Vital Information Is Missing From So Many Resumes

I receive hundreds of resumes daily from candidates in relationship to the searches we have underway. So many of these candidates actually believe they are qualified for the position. Many may in fact be qualified, however, many of these candidates will never get a call from me because basic vital information is missing from their resume.

I’m not talking about the content of their specific jobs, the accomplishments, or the activities they performed, I’m talking about the basic information the recruiter needs to decide if this candidate meets the minimum requirements for the position.

For example, I recently tested this theory. I sent out an email to my database regarding a search I was conducting. The total email was maybe 6 sentences. I kept it short so that the things I was looking for would stand out in the email. In the email I mentioned 6 times the words “outsourcing manufacturing,” 7 times I mentioned, “contract manufacturing,”  and 4 times I said, “must have industrial manufacturing.” Given all that in just 6 sentences, what do you think I’m looking for on your resume?

Not in your cover letter, not in a follow up email, not on the phone interview, but on your resume, so I will pick up the phone and call you.

For those with an immediate grasp of the obvious you answered, contract manufacturing, outsourcing, and industrial manufacturing experience. Right answer.

How many of the 188 responses I received do you think took the time to include this vital information on their resume? Note that the vast majority, either in their cover letter or reply via email to me, mentioned how perfect they were for this position. If you answered 2 you scored 100% again. Go to the head of the class.

This is so important that I put together a short 5 minute video for you to watch that gives you the details on what basic vital information you need to include on your resume. CLICK HERE to watch this video.

I hope this short video will  help you as you put your resume together. Making sure this information is on your resume will help ensure recruiters and hiring managers don’t put your resume in the trash because it is missing important information.

For more information on resumes, interviewing, and job search help join our LindedIn Job Search Networking Group. Over 3,500 people participate with great articles and discussions. CLICK HERE to join.

To help with your resume, download a free sample cover letter specifically designed to align your resume with the company needs. CLICK HERE to download.

If this was helpful to you, please forward it to your network, mention it on LinkedIn or Facebook so that others can also benefit. Everybody needs to help out in these tough times. Please help others.

I welcome your thoughts, questions and comments.

Brad

Cover Letter + Great Resume = Interview

This is the winning formula for getting interviews. There are exceptions for personal referrals and networking contacts, but often even with these they will first ask for a resume.

It has been my experience recently that many candidates “know” this formula intellectually but few convert from the knowing to “doing.” And that after all is the key.

I’m currently conducting a search and as one might expect the number of resumes received is almost overwhelming. I spend my weekends and nights just trying to empty my inbox.  Not an easy task. About 65% of the resumes I receive have cover letters. Most to some varying degree give me the standard, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Once in a while one will stand out so I take the time to read it. I particularly like the two column format as it quickly aligns their experiences with what I’m seeking for my client. (If you want to get an example, a free sample is available, just CLICK HERE).

These types of cover letters can get me very excited to actually read (not scan) your resume. The problem is too often the rug is pulled right out from under my high level of excitement.  Simply put the resume sucks. There are many reasons for this, but regardless, this person had me and other recruiters,  hiring managers and HR professionals right where they want them. They overcame one of the biggest issues with resumes, getting the resume read not just a 10 second scan. Only to disappoint the reader. What a tragedy.

In this example the formula was: great cover letter + average or below average resume = trashed resume.

Anyone who has been following Barry and I know we have written extensively that in this economy it is greatness that counts. Good only works in good times. Greatness works all the time, but is positively, absolutely, a  must in bad times.

A great cover letter with an average or below average resume, is like a bad book with a great dust cover. It is still a bad book.  How many times have you sat in a movie theater watching an upcoming movie trailer, then gone to the movie and it was really bad? Remember the excitement about waiting for the movie to come out, the excitement as you sat waiting for the movie to start, and then the disappointment when the movie was so bad you walked out.  A great movie trailer doesn’t make a bad movie better.

A great resume starts with understanding how a resume is scanned. Start with the basics:

1. Your contact information including a phone number. Sounds pretty basic to me. For some reason many candidates are starting to have only an email address on the resume.
2. Basic information about the companies you worked for (unless they are household names), such as sales, number of employees, and what the company does or the industry.
3. Basic information regarding the scope of your positions. Number of people supervised, basic duties and responsibilities, if multi-location, international, functional area managed, etc.
4. Education. When appropriate additional certifications or courses that enhance your marketability.
5. Company ownership. Is it a public company, owner operated, private equity owned or something else?
6. Some bullet points that directly align as closely as possible to the two column cover letter you included.
7. Bullet points that include results in dollars or percentages as to the impact on the department or company.

