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Patience Aside, Attitude and Action Get the Job Done

Do you sense success just around the corner?  Are you waiting for your “big chance”?  Yes, you should visualize success, take time to reflect on how far you’ve come or how well you have persevered, but at the end of the day it’s all about your attitude going forward and taking deliberate action. 

Here are 3 key ways to formulate next steps with a smile. 

Past performance is a good indicator of future behavior.  So, take stock of what has worked well and what hasn’t.  Note things that helped you move forward and which things held you back.  Recognize little successes along the way, no matter how small.  Celebrate small victories.  Choose the top 5 activities that provided the greatest value and satisfaction.  Commit to doing more of these things, more frequently.

Consider what your current day-to-day needs are and how well you are meeting them.  What is the one thing that would make the greatest difference?  Map out a plan to make it happen in the simplest way and in the shortest amount of time.  Assess your current attitude.  If positive, keep it up!  If negative, assess why and seek out appropriate and positive ways to give yourself a greater sense of control of your day-to-day realities.  

Schedule Future Milestones:

The best way to ensure the future turns out the way you want it to is to define it and create it through effort, attitude…  and a workable timetable. 

Need to network more?  Look for any and all networking events and related opportunities that are happening in your area over the next 90 days and schedule in as many as possible.  Put yourself in spaces where you can meet new people, be exposed to new ideas, and test how you present yourself “in the moment”. 

Thinking about going back to school?  Schedule appointments with Admissions at 2-3 schools of choice and start learning more.  Then visit with financial aid about possible funding sources. 

Angling for that next promotion?  Map out a brief outline of what you’d like to accomplish by when and talk to your boss about how they can actively support your goals.  Enlist their help in crafting an action plan and timeline for success.  If you encounter resistance or lack of support, start shopping around your resume. 

Need a new job?  Start by learning more about companies and recruiters in your area.  Reach out to at least 25 people per week and start a dialogue within 24 hours with everyone that circles back with you.  If you don’t get any responses in the first 2 weeks, your message or style needs to be adjusted. 

With any of your goals, set a date by which if you don’t achieve base results, you’ll enlist professional help such as career coaching or registering for a seminar.

Make it happen! 

-Lisa

Connect with Lisa Mauri Thomas in LinkedIN.  Visit the Change Your Job, Change Your Life website for more information on resume writing and related services.

8 traits for career success in an uncertain world

The biggest lesson learned over the past 3 years by millions of people is this:  Don’t be caught so unprepared again!  If you experienced job loss, reduced pay, ridiculously long hours and tremendous on-the-job stress, a micro-manager for a boss, inability to land a new job, a shaken sense of confidence and self-worth, financial ruin, loss of your home, or simply too many pressures to cope with at once – you don’t ever want to find yourself in such a position again.

While not everyone dreams of becoming a business owner, there are specific traits or attributes found in successful entrepreneurs that anyone can develop and strengthen within themselves to help buffer against the unexpected.

Here are 8 traits to foster within yourself in an uncertain world:

Drive:  Find something to love about your work situation.  Instead of focusing on what isn’t ideal, direct your efforts and emotions toward new and tougher goals.  The goal can be anything you want – the point is to want it and to go for it.  Small successes now will make a big difference the next time the chips are down.  Your activities today will help fight off future apathy.  Raise the bar.  This develops self-assurance.

Perseverance:  By strengthening your drive and operating outside of your normal comfort zone, you nurture your inner ability to “stick to it” especially when desired results are possible but not easily within reach. While good things may come to those who wait, no one said you had to wait by resting on your laurels.  Get busy with a variety of mini-goals that are aimed at achieving the larger ones such as financial independence, geographic mobility, or proof of a life well-lived.  This also develops patience.

Self-awareness:  You can’t run away from the pain – whatever that pain happens to be.  Your experiences are your reality no matter what emotions or feelings you’ve chosen to attach to them.  Take time each day, perhaps with your morning cup of coffee or while walking the dog, to reflect upon what makes you tick, where you are strong, and where you consider yourself sadly lacking.  First, be honest – then, be forgiving.  You are who you are.  Know yourself; then develop drive and perseverance through setting goals for needed self-improvement, including your attitude or approach toward the world at large.  This fosters graciousness.

