Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How to avoid mistakes on your resume

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Today’s post is one of many from members of the Career Collective community I co-coordinate with my colleague Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter. I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, which will be linked at the end of my post tomorrow. Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

This month’s question (in a nod to Halloween this weekend): How to avoid scary career/resume mistakes? How should job seekers ensure their resume/career “costume” fits / attracts the right target audience?

Both questions are so important! I’ve been working on several webinars, and have been thinking a lot about targeted search and how to be sure your materials are perfectly suited to your goals. (This is more important than you might realize for a successful search.) But, since that is the topic of my presentation for the Career Summit, I’m going to hold off on those tips. You can still register for the Summit (and listen to anything you missed via the archives). I present on November 17th.  Learn more in THIS post about how the Career Summit is for you if you are looking for a job).

How to avoid scary resume mistakes?

Have you ever written an important document and sent it off, only to find that you included a silly error? Like, “I’m looking forward too meeting you” or “Its nice the the market is recovering.” (Can you find the errors in those sentences?) Your resume is as important a document as any, and the list of potential errors long.

I recently spoke with several hiring managers when I attended the Society for Human Resource Management-Atlanta’s conference, and each said that an error on a resume indicates a careless prospective employee. It may seem harsh, but when there are so many applicants for each job, weeding out candidates whose resumes don’t seem detail oriented is one way to screen them.

Are you relying on your spell check to catch your errors? You may want to think twice!

How often are words misspelled only to inadvertently form other words? You don’t want to advertise that you were distinguished as the “best manger of the year.”

I headed up the career center at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. You can only imagine how many of my students were touting their credentials as something slightly indecent! (Think public without the all important L!)

A tip to consider: create an exclusion dictionary in yourMicrosoft Office program. This personalized dictionary will flag a word as misspelled (such as manger), even though the main dictionary knows it as a proper word.

Thanks to Lindsay Olson, who blogs about recruiting and PR, for sharing this fun video that she saw on Rowan Manahan’s blog, Fortify Your Oasis. The video offers an exaggerated example of why you can’t assume that your spell check is a good editor!

Be sure to read through your resume, and have a trusted friend review it as well. (Or a professional!) You never know when “public” may become indecent.  The list goes on and on: their/there, and/an, faculty/facility, board/bored.

In the meantime, take a look at this video for a good laugh!

Be sure to visit my colleagues’ posts on the subject:

Where Are the Wild Things, Anyway?, @WorkWithIllness

Is Your Job Search Making You Feel Like a Smashed Pumpkin?, @DebraWheatman

Hiding in Plain Sight, @WalterAkana,

Don’t make these frightful resume mistakes, @LaurieBerenson

How Not to Be a Spooky Job Seeker, @heathermundell

A Tombstone Resume:Eulogizing Your Experience, @GayleHoward

The Top Ten Scary Things Job Seekers Do, @barbarasafani

Oh, Job Search Isn’t Like Trick or Treating?, @careersherpa

A Most Unfortunate Resume Mistake No One Will Tell You, @chandlee

Oh no. Not the phone!, @DawnBugni

Halloween Caution: Job Seeker Horror, @resumeservice

Boo! Are you scaring away opportunities or the competition? @MartinBuckland @EliteResumes

Your Career Brand: A Scary Trick or an Appealing Treat?, @KCCareerCoach

How to avoid mistakes on your resume, @Keppie_Careers

Sc-sc-scary Resume Mistakes, @erinkennedycprw

A Flawed Resume is a Scary Prospect, @KatCareerGal

Job Search Angst: Like Clouds Mounting Before a Storm, @ValueIntoWords

Does Your Career Costume Fit You?, @expatcoachmegan

Photo by PumpkinWayne

How to dress for success, online and in person

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The latest issue of Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Magazine is available. (I am co-editor along with Jessica Lewis.) It covers the topic of dressing for success, both in person and online. [Read more…] about How to dress for success, online and in person

What job seekers can learn from employers

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At the Society for Human Resource Management, Atlanta conference, I made a point to attend several sessions addressing social media. These sessions were directed to recruiters and human resource professionals responsible for attracting top talent to their organizations. Job seekers can learn a lot from the conversations. [Read more…] about What job seekers can learn from employers

What’s age got to do with your career?

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There’s no question that generational issues play into job search. I wanted to share a few key details I learned in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Atlanta’s conference this week, “What’s Age Got to Do with It?” Presented by Maureen Kelly, Atlanta Regional Convention, Heyward Williams, Georgia Power and Rosalia Thomas, IBM, the talk focused on how companies can help retain workers who may be retirement age and touched on generational issues in the workplace.

Boomers

The session addressed the issue of how companies can plan for and harness the power of their more experienced workers who may plan to retire in search of flexibility, but may still be willing to and interested in contributing to the organization’s brain trust. Job seekers may not realize that some companies are actually concerned about the fact that their more seasoned, knowledgeable workers may leave the organization high and dry when it is time to leave. With the projected number of people aged 65+ expected to grow exponentially, it’s an important topic to consider.

The presentation shared the following statistics:

– By 2010, 40% of the U.S. workforce will be over 40.

