I ran across a great video today by Marty Nemko, career coach and contributing editor for U.S. News and World Report, on writing resumes.  Marty offers some great advice to job seekers on ways to make your resume stand out.  I agree with everything he says.

Below are the highlights, but the video is short and worth the watch.

• Target the employer to which you are sending your resume.  One resume may not work for every situation.
• Use a chronological resume, not a functional resume.
• Tell a couple of good 3-4 sentence success stories in your resume.
• Do a video intro.
• Write a white paper to highlight your ideas.

Labels: branding, careers, Job Hunting, Job Search, Resumes

Last week I asked this question on Twitter and LinkedIn, "What should job seekers leave OFF of their resume?"  As of this writing, this question has generated 44 responses from recruiting, career, HR, and resume professionals and hiring managers.  The number one thing that was suggested to leave off of your resume is something that most job seekers simply put on there because that's how it has traditionally been done.  I'm talking about the Objective at the top of your resume. 

These days, if your resume is not laser focused on the job for which you are applying there is a good chance it will not make the cut.  An ambiguous Objective statement right at the top of your resume does nothing for that focus.  Career coach Ann-Marie Ditta suggested leaving off  "An objective that states "looking for a growth oriented opportunity where I can use my skills and experience" So what, it says nothing to the hiring manager other than you are desperate, self focused, or need a career coach. Avoid cutesy email addresses. "

Veteran recruiter Michael Kelemen, (AKA the Recruiting Animal) concurred with nixing the Objective, "I would leave off the OBJECTIVE or SUMMARY if they are just filled with hackneyed stuff like telling me they're results-oriented, time-sensitive workers. I've actually asked people for evidence of these claims. They tend to be shocked and angered by the question - again because they just mindlessly put down what some ancient resume book tells them to."

David Graziano, Darryl Dioso, Michael Keane, Andy Lester, Eric Thomas, Courtney Wunderlich, Tiffany Skoog, and Mike Avillion all agreed on eliminating the Objective.  There were only a couple of respondents who disagreed.  One caveat may be for a new grad for whom it's not obvious what they are seeking in a career.  But in general, I think if you are going to put anything in that top spot, it should be something of a positioning statement that speaks directly to the job description and includes every keyword in the employer's requirements.  If you don't have the background to back that up, you may not be a fit for the job.  Absolutely do not put anything there that is ambiguous.  When in doubt, leave it out.

The other main suggestion that was conveyed by the respondents is that job seekers should leave anything off of their resume that does not directly relate to the job at hand.  I think that is clear enough and covers quite a bit.  Less is more.  Bill Vick, author, and founder of ExtremeRecruiting.TV, suggests even that the resume itself is one of the smaller tools in a successful job search.    

"I think what should be included is as important to look at as what should be left off.

Too often smart, brainy and talented people forget what brought them to the party in the first place and spend so much time dinking around with their resume they seem to forget people hire people - not resumes.

Like driving your car glance in back of you as you drive down that road to your next job but concentrate on what's ahead and tell 'future' stories of what you can do - not what you have done. Telling is not selling and ultimately over 70% of all hires are done because of a reference or relationship. Focus on those, not your resume."

Thank you to all those who responded to this question, making this great list possible.

The top 10 things to leave OFF of your resume. 

10. Religious or Political Affiliations

9. Toastmasters

8. Hobbies

7. Photos

6. MENSA

5. Compensation

4. Family Info (Marital Status, Children, Pets)

3. References Available Upon Request

2. Anything not relevant to the position for which you are applying

1. Objective

View the full list of responses here.  What's your opinion?  Would love to hear your comments.

 

View additional comments at the RecruitingBlogs.com posting of this article:  http://www.recruitingblogs.com/top-10-things-to-leave-off-of-your-resume

Labels: careers, Hiring, interview tips, Job Hunting, jobs, LinkedIn, Recruiting, Resumes, Social Media, Twitter

A Twitter friend was having trouble with the shortened URLs of 3 job search articles I posted there, so I am posting the full URLs here for his and anyone else's convenience.

