No Pictures on your Resume

By C.M Russell

If you've ever considered putting your picture on a resume, forget about it. I recently posed this question to some HR folks. Here are their responses:

Unless the position was one specifically for facing the public (like an actor, on air personality etc...), I think that photos on resumes are not warranted & would hurt more than help.

Not a good idea. First impressions are so important and a photo is a distraction. Your resume should market your skills, experience and education - not your looks.

I agree that a photo can be a distraction on a resume, and I am a photographer! For Creatives, I would recommend a resume with good graphic and information design that is clear, relevant to the desired position and succinct.

Never a good idea. A good looking person will appear as if they are trying to get a position based on their looks rather than their qualifications. An ugly person runs the risk of frightening a prospective employer.

I would not mind the photo. I'm 100% committed to getting the absolute best person for the job. While there is some information in the photo that some may use in a stupid fashion (make decisions based on skin color, for instance), there is other more meaningful information there as well. I know that if an applicant comes to the job interview looking shoddy, it's not a positive sign. Information that comes across in a photo is just as valid as information that comes across in a face-to-face interview.

Pictures on resumes are problematic for all except actors and models - where people are being hired for looks. 

Currently, with anti-discrimination laws and lawsuits, companies are supposed to hire candidates without considering race, sex, age or looks. If you attach a photo to a job application you now have an employer who knows most - if not all of these items. They may now reject you based on knowing this - since the search is supposed to not include these items. 

The whole purpose of using a resume is to get an interview. Since, based on my networking with other resume writers, recruiters and hiring managers at companies - a resume with a picture is more likely to screen out, rather than screen in a client - I recommend for my clients NOT to include a picture.

Main Six Things Recruiters Look for in Your Resume

By Florence Lewis

A recruiter only has a few seconds before he or she makes the final decision whether to call you for an interview. By looking at your resume, recruiters can quickly make out whether you fit the job description and can do the work. Recruiters get hundreds of resumes daily and have expertise in figuring out a resume. Below are a few things that recruiters look for in your resume and what employers want from you? If you are missing these things, you might miss a career opportunity.

1. Job Title and Functions: You need to first figure out whether your job titles and functions listed in your resume match the job you have applied for. There should be similarities between your past work and the current position you are applying for. Your employment history should show a number of roles and the corresponding responsibilities that came with them.
2. Experience: Experience matters a lot to recruiters and they scan it thoroughly. Thus, you need to make sure your experience matches the job title you are applying for. Experience in a different domain will not be counted. It’s necessary that you have experience working in the same area to add value to your resume.
3. Awards and Achievements: Recruiters are in search of people who have won awards and achievements. They like to select candidates who achieve more than their targets and are in top level positions. Thus awards and achievements are a must to list on your resume.
4. Qualifications: Qualifications matters a lot to recruiters, especially when they are desirable ones that fit the selection criterion. Upgrade your resume with your latest qualifications, skills and additional courses for the best outlook.
5. Leadership: Recruiters look for leadership experience on resumes. They want employees that possess the skills required to manage a team. Leadership needs a good amount of confidence, decision making power, team leadership experience and good listening skills. Recruiters select people who can execute their ideas well and take initiative for new projects.
6. Performance and Efficiency: Recruiters often look for performance and efficiency in the resume of a job seeker. One should be able to illustrate the way they contributed to a company growth and development.

If job seekers succeed in listing the above key items on their resumes, they stand ahead of the competition. Recruiters wish to see all the above items on an employee resume.

Five Reasons Recruiters Aren’t Calling You

Five Reasons Recruiters Aren’t Calling You

No doubt, this is a tough job market, and who knows when it will get better? With so many applicants for too few positions, it’s no wonder employers ignore all but the top qualified candidates. Do you find yourself applying to positions that you are sure you are the best qualified, but you still get no response? It may be more than just competition, the problem may be your resume. Here are five reasons you might not be getting interviews.

Get that Dream Job!

