Branding, On-line Resumes & Volunteering

Three Valid Points for everyone to consider

In beautiful Palatine, Illinois, at Harper College's monthly Career Stimulus Program, I heard a speaker talking on the subject of marketing and branding. This is a key area of interest for many in job transition. With so many millions of people out of work, how do you stand out from the rest? This speaker challenged the audience with three ideas to consider.

Jonathan Salem Baskin, author of the books Branding Only Works on Cattle, and Bright Lights and Dim Bulbs, made a point that went something like this... applying to jobs posted on the internet is like writing & mailing a letter to Santa. His point deserves serious consideration. 

What is the return on investment (ROI) from applying to jobs on line? How many applications are even acknowledged even in an electronic automatic email response? Now compare this with the response rate of a letter to Santa? How often does Santa actually respond to the letters sent around Christmas time? 

I would say that you cannot ignore internet job postings, but you really need to consider the ROI question. Think about the about of time you put into this effort and the likelihood of actually landing an interview from this source. If you are spending an hour or two per week that is probably appropriate. Remember that your highest ROI is networking with people, people currently working in an organization. So it makes sense to pursue internet job applications off hours when you really cannot be meeting with or talking to people. I suggest later in the day or earlier in the morning depending on your schedule.

Jonathan made another point that really hit home. He said that resumes are all alike. They are all about what has been done in a career. Resumes do not tell the hiring manager what you're going to do for them. Now, it is true that we cannot abandon resumes, but we need to do more. I help my clients understand that the resume is a calling card; it's the interview where the magic happens. I explain that the job seeker needs to bring past successes into the interviewer's experience by telling a story that paints a picture of solving the company's problems, or doing what the organization needs done.

Jonathan also stated that everyone is looking for a job today. Not just the "so called" unemployed but everyone. Some are working at a company collecting a paycheck and others are working to find a job, but not collecting a paycheck. But, everyone is looking! The competition is huge! So the job seeker needs to be even more creative and forward thinking. He suggested to look for ways to find out what a company needs and ask for the chance to do it; he challenged the audience to consider volunteering to work without pay to prove your value. I had to admit that the suggestion is intriguing. It would be prudent to put a time limit on the offer though. 

Harper College in Palatine, Illinois is a A++, two year, Community College that offers a unique opportunity for job seekers. Their Career Stimulus Program is an excellent experience for those who have never received outplacement services.

Job Search Tools

"What you need to have handy when you're looking for a new job." 

Resume

    A good resume is the first and best tool for the job seeker. It is also the first thing the job seeker needs to work on. Actually, this document should be up to date all the time, even while you still have a paying job. Most people don't have their resume up to date the day they get notified they are being laid off. If you need to, get the old resume out and update it with your most recent experience situations.
    Unless you have special circumstances you'll want to use a chronological resume with a career summary statement, highlighted experience/accomplishments and work history. At the end of the resume your education and special training.
    There are dozens of books out there with suggestions for better resumes, specific formats, choice of paper and fonts. Regardless of what you read... you need to realize that your resume is your marketing material to help you get an interview. Note: your resume isn't a silver bullet. It will not get you the job! It is a tool to be used to get interviews and a device to be used to introduce your skills, abilities and experience in networking meetings.

Handbill
    A handbill is another networking tool. Sometimes called a "mini-resume" it is used in networking situations at networking or job search clubs or meetings. Like a resume they are meant to be given to people so they will
remember you. You can be creative in how you present your info but don't get crazy. There are three parts to the handbill:

• contact info: Name, phone number(s) and email address 
• history of your experience, skills and abilities: Past employers and accomplishments in brief 
• list of target companies: Companies that are hiring or that you would like to work for
  

See link for an example handbill or a link for a template.

