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December 21, 2005
Where Are You Going?
Potential clients fill in a form on our website and submit their resume for a proposal. One of the questions we ask is: "What type of position are you seeking?"
Some people respond with "I don't know" or "anything." I never accept these people as clients. Sure, I could take their money, but it would be grossly unfair as I could not successfully market them to an unknown audience.
If I know that my client wants to move up into a senior management position in her current field, I can craft a resume that highlights her qualifications for such a role. If I know that another client wants to be a chef, I can focus on his cooking skills. But if he wants to be "anything", where do I start?
It reminds me of the old proverb "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." If you truly have no idea what you want to do, any old resume will do. The key to success is to spend some time deciding on target positions before you ever create your resume - and especially before you invest money in having someone else do it for you.
Posted by Louise at 09:49 AM | Permalink
December 17, 2005
Best Job Seeker Blog?
I am thrilled that this blog has been nominated for the Recruiting.com 2005 Best Blog Awards in the Best Job Seeker Blog category. We're up against some strong blogs, including the excellent wurk.net network, which we're proud to be a part of. Voting starts now and you can vote here.
And don't forget to visit all the nominees - every single one has great advice and insights from recruiters, coaches and HR folk. if you're serious about your career, you can't afford not to read them.
Posted by Louise at 04:14 PM | Permalink
December 12, 2005
It's Just a Brochure
I've just spent a challenging few hours adding lots of lots of detail into the resume of a client who insists on telling prospective employers everything there is to know. I gave this client my best advice - and now I'm sharing it with you.
Your resume is a brochure, not the product catalog. You cannot communicate everything there is to know and you shouldn't try. Instead, you should try to communicate the key selling points. Why should a company hire you? What problems will you solve for them? How can you show you have solved these type of problems in the past?
As you add more and more information, ask yourself whether that piece of information will help secure an interview. If not, leave it out.
Busy and over-worked hiring managers will thank you for keeping it brief and to the point.
Posted by Louise at 05:17 PM | Permalink
December 01, 2005
One-Page Resume Myth
I recently signed up a resume client who then wrote to say that he wanted me to make his resume fit on one page. He has 15 years of experience. The only way to make his resume fit on one page is to omit important information and cram everything else onto the page leaving no room for white space, and making the resume hard to read.
Why would I do this?
This myth that resumes should be no more than one page long was probably started by some enterprising career marketing firm looking to differentiate themselves, or an author needing a new point of view for a book. It's absolute nonsense.
You resume should only be one page long if that's all the space you need to sell yourself properly. Two page- and even three page-resumes are perfectly appropriate for most experienced professionals and executives.
Sp please, let the content dictate the space, not the other way around.
Posted by Louise at 07:13 AM | Permalink