My Mind's Ink

I’ve been looking at the hundreds of resumes I’ve received, I conducted just shy of one hundred interviews last week, and a few people have asked me for resume critiques lately. It seems like a good time for some job seeking advise. Keep in mind that I spent more than a year failing to find a job, so don’t put too much stock in anything I have to say.

The Basics

An employer has little information to base hiring decisions on. Basic communication skills, a little effort, and the ability to tell time, are important.

i know youve grown up with texting which has lead some of u 2 feel its ok 2 communicate this way when seeking a job it is not thx for your attention. When applying for a job take the time to add punctuation and hit the two extra buttons to spell out the word “you”! Young people, I say this with love, “Get your head out of your ass.”

Spellcheck is not a cutting edge technology. Look into it.

If you get an interview, show up on time! Showing up late is an almost impossible thing to recover from.

Your resume

Your resume should be no longer than two pages (ideally, one), anything more is self indulgence. I’m talking to you, person who created a four page document out of a high school education and a couple years working at fast food places.

Less is more. Never say in two words what you can say in one. This is true of all writing, but is particularly important with a resume, which will be scanned quickly.

The top thing in 90% of the resumes I read is a longer version of this: “Objective: To obtain a job.” When you give someone a resume they’ve already assumed as much. Impressing someone with a resume is difficult, and this is a poor start. Only include meaningful information. Other empty pat phrases commonly found: “Fast learner”, “Team Player”, “Problem Solver”, “Works well independently”

No industry jargon, acronyms, or references to specific equipment. Don’t write, “Fully trained with A54 Inverter”, or “Promoted to A.P. Manager”. Only a very select group of people know what you are talking about, and they probably aren’t screening resumes.

Use facts in place of general statements. “Increased sales by 12%” is much better than “Responsible for meeting sales targets”.

Make it look nice. If you don’t know how to set the margins on a document or get the bullets to line up, get some help. And, unless you are applying to Crayola, a resume is no place for primary colors, clip art, or the Comic Sans font. Keep it simple.

Admin

Keeping hundreds of resumes organized is not easy. Simple things make that job easier, and ensure your resume doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

If you are going to include a cover letter, put it in the same document with your resume. HR people are only going to save one file for you, or at least this HR person is. Receiving an application with separate attachments for cover letter, resume, and references is time consuming and annoying.

When submitting a resume electronically, don’t send a Word file, create a pdf file. The Word file will look different depending on the version of software being run, and it automatically underlines your spelling and grammatical mistakes. Not good. This applies doubly to more exotic files (.wps .pub .pages), many of which can’t even be opened on most systems.

Don’t name your electronic submission “Resume_V2.pdf”, this is a good way to get your resume lost at the receiving end. The file name should include your first and last name.

Things to consider

Include one phone number and one email address on your resume. No one wants 4 ways to communicate with you, they want one that you respond to promptly. Personally, I’d also get rid of your mailing address, it’s irrelevant in a modern world.

Reconsider applying for jobs with the email address poolboy69. I think these are funny, but not everyone will agree.

The Interview

Career total, I’ve conducted about 150 interviews, and I’ve been interviewed for about 60 jobs. I’ve done phone interviews, conference calls, I’ve been interviewed by four people at once. I’ve been around, interview wise, and here’s the main thing I’ve learned: relax. Which is stupid advise, I know, you can’t make yourself relax. What I really mean, I suppose, is there’s no reason to be stressed out in the first place, because an interview is a mixture of gut feel, corporate psychology, and black magic. It’s guess work, which means you can do everything just right, and still not get a job, so try not to get so worked up.

I’ll throw this in as a practical tip though: Engage your head, then your mouth. Take a moment, think about your answer, and then give it. There’s nothing wrong with a few moments of silence. If you are having trouble here is a trick: “That’s a difficult question. I’d like to think about it. Can we come back to that?” An interviewer will always say yes, and it gives you some time to recover. But it’s like a life line, you only get one.

I’ve walked out of some interviews confident as hell and never got a call back, and I’ve gotten job offers based on interviews I thought I bombed. I now understand that the interviewer probably made a decision about me five minutes in, but felt guilty about ending it so quickly, so they killed time with a casual conversation, which is why I thought it was going so well. My point is that there’s no way to tell. You don’t know what criteria an interviewer is using, what their system is (if any), or how well you are doing, so relax, there’s no right way to do it. Be yourself, that will be the thing someone wants. It’s sort of like dating.

References

Reference letters are ten times better than a list of phone numbers, because no one is likely to call your references. And, you only check them after you’ve made a decision to hire. If you don’t make that cut, no one will every know that your last boss thought you walked on water. References are phoned after a decision has been made to verify it was the right one.

A simple reference contact also degrades quicker over time. Your boss from two years ago might have thought you were awesome, but that will be a vague recollection by now. Plus, you have to keep track of a reference in case they move jobs, or quit. A letter has longevity.

Ask the person if they’d be willing to offer a recommendation for employment. Hopefully they say yes, and then ask about the letter. Offer to write it. They may want to author it themselves, or if you write a decent letter that is honest and doesn’t take too many liberties, I’d bet they would just sign it.

Collect a reference letter from every job you can and offer them at the interview. Personally, I always read them.

The morning after

Should I call or shouldn’t I? Go ahead and call. Ask in the interview when you can expect to hear back, and if you don’t hear, call. If they like you, they still will, if they don’t, what harm can it do. Again, like dating.

Good Luck

The good news, as an employer anyway, is that there are lots of good employees looking for a home. I talked to more people I’d like to hire, than I have jobs for. And, I think the ones I hire are going to like the job. That’s a cool thing.

Job searching is tough. I know first hand. I wish you luck.

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