Needle, Meet Haystack

The other day, I was helping a friend out with his resume.  As we poured over his work history, educational background and professional skills, we noticed that there were a few extraneous items there – achievements from more than half a decade ago and work experience that brought nothing to the table except to show that he had been working.  As I glanced over my own resume that I was using as an example, I noticed that I had the same problem.  I was clinging onto the past in fragments and holding on for dear life.

In his case, it was his first job and his high school GPA, both of which have long since passed their freshness date.  In my case, it was a swank internship that I had picked up during college.  And even though we both knew it wasn’t essential to have them listed out anymore, we still clung to the hopes that their presence would somehow be a boon to us in the future.

It’s not that these past experiences are not important parts of our lives; we may leave them on because they remind us of who we used to be, who we could become, or something we once did.  They can define crucial moments when we realized what we wanted to be.  The problem is that anyone else who sees the resume might not see it that way.

Everyone has a story to tell about how they got to where they are.  When you meet them, they are carrying the sum of their experiences with them.  But when brevity, clarity and focus are key, the past details are not as critical, and there isn’t time to tell a story that complex.  It’s better to save those things for a cover letter or for the interview.

What’s worse, these details from times gone by can consume some people.  Think of those who “peaked” in high school, or people who hold on to a single achievement or story.  Without letting go, they can never showcase the progress and development that has happened to them since those bygone times.  Looking too far into the past can lead some people to get trapped there.

So the next time you’re looking over your resume or introducing yourself to others, think about what moments and achievements you are using to showcase yourself.   As long as they’re not too far in the past and too irrelevant to who you are now, you should be fine.  While looking back can be cathartic and comfortable, it’s better for you and your future to look ahead.

Any high school guidance counselor worth their salt will tell you that you should send out to at least six universities that are evenly distributed among three groups: schools you want to get into (dream schools), schools you can probably get into (realistic schools), and schools you know you can get into (“Well crap, looks like I’m going here” schools).  In fact, if you think back to sessions with your high school guidance counselor, you’re probably going to find tons of nuggets of info about applying to colleges that could work for job apps, too.  But the three tiers are the key, and one of the reasons that most people are having trouble finding work.

In marketing, one of the ways that customers are segmented is into three groups: A, B and C groups.  The A group is people who do not buy your product, have never bought your product, and may never buy your product.  The B group is people who have bought your product once or twice or three times; B group members are light users.  If someone’s in the C group, they use the product frequently and are big fans of the brand; C group contains anyone from frequent users to fanatics.

Unsurprisingly, most companies try to cater their marketing to the A group to increase market share, even if catering to the B group might get them more profits, and catering to the C group could lead to more word-of-mouth and positive reviews from their already devoted consumers.

When people apply for jobs, they tend to stick with businesses that are in the B group (aka the realistic schools), rather than branching out.  And this is stupid.

By limiting yourself to a certain type of employer along a single spectrum, they’re helping to create a sort of job seeker-bottleneck where certain positions receive a heavy influx of applicants, while others receive next to none.  As a result, fewer people get jobs, and more positions remain unfilled for longer.

You might be wondering how this bottleneck is created, if people are on different levels of experience and education.  The answer to that is locked up in some government/independent study that I’m too lazy to look up.  But the short answer is that too many people read into job descriptions too much, counting themselves out from work that they are qualified for, perceiving themselves as on a level similar to their peers.  This is why there’s a big problem with finding employment for workers who once held entry-level and mid-upper level positions.

The bottleneck does serve the purpose of bringing in better candidates, but that helps the companies, not the unemployed.

When someone applies for a job that they think is beneath them, there’s only two things that really need to be dealt with: the overqualification hurdle and personal justification for job whoring.  Other than that, there’s no reason why you can’t sell out.  It’s much better to be able to pay for rent and food and utilities than becoming a hobo.  And if worst comes to worst, those applying for a backup (aka “C” group) job can always come up with an exit strategy.

As for the “A” group applications, all I can say is that a lot of people are more qualified than they might think.  It might behoove some applicants to apply for the position anyway – some seemingly inconsequential experience can end up netting a ridiculously good job.  And there are some occasions where a hiring manager will promote from within to give the applicant work one or two rungs down on the corporate ladder anyway.

So when it comes to sending out resumes, don’t be limited by what you think you can get.  Explore the other two ends of the spectrum to create a three-tiered approach.  You might be surprised at the results!

Not too long ago, I was looking for a way to make a digital resume that would stand out more than a standard Word document or pdf.  After all, the digital format offers more opportunities to be creative and to innovate the old format.  BriteTab is a free service that allows you to create great-looking digital resumes for free, with videos, links and images.  So if you want to create a resume that better represents who you are, check it out!

BriteTab

If you’ve been following NMH on Twitter (which you should, given how the tweets let you know when I update every day on this sporadic schedule I’m keeping), you might have noticed that the followers count is doing something it hasn’t done in a long time: growing at a more stable rate.  It used to bounce around wildly – one minute, there would be 10 new followers, then 7 would leave, then 4 more would join, then 3 would leave, then 8 would join, 10 would leave…there was no consistency, and I was worried about how to get the numbers on track.

