Get your resume read

Posted on November 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

I read The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, the abridged Reader’s Digest version. It was fantastic. I liked it so much I started reading the original by Victor Hugo. It was torture. Every building in Paris was carefully described. A walk down a street was as long as a chapter. I couldn’t finish it. 

Like Reader’s Digest did, you have to simplify your resume according to your simple plan. Your resume plan should simply be – GET A PHONE CALL.

Get a Phone Call

Make getting a phone call the point of your resume. Now remove the stuff from your resume that won’t get you a phone call. You need to entice people to call you by giving them exciting information, and NOT fully explaining it. Then they have to call you.

If you set out to simplify your resume without a simple plan, you will fail. You have to cut out the things that don’t apply to the plan you are pursuing. You may end up with three simple resumes. That’s fine. Each resume should be simplified so that it applies to one single objective and the single plan to GET A PHONE CALL.

For someone living before photographs, a description of Paris was thrilling. For someone who has been there and can see pictures of it on the internet, descriptions of Paris are chloroform in print. Victor Hugo decided on a simple plan: have a good plot, and double sales by having great descriptions. He knew his audience. He sold a lot of books to his target audience.

The same thing goes for the person who wants to be a manager. He’d better have a manager’s resume. If the same person applies for a job as a technician he needs to leave out all the manager stuff. Complexity gets confusing and discouraging to the reader… and therefore gets your resume deleted. If you want to be a hands-on manager, then show how you have done that in the past. That is actually a simple plan like Victor Hugo with plot and descriptions.

Simplify your plan, then simplify your resume. You will get a phone call.

Something to do today

Are you applying for several different kinds of jobs?

Split your resume into several distinct resumes. One simple resume for each job.

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Posted in Resumes

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Simplify your resume into a 6 word career objective

Posted on November 5, 2021 | Leave a comment

You will find a job a lot quicker if you simplify your career objective and your resume. Simplicity will get you a phone call.

Career objectives are generally considered outdated, but some folks still include them. If you’re going to include a career objective, use it to explain what is unusual about what sort of position you’re looking for. 

Computer, Resume, Office, Manager

How a simple plan leads to success in business

Fedex has a very simple business plan.  They get packages anywhere the next day.  Google is incredibly simple.  They help people find stuff on the internet.  Microsoft started out with a simple concept.  Make personal computers work for people.  

Just like business plans, first you have to simplify your career plans.  What do you want to do, achieve or become? 

Make your career objective a 6 word sentence

I rarely read more than 6 words of the “objective” portion of a resume.  I don’t have time to read that you want to work in a team, grow, contribute, and add to the bottom line.  Who doesn’t want those things?  

Can you write your career objective in 6 words?  Would you dare put that on your resume?

Most resume screeners and managers decide whether to read career objectives based on the first few words.  Why not put your real objective there? 6 words.

Something to do today

What do you want in a job that’s different? Put that in as few words as possible in your objective. 

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Posted in Resumes

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Pick the path to job success

Posted on November 3, 2021 | Leave a comment

When I was 17 I bragged that I had gotten every job I applied for. That was 5 jobs at the time. I set my own expectations and hit them. I continued to get every job I applied for. Looking back, I was lucky and that luck kept me from doing better.

I always had enough money to survive and my desires weren’t huge. I was going to college by then and just wanted to graduate. That is why my luck hurt me so bad. 

After I left college I found out that my Geology Department would have gladly given me jobs while I was at school. I just never asked. I could have gone on to graduate school and jobs would have been lined up for me so I could afford it. I never asked. During the summer break there were jobs available for aspiring geologists, but I had already lined up something else selling books or working in the library. It was so easy to get the jobs I applied for that I never got the jobs that would advance my career.

Even when I graduated I applied for a job in geology that was being filled by high school graduates at the time. Of course I got the job. And I earned less than I could. And I didn’t look for another job until I was laid off.

It took me 3 years after that lay off to get a good job with a bright future. It took me that long to learn that if I accept every job I can get, I get jobs without a future.

