Resume Blog

Social media is amazing. We can think something, type it, and just like that, broadcast it to the world. Amazing!

But this ability to communicate with everyone has a downside. All too often, people feel that because they can say something, they should. I can’t count the number of smart and interesting people I’ve stopped following on Twitter because they kept sending out political missives that I neither agreed with nor wanted to hear. The same goes for overly religious content. I’m on Twitter for social and business reasons and - unless religion or politics are your actual profession and unless that’s why I’m following you - I don’t care to hear your views. But it’s not just a case of annoying people. There are times when your views may actually hurt your career. The recruiter who is researching you before passing you on to the hiring manager may violently disagree with your opinions, and that may color his or her reaction to your candidacy.

The last time I said this on Twitter, one of my followers asked: “But aren’t you always saying it’s important to be authentic? My political views are very important to me so I’m not being authentic if I hide them.” It’s a good question - but I would ask this in return: Do you routinely walk around the supermarket announcing your political opinions at the top of your voice? How about when you first meet strangers in a networking meeting - do you let them know where you stand on health care reform even though they didn’t ask? I’m guessing that you’d feel it was inappropriate to share those views in that situation, and would wait until either there was an actual discussion, or you were with people you know.

If that’s the case, why would you feel the need to broadcast your opinions on the web? Not only is it inappropriate, but - unlike shouting in the supermarket - it’s also forever. Ten years from now, your words will still be sitting there in some Internet database just waiting to potentially trip up your career.

So yes, authenticity is important, but so are social niceties. Just as you wouldn’t loudly proclaim your opposition to illegal immigration at a Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast, you probably shouldn’t do it on Twitter.

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In a recent post, Career Rocketeer discussed the importance of building a positive online footprint.

Your online footprint is the digital imprint of your life. It’s the things you created deliberately, with readers in mind, like your LinkedIn profile or VisualCV. But it’s also the comments you made two years ago on a political blog. It’s the nasty review you once wrote on Amazon because you were feeling cranky. It’s the letter to the editor from last year. It’s the hobbyist website you own that has nothing to do with your profession. In short, it’s everything you ever did online using either your real name, or a screen name that can be traced back to you (and if someone is trying hard enough and knows what they’re doing, that’s basically any screen name).

As Career Rocketeer points out, online research is increasingly common:

A recent poll of HR professionals and hiring managers showed that more than half will Google prospective candidates at some point during the hiring process. Furthermore, 46% of those, have said that they have eliminated candidates based on what they found!

What this means for job seekers?

If you’re looking for a job, the people you need to worry about are recruiters and employers. But can it be too long before hundreds of companies spring up with the sole purpose of researching people online? When employers outsource the work to experts in that way, there will literally be nowhere to hide.

So now would be a good time to evaluate what you’re doing online under a variety of screen names and determine whether you want to keep going. Feel passionately that your chosen political party are the good guys and the other side is evil incarnate? That’s fine but does the world need to hear you say it online? Can the debate continue without your five cents? Because if so, you’re probably better off to hold your fire.

Angry enough with someone else to write a long tirade against them on a public forum? Consider sending a private message or email instead. Want to review a book on Amazon? OK, but keep it non-controversial and make sure you spell and punctuate correctly!

But that’s down the road - what about now?

Right now the people looking up your name in Google won’t be delving into alternate screen names unless they have a lot of time on their hands. More likely they will Google your name and see what comes up.

That means you should do the same (and use Yahoo and MSN too - search engines all return different results). What do you find on the first 3 pages?

I don’t like what I found. Now what?

Now comes the hard part. The web is pretty much forever. Even sites that disappear may be catalogued on The Wayback Machine and similar archives. But there are things you can do to minimize the impact of something you said or did online. Here are just a few suggestions, but these are by no means exhaustive. If you know of more, please add them in the comments.

1) See if you can change your screen name on the site. If you can, as the search engine refreshes its results, your chosen screen name will replace your real name. It will take a while depending on how often the site is reindexed by the search engines.

2) Write to the site owner and ask him/her to delete your comment. This is only effective for small sites and even then, many site owners will refuse to ‘rewrite history’ by removing your comment. But it’s worth a try.

