Have You Ever Considered a Video Resume?

More companies today are relying on video resumes and video interviews during the hiring process to reduce their travel budgets. They are especially popular in high-visibility executive roles, sales and training positions where the employer is hiring you for your personality as well as your skill set. Jobseekers seem to be slowly adopting this new job search tool as a means to differentiate themselves from the competition. “18% of job seekers have reported participating in video interviews in the past year – more than double the rate of a year ago” according to a recent Right Management survey. Are you prepared to sell yourself on video? Here are a few tips.

Your video resume should be no more than 2-3 minutes in length.
Wear attire suitable for a face-to-face interview.
Make sure you have proper lighting, a non-distracting background, and have eliminated all sources of ambient noise. Continue reading →

How Does Your Resume Rate Against The Competition’s?

September is International Update Your Resume Month and the perfect time to update your resume as many companies renew their hiring efforts for 4^th quarter deliverables. As the kids head back to school, you can refocus your time on your career development.

How old is your resume? If it has not been updated in the last year or two, odds are it is outdated and not winning you interviews. A fresh resume can be just what you need to jump-start a stalled job search. As you read job postings, capture key words and phrases to add to your resume keep the language of your resume current. Most importantly, make sure your resume is compatible with the Applicant Tracking Systems many employers use today, to avoid the “resume black hole”. Otherwise, no human being will ever read your resume.

Even if you are not currently conducting a job search, you should treat your resume as a living document, Continue reading →

You Must Beat Out the Competition to Get Into Your Top College

The process of selecting and applying to college mirrors the job search process and college admission has never been more competitive. Each institution is looking for the best incoming freshman class to bolster their ranking. Is there a college that you’ve been dreaming of attending? With the number of college applicants rising each year and schools becoming more selective, you must market yourself effectively to stand out from the competition. Overwhelmed and not sure how to make yourself stand out? The Resume Resource can help.

According to the NY Time’s The Choice blog, the number of accepted applications dropped in 2013 at many of the top colleges and universities. Continue reading →

Don’t Let Your Job Search Fizzle Out Just Because Summer Is Coming to an End

Summer may be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean your job search has to fizzle out too. Give your job search the boost it needs by investing your time in professional development to keep you ahead of your competition.

The secret to success is to never stop learning. Sharpen your current skills and learn new ones that can be transferred from one type of career to another. Mastering a variety of new skills makes you more marketable to employers. It shows that you are capable of evolving in a competitive working environment. Employers look for candidates with drive and passion. Are you able to show that you are an active contributor and strive to be a top performer?

Here are 3 professional development tips to boost your employability and impress a potential employer. Continue reading →

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile to Accelerate Your Job Search

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform and the #1 job search tool in the world. More than 130,000 recruiters use LinkedIn to search for potential candidates to fill job openings. Having an optimized profile and being an active participant on LinkedIn will increase your visibility and make it easier for recruiters to find you.

You must complete your profile to 100% to be considered a serious job seeker. Here are 5 tips based on best practices for optimizing your profile: Continue reading →

5 Tips for Successful Networking for Introverts

The most effective job search strategy combines online and face-to-face networking. Networking is about meeting others, not selling yourself. You want to build relationships with people who can provide information and open doors that will lead to more conversations. This task may seem daunting to an introvert. Here are a few tactics you can implement to give your job search the boost it needs.

1. Prepare a short Compelling Conversation Opener (COO) using this simple formula:

Who you are
What you do
Who you help
How you do it

My example: “As a resume writer and career coach, I help jobseekers find jobs that are emotionally and financially rewarding. I guide them through the job search process to make it less overwhelming and more successful.”

Practice your COO until it flows naturally. Then develop a few follow up points for when you are asked for more information. Continue reading →

Using the CT DOL Website’s Jobseeker Resources

Last week I attended a great presentation conducted by Karen Quesnel, a Business Services Professional with CTWorks. She showed members of the JETS Schmoozers Network for Job Seekers how to use the great job seeker tools on the CT DOL website. I was very impressed with the wealth of employment resources (in both English and Spanish) they have brought together in one portal. I strongly encourage you to check out the site and bookmark it for future use. Here are a few of my favorite features.

CT.jobs allows jobseekers to set up an account in which they can store a resume, save searches and set up personalized job search agents. I was very impressed to hear that they vet the employers who post jobs on their site, so there are no fictitious or scam postings like on some of the large paid-for-post job boards. Continue reading →

Role Playing Uncovers a Candidate’s Core Competencies

When reviewing candidates for a job opening, hiring managers typically base their decision on experience and likeability. The candidate looks great on paper, and seems to fit in with the corporate culture, but… can they really do the job?

