Happy About My Resume

The last time you looked for a new position, you may have included “references available upon request” on your resume to let the prospective employer know that others could prove the credibility of your candidacy and vouch for your performance. But if the last time you actively sought out a new position was before the Internet, you may want to rethink your references available upon request strategy. In the 21st century, references are often available without request. According to a recent survey by Execunet, 77 percent of recruiters have used Internet search engines to research candidates and 35 percent of them have dropped seekers from consideration based on the information they uncovered.

In their 2007 book, Career Distinction, William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson explore the importance of having a professional brand and building an on-line identity and they even help professionals evaluate their Google results to determine if they are “digitally disguised”, “digitally distinct”, or somewhere in between.

Don’t assume that employers are only looking at the information you have handed to them or that they are only reviewing information on their final candidates. Finding details on job seekers, once a laborious process, has been streamlined into a few quick clicks.  So make sure that all of your “references available without request” support your candidacy and build upon your professional brand.

You’ve got an amazing resume. Your interview strategy is top-notch. But what happens when a recruiter or hiring manager calls you and gets your voicemail? Do you have an outgoing message like “Yo, dog, leave a message” or a “cute” message featuring your two-year old? If someone is answering the phone for you in your absence, do they have a strong command of the English language and are they capable of taking  a detailed phone message? Paying attention to these details is just as important as  making sure your resume  has no typos or  your interview suit is pressed. Audit your voicemail  and phone procedures today to make sure you get that interview tomorrow!

Many job seekers find the job posting boards enticing because they appear to be an effective method of search and the opportunities posted seem plentiful. But the reality is that a meager 3-5% of candidates in search find their positions through the posting boards. While I don’t recommend spending countless hours on-line scanning the boards, I do recommend leveraging the information you gain from the postings to create a more efficient and strategic search plan. Here are a few ways to accomplish just that.

1. Only post your resume for the positions with a real match. Don’t expect “I’m a fast learner” to work when you’re competing against a large applicant pool.
2. If you find a good match on a posting board, don’t just zap your resume out into cyberspace and hope for the best. Go directly to the company’s website to see if you can post there as well. Review all open positions to see if you can identity growth trends or other changes  within the company.
3. Review job postings to gain perspective on the compensation for particular positions. Validate the information you gather by comparing it to information from recruiters and colleagues. Having this knowledge will make you a more effective negotiator when it is time to discuss the compensation associated with a job offer.

I recently saw a panel presentation with five college recruiters from five of the country’s top employers. Hands down, their biggest pet peeve when it comes to resumes is typos. Many recruiters and hiring managers agree that having a typo on a resume is the fastest way to get placed in the “no” pile. It can be hard to review your own resume. By the time you finish it, you are so close to the situation that it can be hard to spot errors. Here are a few suggestions for catching those pesky typos.

1. Use spell-check wisely. Spell-check is a great tool, but supplement spell-check with several human rounds of proofreading.
2. Read the document backwards. Doing so forces you to slow down and pay attention to each word rather than skimming the sentence.
3. Ask a friend or trusted colleague to proofread the document. It’s amazing what a fresh set of eyes will spot.
4. Get an 8th grade English teacher to read your resume. OK, maybe they are harder to come by, but if you know one, grab them. They will know it all when it comes to spelling and grammar.

In order to create a quality resume, your document must stand out from the crowd. I am constantly amazed at the number of people who use Microsoft resume templates to craft their documents. Bad move and here’s why.

• Too Generic. Thousands of job seekers use templates to create resumes every day. That means that your resume looks like everyone else’s. Ho hum!
• Difficult to Read. Many templates format the candidate’s contact information using a font under 10 points. Unless you expect a hiring manager to whip out a magnifying glass to figure out how to contact you, don’t use a template.
• Too Much Wasted Space. I usually see templates that place category headings on the left and information on the candidate on the right. If you have more than a few things to say, it’s going to be challenging to fit all the information in that tiny area. Every spot on the resume is like valuable real estate. Use the space wisely!
• Irrelevant Information. Often templates have a section for “Hobbies.” The information most candidates include in this section is irrelevant at best and in the worst case scenario inappropriate or just plain weird. Don’t leave the reader thinking “Did I really need to know that this candidate reads tarot cards and belly dances?” Stick with relevant information that rounds out your candidacy, such as your affiliation with a professional or volunteer organization.