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Top Resume Trends and ‘Beating’ the Automated Tracking System

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As an executive career management practitioner. I manage the careers of senior executives, business leaders, executive MBAs and mining professionals. Today, we are here on the famous King’s Road in Chelsea. It’s always been a very trendy place. In the 1960’s it was the home to the hippies and in the 1970’s it was home to all the punk rockers and skinheads. In fact, every Saturday night there was a fight here between those two trends took place. It was during these years that I honed my police training. And then in the 1980’s the trend was the yuppies.

Today, trends are just as important in your resume writing as they were back then.

Here are the top two things you need to be aware of when you are creating your resume:

1. Resumes have to be ATS friendly. ATS stands for Automated Tracking Systems. Resumes aren’t generally read by human beings any longer. They are now read by scanning machinery. Therefore, your resume has to have ATS criteria.

2. Resumes need lots of performance and accomplishment driven stories. These must be based on STAR:

  • Situation
  • Task
  • Action
  • Results

Be a storyteller and sell yourself!

Looking for help with you resume? Contact me for a free resume critique at my other website www.aneliteresume.com.

Is It Time to Move Up?

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move upIs it time to move up? Have you been considering a move from Executive to the Board? As baby boomers who are on Boards in North America and Europe are retiring, the opportunities are vast. You have to be prepared to travel, the responsibilities are different, sometimes onerous, but it can be a rewarding challenge when you have met all of your other career goals.

Not every Executive wants to move onward and upward to a Board position, but if you are hungry for that next adventure, gear up and get ready by polishing your Board-level skills, get your board resume and cover letter together, and get the word out! The opportunities are out there!

Polish your skills.

What can you do as an Executive to prove your Board-level leadership skills? Join the Board of a local charity. Community foundations are a great way to start, but keep an eye out for open positions on national non-profits headquartered near you. Leading a not-for-profit to greater success is a wonderful way to develop and promote your leadership skills.

Board Resumes are different.

Any Career Coach will tell you, a Board Resume is very different from an Executive Resume. A Professional Resume Writer should be able to explain the difference and create a Board Resume and Board Cover Letter that will grab the attention of a Search Committee.

Get the word out!

Make sure your networks know that you’re building skills and leadership levels. You can promote the non-profit you lead, which allows the information about your Board position to circulate. Make sure your social media is up to date with your new responsibilities and skills, too. When you’re ready to start searching for a Corporate Board position, your network and social media history will support your value as a Board Candidate.

It takes some planning and a shift in perspective to move from Executive level to Board level. If you are looking for one last challenge to deepen your career success, this may be the right time and the right move for you!

Make it Match – Resumes and LinkedIn

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When I look at a resume during a free critique, I often pull up the person’s LinkedIn profile to learn even more about them. Astonishingly often, the subject’s resume and the LinkedIn profile don’t match. Some mismatches are small, a date with the numbers transposed, or a job title that differs just slightly. Others are distressingly different: No dates match, job titles are completely different, some have whole jobs missing. It gives a very poor impression to any recruiter or hiring influencer.

mirroring in the communication conversationSo many human errors creep in when people fail to update LinkedIn when they update their resume. It’s important to keep them both as current as possible, as they are the two key marketing tools just about every recruiter will use to review your history and you don’t want to display carelessness or suggest that you have lied on your resume or on your digital profile.

In many cases, the errors are due to a simple lack of attention to career management. No one else is going to market you as enthusiastically as you can market yourself. So put all the latest, greatest information about you out where recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring influencers can find it! Make sure all your information matches.

What if you have a real gap in your work life? If you’re out of work you need to cover those months/years on your resume and LinkedIn history and you need to be open and honest about those gaps. Give an explanation of why those months or that year was a professional blank, and add what you learned (did you volunteer while travelling?) or what value you added to your skill set (did you take a course?) during your downtime. I recently had a client who couldn’t work as he moved out of the country due to a spouse’s work-related relocation. He spent his time learning a new culture.

You’re welcome to take advantage of my offer of a free resume critique, but before you do, please take the time to look over and compare the content of your resume with your LinkedIn profile and make sure they match. Refresh or rewrite both of them so that you present a current, consistent message about what you have accomplished and your value as an employee. That small investment of time will benefit you during every job search from now on!

Your Resume – Rewrite or Refresh?