Hiring the wrong candidate is the single most expensive mistake a company can make. Knowing that most candidates have prepared to answer the most common interview questions, many employers use behavioral questions, role playing or mock scenarios during the interview process to uncover a candidate’s true potential.

This role-playing technique is gaining popularity among hiring managers, and can be useful for nearly all roles and industries. By revealing the candidate’s true abilities, role-playing during the interview provides the hiring manager with a more accurate picture of the candidate’s ability to do the job. This can be especially helpful for candidates with the raw talent needed to excel in the role, who do not have the desired work experience. These mock scenarios can speed up the hiring process and minimize the learning curve once an employee is hired. Additionally, hiring top performing candidates can raise the overall caliber of the organization’s staff. Continue reading →

Help Your Recent College Grad Avoid the Boomerang Effect

When your college graduate finally walks across the stage to receive his/her diploma, some of the tears in your eyes may be tears of joy as you see your baby all grown up. But, for many parents that pride is coupled with the fear that your graduate, who has not yet secured a new job, will move back home. We love our children, but we raise them to be independent, leave the nest and venture out on their own. You may have been looking forward to being empty nesters, to travel and reconnect with your spouse. If your child follows the typical boomerang effect, your plans to convert their bedroom to an office or workout room may be postponed. As the high unemployment rate among Millennials and new college grads continues to grow, many Boomer parents ask themselves “How can I help my child avoid the boomerang effect?”. Continue reading →

Baby Boomers are Building Rewarding Encore Careers

Work/life balance, personal satisfaction, giving back to the community… there are a variety of reasons people turn to encore careers as an alternative to retirement. Realistically, we Baby Boomers will be working well past the typical retirement age of our parents. We are living longer and most of us will need additional income to supplement any pension or social security payments we may receive. Why not enjoy your work? An encore career can combine personal fulfillment and social impact with continued income. There is a world full of options out there waiting for you!

As a career coach and resume writer, I work with many mid- to late-career professionals looking to increase their quality of life with an encore career. Some of my clients know the exact direction they want to take, while others need guidance determining their ideal path. We work together to evaluate their ideal work culture, the type of role they want to play, and what fields align with their natural skills and interests. Providing advice on networking, interviewing and addressing age discrimination, I guide my clients through the job search process to make it less overwhelming and more successful. Continue reading →

Beating The Applicant Tracking System – Your Formatting Is Crucial

Last week I shared tips on using the proper keywords on your resume to get through the Applicant Tracking System. Today, I will discuss proper resume formatting, to avoid the dreaded “Resume Black Hole”!

Applicant Tracking Systems are actually very simple systems. They read the information on your resume as data, categorize it and use it to populate the hiring company’s candidate database. It then rates how qualified each candidate is by matching their resume with the keywords from the job posting. Equally as important as keywords is the formatting you use for your resume. If your formatting is not compatible with the Applicant Tracking System, it literally cannot read the information on your resume!

You can be the most qualified person for the job, but if the automated recruiting software cannot read your resume, your resume is not flagged for review. No human being will ever read it. And if the hiring manager never sees your resume, you would lose out on the opportunity.

Here are some specifics on ATS-friendly formatting. Continue reading →

Beating the Applicant Tracking System: Identifying the Keywords to Include on Your Resume

By now, you probably know that most employers use Applicant Tracking Systems to weed through the onslaught of incoming resumes, and use keyword matching to identify the most qualified candidates. I am frequently asked by jobseekers how to identify the keywords to include in their resume.

It is not some deep, dark secret. It is actually quite easy to figure out which keywords to include on your resume. For starters, carefully review the job posting. If it is a well-written job posting, you should be able to easily identify the keywords. They are the specific experience, skills and education required of the ideal candidate. Highlight all these keywords and work them into your resume in context. Continue reading →

Anticipate, Prepare and Practice To Win Your First Interview

In this economy, college grads are competing against candidates with years of experience for entry level positions. To stand out from the others, you must follow these 3 steps to win your interview: anticipate, prepare and practice.

Anticipate. As a jobseeker, you should be doing tedious research about the company. Make sure you read every corner of the company’s website, as it is the most authentic source of information. But, don’t stop there. Look into the company’s annual reports, learning business plans and setting up Google Alerts so you’re up to date on company news. Although it is important to know what the company does, it may be even more important to know who you’ll be talking to once you get there. Find out with whom you are interviewing and get acquainted with their staff bio and LinkedIn page.