3) And by far the most effective - start replacing the results you don’t like with ones that reflect more positively on you. Here are 3 things you can start working on now to replace negatives with positives:

Online Profiles

Complete online profiles on all the major social networking sites and use your real name. MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, ZoomInfo, Plaxo, Visual CV and Naymz are good places to start. If you use the same name and email address, the results from these sites will then show up on sites such as ppl.com, which aggregrate social media profiles and this will help push negative content down the results. You should also set up our own Google profile.

Soliciting testimonials

Linkedin and Naymz allow you to receive testimonials from others, which then appear on your profile. Make the most of this feature because it will help mitigate any negatives.

Comment or write on business blogs

Another way to push negatives down in the search results is to start making informed and useful comments on blogs about your industry or field. Some of these will make their way into search results. You can find blogs at Technorati.

If you like to write, submit guest posts to blogs in your field and be sure to use your real name. Blog posts rank very well in the search engines for a variety of reasons and this is a surefire way to position yourself as an expert in your field.

Deal with what you can’t fix

In some cases, there will be a big fat negative just sitting out there online waiting to catch you out. You can’t hide it, you can’t bump it down, and you can’t persuade anyone to remove it. If this applies to you, you need to make a plan to deal with it. Depending on how bad it is and how closely related to your work, you may even need to proactively address it in interviews.

One of my clients ran a website for a famous musician and, through no fault of his own, became the target of fan anger when the artist made a decision fans didn’t like. As the face of the site, he was the one people discussed (i.e. trashed) online. For quite some time, these discussions were on page one of Google for his name. So he addressed it head on in interviews, explaining the situation and how he handled it. As far as we know, that strategy worked every time.

In Summary

In the early days of the web, most people felt that they could partition their online lives. They had one screen name for political blogs, one for discussing their favorite band, and one for professional activities. That is no longer possible. All of these identities will one day be attributable to you - so start now to build the kind of digital footprint you can be proud of when people research you online.

And to those who accuse me of encouraging people to be inauthentic, let me ask you this … do you generally blurt out your political opinions when walking around meeting new people? Do you frequently get into shouting matches with other people in public? Do you share “25 Things That Drive Me Nuts” with all your co-workers? If the answer is no, then think carefully before doing it online.

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I’m a little late with this posting, but a couple of weeks ago Jason Alba over at Jibber Jobber wrote an interesting post that got a lot of attention. His main subject was the free resume critique service offered by The Ladders but his comments apply to more than just that company and so I wanted to use the post as a jump off point to discuss something that’s been bothering me for a while … the problem with free resume critiques.

First, here’s what Jason wrote:

Here’s the situation: You send a resume to The Ladders for their free critique. Then you get back a letter telling you what all the problems with your resume is, and for a fee they will get you a new one. Last I remember the fee is around $700. Remember, we are usually talking about resumes for executives.

The biggest red flag I’ve read is that the critiques are form letters. They will even critique their own, The Ladders generated, resumes! It’s a simple process that a salesperson goes through to make a sale, not a real resume critique that a professional resume writer would give.

In other words, it seems they hardly even look at the resume… they just get you back a scary letter saying how bad your resume sucks, and that they can make it shine like new.

Now I should point out that several commenters dissented with Jason’s view, saying that as resume writers working for The Ladders, they try to give fair critiques and don’t just go for the sale. I’m not associated with the company, so I have no idea if this is correct.

But I do know this … the old saying ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ is definitely true.

The Problem with Free Critiques

Critiquing a resume takes time and effort. It also requires some knowledge of the person the resume belongs to. For example, I might critique your resume and say that it fails to show quantifiable impact in your last two positions - but how do I know that you actually had quantifiable impact in your last two positions? I don’t! I’m just giving you the standard line.

The difficulty of properly critiquing a resume means that no one can afford to do it for free. I know - I tried! When we first started out business, we offered free critiques. We did it because we had seen everyone else doing it and it seemed like a good idea. We even partnered with some other websites and offered free critiques to their site visitors. Boy was that a mistake! We spent all our time writing resume critiques. Pretty soon, we realized that we needed to develop a template so that the critiques were easy to produce. But of course, this defeated the purpose, because now we were not really providing a full critique.