Experience:  You have strong, credible experience even when it seems as if no one wants it.  How well you use it and market it will make all the difference long-term.  Be innovative about how you apply all the wonderful experience you already possess.  Which further experiences would act as a multiplier?  Volunteer your talents to practice applying them in new ways.  Do something radically different for 8-10 hours per week and discover how your experience rises up, transforms and expresses itself.  This fosters greater self-confidence.

Intelligence:  Be smart about things.  Find and confirm the facts. Critically assess and question your sources versus thinking something sounds good just because it’s news to you, is said by someone you like, or easily supports your existing world view.  Savvy business owners must make sound decisions to grow and expand into new markets with products and services that truly fit existing and foreseeable needs and wants.   Be prepared to hear, digest and honestly reflect upon things you don’t like.  Intelligently assess if what you hear has merit and requires change or if it can be disregarded because you’ve looked at it critically, thoroughly and know the difference.  Recognize when things just don’t add up.  This fosters speed of intelligence gathering and decisiveness.        

Knowledge:  Economic cycles are just that – cycles.  Prosperous times will come again, as will recessions and depressions.  While there’s value in living today as if it were your last, chances are good that it isn’t and you need to build and strengthen your resources and strategic allies, every day.  Manage your resources and save your money; be ready to act on new opportunities.  You already know that knowledge is power.  However, much of what claims to be “news” is emphatically not.  Don’t mistake opinion shows for factual analysis.  Are you drawn to Fox News or the BBC?  Do you choose CNN Headline News or Bloomberg?  Do you take the time to read The Atlantic or just People?  No matter your preferences, know there are far better sources out there to help you gauge what is really going on and to understand ALL angles of the issues.  This fosters awareness and your ability to effectively navigate the larger landscape. 

Innovation:  You can develop an “intrapreneurial” spirit by creating new products, services, and approaches within your current workplace.  Whether or not you’ll be recognized or rewarded for it, just show you CAN be innovative.  Be creative in how you showcase and present your ideas, how you sell yourself, how you solicit buy-in by understanding the players and forces at work.  Take risks, dismiss your regrets, and if 1, 20, or 100 things don’t work out, try something else.  This helps you to develop self-reliance.

Courage:  Have the courage to succeed and to fail.  Develop the strength to boldly move forward or strategically retreat.  Recognize your personal power while acknowledging you cannot do it all, alone.  Dismiss your regrets.  Stand up and voice what you know and think; then be willing to listen to feedback that may be painful to hear.  Have the courage to balance a forceful nature with humility, shyness with clarity of thought, and traditional ways with evolving realities.  Know your weakness and manage around them by surrounding yourself with the people and resources that will strengthen your position.  Avoid wishful thinking or relying strictly on hope or faith that tomorrow will be better or just as wonderful as today.  Have the courage to make it happen.  This fosters self-worth.

You CAN protect yourself and improve your position with an entrepreneurial mindset.  Develop and sustain the inner strength to create the life and work you want on your own terms.  You can be strong and credible and marketable, for the long haul and at any age.  You can ensure that you don’t make the same mistakes again.  We all can.  Can you imagine if we did so, globally?       

-Lisa

 Need more help?  Visit http://changeyourjob.us

Compare and Contrast a Typical Scenario

Chris, a Sales Executive specializing in business applications software in the Washington, DC area, has been looking for work for over 12 months.  He found my website last month and decided to invest in professional services as his “do it yourself” methods were not yielding any positive results aside from a small handful of phone interview screenings.

Starting point

First, I reviewed his resume and cover letter.  Second, I asked him to describe his job search strategy approach.  Brief consultations are free.

His resume was nearly 3 pages long, in 10 point font with tiny margins, detailing over 10 sales and marketing positions held over the past 20 years.  His cover letter was addressed as “Dear Hiring Manager” and consisted of a brief, 2-paragraph generic spiel asking the recipient to please consider his talents for the position in question, which wasn’t actually identified in the letter.

