It’s that time again! Update Your Resume Month (UYRM).
Professional Resume Services, in collaboration with Career Directors International (CDI), is once again presenting (and in the midst of) Update Your Resume Month.
Not only are the kids (finally!) back to school, but it’s time for job seekers to prepare, too– for unexpected opportunities! Is your resume ready to be viewed? Is it loaded with everything you’ve accomplished? Would you hand it out to a stranger (i.e. the hiring manager/recruiter) tomorrow?
IF NOT, YOU NEED TO UPDATE IT!
What would you do if you were told about a fantastic opportunity that seemed tailor-made for you, but you only had a day to submit your resume to the person? Are you ready? Worse, what if you look at it and realize, it doesn’t need to just be updated, it needs to be REWRITTEN! I don’t know about other resume writers, but we are booked up at least a couple of weeks in advance.
What have you accomplished since your resume was written? Certifications? Training? Career advancement? Continued education? A job move? 2? 3? Yikes! What are you waiting for?
Be prepared for the golden opportunity– update your resume today and spare yourself the pain of missing out on it tomorrow.
Have you ever wondered why a top executive and good writer; one who is picky about spelling, grammar, and punctuation, misses an obvious mistake on an executive resume?
It’s painful, but it happens to all of us. A piece you have worked diligently on and revised to perfection gets printed or published and the typos come out of hiding. What’s more, the most important writing seems to have this problem. Why does this happen to essential career components like resumes and cover letters?
Sometimes It’s Human Error
You know what you want to say, and your brain is saying it, but your fingers hit the wrong thing. If you have spellcheck on, that little wavy red line alerts you to a problem and you can edit while typing. This works if you look at what you type while you type it, but if you don’t, keep that spellcheck on anyway and read over what you just wrote.
Professionals will often proofread by starting at the bottom and reading each sentence as a unit while working backwards through the piece. This helps your brain see it differently and accurately. The technique also can work for proofreading revisions; those small changes that suddenly make grammar or syntax wrong.
Sometimes It’s Technology
Depending on the program you use, formatting can change things around when the final copy is created. Check the preview before hitting the save button. That save button is important for keeping your versions accurate, too. Salty tears have been shed over words lost in cyberspace because the system crashed before the content was saved.
Autocorrect sounds like it would be a good thing, because automatically correcting is good, right? But if you are typing one word and the system “corrects” it to a word you don’t want, then autocorrect is incorrect. I don’t generally use autocorrect because this happens to me when I least expect it, and it can be missed.
Always It’s Good To Have Someone Else Proofread Important Writing
The more important the writing is, the more important it is to have more than one pair of eyes checking it over before submission. If you know a competent writer, ask them to check your work. Professional services, like a resume critique or executive resume writing service, are well worth the investment for essential career components like resumes, cover letters, etc.
With all kinds of action happening online these days, many job seekers decide that the local job fairs are a waste of time. But, really, attending the local job fairs is one of the most effective things you could do if you do it right. Here’s why:
Networking
A job fair is the best chance you have to meet face to face with the people who will evaluate your resume before you submit it. What’s more, you can hand that resume to them and they have a person to remember when they read it. It’s a great opportunity to connect with people who you know are looking for the right candidate to fill a position, because if they didn’t need to hire more people, they wouldn’t be at the job fair. What’s not to like about that?
But you’ll need to treat it as carefully as you would treat an interview:
Do your homework and know something about the companies that will be at the job fair
Dress as you would for an interview, being well-groomed and professional in appearance
Carry a business-like tote or briefcase for all the stuff you’ll collect
Carry a folio of resumes printed out to hand to recruiters
Attend workshops being offered
Be prepared to take notes at workshops and when meeting people so you remember details
Relax and enjoy the event
Hand Out Professional Resumes
A professional resume doesn’t have to be one that’s written by a professional, but it should look like it. Using a template for your resume means your resume will look like everybody else’s and why should anybody remember which one is yours? You have more to offer than a cookie-cutter template of a resume, and it is worth the investment to do it.
You can start by looking at the category of Resume Writing on this blog. There are many other resources, too. The thing to remember is that actually handing a well-written resume to a recruiter at a job fair will impress twice–once when you hand it over in person and again when they read it.