Eventually we gave up on the idea. I think it’s wrong to offer something that you can’t deliver and as we got more and more swamped with requests, that’s what I felt we were in danger of doing. Yes, these critiques often generated sales - the harsh truth is that most resumes are pretty bad and when people realize just how bad their resume is, some of them decide to ask for help - but we just couldn’t keep up the pace and do a good job of critiquing each resume.

Now our free help comes in the form of an online course. If people are interested in a professional resume rewrite, they can ask for a proposal. In the proposal, we do outline some improvements that need to be made, but we don’t even pretend to be offering a full, detailed critique of the existing resume. We know that we can’t do that effectively without knowing something about you, and without spending significant amounts of time on each critique. That’s why, when clients actually do want a full critique, we charge for the service and spend quality time on the process.

So Is There Any Point in Asking for a Free Critique?

This is not to say that there isn’t valuable information to be gleaned from requesting a free critique. Even though the service who responds will almost certainly be using a form letter, some will give you useful nuggets of information to consider. Many will be trustworthy and honest in their feedback. You may even consider hiring them to rewrite your resume. And there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you’re making an informed decision.

If you do decide to request free critiques as a way of choosing a resume service, my recommendation is to ask for at least three and then compare them. Look for areas where they all agree (that’s where you know you have a problem!). Look to see who has really honed in on something specific in your resume. Look for suggestions for improvement. Ask yourself who seems to understand your goals. Who seems the most honest - about both the good and the bad? Choose the service you feel most comfortable with and then do further research before making a decision.

But if you want a real critique that will help you make dramatic changes to your own resume, just know that you’re not going to get it for free. Be prepared to invest between $100 and $200 and to spend some time providing information to the resume service. Only that way will you get something detailed and in-depth enough to be really useful.

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This post by Michael at Human Race Horses makes an argument that I hear often. In these days of social media and web-based job search, can a resume really do the job? Michael thinks not:

Another personal reason for wanting to kill my resume is that in looking at this little historical snapshot from so long ago - slightly over two years - it is is really shocking to realize that it does nothing to communicate anything at all about me that I would want to put out if I were job searching. It doesn’t effectively reflect:

* extensive skills in social media
* knowledge and expertise of Hr and how it applies to today’s work environment
* research skills, especially deep skills on the net
* networking
* blogging, writing and thought leadership

He wonders then whether he shouldn’t scrap his resume in favor of online profiles where he can better communicate these skills. But this is the part of the ‘resume is dead’ argument that I don’t understand. People say to me all the time “I can’t capture who I am in a resume” and I always ask them the same question: Why not?

Is it because words are just not adequate to describe the wonder that is you? Unlikely!

More likely it’s because you are being limited by what you imagine a resume should be. If you step outside the box (sorry for the cliche!) a little, you might see lots of ways to convey who you are and what you have to offer a company. For example, Michael could begin with a summary that outlines the skills he mentioned above, complete with links where appropriate, but then he could go on to provide evidence of these skills through action-oriented achievement stories and even by quoting testimonials from LinkedIn, or thank you letters from blog readers, or by listing training he’s completed or e-books he’s written, or by numerous other means to show that he is indeed a thought leader in his field.

If his resume were to do all that, it would generate phone calls and interviews.

As for the web profiles, it doesn’t have to be either/or. I like to end my client’s resumes with a section called ‘on the web’ or ‘learn more’ where I list their career-related web profiles and/or blogs. It can also be effective to add the statement ‘feel free to google my name for more information’ to either your resume or cover letter - nothing conveys more confidence than telling people to go look you up.

I’m not defending the resume because I make my living writing resumes - after all, if resumes go away, I’ll probably make my living writing web profiles instead. I’m just not sure that the answer to an outdated style of resume writing is to blow up the entire concept of resumes. At least, not yet.

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Last week I linked to this innovative website belonging to a job seeker. I love the site! It’s irreverent, eye-catching and a far better testament to Miel Van Opstal’s creativity than anything he could write on his resume.

