Get Hired Stay Hired blog discussing professional resume writing and all things career related.

The bad news is, jobseekers make career damaging mistakes every day. The good news is, most of these are easily prevented with a little effort if good habits are carefully practiced.

Avoid these common problems to optimize your job search:

~   Not submitting resumes in the requested format. Many companies haven’t upgraded to Word 2007, so don’t accept the .docx format. Know how to convert your resume to PDF and ASCII also.

~   Neglecting to send thank you notes. According to the CareerBuilder.com survey, “How to Get in the Front Door,” nearly 15% of managers wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t send a thank you note, while 32% said they would, but would think less of the candidate. Why risk it?

~   Having resume grammar errors. This shows up year after year as one of the top 10 resume mistakes that managers and recruiters hate. Don’t just rely on spell check; read your resume backwards to help you focus, and have several friends serve as proofreaders.

~   Refusing to hire professional help. Many job seekers would never attempt to calculate their taxes or sew an interview suit; they turn to an expert. Yet, they won’t invest in vitally important career assistance, or do so only after prolonged unemployment, reducing the ROI.

~   Not exercising due diligence when hiring professional help. The career industry is mainly unregulated, so the burden is on the job seeker to verify with the major career organizations that the professional they hire is legitimate and certified. A quick search up-front will reap long-term benefits.

~   Relying on job boards to locate openings. The overwhelming majority of positions are secured through networking. If you are mainly searching online for your next job, the hit-ratio will be low.

~   Failing to ask questions during an interview. While many job seekers spend hours studying interview answers, they forget to prepare thoughtful questions to ask the interviewer.

~   Disregarding LinkedIn. The first place most recruiters and managers go to look for candidates is LinkedIn. It is a necessary component of the modern job search, there is no way around it.

Looking for employment in a down market is especially challenging. Make sure you don’t miss a single opportunity to make a great impression and advance to the job offer by following these tips.

Being nice and polite is the real key to effective networking

I have been to more than a thousand networking events in my career, from meetings over coffee to large conventions, and there are few scenarios where you are restricted to only 60 seconds to grab someone’s attention. If you are in the rare situation where your conversation will be limited, if you dominate the discussion regurgitating your elevator speech, it is unlikely to make a favorable impression any way. Like a relic from a bygone era, the elevator speech has outlived its usefulness.

What never goes out of style is demonstrating good manners and pleasant, engaging conversational skills. Job seekers in particular will labor over their elevator speech, even taking seminars to learn how to memorize the perfect pitch. Unfortunately, what is often lacking is an unbiased perspective on how real-world networking plays out. I’m here to help.

Some things I’ve observed:

• Virtually no one gets an interview, an introduction, or a job due to an elevator speech. In fact, more professionals are harmed by their attempts at elevator speeches than helped.
• Job seekers are so nervous about having the perfect elevator speech it can paralyze them, making networking more difficult than it really is.
• Seldom are you in a situation where you only have 45-60 seconds to speak with someone. Even if you are, (in a line for example), being social will work better than a memorized pitch.
• Too often professionals lack basic manners, or conduct networking while they are angry or depressed over their job situation, and it comes through in their demeanor.
• Employed networkers often feel “assaulted” by job seekers, and many are trying to avoid functions that are known to attract unemployed attendees.

The best way to enjoy and maximize the ROI from networking events is to ask questions and engage in two-way conversations, while not appearing desperate. People want to help people they like, regardless of anything else. Having something in common and displaying a sense of humor will go further than pushing your agenda on them.

At appropriate times in the conversation, the information from your well-developed resume will provide the ammunition you need to expand on your value. Instead of one canned speech, you should have multiple brief examples of your successes that can be woven into a conversation when the situation naturally occurs. If the person you are talking to is intrigued, they will ask follow-up questions for more details. Make sure you understand social cues so you can modify your behavior if needed to keep people connected to you.

Networking is an invaluable career management tool, whether you use it to land a sale, learn about your industry, or find a new opportunity. Try to relax, focus on socializing, and remember to say “thank you.”

If you still think Twitter is a social media tool mainly used to discuss the details of your latest meal, think again. The Global Language Monitor selected Twitter as “Word of the Year,” above Obama and H1N1, to name a few. It has evolved into a sophisticated resource to network, manage your career, and find a new job using 140 characters or less. Before you sign up, here are a few pointers to guide you along.

