When you look at these advertisements, what’s the first thing you notice? If you said that you notice the titles or a headline, then you win the grand prize. We must begin to look at resumes as personal advertisements. With these ads, we can almost instantly see what they’re about. Does your resume do that…
I’ve previously discussed the resume “black hole” and how companies rely heavily on the use of ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) to weed out applicants. Basically speaking, an applicant completes an application online. A computer analyzes that application for predefined keywords and “hopefully” passes the applicant onto the HR team for that company. Then, tradition takes…
A friend of mine is having a telephone interview with a local hospital for a tech support/IT position right now. I literally just heard him have to answer, “What is your greatest weakness?” So, companies are still using these lazy and outdated interview questions. Are you prepared with your answers? I can help, send me…
Do you send a thank you note to an interviewer when you’re finished with the interview? You should! You may feel like you’re wasting the interviewer’s time. You may feel like there’s already been enough said about your qualifications. Suppose the interviewer has spoken to 15 candidates. What did you do or say that made…
Many companies are choosing to do telephone interviews as their first line of defense in weeding out job candidates. How do you ace a phone interview? We’re taught that we have to dress the part, do some research, possibly even try to find the interviewer on LinkedIn and read up on that person before an…
I support the idea that a resume needs to have a fairly specific format: name and contact info at the top, a title followed by a professional/career summary next and then a list of skills. The list of skills often confuses people. Which skills do you include, which are not important? So, let’s talk about…
One of the more common errors I see in resumes is the use of an Objective. I am here to tell you that employers can’t stand an Objective on a resume. You can bet they don’t read them. More often than not an Objective doesn’t relay any important information and just takes up space. The…
A question I frequently hear is, “Should I include volunteer work on my resume?” Yes, of course you should! Hiring managers love to see that someone has ambition outside of just making a paycheck. Plus, that volunteer work could actually give you some marketable skills for the job market. What volunteer work have you done?…
They all ask the dreaded question, “What are your salary requirements?” The trap is set. How do you avoid tripping the trap? Be prepared! The first step is to walk into that interview with some information. You can do a free survey on Payscale to learn what salary range a position with your talents should…
Many recruiters will ask you, “What is your current salary package?” Frankly, there are schools of thought out there for answering this question and for avoiding this question. The thing you need to remember is that your current finances are none of an interviewer’s business. They’ll tell you they need to know so they can…
