In October of 2015 I lo
st my position as an Executive Assistant at a large corporation. There were a series of SVP promotions and transfers and I was the odd assistant left without an executive.
After a few weeks of vacation spent cleaning, dusting, consolidating (and perhaps a tad of commiserating) it was time to get busy. My dusted off resume was less than five years old so I simply added the last position and began papering the job boards, starting with CareerBuilder and ending with ZipRecruiter (with LinkedIn being the most successful to date).
To my surprise, the first executive recruiter suggested that my resume format was sadly out of date. We made the recommended changes but it left me thinking.
Eight years ago my standard skill-based resume and Monster.com landed my first job in Manhattan. The resume started with a Summary section, followed by job experience, newest first, and ended with Additional Skills and Outside Interests.
Today, the Summary section, Additional Skills, and Outside Interests are deleted, the dates of service on the first line of each job experience are tabbed to the right margin; underlining, double spaces, and periods at the end of bullet points are gone. Consistent formatting counts because computers are reading most resumes, and if they ARE read by a live person a decision about fit is made in 3-5 seconds.
Despite my skepticism, that recruiter was right. Two weeks later I’ve had four in-person and three telephone first interviews. I continue to “paper” but I am catching the jobs as they go up.
This post is to provide some thoughts, guidance, and recommendations if you find yourself in the same spot (and this guidance is, in general, directed to a person with work experience).
- If the job is posted by an agency or recruiter, ask them immediately if they are interviewing you for a real job. If not, ask for a Skype or FaceTime interview. Sitting at their desk to put your resume into their files is a waste of your valuable search time unless you need the interview practice.
- If you meet with a recruiter, get a senior person in the agency. Then listen to everything they tell you. They are in the business, you aren’t.
- If you upload a resume to a job site, double check to be sure the entire resume looks “normal” and fix online as needed. If it happens frequently, edit your formatting, tabs or margins.
- Study their company website before you arrive, practice your “elevator speech” and determine how you will answer common interview questions like your greatest achievement, your worst disaster, or what are your salary expectations. These techniques are all available on the internet.
- Go ahead and apply for positions you aren’t quite right for. Most position descriptions throw in the kitchen sink to attract candidates. On the other hand, if you aren’t bi-lingual that job probably isn’t for you.
- Do NOT fear a position that says “College Degree Required” if you have 10+ years of experience in the field. Firms do make exceptions for experience. But don’t be disappointed if it’s a deal breaker either. And NEVER lie on your application. The background check will expose it.
- Lastly, be the best of yourself during an interview, but be yourself. No one will be happy if the new hire turns out to be a bad fit.