Recently a JibberJobber user sent me a resume that one of my colleagues did for him and asked me what I thought.

The resume was really quite impressive.  I’m not surprised. The resume writer is someone who has been doing this for a long time and loves to stay current and do a great job.

My first impression after looking at the resume was that this guy had decades of doing amazing things.  The companies he worked at, and the products he worked on, are household names.

If I were interviewing I would want to satisfy curiosities and ask more.  I would want to ask stories about his experience.  Some of my questions would be because it would be intriguing to know, and others to learn how involved and instrumental he really was in each of the things he claims on his resume.

He needs to go through his resume, pull out every claim, and put at least one story behind it.

I’m not much for critiquing resumes.  I almost always decline when someone asks me to look at their resume.  But I opened this one and that was my very first impression.  You have a great resume, now what?  Be ready to TELL STORIES!

My second thought was to be careful not to ask too many UNQUALIFIED people their opinion of the resume you just got.  I asked people for opinions of my resume and the information I got was misleading (making me think it was great, while it really kept me out of interviews).  Everyone will have their opinion but recognize this is a marketing tool to get you interviews, and that is it.  Dick Bolles talked about resumes very frankly in our last Ask The Expert – you can view the interview here (he comes on 20 minutes into it).

I had the pleasure of interviewing and chatting with Nick Corcodilos for last week’s Ask The Headhunter.  It was a blast.  I had questions for Nick but the audience had a lot, too.

Here’s the conversation, enjoy!

Note: Vimeo video.  To make this full-size, push play and then on the bottom right click the icon that looks like this:

If you have heard me speak you know how I feel about JARGON.

Check out Dawn Bugni’s post on Facebook:

Wow. This #resume should have come with a spoon. So many undefined acronyms, person’s value is lost in alphabet soup.

LOL.

There you go.  New etiquette rule: if you put the jargon and acronyms in, include a spoon

This is the second in our Ask The Experts series.  The video with Karen Huller is below.

The first Ask the Expert was with Kim Mohuiddin, and it was all about your resume.  You can watch it here.

Here are the next Ask the Expert webinars – sign up at the links (all webinars are listed here):

Dec 5 – Why your elevator pitch is stuck: The Zen of Personal Branding: Jon Sosa (9am MT) [register]

Jan 8 – Career Management 2013 with Jason Alba (that is me :p) (9am MT) [register]

Feb 5 – Non-traditional Jobs, Alternative Income Streams: Tim Tyrell-Smith (9am MT) [register]

Mar 5 – Want a Job Where You Can Make a Difference – and a Good Living? Consider the Association Industry: Charlotte Weeks (9am MT) [register]

Apr 2 - Ask The HeadHunter ANYTHING: Nick Corcodilos (9am MT) [register]

Here’s Karen Huller’s November session, enjoy!

My first week, after I lost my job, was a week of looking for my resume. After not finding it, I spent time trying to recreate it.

Looking back on it now I see that week as a colossal waste of time.

I recently heard of a job seeker who did the same thing I did… spent the first week looking for his old resume, then recreating what he remembered to be the most amazing document.

Knowing what I know now, here’s how I would spend the first week (it’s a GIVEN that I’d use JibberJobber to organize all this stuff :p):

1. Listing my Target Companies,
2. Looking for people on LinkedIn that work at (or have worked at) those Target Companies.
3. Making contact with those people, as well as others in my industry and town/city, and asking for informational interviews.

I would do this the very first day.  I might not get any informational interviews for a week or two or three, but I need to get that “pipeline” filled up.

I’d also learn everything I could about informational interviews.  I’m guessing 98% of job seekers do them wrong.

In my spare time, and only after I’ve reached out to contacts for informational interviews (which I should do every day), I would work on my LinkedIn Profile, and start the resume creation process (it would be worth the few hundred dollars to have a professional write my resume.  I learned that the wrong way).

I had to get my resume done so I could apply to job openings I found on job boards…. right?  That’s what I thought.  I went about it all wrong.

Please don’t waste the first week of your job search like I did.

