Follow-up Protocols

Now that you are fired up having sent off these “killer” cover letters and résumés, you might have to cool your jets and wait for a response. Stalker tactics never serve you well, so dismiss any notion of dialing your list of contacts daily to leave voicemails instructing them to “…. call me back to discuss the cover letter and résumé I sent last week…” When calling the person to whom you specifically addressed your cover letter, realize they have been inundated with résumés and won’t get back to all the interested applicants soon – if ever. If you are lucky enough to reach them on the phone, don’t assume they can quickly access your information. Try to keep them on the phone for 3 minutes to give them your pitch and re-send the cover letter and résumé so they can look at it later. Don’t push too hard for Learn more...

Cover Letter?

I don’t have statistics, but this must be the least read document of all time! Now, I personally scanned (OK, maybe glanced at) every cover letter that came across my desk as a recruiter. Whether solicited or unsolicited, a cover letter is appropriate, appreciated and is a sign of civility, but the point is to keep it short and sweet with only useful information – especially if unsolicited. Whenever possible, customize the letter with the specific name and address of an individual. “Dear Recruiter” always turned me off; it wasn’t a deal-breaker, just made it pretty clear the letter was part of a mass mailing. Specify the opportunity you are interested in (title, job number, etc.) and explain why you feel you are distinctly qualified for the role. I’m looking for the headline in the first paragraph. You can borrow from the Profile statement(s) you prepared for your résumé to Learn more...

Bio, Résumé or Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Let’s get some of my definitions of what each of these documents is and how and when they should be used. They convey very different information and are rarely interchangeable.  Bio – This is usually a short (no more than 1-2 pages) narrative about your background featuring mostly what you are doing now.  A bio has more color commentary – editorial comments, even quotes from you and others.  It’s the pithy and catchy; think in terms of what you read about speakers at conferences, banquets, on web sites.  This is the wallet-size photo version of your background.  From a recruiter’s or employer’s perspective this is a start, but hardly enough to make a full assessment, so if you are in a serious job-search mode, get to working on the résumé, because this won’t be enough.  Résumé – This is the full-blown 8×10 close-up that employers and recruiters need to see Learn more...

Dirty Little Secrets

OK, so not many of us have a squeaky-clean past.  That arrest in college for protesting, the litigious neighbor who left suits on your record, a nasty article by a vicious reporter.  There might be things in your past that you’d rather forget, but that people can access in today’s information-rich world. The main thing is to know what’s accessible and to be on the offensive about it.  While some things shouldn’t be detailed on a résumé, you will likely need to address them in your interviews.  ·        First of all, know what is in the public domain about yourself.  Start by Googling yourself for articles.  Be sure no one is mistaking you for someone else with the same name. ·        On your résumé, use your middle and/or maiden name to distinguish yourself from others with the same or similar name. ·        Consider buying a background check on yourself to Learn more...

Chronological versus Functional Résumés

Generally, my preference is a chronological résumé because it allows the reader to track your trajectory – the pace and logic of your path.  As a former recruiter, functional résumés often frustrated me because functions the person performed get lumped into a heading with no attribution to a specific position; something you did 10 years ago is mentioned alongside something you did 2 months ago.  Therefore this functional style of résumé provides little in the way of useful context.  Having said that, I am in favor of a hybrid chronological/functional résumé.  It works especially well when you are trying to transition from one industry or function to another where you might not have directly relevant experience. Using our earlier example for the profile – “Marketing director with consumer packaged goods experience seeking to transition into industrial sales and marketing role in paper or chemicals industries.  Specific expertise in marketing promotions, advertising Learn more...

Résumé Fine Points – 5 Do’s and 5 Don’ts

Do’s 1.    Do keep language simple, concise and professional. 2.    Do use numbers to help tell the story – budget, people, returns, etc. 3.    Do assume the reader is well-read, but not an expert in your field. 4.    Do make typestyle and formatting readable – no less than 10 font, no artsy script, leave reasonable margins and line spacing. 5.    Do maintain visual balance and symmetry to keep the reader’s eye moving smoothly.  Don’ts 1.    Don’t use acronyms or buzzwords that don’t mean anything to an outsider. 2.    Don’t cram everything on to one page.  If you have 15 years of experience, allow yourself 1-1/2 to 2 pages.  Anything over 3 pages is likely tedious unless you are a chronic job-hopper or someone with 30 years of must-know-about experience. 3.    Don’t feel compelled to list every responsibility, award, etc.; we’re going for highlights, not your entire life history. 4.    Don’t Learn more...

Top 10 Résumé Essentials

1.            Give a short description of your employer or business, no more than 1-2 sentences describing industry, revenues, geographic scope (local, regional, and national, global). 2.            List title, division (if relevant), location and job dates. 3.            Describe responsibilities in a short paragraph, no more than 3-5 brief sentences. 4.            Include reporting relationships (to whom do/did you report and how many people report to you?), budget, scope and scale. 5.            Detail accomplishments – the greatest, most relevant and most recent.  Go ahead and list them all for the draft, then we’ll pick and choose – at least 2, no more than 5 for each résumé (based on your thesis statement). 6.            Specify what your role was in accomplishing the tasks.  Did you lead the team? Were  you part of it?  What was the time period over which it was achieved? 7.            Rank your accomplishments in order of importance to you and Learn more...

Chronology and Trajectory

Some people have been able to have successful 10, 20 – even 30 – year careers, without ever having written a résumé.  They might consider themselves lucky, but if they now need one, they are at a huge disadvantage!  Unless they’ve kept every old  job description and performance review, they won’t likely be able to recall or recapture useful information about past roles that would help tell their story to an outside observer.  The point is, the résumé is not just your compass, its a work diary – the one you are choosing to share – that chronicles where you’ve been.  So get that pad of paper out and let’s start at the beginning: ·         List all jobs since graduating from college.  Do it in reverse chronological order – that is, work your way forward to your most recent roles.  We’ll go back and edit later, just get it all Learn more...

The Thesis Statement

The résumé is about what you have done, can do and want to do.  Now the challenge is to communicate that effectively.  Let’s start with all the work you did in mapping your strategy.  Remember how you picked the industries, companies, roles and titles?  Synthesize one of your key focus areas into a 2-4 sentence long statement of what you seek and why.  Here’s an example:  “Marketing and sales director with consumer packaged goods experience seeking to transition into industrial sales and marketing role in paper and chemicals industries.  Specific expertise in marketing promotions, advertising and sales management.  Led teams up to 30 people; have had extensive leadership development coursework; received company sales leadership award 2005, 2007 and 2008.” You can call this your “Objective” or “Professional Profile” and position it at the very top of your résumé.  You are letting the reader know what to expect in greater detail Learn more...

Magnetic Elements

A good résumé can go a long way toward getting you a meeting or an interview once you have mapped your unique strategy.  A potential employer or an executive recruiter uses your résumé to see where you’ve been, what you did there, and whether there might be an initial match for an opportunity. The résumé may be only 10 percent to 20 percent of getting a job. The other 80 percent to 90 percent depends on who you are, what you say in an interview, and what others might say about you. But make no mistake; the résumé remains an important tool. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, a poorly thought out résumé or the slightest error on your résumé can shut doors before you ever get a chance at an interview. Most people think of a résumé as words, an outline of experiences. But employers see it as data that orients Learn more...