I was a slow learner. I didn’t start failing until after I was laid off. I finally learned. Sometimes getting every job you apply for means you aren’t aiming high enough.

Something to do today

Do you have a real career plan? 

I have talked with programmers earning $50,000 per year and others earning $120,000 per year. They had the same basic talents. The better paid ones had chosen to work in SAP instead of Visual Basic. They really had to pay a price to get into SAP. Now they are reaping amazing rewards compared to the programmers who applied for jobs they knew they could get.

Do you really have a career plan? Or is it just a downhill career path?

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Posted in Career choice

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How to distract an interviewer with a red herring

Posted on October 29, 2021 | Leave a comment

Is a red herring good or bad? Obviously it can be either. A red herring distracts from an important point. Here is how it works.

Do you have something to hide? If it is a minor disqualifier, be prepared to talk around it. Let’s say you were five years in accounting, but only the last year of it in audit. They ask about how much time you actually spent in audits. You answer precisely, “I’ve been with Bolger & Smith CPA’s for five years. In the last year alone, I have done full audits of 12 companies in addition to my other duties.” The phrase, “In the last year alone,” is a red herring. Skillfully placed it diverts attention to the last year.

Were you fired for refusing to work any more overtime? First off, make sure there will be no overtime in the new job. When they ask, “Why did you leave,” 

you can reply, “My manager and I disagreed on a matter of service, which I will not go into.” Don’t say, “I was fired.” Don’t give a full explanation. When they press for details you can say, “My last manager was well qualified. We disagreed on a matter of service. I won’t go into it any further.” 

The red herring is your nobility in not tearing down your old manager. Make sure they see your loyalty and refusal to gossip. It makes you look good and distracts them from the issue of you being fired.

A red herring is not a lie. It is a distraction. If your distraction doesn’t work, either refuse to answer or tell the unvarnished truth. In the end, distraction is acceptable. A lie will get you fired.

Something to do today

If you have something to hide, write out tough questions. Write out three red herrings for each question. Practice them.

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Posted in Interviews

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How to show personality and quality to get a job

Posted on October 27, 2021 | Leave a comment

Reading off of a sheet of questions, each interviewer takes a turn asking set questions. There are technical questions, motivation questions and team related questions. Which are the most important ones? Which are the red herrings?

If you interview with 5 people at a company, you will have to deal with 5 agendas. Each will have a different set of core values and competencies they are looking for. So how do you win?

Be yourself, but avoid dwelling on yourself.

Be yourself

Make sure your interviewers know one or two endearing things that make you different. For instance, I have ten kids and I am a Boy Scouts leader. That will set Bryan Dilts apart from other candidates and give me a personality. Do you have a computer network in your basement? Were you the top salesman of Girl Scout cookies as a kid? Mention one or two things that make you unique. Make sure NOT to mention politics.

Avoid dwelling on yourself

A quick mention of your one or two endearing qualities is all that is needed. Then it is time to mention past job performance. 

When asked about what you did, mention specific projects. You can say, “I was in charge of the budget,” or you can say, “While I was in charge of the budget we increased productivity 60% while increasing the budget only 20%.” That will catch their attention. As a salesperson you can say, “I sold to companies with over 2000 employees,” or you can get bonus points by saying, “In the last year I opened new accounts at 14 companies, each with over 2000 employees.” 

Don’t dwell on yourself. Dwell on the facts. Facts that demonstrate your value to your last company and the company you are interviewing with.

Their red herrings

You really have no hope of knowing which of their questions are red herrings. All you can do is refocus each question they ask on what you have accomplished in the past. Given a choice, most people would rather work with someone who will get things done rather than someone who answers the questions just like they are supposed to.

Ignore their red herrings and show them you are a big fish. They’ll want to reel you in and hire you.

Something to do today

Ask if you can help do interviews at your current company. You may be surprised what you learn about being interviewed by watching others in the hot seat and talking with your boss about them afterwards.

