In this job search training lesson today, I answer a question from a 63 year old person wondering how they can compete against 30 million people in their job search.
Learn how to bust the myth that you are too old to find the job that you want.
job search plan
Job Search Tip: Do I have to network to find my ideal job?
In this job search training lesson today, I answer a question from someone who does not want to network in their job search, but wonders why they are making so little progress.
Networking is something many of us do not like to do, but if you want to find a new job, it is a necessity. Learn how to bust the myth of using an ineffective job search method by networking and expanding your network of connections that are necessary to find your dream job.
For more information on using LinkedIn, check out “5 Tips to a Successful Job Search,” a proven path to finding your ideal job or career!
Prepare a Checklist to Make a Great Resume for Your Job Search
Recently I had a spirited conversation with a job seekers group about resume trends.
Everyone brought their resume and I brought samples for discussion purposes. I think everyone took home some ideas.
As usual, we started with two admonishments:
Everyone should know what they want. Always the best way to start because, otherwise, how will you know what aspects of your fantastic career to include in your resume? Without knowing what you want, you will just randomly add stuff. Your resume will just be a list of stuff.
Be strategic. Identify three of the most important things you want the company to know about you. Sprinkle accomplishments about those important items through your resume. Eliminate everything not related to your top priorities.
These are my resume non-negotiables:
Find keywords. Look through job descriptions to find words that appear in all the jobs you want. Sprinkle those words throughout your resume. Consider ways to replace your keywords for similar words. This will help you be found.
Place keywords strategically in the top half of page 1. This is the most valuable real estate on your resume. Set up your keywords and phrases in a table at the top and repeat those keywords frequently in the job experience text.
Have a headline. The headline is one of the first places readers look. Readers get an impression in their minds of what they should expect from the accomplishments tucked into the resume. Everything else they read either confirms or denies the headline. So make the best first impression with the right headline.
Use less words and offer plenty of white space. Like a reduced sauce in a restaurant, fewer words allows you to keep the flavor while making a more intense impression. Your resume should look pleasing to the eye so the reader notices what you want them to see, not a million words wall to wall on the page.
These are the other ideas that we came up with:
Use color to make a brand impression. Graphics, columns, color blocking, and colored lines are all acceptable these days, in most professions. Make your branding consistent across your resume, business cards and LinkedIn profile.
Use bullets and sub-bullets to make it easier for readers to see your accomplishments.
Take off dates on education unless you are a recent graduate. Also, education goes at the end unless you are a recent graduate.
Don’t break up a job between two pages. Find a way to have all the information about a specific job title on the same page. You can divide experiences in one company onto a second page but not the bullets for one job.
Be consistent with font, bolding, capitalization, and spacing. Avoid underlining.
Two pages vs one page? Your choice, but I draw the line at more than two pages for almost anyone.
Pictures? I don’t think so but I’ve seen pictures included on some really beautiful resumes lately, so it is your call. You already have a picture on your LinkedIn profile. You could put it on your business card and marketing brochure if you want, but I would keep it off the resume.
A resume is a tool that is just one piece in your job search plan. You MUST have a resume that helps you stand out from the crowd and catches the attention of hiring managers. If not, you may not even get to the interview stage of your job search.
We specialize in job search training and helping job seekers create or upgrade their resume and we have a solution that fits any budget!
Check out our updated Resume in a Box, which is one of the best ways to update your resume so you can land the interview and the job. Our Resume in a Box product offers you a way to create your own “Stand Out Resume.” It includes video lessons, a workbook to follow along with the exercises and resume templates that you can make your own.
Click here to purchase the Resume in a Box now while we have it on sale during this crisis, only $29.
Whether Chicken or Egg, you still need a Recipe!
In our last post we learned about Joan who left the workforce ten years ago to raise her son. Now she is ready to get back into the workforce.
She is most concerned about stability. She wants a company that will be around for many years where she can make a good living to finance her son’s college education and her own retirement.
Last time we asked what you thought. We got some really interesting responses. Most people completely sympathized with Joan’s dilemma. Some people had been in that same position before themselves.
