Category Archives: Resume Writing by Melanie Szlucha

Resume Writing by Melanie Szlucha

Is Your Resume Working As Hard As It Should? And How Do You Fix It?

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Continuing the series of putting your job search through the scrutiny of a performance review, let’s talk about resumes.

I look at resumes all the time, either from jobseekers like you looking for help, or for the occasional small business recruiting gigs I do. I also have 15+ years of experience of hiring people to work for me in various positions throughout my career. And the one thing that held true then, and now.

As an employer all I care about is: What’s on your resume that I need?

That’s it. I don’t know that you’ve left off parts of your experience, I don’t know that your last job was really more about accounting than marketing—but you’re applying for a marketing job so you’re emphasizing your marketing background.  All I ask is, how does the person on this piece of paper fit with what I need?

How do you know what I need? Well, I told you in the job description.

And who am I going to decide to call? The people who impress me the most with the changes they made at their last company, the examples of taking initiative to find better ways of doing things, and the ways that they improved their last company.

Who am I going to be interested in, but may or may not call? People who look like they did the same job at another company, but it doesn’t look like they really made an impact.

Why won’t I call them? Well, they’ll go in my maybe pile, but if they’re trumped by other people who made more of an impact—I’ll be more excited to call them, and might get to you later. Could there be a great person hiding behind a poorly written or formatted resume? Yes—and as an employer this was always my nagging concern.

As an employer, will my job requirements change as I look at more resumes and whittle down the competition? Yes. If I mention that something is preferred in the ad, as I’m culling through the people to call I might make it a requirement just to make the pile more manageable.

Will I still call people who show that they’ve made an impact? Yes. But if their resume is in a gray area where they don’t have that preferred skill, and their contributions are non-existent, then I’m gonna pass.

So what should you look for in the performance review of your resume? Does it include a mix of job description, and clearly, obviously labeled accomplishments? (i.e., do you have a section under each position labeled—Accomplishments?) Have you made it user-friendly by putting the needs of the employer first, rather than your own preferences or what makes sense to you?

Have you taken time to look for other resume formats that might tell your story better? A book I love is The Gallery of Best Resumes. There’s some in there that are great and some that aren’t—but you’ll learn a lot and see that there’s many options. For the ones you like, why do they work for you? Does it more clearly tell the person’s story? Is it eye-catching without being obnoxious? How is the writing? You should not have blocks of text longer than 2 ½ lines if it can be at all avoided? Why? Because it’s more difficult to visually scan to get an overall impression of who you are. Employers don’t READ resumes, your resume isn’t the latest Tom Clancy novel. Is there enough white space between the bullets and around them to make it easy to read?

Really analyze what you like and what you don’t in the resumes you see, versus “that looks nice.”—and consider if you’d give that person a call based on that piece of paper.

Need help figuring out how to discuss those accomplishments on your resume? Give me a call—you may not need a complete overhaul, but we can work together on an hourly basis to concisely include the fantastic things you’ve done at your previous employer.

Evaluating Job Offers

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At some point, each one of you will have the opportunity to evaluate a job offer.

It will be a blissful, exciting and nerve racking day. You’ll get the call and be very excited and thrilled that your search is over. You’ll agree to just about anything because the thought of going on one more informational interview or combing the job interview sites makes you want to cry.

Get a grip.

After you go on your second interview at a company, chances are they’re pretty serious about you. Doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to get the job, but it does mean that the next phone call could be to ask for your list of references and hopefully later make you the offer.

So when you’re thinking rationally—make a list of what you expect and hope for from this job.  Here’s a checklist of the basics to ask about before you say yes or no.

Vacation:  Most jobs start out with 2 weeks as a standard, but if you’ve been in the job market a while and are used to a few more weeks, you can ask if they are negotiable on this point considering that you had x number of weeks at your last job.  You can also ask if they have a list of company holidays, or do they take half days on Fridays during the summer.  Maybe between what they’re offering and some of these other perks it could make up for what you might have had to give up.

