Resume Writing

Good news: Hired over the holidays

Wendy Terwelp 5 Comments

Randy’s story: “I have truly been blessed to the job search efforts pay off so handsomely during: one of the longest recessions on record, the Holiday Season, the end of a lame-duck presidency, and a career change. On top of financial stability, I am able to spend more time with my family in my new career… life is good! I am grateful for your service – thank you for helping me land a great gig during the holidays!”

 

Randy got this gig for lots of reasons:

  1. Took the initiative and made the investment to get branded, get a solid career focus, and a professional resume and cover letter written by a career pro (that’s me).
  2. Networked: Randy networked with everyone – and did so the right way.
  3. Took action: Randy not only networked, but when cool opportunities arose – even over the holidays – he took action and got his resume to the decision-maker FAST.
  4. Polished interviewing skills: Randy cranked up his interview with stories – stories about how his skills were directly transferable to this new industry, how he contributed to his previous employer’s bottom-line, and how he could make an immediate, and positive contribution to this new industry and organization.
  5. Negotiated successfully: Randy negotiated a great salary by capitalizing on how he could help that company get a return on their investment in him. In fact, despite a dramatic career change (from pilot to project manager) he got a salary increase!

 

Most importantly, Randy had the right attitude throughout the process. He stayed positive, never gave up, and took action on what he learned.

 

If you want to get hired in this economy, learn from Randy!

 

Amy did. She’s got an interview this week. She learned about a gig through her network, updated her resume, and directly referenced the networking connection in her cover letter, and got it to the decision maker within two days. She landed an interview with “the big cheese.”

 

Challenge: What action can you take this week to land your next big gig?

Recruiter Rants

Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Hi, this contribution is from Alice Hanson, former resume writer turned recruiter. Enjoy!  [Oh, and some side bar stuff from me, Wendy Terwelp]

It struck me today how far I’ve gone from resume writing and my former job in career coaching…It’s just a very different perspective here. I am hiring mid level technical contract positions. We get and fill about 10 jobs a day. With this kind of speed, there are some things that really drive me crazy…thought I would share. And a great resume is still a great asset-thanks to those who do them!

Recent pet peeves:

Applicants who don’t put their phone number in the Monster job ad…how am I supposed to call them? Do you want a job or what? Don’t be coy on me. I’ll call someone else and sometimes I don’t have time to mess with an email and wait for you to email back..the job will be closed by then or I will have submitted someone else. The market is really moving.

[Note: I must say, I too have been receiving resumes for review that have only a name listed as contact info. Hello! Read the above!]

Applicants who call back a week later expecting the job to still be there…uh, no, sorry.

Applicants who have nothing but soft skills on their resume. Even if they are a project manager or business
analyst or product manager or even a project coordinator, I want to know what type of projects, technical skills, and expertise they can manage:

Software development, networks, new products -what kind? What beside a PM are they? Don’t tell me they are “good with people.” What industry? What tools? What did you create? Give me all the alphabet soup. Are you a Linux guy or a MS guy? Database or Web/front end? .net or Java? If you test, have you done black box, white box, performance and load, UI or regression testing?

[In other words, provide specific examples of your projects – we call them “achievements.” Quick tip: Use the CAR technique – Challenge, Action, RESULT.]

Give me a grid of hard skills that I can match against the job desciption I’m sourcing…Get really specific and stick it in a chart with number of years used and the year it was used….very helpful….if I see the right skills, then I read the most recent job description and check the date of their last employed date and the job history.I hate resumes that are done in two column tables. Give it to me straight and direct. I just dump out all the formatting and stick it in our corporate format anyway..and tables make it harder..the hiring manager never sees your formatting if you go through a recruiter. 

[Now, now, there is SOME formatting – like paragraphs and bullets. 🙂 ) I don’t bother with profiles..and this makes me grimace after all the pain I used to put into picking the right adjective that “captured” the uniquness of my client…but I don’t mess with them…10 seconds of reading is very true..often I read the resume from the bottom up, looking for career history and how the candidate evolved. If the candidate makes it through my screen, the hiring manager may be interested in the profile so I guess profiles have a role. I determine
who the person is by the phone screen. Chronological formats, to the point, are my favorite…but they don’t hide much, so there you go.

[Time and time again I hear chronological is the fave. I personally use a combo, a few meaty statements in front and chronological info right after. To date, rave reviews from employers and recruiters alike. How do I know? My clients get hired. And sometimes the HR person who hired them becomes a client!]

Six page tech resumes can be fine, suprisingly. I had a Microsoft manager tell me the other day to take a one page resume and “give it more beef.” We had to add a lot of left out details to make the candidate look credible. The old adage–make the resume as long as it needs to be to make the candidate looks credible and worth the money they are asking.

[Six pages?! No way!]

Anyway, a perspective from my desk…thought I would share for what it is worth.– Alice Hanson

Make Your Resume Stand Out

Wendy Terwelp 5 Comments

Does your resume immedidately answer the “why should I hire you” question? In today’s market you’ve got to be able to compete and stand out – in a good way. Based on these stats, it’s essential to have a personal brand and communicate your value on a resume. Liz Harvey, a Careerbuilder.com exec said she reviews resumes on her Blackberry! Would your resume grab attention on a 2-inch screen?

Here are some quick stats from Careerbuilder.com’s survey of 360 human resources professionals.

Twenty-seven percent of human resource (HR) managers say they receive more than 50 resumes, on average, for each open position. More than one-in-ten (13 percent) HR managers receive more than 100 resumes per job opening. The survey, “Resumes 2007,” was conducted from November 17 to December 11, 2006 and included 360 HR managers.

When evaluating candidates’ applications, 77 percent of HR managers surveyed say they look for relevant experience. They also frequently consider a candidate’s ability to demonstrate specific accomplishments (48 percent) and whether the resumes are customized to the open position (41 percent).

HR managers also frequently search for keywords when screening resumes. Top-searched keywords include:

– Problem-solving/decision making (56 percent)
– Leadership (44 percent)
– Oral/written communications (40 percent)
– Team-building (33 percent)
– Performance and productivity improvement (31 percent)

“In today’s competitive job market, it’s essential for a candidate’s resume to be flawless,” said Richard Castellini, vice president of consumer marketing for CareerBuilder.com. “Still, 33 percent of HR managers say more than half of the resumes they receive through online sources have formatting errors. To ensure your resume is error-free, be sure to proofread, proofread, proofread.”

Sixty-three percent of HR managers report that spelling errors are the most annoying mistakes they see on resumes. Other top mistakes include:

– Resumes not customized to the position (30 percent)
– Lies (23 percent)
– Including too many insignificant details on job responsibilities (21 percent)
– Resumes that are more than two pages long (21 percent)

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com between November 17 and December 11, 2006 among 360 hiring managers (employed full-time; not self employed; with at least significant or full responsibility in hiring decisions), ages 18 and over. Weighting for employers was adjusted by company size to bring them more in line with their actual proportions in the population.

With a pure probability sample of 360, one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-5 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from subsamples may be higher and may vary. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.