2009 was a long and challenging year for jobseekers. Unemployment reached record highs, and competition for jobs was fierce. If you had trouble landing your ideal job, you weren’t alone.
As we cross into 2010, it’s a natural time to take stock of your 2009 job search: what worked, and what didn’t; what time was well spent, and what time was wasted. If you were using methods that didn’t give good returns on your time and energy, now is the time to drop them.
Then, resolve to channel your fresh start and high energy into new habits designed to get you into your ideal job in the coming year. Here are six recommended resolutions to make your job search successful in 2010.
Resolution #1: I will create a list of targeted employers.
If you’re only applying to jobs that you see being advertised, you’re leaving key elements of your job search up to chance. Take control of your future by identifying the organizations in your industry where you would like to work — even if they don’t have any job openings at the moment. Do your research, and make up a list of 8-12 target employers with products or cultures you admire. Devote time to introducing yourself to them as a future candidate. Get on their radar now, before a job is even open, and sow the seeds for them to call on you later on when something opens up. This is one of the best ways to take advantage of the “hidden job market.” It requires time and planning, but the end result is a position with a company you hand-selected as a good match for your skills and desires.
Resolution #2: I will carry job-search business cards.
A person’s job is a large part of their identity, and sometimes displaced workers feel lost without the security of a title and a business card. But do you really want to be scribbling your contact information on a napkin or index card when you network in public? Increase your poise, confidence, and professional appearance by creating and carrying a personal business card just for your job search. They are easy to produce at home with a printer, or simply use a free service such as Vistaprint, which offers jobhunters 250 cards printed free (pay only shipping and handling). Job-search cards are the perfect positive marketing tool — shorter than a resume, but something physical for people to take away and remember you by. This leads to our next resolution:
Resolution #3: I will expand my network.
No matter how much you are networking, you could undoubtedly do more. Jobseekers are often shy about expanding their network, but people are typically flattered to be asked for their expertise or connections. So take the plunge: if you haven’t made the time for Facebook or LinkedIn, now is the time (keep it professional on Facebook, of course). And don’t just concentrate on online, either! Whenever you talk with a friend, peer, neighbor, or relative, aim to get at least one informational contact (not a job interview, but a person you can call and chat with for 10 minutes or so about their industry) out of the conversation. While jobseeking, you should aim to have a short informational call or coffee meeting at least a few times a month. People will be impressed with your initiative, and flattered by your attention. You may be surprised where these short, no-pressure meetings can take you.
Resolution #4: I will build my personal brand.
This is a fairly new element of the job search, and as such, many older jobseekers are not aware of it. The candidate’s role now goes far beyond their resume; it is now common for employers to do preliminary research on you on the Internet before you are contacted. Your competitors are building their personal brand online, and so should you. Start commenting on an industry with a Twitter account or on a free blog at WordPress or Blogger; establish your expertise. Benefit #1 is that you’ll make great industry connections. Benefit #2 is that you’ll shape your online image for those who are researching you. Both are necessary for your successful 2010 job search.
Resolution #5: I will revamp my resume and cover letter.
When was the last time you really gave these crucial materials more than a simple update? Adding your last position is the bare minimum, and for 2010, you owe yourself an upgrade. Research current job ads for the hot keywords are in your field, and make sure your terminology matches the current jargon. Evaluate the entire document, even older sections that have served you well for years — these are the very sections that could benefit from a re-write in the context of your later accomplishments. Aim for a clean, simple look. When you’re done, save a formatted version for printing and email attachments, and a plain text version for online forms.
Resolution #6: I will genuinely seek out feedback.
Many jobseekers get “stuck” on some issue that they don’t even know about. Maybe it’s the presentation of their resume; maybe it’s some interviewing quirk. The point is, they won’t ever know about it unless they ask their “support squad” for constructive criticism. Unfortunately, due to rejection in the job market, these same people may feel too vulnerable to ask for any feedback. If this sounds like it might apply to you, turn to trusted friends and family for resume critiques, mock interviews, and ideas about where your talents might be useful. They know you better than anyone, and you should resolve not to let any insecurity prevent you from asking for their excellent help and perspective. Ask for feedback, and you may get a surprising boost!