These are basics. There are more that will get your resume from good to great. At least review your resume to verify you have met the minimum.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. Over 3200 members. CLICK HERE to join.

Download a free sample cover letter – that is the first step. You still need a great resume. CLICK HERE to get the FREE cover letter.

Are You Responding To Job Descriptions Masquerading as Job Advertisements?

Over 90% of companies post their entire job description or some modified version of it as a job advertisement.

Why?

• Is it because they don’t want to take the time to write a real advertisement?
• Is it because they’re taking the easy way out – posting something that was downloaded off the internet in 1999?
• Is it because they think the job description is the job?

As you probably know, Brad and I teach workshop for Hiring Managers and Executives on improving their hiring effectiveness. Over 35,000 Managers and Executives worldwide have seen this program, titled “You’re NOT the Person I Hired”. One of the key recommendations in this program is STOP posting job descriptions masquerading as job ads.

Job Descriptions DO NOT define the work to be done. Job Descriptions are worthless as a predictive tool to measure or evaluate success. Finally, Job Descriptions focus on the wrong criteria for hiring. Using Job Descriptions both for defining work and advertising for potential employees leads to multiple mistakes and errors we’ve identified in our research of the Top Ten Mistakes in Hiring.

If you’re responding to job descriptions and wondering why you don’t get call backs inviting you to interview – wonder NO MORE!

You’re not getting call backs because you’re not being evaluated on your ability to help the company – instead you’re being evaluated on whether there are words and phrases on your resume allowing a recruiter, human resource admin, or hiring manager to “box-check” whether you should be called.

BREAK this dysfunctional cycle right now and raise the number of invitations you receive to interview for an open position.

Here are some ideas to break this cycle:

1. Find the Hiring Manager on LinkedIn and contact them directly to ask your questions about what someone in this role would need to do to be successful.
2. Offer 4-5 major accomplishments for the functional job in your cover letter – such as finance, marketing, operations, sales. Every job has these 4-5 core elements.
3. Ask questions in your cover letters and correspondence: If you’re applying for a controller role, you might ask “Are you satisfied with the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of your monthly closing process?
4. Publish a blog article on your key accomplishment in the functional area for which you are applying. Send the hiring manager the link to the article.
5. Keep firing off emails seeking additional information. If they haven’t called you yet – do you really care if they think you’re a pest? Worst case is they’ve already decided not to call you and whatever you do will not change their impression. Best case is that one of your letters, emails, LinkedIn notes, or Tweets changes their impression of you.
6. Create a marketing campaign that has a goal to be granted a phone interview. Put on a full court press. What are the top ten things you could be doing to grab the attention of the hiring manager?

STOP being passive in responding to job descriptions masquerading as job advertisements. Break this tribal cycle that has gone on for generation after generation. The vast majority of candidates answer ads and pray the phone will ring. STOP waiting – force the phone to ring through the campaign or blitz attack you put on the hiring manager to convince them to speak with you about the job.

Check out our resources of how to get an interview, including our Resume Kit, our FREE Audio Programs from our Internet Radio Show, and our paradigm-shifting book, This is NOT the Position I Accepted.

Barry Deutsch

Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group and join the conversation on how to get an interview, especially when you’ve responded to a job description masquerading as a job advertisement.

Resume Do’s and Don’ts

Every person that has put together a resume knows the basics, no spelling errors, limit to two pages, chronological format, use keywords and so on, but there are other basic issues that candidates do and don’t do that  have a big impact on getting their resume noticed. By getting noticed I mean read and ultimately you get a phone call or email.

Lets all agree there is only one reason for a resume, and that is to get an interview. That is it — PERIOD. A resume isn’t to get you a job, it isn’t a networking tool, it isn’t a bio and most important of all a resume  isn’t ABOUT YOU.

A resume is about the person reading the resume. If the only purpose is to get you an interview, then the resume better stand out so they take the time to read the resume. Standing out doesn’t mean gimmicks, highlighting or other tricks that only make you look desperate. Standing out means they see what they are looking for and want to read on and ultimately engage  you.

I believe candidates need to realize how people review resumes or take a step back, be very objective, and think about how they reviewed resumes when they had a stack of 100+ resumes sitting on their desk.