 Some do’s:

• Browse Twitter and read several streams to get a feel for what the community is like. Then decide what you want to accomplish – networking, job seeking, research, fun?
• Choose a professional screen name, whether it’s your first and last name, or one that captures your brand (like me for example: @Resume_Writer).
• Shoot for a 70%-30% business-personal tweet ratio, particularly when you are new. Potential managers and customers will be reading your stream, and your digital footprint is fair game.
• Tweet with regularity and make sure your comments demonstrate your skills and interests. Try to set aside 15 minutes per day to establish a consistent presence.
• Engage in interesting conversations, and offer advice to promote your expertise.

 Some don’ts:

• Don’t be negative, depressing, or share too much personal information. Don’t tweet anything you wouldn’t want a boss or customer to see.
• Don’t expect Twitter to land you a job or increase your network overnight. As with all social media tools, building relationships takes time.
• Don’t forget to learn the basic rules and terminology before you start. “The Twitter Job Search Guide”* is a comprehensive resource if you want to use Twitter for career management.

 Some myths:

• Myth: Twitter really isn’t that valuable if you are looking for work. Truth: More than 1,000,000 jobs are posted on Twitter every month (tweetmyjobs.com).
• Myth: I don’t need Twitter for business when I’m already on LinkedIn. Truth: Twitter is the only social media tool that doesn’t require permission to network. This allows you unhindered access to more companies and connections than LinkedIn.
• Myth: No one that can help me with my career or job search is on Twitter – it’s just kids and people with too much time on their hands. Truth: Fortune companies, recruiters, business leaders, hiring managers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and more are on Twitter.

As with all social media tools, the more you invest, the bigger the return. Now that you have some tips to get you started, join in the conversation and don’t be afraid to ask, “follow me!”

August Cohen is an award-winning, triple certified resume expert and executive coach guiding determined professionals to their next-level career goals. Supporting jobseekers in all aspects of modern career management, her services encompass powerful branded resumes, focused interview practice sessions, and targeted job search strategies. August is a frequent guest on career-related blog talk radio shows and is a contributor to the upcoming books, “The Twitter Job Search Guide” and “Step-by-Step Cover Letters,” both from JIST Publishing, 2010. 

*”The Twitter Job Search Guide: Find a Job and Advance Your Career in just 15 Minutes a Day” by Susan Britton Whitcomb, Chandlee Bryan, and Deb Dib was published in March 2010.

Things you should and shouldn’t do when you don’t like your boss (and vice versa).

Not getting along with your boss is always difficult, and during a down economy the consequences can be devastating. Working under the fear of a job loss brings on stress, further impacting job performance when you need to be demonstrating your best efforts. In good economies, the option to leave and pursue other employment is a viable, healthy alternative. So, what can you do in a bad market? Take a deep breath, step back from your emotions, and consider the following:

Absolutely don’t quit without a firm offer in hand, no matter how bad it seems. The long-term effects of unemployment can be more harmful than a stressful work environment, to say nothing of the loss of income, health insurance, and possible family problems.

Engage in honest self-reflection to see where you can improve, and start with your changes first. Ask unbiased third parties, your mentor, or a counselor to make sure you are objective in your assessments. Things to think about:

     ~ Are there items on your performance review that need to be addressed?

     ~ Do you have a pattern of not getting along with managers or authority figures?

     ~ Does this boss have problems with everyone, or just you?

Take the high road, and don’t gossip or complain about your boss at work. Even if your co-workers encourage it, don’t engage them. You will look professional and mature by comparison, traits that are always admired at work.

Volunteer and perform well on high-profile projects. This may capture the attention of managers and employees outside of your unit, and help increase your odds of an inter-departmental transfer.

Document all your successes. The more evidence you gather the better, not only as proof that you are doing your job and doing it well, but also as reminders to use as ammunition if needed.

Document your boss’s criticisms or bad behaviors. Record negative or unfair events as they happen so you won’t forget details, along with any witnesses present. Keep critical emails or phone calls if possible. Make sure these are sent to your home computer.

Identify and understand your boss’s needs, then fulfill them. Does your manager like to be complimented in front of others? Do they want you to ask for permission, or prefer you handle things on your own? Mimic the behavior of the boss’s favorite employee and observe how they make favorable impressions, then duplicate their actions.

Become your boss’s ally, not a threat. If you are showing your manager up, even if it’s legitimate or easy to do, you may have to back off until things turn around and you have more options.

Discuss your concerns if your boss is reasonable. If your manager is fair and rational in other dealings with the team, you may have the opportunity to clear the air with a sincere conversation. Don’t be defensive, take notes, and act on the suggestions. A simple misunderstanding may have initiated the riff.

