Needle, Meet Haystack

Today’s post is a 3-fer, rarer than a Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster sighting – that’s right, it’s the question of the week-resume school-theme week hat trick!  Bookmark this one, folks; you’ll be telling your grandkids about it.

Anyway, today’s question comes from a reader who wants some resume advice:

Dear Andrew,

What are some simple changes that I can make to my resume to help it stand out and get noticed?  Other than the buzzwords, bullet points and other stuff you’ve mentioned in past resume discussions, I mean.

Short answer: Format, content, and understanding your audience

Longer answer: It’s hard to really make one’s resume stand out, as an emailed resume should be in a standard format that’s prepped in case a resume scanner reads it.  But if you’re posting the resume online, mailing it in, or giving it to someone, you have more options.

You can change the format of your resume, by putting it in columns going horizontally on the page or tying it in to some overall job application package; I sent out a “magazine” with my resume as the index at the back and a friend of mine sent his resume in as part of a booklet that went with his video resume (he was applying for a film editing position, so that’s one of the times when you should consider making one).  However, we were applying for creative jobs.  Don’t feel the need to come up with something snazzy or inventive when a simple, straightforward resume can do the job.

And for the love of god, don’t use different colored paper.  There’s a reason that black and white is the standard.

Also, how are you describing your work history, education and so on?  Are you using numbers (which help give scope to things you did, like employees managed, amount of money handled in transactions, percentage sales increases, etc) and active voice?  Do you make concise statements that give the core details about what you did?  And, most importantly, are you showing the information that can help you get a job?

Let’s say that you’re applying for a managerial position.  Pick which one of these statements sounds more impressive:

• I have managed a mid-size team
• Managed 25 employees

There should be more to the statement than that, but keep your message clear, and don’t be afraid to brag a bit.

Lastly, another way to look at your resume is through the eyes of the person who will read it.  What stands out?  What doesn’t?  Does it look pleasing to the eye?  Does anything just look off?  Since resumes are usually only scanned over during the first pass by most hiring managers, try to put emphasis on what you want them to see when they glance at your resume, based on what you see when you glance at it.

This can be changed by indenting, bullet points and using bold, italics or underlining.  Simple?  Yes.  Common sense?  Yes.  But are you applying it to your resume?

It can be difficult to make a winning resume, especially with all the different messages going around on the best tactics.  But just as no two people or jobs are the same, neither are any two resumes.  Experiment with different resumes and see what gets you the best results.

Based off of some of the feedback from last week’s outrageously popular post, I’ve decided to give some hints to those who are determined to sally forth and create a video resume.  So here are a few tips that might help you make that video great!

Do learn how to edit.  I took a video editing class and picked up several books on basic and advanced (re: computer and non-computer) techniques.  I learned a lot of things that helped me to make my videos look more professional.

Don’t use everything.  If you have a lot of commercials or videos in your reel, cut it down to the best two or three examples of your work.

Do keep it short.  The longer it is, the more likely it won’t all be watched and will go in the trash.

Don’t reveal everything.  It’s easy to want to talk about your education and work experience in greater detail, but you should keep things concise.

Do think of it as a movie trailer, only for you.  Actually, my first video resume-type submission was a fake trailer called “the intern” that helped me land an internship with a sweet advertising firm.

Don’t make one if it won’t help you.  If there’s a strong video or visual component to the job, it makes sense.  But if the only visuals you’ll be using are PowerPoint presentations (if at all), it’s best not to waste your time.

Do make it interesting.  Change locations, do some actions, have other people in it – make sure you appear dynamic, energetic, and awesome.

Don’t make it entertaining.  People try too hard to appear funny, sociable, or silly.  Save it for YouTube.

Do make it personalized.  Even if it’s just a short blurb at the beginning to address the person watching the video, a little effort goes a long way.

Don’t send it in one format.  Like we already discussed, it can be difficult to get someone to watch your video.  You might have to be just as persistent in getting it to them as you would a paper resume.

Do use good equipment.  Quality matters.

Don’t use a slide show.  Unless it’s cut in with video, there’s nothing that slides can add that couldn’t just be on a paper resume.

Do plan it out beforehand.  Improv won’t save you here – prepare a script, blocking, and maybe even storyboards before you shoot.  You’ll save time, and the final result will look better.

Whether it’s on paper or digital, a solid resume (and a great interview) will get you the job.  So if you’re going with the video, make sure that it does the job just as well (if not better) than its old-school counterpart.

