by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Dec 22, 2011 | Job Search, Resumes and CVs, Site News
I’ll make this post short
and sweet.
I finally finished my first e-book, which I am calling
“7 Points to a Winning Résumé.”
It’s $5 until December 30, and $10 after that. It comes with some special offers.
I have a great salespage you should check out if you are interested, with an overview of the e-book and what else you get. Please feel free to tell your friends and colleagues!
If you are not interested, come back later for more of the regular articles and advice you find here.
And if you have a break from work this month, enjoy it. I hope this month brings you happiness and good times with friends and family.
Thanks for reading.
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Dec 2, 2011 | Job Search, Resumes and CVs, Site News
Putting together your résumé can be the most daunting part of a job search. It’s hard to encapsulate your education, skills and experience in just a few pages. There are different formats and styles, and what may be common in one industry may not apply to another.
You’ll get all sorts of advice from well-intentioned people. Some of it will be good, and some of it will stink. At times, it will be hard to filter through that advice and separate the wheat from the chaff.
That’s why I decided to take some of my best advice on putting together a résumé and put it into an e-book format. I know the struggle and I have worked many years to develop an approach that works for me and for my clients.
I used to thought-wrestle whenever I needed to update my résumé. I didn’t know where to start. I didn’t know what information to include, or to highlight. I loved designing the actual layout but at times, went overboard. I changed the format. I changed the font. I changed this, I changed that. And I did most of the changes based on “gut feelings” and personal preferences. I didn’t always have a rhyme or reason for my edits. But that is what happens when you don’t think through the process strategically.
But I was lucky, in that I encountered someone who helped me see the light, and to shift my thinking about the role that a résumé plays in the hiring process. I was working on my résumé and she asked me all sorts of questions about what kind of job I had, what I did in that job and what I accomplished. She asked me about my accomplishments, and about what made me unique, in comparison to other candidates. It was a nice conversation. In fact, that was all thought it was.
Then she said “Okay, let me see your résumé” and I realized what was going really going on. She said “Sean, you did a great job over the last few minutes telling me what you did, how you did it, what you accomplished, and why you are unique. but I don’t really see it on this résumé.“ [Emphasis added.]
She talked to me about conveying transferable skills, accomplishments, unique skills, scope of responsibility and motivation. And she gave me some great simple tips on how to get these things out of my head and onto the paper. This conversation shifted my thinking forever, and was actually the moment my enthusiasm for résumés and career coaching started. I made edits to the résumé, and a short time later, I had five interviews lined up, including the one which resulted in my first job at Penn State. After that, helping students and young professionals became my hobby. I spent a lot of time studying résumés, volunteering for screening committees, interviewing candidates and helping people with their résumés, cover letters and graduate school essays. After 15 years, I decided to try and make it my career.
This guide will not give you all the answers, but it will give you some different ways to think about your résumé, some practical ways to discover what employers are looking for, and some tips on how to make sure they find it in your résumé.
The truth is that you have most of the information you need to put together a great résumé. After all, it’s a representation of who you are as a professional, and you know yourself better than anybody.
But…
You have to get inside the résumé reviewer’s head.
You have to read your materials through the reviewer’s eyes.
And you have to capture and keep the reviewer’s attention.
A Winning Plan
This 7-point plan is geared toward helping you think differently about your résumé: to think like the résumé reviewer, instead of a job-seeker. To understand what knowledge and key skills you need, what experiences to highlight, and what roles to explain. The result, hopefully, will be a shift from guesswork to discovery, and from the loose and theoretical to the concrete and practical. In the end, you will have a résumé that speaks for you, stands out from the competition, and scores you the interviews you need, to get the job that you want.
Look for more information about this e-book next week.
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Jun 10, 2011 | Job Search, job search tools, Resumes and CVs
This week, I’ve been putting out articles on Interview Ecology, and exploring the risks and benefits of introducing the “new and shiny” into the process. We’ve considered whether bringing a iPad into an interview is akin to bringing an invasive species into an eco-system.
This ecosystem approach relies heavily on the idea that anything that distracts or disrupts may destroy the delicate balance of a search process, and bring up dissonance in respect to person-environment fit, resulting in a candidate not getting a particular position.
Which forces me to bring up a particular pet peeve of mine: the all-the-sudden popular and ugly-as-sin QR code. I hate them, because like many fads, most people rushing to use them don’t understand how to make sure they add value to the experience. In general, I feel that most people might as well take a poop on their résumé as put one of these on it, because adding a QR code without adding something of value to the “interview ecosystem” is well…just a load of crap.
I’m already anticipating the response from candidates and tech geeks who think these things are cutting edge and allow a new layer of interactivity that wasn’t possible before. Well, I call bullshit. Scanning these blotches into a smartphone just allows lazy people to avoid typing a URL into their browser, as if the 20 seconds of time spent doing so will add up, like all the partial pennies Richard Pryor dumped into his bank account in Superman III, and will result in the résumé screener having a richer, more exciting , and complete view of the candidate.
Bullshit. Bullshit. BULLSHIT.