Do you have any job-related resolutions for the New Year? We’d love to hear about them. Share your inspiration and progress in the comments.
I usually write to you from an HR perspective, but today’s blog is from my perspective as a job-seeker. I just finished an 80-minute task that was deeply demoralizing: I applied for a job using some of the industry’s “best” employee screening software. What I experienced was excruciating.
I thought the process would be short-ish, perhaps 15 minutes at the most, because the hiring company used a well-known screening software that I had used before. I even remembered my username and password! However, this did not seem to mean that the system remembered me, as once I was “welcomed back,” we began with my name, address, email, and other depressingly basic information.
I had hoped that the system would have retained my resume (isn’t that why I have an account and a password?), but no such luck. But if I uploaded one, the site promised, it would “read” my resume and extract the relevant information. I knew better than to upload my “fancy” PDF, and chose the simplest Word document I had. Even so, all the software could extract were my dates of employment. As I began the tedious task of filling in company names, titles, duties, and more, I recalled performing the exact same task with this same software just a few months ago. Why could it not remember me or save any information to my account?
Then things got… deep. Before I could actually submit my application, I had to provide:
the names, titles, and contact info for not one, not two, but three professional references
starting and ending salaries for every position I have ever held
the reason I left each and every job, and whether it was voluntary or involuntary
consent for a background check and a credit check
a pledge to submit to a drug test within 72 hours of an offer of employment
a written explanation of any gaps in my employment lasting 30 days or more
At this point, I started to feel that I was just giving the company reasons to reject me. After all, this job and I are not even at the courtship stage yet! Is it really necessary to compile such an exhaustive list on a candidate that you haven’t even spoken to – and may never speak to? Of course, I support the right of HR people to get the information they need to do their jobs, and I do understand the role of screening software, but this process left zero room for any magic, any spark, any feeling of “this is the right job for her” or “she’s the right person for this job.”
Imagine for a moment that this software was used for pre-screening romantic partners instead of potential employees. Who would put up with answering this depth and breadth of questions simply to see if there is mutual interest in a coffee date? (And who could tolerate the intense scrutiny?) I doubt that most of us would have met our current love interest if the date had been preceded by a questionnaire that demanded you list each former relationship, your levels of satisfaction with it, whether your separation was voluntary or involuntary, and phone numbers and email addresses of your former sweethearts for a “romance reference check.”
The automation of this system, and its extremely detailed nature, left me feeling more “dissected” than “discovered.” I knew perfectly well that I was typing away to a database, not a human, and that the database was designed to weed me out, not “discover talent” or help the employer and I connect. I don’t have anything to hide about my past, but this process was SO exacting that I felt I was not able to make my best qualities, skills, and experiences shine. Worse still, I was forced to tip my hand on the matter of compensation. If this employer ever decides to contact me, I’ve already lost the salary negotiation, unless I was devious enough to lie, which is a prohibited activity that I agreed not to do elsewhere in the application.
I probably wouldn’t go so far as to use the word “suck” to describe this kind of software, but other bloggers certainly do:
I’m interested in hearing solutions from the job-seeking side to the time-consuming process of screening. I know that using a portable resume format from a service like ResumePal is a good start in saving time on redundant application info. Many people say, “Dodge the software altogether and guerrilla-approach the HR department.” While this may be effective, the very fact that so many people advise doing an end-run around the software reinforces to me that it is more of a barrier than a doorway.
Is there a better way? Let us know in the comments.
Hands-down, the most fascinating post I read about HR this month wasn’t from an HR blog at all — it was from a blog for Java developers. It serves up some extremely valuable information about the relationship between programmers and tech recruiters.
The title of this must-read is “How to Make HR Dump a Programmer’s Resume,” and it was written by Esther Schindler of JavaWorld. The post made a huge splash on the Net… it’s been reposted in countless forums because it’s just so on-the-nose. Schindler followed up a few days later with the other side of the coin: “What HR Professionals Look For in a Programmer’s Resume.” The two pieces together create a whole, and are not-to-be-missed.
