MAC It Yourself?

Over the course of the last 7 business days I received 4 client resumes that looked virtually identical.  It turns out that each client had used the very same template from their respective Apple iMac computers.  One can only imagine how widespread computer resume template usage actually is!

As per my article on the Canadian job market becoming more competitive than it has ever been in recent times, how wise is it use one of the world's most common resume templates in your bid to distinguish yourself from your peers?

If a job vacancy is keenly contested and all of the candidates have a similar skillset, what will make YOU stand out from the crowd?  Resume content?  Of course!  Content is King.  However, resume design is particularly important in communicating that all important first impression.  If the hiring manager opens up your document to find an exact copy of the preceding resume template, what message does that convey?

Every client I work with has made the decision to seek out professional assistance in compiling a resume and cover letter because they don't want to be seen as the same as everyone else.  They want to stand out!  They want to get past that initial screening and move forward to the interview stage. 

Having a professionally written resume gives you a powerful tool to help distinguish you from your peers.  Computer templates?  They are for the masses......let everyone else use them!

Stand Out Or Stand Down – It’s More Competitive Than Ever

Canada’s unemployment rate (CANLXEMR) rose for a third month in December 2011 as a gain in jobs trailed growth of the labor force, with the labour market likely to stay stalled in 2012 according to a survey of economists conducted by Bloomberg news.

As always in a tight market where employers have their choice of candidates, you need to stand out. You really do.  Getting in front of a hiring manager is key and unless you are an exceptional networker or unusually well connected, your chance of getting in front of the right person will probably depend on your resume.

So what makes a resume stand out?  First of all, make sure it doesn’t look like every other template resume downloaded from the internet.   Sifting through reams of documents that all look alike becomes tedious for a hiring manager.  Your resume should present itself in a stand-out, professional, corporate manner.  Do not go down the dead-end road of garish designs or quirky quips.  That will make you stand out but for all the wrong reasons.

Secondly, make sure your resume and cover letter communicate the pertinent information in a clear and accessible format.  Recruiters don’t want to read through every single line item on your document…they want you to make their life easy.  So tailor your resume and cover letter to suit the role you’re going after and make sure you SELL not just TELL.

Thirdly, no spelling errors please.  If I’m sifting through 75 resumes I need an immediate filter and spelling errors guarantee an encounter with the corporate shredder.

Lastly….no photos unless you’re in a profession that requires a photo as part of your application.

It’s becoming even harder to stand out, as such job seekers have no option but to raise their game.  Make sure you raise your game if you want to distinguish yourself from your peers.  Now is the time to do it!

Tales From The TALEO Crypt – How To Be Screened In

One of the most frustrating things for job seekers can be not knowing why they were screened out of a recruitment process.  Having your resume screened out repeatedly and not knowing why breeds anxiety and loss of confidence.

Over the last couple of months I seem to have encountered a surge in job seekers with tales of woe about their resume being screened out and never finding out why even though they considered themselves to be qualified for the role.

Usually, the job seekers are unaware that larger corporations often use sophisticated software programs to do the initial screening for the hiring team.  The software program, such as TALEO, will strip the incoming detail out of the application and enter it straight into the corporate database.  From there, the hiring team can perform various keyword searches to further whittle down the list of suitable candidates.

In order to be screened in, you must make it clear in your application that you have all of the skills, experience and qualifications they are looking for.  Your resume should mirror the language of the advertisement as much as legitimately possible.

 If the company are seeking the completion  of a certain certificate that you don’t have but intend to challenge, state in your resume or cover letter that you “intend to undertake training to obtain XYZ certification”.  If the certification is being used as a search filter, at least you’ll make the cut and have a human read your resume.  Remember, if you tell an employer that you intend to undertake a further education task – make sure you are serious about doing it.

A recent client told me a story about one of her recent job applications.  She had applied for a government job and deemed herself to be well qualified.  She was rejected.  Fortunately she had a contact in HR and asked her friend to find out why.  It turns out that she was rejected by the software program used to screen the applications because she did not repeat the requirements sought back to the computer using the same language in which the questions were asked.