1. Your resume leaves off vital information.
   You must illustrate that you have the best qualifications by listing all your relevant responsibilities, certifications, education, professional training and technical skills that relate to your current career objective. Don’t forget volunteer work that demonstrates skills needed for your next job. Key industry words and phrases are also very important.
2. Your resume has too much useless information.
   This is a common problem for those who update their resume simply by adding new text to the old resume. If this is your update method, chances are your resume has a lot of dead wood that needs trimming. A good rule of thumb is that everything on your resume should relate to your current career objection. That means before adding new information, check the old text to see if it still relates. If not, you may need to change the emphasis on prior employment entries, or delete extraneous details.
3. Your resume doesn’t show enough experience.
   If you are short on needed experience showcase the next best thing, your transferable skills. Include your accomplishments that illustrate your most important transferable skills needed for the job. Your transferable skills may include customer service, problem solving, client relationship building, cost cutting or revenue generating.
4. Your resume shows too much experience.
   If you feel you are being labeled “overqualified” maybe that’s just what your resume is saying. If you apply for a non-management position, emphasize your ability as an individual contributor. Write about what you accomplished as part of a team rather than how you led the team. Illustrate how you contributed to the development of a new process rather than how you designed the process.
5. Your resume lacks results.
   In today’s difficult economy employers are looking for people who can impact the bottom line. Every company wants employees who can save money, contribute to revenue growth, streamline a procedure and keep customers happy. Make sure your resume includes accomplishments that result in these corporate initiatives. Quantifiable results give you the sharpest edge against all other job applicants who have the same qualifications as you.

Competition for good jobs will continue to be high. A well written resume is your best tool to help get you in front of hiring managers who will call you for interview. Don’t let another good opportunity pass you by. Improve your resume and improve your chances for your next job

- Deborah Walker, CCMC 

Avoid These Top Five Resume Mistakes

Over the years as a recruiter and resume coach, I've seen the consequences of poorly written resumes. Unfortunately, most people don't seek professional career help until they experience the frustration of a long and fruitless job search. It's surprising how many of their problems can be traced to the top five resume mistakes.

1. No resume focus The most effective resumes leave no doubt as to the job seeker's career objective. A one-size-fits-all resume gives the impression that the job seeker is uncertain of his/her career goal. An employer once told me that if a candidate is interested in two completely different positions, he must not be very good at either. If you have more than one career objective, you need more than one resume.
2.  Lack of marketing strategy Job seekers rarely see their search for what it is—a sales campaign. Think of your resume as marketing material designed to create a powerful first impression and win a multitude of job interviews. A resume coach can help you translate your career history into an effective marketing piece by selling toward the reader's buying motives: solving problems, saving money, or increasing profits.
3. No accomplishment statements 95% of all resumes lack accomplishment statements. These statements allow employers to visualize your contribution to their company. A resume coach can help you move from a job description type resume to a resume with quantifiable statements that motivate employers to call you before their competition does. These statements can dollarize your worth and increase your bargaining powr.
4. Lack of resume keywords These days, resumes are screened by both humans and computers. A resume lacking in keywords runs the risk of being read by neither. An average screening of a resume is 15 seconds or less, so more attention is paid to resumes using the same words found in the job description. Candidate-tracking software retrieves resumes by keywords. A keyword-focused resume will put you front and center.

Incorrect resume format Basically, there are three resume formats: chronological, functional and hybrid.

Chronological: The chronological is best known and easiest to write, a timeline style resume. This format works well if your objective is to remain in the same industry or occupation.

Functional: The functional resume places transferable skills and accomplishments at the beginning of your resume. However, a poorly crafted functional resume can be confusing, causing the reader to believe the candidate has something to hide.

Hybrid: The hybrid resume combines the best features of other resumes. It showcases skills and accomplishments while maintaining ease of reading. This is the best format for job seekers of all level, but it is also the most difficult to write.

        A resume coach can teach you how to write your own hybrid resume like a pro that will win responses.

Once your resume is designed to avoid the top five resume mistakes, you will be well on your way to winning interviews and reaching your career objective.