His job search approach?  Continually revising his resume hoping to capture his varied background as fully as possible, then applying online for no less than 10 advertised positions per week, telling everyone he knew that he was “still looking”, and building up his LinkedIn connections to over 500 names.

Professional help

The first professional service I provided for Chris was to fully critique and redesign his resume and cover letter based on a sampling of 2 ideal job postings he provided.  Within 24 hours, he had a new resume and cover letter that were:

• critiqued to show the specific strengths and weaknesses in play with rationale and tips provided for each suggested change
• strengthened considerably in terms of professional content that did not contain any fluff or falsehoods (never recommended) yet were well-aligned and fully supportive of each other
• quantified with numerical metrics to support his claims of what he could do and how well he could do them (impact)
• formatted in an easily customizable manner with complete instructions and personalized follow-up to ensure he could do so on his own going forward

From there, we focused on his job search strategy and overall networking approach with measurable benchmarks in LinkedIn and other avenues.  For starters, I advised him to stop “chasing” online job postings and showed him how to use posted information as a basis for further research for networking and outreach BEFORE sending in his materials.

Results

Chris is now getting to Round 1 and Round 2 interviews; he’s had 4 interviews in the past 3 weeks.  Effective application materials are supposed to result in interviews.  Successful interviewing leads to job offers.  The added difficulty these days is the fierce level of competition for fewer jobs.  Now I’m working with Chris to stay focused and positive, respond well in interviews, and rise above the competition.  Stay tuned….

Good luck out there – you can do this!

-Lisa

Visit with Lisa today on LinkedIn or at:

How to Take Charge and Get Back on Track

Holidays are great fun but they have this knack of throwing your job search strategy into a tailspin.  Is your job search strategy blown all to bits?

Recognizing a blown or stalled search strategy

• Losing motivation to do even the most basic tasks
• Discounting suggestions from others
• Feeling discouraged and believing the situation is hopeless
• Believing you’ve tried everything possible
• Going through the motions, to “look” like you’re on top of it all

Core issue

Identify what is fueling your lackluster approach.  Is it an overwhelming sense of hopelessness?  Are you feeling resigned?  Thinking you’ll just “ride it out”?  Or are you just too busy with all that life throws at you?  Chances are, the core issue revolves around power and control (and the lack of each).

Try again.  Practice good habits, consistently, to pave your way to success.  Giving up will never lead to success.  So, get back up on that horse, bike, or other metaphor of choice.

6 steps you can take in 120 minutes

1. Breathe deeply. Clear your mind of emotional clutter and remind yourself about what is important.  Remind yourself that you’ve tackled many tough situations in your life and you’ll tackle this one, too.  5 minutes.
2. Recognize the tools you have.  This includes support systems in place.  Make the most of what you’ve got and don’t dwell on what you don’t have.  10 minutes.
3. Revisit and reassess all of your contacts. Dig out your address book, open your contacts list in LinkedIn, review the email addresses you’ve collected, etc.  Make a list or “tag” the contacts that are in any way associated with recruiting, HR, hiring, etc within your industry.  30 minutes.
4. Contact them anew. Call them, if possible, as that extra personal touch can go a long way.  Craft a brief, upbeat message to convey that you’re still on the market and excited to explore the latest opportunities.  Force yourself to pick up the phone.  Dig deeper to locate numbers.  Send an email or LinkedIn message if you simply cannot locate a number for them.  60 minutes.
5. Acknowledge your efforts. Networking and outreach does not come naturally to most people.  Recognize that what you just did took courage.  You just did real work.  Breathe deeply again and tell yourself, “I did it!”  5 minutes.
6. Decide upon ONE thing you will accomplish tomorrow. Choose an activity that will get you closer to your goal that ALSO involves directly contacting others, reaching out, networking.  Pick a time and place and commit to seeing it through.  10 minutes.

Notice that NONE of the steps above included searching for jobs online or blindly sending out your resume and cover letter.  Networking and outreach comes first – always.  Once you are consistently reaching out to others, every day, build in follow-up activities such as sending requested materials, completing an online application, etc.

