Jill's A Step Ahead Resume blog

Personal Goals Can Fuel Professional Success!

Not too long ago, I completed my first ever marathon, and it was indeed the same exact route as the famous Boston Marathon is run by thousands every April. This was actually a charity put on by the Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and what a great experience!

I had only decided to walk the 26.2 mile course for charity about 8 weeks before it, so I didn't have a lot of time to train, although I routinely walk a brisk 7 miles on a regular basis every week. I also didn't have a lot of time to seek out contributions. But, between the excitement of actually being able to finish a walk that long in less than 7 hours (my personal goal), and trying to raise $1,000 (another personal goal), I found myself quite busy and really engaged in this whole thing.

I loved being in contact with many friends, acquaintances, clients and colleagues about this event, and was saddened to learn how many people's lives had been touched by cancer, and somehow it seemed to create a new bond between us. Well, all of this fueled my interest in completing the event along with my husband's (walk team mate for team Happy Feat) evergrowing enthusiasm.

Many people told me this would be a life-changing experience, and it was on so many levels. I beat my goals for both time and fundraising, had a great time and met some very nice new people. I even had a benefit I never expected --- a renewed zeal and appreciation for my professional life and work as a resume writer. Truly, personal milestones can have a positive impact on one's career!

Journaling a Job Search

Years ago, I was seeking sales positions with pharmaceutical companies and I kept a list of all the different questions that I was asked during numerous interviews with people at all levels --- HR folks, recruiters, district managers, regional sales managers, VP's of sales and even other sales reps. I made a point of keeping meticulous notes about every company, the people I interacted with, and all documentation of each job opportunity.

What's my point you might be asking yourself... It is that this was an incredibly valuable exercise and was vital in helping me to determine the best fit. It also provided great insight as to the array of questions that candidates, particulary in sales, can be expected to answer.

Here's a small sampling of what I was asked:

What were the last 5 books that you read? Why did you choose them and tell me why you liked or disliked each of them. (Your answer reveals personality traits).

What would you do if you could do anything you wanted? (Another personality question).

Give me a chronological listing of every single job that you have held going back through to high school, with dates, employers and job titles. (Supposedly tests your ability to remember vital details -- my question is how important is remembering a waitressing job I held in high school when I had been out of college and in the professional workforce for 5 years?) I flunked this question and when I called the interviewer (my possible future distrist manager) for a status update on the open position he had, he told me that I wasn't going further because I bungled my answer to this one. Ironically, he didn't seem to have a solid detail orientation --- he called me Joan instead of Jill, even though I announced my name at the onset of my call.

While it is impossible to prepare for every potential question you might be asked in an interview, it's an invaluable practice to keep good documentation of your job search and interviews for future reference. Looking back, I'm grateful that I kept the records I did, and made the job choices I did... even if I still can't remember every job and employer all the way back through high school :)

Going the Extra Mile

I just read a great article from Society for Human Resource Management on tips for writing effective thank-you letters to employers, and I agree wholeheartedly with everything mentioned in the article, Five Tips for Writing a Tailored Thank-You  This article is definitely worth a read by anyone interviewing.

It reminds me of a job seeker I have been working over the past several months. She first hired me to write her resume, and then retained my services to help with her follow-up and thank-you letters. Since she has been generating a substantial number of interviews and second interviews, it has been quite a task keeping up with the volume of letters she is meticulous and diligent about sending.

In many cases, she is sending out up to 6 letters per interview. In each case, she personally thanks the person with a customized message, so that a letter to her potential Vice President is different than a letter crafted for a potential peer.

She takes it a step further too. Even in instances where she knows she didn't 'connect" and that the culture or people she would potentially work with don't resonate with her, she still sends a brief, but polite thank-you letter. I applaud her initiative and job seeking savvy -- all of this has been happening with little coaching on my part.

Her professionalism goes a step further -- for those jobs that she knows she is in the running for  and that she has decided she doesn't want, she's been crafting letters to gracefully remove herself from the interview process, so as not to mislead anyone on her intentions.

I've no doubt that her courtesy, tenacity and motivation will yield her terrific results, and I would encourage all job seekers to apply similar strategies in their own searches.

