Career Related Tips newsletter

CAREER RELATED TIPS

Bryan Thorby Publisher webmaster@career-related.com http://career-related.com

Date: November 9, 2005

Welcome to This Edition

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In This Issue:

Thoughts of the Day

Article : How to Avoid Job Search Pain By Kevin Donlin

Article : 7 Ways to Make Your Resume Do Its Job By Steve Schwarzman

Article : Career Tip: Your Lifestyle Affects Your Job Choice! By Paul Bowley

Disclaimer & Privacy Statement

I hope all is well with you.

Lets talk briefly about some types of interviews you could get involved with.

Some first interviews are merely screening exercises to determine a final shortlist of applicants. The interviews are primarily concerned with establishing the validity of your credentials - qualifications, skills, experience, etc.

Screening interviewers are looking to see if you have the appropriate background.

A selection interview process could entail more than one interview, depending on the seniority of the position.

The criteria being evaluated in a selection interview is different from a screening interview, as your credentials have already been established. The selection interviews focuses more on personality, compatibility, enthusiasm, sincerity, motivation, etc.

A panel can range from 2 to 10 people. Usually three or four.

Panel interviews are more formal and a lot more structured than Screening and Selection interviews.

In one panel interview I had a few years back involved most of the staff - about 12 people and most were asking questions.

All the best,

Bryan

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Thoughts of the Day

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." -- Maya Angelou

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -- Lou Holtz

Article

How to Avoid Job Search Pain copyright © by Kevin Donlin

As a child, did you ever touch a hot stove or stick your finger in a light socket? If so, you likely never did so again, right? Pain is a powerful teacher.

A poorly executed job search can be painful, too. And it can offer powerful lessons, if you know where to look.

"Sally" from California is in pain from her job search, one you can learn a lot from, because she's making so many (correctable) mistakes.

Here's her story ...

Sally writes: "I have been trying for over a year to get a job on a cruise ship as cruise consultant. Could you please read my resume and give me some advice on how to break into the cruise ship market?"

First, I hope I'm not the first person Sally has asked for help after floundering for more than 12 months. If the phone isn't ringing after 12 days of sending out resumes, you should look for assistance right then, and nip problems in the bud.

Second, if you're trying to break into a new industry, as Sally is doing, it pays to have friends on the inside who can introduce you to hiring authorities. Otherwise, you're reduced to hoping that someone you don't know will notice your resume and take a chance on hiring you -- not good odds.

So tilt the playing field in your favor by making and using contacts with people who work in your target industry.

Let's say Sally wants a job at Carnival Cruise Lines, for example. She could first send an email to all her friends, relatives, neighbors, et al, asking for an introduction to anyone they know who works at Carnival.

Next, she could join a social networking web site like Ryze.com or LinkedIn.com. A quick search at LinkedIn.com turned up 27 people in my network (I'm a member) with a tie to Carnival Cruise Lines, including one Carnival employee. Paydirt!

Sending an email request to my network of contacts might start a relationship that leads to an interview. I like those odds better than sending my resume to the Carnival HR Department -- a live person always trumps a cold email.

OK, we've determined that Sally (and you) should never wait a year to make course corrections in a job search. And that it's best to network into a target company or industry, rather than simply sending out resumes.

Next, let's talk about resumes.

We'll use Sally's as an example - because it manages to do almost everything wrong. There's a lot to learn from her resume, which I'll try to dissect here. Warning: This will get bloody.

1) The opening of the resume works as a sort of speed bump, bringing readers to a screeching halt. It's long on big words and short on clear meaning.

Why should any employer call Sally after reading this first section? See for yourself:

EXCEPTIONAL LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATIONAL, ORAL/WRITTEN COMMUNICATION, INTERPERSONAL, ANALYTICAL, AND PROBLEM RESOLUTION SKILLS. THRIVE IN BOTH INDEPENDENT AND COLLABORATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENTS.