I know for me it starts with the 10 second review.  I’m looking for a few box checking items or points and if they are missing, or aren’t a fit, I move on. For example:

• If my client isn’t going to relocate, and you are from out of the area, you are gone.
• If I’m searching for a VP of X and you are a VP of Y you are gone.
• If for whatever reason you have to have experience in a specific industry and you don’t, or haven’t at least worked in an industry that is a close fit, you are gone.
• If my client is a small entrepreneurial company and you have only worked in very large companies you go into the “B” pile.
• If you have had 8 jobs in the last 8 years chances are you are either gone or in the “B” pile.
• If the scope of your positions don’t align with my client’s you are gone. For example,  if I’m searching for an International X and all your resume discusses is domestic, I think you know what is going to happen.

A recruiter, HR person or hiring manager can determine these in 10 seconds or less. Once all of these fundamentals are box checked then I’m going to take the time to read the resume in more detail. It is here that the rubber meets the road. This is where the resume needs to be about my client, NOT YOU. It is here that I’m making the decision of whether to pick up the phone and call you or not.

So it is critical under the “do” column of “Resume Do’s and Don’ts,” that you meet these basic screening issues or at least in one fashion or another address them.  For example, if you are open to relocation and willing to pay your own relocation expenses that should be in the cover letter. This could help level the playing field with local candidates,  if other points on your resume are compelling. You may go to the “A” or  “B” pile instead of being eliminated.

Under the “don’t” column of  “Resume Do’s  and Don’ts,” you need to make sure that when the person gets to the reading stage of your resume that you don’t discuss  irrelevant issues or accomplishments. This is the time to stand out, differentiate yourself and hit a home run.

The biggest “don’t” is don’t try to get by with a one-size-fits-all resume. These resumes are so generic it is impossible to know exactly what the candidate actually did. The bullet points don’t include results and are so vague the reader could change the name at the top and the resume would be like all the rest.

Don’t regurgitate the duties, tasks and responsibilities of the job in bullet point format.  Most companies will not consider you a great hire if all you do are the very basic duties of the job. Your bullet points should demonstrate the exceptional work you have performed. The resume bullet points should sing out loud and clear, “Here are the benefits to you if you hire me.”

Change  your perspective on the resume. Stop thinking of it as a resume about you. Start thinking of it as a marketing document or advertisement. These are generally about the targeted audience and designed to get their attention.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group along with over 3100 others. Exceptional articles and discussions are all free. CLICK HERE to join.

To help  you build a great resume, we have a put together our “Complete Resume Writing System.” Everything  you need to make sure  your resume is compelling and about the reader is included. Candidates spend hundreds of dollars on resume writing  services when they don’t have to. Our Complete Resume Writing System is available for just $39.95. CLICK HERE to at least see if it can help you. It will save you hundreds.

Resume Do’s and Don’ts – Radio Show

Knowing how your resume is screened will help you understand why you do or don’t hear back from recruiters, HR or hiring managers. These are not the basic do’s and don’ts such as spelling, grammar, or formatting.  You already know those things. We are discussing the practical application of the most common mistakes candidates make that result in their resume getting screened out. Most of these mistakes are so easy to fix, so common sense and so obvious one wouldn’t think it would take a whole show to discuss. We give you insight into what our clients tell us, their actual screening methodology and what you can do to get past the 10 seconds resume screening 90% of the time.

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group along with 3100 other LinkedIn members. To join CLICK HERE.

You can download for FREE a Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in your job search so you can identify what  you need to tweak. This will help you conduct the most effective job search possible. CLICK HERE to get your free assessment.

To download this and past radio shows in our audio library –  CLICK HERE

How NOT to Differentiate Yourself From Everyone Else

As candidates become more and more desperate in their job search they often turn to desperate measures that more often than not hurt the candidate. One example of this is with the resume.

Lately we have been noticing an increase in resumes that contain some sort of gimmick or strange presentation to get noticed. This is not necessary. If your resume is focused, well presented, and easy to read, it will get noticed – at least by us.

If your resume has a lot of highlighting, gimmicks, smells like perfume, or is on bright colored paper, all that is saying to the reader is, “I’m desperate.” Companies today don’t want to hire desperate people. They still want to hire the best and the brightest.

The best ways to get  your resume noticed and read is:

• Have a good cover letter. Download a free sample from our Web site. CLICK HERE.
• Have an easy to read resume. Use bullet points instead of long paragraphs, make sure it is not over crowded, has white space, 12 point fonts, two pages,  and does not have a lot of abbreviations, functional or industry jargon.
• Make sure vital information used for screening stands out such as,company description and industry, title, dates, organization, number of people managed, scope of responsibility, etc.
• Pleasing to the eye.
• Well organized and laid out.
• Highly recommend chronicle not functional.
• It should be as targeted to the position as possible and that bullet points address what the hiring manager is looking for. NOT a generic one size fits all.