Although it can seem as though your resume and job application can disappear into some twilight zone or crypt never to be seen again, there is probably a good reason.  Yes, you may simply not have the skills for the role, but in my experience, many clients simply don’t know how to navigate the online job application process well enough.

Hopefully you’ll find something in this article that can help you combat the dreaded software job applicant selection software!  Good luck!

Mine Yourself - Tips From The Top

One of the first things you should do when you sit down to write your resume is ask yourself the following question; what can I offer an employer?  Many people I work with draw a blank a step 1.  The reasons for this range from the fact that the job seeker has never before actually had to think about their marketability, to a lack of understanding as to what an employer would find useful or interesting.

Having spent 10 years recruiting for some of the world’s most respected companies, one of the key gripes I used to hear from hiring managers about job seekers was their inability to actually communicate their worth in-person and on a resume.

Essentially, writing a good resume is about mining yourself for information, digging deep to identify skills and being able to draw a parallel between those skills and the needs of the employer.  It certainly is easier said than done.  Here are some tips to get you started;

1)      What is the scope of your current role?  In no more than 4 sentences, write this out.

2)      Identify the core functions of your role such as Sales, Administration, Training..etc

3)      Sketch out a step-by-step guide to one of your busier days.  What do you do?

4)      List your key achievements in this role. Did you make money? Save money? Improve efficiencies?

5)      Repeat for each job.

If you want to inspire the person reviewing your resume then make sure you present your skills and experience in a clear and accessible format.  No-one really wants to read through every line item in your document to build a picture of what you could bring to their company.  Make it easy on them and they’ll spend more time reading your resume.

Third Time Lucky...

In any line of business, choosing the right professional to partner with is crucial to the success of the project and that's one of the reasons I put so much time and effort into my website!

I was recently working with an executive who had paid good money to have his resume written by a firm headquartered in Toronto.  When that resume didn't live up to expectations, he had it re-written by someone in Alberta.  When that resume didn't cut the mustard, he contacted me.

Part of the problem centred around the initial impact of the document.  The font used was a size 10 and the typeface was exotic!  It was very difficult to read line by line and the overall feel was cluttered, un-coordinated and generally messy.  It looked as though someone had tried to squeeze as much detail into it as possible, without going over the two page limit.  That's because they had.

In short, after listening to his career aspirations, drawing out significant detail during the consultation process, re-framing business success metric and creating a resume design specifically for him, he was thrilled!  My abilit to drill down into the technical detail to uncover the business metrics uncovered a significant error had been made by the last resume writer.  The last writer had framed a sales metric carelessly that could have landed my client in hot water had it been checked.

Here's a quote;

“I am very, very pleased with the documents you sent me.  The resume has..a different look, read &
just over all impression...it looks very executive.  I am most impressed with the top portion of
the resume...career objective & core competencies. You really captured what I have been trying to say all along.

I agree with the way you beefed up the XXXX role...my skills & abilities were really under-represented in the old resume..again you did a great job at representing my skills & results.  Which is right on target!!!  Bravo!!”

The problem that some people seeking professional resume services face is that they're not too sure what they're looking for.  Ideally, you should be working with someone who has extensive experience in actually conducting recruitment and selection campaigns, someone who has consulted with a diverse array of business managers, HR directors and executives from multiple industries.

Unfortunately, some people are lured in to working with "writers" on the strength of a resume writing certificate alone.  If a truck driver takes a 6 week online course to obtain a resume writing certificate, does that then qualify him to understand the intricacies of the recruitment process, the requirements and desires of HR professionals, or indeed, actually what they want to see from a resume or interview?  I very much doubt it.  Such expertise can only be gleamed from hard-won practical experience.

If you're going to partner with someone, then choose a specialist who made a living preparing and interviewing job seekers in order to prepare and present resumes that surpass employer expectations!  You don't get relevant skills like these by driving an 18 wheeler.