2) The layout of the entire resume is flawed, because the entire resume is written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, which are better suited for NO TRESPASSING signs or military requisition forms.

Example: PROFESSIONALLY COMMITTED AND RESPONSIBLE. ADAPT EASILY TO NEW SITUATIONS. SUCCESSFULLY HANDLE A WIDE RANGE OF FUNCTIONS USING A COMBINATION OF CREATIVE, ORGANIZATIONAL AND WRITING SKILLS.

ALL CAPITAL LETTERS (LIKE THIS) ARE PROVABLY HARDER TO READ than standard punctuation (like this). So write like this. (More on capital letters and readability here - www.webstyleguide.com/type/case.html)

3) Another layout glitch involves the bullet points in Sally's resume. There are none.

As a result, readers are forced to hack their way through a dense thicket of verbal underbrush in search of meaning. Example:

RAISED PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT THE DESTINATION SERVICES AT AN AVERAGE OF 30% ANNUALLY THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FIRST STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS PLAN / INCREASED PARTICIPATION IN THE DESTINATION SERVICES BY 50% THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROGRAM OUTREACH PLAN /

Sally could dramatically increase the readability of her text by breaking it up into shorter sentences set off by bullet points, and including the year of each accomplishment, for more credibility. Examples:

* Maximized revenue by raising consumer awareness of destination services 30% per year, on average, after developing first communications plan (2005). * Increased participation in destination services 50% by developing and setting up program outreach plan (2004).

There are more problems -- many more -- but you get the idea. This resume needs help.

Sally's job search is a painful struggle right now, largely because of her sub-standard resume, but also because she could be networking more effectively. Here's hoping your networking and resume will improve after learning from (and avoiding!) her mistakes!

Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes. Since 1996, he and his team have provided resumes, cover letters and online job-search assistance to clients in all 50 states and 23 countries. Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, CBS MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal's National Business Employment Weekly, CBS Radio, and many others.

For more information, click HERE http://career-related.com/apm/gresumes.htm

Article

7 Ways to Make Your Resume Do Its Job

By Steve Schwarzman

Job-seekers everywhere ask what hiring managers look for in a resume. While the answer varies per industry and position, here are some guidelines to follow - illustrated by some bloopers that show what NOT to do! (And yes, all of these gems are real, with only identifying details removed.)

Don't disqualify yourself

One resume I received for a writing position said "I have no writing experience at all, but I was born in Scotland." In other words, this person was telling me that, aside from speaking English, he or she had no qualifications for the job. You should never stretch your credentials beyond what they are, but don't do the opposite and make it clear to one and all that you can't do the job.

Use your resume to sell your strengths

One would-be writer said, "I am current responsible for standardizing." In other words, while this person saw herself as someone who could help an employer standardize the work of many people and processes, which is often a good thing, she undermined her claim by showing she didn't even standardize what she had written to the rules of grammar. (She should have said "currently.") So she got to stay current where she was!

Show you can do good work

In most documents you write, typos might not be critical. But on resumes, where you're trying to explain how good a worker you are, it's counter-productive if you don't check your work. One resume I received claimed the author was "Able to set and meet goals in a fast past environment." Now, "past" is a perfectly good word, but what he meant was "paced." And his spell-checker didn't catch the typo, since "past" is a word. So this resume announced to hiring managers "I don't check my work." Is that what you want to say on your resume?

Sell your skill set using logic

Sometimes people put silly things on their resumes that aren't incorrect and might even be true. But they're still mistakes, like the person who wrote, "Maintain 98% total quality accuracy." It was meant to sound good, but what it means is that she's promising to make errors 2% of the time. Maybe it's a matter of perspective, but 98% fat-free milk is another way of saying it has 2% fat. Sure, nobody's perfect, and you can't claim that you don't ever make mistakes. But if you want to sell a manager on how accurate you are, use logic, and come up with a better way to illustrate your obsession.

