Tag Archives: resume

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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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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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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9 ways a recruiter can help you

Posted on November 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

I was talking to a job hunter who said, “Recruiters have never done much for me.” I understand the sentiment. It depends on what you expect.

As a recruiter I help people get jobs, but only a few people. I also prepare a bunch of people to get jobs on their own.

Some things I can do for you are:

  1. I help you get your resume to look good enough to get you interviews.
  2. I find jobs you didn’t know about and submit you for them.
  3. I talk to hiring managers and try to give you an unfair advantage.
  4. I give you guidance on better interviewing.
  5. I remind you to send a thank you note after the interview.
  6. I follow up and follow up and follow up with hiring managers.
  7. I negotiate a higher salary.
  8. I help you resign successfully.
  9. I smooth the way into your new job.

Now, you’ll notice that a bunch of those I do whether you get the job or not. As a recruiter I may not directly get you a job. I may just help you learn some job hunting skills even if I am not paid for it.

One more thing. If I find a better candidate anytime during the process, I will present him to the company. My driving loyalty is getting the best person for the job. I am absolutely committed to avoiding second best. I’ll help you, but you need to be the best candidate for a job. Live with it.

I help people get jobs. I help a few people get the job I submit their resume for. However, I have a huge impact on a lot of job seekers as I help them to become more employable.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of suggestions you have received from recruiters that have helped in your job search.  Make sure you remember them for the interviews where the recruiters are not involved.

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Posted in Finding jobs, Recruiters

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How not to be a liar in resumes and job apps

Posted on October 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

I thought not lying was easy.  Then I got good questions from people who want to tell the truth, but don’t know what it is.  So let me help you tell the verifiable truth.  Here is how to tell the truth and stay out of trouble in question and answer format.

Q. I was laid off, but given three months of pay after I stopped working, and was allowed to use my office too.  When was my last day of work?

A. Call up the HR (Human Resources) Department and ask them when your first and last day of employment was.  Use those dates.  It doesn’t matter what you think is honest, a misrepresentation, or a lie.  The companies who check your resume will be given those same dates by the HR department.  Use them.

Q.  I was a temp worker at Boeing, working for McGraw Engineering, and paid by Kelly Services.  Who should I put down as my employer?

A. The company whose name was on your contract or paycheck was your employer.  You might want to put the job on your resume as:

Boeing, reporting to McGraw Engineering, contracted by Kelly Services.

Q. Can I leave out a job?

A. If it doesn’t apply to the job you are trying to get, maybe you can leave it off the resume.  A resume is an honest ad, not a confessional. You don’t HAVE to put every job on it.  However, it is safer to have one line on your resume where the job or jobs you don’t want to mention should go. Put:

Transportation Jobs 5/1999 – 8/2003

That way you account for the time.  You also make it so short it does not force the hiring manager to think about it.

All jobs must be put on the job application, even if they are not on your resume.  You can put that same single line about Transportation Jobs, but on the job application every single job must be accounted for.

The only exception is if you have 20 years of jobs, and the first 10 years don’t apply.  Then you can truncate, or cut off the oldest jobs.

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. (Will Rogers)

Something To Do Today

Sit down and think.  Are you leaving something out in your resume to simplify it, or are you lying?

Your resume is not an FBI background check.  It is an honest advertisement.

There is no reason to disqualify yourself.  There is no excuse for lying.

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Later:              The incredible strength of weak connections

How many times do I have to tell them

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The most critical part of a relocation resume

Posted on October 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

You want to move to a different area, but you want to have a job before you go.  Good idea.  So, you put together a resume and put on your real current address and phone number. You are 1000 miles away from where you want to work.

No one calls.

Can you blame them?

You have basically announced that hiring you will be a problem.  It doesn’t matter what your cover letter says.  You may have a place to stay there and be willing to pay for your move yourself.  It doesn’t matter until they actually talk to you.  They immediately assume they will have to pay for you to fly in and interview, pay for a relocation, deal with the first two months of lack of productivity while you settle in to a new home, and put up with you getting homesick.

The answer: Get them to see how good you are before they notice you are from out of town.

You have to get past the screener.  The screener is a computer or a human who is wading through 100 resumes, trying to find the 2 or 3 best ones.  Your phone number and address may be getting you excluded without any review.  So change them.

Get a local phone number at the very least. Try Google Voice.  Or, you can get a Vonage internet phone for $10-$25 per month.  For $5 more per month you can get extra phone numbers that have any area code you want.  You can have the Vonage phone automatically forward to your regular home phone or cell phone and never use the internet line if you want. You can switch where it rings as often as you like.  With Vonage, you can have a local phone number for your job search no matter where you really live.

Getting a local address for your resume is also a good idea.  You can use a friend’s house,  rent a Post Office Box at the Post Office, or get a box at a UPS Store or some other mailbox forwarding service. Put in a change of address form. Any letters sent to you may be delayed, but they will get to you.  More important, your resume will not get flagged for deletion merely because of your address.

