It is the resume that is holding you back

Could this be?  After all it worked in past and others who helped you with it made significant improvements.  Despite that, vis a vis other outstanding resumes it pales and is ineffective.  In order for your resume to propel you to the point that somebody considers you as a potential candidate is has to have at least the following elements.  Above all the gist of the resume has to be written in a way that conveys the reader that you have what it takes to solve his problems and chances are that you will excel.

• A strong career summary following the contact information. This is the first thing read. It sets the tone for the entire résumé. And it should be designed to attract, intrigue as well as compel the reader to keep reading more.
• An attractive visual presentation. This means the résumé has to look good on paper. The ideal résumé design has lots of white space, looks clean, and invites the reader to want to learn more about the candidate. A résumé is merely a marketing tool—the first impression a potential employer has of you.
• Passing the 10-second test. Résumés are being reviewed by recruiters and others who read many résumés and have to weed out worthwhile ones from those that are wastes of time. A professional reviewer does this for each résumé in 10 to 30 seconds. If it’s not attractive, your résumé will be discarded.
• Evidence that you will be able to deliver. This is the reason you have to list your accomplishments. Don’t confuse accomplishments with tasks that someone in your position typically performs; the interviewer already knows the tasks just from your title. From the way many résumés are worded, they come across as doers, not strongly as achievers. The distinction between the two is decisive. This is a common mistake made by nonprofessional résumé writers. To be effective and create excitement, a great résumé helps the decision maker envision your delivering similar achievements at the decision maker’s company.
• The right keywords. In addition to the human eye’s scan, most résumés nowadays get scanned into an applicant-tracking system and retrieved exclusively if they contain the right keywords based on a computer query. Keywords are critical because even the best applicant will miss the opportunity to compete if the résumé lacks the right keywords.

So, now the question becomes, What should be your next step? In principle, you have several options.

• Based on the issues covered here, you can continue having people help you with your résumé or you can buy books, read articles, and work toward making your résumé more desirable.
• You can engage a professional editor once you’ve finished your work on the résumé. That will assure you that it is perfect in terms of format, grammar, usage, spacing, punctuation, and more.
• You can engage a professional résumé writer. Most of the professional résumé writers are accredited, certified, and experienced. Some are pretty good; others are outstanding. You’ll want to interview them first for your résumé and cover letter.

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Interview with the PC: What's Next?

And you thought a phone interview is challenging. How about the next phase, which will involve using Webcam technology? Many major employers have become more sophisticated in the use of such technology and are using the services of companies like Interview Stream for Webcam interviewing. The Webcam is an additional selection tool a company can use before it’s willing to commit further time and money.

Here’s how it works: A candidate receives an e-mail invitation to click on a link that takes the candidate through the process. Some job seekers, though, are using older computers that can’t be quickly upgraded, and to work with a Webcam would generate an additional expense. What are they to do?

Preparing for an interview is challenging enough by itself. Nowadays, there are several additional layers of difficulties that have been added on. In terms of a Webcam interview, first there’s the technical part. This involves setting up the Webcam, adjusting microphone settings, arranging for proper lighting and a background the lens captures, deciding on the angle that’s most flattering for you, and doing many other things an amateur videographer can’t even begin to imagine. Second, the candidate has to quickly learn how to become videogenic, since a big part of the hiring decision is based on a candidate’s image. In order to look good on video, the candidate has to look constantly at the video lens. This by itself is a monumental test of one’s ability to do so, since very few people are trained to appear on video camera.

The next step happens when the program shows the candidate a countdown—3, 2, 1—and then the words NOW RECORDING appear, as does a countdown for two minutes. The candidate gets five questions to answer. After recording the answers, the candidate gets one more chance—to redo the two minutes if not satisfied with the first go-round.

The last step is to click Submit, and then the praying can start. Hopefully, you’ll hear back from the company. I’m wondering whether there’s an Academy Award for those who’ve mastered this 21st-century innovation whose use is limited to just being screened for employment.

