I had the privilege of being interviewed by Tony Restell of Social-Hire.com for a podcast in early January 2021 regarding top tips for writing your resume and having a standout job search. I have included the link below to the podcast page and commentary. Thank you again to Tony and his staff at Social-Hire for reaching out and offering this wonderful opportunity to share!
https://social-hire.com/blog/market-updates/resume-writing-job-search-tips
Assumptions that individuals make during a job search, particularly when it comes to rejections, are rarely true. We second guess ourselves because of perceived failure. Below, I offer a more accurate assessment of what is often occurring, and a few tips to overcome it when the issue is one you can rectify.
1) The organization interviews candidates but doesn’t hire anyone because they are too cheap to pay the going rate. Magically, days later, they re-advertise the same job with a new title at a lesser pay rate.
2) They already knew who they wanted. Job ad and interviews were for show and to meet Federal hiring requirements.
3) They are looking for a unicorn. Remember, unicorns (also called Purple Squirrels) don’t exist, and they couldn’t afford the salary if they found one.
4) The job never existed (trying to look good to the competition or testing the talent pool), or the requisition was pulled during interviews due to budgetary concerns (so it no longer exists).
5) Expectations on length of job search may be unrealistic. An average job search prior to COVID lasted approximately 23 weeks, and even now, despite increased hiring, is still 21 weeks. Those numbers are direct from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) A-12 Table. Additionally, current Total Unemployment according to BLS U6 Table is at 12.3% for September 2020 (that is the genuine number looking for work and unemployed, and not just those on unemployment benefits).
Many a client or potential client comes to me expecting a one-month job search, and as you can see, that isn’t typical. Putting an irrational “target date” on your job search is a guaranteed recipe for disappointment and creates undue stress.
6) Applying for any and every job that looks good, instead of a focused job search on one to three job types/careers. Determine the one to three careers you truly want and have the skills to pursue. Create a tailored resume and cover letter for each career (tweaking for every application). Stick to them for success.
7) Not dressing appropriately for the interview. Nice blouse, or shirt and tie, and please, put on real pants for video! We haven’t moved to a “casual everything environment” and jobseekers are still expected to dress appropriately, whether a video or in-person interview.
8) Poor camera and sound quality or utilizing a questionable background for video interviews. Test your sound and camera quality with a friend prior to that first interview. Also, it should go without saying that pictures of pot leaves, pot plants, political figures or slogans, smarmy or inappropriate sayings, liquor and beer bottles littering the area, too many religious items, Star Wars (sorry collectors) and Barbie items, etc., will ensure you won’t be invited back. Keep it simple, keep it professional, and see a good result. Don’t forget to look at the camera during the interview, not the screen!
9) Have a nervous “tick or tell” that happens when you are interviewed? Do a mock interview with a friend in HR or use an interview coach. Either party should offer constructive feedback that includes tips to mitigate the issue(s).
10) Offering negative answers to questions, especially when it comes to current or past employers/bosses. Try running your answer by friends who are hiring managers or in HR, to ensure you aren’t torpedoing yourself without realizing it.
11) You played the one-page game. Most resumes are actually two, sometimes three pages, depending on the experience. Tell a story with your bullet points, education, adjunct information, etc., of success in your career. Employ the necessary keywords and key phrases throughout your experience and supplemental detail.
12) Your social media is a hot mess. All that info to get rid of in a video background on my #8 applies to your social media. It isn’t private, they are checking, and it will cost you the job.
Things you can do to help yourself:
–Remember that your length of job search in no way reflects the value you have or will provide to an organization.
–While your job search may be taking longer than expected, it doesn’t mean that you are unemployable. Understanding that it takes several months for most people to get a new job, should give you comfort in knowing you are not alone.
–Stay away from negative friends, family and acquaintances who are judging your job search. The irony of their judgment frequently becomes clear during their next job search. If you can’t fully avoid the person, limit your exposure. (See my article “Give Jobseekers Your Support, Not Your Judgment” on LinkedIn.
–You can, when necessary, take a less than desirable job to have income. Do not allow that situation to end your job search. You have merely taken a Stop-Gap Job to meet financial needs, and this does not have to be a permanent relationship. Keep on searching!
Sometimes a job search takes longer than we anticipate or want. Never allow expectations to get in the way of your search, as they create frustrations and impede your progress. New jobs are advertised daily, so don’t permit current disappointment to keep you from applying and networking your way to your next job. Never give up, never surrender!
Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers, executives and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, executive/career management coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 20-50+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.
I found the above picture yesterday in a search for graphics, and it immediately struck me as perfect for my article. While everyone writing their resume is doing so in earnest and with the best information they have, often the person writing it may have received bad resume advice from friends and family, used poorly written sample resumes or just be winging it to get their resume done for a potential job. There are several items that jobseekers put on their resumes that are unnecessary, take up excess space, and look unprofessional. Here are a few I see on a regular basis:
–An Objective: Instead of putting a tiresome, repetitive objective about how you want to work for a company that loves you and hugs you and will take care of you forever, how about the job title for the specific job you are applying for, and for which the resume is tailored. There will be no doubt by the reader what you are applying for, and the job title is most likely a keyword in their system. Then add a list of job/industry related keywords, or three bullet points highlighting great accomplishments, or a one sentence statement of purpose. Make sure anything you use at the top of the document with your job title is also communicated in the body of the resume.