Your Next Employer Wants to Know: Where in Google Is That Guy?

http://articlemarketer.com/b2/b/article_marketer_blog.php/2009/02/18/your-next-employer-wants-to-know-where-i

How Adding a Tailored Sound Bite to My Resume Doubled Interview Requests

http://personalbrandingblog.com/how-adding-a-tailored-sound-bite-to-my-resume-doubled-interview-requests/

Help prospective employers find you

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=542

Labels: branding, careers, jobs, Resumes, Social Networking, Twitter

These are from a list posted by Dmitri Davydov on Madconomist.com.  They are pretty funny and I can attest to the fact that people really do put some really stupid stuff on their resumes.  I wonder sometimes if these people ever even read their own resumes.  Many I get from people claiming to be experts in software architecture, or even from C and D level executives still have "12/1992 - Present" on a position that was 5 jobs ago.

If you are a job seeker, do yourself a favor and have a friend proofread your resume before you send it to anyone, even a recruiter.  Because, believe it or not, even though the recruiter may help you with your resume, they will still think that you should pay more attention to detail and may form a negative impression of you if your resume lacks polish.  Remember, your resume is often the first impression that someone has of you.  And these days when we should all have most of our resume online at LinkedIn or elsewhere, it is particularly important to make sure everything is up to date and that those typos are caught and eliminated.

None of this is made up. People really did put this stupid crazy (stuff) on their resumes or job applications.

1. I am very detail-oreinted.

2. My intensity and focus are at inordinately high levels, and my ability to complete projects on time is unspeakable.

3. Thank you for your consideration. Hope to hear from you shorty!

4. Enclosed is a ruff draft of my resume.

5. It's best for employers that I not work with people.

6. Here are my qualifications for you to overlook.

7. I am a quick leaner, dependable, and motivated.

8. If this resume doesn't blow your hat off, then please return it in the enclosed envelope.

9. My fortune cookie said, "Your next interview will result in a job." And I like your company in particular.

10. I saw your ad on the information highway, and I came to a screeching halt.

11. Insufficient writing skills, thought processes have slowed down some. If I am not one of the best, I will look for another opportunity.

12. Please disregard the attached resume-it is terribly out of date.

13. Seek challenges that test my mind and body, since the two are usually inseparable.

14. Graduated in the top 66% of my class.

15. Reason for leaving last job: The owner gave new meaning to the word paranoia. I prefer to elaborate privately.

16. Previous experience: Self-employed-a fiasco.

17. Exposure to German for two years, but many words are inappropriate for business.

18. Experience: Watered, groomed, and fed the family dog for years.

19. I am a rabid typist.

20. I have a bachelorette degree in computers.

21. Excellent memory; strong math aptitude; excellent memory; effective management skills; and very good at math.

22. Strengths: Ability to meet deadlines while maintaining composer.

23. I worked as a Corporate Lesion.

24. Reason for leaving last job: Pushed aside so the vice president's girlfriend could steal my job.

25. Married, eight children. Prefer frequent travel.

26. Objective: To have my skills and ethics challenged on a daily basis.

27. Special skills: Thyping.

28. My ruthlessness terrorized the competition and can sometimes offend.

29. I can play well with others.

30. Personal Goal: To hand-build a classic cottage from the ground up using my father-in-law.

31. Objective: I want a base salary of $50-$60,000 dollars, not including bonus. And some decent benefits. Like a retirement plan, health insurance, personal or sick days.

32. Experience: Provided correct answers to customers' questions.

33. Education: Graduated from predatory school with honors.

34. Never been fired, although it could happen anytime now.

35. I have happily been a "kept man" for the past 10 years.

36. Have extensive experience in turkey manufactures as well as new product development and implementation.

37. I am accustomed to speaking in front of all kinds of audiences. I make points as well as I can.

38. Personal: Five children. Dog: Jasper. Cat: Morris. Gerbil: Binky.

39. While in military, was instrumental in creation of a treat detection system.

40. My compensation package at my last job included a base salary of $64,500 with excellent benefits including flextime. I am looking for a position in which I can work a more flexible schedule.

41. Hire me and you won't regret it - I am funny, cute, smart and creative. really.

42. Referees available upon request.

43. Previous rank: Senior instigator.

44. I have recently sold my home and I now live in a large RV so I will be able to relocate quickly.

45. Reason for leaving: They stopped paying me.

46. Cover letter: Desire the chance to showcase my delightful personality, intelligence and superior judgment, which are so hard to find these days.