A couple of commentors made a good point though and I wanted to spend a little time on it.

Questing Elf said:

Nevertheless, I’m also reminded of the words of one headhunter who told me that people like him may not be welcome at some places of employment that demand conformity. The recruiter told me she many times didn’t recommend certain candidates even though the company claimed to want self-motivated independent thinkers. So while some companies would like his brand of creativity, others may prematurely brand him as a troublemaker.

And Steven was more specific about the types of companies that might not like Miel’s approach:

The site is definitely eye catching and memorable and I think an interesting approach for landing a position at a small firm. I just have a hard time believing someone in the HR department at a fortune 500 would respond to something like this.

Both are exactly right. The website Miel set up is definitive proof that he wouldn’t fit in at a lot of companies. But that’s why it’s so great!

Your resume should not make you appealing to the maximum number of people. It should make you appealing to the right people.

If Miel had a traditional resume and sent it off to hundreds of jobs, and wound up interviewing with a staid and corporate Fortune 500 company, he’d be wasting his time. He’s not the type of person who will fit in at such a organization - in fact I think the worst thing that could happen to him is to succeed in that interview and get the job.

Likewise, a person who enjoys structure and set processes and a clear line of command wouldn’t be happy at an innovative start-up where everyone is expected to pitch in and do a little bit of everything. Or a company where creativity is valued over organization. Or a family owned business where getting approval for your ideas means catching the owner on one of his few “good days.”

If you know what type of company you want to work for, you can tailor your resume, web portfolio and social media profiles to appeal to that type of company. Using language that will appeal to them has the added advantage of turning off other companies (saving you the time and energy on interviewing for a job you should never get, because it would undoubtedly make you miserable).

Just like leather pants on a middle-aged man, some jobs don’t fit. Knowing which ones are not for you will allow you to appeal to the ones that are.

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I’ve been writing a little lately about how to build a strong web presence, so I just had to show you perhaps the funniest (and smartest) online promotion I’ve seen in a long time.

http://micromiel.com/promo/

How can an employer in his field not at least want to talk to him?

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If I told you that one word can change your resume and dramatically improve your job search results, would you think I was nuts?

Let me explain why I’m not.

One of the keys to a successful resume is to ensure that it clearly communicates your unique value proposition - what makes you different from all the other job seekers out there? This value proposition should be the focus of every word of your resume, so that employers can’t help but get the message you want them to get.

One of my favorite strategies to do this is to distill the client’s value proposition into one word (or sometimes on brief phrase). Doing this helps me create a focus for the resume, which in turn helps me choose what content to highlight and what content to leave off the resume all together.

I choose the word or phrase based on two things:

First, I define the blend of skills, experiences and personality traits that make my client unique.

Then I look at what’s important to the companies who are hiring for this type of position and identify what they will MOST like about my client (they may like lots of things but I am looking for the most important aspect of their experience).

Then I come up with a word or short phrase that encapsulates that one thing.

So to give you a specific example, one former client was a senior tax executive. He was unusual because he had a breadth of experience that spanned all aspects of taxes from having worked at the IRS, to being a tax lawyer, to working for a top consulting firm providing tax guidance on highly complex issues. He worried that his background was too diversified - he was shooting for a position as the top tax executive in a large corporation but he felt that because he had never held such a role before, employers would dismiss him.

In reviewing his goals and his experience, I felt that the one key word for him was “expertise.” His broad-based background gave him unique insights and experiences. He hadn’t just worked on tax issues for one company, he had worked on them for many companies. He hadn’t just viewed them from the inside, but from the outside as a tax attorney and as a consultant. Having decided that ‘expertise’ was the core concept for his resume, I then focused on gathering the data to support that concept so that we could lead his resume with a strong statement and then support that statement throughout the document.

You can see the end result here (PDF).

This resume got the desired result within 3 months, which is a relatively short time for such a senior-level position. The staff at the Fortune 500 company where Peter now works told him that his resume was the best one they saw and given that it’s message was so carefully crafted, this is no surprise.

Knowing your one word is a powerful way to transform your resume from a collection of facts into a cohesive marketing document that clearly positions you for success.

So what’s your one word?