Health Benefits:  Find out how much you’re currently paying per pay period for your benefits.  Most people don’t know this off the top of their heads, and without this information you would have no real basis for comparison with the new company.  You can also ask the new company for the name of their HMO and check to see if your favorite doctors are part of the plan.  You should also ask about their family plans (if applicable), and the extent of their vision or dental coverage.

401K: The important question here is if the company matches your contribution.  You can also ask if there’s any sort of cap on the amount that you can contribute.  If you’re financially astute, you can ask who manages the company plan.

Gym or health club benefits:  Some companies have a gym on site that you can take advantage of, or reduced rates at a health club.  If that’s important to you, you’ll want to ask.  Personally I wouldn’t walk away from a job if that wasn’t a benefit, but you want to know what you are accepting.

Those are the biggies, but you want to write down every benefit you have available to you at your current job and rank them in order of importance.

When you’re on the phone with the interviewer, take notes on the details of the offer, and ask for them to send you this information in writing.  Via email is perfectly fine.  Then devise a strategy if would like to improve the offer somehow.

If the salary isn’t what you hoped it would be, you can ask the company if it’s possible for them to increase it.  Your fallback position is to let them know that you would like a performance review after 6 months to discuss a pay increase at that time.

With regard to health benefits, gym perks and 401K match, you’re pretty much stuck with what plans they currently have in place.  Most companies do a yearly review of their benefits packages, so you can hope that it will change in subsequent years.

It’s OK to negotiate the offer, but always be respectful and appreciative.  Don’t take the position that you deserve more than what they are offering.  You’re asking if it’s possible for them to meet you halfway, not demanding or expecting that they will up the ante during your high power negotiation.

Melanie can be reached at -
Melanie@redinc.biz
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How to Introduce Yourself at Parties

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I momentarily thought about titling this article “Constructing Your Elevator Speech”, but I’ve heard that term so many times I could just scream.  What everyone really wants to know is what to say to people at parties when they’re asked what kinds of positions they’re looking for.

First and foremost, you want it to always be casual. It should never feel too rehearsed, and the person you’re talking to should never get that frightened look in their eye that you’re trying to sell them a used car.  You want to have an idea of how to talk about your experience in an interesting, and honestly, an entertaining way that will make you memorable to the listener and make them more open to helping you.  This should NEVER feel like a hard-sell-begging-for-a-lead situation.

Second, you want to take a look at the types of things that you enjoy doing in your current—or even some prior jobs.  What skills were you happiest doing?  Management?  Organization?  Working with People?  Working with Numbers?  Solving Complex Problems?  Think of it in some broad strokes rather than getting too narrow by mentioning specific positions.  Paint a picture for someone of what you’re like to work with so they can envision you at work.   All of us remember images better than words, so try to create an image in their mind of the things you do—even specifically. You can talk about some past accomplishments—maybe it’s a large project that you worked on, an account that you won, a difficult computer programming challenge that you figured out.  Tell people what you do, and what fields you’re shooting for.

Another way to think about this is to approach it from the “what kinds of problems do you solve?” angle to help you think about some good examples to talk about.

Third, think about the industries you’re interested in.  This should further paint a picture in the mind of your listener.  It’s appropriate to even do some namedropping of companies that you’re trying to get into with the thought that they may know someone there like a relative or close friend who could help you.

What you don’t want to do is mention everything that you can possibly do in a job.  You’re not reading your resume, you’re simply giving a brief—and I mean 30 seconds-brief—snapshot of the position you aspire to.  Just the highlights.

