Category Archives: Resume

December 15, 2011 · 9:54 am

And for my next act….

Because December 25th falls on a weekend this year, most of us will have not much time off before Christmas and quite a bit of time around the new year.  That’s when people typically lie around thinking about what they will change in 2012.

For a lot of people, the number one thing will be to get or change their job.  On second thought, perhaps this will be second to losing weight – that always seems to be a hot resolution. (I’ve heard.)

Go ahead and dream but try to be realistic.

Just because your uncle is a doctor, does not mean you can be a medical device account manager.

Plumbing your own laundry room sink, does not qualify you to be a piping designer.

Planning office parties is not a prequel to becoming a project manager.

Don’t assume your neighbour can get you a job just because he works in a big company.

I’m not even going to comment about people who like karaoke…..

I don’t want to be a downer before 2012 has even started, but try not to stray too far off the path.  Try this:  mention your next career goal to your dog.  If he looks at you funny, you have definitely gone too far.

Run it by a good friend.  If they seem kind of puzzled but supportive, then you may be on to something.

Finally, talk to someone in the field and see what they say.  If they seem to thinks that the transition is plausible, then sit down and make a plan.

Change is afoot!

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November 17, 2011 · 10:40 am

Umm, how do you spell that?

I was reading resumes the other day (that’s a shocker, isn’t it?) when I came across something that stopped me cold and left me shaking my head.

It was the resume of a pretty high level guy in a very serious, very technical industry and guess what his email address was?  danghard@gmail.ca!

Are you kidding me?  Can you imagine a corporate recruiter or a hiring manager typing that into their email message asking to get together for an interview?  Really?

It’s all well and good to have a cutesy email address in high school or maybe even university but not when it’s time to look for a job.  The following are examples of addresses that will probably not lead you to the kind of opportunities that you are looking for.

  • frillyundies@msn.ge
  • bobdoesvegas@ live.ca
  • thebestengineerever@pe.com

I’m a pretty out of the box thinker but let’s face it, your email address is part of your identity and an important part of the impression you leave when someone glances at your resume.

Do you want to get called for a career opportunity or a dinner date?

If your alter ego (or your nightlife) really depends on a catchy addy, then maybe you could think about adopting a conventional email address for your day job.

Just make sure you keep them straight.  Hiring managers are easily confused and you would not want to run the risk of losing a job at Xerox because you confirmed your final interview time with your nakedmarketingcoordinator email address.

 
*of course, I have changed the email domain names to protect the not-so-innocent.

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October 6, 2011 · 9:38 am

Extreme Career Makeover

My company, Ian Martin Ltd is celebrating today.  It`s the first day of our new brand (code for the kind of wholesale change we see on Extreme Home Makeover) and we are having a party.

Watching the various changes in the works got me thinking about how a “career makeover” would look.  Think about when you get a haircut and everyone thinks you look younger or when you get glasses and everyone suddenly thinks you look smarter.

If you did a wholesale refresh on your resume today, how would it look?  Would you use more contemporary fonts?  Change the focus of your objective?  Maybe you could add some different achievements like the webinar you co-hosted last week or the big project that your team just completed.

Maybe you would sign up for that course you have had your eye on.  You could do one night a week, couldn’t you?

You could take a look at your Linkedin profile.  Does it really reflect who you are today and more importantly, where you want to be tomorrow?  Is the picture fresh?  Please tell me you are not using the photo of you and your ex…..that would be bad, really bad.

You can go ahead and make a haircut and brow renovation appointments.  You can visit Warby Parker and pick out some new glasses but you don’t have to go great expense for a career makeover.  Just give it some time and some thought.  That’s all it takes.

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June 23, 2011 · 8:41 am

Job Board Basics

I read resumes for a living.  I have no idea how many resumes I have read but I am sure it is thousands and thousands.  When I do orientation with our interns, they kind of glaze over when I start to talk about the patterns and characteristics that we look for.  One of my interns described it as a kind of black art.

So here’s the thing:  make it easy for us!

If you are posting your information on a job board, here are some of the things that should be included to make sure you get seen by the right people:

  • You are looking/not looking but curious/not looking but like to have your stuff out there
  • You are employed/not employed/not employed enough
  • You are willing to look at out of town opportunities/no way in hell will you relocate
  • How much money you are looking for, even if it is a wide range.
  • Your education and where it came from.  Don’t make stuff up. If you did not finish your degree, don’t say you have one.  Similarly, if your degree is from outside Canada, don’t say you got it from the University of Gdansk in Canada. We were not born yesterday.

Monster and Workopolis put all those fields in there for a reason.  Use them.  Make it easy for those of us fishing in an ocean of resumes to use the right bait to find you.

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May 19, 2011 · 10:13 am

The Itch to Switch

It is spring.  Green things are growing like crazy.  For me, it’s mostly weeds but still, you can see the changes every day. This weekend, I’m going to be content to negotiate with worms as big as my finger where I can plant my veggies.  Others though, are feeling the itch to switch more than just their landscaping.

Like starting a new garden, thinking about a job change can be overwhelming.  Where to start?  There is so much to do.

Grab a shovel and let’s dig in.

  1.  Your resume.  No one will even interview you these days without a resume.  Pull out the last version that you can find.  Print it, make some notes about what needs to be changed and then start a whole new document.  Microsoft Office has some great templates to get you started.  Don’t expect to finish it in one go.  Get as far as you can and then go outside and do something else.  Come back to it in a day or so.  Allowing time for it to percolate in your brain will result in some shifting and probably some catchy phrases that you did not think of in the first go.
  2. Brush up your profile on linkedin.  You can buy stock in linkedin too, but that’s another blog entry for another day.  Connect to some people with whom you used to work, go to school or volunteer. Make sure you check off all the boxes in the “Contact Settings” area of your profile and put in either a work or personal email address.  That way, people can contact you directly.  This activity puts your profile front and centre with your network.  That’s when sparks start to fly.
  3. Think of three people that you want to connect or reconnect with and set up coffee or lunch with them.  This is not a “please help me find a job” meeting.  It’s a “what’s happening in your world” meeting.  This is how you a) learn about other avenues for growth and b) let people know what you have been doing.

And there you have it:  three simple things to get the seeds sown for your next chapter.

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December 17, 2010 · 9:49 am

The 3D Resume

According to Best Buy, 3D tvs are all the rage; the must-have of this holiday season.  But its not just tvs.  Nope.  Your resume should be in 3D too.

Think about it.  Is a flat piece of paper really going to do justice to your experience?  Will it really show off your accomplishments?

I am not advocating for the pop-up resume (although there might be something to that….) but platforms like linkedin give us an excellent framework for a building a resume with multiple touch points and connectors.

If your linkedin profile is complete, then it contains not just your experience but also links to where you have worked, some references, groups that you belong too and perhaps even some samples of your stuff or what you are reading.

You can use this as a model for the resume that you post online or email to someone.  Include links to current/former employers, volunteer organizations, professional associations, anything that makes your career jump off the page.

What other evidence is out in the web-o-sphere about you?  I would not include the pictures of you table dancing at your brother’s wedding but I would include a link to your twitter profile, the conferences you have attended, and of course, the address of your linked in profile.

All of these elements will help to illustrate that you are a really interesting person and that you know how to use technology to your advantage – all in all, a very attractive picture.

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