The same can be achieved by pointing someone toward a regular URL or hyperlink. QR codes only add new functionality to a paper résumé, which you probably aren’t viewing anyway. And anyone with half a salt lick of sense in their head can run a long URL into an URL shortener. So if space on the résumé is your major concern, that’s no argument, either.
Now, I will admit upfront to being a résumé geek and a purist. I don’t believe all the hogwash people throw around about résumés going away. Advances in technology and social media are just changing how they are delivered. And nothing takes away from the basic truths at play:
- Your résumé needs to be targeted toward your industry, level of experience, and the level of position you are seeking.
- It needs to be scannable (visually scannable)
- There has to be a sense of logical and visual flow that draws a reader in, and keeps them reading and scanning. And…here’s the big one…
- It needs to be attractive and not full of distracting bullshit.
I had a client recently work with me on his CV and he had a QR code on it, at top right. I asked him why it was there. He replied that he wanted to show himself as cutting edge and tech savvy. So I asked him where the QR Code goes, and what value was added by putting it on there. And…wait for it…it went to an online pdf copy of his CV!
We talked a bit and I told him I didn’t see the point of having it there, if it only went to his CV. He was really tied to keeping it there, so we came to a compromise position. He had also been updating his LinkedIn profile, which had some great recommendations on it, and some other links to relevant information. So we decided to point it there, because doing so added some value to the equation. The result: the QR code went from being poop on his résumé to being rich compost instead.
My criticism of his strategy should not be equated with a critique his level of technical savvy or his readiness for the type of job he was applying for, and I’ve told him as much. In fact, I think he’s a great candidate, or I wouldn’t be working with him. I don’t work with clients I don’t believe in, because that’s not fair to people on either side.
Ultimately, I’m grateful for the perspectives his situation has given me, and what it allows me to share with you.
Here are the big take-aways:
- New technology is great, and showing comfort with it is just fine. But using tech badly could actually hurt your candidacy. Make sure that your use of technology is appropriate and that there is a clear point to using it (like adding interactivity or pointing to recommendations or portfolio work.)
- If using a new way of doing things distracts from your design, content or flow, you really need to weigh the risks of using it against the value added. And if you can’t do this on your own…
- It pays to talk this sort of stuff out with a trusted friend, advisor, or career coach.
What do you think? Tell me in the comments.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 15, 2011 | Book Reviews, Career Skills, Coaching, Job Search
A while back, I sent in an article to David and Michelle Riklan, the operators of SelfGrowth.Com for possible inclusion in their cooperative book project, titled “101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career”. This is a compilation of 101 articles with practical, solid advice on how you can take action and improve your career.
I am extremely excited to be a part of this, and am equally excited to be a contributing author along with Tory Johnson, Laura DeCarlo, Brian Tracy, Charlotte Weeks and many more of the world’s leading career experts.
To get more information, go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4210054
This book was created by David and Michelle Riklan, the founders of the #1 Self Improvement website in the world, SelfGrowth.com. They tapped into the minds of today’s greatest career experts and pulled together a nice collection of 101 insider secrets that shows you how to instantly and positively enhance your career!
In these days of decreased professional development budgets, many higher education professionals are having to scale back their funding for conferences and events. This book offers a practical alternative. All the articles are short, thought-provoking and easily digested–perfect for a professional development reading group, or to share with your staff during team development meetings.
David and Michelle have also bundled the book with some “bonus gifts,” and have created a package of $1,500 worth of absolutely free gifts that you get by purchasing just one copy of our book. I’ve contributed one of the bonuses (my “Mastering the Job Interview” presentation), and have been impressed by the range of topics covered in the other bonuses.
SelfGrowth.Com is so confident you will love it, that they are backing it up with a completely solid guarantee.
Go there and take a look for yourself – and make sure you check out the bonuses.
Here’s the link for you to go directly to this offer: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=4210054
(Please note that all links above are affiliate links. Sales of books made through these links will support the growth of this site, and help bring career coaching and resources to those who need it. In this vein, I plan to apply all profits made from affiliate sales of this book toward providing free coaching sessions to unemployed or financially disadvantaged higher ed job seekers.)
by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Feb 17, 2011 | Coaching, Job Search
1950s style journalist working in his office at night, he is typing with a vintage typewriter, flat lay desktop
I’ve been posting chunks of the “Creating a Killer Resume” webinar and resume coaching session for the past couple of weeks, but have found a good way to share it with you in its entirety through Amazon S3.
The video, in its entirety, is now posted at 
https://s3.amazonaws.com/seancook2/resumewebinar012711.mov
It is just over an hour long, and will show you what a resume coaching session is like, as well as give you tips on how to ensure the content, style, design and flow of your resume bring out the best aspects of your professional history and your potential match for a position.
I will be posting some additional resume resources soon, and announcing some specials on resume and interview coaching to my list. So if you need personalized help creating your resume, stay tuned!
So check back soon, and if you are interested in getting some coaching, sign up for my list so you don’t miss the special offers! (There is a sign-up form in the sidebar, and you may also see a pop-over form as well.)
