October 2013

Last week I had a conversation with a woman who is searching for a new job. She shared with me that she is both contacting companies directly and responding to opportunities posted online. She asked, “How can I know if I am being considered or if my resume is being considered at all; how do I know if they’ve even received it?” Good question, and the answer is there is no way to know, considering the current accepted hiring practices of companies. Sure, you may receive a computer-generated message of receipt and a thank you, but it’s meaningless. All it shows is that a software program has acknowledged receipt, but there is no indication if or when an actual person will look at it, much less consider your qualifications; it’s on file but that’s not much consolation, is it? Then she

Any time the topic of resumes comes up, invariably the conversation turns to the appropriate length of a resume, too long with too many pages seems to be a concern. I suggest that if you have a lot of applicable experience, and if it requires more than a page or two, so be it. But there are ways to conserve space, measures you can use to determine the best way to get the most out of the document meant to open doors and give you a chance to then impress, in person. The fact is that many people have a lot of needless stuff on there, either because it is a part of the resume template or they think it is necessary. Let’s consider a few of them. OBJECTIVE This is an optional item, but if you think it is necessary, keep it

I say it until I am blue in the face -- why do people think emailing a resume represents activity? Where have they gotten the ridiculous notion that it demonstrates effort? Most people invest time to assemble a good resume and perhaps a cover letter, but after that they stop and expect the Internet to do the rest for them. Think about it, it is patently silly and makes no sense and yet they grumble because no one is rushing to hire them, their phone doesn’t ring and they anxiously check their inbox, disappointed that there’s very little to show for all their effort, if that’s what you want to call it. When you want to change the oil in your car, you can do it yourself, but most people have someone else do it. When you want to build a