Good luck out there – you can do this!

-Lisa

Part III:  Text-based and PowerPoint Resumes

Exploring alternative resume formats

Job seekers have so many formatting choices including: MS Word, .pdf, rich text format, online resumes with distinct URL’s, video resumes, PowerPoint slide show presentations and online company applications.  Which are most effective?  What do recruiters REALLY want to see?

To date, I’ve asked 24 recruiters and hiring managers from around the globe who have respectfully weighed in on the topic.  This week’s focus is on resumes created in text-based and PowerPoint formats.

Text-based and PowerPoint resumes – defined

Text-based resumes are those that you create in programs such as Wordpad or Notepad and/or save with .txt or .rtf extensions.  They are absent of any formatting styles such as color, bold, italics, underlining, bullets, headers, footers, and related.

By contrast, MS PowerPoint (PPT) provides a full range of formatting options including everything a text-based program will not.  PowerPoint allows you to create a brief set of slides (as few as 1 or 2) to display your resume content as a slide show in which you can control the timing from slide to slide, any animations in play, and more.

Pros and cons of text-based resumes

Text-based resumes are boring.  There is virtually nothing about them that will attract and hold attention.  So why are they used?  Two words:  compatibility and compliance.  Rarely are acronyms like ASCII seen as a submission requirement anymore, which indicated a basic or older applicant tracking system was in use or was intended to ward off viruses and corrupted files.  Current virus protection programs and the improved stability of MS Word have alleviated most of those concerns.

Ken Winters, CEO and Founder of Staffback.com and Hireway.com out of the San Francisco Bay area, advises job seekers that, “Text and Rich Text resumes are OK but I have seen some hiring managers look down on them because they are quite plain when compared to Word and .PDF documents.

He compares it to “seeing a car without paint… it gets the driver from point A to B, but it sure looks funny driving by”. He also adds, “Using these plain formats for Marketing and Communications type positions would result in instant rejection.  With the ability to create Word docs for free in Google docs, there really is only one reason to have a Text or Rich Text resume: some Applicant Tracking Systems/websites require that plain text be entered in the resume box, so for that reason, it is nice to have a copy of your resume handy on your PC in a plain text format.”

He concludes by indicating that compared to MS Word and .pdf formats, “Plain text based resumes sit in a distant third spot“.  So, while widely compatible, text-based resumes simply cannot compete with MS Word or .pdf formats when it comes to conveying visual impact.

Steve Anderson, Managing Director of C. Anderson Associates in St. Paul, agrees and says “Almost without exception, employers know how to handle .doc files. It can be easily edited with Word, GoogleDocs, Open Office, etc. The same is true for .rtf, but .doc is more recognizable. As for .txt, you lose a lot of formatting options, so I have never received a resume in .txt“.

Of all the recruiters interviewed, no one indicated a preference or even a genuine appreciation for text-based resumes.

However, if you copy/paste your Word resume into online application forms, the receiving system generally converts your content into a text-based format, which is perfectly acceptable, as it indicates how a prospective employer’s applicant tracking system needs to handle your information.

Pros and cons of PowerPoint resumes

The overall feedback on PowerPoint resumes was mostly poor and cautious at best.  For example:

Steve Anderson says of PowerPoint resumes, “PPT is for presentations and no one likes to sit through presentations in the first place.”  Therefore, it should never be sent as a first point of contact.

Ken Winters, warns, “PowerPoint resumes are absolutely not acceptable as many hiring managers do not have PPT on their PC.  It is an expensive program and is not included in the lower tier MS Office Suite packages.”

However, PPT can be perfectly acceptable as a follow-up bonus if you know it will be accepted by the receiver.  Ken adds, “Anything submitted in PPT should only come after being requested, such as a 90 day marketing plan or other types of work samples in professions that use this format“.  So, if you’re applying for an Executive Assistant position and will need to produce PowerPoint presentations for your new boss, sending a professionally prepared sample can set you apart from your competition.