In the first article, “How to Make HR Dump a Programmer’s Resume,” Schindler discusses the difference in audience between an HR professional and a technical manager. Most people are capable of slanting the document to cater to one or the other, but oftentimes, applicants don’t know who is reading the resume first. It’s a real problem for techies, whose resumes are often markedly different from those of other types of applicants. Some other topics covered to make sure programmers don’t get their resumes dumped are:
Having the right buzzwords, optimized for “literal” screening software
Using business language instead of technical jargon
Knowing when to leave out irrelevant or obsolete skills
Using the “in vogue” term for a particular job
Showing discipline in editing the resume for length (IT people are notorious for having loooooong resumes)
After the popularity of the first post, Schindler was determined to show her programming colleagues the DOs as well as the DO NOT DOs, so she penned “What HR Professionals Look For in a Programmer’s Resume.” The HR people she talked to said that the three things most often overlooked by programmers in their self-marketing are 1) specific achievements, 2) metrics, and 3) an introductory summary. This introductory summary idea is important: a lot of software people jump straight into a list of technologies or achievements without giving the reader a context of what kind of person they’re dealing with. Also covered:
Don’t describe the organization; describe what you did there
Include a self-rating of Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert for each technology
Making the world a better place: covering work on open-source endeavors
The worth of technology certifications to HR
I recommend you read these articles yourself if you are at all involved in recruiting tech personnel.
All of this reminds me of a brilliant cartoon (pictured, in part, at the top of this post) by Steve Hanov, a software developer who also creates tech-related cartoons. It’s a little harsh on HR — so you’ve been warned going in — but it’s quite funny in its description of how an HR professional and a programmer will read the same resume completely differently. Instead of taking the digs in the cartoon badly, I choose to take them as a sincere comment from a techie as to what is really important to them — which is truly worth knowing. I remain confident that organizations with open communication and a commitment to great technical recruiting can value the input of both programmers and HR when it comes to building the software team.
What is key for you in noticing a programmer resume?
Resume fraud is often explained away by the offending jobseeker as a little white lie, but the reality is that such fraud can cost companies millions of dollars; in fact, falsifying employment materials is illegal in some states. And in today’s economy, resume fraud is a growing problem for HR professionals.
Three out of ten people lie on their resumes — according to experts. In a tight economy, with unemployment close to ten percent, more job seekers may be feeling desperate enough to stretch the truth. “We have seen a substantial increase in resume fraud over the last 12 to 24 months,” said Greg Slamowitz, [whose] firm [Ambrose Employment Group] counsels businesses on the importance of screening resumes.
Resume fraud is certainly not a new problem. United Press International offers up this worrying anecdote from 20 years ago:
Caught in the act: In the late 1980s, the Port Authority of New York took out want ads soliciting resumes from electricians with experience using Sontag conductors. Nearly a third of the respondents said they had experience using Sontags. The problem: There was no such thing as a Sontag conductor.
A couple of the more well-publicized resume fraud cases of recent years include:
Newly hired Notre Dame football coach George O’Leary lost his job in 2001 — mere days after taking the post — when it was revealed that there were serious inaccuracies on his resume, including a master’s degree from a non-existent institution.
Marilee Jones was dean of admissions at MIT for 28 years, until it was discovered that she had falsified educational information. Jones was forced to resign.
Statistics and estimates from security and background-checking forms, as well as human resources studies, seem to indicate that anywhere between 15 percent and 40 percent of all resumes received contain an intentional misrepresentation. The very prevalence of the practice can cause some jobseekers to think, “Well, if everyone else is doing it…”
This is an especially tempting mentality in today’s economy. “In an economic downturn, the temptation to pad CVs is strong,” writes Prachi Patel in “Experts Expect Resume Fraud to Rise” for the IEEE. Her expert sources in the article indicate that they believe resume fraud stats will go up quite sharply when they tabulate 2009 as compared to 2008.
However, there is another school of thought, which is that the base statistics for resume falsification remain pretty consistent. Some assert that new technology and the threat of background checks keep people cautious and have kept fraud rates relatively consistent.
High-profile cases—such as former RadioShack Corp. CEO David Edmondson, who resigned after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported he made up two degrees he never earned—may make it seem that resume fraud is already on the rise. Yet rates of academic fraud on resumes—people misstating their educational background—have hovered between 20 and 30 percent over the past five decades, says Peter LeVine, a background checker in Delray Beach, Fla.