Ask The Experts: Cover Letter and Resume Transformation
Recently, I was honored to be among industry experts discussing current trends in resumes and cover letters on a Mashable Biz Chat. Tracy Edouard, Marketing and Communication at Mashable, gives us the highlights of Mashable’s #BizChats Twitter chat on how to transform your resume and cover letter for the better and you can see different professional perspectives on these questions:
Is it important to have both a cover letter and resume when submitting job applications? Why or why not?
How can someone truly make their resume stand out from the competition?
What features are important to showcase on someone’s resume? (GPA, school, skills, etc.)
What are employers and recruiters looking for in resumes and cover letters?
What are the biggest cover-letter mistakes professionals are making?
How important is design when it comes to creating a resume and cover letter?
What are the top resources available for resume and cover letter support?
What final tips do you have about creating great resumes and cover letters?
These are all good questions. And the input from the various professionals involved is valuable without a doubt. But do you know what the most striking thing about this Twitter chat is?
There Isn’t An Excuse For An Ineffective Resume & Cover Letter
We have the ability to pull experts from all over the place for a chance to pick their brains. Every expert tweeting is linked to a site with a wealth of information, and there is no reason a job seeker with access to an expert can’t get expert advice. Much of that advice is free, too!
The overwhelming consensus is that you can have an effective resume and cover letter by putting the right effort into it. Sometimes that effort involves doing the research on current trends and revamping it yourself, sometimes it takes a resume critique from a professional to help you see what needs to be done, and sometimes your best investment is in a professional resume service.
The help you need to have a powerful resume and cover letter is out there and you can find it easily, along with a wealth of career advice from experts in your field.
If your goal is to get a new job this year, here are seven things you need to do to prepare yourself for your job search.
1. Update your résumé. While ideally your résumé is customized for a specific job, having an up-to-date résumé targeted for a specific “type” of position is the next best thing. So if you’ve taken on additional responsibilities in your current job, or you’ve changed your job target, or you’ve added new training or educational credentials, now is the time to talk with your résumé writer about updating your résumé. (And if you don’t have a résumé at all, now is definitely the time to put one together! A professional résumé writer can help!)
2. Develop — or update — your LinkedIn profile. A LinkedIn profile doesn’t replace the résumé…it complements it. Someone looking for a candidate with your skills and experience might conduct a search on LinkedIn and find your profile. Or, someone in your network might be interested in recommending you, and forward your LinkedIn profile URL. So make sure you have a LinkedIn profile — and make sure that it’s updated. (Yes, this is something your résumé writer can help you with.)
3. Know what you’re worth: conduct salary research. One of the most often-cited reasons to consider a job search is to increase your salary. But how do you know what you’re worth? There is more salary research data available than ever before. Websites like Glassdoor.com and Salary.com can help you see how your current salary and benefits package stacks up.
4. Build your network. It’s estimated that 70-80% of jobs are found through networking. Networking effectiveness is not just about quality — although that’s important. It’s also about quantity. It’s not just about who you know. It’s about who your contacts know. Many times, it’s the friend-of-a-friend who can help you land your dream job. Grow your network both professionally and personally. You never know who will be the one to introduce you to your next job opportunity.
5. Manage your online reputation. More and more hiring managers are checking you out online before they interview you. What will they find when they type your name into Google? How about if they check out your Twitter profile? Or find you on Facebook? Now is the time to conduct a social media assessment and clean up your online profiles.
6. Define your ideal job. “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” That line, from Alice in Wonderland, is important to remember in your job search. If you don’t know what your dream job looks like, how will you know how to find it? What job title and responsibilities are you interested in? Do you want to work independently, as part of a team, or both? Do you like short-term projects or long-term projects? Who would you report to? Who would report to you? Answering these questions can help you define your ideal position.
7. Create a target list of companies you’d like to work for. Like your ideal job, you probably have a preference for the type of organization you want as your employer. Things to consider include: company size, industry, culture, location, and structure (public, private, family-owned, franchise, nonprofit, etc.). Once you’ve made your list, look for companies that fit your criteria.