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Job Search: What Changed?

People who haven’t been looking for jobs for a while are in for a real shock. The rules of the game have changed significantly. To be effective at finding a job, one needs to involve everybody one knows. Finding a job while being low-key and discreet like in the past will take forever! Newspaper ads have been replaced by the Internet, and one needs to learn to use company Web sites, online job boards, and online social networks—not to mention extensive use of the computer.

Among the online job boards, some are broad and general, while others are specific to an industry or a profession or other criteria. Most job boards let you post your résumé, search for open positions and, fill out applications online. Often, the communication is one way except for unsolicited spam. Among the most popular sites are careerbuilder.com, careerjournal.com, craiglist.org, and monster.com. And there are several aggregators such as indeed.com, juju.com, and simplyhired.com, which help make the search more efficient.

Using external recruiters is another avenue for job seekers. At the medium-income level, they are called contingency recruiters, and they’re competing with other recruiters. At higher income levels, they’re called retained recruiters, and they’re paid for the work they do regardless of whether they place people. Recruiters whether retained or contingency typically specialize in certain fields. Developing satisfactory and long-term relationships with some of them is a good investment of one’s time.

Today’s résumés have gone through a face-lift. Generic résumés are lacking and need certain fine-tuning so they match the specifics mentioned in the job description. Last decade’s résumés listed the various activities similar to the job description. Today’s employers want to see quantifiable accomplishments—and in dollars and percentages. One needs to emphasize specific skills and abilities to accomplish results as a member of a multidisciplinary and, possibly, international team. The résumé needs to show flexibility because of the dynamic nature of business today, and it needs to show resourcefulness and expanded responsibilities over time. But probably the most important change lies in the fact that the résumé has to contain the right keywords. Most résumés are scanned into an applicant-tracking system and will never resurface unless they have the right keywords.

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Events > Alex Freund Presents Basic Tools for People in Transition > Middletown Township, NJ > Asbury Park

Events > Alex Freund Presents Basic Tools for People in Transition > Middletown Township, NJ > Asbury Park

Penetrating the Hidden Job Market

In the current job market, it’s not unusual for people to be looking for jobs over many months. It’s a very competitive market, and job openings are few. This situation is amplified by the herd mentality whereby people deploy the job search strategies commonly used in the past. For example, asking people about their target companies elicits, in most cases, the names of large and very well-known companies. This means that all of those people are competing for the same few openings. Yet there are lots of jobs in the untapped arena called the hidden job market.

The hidden job market is at the other end of the spectrum—mostly hidden from the public because the jobs in it don’t get published. Such jobs get filled by word of mouth or through recommendations. Most jobs are not advertised anyway, and people who get hired never responded to advertisements. Research has shown that 25 percent of people lie on their résumés. Hiring managers have a basic mistrust about résumés, preferring candidates who are recommended.

Some news articles profess that only one-third of job openings are advertised. That means that two-thirds of job openings are invisible to most job applicants. Here are some more facts:

• Big companies are eliminating jobs as a result of their mergers-and-acquisitions activities, while small and medium-size companies are creating jobs.
• Small companies have problems attracting talent and are thus often settling for less-than-perfect candidates.
• The job market is localized. Plumbers in New Orleans could be doing well, while those in other cities could be doing poorly.
• At the same time that companies are laying off people, they could be hiring in areas where other employees are needed.
• Ten percent of the current job market is contingent (part-time, temporary, or contract).
• Two-thirds of all new jobs are on a contingent basis. The chances of a contingent job’s becoming permanent are very good because the employees in them are known quantities.

So, what should job seekers do to increase their chances of getting employed? Here are a few suggestions.

• It takes a minimum of 40 job-search work hours a week to get a job. Research has shown that many unemployed people spend less than 10 hours a week.
• One has to make several contacts in the same company to get hired. It is a multistep and protracted effort. Nothing happens fast when one is looking for a job.
• People get jobs by talking to people. Improve your verbal and written communication skills.
• You should be working on at least 50 leads at all times. Don’t be discouraged by the voices in your head saying you cannot do it.