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t fully get Twitter.  But I’m starting to.  So I took a page from my own book and have started sending short thank you messages to new followers.  And whaddya know – they’ve stuck around!

I’d love to say it’s because the content in my tweets and on this blog has increased in quality, but the truth is that it’s probably because I’m making a more concentrated effort to connect with readers.

But I digress – this is a blog about job searching, and I’m just talking about something you shouldn’t do at work (but should do for the job search).

When you send in an application for a job online, if you’re lucky, you’ll get an automated response message.  The message will usually thank you for your submission, and will say something about contacting you if the company is interested, but otherwise you won’t hear anything.  So you can spend days, weeks, or even months waiting for a response that may never come.

Even though you’ve crafted a meticulous application specifically for that position and company, you might still get silence.  And even if you follow-up with the employer, you might get silence (although now it’s more unlikely).  So what can you do?

If you have a job search site that tracks your submission, that might help.  But the easiest way to deal with the silence and uneasiness that accompanies it is to ignore it.  Keep sending out applications, looking for other jobs and be productive.

Regardless of the medium in which you contact the employer about your candidacy for an open position, the social obligation of the company to contact you is no longer there.  So keep on looking for work – if you dwell on the silence, the “no” can be even more deafening.

Given all the posts about the fracturing culture, setting oneself up as an individual, finding a competitive advantage in the workplace, the differences in body language between people and other things of that nature, the title of this post might seem surprising.  But really, it shouldn’t.

By now, it’s pretty well-known that the Pareto Principle is being unintentionally used by employers – if 100 applications that fit a job perfectly are sent in, only 80 are identified by resume systems as being viable candidates and only 20% of those individuals end up being contacted for an interview.  So when it comes down to the mechanics of a job application from the employer’s side, it’s an issue of time versus the sheer quantity of applicants.

You might be one of those 100 perfect applicants, but you wind up having a 16% chance of getting the interview.  And since an average of 10 seconds is spent looking at your cover letter and resume, your application had better stick out (in a good way).

Putting aside the squeaky wheel philosophy, your application needs to be tailored to the position you’re applying for.  Use their buzzwords.  If you can, match writing style and word choice.  Watch your formatting.  And for gosh sakes, read over it.

Your job application is a persuasive argument for why the company should waste its time to give you an interview, waste more time training you, and waste money paying you.  If you can’t make a specific, well-thought-out case for your necessity, then they will pass you over.  It has nothing to do with how nice you are, the words you use, or in some cases, your education and experience.  Make a unique application for each unique job.

Who cares if you’re the same as everyone else?  If your application does its job correctly, you’ll find employment, and you can differentiate yourself then.

If you’ve ever filled out a profile online for a job site, you may have noticed that it has a layout that seems familiar.  Maybe it’s because the website promises to match you with a compatible job.  Or because it asks you about your hobbies, ideal job, employment history and so on.  Maybe it’s because you get asked for a picture and a tag line to go along with your user name.  Whatever it is, eventually we all come to realize that job seeker profile sites are repurposed dating sites.

There has already been a post on this blog about the dating-employment connection, so this one will focus more on the common mistakes that users make on both job and dating profile sites.

The first mistake that most people make comes with creating silly user names.  If you’re going to go with something other than a permutation of your name, at least pick something that’s related to your career or interests.  And try to avoid using numbers; it makes you seem more original and/or professional.  So HotAndSexy567 would not be a good choice for either.

But bad writing can do much more harm than using a silly handle on the site.  When you’re writing a brief bio of yourself, starting off with things like “I usually never do this…” or “Friends and co-workers would say I’m…” or using sentence fragments (“Hard worker.  Likes a challenge.”) don’t help you stand out.  Would you go up to a potential mate or employer and say, “Hi.  If you asked my friends about me, they would say I’m polite, dedicated and punctual”?  Write your bio like you were telling someone about yourself in a conversation.  And if you do go up to people and say that, you might want to rethink your dating and employment strategy.

You should also avoid using the applications and widgets on the site that don’t help you reach your goal.  Sure, you can add your Twitter feed, set mobile connectivity, add in background themes and so on, but what’s the point?  Unless any of these features get you any closer to finding a significant other or gainful employment, you’re just postponing what you’re there to do in the first place.  Focus on your goal and only use the add-ons that will actually help you.

Lastly, you should make sure that you’re going after people and professions for whom (or which) you would be a good fit.  If you don’t have the education or experience to match the requirements for a job, you probably won’t get it even though you think the company looks nice and there’s a nice salary involved.  Similarly, if your interests, hobbies, relationship goals and beliefs are the polar opposites of someone else’s, there’s no reason for you to pursue them on the dating site, even if you think they look cute.  In both job and relationship websites, you have the chance to find something or someone who matches your specific criteria – you don’t need to settle or waste your time with vocations (or people) that don’t really interest you.

When it comes to romance and employment, there are a lot of similarities.  So if you don’t know whether to apply for the job, think about what you would do in your dating life.  And if you don’t know whether to ask someone out, think about what you would do in your work life.  You’d be surprised how much this can help you achieve personal and professional success.