47. Personal achievements: Successfully played "Chop Sticks" on a toy piano with my big toes.

48. Objective: To obtain a position where I can make a difference, infecting others with my professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication.

49. Strengths: Impersonal skills.

50. Special interests: I like any projects that are fun.

51. Please explain any breaks in your employment career: 15 minute coffee break while working at a home improvement store.

52. Vocational plans: Sea World.

Labels: careers, Funny, Resumes

Great post from CareerFire.com

by GUEST BLOGGER on JANUARY 4, 2009

Today's career environment is different, at least for the information workers. What's different is that there are more ways to influence getting a job than in the past. You probably already know that the old saying is true: "it's not what you know; it's who you know." Well, the people you know has expanded a bit, thanks to social networks, and what people know about you has grown, too, thanks in part to the various tools you can employ in social media.

What follows are some ideas on building your online presence with your career in mind.

Your Blog Is A Resume

If you've not considered this yet, let me explain that my blog has been responsible for HUNDREDS of inquiries over the years. Why? Because people who might want to know about using video, or blogging, or making podcasts, or tying this all together into a strategy see examples, almost daily, of what I think, what I know, and how I've accomplished some of this in my own life and career.

Blogging about this stuff is like writing out my experience for a resume line by line. (Only less boring).

Use These Tools For You

The story of our work lives, and the story of what we do after work when we're expressing our passion can now be captured in ways we didn?t have available to us before. With free tools, free or inexpensive distribution, you can share your accomplishments with the world, and with Google, which most prospective employees use as a matter of course these days in their hiring diligence.

Elements To Consider

Once you start thinking that way, about your blog as a way for people to know more about you, what you stand for, who you are, you might consider doing a few things.

• Consider adding a picture of you on the main page. I admit that I take this to the extreme, but whatever. You won't ever NOT recognize me at a conference or a social event, and that's my goal.
• Make your ABOUT page robust. I write a lot about who I am, where to find me, what I am passionate about, and other things on my about page. In my case, I even have a speaking page, so that people know what I speak about at events (or some of what I speak about).
• Make it easy to contact you. My email is right there on the blog, as well as my phone number. People use them both all the time, and these bring me interesting opportunities that don't always land in the comments section.
• Consider WHAT you talk about in your blog. Even if you don't consider your blog your resume, Google will help your prospective employers figure out your web presence.

The Social Media Resume

Listing your previous jobs and titles is not nearly a full picture of who you are, what you know, what you're capable of, and who you know. There are other ways to do this. You might want to give more thought to posting more information about you online. There are ways to do this that don't seem as threatening to current employers, by the way.

If you haven't considered using LinkedIN, that's a baseline. But LinkedIN is still a resume of sorts, only with a few (really useful) features added in. LinkedIN can be explained to wary employers as a way to network with fellow professionals in your field and to find people who share interests. But don't stop there.

A few people have talked about a social media resume. My first exposure to it was Bryan Person's post about it, with a link to his own social media resume. I've not employed this specifically, because I feel my profile on LinkedIN covers all that ground, but I could see someone choosing to split out their professional credentials from their social media experience, and then this would be the right tool.

Social Networks for Networking

First, I have to say that I have a problem with the notion of traditional networking, in the social sense. I perceive networking to mean those cocktail gatherings where you stand around and ask each other what you can do for each other. Though I understand it's usually genuine in intent, I've rarely found the right kind of relationship by doing the cursory dance at these events. Too shallow for my tastes.

Online social networks are different, insofar as we have the opportunity to know more about someone through repeated interactions. If you and I are friends on Twitter, I get to see what you deem interesting enough to post into a box. If we're friends on Facebook, I might learn a LOT about your interests and the like from what you put on your profile, which groups you belong to, your other posted media.

One more thing about Facebook: the repeat question of whether or not it's for business is only coming from people who aren't in there messing around with it. It's not the best thing in the world for businesses, and I can tell you lots of things I hate about it, but it's a way to find a more enriched profile of someone than what you get on LinkedIN, and that's the value statement there.