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Posted in Interviews

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How to save your resume from getting deleted

Posted on October 25, 2021 | Leave a comment

Some people wisely ask, how can I hide my flaws? Others seem to ask, how can I hide my greatest strengths? 

Every resume I read is a mystery novel. For instance, an accountant dismissed in March is a lot different than one dismissed in May. March is the busy part of tax season, so, why would a competent accountant be sacked? May is a time that accountants cut back on staff. Is the firing a red flag or a red herring?

Is an 8 or 10 line “objective” on a resume a red herring? Do any of those 200 words really mean anything? A 300 word paragraph describing the last job is incredible camouflage for good and bad. 

A bullet cuts through all the fluff, just like in a murder mystery. Find the bullet, find the gun, find the murderer. I always read the first 3 bullets under a job in a resume. 

If those first 3 bullets are three red flags, then I will absolutely skip the rest. 

If those first 3 bullets are three red herrings, I may skip the rest. By skipping the rest, I may miss the one important bullet that would convince me to keep your resume.

My problem is that I am human. I am easily distracted. I have hours of work to plow through before I leave. If I see too many red herrings in your resume, I’ll push the delete key. I don’t have the time to carefully consider each bullet to see if it’s a herring or a flag.

How many pounds of red herring are in your resume?

Something to do today

Hand your resume and the job ad you are applying for to a friend. Ask them if they match. If it takes more than 15 seconds to say, “Yes!”, then you lose.

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Posted in Resumes, Uncategorized

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Find the real qualifications for a job ad

Posted on October 22, 2021 | Leave a comment

In a murder mystery on TV show the culprit is never the obvious answer. It’s not the neighbor who hated them and their dog, and their kids and who had their blood on their clothes. it’s always an unassuming character from left field.

Man in Gray Long Sleeve Suit Holding a Pen

Job ads are like a murder mystery TV show. Job ads often have long lists of qualifications and most are going to be red herrings. Only a few of those are really going to be important. Remember, these ads are written by HR, not the hiring manager. 

Job ads all seem to be long lists of skills you absolutely have to have in order to get a job.  My experience is that job ads are more red herring than meat. When a company sends me a job ad and asks me to find a person for the job, I always have to talk with the person who wrote the ad.  I ask, 

  • “What are the absolute minimal qualifications for the job?” 
  • “Which of these skills in the ad are the hardest to find?”
  • “What has kept you from hiring the people you have already talked to?”
  • “Is there a hidden qualifier that was left out of the ad?”

As you look at a job ad, ask these questions.  You may even want to call up the HR (Human Resources) department and ask them the four questions.  

If you know any of the answers, you can change your resume.  Put your most important qualifications first in a group of bullet points. Mention them in the very first sentence of your cover letter.  Make sure they come out in a phone call.

Most job ads are huge.  The minimal qualifications and the most important skills are usually hidden in the middle of a school of red herring.  Figure out what the most important need is, and point out in an unavoidable way that you qualify.

Something to do today

Have you ever called an HR department to find out the real qualifications for a job?  Try it today.  Use the 4 questions above.

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Posted in Job Boards

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How to keep your eyes open to office politics

Posted on October 21, 2021 | Leave a comment

Seeing office politics in the moment is not easy. Seeing the final disastrous result of office politics is easy. You can train yourself to see invisible office politics before they kill you. Let me give you an example of being trained to see what is already there.

I took my Boy Scouts out into the woods. We went to look for animal signs. The boys couldn’t see a thing. Nothing. Then one spotted a bird. They all saw it. Another heard a woodpecker. Suddenly they could all hear it and they also noticed the trees with woodpecker holes in them. I pointed out a rabbit run. The leaves were broken up into smaller pieces than the surrounding leaves and there was also a tunnel under some bushes. They started seeing rabbit runs. We walked down the road and I saw some deer tracks. They looked and found the path that the deer were using. It was just like a rabbit run, only bigger. As their eyes were trained, they saw more and more. Once they concentrated on looking for things out of the ordinary, they got good at spotting animal signs.