If you have a specific place you want to move to, it may be worth your time to camouflage where you currently live.  You will have to deal with the relocation issue during the phone interview, but at least you will have a better chance of actually talking to someone instead of getting screened out by a computer because of your zip code or area code.

Something To Do Today

Try to figure out what may be keeping you from getting a call when you apply for a job.  Can you overcome that problem?  Do you need camouflage, better writing,  or stronger experience?

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Later:              Hiding real problems

When is your resume being thrown away?

Non-competes

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Your resume should twinkle

Posted on August 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Boredom gets many resumes thrown away.

What makes a resume boring is that you write it like a job description instead of an advertisement.  Boring resumes hide the most important information.  They are written the way HR forces managers to write job descriptions.  Let me show you what I mean.

Like HR or Like a star

There is a hiring manager in with a problem.  That’s why he spent hours writing a job description.  He could have sent a 3 sentence description, but HR wouldn’t let him.  HR said, “We need to really define what is needed here.  Can you be more thorough?” To be honest, HR really needed to know more to do their job.

So instead of a 3 sentences telling what would describe the job to an expert, you see a laundry list of 40 things that would be nice to have.  There are entries like: “Does not drool while typing”, or, “Shows up for work.”

You can’t afford to put the same boring and useless descriptions on your resume.  You ARE an expert.  Don’t let your resume say, “I showed up for work.” That is HR language.  That is not what you accomplished.  It is what anyone would do.

Your resume as a Star

A star is a point of light in a vast sky of bleakness.  Our eyes are attracted to stars, not to the inky places in between. You only need to shine like a star to attract attention.  You don’t need to shine like the sun.

So, make a list of things that are better only because YOU did them.  What did you do better than anyone else?  What did you do to get official recognition?  Did you win a contest at work? How did you make things go faster?  How did you save money or make more money for your company.  You don’t have to shine like the sun, only twinkle like a star.  If your resume is short but has irresistible sparkle, you will get an interview.

The way to shine is to talk about a specific thing that got done better because you were there.  If you talk about five things that only got done well because of you, you will shine like a constellation.  Hiring managers  will pay attention to your resume and give you a call back.

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Coming up

Back to job hunting

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Posted in Accomplishments, Resumes

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What to do about serial disasters in your job search

Posted on August 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

I lived a couple of summers on a dairy and hog farm.  There were only two things to do with manure, put it on the fields or in the creek.  Yes, once it went into the creek. The manure that went on the fields helped grow more corn and alfalfa.  The manure that went into the creek was a shame, dangerous, and very easy to get rid of. Dumping in the creek eventually became illegal.  It’s a good thing.  That was a bad choice.

The difference between fertilizer and pollution was not the ingredients, it was what we chose to do with our time and resources.

When you spend your time job hunting poorly, you flush your work down the creek.

You can be getting killed before you are interviewed, after the first interview, or when references are checked.

Killed before you are interviewed

If you make one poor resume and send it out 500 times in a year with no interviews, you are polluting, not fertilizing.  That resume goes on file at many companies and keeps you from being hired for job after job.  If you are getting no response, either:

  1. you are not qualified for the jobs
  2. the resume is not working
  3. you have a bad reputation

In any one of these cases, you need to change what you are doing.

If you are not qualified, get experience and certifications, or lower your sights to the jobs you really are qualified for.  If the resume is not working, you need to fix it.  Go to www.dilts.us/books to get the best resume book ever written. If your reputation stinks, you may have to move or try a new field of work.

Stopped after your first interview

If you are getting interviews every week, but never being called back for a second set of interviews, you are polluting.  The companies you are interviewing with are putting you on their “Not Good Enough” list for some reason. You need to do some practice interviews on camera, and practice with managers who can’t hire you but will critique you. You need interview help. You also need to get back with every interviewer you can find and beg them for honest feedback.  If they consider you a really bad match, they will often hide that for fear of angering you.  When you ask for feedback, listen meekly and probe.

Ruined by your references

Does your job search fall apart every time it gets to the reference check phase?  Someone or something in your background is killing you.  You may have a reference who is polluting your job search.  It could be a lukewarm or hostile person who smiles at you and moans during a reference check.  Some people are just negative.  They hedge and hold back and wouldn’t give Superman a good reference because of his “Kryptonite problem.”   If you know a credit check or criminal background check is stopping you, you may have to back down your job aspirations or get to know which companies will hire you anyway. Sometimes an industry change is necessary.  Changing states may help.

 

If your job search is not working, there is always a reason.  Always.  Where your search is falling apart may tell you what the problem is and how to fix it.  Getting to the same place over and over only to lose out because of YOUR problem pollutes the job market against you. Find out if you have a problem.  Honestly work to correct that problem and you’ll find a job.

Something to do today

Keep track of where your job search is falling apart.  Figure out if it is your resume, interviews, or reference checks that are killing you.  Now, start researching ways to overcome that problem.  Work at it.

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Posted in Focus, Interviews, References, Resumes

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