Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

My, how tastes (and resumes) have changed!

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suit of armor101043722_8b4ae7064f_mI’ve been sharing career related epiphanies resulting from my recent sojourn in New York City. Specifically,  from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today’s focus: My, how our tastes and trends have changed!

Opinions about what is beautiful and what are useful ways to spend our time certainly have changed over the centuries! (When was the last time you donned a suit of armor to challenge a foe? Or slept in a Versailles-era inspired bed?) The same is true of resume conventions.

My friend and colleague Erin Kennedy recently pointed out a modern resume writing trend – adding color to resumes! As she notes, this is not an idea most professional resume writers would have entertained several years ago, but is something job seekers can consider today. Similarly, I find myself explaining to clients that I don’t write “your father’s resume.”

Yes – there are many things about resumes that are similar to those 20 years ago, but a lot has changed! Who would have thought that resumes would actually include online profiles, “social resumes” and blogs? Just as women don’t walk around corseted with big bustles, you want to be sure that your resume doesn’t look like something that belongs in a musuem because it is out of date!

I recently worked with a client whose resume I totally redesigned using a very modern style. Her reply, “I thought it was going to look more like the one I sent…Will this appeal to recruiters?”

I explained that the best resume professionals are not writing “your mother’s resume” anymore. Times have changed, and we need to change with them. My client showed her new resume to an (older) recruiter who admitted it wasn’t what she expected to see, but that she liked the format and how it outlined the candidate’s skills and made her stand out! I couldn’t have been more pleased!

One of my twitter friends, Vicki, suggested I update this post to provide some visual examples of dated and modern resumes. So – follow this link to review my resume transformations – for some examples of the way resumes look today compared to old-fashioned versions. Thanks, Vicki!

What job search trends confuse or interest you?

There is no “one size fits all” career advice. Don’t you deserve the best, personalized information and help? Learn how I can help you with your search.

Frustrated that your search isn’t resulting in a job? In Atlanta? Join me and Stephanie A. Lloyd, CEO of Radiant Veracity for our series of in-person job search interventions. Read more about how to propel your search and sign up here.

Art – and the "right" way to job search – are in the eye of the beholder

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met246896968_6dc95bda71_mThere’s a reason, I think, that so many artists and creative people live in New York City (and other big cities). There is so much going on there, it is almost impossible NOT to be inspired in some way – just in walking down the street. Having recently come back from a visit to the Big Apple, I decided to take a lesson from one of my blogging mentors, Anita Bruzzese, whom I admire, among other reasons, for the fact that she never has writer’s block!

Anita suggested that I should take inspiration from what is all around me. So, some NYC inspired thoughts for the job seeker…

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A few thoughts the museum inspired in me…

Forgive me for saying so, but am I the only one who thinks, “Art is in the eye of the beholder” whenever I visit a museum? Of course, the halls were full of masterpieces, but when I visit their famous collection, there is always something I walk by and say “hmm…THAT’s in the Met?”

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To a certain extent, the same concept – art is in the eye of the beholder – applies to the job search.

I have written about the fact that there is no ONE right way to look for a job. If someone tells you that they offer the holy grail of job search, be wary. The fact is, just as certain art appeals to some more than others, resumes, job search techniques and approaches for the hunt can only be evaluated individually. Everyone brings a unique set of circumstances to the table – biases and personal preferences are an undeniable aspect of job hunting.

My colleague Louise Fletcher recently addressed the issue of including something on the resume that may not appeal to 100% of readers. Her client was concerned, but she argued that doing something that is  “calibrated to appeal to your target audience” has the potential to appeal to more people than not.

There are many nuances in job hunting…How you write your resume, what you say in your LinkedIn profile…If you should write a “social resume.” It’s not a “one size fits all” or a “come as you are” job market. Everyone has an opinion, and you want to be sure that you are listening to someone who is an expert to advise you.

Stay tuned for more thoughts…Feel free to share your insights!

There is no “one size fits all” career advice. Don’t you deserve the best, personalized information and help? Learn how I can help you with your search.

Frustrated that your search isn’t resulting in a job? In Atlanta? Join me and Stephanie A. Lloyd, CEO of Radiant Veracity for our series of in-person job search interventions. Read more about how to propel your search and sign up here.

Photo credits:  wallyg


Edit your resume. It's very impotent. :-)

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Have you ever written an important document, poured over it a million times 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 two errors in that sentence)?  Your resume is as important a document as any, and the list of potential errors long.

Thanks to Lindsay Olson, who blogs about recruiting and PR, for sharing this terrific 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! 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 a career center in a school of public health. You can only imagine how many of my students were touting thier credentials as something slightly indecent! (Think “public” without the all important L!)

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, or you’ve used “suing” instead of “using.”  The list goes on and on: their/there, and/an, faculty/facility, board/bored…

A tip to consider:  create an ”exclusion dictionary” in your Microsoft 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.

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


Learn more about what I can do for you – and how you can benefit by hiring a professional to help you.


Quoted in ABCnews.com – Biggest mistakes job seekers make

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megaphone2590025080_d5ce7bf163_mI’d like to share a post by Michelle Goodman at ABCnews.com. She recently posted a story about the biggest mistakes job seekers make and quoted several of my comments. 

One tidbit: Provide a context for the information in your resume!


“Increased sales by 12 percent in a depressed market when most sales were down year over year” tells a far more compelling story than “increased sales by 12 percent year over year,” said Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers, a resume and job hunting consultancy in Atlanta.

Need personalized advice about how to be competitive in this tough market? Follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how I can help you land the job you deserve!


You're never really done with your resume

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unfinished-bridge270381648_1e3b1ecac2_mI hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your resume should always be a work in progress. Otherwise, it represents an unfinished bridge – like this picture – that does not connect what you offer and what your targeted employer seeks. I teach my clients how to review and tweak their own resumes to apply for different types of jobs. Hopefully, you’ll have a target in mind when you write your resume, but things change, opportunities change and you need to change (your resume) with them.

It is worth the time to tweak your resume. (I write resumes with “moving parts” that make it very easy to adjust and adapt for each opportunity.) Of course, the headlines and highlights sections may change depending on the job and the job’s requirements. Other points throughout the resume should also be adjusted, if only to change the order of the bullet points within each job description. 

The more time a job seeker spends on targeting the resume for the job, the more likely he or she is to land an interview.

Of course, you don’t have “time” to adjust your resume for each job. It would be so much easier to send the same exact document to every employer! Yes, but doing so could also extend your search. No one wants to sign up to be hunting for a job any longer than necessary!

Have you been unemployed and/or looking for work for a long time? Longer than you thought you would be? Remember, this is not a “come as you are” job market. There are fewer jobs and more people looking. You must do whatever you can to give yourself an advantage over the competition if you want to be gainfully employed anytime soon. For some, this just means looking more carefully at job descriptions and targeting their resumes accordingly. For others, it means hiring a professional to help them identify and outline all of the great skills they have to offer.

Remember – your job search is in YOUR hands. If you are driving your own career bus, you want to be sure you have both eyes on the road! Move forward by taking the right turns to end up where you want to go!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search and materials, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by mateoteh

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