–References Available Upon Request: The interviewers already know this, just bring your reference listing to the interview.
–Your Picture: A picture on LinkedIn is great, but not on your resume. Not only is there a potential for discrimination but the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) don’t work well with pictures.
–Fancy Graphics: Similar to above; this is great for handing your resume to someone, but not for the ATS. Chances are the ATS won’t be able to read the document, or it will place a multitude of unrecognizable symbols in your resume.
–Personal Information: I have actually seen the following on resumes: person is in “good health,” has 10 children, height and weight numbers, hobbies that are a little too personal and don’t relate to the job or create interest, and spousal details. Again, there is discrimination potential, and these items are not appropriate for the document.
–Obvious Skills: Microsoft Office; it is always better to give the specific programs – like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. You can also do the following: Microsoft Office: Word, Access, Excel and PowerPoint, and then you have all the potential keywords. Phrases like detail oriented, email usage, and problem solver can go away too, they are blaringly general.
–Be Detailed: Never use general information and vague keywords when you can be precise or explain something in a reasonably short bullet point. However, let’s not use too short of a bullet point. For instance, I see the following constantly on resumes: “Answer Phones.” That isn’t a bullet point, it is a very short statement. Here is a bullet that describes answering phones. Answer five-line phone system, including distribution of calls to appropriate parties, and fielding of general inquiries. A five-line phone system is a whole different animal, and tells a potential employer that the company you worked for was probably very busy, and you had a lot phone calls to manage. The other merely says you know how to answer a phone. In this case, more is better. Avoid one and two word bullet points, they tell the reader nothing.
–Use of Responsibilities or Duties include: Okay, I will come find you and tear up your resume if you use these phrases to begin a bullet point. HR hates them, recruiters hate them, resume writers hate them. Why, because they are overused! Enough said, find a thesaurus for better action verbs.
–Unprofessional Email: I actually saw this email address on a resume at a career fair – CMYNPPLRNG, yes, it says “see my nipple ring” in vanity plate parlance. Also avoid your name and the year you were born – let’s not just give things away. How about using your name and the last four digits of your phone number or the numbers in your home address?
–Professional development or civic and professional memberships: Want to provide meaning to your professional development, and professional and civic involvement, put a year, or year-to-year with it. The date offers context to the reader as to how relevant and recent it is in your career.
–Outdated professional development: Do you really remember that 1995 Project Management course – probably not. So, instead go with the last 10 years, and only list the best of the best. You can always take an addendum to the interview with a comprehensive listing of professional development, if in the last 10 years there are copious amounts.
Space is precious on a resume, whether you have a one-page or three-page document, you want everything on the document to be useful to the reader. Remember, if your resume makes it past the ATS, and the initial 10-15 second screening, it will be read – make it all count!
Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 30-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.
Proofing a resume or cover letter both for the writer or the numerous friends and family who often review, can be a daunting task. You want that document to be perfect. You’ve heard that one mistake could cost you a job. First, let’s do away with that myth. Thinking that someone is taking your one, two or three-page resume and cover letter, reading it, and then dismissing you from consideration for one error somewhere in the middle the document typically doesn’t happen. Nearly every resume I review for client companies or at career fairs has a couple of errors in it, and this is after a person has typically done multiple reviews and had others review it multiple times. Most hiring managers and HR personnel reading the document are first doing an initial scan if it gets through the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Then, only if you make it into the “qualified” pile they will actually read it. To be truthful, that reading, while more detailed, is not for spotting every error in the document unless those errors are jumping out at them!
Most people reading your resume understand there may be a minor error or two. I assure you their resume probably has typos in it too. Add to that some of the strange things an ATS can do to the document, like inserting weird characters where they don’t belong, or changing all you letter “d’s” to “g’s,” which does happen, and now your potentially perfect document is inaccurate, or at least peculiar looking! That is not your fault and something readers on the other side of the ATS need to understand. What they don’t want to see are glaring errors, like your name or the company name misspelled, bad grammar, missing or incorrect punctuation, erroneous or misspelled industry terminology and acronyms, and overused action words.
So, how do proof your own writing? First, walk away from that document. It doesn’t matter if it is a resume, cover letter, reference list, reference letter, or any other career related information, you need to step away before reviewing it. Don’t write a resume that can impact your ability to get a job and then feel the need to send it out the same night. You will regret it most every time. Come back the next day and read it again with fresh eyes. Then walk away again for a few hours, come back and reread. Now walk away again, come back and read that document to yourself out loud. This allows you to catch syntax errors – those sentences and phrases that just don’t “sound” right. Sometimes what sounds great when reading it “in your head” doesn’t quite work when you read it out loud. Lastly, read it backwards. Yep, I said backwards. Certainly this seems laborious, but it actually allows you to catch additional errors like missing punctuation, misspelled industry or technical terminology, company names, and occasional repeated words like “the the,” more easily. When you read it back to front, the “reading what you think you wrote” issue goes out the window. How it sounds isn’t important at this point. Reading in reverse is all about spelling and punctuation.