One of my most favorite posts/ideas is from a few years ago, when I was talking to an HR friend, who basically told me I was too whiny, and acting in a way that would repel HR.

At first I didn’t like what I heard from my friend, but then I realized I needed to hear it, and change some things.

You can see the original post here: I smell blood! I liked it so much it because one of the first Favorite Friday posts I did, here.

Last night I got a Google Alert pointing to a post by Jennifer Bulman, at The Portable You, titled Please Don’t “Apply Anyway”

This is a brilliant post with a key story that YOU need to read.  Go read it. Here’s one of my favorite parts (but you have to read the story to get this better):

In his recent post I Smell Blood, career expert Jason Alba spoke to the importance of not letting anyone we talk with during our job search “smell blood.” Without discounting the wound of unemployment, Alba advises “Do what you can or need to do to not be hurt…”An important way to avoid re-opening the wound is to avoid scenarios where you *will* be rejected. That is why I suggest you not apply to be second violin in the National Arts Center orchestra (unless, of course, you are an experienced violinist).

I love what she wrote (I bolded it).  DON’T PUT YOURSELF IN THE POSITION OF FAILURE … Yes, take risks, but realize that if you aren’t qualified for certain things (especially federal jobs) you’ll fail, and then you might smell all bloody and repel not just HR but everyone around you!

Thanks , Jennifer, for the additional thought

Check out this tweet from Steve Levy, a professional recruiter who shoots from the hip:

What does it mean to be a transformational leader?

What does it mean to be anything?  Have attention to detail, be customer-service oriented, be a rainmaker, be ____ or ______ or _______?

THEY MEAN NOTHING!

When you see a resume (or email signature, or hear a 30 second pitch or any of these branding tools) that is filled with cliche, what are they saying?

NOTHING!

They are saying nothing!

I know it means a lot to you, because after all, you are the best problem solver in the world (or whatever cliche message you have), but the problem is, it doesn’t matter what it means to you.  It matters what it means to others (NOTHING).

You have to say things in plain, simple English, and communicate your real value, or you will be saying nothing more than dribble.

And that’s not good branding.

I saw this tweet from my technical recruiter friend Robert Merrill:

Robert always has fun information… I clicked on his “proof” link, which goes to a great post on how to name your resume, as well as 9 ways to NOT name your resume.

Click to see his post titled YES! Your Resume’s File Name DOES Matter

What is your resume named?

It really matters!

Saturday afternoon my wife woke me from a nap and told me our 4 year old daughter was running to a friends house and tripped really hard.

She had smashed her two front teeth inwards, and there was a lot of blood.  It was scary, to say the least.

(update: she seems to be doing well.  No broken bones (jaw, nose, etc.) and we’re hoping she has a full, sweet recovery)

I could write six blog posts about the experience, but I want to focus on one, and tie it to people who just learn they lost their job (or lost something else that is big).

My wife and I were sitting in the emergency room with our daughter, who was laying on the bed.  We were waiting for the next update and we had all kinds of questions.  Of course, as parents we think about the worst case possibilities and wonder how this will affect her speech, looks, social activities, etc.

How long will she have to eat out of a straw?

When will her teeth be strong enough to bite into a piece of bread?

What happens if they have to extract her teeth now?

How much pain will she be in, and for how long?

I think we did good, as her parents, but I think it’s fair to say were were terrified.

That’s where the emergency room staff came in.  I had never had such a positive experience before.  The wait to get help was very short and every person we talked with was very kind, patient, professional, and even somehow soothing.

I was thinking about how we were terrified, but we had people to “hold our hand” through the ordeal, and help us know that this would be fixed, and she would be back to normal, and it would be okay.

That’s exactly what many job seekers need.

In my job search I needed someone who could almost take control, let me see there were answers and processes and tools, show me I wasn’t alone and this wasn’t unprecedented.

Just knowing we were surrounded by professionals and tools in the right environment to get the problem resolved eased our terror.

How can job seekers find solace in the tools, environment and friends they have? It should be there, or close – perhaps just look a little harder?