One reason fraud rates haven’t risen might be the very real fear of getting caught. More employers are now doing stricter background checks on their potential employees, particularly for candidates who received their education or work experience abroad and for those applying for IT positions with access to confidential data. Executive and managerial level resumes also face tougher scrutiny.
Some sources say that the most common misrepresentation is falsifying educational credentials, but other studies claim that inflating a past title or job accomplishments are the most likely areas for candidates to embellish.
There are lots of different techniques to prevent and detect resume fraud, but all require an investment in some way: either the increased labor and attention of HR staff, or outsourcing to some kind of background check company. HR pros acting on their own can start by raising their own internal levels of skepticism, looking for inconsistencies, and demanding large amounts of verification from the candidate.
Confirm the circumstances of every change in employment — whether voluntary or involuntary — with a candidate’s previous employers.
Don’t call only the references provided by a candidate. Seek additional references, such as former colleagues, supervisors or direct reports.
Don’t assume candidates provided by an executive search firm are well-vetted.
The consequences of resume fraud differ from state to state. Of course, most employees can expect to be terminated if a case of fraud comes to light. A few states even have criminal codes on the books to punish falsifying resume information, but most do not.
In any event, most HR professionals are less concerned with punishments than with preventing dishonest individuals from ever entering their organization and exposing it to risk.
I look at a lot of resumes in the course of my work, and one thing I have noticed is people taking certain liberties with the date formatting. I’m not the only one noticing; check out what Ask A Manager has to say:
I’m seeing what might be a trend of people using a chronological resume format but leaving off any indication of how long they held each position. This is really not a good idea. It looks like you’re trying to hide a series of short stays and in a pretty inept way.
Also, about your work dates…put the month and year you were at your job. 2007 to 2009 looks like two years but if it’s December 07 to January 09 it’s basically one year. We’re going to ask you so just put it down and we won’t think you’re trying to be cute and hide something.
The truth is, some people are trying to hide something by using this format. Maybe it’s a short stay somewhere. Others are simply trying to de-clutter their resume (in a way that hiring managers don’t really appreciate, but they mean well). Some people are contractors with a (necessarily) fragmented work history. And some of these applicants are on the older side of the spectrum, and trying to showcase their skills over their age.
There are a lot of reasons why an applicant might try to obscure dates. Let’s talk about why, and what they might choose to do instead:
Contractors and Freelancers
Undoubtedly, a lot of assignments end before a person has another one lined up, resulting in unsightly gaps across the years. The temptation to gloss this over can be great. However, hiring managers understand contract arrangements. Be up-front with the months, and simply state that you left because a contract ended. (Your contract work shouldn’t be mis-identified as full employment, anyway, so they already know!) Another great way to work with this situation is to form your own consulting company and use it to fill in any spaces between jobs — if you are busy with your own clients and also fulfilling contracts, you’re going to come across as a busy, capable person.
People with Problem Areas in Their Careers
Some people really are trying to hide a time when they were not totally sure of their career path, or took the wrong position, or even were terminated. Hiding dates is unlikely to hide this for long, though. In my opinion, the best place to deal with this is in the cover letter. Think very sincerely about why you have that date you’re embarrassed to put down, and think about what you’re seeking now, and how you have changed. Admitting that you took a job that was a bad fit can be a sign of maturity, especially if you have a convincing rationale and some proof that you have changed and grown. It is infinitely better to address any strangeness in your resume in a letter, rather than trying to erase the incident (which will probably come up in any serious investigation of your background) or allowing the hiring manager to come up with their own explanation. For more tips on presenting yourself well when you’ve been dealt a rough hand, check out this article: Enhancing Your Employability Despite Those Employment Gaps.
Older Applicants
There are instances where it is acceptable, even advisable, for older applicants to obscure some dates. For instance, removing the year when you received a degree might be acceptable if you truly feel that it distracts from your overall profile. Similarly, if you spent a very long time at just one or two companies in your career, then months are an unnecessary level of detail, and years alone should be sufficient. However, no dates at all just raises too many red flags. So trim off any irrelevant job history that is more than 15 years in the past, but properly date everything that you do include. For more excellent tips on check out this New York Times piece called Presenting Young, in Interviews and On the Job.