As a final thought, know that regardless of how many times or how carefully you read your resume or cover letter for errors, we are still human, and so are your family and friends. You still just might have missed something. My feeling is that if a person reading your resume doesn’t understand that every once in a while we make errors – then that person or organization may have larger issues. Primarily having a mindset that says you can’t ever make an error. Typically these organizations will also give you the work of three people, demand you get it done with no overtime or constant forced overtime, or put you on salary so you can work 90 hours a week. If you misspelled your name, company name, or something painfully obvious on the resume, like writing HIPAA with two “p’s ,” then take your medicine (sorry, couldn’t resist the healthcare pun). However, if in the middle of the document you used “united” and accidentally spelled “untied” or Microsoft Word just didn’t catch a misspelling, and that is their major determining factor in an interview or hiring decision, consider yourself lucky. They may have saved you another job search.
Karen Silins is a multi-certified, award winning resume writer, career, business and personal branding coach working with individuals and small businesses. After graduating with degrees in education and vocal performance, she made her own career transition into the Human Resources realm. Karen left Human Resources to become an entrepreneur and help jobseekers and fellow entrepreneurs achieve their goals. She keeps current regarding trends in the resume writing, coaching, HR, small business and marketing industries by working daily with individual clients on resume development and career coaching, consulting for small businesses in business plan development, marketing, blogging, hiring and overall HR processes, and providing 30-70+ seminars and workshops annually to a variety of organizations in the greater Kansas City area. She can be reached via her website at www.careerandresume.com.
Job Search
Let me start this blog post with a personal remark – I like functional resumes as part of a marketing package for clients, but I also understand the reality of how they are viewed, thus this article. A general resume with no focus aside, the most common mistake I see when critiquing resumes at a job fair or seminars/workshops is the functional resume format. While functional resumes are certainly not the evil incarnate some make them out to be, and can be a nice addition of marketing material to a job search, they are problematic for the great majority of jobseekers. Don’t take my word for it, recently I asked an HR and Recruiting Roundtable group directly what they liked and disliked about functional resumes. Unfortunately there was nothing they liked. The group came up with ZERO reasons for liking a functional resume. This group however did give many reasons why they disliked a functional resume format – here are some paraphrased quotes from that conversation:
1) Functional resumes don’t work effectively in the ATS (applicant tracking system). Anytime you apply online, and either browse and attach your resume, or copy and paste your resume into a job board or employer career site, you are using an ATS. These systems work by utilizing keyword and key phrase searches and specific algorithms for searching documents including reverse chronology of your employment (the preferred format) with accompanying bullet points. If you use a functional format the algorithms can’t “locate” your employment info and bullet points together and thus only your employer, job title and employment dates show up and all those bullet points most likely get skipped.
2) HR, Hiring Managers and Recruiters want to see your career progression. Just having a list of skills within a few bulleted points followed by a separate section with employer, job titles and dates provides no context for where or how you acquired your abilities, or how you used them in a given job. Ultimately the reader has no idea where you obtained a given skillset as all bulleted points are lumped under one area of experience or a few general headings of expertise.
3) Savvy readers think you are hiding something, including long-term unemployment, several employment gaps, or outdated experience.
4) It screams to any HR Manager, Hiring Manager or Recruiter that you are unemployed or a career-changer.
5) Functional formats tend to have mostly general statements instead of detail in how you used a competency or skill in the workplace and how it benefited an organization.
6) Hides your employers, job titles and dates of employment at the bottom of the page as if you are ashamed of where you worked.
7) Typically only a one-pager, and despite all those rumors of the one-page rule, for most jobseekers these do not provide enough information for the interviewer to determine you are a qualified candidate. Most jobseekers have two or three-page resumes.
8) Recruiters use Boolean searches for keywords and key phrases, and since most functional resumes just have a “bullet point” section and are often one-pagers, they lack detail. So, the ability to be seen in these searches with the necessary repeated keywords, key phrases and appropriate detail throughout the bulleted points will be limited or non-existent.
Ultimately the ATS is one of the biggest reasons to use the preferred reverse chronological format. I have access to some of these systems and when a functional resume is utilized the system simply doesn’t know what to do with it and deletes a bunch of your career information – all that hard work to write a resume, and most of your important career information never makes it past the system. So, if the systems you are applying to online like reverse chronological formats, and detect your resume information in an expected order which includes employer/company name, job title, dates of employment and bulleted points with keywords and key phrases, why would you give it any other format? I always tell my clients and seminar/workshop participants “play to the crowd.” The crowd in this instance is the ATS and it wants reverse chronological. Furthermore we know HR Managers, Hiring Managers and Recruiters prefer the reverse chronological format, so why not provide them what they want. I know this won’t end the debate about functional formats, but the facts are painfully obvious. Use a functional resume for a one-page marketing document, possibly in lieu of a business card, and use the reverse chronological for the rest of your job search.
Job Interview
This was my recent answer on a Goggle+ thread as to whether the resume is dead: