Career Management Alliance Blog

I came across a question posted on a mailing list I receive and I was intrigued with the thread of conversation, as well as, comments from an acquaintence with years of professional experience working with job boards.  I wanted to pass it along and encourage you to comment from your own experience.

The question had to do with including a street address and home phone number as contact information across the top of the resume.  Several professional resume writers indicated they only include a candidate’s name, city, state, and zip code due to problems with identity theft.  There was also concern that HR reps use the address information to screen candidates based on “too long a commute”.  Since I include all contact information, and know there are several ways to obtain personal information on the web simply by having a name, I passed this question on to a professional who works with job boards daily in his work with a resume service.  His comments follow:

If currently employed and the search is a secret- you obviously post confidentially. Through my [resume] service, you choose confidential and you make sure to strip out anything on the pasted resume and cover letter that can identify you. If not through my service, you be even more careful and cover up anything that can give you away including company names, exact job descriptions as they’re written up by the company you work for, etc. If NOT currently employed - You don’t post confidentially.

It is FACT that those who post confidentially receive less hits. It’s human nature. If you have 5 candidates that look great on paper, and 3 have contact info. attached including a name, and 2 do not, the first three are contacted first. Those who use job boards [professionally] KNOW that recruiters plant “traps” on the boards in the form of confidential candidates. They’re fake candidates planted by the recruiter to create job orders. Hiring authority emails the “confidential searcher” and the next thing you know you hear back from a recruiter saying “Actually, I placed that person but have others just like him/her…lets talk”. Many are skeptical of confidential candidates who look too good to be true. often they are.  THAT SAID…it doesn’t mean confidential searchers will not be contacted…just not as much as the non-confidential. The point of using the boards is to maximize your chances of being contacted so unless your search is a secret, I see no reason to post  confidentially. 

If the job seeker is still not comfortable with it, even if not employed, then I can see them giving a fake street address…but the moment you give a fake phone number, you just eliminated those hiring authorities who are more inclined to pick up the phone and call over email. In a stack of 20 people they like, they simply may not email each one. They’ll call quickly and see if they can schedule an interview. I wouldn’t doctor names or phone numbers if your search is not secret. Maybe you change the company names on the resume to “Confidential” but  don’t change phone number and eliminate potential interested parties in reaching you.  

Your experiences?

Faith Sheaffer-Thornberry

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Are you onto this craze about “The Secret,” which says if you visualize, prepare and communicate, then what your heart truly wants will come to you? I think it would be beneficial to apply these concepts to resumes, the job search and interviewing.

I had a client recently who had a long, solid, high-level history in technology. He started his own consulting firm a few years ago, and was looking to re-enter corporate America. My recommendation was that while his history contained broad expertise and the foundation for excellent accomplishments, the existing resume failed to carry the impact required.

The response was a barrage of negativity, at himself, but voiced to me. “I’m too old; they’re going to see that.” “I’ve been out the job market for too long.” “What if they think I want to come in and take over?” “They’re going to assume the salary I want is too much.” And the client went on with more.

Whoa! Listen, half this battle is you have to have a solid work history. The other half is you need to present that in a stand-out resume. And the other, extra half is attitude, attitude, attitude.

The fact is, the client’s age issue can be easily handled in a resume so he’s positioned as experienced, not old. The right tone in a resume can readily communicate the candidate does not need to be the “top dog,” with the high salary associated with that. And as far as being out of the job market, the candidate could present several successful, strategic engagements from his most recent consulting experience.

So what to do about this attitude?  That’s the secret. There’s no room for negativity in the secret. Visualize the position you want to be in; that doesn’t mean just saying to yourself, “I want X.” It means internalizing your goal in your core. Prepare: a good resume, and strong interviewing skills. Communicate: put the resume out there, network, renew relationships, leverage existing relationships. Exude that positive energy, and there’s a much better chance that good things will happen.

By Jewel Bracy DeMaio

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Quick! Raise your hand if:

You are “highly accomplished.”

Raise your other hand if you are “results-oriented.”

Stand up if you have “solid communications skills.”

Congratulations! Now your resume officially looks just like everyone else’s!

Can we turn this situation around please? I want you to present to the employer who you really, truly, actually, authentically are, and what that means you can come in and do for the employer’s organization. Amazingly enough, this has little to nothing to do with being profit-focused, goal-driven, or any similar resume-speak.