In summary: dates are important. Leaving them off entirely raises more than question marks — it raises exclamation points! Months are not necessary 100% of the time, but they are standard, and much appreciated. Finally, use your cover letter to make sure that any date anomalies are fully explained.
Liz Ryan at Yahoo had an interesting article today identifying what she called the “worst 10 boilerplate phrases” on candidate resumes. As a hiring manager or jobseeker, which of these 10 do you rate the worst?
We like Susan Ireland. We’re a fan of her book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, and of her blog, The Job Lounge.
Unfortunately, a YouTube video Susan posted last week is an example of what can happen when the business world and goofy Internet culture come together. Susan’s video praises (at length) actor Michael Cera’s YouTube “video resume” called “Impossible is the Opposite of Possible.” Check out Susan’s critique:
The problem is, Cera’s video is a spoof — a parody of “Impossible is Nothing,” the hysterically arrogant video resume by Aleksey Vayner that became a worldwide Internet phenomenon. In the Web world, Susan praising Cera’s video is akin to your mom telling you that the polka-dot bow tie you’re wearing as a gag actually looks good on you.
One YouTube viewer bashed Susan with the following comment:
I’m guessing no one told Susan Ireland that Michael Cera’s video “Impossible” was a priceless comedic spoof of another YouTube video. Makes you wonder about the quality of her business venture, doesn’t it?
This is a lesson that all business people should consider carefully before venturing into the hip-deep hipness of the Interwebs.
By the way, if you haven’t seen the Cera video, here it is:
When people are assembling their resumes, they tend to get obsessed with finding the right format, the right fonts, and the right “power words.” But the biggest key to writing a successful resume is knowing your personal brand before you ever set fingers to keyboard.
Even though, for most people, the best resume format is a reverse-chronological listing of your past positions and responsibilities, this doesn’t mean your resume should read like a list. On the contrary, it means that you need to communicate your brand message so clearly that it connects with the reader, no matter the format.
It’s Not About Power Words
You can’t communicate a distinctive brand message by littering it indiscriminately with so-called “power words.” While certainly your description of past accomplishments should be driven by action verbs, too many people go too far with words like “optimized,” “enhanced,” “revitalized” and “solidified.” You’ll only succeed in making the hiring manager’s eyes glaze over.
How about coming up with words that really describe you? If you’re a sales executive, maybe you’re a “sales turnaround expert” who’s “tough-minded” and “thrives under pressure” but is still “popular for having an even hand.” If I’m a company struggling to get my sales organization off the ground, would I rather know these things about you – or that you have X years of experience “solidifying, optimizing and revitalizing”?
You can think of these words as your personal brand characteristics — and they should be reflected in all your communications to prospective employers.
Three Steps to Success
Here are three steps I recommend when you are ready to prepare your resume:
Come up with three to five personal brand characteristics that make you stand out from the competition.
Make sure these brand characteristics come through in your overview paragraph (every resume should have one), as well as in the accomplishments you list for each job you’ve held.
Connect these brand characteristics to the specific job you’re applying for with a well thought-out cover letter.
Hiring managers are busy people. They’re not trying to understand your “brand”; they’re mainly looking to find people whose experiences meet their checklist of requirements. But by taking a personal-branding approach to preparing your resume, you’ll give that hiring manager a strong sense of who you are — and what you bring to the table — even before that first telephone interview.
The powerful narrative you are communicating about yourself will click in, and you will quickly separate yourself from the job applicants focused on formats and power words. What’s more, as you get closer to landing your desired job, your positioning will be reinforced each time your resume is read and re-read.
So don’t settle for a resume that reads like a list. Create a resume that reads like you.
We hope Aleksey’s experience won’t deter you from making a video resume yourself, though. They are definitely a growing trend.
As for Aleksey, DealBreaker reports that he’s still looking for a job — but apparently is the author of a new book, called Millionaires’ Blueprint to Success.
When people are assembling their resumes, they tend to get obsessed with finding the right format, the right fonts, and the right “power words.” But the biggest key to writing a successful resume is knowing your personal brand before you ever set fingers to keyboard.
