring manager gets to see.    Your resume has to get past the screener or you will not get hired.

How do you test your resume?   Find a screener of your own.

Ask a friend to look over your resume for 10 seconds.  Time them.   Snatch your resume out of their hands.  Take it away and ask them what they read.  What they tell you determines whether or not you would make the first screen test.  If you pass that test, give it back to them for 45 seconds.  Again, snatch it away and grill them about what they read.

If your resume passes this test with three different people, you have a resume that may work.  If your screener can say what you accomplished, that’s outstanding.  If he says what your duties were, that’s good.  If you are going for a programming job and he says you worked with VB.Net and C#.Net, and by the way, what are they?  You did well.

Every time you submit a resume, look at the ad you are responding to.  Will your screener pick out the key phrases in the ad…..from your resume?  Test it.  Find out.

That’s how you get more interviews.

And think about those long, boring job reviews.  Don’t you think the same test, altered depending on your circumstances, could be of help?  Test what your manager’s boss will really read.

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Please don’t use these words on your resume

Posted on February 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Some words are so overused that they create a mental train wreck for resume readers. Yes, I want you to have all of these characteristics, but show me, don’t expect me to believe your claim just because you use the word.

Here is the original article on words that drive me to distraction.

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Do you read under 2 ½ inches?

Posted on February 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Most people read in 2 1/2 inch chunks.  That is why drudgereport.com and newspapers use narrow columns.

Do you have a 3 ½ inch reading span? 

Or is yours 2 ½ inches long?

To get your accomplishments and victories noticed, you have to learn the art of placement.  You need to put power words and numbers in the first 2 ½ or 3 ½ inches of each paragraph and bullet.  If you don’t, that bullet and that paragraph will not be read. 

More than 80% of resumes are tossed in the trash after a 10 second review.  More than half of the rest are tossed out after a second review of 45 seconds.  The reason is that 100 resumes may come in for a particular job.  Reviewing each resume for one minute would take over 1 ½ hours.  Instead a screener takes 15 minutes to reduce that pile to 10 or 20 resumes by trying to quickly reject the obviously unfit ones.  Since the boss doesn’t want to read even that many resumes, a 45 second review of the remaining resumes will reduce the pile to at most 5 resumes.  Then the boss takes those 5 resumes AND DOES THE SAME THING!!!!   He shuffles through the pile doing first a ten second review and then a 45 second review, hoping he only has to read one or maybe two in depth.

Can you survive that process?

What gets your resume past all the reviews is having boss stopping information where it gets read.  That means you have to have your greatest accomplishments in bullets.  Your finest deeds must be at the top of the list of bullets.  It also means you put your list of duties, if you really really feel you need to have them, in a single paragraph so they are easy to ignore until the boss decides he will slog through the whole resume.

At the bottom of www.agicc.com/resumeideas.htm are links to some very good resumes.  They are actual resumes we got permission to put on our site. They are resumes that got people jobs fast.

Your job review needs to go through the same editing process.  Let’s face it, your boss finds your job review even more boring than you do.  His boss will barely glance at it.  You have to learn to put critical information in the first 2 ½ inches of bullets.  It will earn you a lot of money.

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Something To Do Today

Rewrite your list of accomplishments.  Make it into bullets.  Put the boss stopping words and numbers in the first 2 ½ inches.  Write two or three bullets for each accomplishment.  Word them different ways.  If you have the time, create a new resume or job review.  Don’t throw away your practice bullets yet.  They will come in handy tomorrow.

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The most dangerous high value resume twist

Posted on January 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

If you are very focused.  If you are determined.  If the hiring manager is really missing out by not talking to you.

SEND A PERSONAL VIDEO.

It can be really personal, calling him by name.

Why not record a YouTube video.  Use your webcam, cellphone, or digital camera.  Upload it to YouTube.  Make it private.  Send it in an email embedded and as a link.

You could even put one on your resume.  Why not?

Why not is because you will be judged by that video.  You will be remembered by that video. It should be short, very focused, and make the hiring manager feel good when he sees it.

