January 2016

In the current jobs market I meet many people who face a dilemma and they are conflicted. Should they wait for the right job or should they take a job, until the right one comes along? The next consideration that may be influencing their decision is how the job change may be perceived on the resume. Traditionally, hiring managers at first glance look upon frequent job changes negatively, especially when a pattern emerges. On the other hand, gaps in employment are also detrimental and attract scrutiny, although times have changed during the last 10+ years. If I had to pick and choose, in my own personal as well as professional opinion, I’d prefer to see job changes that can be explained, rather than to see wide gaps of more than a few months in an employment history (incidentally, employment lasting less

When you interview, I highly suggest you always follow up with a Thank You note / email. There are some people who think this is unnecessary. They think it is akin to being a “brown nose” or sucking up to gain favor. They would ridicule this practice but, ignore them, they are either lazy or they’re idiots, you can tell them I said so (sorry if it sounds harsh, but I don’t suffer fools gladly). Interview follow-up, in the form of a short Thank You note is time-tested and was, in the past, a normal protocol and professional gesture. It isn’t about being nice as much as it is a demonstration of your commitment and proactivity during the interview process. And yeah, it can make the difference between who gets hired and who doesn’t, especially in a close contest. I can

As a follow-up from last week’s post, in order to present yourself in the best possible manner without distractions that add little or no value, here is the second-half of the list of Items to either adjust, or to leave off your resume: Listing employment dates, years without listing months The first reaction of most recruiters, HR professionals and hiring managers is that listing years without months in your chronological employment history is an attempt to hide gaps in your employment. Always list the month and the year of both when you started and when you finished your employment at each job. Unexplained gaps in employment history If you have them, explain them briefly. Hiding them or pretending they don’t exist is not helpful and you’re going to have to address them anyway. Many people have employment gaps. Granted, you might not want to

Even if you have good information to share in your resume, information that is not useful, is counter-productive, or just plain unnecessary can be a distraction and shouldn’t be listed in the document meant to represent you in the best and most effective possible manner. Let’s go through some examples: Incorrectly naming your digital resume file The name of your document should be your last name followed by first name and, if you have a different version, i.e., long or short, or different language versions, abbreviate it after your name. For example: Mayher_Michael_resume_ENG I have received resumes from people whose document was named Resume with no name, and the only way I know it’s theirs is because it was attached to their email. File it like that and it will be lost and no one will be able to consider you, much less

Many people display a different persona, depending on the environment we are in or with whom we are associating at that moment in time, whether privately or publicly /professionally. That separation is normal and more important in the modern era in which we live; as a result of social media and potential over-exposure of our private lives. In our youth we don’t pay much attention to these things and young people are currently oblivious about what they do now, which can adversely impact their lives and careers later. I was no different many years ago and even if I wasn’t intentionally seeking attention, I just plain didn’t care if anyone saw, approved or disapproved. After all, back then I, like most of us, thought we were bullet-proof and invisible and nothing could touch us and, if it did, nothing would stick;