This has to do with you and you alone. A client this week told me she went on an archeological dig. She’s not an archeologist, anthropoligist, or any kind of researcher. In fact, she’s a middle school educator. She took her students out of the classroom and literally required them to dig deeper.

So, in deciding what the primary message is that you want your resume to communicate, dig deeper. What are your areas of expertise? If you were called on for a consulting assignment, what could you consult about? What have you developed a reputation for being known for over the course of your career? What’s your perspective on your industry that makes the way you do things that much better?

Replace that resume fluff with the real you, and you’ll really have a marketing document that will get you the results you need.

Posted by Jewel Bracy DeMaio.

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Guess what? Today we’re going to do some new math.

I boldly suggest that when it comes to your resume, 2 + 2 needs to equal 5.

“Wait a minute,” you may say, “I have reached the executive level, and I did that with fabulous achievements, and a lot of them!”

Do your achievements read anything even slightly related to this?

“Generated revenue of $9 million the first year.”

“Launched this new product to achieve $2 million US revenue and $3.7 million abroad.”

“Reduced operational costs 24% within only 6 months.”

“Rightsized the organization, reducing the workforce by 7%, but raising productivity         nearly 22%.”

“Captured a new account valued at $11 million.”

“Ranked 1st in new business development, building a $14 million portfolio.”

Et cetera. There could be 35 examples of achievements like those. I know because I’ve seen such exhaustive lists in executive resumes. But you know what? All of these accomplishments look disjointed. While the dollar figures and percentages look great, they don’t add up to a cohesive story or main message.

This is where the new math comes in: your executive resume needs to add up to more than the sum of its parts. Find a common thread across your achievements. Do you almost always come in and generate millions? Then your main message could be that your expertise is business development. Do you have repeated successes turning around distressed operations? Then your story is that you come in, identify inefficiencies, define new strategies, and execute.

Tie those accomplishments all together into a meaningful message. Then you’ll stand out.

Posted by Jewel Bracy DeMaio

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A potential client emailed me someone else’s resume today, and essentially said, “I want my resume to look like this.” We all know the old adage, “The customer is always right.” But you know what? I just wasn’t hearing that today.

Executives, you can not and should not submit a resume for any position that looks exactly like someone else’s. Think about what this really says about you: you’re not innovative, creative, or forward-thinking. In short, you’re not unique. Certainly this can’t be the professional brand you want to communicate.

So let’s steer away from the formulaic formats and focus instead on how we can showcase the unique you. The goal is to deliver a document that makes the potential employer literally stand up and say, “Who IS this guy? Get him in here immediately!”

At the six-figure level and above, you are not competing against the masses. You are competing against a select few, and an even shorter list once you reach round 2 of the interview stage. Do you know what makes you stand out?

YOU. What is your strategy? Your approach? Your style? Everyone on the short list has numerous accomplishments and achievements, backed by verifiable dollar figures and percentages. The ONLY differentiating factor is how you do what you do, what you think about your approach, and how you think your style can positively affect Mr. Future Employer.

None of these elements can be effectively communicated if your resume looks like your friend’s. Please let’s all make a promise to each other: don’t ask me to copy somebody else’s resume for you, and I’ll give you a marketing piece that is an individual as a fingerprint. Deal? Deal.

Posted by Jewel Bracy Demaio 

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About every other client who comes to APerfectResume.com has an existing resume that they’ve either just created or have been using for some time. And it’s astounding the number of senior executive candidates who show me something straight off a Microsoft Word template.

This is what normal people do. Nope, scratch that. This is what below-average job candidates do. This is by no means a bash against MS Word, but executives, I really have to command you to just not use it. It doesn’t apply in your case.

There are a couple of problems with a very experienced candidate using a template:

• Think about what the word template means. It’s a formula. It’s meant for everybody to use. If everybody uses it, how are you going to stand out?

• The template is instantly recognizable as a template. All professionals in the employment industry can see it’s a template. This says that you have no ability to go above and beyond.

• The reason for using a template is you can’t come up with your own format. So you fill in the blanks in the format that’s provided. Just this week I had an executive with essentially zero education, but 30 years of fabulous experience and accomplishments, begin his resume with education, because that was the section that came first. It was wrong, just wrong.

