GadBall Blog

A resume reveals so much more than your professional experience, education and career goals. It can tell a prospective employer about the kind of leadership you offer. Although many people spend a great deal of time working through various font sizes and deciding whether to do a chronological or functional summary, they often forget to think through how others will respond to the non-factual aspects of their resume.

The editorial issues are certainly important. A prospective employer likes to review a neat, accurate resume which responds to the qualities and strengths he or she would like to see in the next member of the team. Although a less-than-perfect resume, or cover letter, may simply be an oversight, a prospective employer will almost always take a mediocre resume as a signal of lack of interest and professionalism. He or she will probably choose not to invite you in for a face-to-face meeting. On the other hand, a perfectly neat but uninspired resume will not exactly guarantee you a personal interview. In the end, the well-crafted resume is most likely to gain positive attention.

A well-crafted resume will present you as a thoughtful, energetic and creative leader. It will usually point to subtle, often sought after, abilities. A resume can tell a prospective employer whether you are tuned into industry issues, have a positive, “can-do” attitude and whether you operate strategically. A strong resume can frequently be made more appealing by emphasizing successful outcomes and by showing your ability to manage a range of responsibilities, while recognizing others’ contribution and accepting occasional disappointments.

You will likely pique a prospective employer’s interest by paying attention to less-than-obvious cues others may get from your resume. In addition to the factual details of your education and experience, your resume gives you a wonderful opportunity to tell your professional life story. It can be a forum for describing how and why you have evolved over time. Not all of your professional story is about titles, compensation and the number of direct reports you have managed. A big part of the “story-behind-the-resume” has to do with how you have assessed and given direction to others in complex situations. In the end, an inviting resume tells a prospective employer that he or she will be comfortable working with you primarily because you have strong skills and, as importantly, because you are the kind of person who responds positively to challenges.

For example, does your track record indicate that you have gained your peers’ support and outstanding results? How do you describe and respond to ambiguous or challenging situations in the workplace? Do you hide them (seen by many as dishonest), or do you acknowledge them openly? Do you distance tricky situations, letting others take the fall, or are you quick to point to lessons learned and new skills acquired? What about your level of creativity? Does your current resume show that you are able to think “outside-of-the-box” and get buy-in from others? Do you give others credit for the part they have played in your success? Does your resume describe you as a “team-player” or as a high-achieving “loner”? How you project your leadership skills will have a big impact on how other perceive you. A positive presentation will encourage them to meet you in person.

The next time you review your resume, certainly check for typos, spacing and format. Make sure that you have highlighted relevant experience, and that you have used fonts and descriptions to good advantage. Also, pause to ask a few questions. Ask yourself, “What will people think of me when they read this?” “Would I hire someone who handed me this resume?” “What questions might my next boss raise about my ability to lead?” “How will he/she perceive my successes?” “How have I described my challenges?” Ask these kinds of probing questions and get honest feedback from friends and colleagues whom you trust. Listen carefully to their suggestions and responses. This feedback, which goes way beyond the font used in what you report, will move your resume to the next level. As you read your resume critically to identify those entries which may need to be revised, you will discover fresh ways to present your work history. You will also find many opportunities to explain how you have overcome challenges and motivated others to exceed expectations.

When your resume is neat, accurate and reflects your people skills, you stand the best possible chance of being invited in for further discussions. Take the opportunity. Give your resume the upgrade which comes with careful editing and wait for positive things to happen.

Article written by: Karen Alphonse, execSearches.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Everybody talks about meeting new people and renewing old contacts as a way to uncover job leads.

But after you speak to someone about your job search, then what?

You follow up with them later, that’s what.

Follow-up is an often-neglected part of networking that can pay off huge in your search for work — as much as $417 an hour, as we’ll see.

To motivate you to follow up with your network contacts — all of them — here are two recent success stories from my readers. What can you learn from each?

1) Follow up with old contacts
Lynda H., from Apple Valley, Minn., interviewed with a Fortune 500 company in Minneapolis last year. They offered her a job, but rescinded when the departing employee, whose position Lynda was to fill, decided not to quit after all.

What would you have done?

Here’s what Lynda did.

“I included people from past job searches in my current search, including one company I interviewed with a year ago. Getting back in touch with them was as simple as picking up the phone and calling the executive I had talked to last year. It turned out that he had assumed more responsibilities, and the position they were hiring for now reported to him. Because I had developed a rapport with him last year, it was easy to get my resume to the top of the pile, schedule the interview and land the job!”

Today, write down the names of every company you interviewed with in your last job search. Then, make a plan to contact each this week to tell them about your current search, and why you’re a more valuable potential employee than the last time you spoke.

What if you haven’t looked for a job in five or 10 years? No problem. Find someone in your industry who has. Ask them to contact each company they interviewed with and tell them about a really sharp person they should talk to — you.

Of course, you should buy lunch for each friend who networks for you this way, but that’s just another chance to sit down and do more networking!

2) Follow up with new contacts
By following up like clockwork by email and phone, Michael S., from Los Angeles, turned an employment lead into a new job. And it took all of 23 minutes.

He writes: “I had lunch with the CEO. After emailing him my resume and a polite note following lunch, he went silent for a week.”

At this point, many folks would be too preoccupied with posting resumes online or reading the classified ads to follow up on a “cold” lead like this. But not Michael.

“Exactly one week later, I sent another polite email and placed a call to the CEO one hour after sending that second follow-up email. He took the call and said things were looking very good. We talked for about three minutes,” said Michael.

“He then called this afternoon (four days later) to say it’s a go and to explain the terms of the job. That was a 20-minute call. Total time invested to win the job offer following the initial meeting with the CEO was 23 minutes. I would call that a strong return on investment.”

And I would agree. One lunch, two emails and three phone calls to land a job is a terrific ROI for anyone. All you have to do is stay organized and persistent — because the vast majority of candidates competing with you are neither organized nor persistent.

How much money is a new job worth to you? Let’s say $50,000 in salary. And let’s say you spend 20 hours a week for 6 weeks following up on networking contacts before you get hired. That’s 120 hours invested for a $50,000 payoff, which works out to about $417 an hour.

So, if you think you “don’t have time” to follow up on employment contacts for 20 hours a week, do you think you could find time, now that you know every hour is worth $417?

Once you realize this, other uses of your time, like watching television or adding MySpace friends, suddenly seem less important, don’t they?

Now, go out and make your own luck!

Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes and the creator of GetHiredNow.TV. Since 1996, he has provided job search assistance to nearly 10,000 people. Author of “51 Ways to Find a Job Fast — Guaranteed,” Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and others. His latest product, The Instant Job Search System, is available at http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php
copyright (c) 2007 by Kevin Donlin

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.