Tip: You can also have your resume available in LinkedIn using multiple formats and uploaded through the Box.net application.  For example, you can load your resume in Word (using both .doc and .docx extensions, separately) .pdf, PowerPoint, text-based format, etc.  This allows recruiters and hiring managers to select their preferred format.  An added benefit:  the Box.net application will alert you by email whenever one of your documents is downloaded and viewed so you can see for yourself which versions capture the most interest.

Stay tuned…

These hiring professionals provided such a wealth of information, this topic quickly turned into a multi-part series, weighing the pros and cons of multiple resume formats, so stay tuned for all installments, and go back and read both Part I and Part II.  Next up:  online company application methods.

VIEW Part IV at: http://changeyourjob.us/wordpress/?p=119

-Lisa

Part I: Resumes Created in MS Word or Distributed in .PDF

So many choices, so little time
Job seekers have many choices these days when it comes to resume formats: MS Word, .pdf, rich text format, online resumes with distinct URL’s, PowerPoint, video resumes, and online company applications. As a result, job seekers are left with many questions regarding personal preference versus effectiveness and how they might save time overall. This series investigates.

So far, I’ve asked 11 recruiters and hiring managers from around the globe who have all graciously weighed in on the topic.

MS Word and .PDF were the favorites, overall
MS Word and .pdf’s were rated as the top contenders. MS Word resumes, in particular, are popular with third-party recruiters because they are quick and easy to review, edit, store, retrieve, and forward to others.

Bobby Gipson, of Career Connextions, points out that before third-party recruiters can submit resumes to corporate clients for open positions, they must screen them carefully to make sure the resume mirrors the posting, apply formatting such as bold or italics to highlight important key words, correct spelling errors, “blind” the resume by removing the job seeker’s full name and contact information, and insert the recruiter’s company header and contact information for follow-up purposes. He says, “The process of these submittals is a key factor” as to whether a candidate continues through the process or gets rejected. Plus, he notes that recruiters should get your permission first before editing and submitting your resume to company clients on your behalf. And recruiters should be told if you’re working with other firms at the same time, all of whom may have the same corporate clients.

7 hiring professionals give specific resume advice

1. Jane Cooper, of Cooper Hong Inc., a public relations agency in the greater Chicago area, advises job seekers to, “Watch file size with PDFs. Some companies (some of our clients) have filters that will block attachments over a certain size. The smallest we encounter is 2 MB, so I’d try to be sure files are under that.”

2. Steve Anderson, of C. Anderson Associates in St. Paul, reminds job seekers that, “When it comes to HR people or recruiters looking at hundreds of resumes per week, the simpler the better. Your resumes [must be] concise, to the point, and highlight strengths.”

3. Jay Olson, of the Minneapolis McGladrey office, concurs. “My preference is a resume in MS Word format for the sake of it being easily emailed and opened by just about anyone. The hiring managers that I work with tend to want to have a tangible resume to use when interviewing a candidate.”

4. Andrew McDonald, an HR Manager specializing in Safety out of Canada and who also provides leadership training and employee relations consulting, reminds jobseekers that “the ability to send electronically is the main need.”

5. Mircea Enache, in Romania and representing ProData Consult, reminds job seekers that while MS Word is widely used and accepted, they have their drawbacks, “Both .doc and .pdf files have either formatting (.doc/.rtf) or searching problems (.pdf) so I keep most of my resumes saved as html/mht files which I can search/load fast from anywhere, even my mobile phone.” He also notes that, “a good .pdf will print great compared with a .doc which is always plagued by some obscure formatting problem.”

6. Ken Winters, of Staffback.com and Hireway.com out of the San Francisco Bay area, reminds us that, “It’s important to note that PDF documents should be text based, not image based. You can tell that a PDF is text based if you can highlight the text inside the document. If you highlight the entire page/image, it is image based and that is a very bad format as [many] Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can’t “read” and extract from the image.”

7. Lakshmi Murali of IonIdea out of the Bengaluru Area in India agrees and notes that her preference is for resumes “in MS Word format as it will be easy to store – also for formatting purposes because I will receive resumes with candidates information in PDF format, with read-only option along with candidates photo, which we may not want to include while forwarding it.”