Tell me what you can do for me

While many people think the purpose of resumes is to say what you've done, the real purpose of a resume is to convince a manager that you can do what they need you to do. You should never, ever, stretch the truth, and you should never, ever, speak ill of your former or current employers. (Managers don't want to hire liars or back-stabbers.) So summarize the key elements in your previous work in an interesting way that shows how you tackle assignments. Write about what you did and how you did it. And you don't need to include belittling details, like the guy who wrote that the company he was trying to leave "is a company started by a friend of mine." What that told me is that the reason he got hired was because his friend, not him, had initiative and started a company, and worse, that he was paying back his friend by deserting him.

Don't overdo it

Stick to the facts and present them in a way that shows managers you can do the job. Give examples, preferably using numbers if that makes sense. And let the reader draw her own conclusions, unlike the resume that said, "I am superior at ...". I wanted to thank the writer for, um, sharing that information with me, but that's not someone I wanted on my team.

Write clearly

Whether you are a truck driver or a neurosurgeon, work on your resume until it's clear. Keep in mind that for most jobs, several different kinds of people will read your resume before you get an interview, ranging from secretaries to HR staff who may not know your professional jargon, to hiring managers who may or may not know the lingo of your specific profession. And please, skip the buzzwords of the day, unlike the candidate who wrote, "I am interested in a position where I can develop a synergistic relationship." She must have read somewhere that synergistic relationships were the buzzword du jour, but couldn't say on her resume just who or what she intended to develop such a relationship with.

Make your resume do its job

Your resume has a job - to get you an interview. So give your resume the ammunition it needs to get that job done: stick to the facts, present them clearly and persuasively, give examples of your accomplishments to show what makes you stand out, and ruthlessly hunt down any mistakes of typing, writing, fact, or logic. Do this, and your resume will start to work for you!

For more information, see http://www.techwritingjobs.com/career_books.htm

About the author: Steve Schwarzman is a technical writing consultant with over 15 years of experience. He writes for http://www.techwritingjobs.com a site devoted to tech writers and job searches, from which this article is adapted.

Article

Career Tip: Your Lifestyle Affects Your Job Choice!

By Paul Bowley

This career tip is for you . . . if you're serious about making a career or job change. Knowing your options and having a strategic plan are critical to your success in today's job marketplace.

For instance, according to recent reports, your lifestyle may seriously affect your career or job choice. Did you know that people without spouses or children will represent one of the fastest growing segments of the workplace population?

As a result, employment law experts warn that discrimination suits based on parental status are likely to emerge.

That's because in 2004 there were 46.4 never-married adults in the U.S.--more than double the number in 1970. The number of childless couples is expected to grow by 50% by 2010.

Already, people without spouses or children are seeking benefits better suited to their lifestyle. As a result, employers will have no choice but to explore a wider variety of work/life benefits instead of work/family benefits.

If you fall into these categories, your career planning should include these considerations. Earlier we reported that workplace privacy issues should also be part of your thinking. Checkout our website for more information on this emerging trend and how it impacts your job search.

For years EEI has recommended advance planning as a guarantee of solid and lucrative career growth. Our ground-breaking e-book, THE FAILSAFE CAREER, has been the career advancement bible for years. It shows you step-by-step how to explore all your options and then identify and go after the job that's just right for you.

Because of the emerging trends we noted, it's even more important than ever to stay on top of the latest strategies and techniques that can assure you of success in your career or job change.

So, the most important career tip of all: know what your needs and options are. Then take the time to identify opportunities that best correspond to those needs.

About the author: Paul Bowley manages EEI, the world-class pioneer in alternative job search techniques and non-traditional career advancement strategies . . . since 1985. Check out THE WORLD'S FASTEST JOB SEARCH SYSTEM! And grab our stunning FREE REPORT: "How To Lock Up A High-Paying Job In 14 Days (Or Less)!" http://www.fastest-job-search.com

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