By following these suggestions, people in transition will not only speed up the process but also increase their chances exponentially.

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Interview Questions Reveal Employer's Concerns

You can address an employer’s concerns via your interview answers only if you understand where the concerns are coming from and what the employer wants to explore. Interview questions can be grouped by the interviewer’s needs. So, what are such needs? Similar to a personal investment, employers need to do their due diligence in order to explore and then understand what they are buying, as well as to ensure that their purchase will both grow and produce satisfactory results and that there won’t be any hidden surprises.

• First, the employer will want to validate that you’ll be productive on the job and that your skills will deliver as anticipated. If you’ve done this job elsewhere, were you successful? And if you ran into problems, how did you resolve them, and what did you learn from the process?
• Second, the interviewer will want to gain a clear understanding of how much you want this job. Are you strongly motivated and interested enough to perform well and make significant contributions? The interviewer will want to verify certain soft-skill issues such as your determination, desire to succeed, work ethic, and willingness to give 100 percent. Pertinent questions will prompt you for evidence and not just anecdotal stories.
• Third, the big question is whether the company can afford you. The interview would end promptly if the interviewer realizes there’s a significant gap between the candidate’s compensation expectations and the company’s ability to pay for this job.
• And fourth, the interviewer will ask a significant number of questions that assess whether you’d fit into the company’s culture. Of all of the other concerns, this is probably the most critical one, because it is psychologically based and left to the interviewer’s interpretation. For example, you might be asked whether you’re a team player and can bring evidence. Or whether you get along with people or would cause friction. Or whether your personality, values, attitude, and personal style would align with the corporate culture. Or whether you’re manageable and could align yourself with organizational policies? Or whether you’re flexible enough to live with constant change and adapt to it quickly.

The interviewer’s questions can be the well-known, standard, typical interview questions or can be what is called behavior or situational questions. The latter types of questions pigeonhole you into a situation, and you’re asked to give examples from your past that show how you solved a problem or dealt with a specific circumstance.

There’s no question that interviews can be challenging, and—even with live practice with a friend, a family member, or, better yet, a qualified career coach—not result in the desired outcome.

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The Secret of an Excellent Interview

Be brief. Now that the secret is revealed, I will support my tenet with a few facts. Actually, you can do what I did: I watched some television with a stopwatch to see how long an answer people provide for a question. As samples, I used, among others, Presidents Obama and Clinton because I consider them excellent communicators with media people in a question-and-answer setup. Typically, one of their answers would be 30 to 90 seconds long, with very few deviations. In order to get to such a level of excellence, one needs two ingredients: innate talent and lots of practice. Not all of us are born with this type of talent, but all of us can achieve it through practice and in fact should if we want to excel at interviews.

As a career coach, I help people become better at answering difficult interview questions. I’ve found it interesting that regardless of people’s professions, backgrounds, or titles most are not good when facing a job interviewer—despite the fact that some think they are, because after all, they’ve gotten jobs in the past, right? Universally, though, people are long-winded, and their answers tend to be paragraphs instead of several bulleted items supported by examples. Some provide protracted answers that go way beyond the listener’s attention span. The danger here is that the job candidate is not made aware of losing the listener’s attention, since regrettably, interviewers don’t have digital readouts on their foreheads showing their listening level at that moment.

The best way to overcome that obstacle is to prepare for interview answers by first writing out the answers longhand in SARB format. (SARB is the acronym for situation, action, result, and benefit.) Next, review each answer with an eye toward shortening them. If an answer can be delivered in about 60 seconds, you’ll achieve your objective. Now, it’s practice time. Best if you work with a career coach who can give you not only honest feedback but also the correct answers. Otherwise, ask a friend, family member, or someone else who also might benefit from such practice.

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