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After months of planning and work, I’m delighted to announce the launch of a new website aimed at helping anyone struggling to craft a compelling resume.

The site can be found at smartsearchsystem.com.

There you’ll find resume writing and job search lessons, a gallery of resume samples and a discussion forum. Lessons are applicable to people at all levels, from entry-level to executive, and are available to read online, listen to as MP3s, or download as PDFs to read offline.

The goal is to provide you with a framework to develop a strong resume. There’s so much clutter out there - lots of conflicting ideas and advice - and it can be hard to know who to listen to, and which tips to follow. Now you don’t have to worry about that. Just follow the steps outlined on the site and your resume will be a hundred times better than it is now. ‘Guaranteed!’ as Billy Mays would say (or shout).

Learn more or sign-up here.

And if you do sign up, we’d love your help in getting our discussion forum started. We only launched the site the other day and lots of people have already signed up, but very few people are comfortable jumping in to an empty forum. If you’re not the shy type, how about helping us get the conversation started over there? (For the first few months, I’ll be hanging out on the forum answering resume and job search questions, and as the site grows, we’ll invite more experts to participate).

If you’re struggling with resume writing, I hope you’ll join us on the new site.

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Regular readers know that American Idol is my guilty pleasure and last night, the show provided a rare surprise - despite the fact that producers and judges had been hyping a finale between and Adam Lambert all season, a dark horse contestant sneaked in under the wire, beat one of the two the judge’s favorites and made it into the finale.

The whole thing reminded me of a question I saw from a job seeker the other day. I volunteer as a career expert for Careerealism on Twitter, where people send in their job search/career questions and a bunch of us give our best advice. One of the questions was about a co-worker who was not pulling her weight, but who was getting away with it. The question was: “should I tell my boss what she’s really up to.”

Most of us said no. First, speaking negatively about a co-worker just winds up making you look bad and second, the truth will usually come out anyway if you just keep your head down and do your work.

Kris Allen’s ascent on American Idol just proves this point. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t given a lot of screen time in the early rounds. It didn’t matter that the judges routinely dismissed his performances and praised less worthy attempts to the high heavens. It didn’t matter that Simon Cowell went on a publicity tour to tell everyone Kris would never make the finals - none of it mattered because every week Kris just worked hard, kept his head down, and earned new fans. And so we came to last night and the shots of the judges with their jaws literally hanging open as the results were announced.

Times are tough right now and a lot of you are doing more work than you’re paid to do. If you’re also carrying someone who doesn’t deserve to be there, please don’t try to push the issue by talking to your boss or, as one employee I once knew did, sending an anonymous letter (really!). Just pull a Kris Allen. Ignore what everyone else is doing and just focus on doing your best every day. It will pay off

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Every now and then, someone will ask me the age-old question: “Is it OK to lie on my resume?”

I’ve always said no - I never think lying is a good idea because (a) it’s wrong (b) you might get found out, and (c) you might not get found out, get the job, and then not be able to do it!

So lying on your resume has always been a bad idea, and every now and then we would hear about some senior executive who got fired after his or her lies were discovered, but most people who lied probably got away with it. After all, most employers are terrible about checking the references you provide, let alone digging any deeper.

But the advent of social media and Google and all the other stuff that has changed all our lives, means it’s now more than a bad idea to lie on your resume - it’s just plain stupid.

Employers can google your name and find the truth about you more easily than they ever could, but that’s no longer the end of it. Your co-workers can now find out all about you. Your company’s customers can find out all about you. Managers in other departments can find out all about you - and they don’t even have to be looking for the information!

Consider this case from Switzerland where a colleague stumbled across an employee’s Facebook activities and it ultimately cost her her job.

Now think of all the information that’s out there about you on sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn … if you lie on your resume, anyone can find out about it. No longer does being found out depend upon a diligent researcher in the HR department - it can be the guy who sits across from you and happens to follow you on Twitter, or the co-worker who’s friends with one of your friends on Facebook, or the customer who looks you up before a meeting.

Bottom line, social media has put an end to lying when you represent yourself to others - or at least doing it effectively for any length of time. And that means every word of your resume needs to be honest.

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