- Deborah Walker

Make your Resume Ideas Count

An employer can receive hundreds of resumes in reply to an advertised position, but only a few of them catch the attention of the employer. Here are some useful resume tips and ideas to make your resume stand out in front of employers.

• Appropriate grammar, correct spellings, no typing error, and formatting matters a lot. Use simple font; big enough that the hiring manager could read it easily. Don't forget to mention contact information.  
• Include awards, and key achievements, but make sure that these are relevant to the job and will catch employer's attention.  
• Come up with effective job titles.  
• Keep the resume brief, exclude all the extra details. The ideal length for a resume is 1-2 pages.  
• Use bullet points, it saves the time of the hiring manager
• Put the the most important information first that highlights your work experience.

Do's and Dont's:

• Do not lie just be honest while writing a professional resume.
• Do not mention the salary unless the employer asks it.
• Try to avoid use personal pronouns (I, me, my).
• Do not write high school achievements.
• Do not go beyond two pages while writing a professional resume.
• Do not use justified text block; they put odd little spaces between words.
• Do not write hobbies in resumes, they are irrelevant.
• Do not mix noun and verb phases when describing jobs. First, use solid action verbs.
• Try to avoid words like "Duties included", "Responsibilities included", or "Responsible for" these are job description languages not resume writing language.
• Don't attach pictures except that the job demands it (modeling, acting so on)
• Do mention transferable skills, especially when one does not have much experience to seek out a job.
• Do consider a resume design that doesn't look like anyone else's. Many people use MS Word resume templates.
• Do list the previous jobs in reverse chronological order.
• Do avoid the verb "Work" because it's a weak verb (after all everybody works).

By Todd Goldstein,

Why Everyone Needs A Resume – Even YOU

I have this conversation frequently these days. It's usually with people who've called me to talk about my resume-writing service, so they know something is up. But this topic also comes up with friends and business associates. One of two things usually brings it up:

1. I will mention an opportunity that would be just right for the other person. I say, "You should send them your resume." They say, "Oh, I don't have one." I say, "You mean you don't have an updated resume?" They say, "No, I don't have a resume at all. I mean, I did at one point but…" They're voice trails off into silence. 
2. I will say, "I went on your LinkedIn page and it's almost blank. What's the deal?" (I'll just interject here it's not snooping if it's on the Internet.) "Why don't you have your resume on there, along with a compelling summary of what you do?" "Oh, I don't have a resume," they say, either confidently or sheepishly depending upon their circumstances.

I want to say, "Why are you even on LinkedIn? You have 357 connections and no way that's going to turn into work for you." Sometimes I do actually say it (usually, in a gentler way), which leads to me explaining the whole point of LinkedIn and why having a resume is essential, even for them. (More on LinkedIn later.)

Yes, it's true. In the past, lots of people got freelance work – or even permanent jobs – without having a resume. There was a time that when someone who needed a graphic designer or a copy writer or a marketing consultant or even a new VP, Business Affairs would call their trusted friends and associates and their trusted friends and associates would tell them names of potential people to hire. And then the person in need would call a bunch of the referrals and ask those referrals about their experience and accomplishments. Based on that, either finalists would be asked to bid a job or come in for an interview or one person would just be hired depending upon the size and nature of the project.

Here's the thing: Word-of-mouth doesn't work as the only strategy anymore. There are too many freelancers and potential employees and, due to the internet, people's circles are too large. 

And, for a big project at a big company – or a permanent position – you don't just get hired by the person who you talked to on the phone. There are people from other departments who need to sign off on you, as well as upper management in the mix. So now, each time you are brought up as a candidate, the person trying to hire you has to regurgitate everything they know about your relevant work history. If there are follow up questions ("Where'd they get their training? Have they ever done work for our type of company?"), they have to go back to you, get the information and then report back. You could see how someone with a resume would have an advantage in this situation.