I think social networks, blogs, and all these various places like Seesmic, Utterli, Flickr , are great touchpoints to understanding someone's personal interests, tastes, and learn about their professional proclivities as well.

The Bonus Round

You might consider putting up a video about yourself. There's something different and more intimate about making video, and people can see even more about who you are, how you act, in a video.

One friend, Ben Yoskovitz, made a startup out of the idea of video in recruiting. It's brilliant, really, because it adds that piece that's missing.

And making video isn't especially hard these days. You can use a Flip video camera and pop a video onto YouTube without a lot of effort.

Now, making a GOOD video is another matter altogether, but then you might consider getting some help from a local expert. I've got friends in video all over the place, so if you want a little help with that, let me know.

A Note About WHERE To Find Jobs

This has changed a great deal over the last few years. Popular blogs and websites now have their own job boards (37 Signals, TechCrunch, and tons of other places, for instance). It's not just the world of Monster or HotJobs. Now, people and individuals are becoming hubs for jobs. Oh, and don't forget Craigslist.

At any one time, I have someone pinging me for either a social media position that's open, or a software engineer, or someone with an Internet skillset that isn't easy to find by sifting through resumes. So, be attentive to that as well. Sometimes, jobs aren't circulating in the traditional places, so the folks who might want to find you, are the same ones spending time online.

This post is part of a series by Chris Brogan, a social media expert, and is taken from his eBook titled Using the Social Web to Find Work.

Labels: blogging, branding, careers, FACEBOOK, Flickr, jobs, LinkedIn, Resumes, Social Media, Social Networking, web2.0

I have collected the most clicked upon recent links that I have shared on Twitter about interviewing and job searches as compiled by Tweetburner.

There is some great info in these articles.  Hope you find them helpful.  If you want to tune in for these links in real-time you can follow me on Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/fishdogs, where I am always sharing great career, hiring, marketing, and branding tips daily.  I will continue to list them here as well. 

Let me know what you think.

1. fishdogs: Life after layoffs: How to move forward after a job loss: http://twurl.nl/qxv5vj

2. Preparing For Your Next Job (Hint: start now) http://twurl.nl/qiq8y8

3. Happy Thursday good Twittizens: Do You Want Your Executive Resume to Generate More Interviews? http://twurl.nl/i31k2g

4. In Depth Interview Preparation and Checklists: http://twurl.nl/tekq3w

5. 8 Job Interview Tips: http://twurl.nl/vrccwv

6. Looking: Applying, Follow-Ups, and Interviews: http://twurl.nl/ns5zyf

7. Phone Interview Tips for Entry Level Job Seekers: http://twurl.nl/sc7tyh

8. The Idiotic Things People Say in Interviews : http://twurl.nl/d78rc1

9. How To Prepare for a Newspaper Interview: http://twurl.nl/cakyus

10. Pour some sugar on my . . .job search.  http://tinyurl.com/6mh9l4

11. Job seekers, don't take December off, experts advise:http://twurl.nl/sa0hlv

12. The Importance of Interview Practice: http://tinyurl.com/6rrdoe

13. Resumes and Interviews: A Thin Line Between Embellishment and Lies:http://twurl.nl/8ixvg5

14. Can social networking hurt your job prospects? Or help them?http://twurl.nl/tbvalr

Labels: branding, careers, Hiring, interview tips, jobs, Resumes, Twitter

As a veteran of the recruiting industry I look at resumes every day.  Dozens of resumes.  Dozens of cover letters.  Most are very generic and appear to be intended for a mass email audience.  This is a big mistake, whether you are sending the resume to a staffing firm, or directly to an employer.  Recruiters in staffing firms have the same reaction as hiring managers and recruiters in corporations.  Generic cover letters and untargeted resumes often go to the bottom of the pile, added to a database and forgotten, or sent to the deleted items folder.

An article in the Interview Edge Blog entitled How Easy is it For Someone to Hire You? has some great suggestions to follow the requested protocol and target your approach to those who may help you get hired.

"many candidates make it simple for hiring managers to exclude them from consideration.

Worse yet, this often occurs very early in the process.

Don’t let it happen to you. Today we’ll focus on things you can do at the initial stages to improve your prospects.