Prepare. There are 7 interview questions you will most likely be asked in any interview.

Tell me about yourself.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What is your greatest weakness?
What motivates you to perform?
Tell me about a time that you failed?
Why do you want to work here?
What do you consider one of your best successes?

Also, be prepared for situational interview questions. Imagine yourself in the role and what obstacles you may face.

Practice. Use mock interviews to ensure you are able to eloquently answer those sample interview questions. Be prepared to overcome objections and curtail your answers so the interviewer sees your passion for the field and position.

Getting chosen for an interview means that the hiring manager already believes you are a fit for the role on paper, so use the interview to reassure them of their decision. Best of luck!

Lauren Piccini is a writer, blogger and social media wiz who helps small business owners transform into credible experts in their field by increasing their brand awareness through the use of social media strategies and techniques. She is a recent grad with a degree in English from the University of Connecticut whose first work was published within six months of graduation. www.LaurenPiccini.com

This New College Grad Still Had a Few Things to Learn

By Guest Blogger Kelly T.

When I graduated from Hofstra University in 2010, I had a world full of options available to me! Although I had $90K in student loan debt, I was confident that I would find a great job that I loved. I was ready to move on to the next phase of my life — I was now an independent adult!

Like so many of my peers, when I graduated I did not have a job lined up. But, I was not worried. I would get a temporary job for a few months before I landed my dream job. Well, my reality was not quite as ideal as I had pictured. Sure, I did get a temp job, but it was not easy. And the $16 an hour wage did not even come close to paying my bills. You see, when you have ninety thousand dollars in loans, they expect you to somehow pay $775 a month! Are they freaking kidding me? That is half a mortgage payment!

I was very frustrated! I could not get the numbers to work — even on paper. My net monthly pay was just over $2,000. At first, I thought that was great! I had never made that much money before! But, then I did the math…

Student loans = $775

Apartment/Utilities = $800

Food = $400

Gas = $200

Entertainment = zero

Unexpected Expenses = zero

Savings = zero

MONTHLY EXPENSES $2,175

MONTHLY INCOME $2,107

Even with a roommate, a zero entertainment budget and borrowing my father’s car so that I did not have a car payment, I was not able to make it on my own without starving to death. I wanted to be able to go out once in a while, and I was getting really sick of Ramen noodles. There was no way I was going to become a “Boomerang Kid”! I did not want to move back in with my parents for many different reasons:

My parents had raised me to be independent, and I was eager to be out on my own.
I loved being in control of my own time and not having to answer to anyone.
My relationship with my mother was so much better now that I was not subjected to her rules, curfews, etc. Living on my own took all the tension out of our relationship.
I wanted the freedom to have ice cream for dinner, keep the apartment only as clean as I wanted to, and have the gang over for margaritas on a Tuesday night.

I could not believe that I could not find a better job! Like all super-connected Millennials, I use technology for everything, entertainment, news, banking and used it in my job search. I scoured online job boards and applied online to hundreds of jobs. I could not even get an interview for a permanent job. I thought I was doing all the right things — but I was very wrong.

So, I contacted a Professional Resume Writer/Career Coach who had helped a friend of mine get a new job. She pointed out to me that my resume was not compatible with Applicant Tracking Systems and it did not “sell” me well. It was too generic, and I was sending out the same version to every company. She also explained to me why I needed to use LinkedIn to network and show potential employers that I had transitioned from “college kid” to “young professional”.

Well, I am very glad that I hired Trish Thomas of The Resume Resource to help me prepare for my job search. Within 2 weeks, I had an impressive resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile! She explained the best ways to use LinkedIn in your job search and helped me prepare for an interview. She was easy to work with, and I highly recommend her!

This story has a happy ending! Within a few days of updating my LinkedIn profile, a recruiter contacted me on LinkedIn for an HR job with a major biotech company. She loved my resume and asked me in for an interview. I aced the interview, and have been working there since October 2011. Today I earn more than $40,000! I bought myself a nice (previously loved) car and now have some money in my monthly Entertainment fund. Life is a lot more fun when you can actually live on the money you earn.

Trish Thomas founded The Resume Resource in 2009 to help people advance their careers with rewarding jobs that provide more than just a paycheck. As a Career Coach and Resume Writer, she provides her clients with the tools, strategies and confidence needed to achieve their goals and guides them through the job search process to make it less overwhelming and more successful. www.the-resume-resource.com