Animal Tracks, On Snow, Snow, Winter, Frost, Sunny Day

Training yourself to see office politics is difficult. Often you see the person who gets what they want, and not the people who enable it. Look at the interactions where you are. Who really makes the important decisions?

Choosing a guide is a great idea. Don’t choose the loudest person. Choose the most effective person. Who seems to get what they want? Invite them to lunch or just find a moment to be alone with them. Ask how they do it. Sincere interest is a form of flattery that is almost impossible to resist. You will quickly find out what you need.

Keep in mind! As you are finding out who the gatekeepers and roadblocks are, learn to keep your mouth shut. Getting experts to trust you with their secrets depends on your keeping their confidence safe. Ask questions. Don’t spill the dirt. Funny thing about gossip, effective people shun it. They like helping people understand how a department really works, but they shut down and hurt gossip.

You can have a training program you don’t have to pay for. If you are worthy of their trust, the people who know will train you. They will want you for an ally.

Something to do today

Take a few days and become an observer. Ask questions. Find out the lay of the land. Who are the people who benefit from the power brokers? Who really are the power brokers?

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Posted in Training

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Roadblocks and gatekeepers on the road to success

Posted on October 15, 2021 | Leave a comment

Faster access to our computers from home made all the sense in the world. One man was standing against my recommendation. Everyone else loved it. The big boss hid from the debate, citing Jim and the cost as reasons to not go forward with it. It seemed like spite, but we had been friends. Why was Jim sabotaging me? Why wouldn’t he listen to reason?

A year later, as technology advanced, a much cheaper and faster access method was installed. I also gained some perspective. Jim wasn’t an SOB, he was a guy with an opinion. I watched him turn out to be right every single time he took an unpopular stand. It might take a couple of years to be vindicated, but he was always right. Management had learned to ignore Jim at their peril.

Jim was a gatekeeper. He could be reasoned with. He would accept proof. He changed his mind when it made sense. Jim only seemed like a roadblock when you were wrong.

The roadblocks are the folks who are mean and spiteful. They can stop a project by getting in the way or going slow. They literally may kill a plan just because they don’t like someone on the team. They stay in place because they know enough of the right people that they can help advance or hinder careers. They help their friends and shaft their enemies. 

Be careful who you define as a gatekeeper and as a roadblock. Ask around. What do your coworkers think of the person in your way? I was wrong about Jim when I thought he was a roadblock. He was a smart guy who was a very respected gatekeeper. 

Something to do today

Is someone getting in your way? Ask around. Are they gatekeepers or roadblocks?

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Posted in management

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The right words to end an interview

Posted on October 13, 2021 | Leave a comment

I once had a candidate end an interview with “How soon can I take my vacation days?”. Unsurprisingly, that did not end well. The CEO was already planning on hiring him. That candidate didn’t get the job.

When you end your interview with the wrong words, your interviewer often says, “They didn’t want the job. They never really expressed an interest in it. So we are offering the job to someone else.”

I rarely hear this about my candidates because I tell them exactly what they should say right before they leave. It should always be a variation of, “I want this job.”

Examples

“This is the kind of company and job I thrive in. I think we could work well together. Can we set up the next step in the interview process right now?”

“I have really enjoyed talking with you. Thank you for interviewing me. The job is something I would definitely like to do. Based on everything you have learned about me so far, is there any reason you would NOT hire me for the job?”

“I would like to work here. I enjoyed meeting the team. I can do an outstanding job here and I really want to go to work for you. Can we set up a time for our next meeting right now?”

“This is a great job. I would love to work with you. Can I have the job?”

“This is a great job in a great company. When can I start?”

If it all seems a little too gutsy to you, then go back and read the second paragraph. 

I only occasionally hear, “He didn’t want it enough”, from employers. That is when my candidates do not ask for the job.

Something to do today

Do you have a list of all the jobs you have applied for and the people you have talked to? That is another good list to keep in your job journal.

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Posted in Interviews

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