Personally, I urge job seekers to avoid resume templates, even those in MS Word, because they can be quite difficult to edit after the fact, as many have canned formatting in play, making the transfer of information unnecessarily difficult. Best bet: build your resume from a blank MS Word page.

Stay tuned for in-depth analysis and information on additional resume formats
These hiring professionals provided such a wealth of information, this topic quickly turned into a multi-part series, weighing the pros and cons of multiple resume formats, so stay tuned for all installments!

-Lisa

Make Sure Your Application Isn’t Immediately Discounted

Fact #1: Applying for anything and everything will NOT yield eventual success. Be specific, be choosy, and always, always play to your strengths and experience.

Fact #2: HR Directors and Recruiters routinely estimate that roughly HALF of all resumes submitted for a particular position don’t even come close to meeting the requirements of the job and are immediately discounted. Interpretation: odds are good that your resume falls in to this category.

Fact #3: In the current job market, employers have the privilege of selecting from only the very, very best candidates, which goes back to reinforce Fact #1.

Fact #4: In order to BE the best candidate, you have to LOOK the best on paper, you have to RESPOND the best in phone screens, and you have to consistently DEMONSTRATE how and why you’re the best during every interaction from application to final round interviews.

Fact #5: Job search takes a lot of time and energy; to be successful you have to work constructively and strategically at it over time, and not take shortcuts.

Make Sure Your Resume Aligns Perfectly with the Posting:
Sending out a generic, universal resume and cover letter combo “as-is” is one of the fastest ways to be discounted. Typos are another application killer. Applying for a job is an exercise in persuasive argument and generic or error-laden materials won’t persuade anyone of anything except to confirm the impression that you didn’t care enough to take the time to do it justice. Sounds harsh, but true.

If the posting says they need someone with 3+ years of experience, make it clear and showcase your very best work across those 3 years in ways that supports your claims. Specify that you can do what the prospective company needs from you. The operative word here is NEED: the company NEEDS competent, qualified, personable help of the highest caliber. Your talents are auditioning for the next big role; check any arrogance, cynicism, or anger at the door. It is nearly impossible to hide such feelings; if they exist, they’ll show. If they show, you’re done.

Acknowledge What You Know About the Company:
There is SO MUCH information available out there about companies; corporate websites, press releases, LinkedIn, Facebook, Hoover’s, word-of-mouth… you name it! Pick a company you’re really interested in working for and articulate 3 reasons WHY you want to work there without sounding selfish. Is it their corporate culture? Full support of ongoing professional development? Global operations? Family-owned business that supports the local economy? Recognized efforts and impact around social responsibility? Invests in the latest and greatest technology? Manufactures products or delivers services that are important to you, personally? Be clear about “what” and “why”. Genuinely align yourself with what’s important to them.

Infuse Passion and Personality:
Understand your core drivers around creativity and “giving back”. In these lean times, creativity trumps traditional values around “operational effectiveness, influence, or even dedication” as reported by BusinessWeek, May 19, 2010. And this idea of “giving back” is not new but the younger generation live and breathe it better than anyone. For example, qualifications are important, without a doubt, but corporate social responsibility has been trending positively for several years in a row and a candidate’s willingness and ability to support those efforts can go a long way to demonstrating “overall best fit”.

How do you make another person feel good about you and like you? Give them attention, sincerely acknowledge and compliment what they’re about, be consistent in your approach, and be genuinely likable in return. These same tips work for companies and the hiring managers and recruiters who work there. It’s impossible (and exhausting) to do this for everyone, so you need to be choosy or trim your sphere of contacts.

You can do this!

-Lisa

Use the following 6 tips to critique your own resume or simply start over:

1. Your name and contact information… Keep this simple and to the point. Bold your name but not your contact info. And you don’t need to list your street address. Case in point: when is the last time you received anything from a prospective employer by mail? Plus, if you’re posting your resume online, it is wise to protect your privacy. Note: some recruiters and job posting sites, like Hireway, use zip code in their search criteria.