If your boss is unreasonable, don’t discuss your concerns, and don’t take it personally. You will have to accept the reality of the situation, and do all of the above to protect yourself as best you can. Try to disengage from your manager’s attacks and enjoy what you do well, while continuing to professionally learn and grow.

You may have noticed that I didn’t include filing a complaint with Human Resources on the list. HR’s role is to protect the company, not the employee. If you have an enlightened HR department that has responded favorably to employee complaints in the past, then go ahead and approach them, especially if you can document that your manager’s behavior is also damaging the company. If not, tread carefully.

Keep in mind, a bad boss and a tough economy is an unfortunate circumstance, not a life sentence. During these times you have to deal with reality as best you can, confident you will have more leverage in the future. Focus on improving the things you have control over, including your attitude and behavior. Expand on the activities that are rewarding and empowering in your personal life. Finally, at least try to like your boss. You won’t hear any complaints about that.

With all the focus on layoffs and unemployment rates, it is sometimes hard to remember that the majority of Americans are still employed. Implement the advice below to give yourself the best shot at keeping your job, and not being on the top of your managers downsizing list if your company restructures.

• Make yourself indispensable to your company. Be an overachiever, have a hard to find skill, and contribute or help out without a request from anyone.
• Keep an ongoing “kudos file.” Every time you get an email from your boss, your boss’s boss, or customer, print it and send it to your home computer for safekeeping.
• Record your successes. If you work on a special project, pull overtime when a co-worker is sick, or come up with an innovative idea that is executed, notate it. It will be hard for you to remember months down the road at review time, and even harder for your manager, so write it down.
• Request periodic reviews. Don’t just rely on an annual review for feedback on your performance. Even if it’s just an informal discussion with your supervisor, make sure you are on task with their objectives. There is no excuse for being surprised with a bad appraisal.
• Participate in a variety of organizations. Join the professional groups in your industry and offer to be a mentor. Volunteer in the community; it’s a great way to give back and network at the same time.
• Embrace social media. Join LinkedIn (not an option!) and learn about other services (Twitter, Facebook) that may help your career. Start a blog and thoughtfully establish your brand.
• Stay ahead of the knowledge curve. Sign up for continuing ed classes, learn new industry processes, and keep up with technological advancements.
• Obtain references in writing. Don’t wait until you’re laid off to ask for them, and don’t rely on verbal references. Get them recorded in writing.
• Update your resume. Make your life easier if the unexpected happens. Who knows, that unexpected event may be an inquiry for your talent from a competitor.
• Have six months’ of your salary in savings. At least.

Even if you do everything right you can still be impacted by your company closing, inter-office politics, or a merger with duplication of staff. If you follow the advice above, these things will be unfortunate events, not horrible disasters. You will literally be able to start your new career search the next day, somewhat empowered, and more optimistic than your peers who will be blindsided and unprepared.

I interface with numerous HR professionals, hiring managers, and recruiters through my business as a resume writer and career consultant, and LinkedIn recommendations are a hot topic. While some LinkedIn members have none, others have hundreds. Can you have too much of a good thing? And, what makes a recommendation attractive to a company that may be interested in interviewing you?

While there is a minimum number of recommendations sourcers believe that an experienced professional is expected to have, (usually at least 10), quality is much preferred over quantity. They also understand outside sales reps will typically have more than a programmer.

Hiring managers are very adept at reading recommendations to determine if there is a legitimate and direct understanding of the jobseekers talents. Then, many take it a step further, and will review the recommenders profile to fully appreciate the connection. Having an unsubstantiated quid pro quo recommendation (not directly working with the individual and observing their actual work), or weak recommendation can do more harm than good, and works unfavorably for even an otherwise qualified candidate.

Many sourcers are frustrated with the maneuvers around recommendations, and will circumvent the process all together. They look at the candidate’s connections list for names of co-workers or managers that worked at the same company, at the same time, and proceed to directly contact them to discuss the candidate even though they have not provided a recommendation on LinkedIn.

What do most managers and recruiters look for in a recommendation? Here are some basic guidelines:

• Proximity:  How close and on what level is the business relationship, and have they directly worked with the candidate in a meaningful capacity.
• Detail:  Does the recommender have an actual understanding of the jobseekers key skills, abilities, and achievements, and are they described in any detail.
• Sincerity:  Is it clear the recommender appreciates, admires, and likes the person they are recommending.
• Relevancy:  How recent is the recommendation, and does the information pertain to the position that the company is trying to locate candidates for.
• Legitimacy:  Is the professional offering the recommendation a customer or manager – or a friend or colleague trading a recommendation for one on their profile.