How can career professionals help? Don’t forget that even though you’ve helped people through this process a million times, this might be the first, most terrifying experience for your new client.

How can friends and family help? Be supportive, validate the feelings, and try and help the job seeker get in the right environment, with the right tools, to help get through this process.

My experience in the ER was one that I don’t want to have to repeat again, but I’m happy to say that in our time of fear and unknown we were set at ease by the environment and people.

Please, help job seekers get in the right environment, and surrounded by the right people, and equipped with the right job search tools.

I got an email about a blog post asking if I’d check it out and perhaps blog about it.  I rarely do that (I get these requests all the time, and most blog posts are superficial or weak – just marketing plays).

I glanced through the post, though, and thought there was some good stuff… UNTIL THE END.

OH MY GOSH, the ignorance in this country kills me (I declined the invite to blog about this saying I would write a scathing post, but he said that was okay, they want conversation.  So, converse in the comments ).  And it really, really hurts everyone.  Here are his 10 points, I’m only going to comment on the last one (original post here):

1. Don’t name your resume, “resume.” I agree… name it something easy for them to find – I think your name and maybe the job title is a good place to start.
2. don’t use all lowercase. Agreed – perhaps we are losing a lot of our writing skills because of our kewl ability to text?
3. Don’t write like a robot. Again, poor communication skillz :p
4. Don’t spam hiring managers. Agreed. The hard part of this, though, is “when do you follow-up?”
5. Don’t expose your licentious personal life. Totally. He’s talking about not putting Too Much Information (TMI) on Facebook.
6. Don’t talk badly about your former employer. Agreed… read the post about not letting HR or a hiring manager “smell blood.”
7. Proofread your resume. Totally – AND know what’s on it. (have you heard *that* story?)
8. Format your resume nicely. I have seen some really, really bad formats :/
9. PDF your resume. Okay.  Mac user :p
10. When you get a job, don’t job hop. … and here we go…

Don says:

“When you get a job, try your very best to stay at it for at least two years, preferably more. We understand that the job market is fluid and you are not likely to stay with us long enough to get the gold watch. However, we do want to get a couple years of productivity from you if we’re going to invest in training and mentoring.”

Man oh man… all the stuff I want to write… I meet with thousands and thousands of job seekers each year.  Imagine what I’d hear if I said that?

I’ve met so many professionals who have good work ethic, are highly talented, and are anxious to have a job for “at least two years.”

You think these professionals want to be on the street looking for a job?  You think they are job hopping, just because you see frequent jobs on their resume, and short-term gigs?

I recently heard the average tenure of a CFO is 18 months.  NOT BY CHOICE, I bet!  Aside from being the traditional (circa 1980′s) job hopper, perhaps here are some reasons why there are frequent transitions on a resume:

1. Bait-and-switch. I regularly hear from someone who takes a job and then finds that it was nothing like what they advertised.  Don’t give someone a title and description, hire them, and then have them do something entirely different.
2. Ethics of the management team. Think: Enron.  How many tens of thousands of ethical professionals lost everything because of a few unethical people in power?  It happens daily, even at small, private companies.
3. Very poor cultural fit. Imagine you get a job that was made for you.  You go to work and find out no one has and moral standards (assuming you do… or, if you don’t, imagine (ugh) everyone does).  The cultural fit will be painful and you’ll want to leave as much as they’ll want you to leave.
4. Change in pay. You get a job for a certain salary and then within four to six months your pay is slashed… not because of you, or your work, but for “business reasons.”  Your options are to move to another department (sales, anyone?) or go look for another job.  I’ve heard of people getting a $20k cut and others getting more than $50k cut.  You think they signed up for that?
5. ______________. There are many, many reasons why someone loses a job.  What am I missing?

I think it is irresponsible to assume that frequent changes on a resume mean you are getting an unloyal, job-hopping waste-of-money.  Especially in today’s economy.

The only thing that can fix this thinking, unfortunately, is for people who believe this to go through their own job searches and see what it’s like out there.