I hope that by now you have a LinkedIn profile because this social media platform is one of the best ways to keep your career viable — if you use it wisely. But once you have completed your profile and started exploring your options, how do you decide what is a good thing to do? And how do you figure out how to do it?
Search Engine Journal has recently given us some good ideas in Kristi Hines’ 10 LinkedIn Tips and Strategies You Need To Know. These are helpful suggestions that may be exactly what you are looking for:
How to unsubscribe from blog posts — a great help in uncluttering your inbox
How to quickly change group digest frequency — another de-clutter benefit
How to see where you rank — it can make a difference
How to put links on your profile — to your site, your writing, etc.
How to get LinkedIn Premium features for less — who doesn’t like a bargain?
How to schedule updates to LinkedIn — and take some of the drudgery out of your life
How to get LinkedIn testimonials on your website — you do have a website by now, right?
How to research customers on LinkedIn — or anybody else, like potential employers
How to target Facebook and Twitter ads to LinkedIn connections — you may not be actually putting out ads, but it is good to know
How to research competitors on LinkedIn — and see how you stack up
How Is Marketing Like Career Building?
It’s true that Search Engine Journal is not usually a site you’d find career advice on, but the line between marketing and career building is very fuzzy. If you think about it, marketing is just presenting the best of your business to the public in various ways so the people see and respond appropriately. Isn’t career building presenting the best of your skills, knowledge, and experience to get an appropriate response?
In fact, skill marketing is a way to get people thinking about you as a potential asset for new positions. The more you can utilize platforms like LinkedIn to show what you have to offer, the easier it is for people to see what you bring to the table.
If your resume is not getting the results you’d expect based on your skills and experience, maybe it needs to be evaluated. All the information could be perfect; perfectly bland. Here’s a fast way to evaluate your resume, and it’s based on the way it will be evaluated when it reaches that VIP looking for someone to fill a position: Pick up your resume and scan it for 30 seconds, then cover it and write down what you remember.
Actually, thirty seconds might be longer than most HR people look at it, but they have developed serious speed reading skills. What do you remember about your resume? What stands out?
Now consider that your resume is something you are familiar with — and it was probably hard to remember what you said about yourself. Imagine what it’s like to read through hundreds of resumes in an attempt to find the best candidates to call in for interviews! These people don’t know you, and they do know what they need in the position.
Be Memorable and Consistent
The keywords that need to be there are the words used in the job ad, because that’s what they are looking for. But you are offering a unique spin on that because of your individuality. Build on that uniqueness by presenting yourself with synonyms of those keywords where it’s appropriate and keep a consistency throughout your resume by answering the question in their mind: Why should I hire you?
Another way to say the same thing is, “who are you and what do you bring to this position?” If the answer to the question in their mind isn’t obvious, then you need to work on your resume until it can answer that question with fast and clear.
You want your resume to stand out, right? But not when it stands out as a shining example of what not to do on a resume. While there are many ways to make mistakes on a resume, one of the most ubiquitous is the plethora of unnecessary verbiage that accompanies attempts to impress. What???
That was an example of “Resume Speak“, or in more words, the fine art of “utilizing synergies and leveraging paradigms” seen at a popular Tumblr site of the same name. This site is just a steady stream of things said simply then translated into the kind of business-speak that makes communication bog down. And it is funny. In fact, if you work in the writing field and have anything to do with resumes, it’s hilarious.
For example, instead of saying “Got out prison with parole three years early for good behavior”, the site suggests “Successfully interfaced with governmental disciplinary system by modeling socially sanctioned behavioral metrics, significantly reducing duration of recommended confinement period.” That’ll look good on a resume all right — not.
Your Words Are Important
The language we use on a resume is more than a vehicle to transmit information. Our choice of words can alert an applicant screening system that we are a potential candidate by using the keywords it is searching for. The way we put our words together can confuse or clarify what we say about our qualifications — and using buzzwords or resume speak is not going to have the effect you are hoping for.
Even the highest level of executive resume writing has to be careful to avoid resume speak because it’s so easy to do. Business and industry have their own vocabularies and phrases. Some of that language comes pretty close to what you’ll see on that Tumblr site because Resume Speak began as a response to the overblown sentences seen far too often in the attempt to impress. As the site says, it’s useless. Don’t do this on your resume.