The other day, I was reading an article discussing the pros and cons of making a video resume.  Although it covered the basics well enough, there are a few things that it did not cover (and some that it did) that you should know about.  A video resume, if used correctly, can be a powerful tool in the job applicant’s arsenal.  But if made without proper awareness or preparation, can lead to disaster.

1. You will be judged on quality.  Unlike a standard online application (or even a paper resume), simply having a video resume is not necessarily a good thing.  You will have to make sure the picture, sound and overall quality are high, as well as finding unique and interesting ways of presenting yourself.  A bad video resume can hurt you more than help you.
2. You probably shouldn’t email it.  Many employers will scan through the bodies of emails, but due to a fear of viruses or other digital nasties, might not open attachments.  And given the size of a video file, it might take too long on both ends to send and receive the file.
3. It can’t go up online.  Most online applications do not have an option for you to upload a large file, such as a video resume (if you are permitted to upload anything at all).  And despite the allure of doing so, it’s not a good idea to put your video resume up on YouTube or other video hosting sites.
4. They might not want to watch it.  Whereas a resume can be scanned into a program to search for key words and phrases, a video resume must be watched.  And since they are usually at least several minutes long, an employer may not have the time or inclination to sit through the video.
5. They might not be able to legally watch it.  Many companies are equal opportunity employers, meaning that they do not employ people with a bias towards race, gender, age and so on.  By showing yourself in your video resume, you will be showing them what you look like, which could open the door to legal problems for the company.
6. It’s not always worth what you put into it.  Unless you’re sending in the video resume because it actually pertains to the job you’re applying for (video production or TV commercial development, for example), having a video resume might not make that much of a difference in employers’ decision-making processes.  And given the time it would take to plan, shoot and edit the video, you might be getting a lot less back from all of your efforts.
7. It might cost more than you care to spend.  The monetary costs for the camera, editing software and storage (like CD-Rs, DVDs and flash drives) might be more than you can afford.
8. You might get the opposite response from what you had hoped.  See exhibit A.

But then again, you could have a masterpiece like this.  So if you plan to make a video resume, plan carefully!

It might be hard to believe, but there was a time when people didn’t have access to job search websites, freelancer boards, Twitter job updates or Craigslist.  And although we’ve thankfully moved past that dark, dark age known as “Any Year Before The 1990s,”  we still run the risk of technological dependency, especially for the job search.

So let’s say your computer/smartphone/Internet breaks.  What do you do?

Besides going to your local library or web cafe to use on of their computers, you can always take a look at the local newspapers, though the classifieds section isn’t what it once was.  Another option is to go through the phone book and call businesses that you are interested in working for to inquire about openings.  You could even write and mail letters to prospective companies (provided you can somehow get their addresses).  And you can also look up headhunters, employment agencies, or temp agencies in the phone book.

So next time you find yourself with a busted laptop because stupid Vista decided to delete your video card drivers for no good reason, remember that there are still some options to keep you busy on the job search.

Even though most people would call me a young upstart punk for talking about working even though I’m not too many years out of college, the truth is that you could say I’ve been working for at least 15 years.  And I don’t mean “being a student is work”-working.

When I was 10, I started out working weekends at the front desk at my dad’s store.  By the time I was 13, I was going in after school and doing that job plus a few administrative duties (don’t tell the government – they get mad about this sort of thing sometimes).  Of course, the store closed when I was 15, so I took a couple of years off to focus on school and volunteer opportunities.  But between those jobs and what I’ve done since, be it part-time retail over summer vacation, an internship at a prestigious ad agency, or even my more recent endeavors, I’ve found something from each position that’s helped me become better at the next one.

That doesn’t mean that I’m going to put them all on my resume.

There’s no reason to run a novella-length resume that drones on and on about your accomplishments and careers.  Anything that is over seven years old is ancient history.  Just pick the three or four most pertinent jobs and use them.  There is no reason to mention an internship at an architectural firm when applying for a retail job (or vice-versa).

But what do you do if none of your work experience quite matches up with the job?  It’s best to go with the most pertinent parts of your job history, preferably from your most recent positions.

Placing your entire job history on a resume almost gives the impression that you feel overqualified for the position, or that you really want to write your autobiography.  Either way, pick the most important stuff and leave the rest out.