2. Your objective, profile, summary… Whatever you want to call it. Your resume needs to indicate why someone would be reading it – be specific and clear! Don’t come off as vague or generalized or some kind of “jack-of-all-trades”. Think of it as the mini-excerpt around your professional life. “Objective” is a good term for entry-level goals. “Profile” is more of a professional-to-executive term. “Summary” is a good catch-all if you’re not sure what to use. Whether you label it or not, this section highlights the core strengths and experience you bring to the proverbial table – but don’t forget to “back it up” throughout your resume and always “speak the language” in the job posting or your informational interview notes by using same keywords and essential phrases.

3. Core competencies… This is a nice touch and strengthens your objective or profile area. Choose between 3-6 keywords or phrases to highlight. This area becomes a highly customizable way to hone in on what the prospective employer is looking for from you as a truly viable candidate. Again, back it up throughout your resume.

4. Work history… Highlight your job titles held. Include dates of employment. Format according to personal preference but keep in mind that bulleted statements are easier to scan quickly by human eyes, whereas your talents can get lost in paragraph style entries. Stay within 3-5 statements; otherwise you risk trying to “say everything” which is counter-productive. Use this formula for all statements: Action Word + Detail + Impact. Quantify and/or indicate the value of your actions and tasks. Too many people list an action word along with a detail, and then…. stop. Follow the formula through to a powerful finish.

5. Education… List this above your work history if you are a new grad or if your education provides stronger support of your goal than your work history does. List degrees earned, schools attended, and graduation dates.

6. Other… You might include interests or hobbies, technical skills, affiliations and memberships, keywords, licenses, or note that references are available upon request. No matter what: these “other” items should support your goal and overall format.

Consider purchasing a full, professional resume critique either as a stand-alone or one that includes professional resume formatting help. Another set of eyes can quickly note typos, awkward sentence structure, messy formatting, and provide feedback about how clearly your goal is stated and supported throughout your resume.

Critiques should be conducted by someone who has writing and editing skills, certainly, along with a working knowledge of how applicant tracking systems work.  They should also have a human resources or recruiting background as well as experience as a hiring manager – so they will know best what to look for and evaluate on your resume. Not sure where to start? Start here along with references and recommendations from satisfied clients.

-Lisa

Job Search Strategy Issues – Enable Your Success

How long have you been searching for a new job? Are you getting requests for interviews? Are you getting job offers?

Let’s face it: you are an expert in your field, but that doesn’t automatically make you an expert in job search strategy. Here are diagnostic tools to help you pinpoint the problem: ratio of applications to interview requests, conversion rate of phone interviews to in-person interviews, and number of job offers from number of interviews.

Diagnose Your Job Search Strategy Problems with 5 Questions:

1. What is your #1 job search activity? If you are like most job seekers out there today, you answered “search online for jobs”. In this economy, there are fewer job openings than there are job seekers. Not all jobs are posted. So why are you chasing online leads along with 10 million other people across the globe? You have other options. For starters, pick better online job posting sites like Hireway.com – highly recommended.  Also, limit your online job browsing to no more than 1 hour per day or 10% of your total job search time. Online job boards are GREAT for conducting additional company research but don’t use them as your all-encompassing search strategy. Apply online but don’t stop there – find company contacts, learn more about the company culture.  Your #1 search activity should be networking to find and build positive rapport with company insiders regarding the #1 thing you do best in the world. Period.

2. Is your Resume drowning in mediocrity? Basic, generic resumes rank right up there with no-name brands, automated telemarketer phone prompts, one-size-fits-all T-shirts, public access television, and no-fuss haircuts. There’s nothing wrong with these items; but they cannot effectively compete with their nicer-looking, better-crafted neighbors. I review between 50-75 resumes per day. Out of those, only 4-5 really make me pause and read deeper. I also provide free Resume IQ Scores through my website. The average score is, well, average. The resume leads to the interview process. Rise above!