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If your resume isn’t getting the response you want, or you haven’t updated it recently, it’s time to rewrite or refresh. Updating the one document that holds a lifetime’s worth of education, skills, and experience can be a daunting task, and confusing, too. Here’s a quick guide to choosing if your resume needs a full overhaul or a quick polish!

Time for a Rewrite

Resume - Rewrite or RefreshDoes your resume reflect only the information from your last job search, years ago? It is definitely time to recreate the entire document from scratch. Not only have resume formats changed, so have you!

 Are you changing gears, careers, or ambitions? Aiming for a different industry, job description, or gearing up to reach the next level means you need to create a whole new resume to appeal to the new market you plan to target. Need help? A career coach can help you change directions and develop the perfect resume to match.

 Is your resume lacking luster? If it leaves you bored, it’s going to leave recruiters and hiring influencers unconvinced, too. Use the latest information on Personal Branding, psychology, and resume screening technology to your advantage and create a brand new document that intrigues and excites the reader to contact you for an interview right away!

 Aiming for the board? A board resume is significantly different from an executive resume. When the stakes are this high, you should hire a professional who understands how to tailor your resume to appeal to this very different audience.

Refreshment Time

When your resume is up-to-date and was written by or with the help of a professional, refresh to reflect the most current information about you and your career. It’s easy to refresh your resume when you keep a brag book of career achievements.

 If you’re recently employed with a freshly composed and modern resume, refresh it annually so that it’s ready when you need it. Jobs and careers are much more fluid today, anyone can receive a pink slip at any time. The worst time to refresh it is when you’re coping with a job loss.

Is your resume a powerful statement about your value as a candidate? If you are encouraged just reading about yourself and what you have to offer, chances are all your resume needs is a little refresher. Add your latest accomplishments and ensure that any changes or tweaks to your personal branding are reflected in your refreshed resume.

Every time you make a move within an organization, refresh your resume. Ensure it reflects your current skills, accomplishments, and leadership level.

Have you changed residences? Since your contact information on your resume should always be your personal phone number, address, and email address, be sure to refresh those links to you every time you make a move.

Have you joined Skype? Refresh your resume adding links to your Skype or social media profiles.

 

Why You Should Never Rush a Resume

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young businessman reviewing resumeIt can be tempting to dispatch a resume as soon as you hear about an opportunity you believe fits your career goals and ambitions. Even more so if it is your dream job. However, hold back.

Patience is a virtue, as the saying goes.

Today’s jobs are normally posted for 21 or 28 days. You have time. So rein in your enthusiasm and excitement to plan an optimum application, supported with a dynamic, performance-driven and ATS-friendly resume.

Recently I read in an online article that 9 times out of 10, a human resources manager will discard an application received within an hour or two of a new job posting, simply because the resume is incomplete and appears to be a rush job.

A lot is at stake when you are applying for a job. You are measured on your professionalism and how well the resume tells a true story about exactly who you are and the skills you can bring a potential employer.

You only have one chance to impress and you must make the best use of that chance. There are many ways to diminish the impact of your job search documentation. I am astonished at how many people fail to proofread their resume. I have even seen people misspell their own name! How would you assess a job candidate who did that?

Ensure that you’re using a 2016 resume format that will be easily scannable by both the human eye and the ATS scanning machinery so prevalent in the hiring process today.

One mistake in the form of a typo, punctuation, grammar, or improper formatting will count you out of the job search, even though you may be a perfect candidate. So don’t rely only on your own eyes. Engage some close friends or other confidantes in critiquing your application documents before submitting.

The next time you see a posting for what sounds like the perfect job, eliminate your eagerness to apply immediately and take time to calmly review your resume to ensure all is correct.

Refresh Your Resume With New Stories

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executive-proofreading-resume-textFor many years, I’ve had a presentation called Rejuvenate Your Resume, Reap the Rewards. This title applies just as much today as it did 15 years ago. A resume is an active document that should be reviewed and refreshed frequently as you go through your career journey.

A resume refresh can also serve as a confidence booster on those down days when you think the world is going to fall apart, and you see minimal interest in you as a product. It doesn’t just change how hiring managers see you; it changes how you see yourself.

One of the benefits of the English language is that you can tell the same compelling and enticing story using many different words. How can you rejig those success STAR stories and make them even more appealing to the reader? For ideas, return to your brag book for a fresh look at the original situation.

