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Expert Advice
Full-length articles, listicles, videos, and other resources to guide you in making great decisions in terms of your resume, interviews, job search, and overall career trajectory.
Archives for the 'Career Transition' Category
BrightSide recruited by NPR/KQEQ
What fun!
KQED called me up to be the San Francisco Bay Area career hero on the California Report with Scott Shafer. Scott let me use his own career as an example for how to find a strength in seemingly irrelevant work experience. We also discussed taking a different approach to networking, and some things that employers look for in job candidates.
Check out the podcast; they even included the original take which has plenty more advice for people looking to beat this tough job market.
Comments welcome. Also, let me know what you’re looking to hear more about. In other words, what should Scott and I have been talking about?
Real Market Pain
I was on a business development call with some colleagues and one of them brought up a difficult client. Someone else chimed in with one of their tougher clients. Then another. The focus of our call became the complainers with impossible demands and shifting expectations…
I admit I’ve had a couple of challenging clients through the years. It’s easy to write them off but it’s always best to look inward before casting blame.
So what’s going on?
We’ve got a rockstar team. Our resumes are the best in the business. People would be amazed at how much thought and time we put into a 1-3 page document. Continue reading this entry »
Resume Tips For Overcoming Recession-Related Challenges
Give employers the real scoop, not just your work history.
Recessions tend to push hardworking people into two groups. On the one hand is the layoff survivor handling the load of multiple former employees. On the other is the hyperqualified job seeker who nevertheless remains overlooked. Both types of people often need to write a new resume, and neither can afford to do it the same way they might have in the previous millennium. Continue reading this entry »
Mature Workers And The Fountain of Youth
As a seasoned professional, you have much to offer but remember to make room for new experiences as well.
An effective résumé for will balance your strengths (i.e. what you can teach) with your areas for growth (i.e. what you can learn). In regards to the latter, I’m certainly not suggesting you claim ignorance. Rather, consider showing a recently developed interest in a new industry or field.
This is best done by illustrating how you’ve already Continue reading this entry »
Are Job Gaps A Good Thing?
Recently, a resume client of mine forwarded a newsletter article from job board discussing ways to overcome “job gaps” of 3-6 months.
Here’s a snippet from the article, and my subsequent retort as to why we should redefine the criteria for a job gap: Continue reading this entry »
Is A Cover Letter Really Necessary?
Truth be told, some hiring managers will never read your cover letter.
I know screeners who delete the cover letter immediately, some who forward it on to others but never read it themselves, and others who print it out only to staple it behind the resume.
But you know what else they tell me? Continue reading this entry »
HR Directors Speak Out About What They Want
In Sept. 2008, I had the privilege of attending an HR panel who took the time to share what they wanted to see (and did not want to see) on a job candidate’s resume. Here’s what they had to say: Continue reading this entry »
The Most Common Question About Resumes
1 or 2 pages?
This concern is valid, especially since lengthy resumes can make an applicant appear arrogant, unfocused, anxious, old, or overqualified.
So how do you know when to stop writing? Continue reading this entry »
Should I Lie On My Resume?
After sending out 1000+ resumes with not a single job offer, a job seeker concluded that he needed to lie on his resume. In his case, he felt he was overqualified and therefore needed to dumb down his resume to get some interviews. It’s my estimation that he’s looking in the wrong place Continue reading this entry »
How Do I Get a Management Job If I’ve Only Held Positions As An Individual Contributor?
A software developer was looking to move further into management but had no idea how to build a resume to support this transition. I told him about some of the things I’ve done in the past to help clients do just that…”] Continue reading this entry »