Here are other people who need resumes:

• People who have had jobs for a long time who would be open to moving on. I'm not saying you have to be actively looking. These are people who want to be ready when opportunity knocks, because they know a good opportunity won't be available long enough for them to get a great resume together after they hear about it. 
• Most business owners. Yes, you are your own boss but how do people know they want to use your service or invest in you or come to you with a great offer to collaborate on a project?
• Stay-at-Home Moms who need to make some cash while junior is napping. We all know those work-from-home ads are a scam. Network marketing is almost always the fast track to… making next to nothing while pissing off all your friends. But if you have a successful blog or were a very effective PTA president for three years, you could parlay that into a paid social networking or community advocate position that works for your schedule. If people know about you and what you'd done.
• YOU. Even if you are 100% happy with your current situation and you do not need nor want any additional income, you still need to be establishing and maintaining your professional reputation. There will come a time when you will need or want to make money some other way than you are now. Your job will end, your current freelance income stream will dry up, etc. You will not want to be starting from scratch.

Here's where LinkedIn comes in:

Your resume no longer sits in a drawer or gets passed from fax machine to fax machine or even by e-mail address to e-mail address. It lives on the web! LinkedIn is the best professional tool to come out of the internet age. You create an identity from yourself simply by having your excellent resume copied onto LinkedIn, along with a compelling summary of who you are and what you do. You build your reputation by commenting in relevant LinkedIn groups you belong to. You connect with people in your field. You help them, they help you.

If someone hears your name as a potential hire and Googles you, your LinkedIn profile will come up and they don't even need your resume sent to them. And sometimes people just stumble upon your profile on LinkedIn and contact you for work. (It's happened many times for me. It can happen for you.) Which is why…

A blank or incomplete or badly-written LinkedIn profile is almost worse than no LinkedIn profile at all.

So if you don't have a resume – or if your resume is not a strong representation of your career in terms of where you want to go with it – it's time to put some time into it. And then get it onto LinkedIn. It will pay-off. Trust me.

Jenny Yerrick Martin, founder of YourIndustryInsider.com, has amassed 20+ years as an entertainment industry professional including almost 15 as a hiring executive and five as a career consultant. She's become an indispensable resource for people who want to break into entertainment, as well as those in entertainment looking to reach the next level or course-correct in their already-established careers.

Thanks to Jenny Yerrick Martin / Careerealism
http://www.careerealism.com/resume-everyone-needs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+careerealism+%28CAREEREALISM%29

Emailing Your Resume

By Linda Matias

When searching for a job, there is nothing more frustrating than emailing resumes and never receiving responses. For this reason, I took the time to ask recruiters, hiring managers, and human resources representatives the mistakes job seekers make when applying for a position electronically. Below are the main points I got from the discussions.

• Not reading directions before applying. Some hiring organizations have specific guidelines. Don’t dismiss the guidelines just because you don’t agree with them or don’t understand the purpose. When applying for a position you have to follow their rules. So when the classified states that you need to designate a specific position you are interested in or your application won’t be considered, be sure to include one. This means that if you are interested in more than one position don’t toy with the idea of providing a list of positions you are willing to interview for. Choose the position you are most qualified and interests you more. 
• Classified ads also indicate an email address you should send the resume. The email address provided is usually of screener and I understand your hesitancy in submitting your resume to an individual who doesn’t have hiring authority. Because of this, you may decide to call the company and get the manager’s name for the department that has the open position and email the resume directly to her. Smart move, but your suaveness may backfire. The hiring manager may choose to delete. To cover your bases, email your resume to both the manager and the email provided in the job description.
• Cancel the email verification system you have installed. You know the program. The one where the email sender (in this case the hiring organization) receives a notice indicating that in order for the recipient (that’s you) to receive the email the sender needs to click on a link and type in a verification code. Interviewers are very busy and they will not take the extra steps to ensure that you receive their email unless you are a candidate that they can’t live without. And the reality is that qualified candidates are a dime a dozen so you have to make it easy for an interviewer to reach you. Cancel the email verification while conducting a job search and deal with the unwanted emails from Nigeria asking if you are interested in a business proposal. If you choose not to, it can cost you the interview you have been waiting for.
• The following tips seem so simplistic, but these mistakes happen time and time again: (1) when searching for a job don’t change your email address and then email your potential employer about the change. Keep your email address until your job search is over. The likelihood that a hiring manager is going to find your resume and insert your new email address is virtually non-existent (2) your subject line should read professionally, such as Linda Matias Resume for Career Coaching or Resume Writing Position (3) don’t email more than one hiring organization within the same email. Take the time to send each one out personally and finally (4) if the organization requests a Word attachment, make sure you name the attachment professionally, such as matias.linda.resume.doc.