– Regarding the federal workforce (1.6 million civilians):

  • 50% can retire in the next 5 years
  • 70% are supervisors
  • NASA: scientists and engineers over 60 outnumber those under 30, 3 to 1.

In 1991, 11% planned to continue working past age 65.

In 2010, 33% expect to continue working past 65.

When I was tweeting this session, I heard from several Twitter friends questioning if people really wanted to stay in the workforce, or if financial considerations were primary decision factors. In fact, the presentation suggested that 71% of these workers are happy with their job and do not want to leave. (Per CNNMoney.com). (Of course, this is just a statistic, and will vary from person to person, but there was a strong feeling in the room that people WANT to work because they enjoy it and want to continue to contribute.)

The presentation noted these companies as having best practices regarding keeping their experienced professionals engaged in programs such as mentoring, consulting, advising, etc: Pfizer, Georgia Power, IBM, WellStar. These are companies that value age and experience. This is important to note.

(An aside: for those interested in exploring “encore careers” – work that combines passion, purpose and income, check out http://www.encore.org/.)

Gen Y

At the end of the talk, Rosalia Thomas from IBM shared some interested points regarding her impressions of Gen Y employees. In her view, Ys want everything quickly, want to move up and quickly take on leadership roles. They don’t offer any loyalty. She believes they focus mainly on how they will benefit from the job and how they can move to the next job. In fact, she related a story of a young hire who explained that she was only in the job for as long as she was benefiting, and planned to move on as soon as it was feasible. While Ms. Thomas’ explained that Gen Y job seekers have seen their parents burned by loyalty, the explanation didn’t seem to temper her opinion of employees so blunt about their goals and plans.

Ms. Thomas seemed very concerned with the trends she is seeing with Gen Y employees. It is important to point out that, while being loyal to a company may not be realistic or even expected, it may not behoove entry-level workers to be quite so direct about their plans. There is a lot of focus on authenticity in the blogosphere, but, for Gen Yers who wish to gain traction in certain companies, this talk was a reminder that those sentiments may not be received well.

All of this advice is fine, but you need help actually find a job? Check out THE CAREER SUMMIT for lots of great career advice.

The topics include everything from how to think about finding a job you love, to what has changed in search, demystifying the recruiting process, online career management, interviewing and (last but not least) — strategies and tips for your resume, social media profile and job search. Read more HERE or visit the site HERE to learn more.

http://t.co/iYaUIhG

How to influence people

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If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I have been busy tweeting up a storm from the Career Directors International conference (#CDI10) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Atlanta conference (#SHRMATL10)  in the past week.

Today, I want to share some insights from Tom Herringon, a senior partner with The PAR Group. Tom spoke at SHRM Atlanta about the art of leadership and influence. It’s an important topic, both for managers and those in leadership positions and for job seekers who hope to influence people to hire them.

A few key points from Tom:

  • Everyone is a decision maker. Telling people to do something is not effective; influencing them to take action is best.
  • No decision is made without emotion. Gut instincts and feelings influence every decision we make.
  • If you want to know how people feel, don’t pay attention to what they say, pay attention to their actions. Consider how they are speaking and what they actually do. Actions are easy to see, emotions are not. (I will have more insights about how to listen with all of your senses in my post about Beverly Inman-Ebel’s talk regarding listening. Hint: it’s not something you should be doing only with your ears!)
  • Salesmanship done right looks like leadership.
  • Leaders evaluate situations to allow themselves to be more easily followed.
  • Leaders are inflexible about their goals, outcomes, objectives and targeted results. They are flexible about HOW to get there.
  • Recognize that the decision about what to do rests with the individual. You can’t “make” someone take a specific action, but you can empathize, acknowledge their needs and respect their opinions in an effort to impact behavior.

Tom suggested acknowledging and respecting people, in part by suspending your point of view, empathizing with the other person’s viewpoint and depersonalizing the interaction. For example, instead of starting sentences with “you,” think about using “It” or “That” statements.

While Tom’s talk was for human resource professionals, there were many takeaways for job seekers:

  • Your search is not only about being qualified for the job — people also hire based on what feels “right” to them — emotion is a key factor in hiring decisions. If you are not getting the job, it does not mean you are not qualified, it may relate to a larger issue of how you come across,  how you present yourself or how you make people feel. Self awareness about these topics may be difficult. Ask a trusted friend or coach if you think these factors may be preventing you from getting hired.
  • In an interview, what people say is not always how they feel. An interviewer may tell you one thing, but if they look disinterested, check their watch, or don’t make eye contact, the important information is probably the non-verbal communication.
  • You (the job seeker) are a decision maker, too. Remember — you are evaluating the employer in an interviewer, even as he or she assesses your qualifications for the job. Maybe the organization is not a good fit for you.
  • Think about what you can do to make yourself a leader. Tom said, “Leaders evaluate situations to allow themselves to be more easily followed.” What are you doing to help people decide to follow you? Think about how to use social media tools to share your expertise. Wouldn’t it be great to have people coming to you with job opportunities instead of you applying for every job you want? (It is possible — I coach job seekers and entrepreneurs to leverage these tools for results.)

What other ideas to you have about the topic of influence and leadership, especially as they relate to the workplace and job search? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

photo from thegoldguys.blogspot.com/