Are there other stories that should be included on your resume? When a client engages my services, I ask them to dig deep and uncover all the achievements they’ve had during their career.

A rule of thumb is that for every year of your career, you should be able to articulate 1.5 STAR stories. If this is a struggle for you, as it is for most, now is the time to do some soul searching and unearth more accomplishments. From there you can decide which ones you would like to portray in the resume.

Keep in mind that there is a limit to how much you should tinker with this important career document. I see too many executives get sidelined by trying to perfect their resume. As a multi-credentialed resume writer and leader in my field, I am here to tell you there is no such thing as a perfect resume.

Meaningful time writing and adjusting a resume will bring meaningful results. Yet once you are reasonably happy with the verbiage, content and format, and you know it is an up-to-date and scannable resume, you should not waste any further time. Stop working on your resume, move on with your job search, and let your resume work for you.

Lying on Your Resume

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businessman-pinocchio-nose-textThe purpose of a resume is to market yourself as the first person of choice in the job search race. Of course you want to be number one, but not at any cost.

Over my many years of executive resume writing, I have come across many people who have lied about their careers, education, designations and other information. And a recent CareerBuilder survey revealed that 1 in 2 employers have caught a lie on a resume. How terrible is that?

Yes, writing a resume and conducting a job search are intimidating prospects for many people. They certainly don’t want to have to go through this exercise too frequently or too long, so the pressure is on.

While I know you want to position yourself as a prime candidate of choice, misrepresenting yourself in such a crucial career document is frowned upon by all.

When hiring at the executive level, HR decision makers and executive recruitment firms engage researchers whose sole job it is to verify your degrees, designations and positions. Supposing they find something that doesn’t match your resume. Where do you think they will position you now?

Yes, a job search is a street race and the checkered flag goes down the minute you start, with the pressure to win mounting from family and friends. But you won’t win with a lie, or even an embellishment.

Instead, think of the impact you can make by telling a true and honest story of your unique personal brand. Be creative with your wording and use the English language to the maximum. Accentuate your strengths in a powerful enticing and seductive 2- to 3-page resume.

Or perhaps, you would like to hire a leading executive resume writer who will deliver an engaging impact on the other end. In either case, anyone who is reading this post can be a winner, without ever having the need to lie.

Show your true colours. Show your strengths. And show you are ready for that gold medal.

A Resume is Not a Text Message

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© shsphotography - Fotolia.com

© shsphotography – Fotolia.com

I have seen thousands of resumes pass my desk since I started my business 20+ years ago. Some impress me and compel me to pick up the phone and give that person a call. Others depress me, because I know they can do better.

In today’s world, where technology consumes everything we do, texting has become what many people think is a standard and acceptable way of communicating. It is NOT!

Texting is an art in itself and has developed its own language based on abbreviations and acronyms. This platform has a rightful place, but not when managing your career. During a job search, texting should never be used to deliver a message to somebody who could influence your hiring.

Certain abbreviations and acronyms, however, should be sprinkled throughout your resume, along with the long forms of those terms. Including these keywords will elevate your chances of having the human eye or the ATS scanning machinery pick up your story.

I encourage you to use each technical or industry term or acronym at least once within the body of the resume. Always include the long form unless space is an issue. On all counts, steer clear of the acronyms and abbreviations used in texting and social media (e.g., LOL, TTYL, ROFL).

Social media, especially Twitter where each character counts, has also contributed to thinking it is acceptable today to shorten every written word. As a resume writer, I can tell you that if you misuse the English language this way, you will pay a price with limited opportunities to advance your candidacy to the interview stage.

Texting is great for sending a quick message to friends, family or colleagues, but it is not the way to build a new relationship or convey important information about your job search. When you’ve turned your focus to managing your career, that’s your signal to banish texting and its lingo.

How to Customize Your Resume For a Specific Job

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© alex-virt- Fotolia.com

© alex-virt- Fotolia.com

While it’s tempting to re-use the same resume again and again to streamline the application process and get your resume into as many hands as possible, that tactic is not recommended.

Potential employers want to see that you’ve made an effort to learn about this specific opportunity, and your marketing materials must demonstrate why you’re the perfect fit.

To customize your resume for a specific job, focus on these three things:

  1. Headline

You’ll want to match this to the job title you’re applying for. If you’ve described yourself as Senior Business Leader in your resume but this job opening is for a Vice President of Sales, change your headline to match the job posting.