Career Archeologist?

For some reason, I was thinking about how my profession is akin to that of an archeologist in many ways. As a resume writer, it is my job to create marketing tools for job seekers, and in order to do that, I must ferret out certain information from clients in to develop compelling resumes and career documents.

An archeologist's goal is to find meaningful relics of the past that can shed important light on history and evolution, and at times, to uncover a hidden treasure.

I think my role is a lot like that, except I have different training and I use different tools to "dig" for the treasures in my clients' backgrounds. Instead of using shovels or physical implements and detective devices, I must rely on my ability to ask the right questions, keep current on career fields and job trends, and on the needs of employers. From there, I must put all the pieces together to craft a meaningful map of a person's professional life and experiences.

It's an interesting parallelism... What other profession can you liken your job to?

Strut your Stuff

Most job seekers I work with are pretty modest when it comes to their achievements and the talents they have to offer, and most don't want to brag. Once I engage them in a dialog and ask some probing questions about their experiences, I can usually uncover what I need to write a powerful resume. Just as important, I am able to educate clients on the difference between bragging and sharing vital success stories that can truly sell their value, which in turn helps for interviewing.

The operative word here is 'usually' -- I recently worked with a gentleman who spent his entire career with the same employer and never needed a resume. Now, he is potentially faced with being downsized out of a job, so he contacted me for a resume.

Knowing my normal process of using a questionnaire for him to complete along with a phone interview wouldn't be the best approach for this client, I emailed a list of thought-provoking questions that I would be asking him during the phone interview. That way, he had advance notice of what I would be asking, and would have ample time to think about his answers. He did the best he could and when I repeatedly asked if he had any other skills or accomplishments to tell me about, (I even gave him examples of what I thought might be applicable,) he said he really couldn't think of anything else.

I wrote his resume and sent his draft out a few days later. Both he and a friend in HR were very pleased with the results. About two weeks later, he emailed me to get my feedback on some comments a colleague of his had made. This colleague asked him why several skill sets and experience were missing, and why x-y-z accomplishments weren't mentioned. I wrote back to my client and told him this was exactly the kind of information we needed in his resume and that was why I kept after him to 'dig deep' for this information. He apologized and said I was right -- he was shy about talking his experience.

The moral of my story: we both learned something. He learned that in order to market himself for the jobs he wanted, his resume needed to contain far more than a few scant accomplishments over a 20 year+ career, and that this document really was a whole lot more than just a dull listing of job responsibilities.

My lesson -- that I have more questions to add to my interviewing arsenal to get my clients to bring out their unique skills, talents and experiences, should they be as shy as this client.

Fueling the Economy?

Over the past few days, I have listened to news briefs about government job hiring slacking off last month, and the slow down in the private sector that is expected to continue. There doesn't seem to be a dull moment in the employment market, and the reasons for fluctuations are far and wide.

For the past several months as most of us cringe when we fill the gas tank, employers (outside of the energy industry) are shrinking back as well. Doing business is expensive and even more so as we watch the price of the gas continue to escalate.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see cutbacks in field sales forces across numerous industries, along with other cost-cutting measures. I for one, have my bike and backpack ready to run local errands, and my jogging sneakers are always handy...

Too, it will be interesting to see if the number of people who decide to either pursue opportunities to telecommute or leave the corporate world for entrepreneurship continues to rise. I am going to speculate that we see a increase in both, as well as changes in our vacation schedules.

My vacation that included the drive to visit the Arctic Circle that I mentioned in an earlier post might just have to wait another year, and my lap top might be put to use as I work from my backyard instead...

Is that new job right for you?

I remember my last job in corporate America, and the interview I had with the person who later became my manager. As I sat across from him in a conference room, easily fielding his questions, and countering with some of my own, several thoughts ran through my mind.  The most prominent one was my gut instinct about this manager. He struck me as a person who wasn't secure in his new role and the kind of person who would be easily intimidated due to his own insecurity.

I completely ignored my feelings, telling myself that I was victimizing a great career opportunity with a bad case of "analysis paralysis". As I look back, I realize that had I paid attention to what I felt, I would have turned the job down because he and I were like oil and water. Seven months into the job, I decided more time wasn't going to improve the situation and elected to resign.