Follow Instructions
Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Yet you might be surprised how frequently candidates fail to comply with directions.

Consider the application. Complete the entire form accurately and as indicated. If you’re doing this offline and are asked to print, for example, don’t submit something written in cursive. Don’t leave fields blank. If you’re asked to insert your resume in the body of the email, don’t ignore the request and send it as an attachment instead.

Avoid Sloppy Mistakes With Your Resume
• Proof it – more than once – and have someone else proof it, also. Don’t rely on spell check. Spell check won’t catch the fact that you used the word “their” when you really meant “there.”  Spell check won’t catch all consistency errors – like the fact that you switched between present and past tense from one sentence to the next.

• Next, make sure you’re sending your resume to the correct person. If Paul Adams is the hiring manager, but you mistakenly send your information to Sue Richardson, you’re not helping your cause.

• Send it to a person…not “Dear Hiring Manager.”

• If you’re sending a lot of resumes, keep track of what you’re doing. Make sure what’s inside the envelope matches what’s on the outside (i.e. Sue Richardson shouldn’t open the envelope to find a letter addressed to Paul Adams – at another company!). Same thing with email. If the body of the message opens with a cover letter to Sue, you’d better be sure you’re sending it to her email address.

• Make sure you’ve included your contact information – it should be easy for the hiring manager to get in touch with you. That means you need to provide them with multiple options: email, phone, physical address.

In addition, you should always include a cover letter with your resume. Even if you’re submitting your information electronically, add a cover. These few paragraphs are a golden opportunity to get your foot in the door. This is your sales letter – use it to capture the reader’s attention, communicate your unique selling proposition, and convince her to read your resume. "

Labels: careers, Hiring, jobs, Resumes

Executive Recruiter Herman Collins has some no-nonsense resume tips.

by qpk8rX5

My cousin came to me a while back upset about his resume. He had paid a professional over $300 to have a great resume written. But after sending out dozens of copies, he still had not been granted any interviews. He was blaming the resume and was disappointed with the person he paid to write it.

My cousin calmed down after I explained that the writer was not really the problem. The resume was well written, but a well written resume is not necessarily a great resume.

What a resume can not do, no matter who writes it, is guarantee you interviews. And the whole point of your effort is to get interviewed so that you can get a job offer. A great resume is one that gets you the interview you want.

The problem is that the definition of a great resume is completely different for recruiters and hiring managers than it is for most job seekers. A well written resume can help alleviate your anxiety that somehow you are going to lose an interview opportunity because your resume is not perfectly written. The truth is, you lose interview opportunities most often because your experience does not closely fit the job.

If your resume is clear, concise and without noticeable inaccuracies then it is sufficiently written from the perspective of style and form. But recruiters are mostly interested in content.

Here is the precious secret to a great resume. A great resume reads like the job description! That is it. That is everything. For a hiring manager or recruiter a particular resume is great simply because it matches the job requirements to a tee. Not because the formatting is perfect, or the grammar professorial or the syntax is flawless.

A great resume stands out like a Masai at a Pygmy party. You can not miss it. When reading your resume, if the recruiter does not see a close fit in the first third to half a page, they will not read too much further. However, if they see a good fit they will read it with glee, like it is a treasure map.

Put your resume to the test. Have some friends look at the job description of the position you are interested in carefully alongside your resume. Is there any doubt in their minds when reading both documents together that your background is a close fit?

Most likely your resume will not contain the exact sentences and verbiage as the job description. The key is that they are nearly equal in the very essence of the requirements listed.

If after reading your resume, your friends begin asking you for explanations or clarifications, then there is doubt. Perhaps you are not a close fit for that particular job. If you are a close fit but your resume does not clearly reflect this, then you will need to rewrite the resume.

You may have to customize your resume almost every time you send it out. Not to mislead anyone about your experience, but to emphasize the areas of your background which are most important in that particular job description. If you are paying a writer to do your resume, insist they create one that you can easily customize.

If you have a resume closely matches the job description, then for that particular position, you probably have written a great resume. If there is any doubt, then perhaps all you have is a well-written resume.

About the Author

Herman Collins is an acclaimed executive recruiter and known around the globe as The Job Search Specialist. His proven job hunting strategies have helped 1,000 's . Go to: http://www.realjobtips.com to discover how to put his free powerful tips to use!