Business Cards
    Another essential tool is a business card. Some people put a mini resume on the back of the card. I feel the KISS rule is essential. (Keep it Simple, Seeker) Your contact info and a good tag line are best with room on the back for people to jot notes about you. You can get business cards for the cost of shipping at: www.Vistaprint.com

Elevator Speech
    Everyone talks about having an elevator speech. The idea is to have something prepared to say that doesn't sound prepared which you could say to someone you meet while going up an elevator.  The point is to make it quick and memorable and not to hope you're riding to the top of the Sears (oops, Willis) Tower. A good
elevator will communicate to the listener what you could do for them or their company. Sample Elevator Speech

   Creating these tools will also prepare you for the work of job search. Namely networking! I heard a clever mnemonic the other day, "If you're not networking, you're not working." These are the tools and like all tools the user needs to practice and work with them to be comfortable using them. Get going and make it happen.

Social Media Especially LinkedIn


  Click on "Why LinkedIn Works"

Custom Resumes vs. A "General" Resume

When it comes to resumes, your resume is a tool: it's marketing material. It is not designed to get you a job; it’s function is to layout your skills, abilities and experience in order to get you an interview.

You will hear that you need to customize your resume in order to get it seen by the hiring manager. This is a very compelling statement especially if you have applied to many job postings and received zero responses. You think, "It must be the resume that has failed to get anyone’s attention; therefore if you customize your resume you’ll get more interviews."

But what are the facts? For any posting an average company may receive 200 applications and as many as 500. Crain’s Chicago once reported:

The new Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location opening Friday in suburban Evergreen Park received a record 25,000 applications for 325 positions, the highest for any one location in the retailer’s history, a company official says.

So if this is true, will a customized resume fair any better than a good general resume? The competition is staggering. What will really make the difference is having a person on the inside of the company get your resume flagged and separated from the 200. This is where networking comes in.

I suggest that a single strong "general" resume used in concert with networking or drilling into a company will serve you better than customizing your resume for every job posting. What if a company is using an electronic tool to cut down the number of resumes. In this case does a customized resume help when no human set of eyes are going to review the resume?The software's selection criteria is based on key words which should already be in your "general" resume. If not then you can update your resume to include missing key words or experience.

Utilize a well written "general" resume containing the accomplishments, experience and appropriate key words will save you the time of customizing your resume for each posting, time that would better be put to use networking. Plus, with a dozen or more customized resumes you have the added issue of keeping track of who you sent which resume to.

Network with people working at companies and businesses that are in the position to recognize your skills and abilities. Spend that time with people that can see the value you represent as a future employee. When you realize that only about 20% of jobs are advertized in news papers, the Internet and with recruiters, customizing your resume for every application is a lot of work, time and effort for such low probability of your resume being selected and reviewed.

The SYSTEM of Job Search Isn't Fair

   The simple truth is that the players, organizations and activities involved in the area of employment and hiring are not there to help you find a job. This job search system or simply “The System” is set up to comb through candidates or to eliminate resumes. This is very different from finding the right person for the job.

So often I listened to clients and others in job search say, but I was perfect for the job and I didn’t even get a phone interview. How can that be? Let’s take a look at The System…

A company finds that they need to hire someone. A manager needs to fill out a requisition to hire. Let’s say there is enough money in the budget and the manager makes a good case for the hire and the requisition is approved. What happens next?

Most companies have a formal procedure for hiring in order to comply with state and federal employment regulations. HR (Human Resources) is called into the process. They check a database of candidates and the position is advertised internally. If this fails, the posting is then advertised outside the company. (Note: only about 20% of jobs are advertised.) This can involve print media, online service or an outside recruiter (AKA Headhunter). The result here is hundreds of resumes.

HR processes the resumes and presents to the hiring manager five or six “good” candidates. In a stack of 200 resumes what are the odds of any specific resume being chosen? Depending on where your resume is in the pile of resumes no one may ever see your resume.

I’ve heard HR people complain about the volume of resumes they have to process. If they find six appropriate candidates in the top of the stack are they really going to keep looking through the rest of the stack? A company's formal hiring process is there to mitigate the risk of legal complications - not to find the “right person.”

I've really simplified this but you can see that long before an interview can be scheduled you have to do something to break out of The System and get yourself noticed. This is why networking is so important; it's a numbers game or a lotto and the odds are stacked against you. Beat The System: become excellent at networking.

-- Edited by Alice Dechene