3. Is your Cover Letter all about YOU? Your cover letter will get the attention it deserves if a) your resume stands above the competition to begin with, and b) you use your letter to show how well you understand the company’s needs. Make your letter more about the company than you. Limit statements starting with “I” to no more than 3 per letter. Job search is not about you, it’s about finding a company need that you can fill better or easier than the rest.

4. Are you presenting yourself as a jack-of-all-trades? Know your quintessential sales pitch. Recognize that in this economy you need to sell your #1 talent or strength. It is your strongest asset and what you will be able to talk about most passionately and confidently. You’ll be able to rattle off one example after another that demonstrates the expert you truly are. A related item here is in not presenting yourself as one thing clearly enough. Or being so vague that people wonder why you’ve sent your materials in to them at all. People are not going to guess – spell it out for them. Your sales pitch must be consistent and focused from applications to interviews.

5. Are you well-connected? Build and leverage strategic connections. This is where many job seekers fall down or are just scratching the surface. 10 solid contacts who directly influence hiring in a company of interest outrank 5000 faceless friends. Evaluate your connections and separate names into categories of: preferred company insider, recruiter, hiring manager, business owner or other person of influence. How many contacts fall in to each category? How strong do your contacts look now? Pretty weak? Don’t fret, because now you KNOW where to focus your connection energies. Conveniently, it also takes care of item #1 and rounds out your reference list.

Last but not least: be methodical, consistent, professional and patient. If these traits don’t come naturally to you: Get help. Ultimately, you need to assess whether the lack of job search success is rooted in your materials or your job search approach – and chances are the answer is “both”. You also need to vary your approaches to be able to measure which approaches work better. The good news – these are things you can control and do something about.

-Lisa

Get on board and make full use of this amazing professional tool!

Whether you are job searching or looking to build your professional contacts for any reason, LinkedIn has become the tool of choice. And while many people join, few make full use of this amazingly dynamic application to find new employment, develop new business leads, locate mentors, etc.

Six “Must Try” LinkedIn Tips:

1. Make a list of 4-5 marketing messages you want to convey about yourself across your network. Use the messages to update the Network Activity box on your Home page every 3 days.

2. Compare your resume with your online profile. Make edits to your profile based on your resume to ensure they mesh and do not create a sense of disconnect from one to the other.

3. List your public profile URL on your resume – can be included in a line at very end that reads something like, “LinkedIn profile contains Recommendations and Samples of Work” with the link pasted in just below the statement. You can customize your public profile URL, too.

4. Solicit recommendations. Send formal recommendation requests to people who know you and can vouch for your work. In your message, specifically ask them to comment on your technical talents, business-savvy, ability to work very well with others, etc. Think about what will best support your professional goals. Return the favor. Go to your Profile tab and select Recommendations to start the process.

5. Dig into your network connections list. Figure out which ones are strong allies that can support your job search efforts – recruiters, hiring managers, HR people, agency heads, etc – and organize them using the “tags” feature in ways that will make sense to you and allow you to hone in on them quickly.

6. Find companies of interest. Choose the More tab at the top of your LinkedIn page and select Companies. It will show you which companies are already represented in your network. You can browse by Industry. Pull up a list of companies close to home that mesh with your current or desired job title. Think specifically about your career and other professional goals. Which companies should you target in order to best position yourself to get ahead?

Additional tips include:

* Think about how you might showcase samples of your work – either display things you already have or create mock-ups to show off your abilities. The Box.Net application is excellent for attaching files to your Profile. You can attach your resume – just be sure to remove your mailing address and other information you do not want shared with the world at large.

* Make new connections regularly but focus on quality over quantity. Go above and beyond the standard, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” message by saying why you would like to connect. And don’t indicate they are a “friend” unless that is really and truly the case.

* Find out where you rank in a People search using 2-3 essential keywords and your location. For example, if you are an Accountant in Minneapolis, or a Zoologist in Madrid, conduct a People search using those two terms and click through the results pages to see where you rank. This helps you gauge how quickly recruiters will be able to find you, if at all. Ideally, your name will appear in the Top 10 (if not, Lisa can help!).

Enjoy!

-Lisa