There are probably more and feel free to comment and add  your ideas. Just don’t try and stand out by using desperate gimmicks and tricks.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group along with the other 3000 members. The group contains extensive articles and discussions on conducting a job search. CLICK HERE to join it FREE.

Please download our free sample cover letter to make sure your background aligns with the job needs and stands out. CLICK HERE to get your copy.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

I’m Perfect For The Position, So Why Did I Get Screened Out?

Great question. Probably an obvious answer.

The easy answer is, you probably aren’t perfect for the job, at least from the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s perspective. Now that doesn’t mean you aren’t perfect. It may mean you didn’t communicate effectively as to demonstrate just how perfect you are. So you get screened out.

It has been my experience in close to 30 years as a recruiter that candidates too often ignore the competition that also claim to be perfect for the job. As a recruiter in today’s economy, we can get 500+ responses to an executive level position, all claiming to be, “perfect.” With this volume of resumes, emails, phone calls and referrals, you have to demonstrate you are more perfect than all of the rest.

The real question is, “Have you demonstrated you are more perfect than all the others?” I realize candidates generally have limited information about the position, so demonstrating this can be difficult. It isn’t possible to give every screening detail. Anyone who has hired people knows this. Most hiring managers experience the same thing. When you are looking to hire some one you too get resume overload. So how do you prioritize all these resumes, calls, emails, and referrals? Most have set up some sort of checklist to reduce the number to a manageable figure. Some things on the checklist include, industry, company size, compatibility with products, systems, organization, title, turnover, etc. This is important information that is missing from many resumes. The result is you may get screen out or put in the infamous “B” pile.

The next step might be to further read the resumes that passed the checklist to reduce the number even further. It is at this stage that you must really demonstrate that you are perfect for the position. From a recruiter’s perspective this is the point where I want to see how your accomplishments align with what the client is looking for in the person they hire to deliver the results. This is the, “So why did I get screened out?” point.

Here are some suggestions that might help you to not get screened out if you really are perfect:

1. Customize your resume as much as possible to directly align with the job. Don’t send the one-size fits all resume.
2. Your bullet points must include quantifiable results, time frame to accomplish, and be believable.
3. If you don’t know the exact expectations, some research on the company might give you some tips. If your research highlights issues, try to extrapolate how your functional area will participate in these issues and then how your accomplishments align.
4. Don’t limit your research to the company’s Web site. Look for press releases, announcements, industry trends, local newspapers, business journals, industry periodicals, and Google the company and its competitors. It will take some work, however, the pay off is not getting screened out.
5. Use a two column cover letter that compares your experience and accomplishments with what their needs are. (You can download a free sample cover letter on our Web site. (CLICK HERE to get yours)
6. Keep your resume to two pages. Don’t have so much detail that the important points get lost.
7. Make sure you have the basic screening information on your resume. Step back and be objective as to exactly how you screen resumes when you were a hiring manager with a stack of 300 resumes on your desk.

There are a lot of reasons you can get screened out, even if you are perfect. I’m convinced doing these few things will at least increase the odds in your favor. I’m sure they will increase the odds if you really are perfect for the position.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for many more tips on helping you in your job search. CLICK HERE to join – it is free.

Our job search workbook deals with all of the issues one encounters in a job search. To review the book and have it sent to you for just $5 CLICK HERE. Readers rate this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

Traditional Resumes Are Worthless – Video

This short video highlights why most traditional resumes are never noticed. Is your resume about you? About your skills, experiences, and companies you have worked for? If they are then this is probably why your resume is going in the “B” pile.

To get your resume in the “A” pile it can’t be traditional. Standard resumes that worked as little as two years ago will not even get noticed today.

This video will even give you an example of how to change your resume so it isn’t “traditional” and isn’t about you.

Click this link to watch, “Traditional Resumes Are Worthless.” Your resume doesn’t have to be traditional.

Join our LinkedIN Job Search Networking group. Click here to join.

Thousands have downloaded our FREE sample cover letter. If you have not done so, just click here and you can get yours.

Do You Have A Resume Or A Marketing Document?

Does your resume list all of your experiences, all your skills, and even some accomplishments?