These resume samples were all born of a blank piece of paper. THAT was the template. I like for the client to breathe life into the resume. It’s a very individualized process, and the result is genuinely, uniquely reflective of you, and you alone.

Posted by Jewel Bracy DeMaio

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This week, I volunteered to meet with job seekers and career changers at the CareerBuilder Job Fair held in Valley Forge, just outside of Philadelphia. It was sometimes fun and consistently challenging to meet so many people. Within a six-hour period, I must have spoken with 40-50 curious candidates; each one presented a unique story and a somewhat fragile sense of themselves. I ended the day wondering if these brief encounters would have a lasting impact on the job search campaigns of the candidates. Let me share my driving-home thoughts with you:

• If I could have collected $10 from every candidate whose resume
  included an amorphous “Objective,” I would have more than $500! Then
  add another $10 for repeated use of each of the following:

• small fonts;
• densely packed paragraphs of text;
• descriptions of job duties rather than accomplishments; and,
• repeated use of the dreaded phrase, “responsible for…”

Oh, the places I could go with the funds I could have collected!

A carefully branded and well-written resume serves as a powerful marketing tool that reflects on previous success stories; properly designed, it navigates a path to where
you want to be - in the future. The people I spoke with wanted to be doing something else, but their resumes kept them neatly tied-into their past. Some of Bob Dylan’s lyrics played in my head, “no direction home…like a rolling stone…”

Please click here to review an article that appeared in more than 10 Sunday newspapers that subscribe to CareerBuilder (Download 0405-TRIBUNE_EDITED_E-MAIL.pdf); I posted it here to share some of the tips I offered to “avoid the round file.” My impression is that most of the job fair candidates do not wish to invest in the services of a professional; they want to write their own resumes. To do so, these candidates are advised to consult articles and books written on this topic. Among many others, they may consider Quintessential Careers and the Riley Guide online; Enelow and Kursmark
in-print. It is important to create and update an effective resume, but remember that resumes are not the only tool you’ll need to launch an effective job search campaign and maintain your career health. To accelerate your career, consider the benefits of hiring an expert; click here to find a member of the Career Management Alliance.

Posted by Karen P. Katz

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Every year on Halloween I always take note of the kids who have the most unique costumes. Usually they are home made and obviously required a lot of thought, time, and effort. They are memorable because they are creative, they make as laugh, they make us scream, or they even make us think.

Resumes are a lot like Halloween costumes. The best resumes, like the best costumes, are not what we expect. They challenge the senses and the mind. They make us think “Wow, this is someone I need to know” or “Maybe this person can help solve my company’s problems.” They invite conversation, inquiry, and perhaps even debate.

So who are you on your resume? Is your persona “off the shelf” and do you look like so many of your competitors, or are you different, exciting, and “custom made”?

Posted by Barbara Safani

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Wow, the year is winding down fast, it’s almost October! If you are a job seeker, you need to crank it up a notch and get your resume out there before the holiday lull. Even if you are not in the job market and think your job is secure, you should always have your resume updated should an opportunity present itself. Companies lay off more employees during the last quarter of the year than any other time as they review their budgets. They are also in the process of creating new positions for the following year, so the savvy job seeker will not want to ignore this opportune time to get their resume out there.

If you are taking on the task of trying to write your own resume, here are some guidelines from a professional resume writer:

• Does the resume have a clear theme - a profile at the top with
  a header reflecting your intended job focus and unique brand so as to position you for
  the type of job you are looking for?

• Does it contain key words that match the types of positions you are applying to online?
• Is it easy to read - font at least 10 pt. Arial with sections that break up text into paragraphs of no more than 3-4 lines?
• Do you include position descriptions that reflect the SCOPE of your
  responsibility, i.e. revenue accountability, number of people
  supervised, size of the company, etc.?
• Do you include accomplishments that are specific and measurable with quantitative or qualitative data?
• Are your special skills highlighted, computer or technology skills, certifications, special projects?
• Does the resume show your history, i.e. why you moved from one
  company to another or to various positions within the company? For
  example you should mention that you were “recruited based on industry
  reputation” or “promoted based on demonstrated leadership to launch a new
  product or division.”

These tips reflect the basics that make up a good resume. So take the time to do it right. It’s like insurance, you shouldn’t be without
it in our volatile world. And if you are struggling or don’t believe you’ve done an adequate job, hire someone to write it for you. It’s well worth the investment.

Posted by Julianne Franke

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