While recommendations are a great starting point for a company to review your qualifications or informally background check you, don’t rely on them exclusively to promote your talents. They must be supported at every touch point the company will examine to identify your credibility, brand, and unique value.

Even the most confident professional can get nervous during an interview. Sticking to the basics will help you focus on compelling answers instead of the butterflies in your stomach. Make sure your responses meet these three requirements for successful interviewing:

1. Relevancy:  Answer the question you are asked. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Many jobseekers don’t completely understand the question, and start talking hoping “it will come to them.” Warning: the answer won’t come to you. You will only get more anxious as you realize you are off track. Write down questions or ask for them to be repeated if you aren’t 100% clear. Winging it will only get you in trouble.
2. Conciseness:  When you violate rule #1, it leads to problems with rule #2. Interview answers should be approximately 2 minutes, long enough to provide enough information for the interviewer, while still holding their interest. Being concise gives the interviewer time to ask follow-up questions to delve deeper into the points that they are curious about. This back and forth allows for conversational engagement, which puts everyone at ease.
3.  Do No Harm:  Don’t say something you will regret. Violating rule #1 and rule #2 is the surest route to putting your foot in your mouth. While you are obligated to tell the truth in an interview, it’s not true confessions. If you start talking, unsure of the question, begin to ramble, the next thing you know you will be revealing how you haven’t gotten along with your boss since that bad performance evaluation. Ouch.

There are no do-overs for an interview. Take the time to prepare using the position description as your guide. Practice questions out loud and time your answers. Understand what your greatest weakness is, and explain how you overcame it. Most importantly, go back to the basics, and then relax. The interviewer is probably as nervous as you are.

What leaps to mind when someone mentions resume fraud? A high-profile executive that is fired in disgrace after lying about the college degrees they never obtained? While that still happens, the newer resume fraud occurs when a jobseeker steals content, often just copying and pasting information from someone else’s resume. Blogs abound with stories of a shocked poster who comes across their resume online with someone else’s name on it, virtually word for word. It is particularly rampant in the IT industry, where shady offshore recruiting firms copy US resumes for their clients to make them more marketable in America.

It doesn’t end there though. Just as common are cases of unsuspecting jobseekers that send their resume to co-workers, friends, and family for “their opinion.” This makes it very easy for the recipients to use the resume as their own if the occasion arises. Imagine a peer at work who has the same title and worked on the same projects with you over several years, there would probably be a lot of crossover in duties. Even so, would you feel comfortable with them using your resume, especially if you paid for it to be professionally written by a resume writer?  

I recall an HR Director who wanted me to coach him on his interviewing skills. He told me the “secret” to his “great” resume. He just keyword searched resumes in his company’s database, pulled out ones he liked that closely matched his skills, and pasted together the document. When I questioned his ethics, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “it’s common practice.”

If that isn’t enough of an insult to jobseekers, there has also been an uptick in resume piracy. This is when unscrupulous recruiters pull resumes off job boards or the internet, then send them out to companies without the jobseekers knowledge or permission. This, along with identity theft resulting from information stolen off resumes, leads to a host of problems that could merit a whole other article.

What can you do? Here are some suggestions to reduce the odds of becoming a victim of resume theft:

• Protect your document before submitting it online or sending via email. A pdf is the most difficult to copy, and the first choice for sending via direct email. Not all job boards accept pdf, so use a protected word document in that case. It can still be copied, but at least it adds a layer of difficulty.
• Make sure your resume has many achievements specific to you. If someone is thinking of trying to steal your content, achievements are more difficult to justify in an interview, and they may think twice.
• Don’t put your drivers license or social security numbers, date of birth, or marital status on your resume.
• Create a new email to be used only for your job search, so you don’t corrupt the personal email you want to maintain. You will know anything suspicious that comes to this address is a result of your posting your resume, and will be easier to track.
• Thoroughly read the privacy policy of the sites where you post your resume. Make sure they won’t sell your resume and have adequate privacy controls in place.
• Avoid submitting your resume for a “free resume critique.” Many of these services are unscrupulous and don’t provide useful advice to really improve your resume, and you don’t know how they will use your resume after you submit it.
• Limit your open job board postings. I know it sounds heretical to someone in the midst of a job search, but when you realize the majority of jobs are never posted online, the odds for success are low anyway.
• Spend your time networking and selectively sending out your resume, instead of competing with 100’s of jobseekers for an online position that may already have an internal candidate lined up to fill it.
• If a job posting has a vague or poorly written description, avoid it.

Treat your resume as you would any of your valuable identity papers. Doing so will limit your chances of being a resume theft victim, and protect your hard-earned career history from aiding someone else in getting the position you deserve.

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