Here’s an example:

“I’ve decided it’s time for me to look for a new job.  I’ve gotten about as far as I can with this company and it’s time for me to move on.  I’m looking for the opportunity to do less direct customer contact, and the ability to use all of the customer information I’ve learned over the years to help companies design new products, or even go into market research.  My background is in Marketing, and I’ve got a head full of ideas about how people think and what kinds of questions they ask themselves before making a decision and why they decide on the product they do.  I’ve thought about working for Diagio—that liquor manufacturer, or even Neilsen media research in their market research field.  I’m known around the office as the “go to” person who can handle a variety of problems without getting ruffled—my current company will really miss me when I leave.”

Notice how I told a little story about why I was looking for the position I was looking for, what my background was in, and what companies I had thought about working for.  Also dropped the subtle hint that I’m known as a Jack-of-all-trades around the office to give them a bit of a unique picture that everyone could relate to.

Avoid Being a Networking Jerk

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A few months ago I was scheduled to speak at an event in Stamford, CT.   The organizer sent an email to the group discussing my credentials and that I would be discussing how they as business people can interview more effectively.  I received an email from someone in the group saying that they cannot attend my presentation, but think that we would be good networking leads for each other.  They then described what they do and said that they do have clients from time to time who could use my services.  Great!  It looked like it would be a good fit.  I emailed them back, and said that I knew people who could definitely use their services, and here’s where I always meet them.  I also said that I’d love to get together with them for coffee sometime.

This person responded that they only work with corporate decision makers, not individuals, and if I knew where to find those people, that’s what they needed.   They did not take me up on my offer for coffee.

I was stunned!

First, I was trying to be nice, and sincerely thought I had a great lead for them.  I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these people needed the services of this company because they had asked me if I knew anyone who did that kind of work.  I wasn’t giving her a cold lead.

Second, I’m not going to refer a client of mine to anyone without meeting him or her  first, and I would assume that other coaches would work the same way.

Third, I don’t presume to know anyone’s business, and maybe this person has found that it isn’t worth   her time to work with individuals vs. a corporation. That’s fine.  But, do you think that I kept her information in my email address book?

As you walk down the road of networking, keep in mind that people are just trying to be helpful.  They mean no harm.  Even though the first thing out of their mouth could be the silliest idea you ever heard, be polite.  Because the second thing out of their mouth could be the BEST idea you’ve ever heard.

In the example above, my brush-off is very apparent, but keep in mind the same principal when you’re in front of someone.  Your body language, eye movement, slight snicker after they give you an idea will either tell them you’re receptive to more, or that you’re just going to make fun of them

Don’t Give in to the Desire to Confide

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If you’ve ever been in a bad job situation, you have no desire to repeat it.  And that’s understandable. However, you don’t want to ever, ever—and I mean NEVER—discuss it in an interview.

Think of it this way—when you’re on a first date with someone, do you want to hear about their past failed relationships?  It’s irrelevant whether they were at fault or not.  You don’t know enough about someone on a first date to assess who they are as a person and trust them.

It’s the same in an interview.  Recently I heard an example of someone who had had several interviews with a major department store.  Things seemed to be going very well.  They liked him, he liked them.  But he let his guard down and felt compelled to discuss a bad experience he had had at another employer.  It probably didn’t help that the other employer was part of the same parent company of department stores.

I don’t know why he let the conversation go there, but in some cases it could be his own bravado, or desire to confide in who he thinks are future friends.  Either way, it’s a bad move.  It’s assuming a level of trust that isn’t there.

Everyone can relate to the feeling though, and that’s why it’s such a dangerous trap.  It’s the gossip feeling.  The rush when we divulge information that we know we probably shouldn’t and that the information we’re imparting will increase our standing in the interviewer’s eyes.  It won’t.

Many of you will read this and think—well DUH! I’d NEVER do that—but it’s easier than you think. No matter how well you’re getting along with the interviewers, no matter how much you want to establish rapport and have them see you as a fit with the company. No matter how much you want them to like you—don’t talk about past jobs in an unfavorable light.

If you must talk about where you used to work, admit responsibility for whatever happened, and what you learned from the situation and move on.  Never pin all of the blame on a former employer.