Six.Seconds on your resume.

By Vivian Giang

Although we may never know why we didn't get chosen for a job interview, a recent study is shedding some light on recruiters' decision-making behavior. According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of "six seconds before they make the initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on candidates. 

The study used a scientific technique called “eye tracking” on 30 professional recruiters and examined their eye movements during a 10-week period to "record and analyze where and how long someone focuses when digesting a piece of information or completing a task."

In the short time that they spend with your resume, the study showed recruiters will look at your name, current title and company,current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education.

The two resumes below include a "heat map" of recruiters' eye movements.The one on the right was looked at more thoroughly than the one of the left because of its clear and concise format:

With such critical time constraints, you should make it easier for recruiters to find pertinent information by creating a resume with a clear visual hierarchy and don't include distracting visuals since "such visual elements reduced recruiters’ analytical capability and hampered decision-making" and kept them from "locating the most relevant information, like skills and experience." 

Six.Seconds on your resume.

By Vivian Giang

Although we may never know why we didn't get chosen for a job interview, a recent study is shedding some light on recruiters' decision-making behavior. According to TheLadders research, recruiters spend an average of "six seconds before they make the initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on candidates. 

The study used a scientific technique called “eye tracking” on 30 professional recruiters and examined their eye movements during a 10-week period to "record and analyze where and how long someone focuses when digesting a piece of information or completing a task."

In the short time that they spend with your resume, the study showed recruiters will look at your name, current title and company,current position start and end dates, previous title and company, previous position start and end dates, and education.

The two resumes below include a "heat map" of recruiters' eye movements.The one on the right was looked at more thoroughly than the one of the left because of its clear and concise format:

With such critical time constraints, you should make it easier for recruiters to find pertinent information by creating a resume with a clear visual hierarchy and don't include distracting visuals since "such visual elements reduced recruiters’ analytical capability and hampered decision-making" and kept them from "locating the most relevant information, like skills and experience." 

10 Words or terms that ruin a resume

By  Charles Purdy

Your resume needs an update -- that is, if your resume is like that of most people, it’s not as good as it could be. The problem is language: Most resumes are a thicket of deadwood words and phrases -- empty cliches, annoying jargon and recycled buzzwords. Recruiters, HR folks and hiring managers see these terms over and over again, and it makes them sad. 

 Wouldn’t you rather make them happy? It’s time to start raking out your resume, starting with these (and similar) terms.

1.       “Salary negotiable”

Yes, they know. If you’re wasting a precious line of your resume on this term, it looks as though you’re padding -- that you’ve run out of things to talk about. If your salary is not negotiable, that would be somewhat unusual. (Still, don’t put that on your resume either.

 2. “References available by request”

 See the preceding comment about unnecessary terms.

3. “Responsible for ______”

Reading this term, the recruiter can almost picture the C-average, uninspired employee mechanically fulfilling his job requirements -- no more, no less. Having been responsible for something isn’t something you did -- it’s something that happened to you. Turn phrases like “responsible for” into “managed,” “led” or other decisive, strong verbs.

 4. “Experience working in ______”

 Again, experience is something that happens to you -- not something you achieve. Describe your background in terms of achievements.

 5. “Problem-solving skills”

You know who else has problem-solving skills? Monkeys. Dogs. On your resume, stick to skills that require a human.

