Loud Thinking

Archive for July, 2013

Six of the Most Common Resume Flaws (and How to Fix Them)

Tessa Miller

A Times of India Report Dated 2 July, 2013.

When job hunting, your resume has a way of highlighting little career imperfections in black and white. Maybe you’ve job-hopped, had a long gap between gigs, or earned a degree that requires explaining (hello, art history majors!). Is there a way to smooth over these resume imperfections — without being dishonest? You betcha.

You just have to get creative, be upfront, and do a little rebranding. We spoke with job coaches, recruiters, and candidates who have been in your shoes to find out how best to fix six of the most common resume flaws.

Problem: You Want to Change Fields, but Don’t Have Any Experience
What to Do: Play up your skills, not your positions. “What skills have you gathered in your previous positions that would be helpful in another job?” asks Lea McLeod, a career coach and the founder of Degrees of Transition, a job coaching firm.

That’s just what she did with her client, Todd Mauvais, 29. Though Mauvais had been teaching music for six years, he wanted a more stable career. He applied to government jobs for a full year before he intended to make his transition, but nothing panned out, and Mauvais wasn’t sure why. Once he began working with McLeod, the problem was clear: He didn’t lack skills — he simply hadn’t identified the right field to apply them.

“Because Todd had a job where he commuted among multiple schools to teach arts classes, he was an exceptional self-manager”. she says. “He also promoted summer arts programs to increase enrollment, was a great public speaker and presenter, and was comfortable in front of a room.” She helped him recognize that this skill set translated perfectly to a career in sales.

Mauvais rewrote his resume to focus on his relationship building, speaking and promotional skills, and reached out to a craft beer distributor he thought would be a good fit through LinkedIn. In just over a month, the former music teacher was hired as a sales associate, and is still happy in his role there today.

Problem: Your College Degree Isn’t Directly Relevant to the Job or Field
What to Do: If this describes you, don’t worry, you’re hardly alone. “Only specific fields — like engineering, graphic design, health care/medicine, pharmaceutical and automotive, to name a few — require related degrees for entry-level work,” explains corporate recruiter Dennis Tupper. “Otherwise, companies are seeking someone who is coachable and mouldable, will work hard and has a vested interest and passion in the company or industry.”

Taylor Brady, 23, faced this very challenge with his sociology degree. Having grown frustrated after three months of sending out resumes for jobs in social work and nonprofits without getting any response, he, too, reached out to McLeod. “I had friends graduating from business school who were Excel wizards and such, but I had to be creative in regards to selling myself,” says Brady.

“To focus Taylor’s experience,” explains McLeod, “we called out his work with a grant-writing mentor as a ‘special academic project’ and included the types and values of the grants he had written, so it really popped when he was applying for the grant-writing jobs he really wanted”.

He also led his resume with a “Special Skills” section, which highlighted the key points of his past internships (including grant writing, donor database management and volunteer coordination), then provided more information about each role in the “Work Experience” section. With McLeod’s help, Brady found his current role as a grant writer at a nonprofit by rebranding his resume to focus exactly on what he could do for his potential employer.

Problem: You Have a Big Gap Between Jobs
What to Do: According to Jill Knittel, C.O.O. of recruiting and staffing firm Employee Relations Associates, significant gaps between jobs are fairly common imperfections that can be handled with two different approaches.

“One solution is to list just the number of years or months you worked at your earlier positions, rather than the usual start and end dates,” Knittel advises. The other approach? “You can also use a functional resume, which elaborates on your skills, instead of a chronological resume. This will take the focus away from time, and on to your abilities and what you can do for a company.” If asked in an interview about the time frame of your resume, you will still need to be honest about the gaps, but either of these approaches can de-emphasize them on paper.

Problem: You’ve Job-Hopped Frequently
What to Do: Jessica Bedford, a recruiter at Artisan Creative, a staffing agency that specializes in finding jobs for creative talent, recommends that job-hoppers include a “Reason for Leaving” next to each position, with a succinct explanation like “company closed”. “layoff due to downsizing” or “relocated to new city”.

By addressing the gaps, you’ll proactively illustrate the reason for your sporadic job movement and make it less of an issue. “If you have multiple gaps or have filled the time with several temporary projects, you might also create a section called ‘Consulting Work’ or ‘Freelance Work’, and list all of them under the one section. With this approach, job seekers can account for a number of years at once,” recommends Bedford.

If you stayed at a job for only a matter of months, consider eliminating it from your resume. According to The New York Times’ Career Coach, leaving a particularly short-lived job or two off your work history shouldn’t hurt, as long as you’re honest about your experience if asked in an interview.