  1. Keywords

Look at the job description, as well as the company website and social media profiles, to find the language and keywords they use to describe the attributes and hard skills that will determine your successful candidacy.

For an executive role, common keywords might include executive leadership, strategic planning, business reengineering, budget, and P & L (profit and loss).

Use the right industry and corporate jargon. In manufacturing, for example, they often use the term New Product Launch, while in telecom, they might say New Product Introduction, yet both phrases have the same meaning – taking a product to market.

If you’re applying for a government job, you may want to quote some of the job description text verbatim in your achievements statements – we have seen this strategy get positive results. Otherwise, work these keywords skillfully throughout your resume’s keywords section and your STAR story accomplishment statements.

(For more details, read: Choosing the Best ATS Keywords: Is Your Resume Scannable?)

  1. STAR stories

When documenting your career history, strategically position the story or stories that are most relevant to the job you are applying to. Make these your first and strongest bullet points underneath each employer name. Other accomplishments with less relevancy to the job description can be further down on the page.

Remember that even if your resume passes the ATS scan, your human interviewer will do just a 5- to 30-second scan. They won’t read everything, but they will look at the first few lines of each section. Use the STAR story format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to show your key impact and most important contributions.

You may also want to start each employer section with a one-line snapshot of your responsibilities, such as your number of direct and indirect reports, the budget you managed, or the number of countries in your portfolio. This can say a lot in a very short amount of space.

More tips for customizing your resume

If you’ve had a diverse career, or even changed direction a few times, it is acceptable to leave out anything that really isn’t pertinent to the specific job and industry you are applying to. When you’re condensing your resume for length, these should be the first things to go. Remember, a resume should not exceed three pages in total.

Help your resume stand out from the rest by using bold font to attract the eye to major headings, without making it excessive. Bold font will not impede the electronic scanning process, just don’t use any colours.

To convince a future employer that you’re right for the job, you must tailor your resume for the situation and stand out from your competition on the job market.

How Volunteer Work Adds Value to Your Executive Resume

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© WavebreakMediaMicro - Fotolia.com

© WavebreakMediaMicro – Fotolia.com

A 2013 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that unemployed people who volunteered 20 hours or more over a 12-month period were, on average, 6.8% more likely to be employed at the end of that year, compared to individuals who did not volunteer.

On your executive resume, it is especially beneficial to highlight how you volunteer in your community, as this shows potential employers more about your personal values and interests. Increasingly, organizations are now looking beyond your skill set to also assess your cultural fit to the company.

Your work experience validates your job fit, but it is your volunteering and community involvement that gives insight into whether you’re a match for a company’s culture and corporate citizenship practices.

You should stay equally active in your industry associations and networking groups, as this demonstrates that you are highly regarded by your peers.

How volunteering helps you change careers

If you are also looking at re-careering, volunteering gives you the opportunity to highlight different skills than you have used in you career so far. You can emphasize your achievements working on boards, events or other special projects, in industries or sectors where you otherwise don’t have paid experience.

Featuring these volunteer examples in your resume allows you to include keywords that a potential employer or recruiter in your new career may be looking for, thereby boosting your chances at being recognized by the automated tracking system (ATS) software.

The same applies to your LinkedIn profile (which should ideally mirror your resume), aiming to have the right key buzzwords pop up when executive recruiters and other hiring decision makers are searching for talent in LinkedIn.

Make new connections to expand your network and secure references

Many people are uncomfortable networking, and although it is still necessary to overcome these objections, volunteering is an additional way to build your network of influence and give back at the same time.

This may lead to some valuable connections, including those who may be willing to provide a reference or recommendation in your desired field. As you’re working together towards a common goal, volunteering can offer many opportunities to casually discuss what you do and where you’re looking to go in your career.

This camaraderie and interaction can keep your spirits up after you’ve been downsized, and helps you to retain a focused vision on your career goals.

If you’re unemployed, any gaps between positions on your resume will definitely attract attention, and could potentially be the difference between getting called for an interview or rejected sight unseen. Volunteering fills the void.

Volunteering as an entry point

If you have made your list of target companies you’d like to work for, volunteering at one of those companies could be a great way to learn when a job opening becomes available. Check company websites, career pages, and social media profiles for volunteer positions.

As you can see, volunteering can help you change careers, make new connections, expand your references, bolster your confidence during career transition, and find a way in to a desired company. Where will you volunteer next?