My resume candidate spent a lot of money before he found me, and after my expertise was brought to bare on his project, we hit the nail on the head and crafted a winning resume that actually showcased his skills and accomplishment.  The document sold him.  That's the key to career success.

Get Noticed! Get Hired!

Your resume lands on a desk, it’s 3pm, and the hiring manager about to review your document is experiencing a mid-afternoon energy slump, is counting down the minutes to 5pm, and has another 299 resumes on her desk that look just like yours.  Fancy your chances? 

One of my recent resume writing clients told me that she was about to sift through 300 resumes to find 4 or 5 potential candidates for a customer service role in her department.  How do you stand out in a sea of resumes?  It’s tough!  One way to guarantee you won’t is by submitting a document that looks like everyone else, sounds like everyone else, and to all intents and purposes, may as well be anyone else.

Three major errors people make with their resume:

1)      Reliance on internet template designs / resume writing software

2)      Too much telling and very little selling

3)      Spelling errors / grammatical mistakes / font size

Most documents I have encountered would tick all three boxes. The design of the document is central to making that all important first impression.  To be clear, I’m referring to the actual layout and casing for your content, not the need to adorn your document with shooting stars, furry animals or pretty butterflies!

If a resume is too hard to read, it will meet acquaintance with the corporate shredder in short order.  A smothering of block text, tiny font sizes, and content that does nothing more than list duties, contributes to a hiring manager’s decision on whether or not to trash your document, shred it, or crush it up into a tiny ball and throw it over their head!

A winning resume is focused, concise, elegant, and has the power to articulate the extent of your previous professional contributions in such a way as to make your value added potential plainly obvious to the hiring manager.

What are you waiting for?  Get on it, and make sure your resume is as unique as you are, or at the very least make sure you ‘SELL’ your skills instead of merely ‘tell’ us about your duties.

Revered & Reviled - The Insider Guide To Working With Employment Agencies

Sometimes seen as a necessary evil or a professional marriage of convenience, the recruitment industry is viewed with antipathy and appreciation in equal measure.

In part, the ill-feeling generated in some job seekers toward the industry has been cultivated by a negative personal experience when dealing directly with “agencies”, or in some cases due to a lack of understanding as to how employment agencies actually work.

So how do they work?  The employment agency will charge the employer a fee to recruit the job seeker.  Fees can range from as little as 5% of the annual salary in tight-margin industries, and range up to 30% for senior and executive level placements.

What should you expect?  Needless to say that every job seeker should be treated with the utmost respect, unfortunately that doesn’t always happen.  There are countless instances of recruiters abandoning a job seeker if there isn’t a realistic prospect of making money out of placing them, and although such behaviour is self serving and short-sighted, it is a reality. 

Generally speaking, recruiters have targets to meet that include a number of monthly placements, employers visited, job seekers interviewed, and cold calls made.  Many job seekers who have had dealings with high-volume, target-oriented agencies and come away from a meeting thinking that the recruiter didn’t actually have a job for them, were probably right.  Some firms call this “the numbers game”! Is it any wonder some job seekers feel just like a number?

Employment agencies often work on a “contingency” basis which means that they only get paid if they find the job seeker the employer hires.  Executive recruitment firms usually work on a “retained” basis and are usually paid 1/3 of their fee in advance, and the remaining 2/3 at the end of the assignment or at previously agreed timeframes over the course of the search.

So how should you interact with recruiters? Choose two or three respected firms and make contact with the recruiter in your field to discuss the job market, how they operate, and what they could do for you. If you are satisfied that the recruiter knows what he/she is talking about, submit your resume.  Be clear about what you want, what you will accept, and in which circumstances your information should be shared.  Leverage the expertise of the recruiter to work in your favour, and do not feel compelled to take the first job that is offered to you.  Do your homework, know your worth and act accordingly.

If you’re left feeling like nothing more than a number or another notch on their weekly target sheet, sever ties with that particular firm, withdraw your consent for them to act on your behalf, and move on.

Be assured that there are very good recruiters out there worthy of your time and attention and they can be a tremendous help and resource if you find yourself in a “transitional phase”.  All you have to do is find them!