Problem: Your Resume Is Three Pages Long, and You Don’t Know What to Cut
What to Do: Tupper says that if you work in an industry unrelated to one you worked in ten years ago, you can omit the details of that past experience and include only the years and industries in which you worked (so you don’t appear deceitful in the case of a background check).

For jobs you held several years ago that are in the same field, but don’t reflect your current “level”, keep descriptions brief. And, as mentioned above, in the advice for job hoppers, jobs you held for only a few months can be eliminated, as long as you’re upfront about the experience if the subject comes up.

Problem: You Haven’t Snagged That First Real Job
What to Do: If little professional experience is the reason your resume is lacking, executive recruiter Bruce A. Hurwitz of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing recommends adding a subhead called “Related Employment Activities” right under “Work Experience”.

“You can fill it with volunteer work, online courses, short-term employment and consulting assignments — list everything from a part-time job to a webinar to an online course,” says Hurwitz. This section allows you to explain why you’re the right candidate for the role — before a recruiter concludes you’re not. Don’t forget to include the valuable “soft skills” job candidates tend to underestimate, like the ability to resolve customer service issues, work with ambiguity, coordinate among different groups and negotiate with vendors.

“Every time you subtract negative from your life, you make room for more positive.”

— Author Unknown

Strike the Right Tone in Your Self-Appraisal

No one likes writing a self-appraisal. It’s awkward to write about yourself and difficult to strike the right balance between boasting and being humble. When review time rolls around try doing these things:
Emphasize your accomplishments. Don’t be arrogant but don’t downplay your successes either. Be clear about what contributions you’ve made to the business.
Acknowledge mistakes — carefully. Put the best possible spin on problem areas, noting them as faults you want to work on and signposts for what you should do going forward.
Keep the focus on you. It can be tempting to talk about others — especially if they’re hindering your progress — but remember this is about you. Don’t be defensive or criticize your colleagues.

Adapted by HBR from “How to Write the Dreaded Self-Appraisal” by Amy Gallo.

Gratitude is being thankful.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963);
35th US President

Daily The News Reports today.

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) awarded party ticket on NA-1 Peshawar to Gul Bacha and on NA-5 Nowshera to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s son-in-law as it announced candidates for the by-election.

A PTI press release Monday said the party’s parliamentary board met in Islamabad and finalised candidates on different National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats. It said ticket for NA-1 was awarded to Gul Bacha, NA-5 to Imran Khattak, NA-24 to Dawar Kundi, PK-23 to Umar Farooq, PK-27 to Engr Adil and PK-70 to Adnan Wazir.

Decision on award of ticket on NA-13 and NA-27 could not be made. NA-13 Swabi-

II was vacated by Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa Assembly Speaker and PTI provincial president Asad Qaiser. He is lobbying to get ticket for his brother, Waheed Khan. It appears that the parliamentary board is not convinced to award ticket to Qaiser’s brother.

On NA-27 Lakki Marwat, the decision to award ticket could not be taken. Imran Khattak, who was awarded ticket on NA-5 Nowshera, is nephew and son-in-law of the Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

PTI should now be called PKI.

Now icing on the cake news that PTI has decided to allot NA-5 ticket to the son in law of Pervaiz Khattak CM KPK.

It will be more appropriate if the name of PTI is changed to PKI (Pervaiz Khattak Inc.)

KSA Announces Advent of Ramzan from 10th July, 2013 Why Not Pakistan? Same Day Eid Celebration in Pakistan is a Must for National Unity & You Can Do It.

H’able Mian Nawaz Sharif Sahab

Salaam.

As is evident from the above mentioned news published today on July 01, 2013, at Jang.com.pk the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is taking full advantage of the scientific advancements in the astronomical science, for deciding advent of Ramzan and other Islamic lunar months. So the question arises why not Pakistan should also benefit from the astronomy to decide the advent of ALL Islamic months?

As you may be very well aware, the celebration of Eid on different days in many areas of the country, is not only very embarrassing for the general public but it reflects a very lousy image of our nationhood, as well.

If the solution of this issue is found with the combined help of religion and science and technology, as has been done in Saudi Arabia and many other countries, it will not only help the nation to unite, but will also assist many local and expatriate Pakistanis, to plan their vacations and travel, in advance.

I wish your government could find sometime, for resolving this issue with consensus, and if required make a law, so that the entire nation celebrates its biggest festival in unison, without any controversy. Moreover, it will be one of the biggest gift from you to the nation, without spending a single penny.

Best regards,

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

Compassion is to feel deep sympathy and a desire to help.

“Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968);
theologian, author