At some point, we’ve all noticed that one word keeps popping up in our personal vocabularies too much for it to be a coincidence.  And if you’re like me, you’ve probably headed over to Thesaurus.com or used a hard copy thesaurus to expand your vernacular.  But this tool is a powerful one that may be the little nudge that turns your job application from a dud to the one that gets you hired.

If you use the same words too consistently, it will appear as if you don’t know how to present yourself and your ideas well enough, which is a major detriment in any professional setting.  And if the job that you’re applying for is one that relies on communication skills, you’d be setting yourself up for failure without some good word choice.

By changing around the words that you use, you can change your tone and the impression that you give to others.  Here’s an extreme example, using a classic TV theme song as it was originally written:

I whistled for a cab and when it came near / The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror / If anything I can say this cab is rare / But I thought ‘Now forget it’ – ‘Yo homes to Bel Air’

Using synonyms and altering word choice and sentence structure, we have a completely different statement:

I grabbed the attention of the nearest carriage.  As it approached me, I noticed its unique accouterments, including an identifying marker inscribed with the word “Fresh” and facsimile gambling instruments hanging from a viewing surface. If anything, I must concede that this jitney was most out of the ordinary. Pushing such thoughts aside, I directed the driver to my new abode.

Although this is taking it a step too far (and enters a level of snootiness that you wouldn’t want to convey), this example shows how restructuring words can deliver a completely different message while saying the same thing.  Make sure to pick your words carefully to find the tone that you want.

You should take care to not appear too grandiloquent (using big words to sound important), as it can make you seem pretentious or like someone who is overcompensating.  Instead, stick to replacements and five-dollar words when you need that extra punch in your application, or when a synonym illustrates your point more clearly.  If you’re able to vary your word choice deftly, your written materials will be more appealing and give you a better chance of getting the job.

You guys have no idea how long I’ve waited for someone to ask this:

Dear Andrew,

I recently re-entered the ranks of the unemployed, though it’s been a while since I’ve had to look for a job.  What is the biggest mistake that someone can make on their resume?

Short answer: Not proofreading.

Longer answer: The biggest mistake that someone can make on their resume (or cover letter, or any other part of the job application) is to not use spell check, or to check spelling and grammar without proofreading.

With the lax allowances of the Internet, like a lack of capitalizations, punctuation, sentence structure and abbreviations, more people than ever are submitting job applications that would get a “C-” in a fifth-grade writing class.  The simple action of running a spell checker can save potential embarrassment and ensure that your application is clean and polished.

But spell check doesn’t catch everything.

Some of the most common errors can be found in similar words, like they’re and their and there, or affect and effect, or its and it’s.  And because they count as words, a computer can gloss over them.  Adding or subtracting an apostrophe (like its and it’s) can change something from a plural (no apostrophe) to ownership (with apostrophe), and vice-versa.

If the spell check doesn’t give you any alternative spelling suggestions but still says the word is wrong, unless it’s a last name, look it up in the dictionary.  Or at dictionary.com.  Afraid you’re using one word too much?  Try a thesaurus.

The easiest way to find errors is to read something aloud.  If it doesn’t sound right when you say it, then it isn’t right.  What may read fine may not sound fine.  And since everyone interprets what they read differently, make sure it makes sense when spoken aloud.

So spend a little extra time going over your job application to check for content, not just spelling and grammar errors.  It could be the difference between getting the job and having to repeat your sixth grade English class.

The news cycle was abuzz last week with the story of a boy who accidentally flew off in his father’s experimental balloon.  He was chased for hours by rescue teams until the balloon landed, but he wasn’t inside.  It was then discovered that he was hiding in the garage the entire time.

Really.

Of course, there were some later reports that the whole thing was staged, but the why of the situation isn’t that important.  What is important is this: when looking for the child, his parents forgot to look in every room of the house.

Think about when you’re filling out a job application.  Do the details mentioned in the job description show in your resume and cover letter?  Do you follow all submission guidelines and make sure that you have everything spelled correctly?  Is the letter addressed to the right person at the correct company?

Sometimes, in the panic to get a job (or find your child who may or may not be in your experimental hot air balloon), important details can be overlooked.  Take a minute to breathe normally, think about your situation, and make sure that you have checked for all potential problems.  Not only will your chances of getting a job increase, but you will be less likely to create a national incident because of it.

I can’t think of a single person who actually enjoys junk email.  Regular junk mail, maybe.  But not the digital kind.  All of the messages are impersonal, generic and boring.  You can spot a junk message miles away, and most of us are equipped with spam filters to help block them out.

But many job seekers send out spam email to employers.

Instead of taking the time to do much more than change a name, company and address on a cover letter, a generic message might be mailed or emailed to hundreds of different employers.  And there might be a few hits.  But they’ll be discarded for the same reason that one would get rid of spam emails.  After all, they’re impersonal, generic and boring.

Even if the average time spent by an employer on a cover letter and resume might be ten seconds, that’s no reason not to make a personal message or put a few minutes of extra effort into a cover letter and resume.  The special touches might get you noticed more, and at the very least, will probably get you some sort of response beyond your application being moved to the trash.