The consensus was that Joan needs to figure out what she wants first then find a stable company where she can do it. I completely agree.
This is the beauty of sharing in social media. There is always someone out there who has had that experience who is willing to share what worked and what didn’t. We can learn from each other!!
Whether preparing chickens or eggs, we still need a recipe. We need a plan. In this case, Joan needs a Job Search Marketing Plan!
Here are some steps Joan can take to find the job she wants:
- Understand what exactly she wants. No one will help her find a job that makes her happy that uses her many skills if she doesn’t know what that is. Knowing what you want in very specific terms is the foundation of the Job Search Marketing Plan.
- Build job search materials around that ideal job. The more specific the better. Start with the resume, then the LinkedIn profile then the extra marketing materials. Use a scalpel to remove the unnecessary bits and leave the experiences and accomplishments that support the ideal job.
- Outline the dream company. What kind of people? What kind of products? What geography, size and structure?
- Identify which companies in your geography fit that profile. Prioritize them according to the ones that you like most. We start with the top priorities and work our way around.
- Research those companies.
- Identify people who work there.
- Now you can start networking. Reach out to people who work in those companies. Add them to your LinkedIn connections, start talking to them. Ask questions. Try to get coffee. Reach out in a way that makes them value you as a person because you value them. Talk professional to professional.
Joan started in the middle. She doesn’t know what she wants. She started reaching out blindly. That usually does not work.
As our readers know, Joan will be more successful if she does the planning first. Then she can reach out in a more methodical fashion to network her way to the job of her dreams. Or at least the job she can do in a stable company where she can achieve her personal financial goals.
The Interview Doctor can help Joan put together her plan. We are all pulling for you Joan!
8 Tips To Help You Improve Your Odds in a Telephone Interview
There are steps you can take to make the telephone interviewing process, if not more pleasant, then at least more productive, allowing you to achieve a higher percentage of success.
Remember that this process is the same as a normal interview, except in hyper speed — and without the element of “in person” communication.
Here are some ideas to help you sharpen your telephone interview skills:
- Remember that the person on the other end of the phone may be just as uncomfortable as you are. Concentrate less on your feelings of inadequacy and more on how to make the other person feel at ease. Most people do not like the telephone interview process — remember that it works both ways.
- Smile over the phone. Believe it or not, smiling while you are talking will actually help you sound more “friendly” and open. Many telephone-marketing offices have a mirror on each desk so that their people can always keep this in mind!
- During the telephone interview, you are judged by the same criteria used in an in-person interview, i.e.: self-confidence. Self-confidence is judged differently by phone than in-person (where eye contact, for example, can be an excellent barometer). Instead, you’ll be judged by a much more subtle set of factors — the sound of your voice, your level of friendliness and enthusiasm, etc.
- It is critical that you speak succinctly about your past experiences and accomplishments. Many technical professionals launch into long, drawn-out answers to telephone interview questions. Because they do not have the sense of sight working for them, they are quite unable to tell if the person on the other line has gone to sleep!
- Many people find that the most uncomfortable scenario in a telephone interview is the occasional “dead air” of silence during the conversation. Do you have a list of questions prepared about the company and the opportunity that you can refer to when caught in one of those dead spots? Although both parties are responsible for good communication, typically you should fill dead air time.
- Although you are always judged on your ability to listen well, nowhere in the recruiting process do listening skills become more important than in the telephone interview. You’ll find that your nerves will sometimes make this very difficult. I suggest that you close off all thoughts about whatever is going on around you and concentrate on the words and voice of the interviewer.
- It should be remembered that since so much of your success in this situation is determined by your comfort in the surroundings you are in during the call, make certain that you get yourself situated properly. Perhaps it is by suggesting a time for the call that is after the kids have gone to bed. Or, if the caller takes you by surprise, ask for five minutes to get organized and get a phone number to call them back.
- Don’t ever talk about issues related to potential compensation, company benefits, problems at your current employer, etc., when in the throes of an initial phone interview. This is solid advice for any first-interview situation. It always amazes me when an experienced veteran launches into a diatribe about bad management at their company, or asks the infamous line “What’s the job pay?”