Article Source: Content for Reprint

Labels: careers, jobs, Resumes

I have been running across so many good articles with resume tips lately.  I pass most of these along on Twitter.  But I thought it would be a good idea to start compiling them in a post here every once in a while.  I will do additional posts like this with interview and job hunting articles.  You can also find additional resume tips in my blog post on the Best Modern Resumes.

These are the resume articles that I found were most worthy of late.  Hope you find some advice here that you can use.  -CF

Is that a gap in your resume? http://twurl.nl/3vspyx

5 Ways to Drastically Improve Your Resume in 10 Minutes: http://snipr.com/5heod

Are you sure your resume is accurate? Funny Job Search Article - http://snipr.com/5d8ar

A Unique Cover Letter Tip for a Tough Job Market http://snipr.com/5d43r

Answers to Some of the Most Frequently Asked Resume Questions http://snipr.com/5cebs

Renew your resume and get ahead: http://snipr.com/4jxwx

Labels: branding, Resumes

Your Brand In a Nutshell (Personal Branding Statement)

Yahoo HotJobs' has a nice piece by Joe Turner of JobChangeSecrets.com on Four Ways to Improve Your Resume.

Number 3 is, you guessed it, your Personal Branding Statement.  Joe suggests a 1 sentence description that shows how you are unique from other applicants.

I would recommend adding your personal branding statement to your LinkedIn profile, your blog, etc.  These are the other places that a good recruiter might find you when performing in a candidate search.

Joe also makes a good point here about keywords in your resume.  Again, the same applies to your LinkedIn profile, etc.  There is more about this in my article on Best Modern Resumes.

Bottom line, great article that any job seeker should read. -CF

Joe Turner

Four Ways to Improve Your Resume

Labels: branding, Resumes

One page or two? Functional or Historical? What is the best Brand of Resume for me?

This week Jonathan Schneider, owner of The AFTERLIFE creative design firm, posed a question on LinkedIn asking what is the best format for the modern resume. There were many great answers. But the overriding opinion was that a resume needs to be detailed and historical and you shouldn't worry about how many pages it takes to make it so. This was my answer:

This is a great question. I have been recruiting I.T. pro's, Creatives, and Executives for many years. I tell them all the same thing. The key is in getting the resume in front of the person who will make a hiring decision. So unless you have a personal relationship with that person, someone has to first "find" your resume. That could be the hiring manager, an HR person, or a recruiter.

For most people, submitting your resume to a want ad tends to be kind of a black hole. So your resume has to have enough info to get a decently high search ranking wherever it is posted. Don't have a posted resume? That's okay, LinkedIn ranks very high in search rankings if you have the proper key words worked into your profile.

For the resume proper, 1 page, 2 pages? The answer is put down as much as it takes to get your job history down. Give detailed descriptions for the last 10 or so years, then list the companies and job titles beyond that.

Just putting down the names of the companies and a title for all jobs won't do. When scanning a resume (and that's usually all that happens) the reviewer generally looks for:

1)keywords that apply to the job for which they are hiring
2)job titles
3)specific duties as they apply to the job
4)job history
5)overall tenure

Functional resumes are nice, but won't tell the whole story. Many companies have a specific profile by which they like to hire. You can't get that from a functional resume. Put the functional part up front in your summary and accomplishments. Then list the job history as stated above.

A designed resume is fine. You at least want a resume that looks professional. But many times, the resume that ends up in front of the hiring manager has been stripped of that formatting. If you want to show off your design abilities then list a link to your web site. This is highly recommended for creatives.

Don't tease with only minimal info. But don't list a whole page for one job either. 1 or 2 solid paragraphs and some bullet points is good. Talk of your specific duties. Okay, you were an Art Director. But that means different things in different companies. Were you in charge of photo shoots? Did you do any broadcast work? Do you do hands on design?

You want your resume to serve two purposes. Get you noticed and found, and tell your story. Key words and specifics. Make sure your story is told well and you'll make the cut if you are right for the job.
Hope this helps.

LinkedIn: Answers: More questions and debate on modern résumés.

Labels: branding, Resumes