Be very careful. Consider it. Especially consider it where you just haven’t been able to get your foot in the door.  In that case, it can’t hurt since they already are not calling back.

Dangerous.  Potential high reward. Are you going to try it?

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Hallowe’en and your job search, really.

Posted on January 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

I know it is not Hallowe’en.  Humor me.

Tips for job seekers and Halloween trick or treaters are just about the same.  Think about how each of these directly applies to looking for a job.

  1. If you are scared, get your dad (a coach) to help on a few doors.
  2. Dress for success.  Look the part from your hair to your shoes, bag and greeting.
  3. The neighborhood you call on defines the size of the treats you get.
  4. Not everyone is giving out one pound candy bars, but they are all worth visiting.
  5. The more houses you call on, the more likely you will get a one pound candy bar.
  6. Go BACK to the biggest house with the best candy later.
  7. The most successful trick or treaters plan their routes and run from door to door.
  8. If you don’t knock, they won’t answer.
  9. If the porch light is out, you won’t get any candy, but you may get advice.
  10. Some of the scariest houses give the best treats.
  11. You get more treats if you start early and work late.
  12. Asking for candy in the traditional way works, ingenuity may get you more.
  13. Helping a little kid can double your take.
  14. Always say thank you.
  15. Sometimes they just ran out of treats, sorry.
  16. Going with friends (groups and social media) can make a scary neighborhood safer.
  17. It is a night of cold calling, even if you know the people.
  18. Trade candy (leads) afterwards to get what you really want.
  19. If you go to a party instead, and complain, you won’t get a big bag of candy.
  20. Don’t blow out the candle in the pumpkin.
  21. Do it again next year, only better, now that you have experience.

Wow!  I could write 21 articles based on those points.  Let me make a few quick points instead.

  1. Planning and preparation.  If you want the best chance of quick success, take 15 minutes each day and an additional 4 hours each week to review results, make lists, THINK, and plan for the coming week.  And make sure you have resumes that are attractive and get people to call you.
  2. Work hard and fast.  Actually do what you plan.  Make calls and contacts daily.  It is amazing how often luck follows hard work.
  3. Go back again.  You should be talking to your best prospects at least monthly.  If you spend 15 minutes thinking and looking for a reason to call, you can usually come up with a helpful reason to call almost anyone.
  4. Work together.  Share leads.  Offer to critique other’s resumes.  Suggest websites, books, and other job search ideas.  A lot of people find the perfect job in the castoffs and contacts from someone else’s search. Go to someone else’s house and both of you make calls at the same time.
  5. Be polite. Just because they say “No” doesn’t mean they hate you.  Say thank you and contact them again if it is a company you really want to join.  Never burn bridges or “blow out the candle” with anyone.

Have a great Halloween, and an even better job search.  Good luck finding that one pound candy bar!

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Posted in Finding jobs, Followup, Interviews, Job Boards, Networking, Perseverance, References, Resumes, Time management

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Beat the job boards – Now to get past the human filter

Posted on January 9, 2014 | Leave a comment

80% of all resumes are discarded 12 seconds AFTER they get to the first human. 

Seize the screeners attention.

Here is the secret. Look at the first two sentences. 

  1. Using numbers or BOLDED words gets attention
  2. Great first words make a difference
  3. The first two or three bullet points under your first job are usually read
  4. Short is infinitely better.

Study the three paragraphs above.  They are the key to being noticed in under 12 seconds.  If a screener is going to toss 40 resumes in the trash can and keep 5, he is going to get rid of the duds as quickly as possible. Use the 4 tricks above to get past that human filter. 

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently.  Be the chess player, not the chess piece (Ralph Charell)

Something To Do Today

Hand your resume to a friend.  Tell them you will take it back in 12 seconds and want their opinion.  Let them read it for only 12 seconds and snatch it back.  Find out what they read.  That is a great test for your resume’s impact.

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Later:  What a big house or great job costs

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Posted in Finding jobs, Resumes