So in the past, there’s been a few instances of discussing personal scheduling, planning things out, and getting yourself organized.  But this week’s question is actually about other people’s schedules.  Whaaaaaat?

Dear Andrew,

I’m working part-time, but looking for something more.  I’ve been sending out applications, and I noticed that I get more responses on some days than others.  Does my timing matter?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: Yes, your timing does matter.  At least, it would make sense that it does.

Look at it this way: If you’re sending in an email, you hope that someone will read it (unless you send mass mailings or are just weird).  And assuming that the human resources person works Monday through Friday from 9 to 5, it would stand to reason that the person who will receive your application will read it during those hours (adjusted for time zones, of course).

This doesn’t mean that 9-5 on a M-F schedule is the best time.

Weekends will obviously be bad, because your application will move lower and lower down the inbox list.  But you might have to think about your intended audience’s workday.  On Monday morning, there might be morning meetings, work to catch up on from the weekend and so on.  So maybe they won’t REALLY be looking at new applications until around 11 AM or so.  And Friday?  Do you honestly know anyone who works in an office that works in an office after 3:30 in the afternoon?

So plan accordingly.  Think of when the hiring manager would be trying to look over applications.  And send yours in then.  But if it’s a choice between sending the application in at 4 PM on a Friday or waiting till Monday, send it in on Friday.  After all, you’re making some assumptions about how the hiring manager works.

And hey, they might have a weird email thingy that magically draws attention to your application!

I may have mentioned this before, so I apologize if you’ve already read it.  But it bears repeating (provided I said it before), especially if you’ve been working for less than five years.

There’s a tendency to put one’s education on the top of a resume, after the header.  Unless you went to an Ivy League school (or foreign equivalent), don’t do this.  All you need to do is put it after your work experience section.  Seriously, that’s it.

This simple trick will make it appear that you’ve been in the workforce longer, and that you prioritize your experiences over your book learnin’.  And if you look more experienced, it’s more likely that your resume will stand out among all the others.

If you don’t have any work experience, though, this is a bad idea.  Instead, highlight some activities, volunteer opportunities, or choice skills that you have that would show your assets to your potential employers.

So I talk a bit about resumes, and just this past week I mentioned something that you should never put on a resume.  Continuing the trend, here’ an article that suggests some phrases you should keep off your resume.  I’d suggest you keep these phrases off of your cover letter as well.

10 Phrases That Kill Resumes

Waaaaaaayyyyy back in the old days of yore, when I was but a young man still in school, drafting my first resume as part of an English class assignment, I remember my teacher telling us something like, “Make sure that your objective section at the top is clear and concise.  It’s one of the most important parts of the resume.”

Now I can safely say that that piece of knowledge is about as true as George Washington and the cherry tree, most of the Christopher Columbus stuff, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and good Steven Seagal movies besides Under Siege.

When you think about it, the “objectives” section is less useful than Truck Nutz.  What’s your objective?  Oh, yeah: TO GET HIRED FOR THE JOB YOU’RE APPLYING FOR.  The objective(s) section is a pointless space-filler, and it’s almost condescending to whoever will look at your resume if you keep it on there.

So take that crap off your resume and add some more stuff to a past job description or the skills section.  Something that might actually help you get a job.

Sometimes, you may come across a job posting that has a deadline by which you must apply.  Today’s question deals with why those deadlines are there.

Dear Andrew,

Are deadlines on job postings really that important?  I found a great job online, but the deadline is already passed.  Should I still apply?

Short answer: Apply if you want, but it’s probably too late (sorry!).

Longer answer: Companies attach deadlines to job postings for any number of reasons.   Some of those that I’ve heard before are:

• It’s a short-term position (so filling it when there’s only three weeks left is a bit silly)
• The job they initially need you for has a deadline (so they need it filled quickly for RIGHT NOW but will keep you on)
• They have someone in mind that they will promote internally but some company/industry/government regulation requires the position to be open to everybody (but for how long is not specified)
• The company wants to limit the number of applicants
• The company has several jobs in different departments with similar competencies required of them, and does not want overlap, so they have separated job posting availabilities to help human resources out
• It’s a part of a test on meeting deadlines and following instructions

But no matter what reason it really is, chances are that the hiring manager(s) will only look at applications filed before the due date.  They might look at yours, but don’t expect too much.  But if they don’t fill the position, they might re-post it again in a few weeks and you could get another chance!