Does it outline all of the things you have done in the past that you think are important and can fit on two pages?

Does it clearly indicate all your past duties, tasks and responsibilities for your positions?

All good stuff, but for the most part, missing a lot of the important stuff.

Most resumes are based on, what in selling is referred to as, “features” or “facts.” Every junior sales rep and marketing person knows that people don’t buy on features, they buy on benefits.

Most resumes are simply a list of features the candidate thinks (key word – thinks) are important. In marketing terms it is a, “fact sheet” not a marketing document. If you want to get noticed you have to have a marketing document not a resume. One that markets benefits.

Marketing 101 teaches marketing is all about getting to the customer’s motivation. It is all about what’s in it for them. Few resumes are a true marketing document. Most are some combination of features and benefits, with heavy weighting on features. Few hiring managers will get excited reading a list of features. These are nice to know, but unfortunately, don’t create any emotional reaction. Benefits, on the other hand, do create an emotional reaction. It is this reaction that creates the desire to buy.

For example, you could have the following feature on your resume, “Substantially reduced turnover in first year.” A good fact but no emotional reaction. Instead you could market the benefit to the hiring manager, “Reduced turnover from over 55% to less than 10% in my first year. This resulted in an estimated savings of $150,000 in just hiring costs. It also dramatically increased the quality of work, completely eliminated errors and reduced overtime by 90% resulting in a cost savings from the previous year of $200,000.”

If I am an owner, CEO, or hiring manager struggling with the high cost of turnover, this is motivating and a benefit.

Selling benefits converts your resume into a marketing document. After all, that is what a resume should be.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group for a lot more on resumes, interviewing, networking and even how to answer the “Tell Me About Yourself?” question.

Is your cover letter stopping  your resume from getting noticed. Try this cover letter. It has increased the responses three fold for many people. Recruiters prefer this. Download it for FREE CLICK HERE.

If  your LinkedIn Profile isn’t powerful and compelling then use our 8 Point Check List to help you build a powerful and compelling profile. CLICK HERE to download.

We encourage your comments and feedback.

Brad Remillard

When In-Transition You’re A Salesperson-So Act Like One

At a recent networking meeting of fifty to sixty senior executives, all VP and C level, which included a mix of all corporate functions the following question was asked:

“How many of you are in sales?”

Only about 10% raised their hands, until someone flippantly yelled out, “We are all in sales.” The rest of the group then caught on and hands starting going up. Still, only about 50% raised their hands.

The moderator then followed-up with, “OK, what are you doing to demonstrate you are really in sales? For example, what books on sales have you read, how do you consciously incorporate sales into your search, how many have taken sales courses, courses on closing, written your resume with sales or marketing in the forefront of your mind, etcetera?”

Then he asked, “Anyone in finance and accounting, such as controllers or CFOs?” A few raised their hands.

His next comments brought the point home when he said, “So if I’m a sales professional, say a VP Sales and I’ve done a budget, I suppose I’m qualified for your job. I shouldn’t need any training, don’t need to read any books on accounting. I just say, ‘I’m a CFO’ and that makes me a CFO.”

Of course the group was snickering and laughing at such a silly statement. Yet they could all be sales people without any training. Isn’t that equally as ridiculous?

What they were really saying is, “When in-transition, everyone is in a sales role.” However, being in a sales role doesn’t make you a salesperson.

Most candidates don’t really know what it means to be a salesperson. They intellectually understand the concept, but don’t know how to take the concept and put it into practice.

Transition requires a candidate to change their perspective. Candidates have to understand that whether they call it sales or not, whether they are comfortable with it or not, they are not just in a sales role – they are a salesperson. They have moved out of their comfort zone and into a sales and marketing environment. Even salespeople don’t seem to grasp this concept while in-transition. It is for this reason that we recommend getting a sales and marketing consultant to assist you.

Just saying you are something doesn’t make you that. You need to learn how to become a salesperson. This includes, prospecting, overcoming objections, what a sales presentation is, knowing your competition and why you are better, identify why you are different from all the rest, having a sales pitch, and so much more. You need to read a few books on sales, attend a sales training webinar or course, practice your sales presentation, and get prepared just like a true professional salesperson does.

So please stop saying you are in sales and go out and become a salesperson.

Get our FREE Personal Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard to find out if you are acting like a salesperson. CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy.

Download our FREE example of a cover letter to make sure you are selling to the what the customer (hiring manager) is really looking for. CLICK HERE.

Please give us your feedback and comments.

Brad Remillard