 6. “Detail-oriented”

 So, you pay attention to details. Well, so does everyone else. Don’t you have something unique to tell the hiring manager? Plus, putting this on your resume will make that accidental typo in your cover letter or resume all the more comical.

7. “Hardworking”

Have you ever heard the term “show -- don’t tell”? This is where that might apply. Anyone can call himself a hard worker. It’s a lot more convincing if you describe situations in concrete detail in which your hard work benefited an employer.

 8. “Team player”

See the preceding comment about showing instead of telling. There are very few jobs that don’t involve working with someone else. If you have relevant success stories about collaboration, put them on your resume. Talk about the kinds of teams you worked on, and how you succeeded.

9. “Proactive”

 This is a completely deflated buzzword. Again, show rather than tell.

10. “Objective”

 This term isn’t always verboten, but you should use it carefully. If your objective is to get the job you’ve applied for, there’s no need to spell that out on your resume with its own heading. A resume objective is usually better replaced by a career summary describing your background, achievements and what you have to offer an employer. An exception might be if you haven’t applied for a specific job and don’t have a lot of experience that speaks to the position you’d like to achieve.

What Are The Hidden Costs Of A Poorly Written Resume?

By  Todd Goldstein 

What could you possibly earn if you had the right resume? Gone are the days where employers went only on referrals or had you fill out a job application. Now there is one standard evaluation – the resume. You have one chance to set yourself apart from the other tens or even hundreds of applicants vying for your desired position, and that chance is your resume. Because you can’t explain the reasons in person for your career change, or why you stayed home with your kids, or why you only stayed at a job for a year – or countless other things that come up in the course of life – you have to rely on a resume to tell your story accurately, positively, and in a way that makes an impression. 

How To Decide What Goes On Your Resume?

It goes without saying that you need to convey your superior work ethic, reliability, interpersonal skills, and willingness to be a team player. Without those attributes, employers will move right along. But those “soft skills,” dubbed as such by recruiter’s who focus on matching experience with job descriptions, will only get you so far. 

To be invited in for an interview, your resume needs to match the job description that you are applying for. That does not mean you can copy parts of the job description. In doing so you will only shoot yourself in the foot and take yourself out of the running for future openings, especially if you put phony information on a resume. Lying on your resume will only lead to more problems. 

But why accept a less than exceptional resume. Many people have a hard time “tooting their own horn”. In doing so, they fail to mention in their resumes all the relevant things they have done, that match the open position they are applying for. The average job search lasts 18 weeks, according to the National Bureau of Labor, and the average American salary is around 35k. Why risk losing nearly $12,000 when you can solve this simple issue now, by hiring an affordable, reputed resume service. 

With a few quick steps, you can be on your way to having a professional resume created. A certified resume writer can insert carefully crafted, accurate key phrases on your resume, that describe duties you have done and achievements you have made – without overstating things. 

The vast majority of job seekers are circulating resumes that are professional but not powerful, and they usually don't showcase the job seeker's most marketable skills. 

To help you start properly showcasing your value as an employee, Net-Temps has arranged for its subscribers to get VIP service at Resume2Hire, one of the premier national resume writing firms in both quality and affordability. Their resume writers have written over 10,000 resumes combined and have gotten thousands of people increases in salaries, entry back into the workforce, and more. To get more interviews and land a job faster, get your professional resume today! 

The Wrong Resume Can Cost you Over Five Figures!

You wouldn’t make an investment of 12,000 knowing that the money was never coming back, but without getting your resume professionally done, it equates to potentially the same thing. If you fall among the average American job seeker, the time from sending out resumes, to interview scheduling, to second interviews, to offer letter, to start date takes months. 

Succeeding In Your Job Search

Creating a compelling, accurate resume that truly speaks to the audience you present yourself is the way to land interviews. From there, it only gets easier. The more interviews you go on – the better chances you have of getting not only a job, but the job that you want. Once you are in front of the hiring manager or HR representative, you can create rapport, connect in-person, and explain away any potential concerns that might come up in your work history. Getting the initial interview is the hardest part.