What does all of this really mean? It means that even if you ace the interview and ask all the right questions, your new potential job has to fit you like your most comfortable pair of shoes. If it doesn't, you're potentially in store for a very unhappy and unrewarding experience.

Good Career Advice

If you had to dispense your wisdom about career management to someone younger --- whether it be your child, a nephew, grandchild or even a friend's offspring, what would you tell them?

Would you tell them to work hard, pay their dues and go for the gold in a demanding job that might build the cornerstone of a very financially rewarding career? Would you you tell them to stick it out in a field they hated or with an employer who didn't recognize or applaud their contributions, all for the sake of having potential job stability, or in order to have that resume look good? Or might you advise them to pursue their professional passions instead of whittling away at a hated job?

Interesting to think about it, isn't it? I think my advice would be a blend of things --- common sense for sure. Dreams don't pay the bills, but having ulcers and insomnia doesn't seem worth that big salary and all of it's purported perks either.

The bottom line to me is individual choice. Some people thrive on a very demanding career, and their well being thrives on the challenges of their jobs. For others, it can be balance -- their career is a means to sustain their family life, personal interests and social activities. Whatever it might be, that personal balance is the key to both personal and professional satisfaction.

Tips on Cyberspace Job Searching

Even though the Internet isn't new to most of us, I do find many job seekers don't know the right tools to use when posting on job sites or sending their resume to an employer.

What I tell people is to make sure they submit their resume in the format required and with the information requested, otherwise they run the risk of having it overlooked, trashed or even deleted. So for example, if I saw a posting on a company web site that specified to include the job reference number in the subject line of an email, I would be sure to do that, and perhaps add in my name after it so that my submission stands out from all the other emails coming in with the same reference number.

Equally important, if I was instructed to copy and paste my resume into the body of the email, I would use what is known as a text version or ASCII version. Similary, if the resume was requested as a text attachment, this is exactly what I would use. This version is very popular because it can't contain viruses, and it can be read universally by any system, thus eliminating compatibility issues.

The most common forms of resumes that employers are likely to request are: a traditional document created in Word or some other word processing application, a scannable version, which is a plain vanilla variation on the traditional version, and a text version.

If by chance an employer does want a resume snail mailed, it makes sense to invest in high quality resume paper and to print the document(s) on a good quality printer. To reinforce a professional presentation, the resume and letter should be mailed in 9 x 12 envelope, which also helps to eliminate fold marks that can decrease readability.

Armed with the right tools and professional courtesy, you can stand out from the competition!

Choosing the Right Career Professional

How many people get up in the morning and say "Wow, I can't wait to start writing my resume?"  Probably the same number of people who eagerly await a root canal!

For those who decide to hire a professional for help with their resume, it can be much like conducting a job search for that perfect job. Ultimately, it has to be the right fit.

I explain to every person who contacts me about my process for resume/career document projects, and the way that I work with clients. I know that many people are shopping around, and I encourage them to do so. 

Why? Because I think working with a resume writer or career coach is different than buying an appliance or using a dry cleaning service. Sure you need to trust the brand name or service that you are purchasing, but when it comes to a career, there is far more at stake. To  a large extent that includes your emotional investment -- the degree to which you feel comfortable talking about your professional strengths and weaknesses, and being able to "open the book" on your job history. So, here's some of my tips if you are seeking resume or career help:

1) Look at firms that can offer the level of services you need and at prices you can afford. For sure, you are making an investment in your future, and I will openly tell people if they aren't comfortable with the fees I quote, they should shop around. I want a win-win situation.

2) Ask questions. Do the professionals you've contacted have certifications and training in their respective fields? Do you feel comfortable talking with them and are they receptive to giving you an estimated cost for your project?

3) What is their process for working with clients? Are they flexible in the way that they meet their client needs? Are you comfortable with that process?

4) Do they have samples of their work that you can see?

5) Do you feel as though the firm or professional "connects with you" and understands your needs and expectations?

While resume writing isn't a favorite undertaking for most people, it shouldn't be painful. Choose the right professional to work with, and it can be quite rewarding.