Personal Marketing: The New Job Search

If you’ve been unemployed recently, you’ll notice that the job hunt has changed drastically from what it used to be. You used to submit applications to job postings, sit home and wait for someone to call you for an interview. People don’t do this anymore. We’re still in a recession and unemployment rates are still high. Because of this, it’s likely that someone more qualified than you had applied to these open competitions anyway. If you’re sitting home waiting for the standard process to work, you’re going to be sitting there for a long time.

I've spoken at length about how to use social media to network and get yourself noticed outside the traditional channels. In addition to doing this, you need something about you that stands out from the other candidates, and then you need to effectively convey that to potential employers. You basically need a personal marketing plan.

1. Describe Your Dream Job

First you need to identify what you want to be doing.

• What are the skills someone doing that job needs to have?
• What are that person’s daily tasks?
• What behavioural competencies are required for this position?
• What type of experience does that person need?
• What does this person’s career path look like?

You should be able to answer most of these questions before even starting to think about applying. Then you need to identify the gaps between you and the ideal candidate for this position. Before applying for this position, you may need to upgrade some skills or gain some experience. Don’t sit there defeated saying “I can’t get experience because no one will hire me.” There are internship opportunities or not-for-profits, and small businesses who would gladly accept a volunteer to do whatever it is you do. Then when you introduce yourself, you can replace the word “unemployed bum” with “freelancer” or “professional consultant” even if you’re not getting paid.

2. Identify Your Key Differentiators

• What is unique about you?
• Why do you stand out from the other candidates?
• Do you have accomplishments that other candidates may not have (i.e. awards, publications, relevant memberships, etc.)?

Get to know your own personality. Ask some friends how they would describe you. You need recruiters to look at your resume and online profiles, and really feel like they know you. Unless you’re just a miserable person… then hide your personality at all costs.

3. Build Your Brand

Once you’ve done this, you need to be able to describe yourself as the ideal candidate. Seamlessly link your description of yourself to the description of the ideal candidate. When you introduce yourself to people, they will often ask what you do. You need a brief description of yourself that highlights your key differentiators. You should also tailor it to your audience. There may be more than one career path to your ideal job, or more than one job that interests you. Know your audience, and make sure you’re telling them what they want to hear from you. Companies wouldn’t use the same marketing collateral across all clients. They tailor it to highlight the products or services most valued by different target markets. You should do the same for your target companies.  

4. Execute

Once you’ve created the outline of your candidate brand, update all of your social networking sites well as your resume, business card, etc. to reflect this brand. Then you can start to develop an application process. Much like a sales process, you’re going to be generating leads and identifying the most effective methods of reaching out to those companies, that is consistent with your personal brand. I have an entire series of “How To” posts about using social networking for the job hunt called “Dude Where’s My Job?” Take a look back through for more tips on interacting with these companies online.

Sitting at home, filling out applications and applying to open ads is old-school. That job search model is not productive in this type of economy, so why would you sit home and do the same thing over and over again with no results? Stand out and be productive.

The Job Hunt Blues

People often tell you that looking for work is a full time job. Those people are correct. It is actually the WORST job ever because you don’t get paid and the more you have do it, the worse you feel about yourself. Like a regular job, you need a work-life balance. This is actually more important than it is in a regular job, because companies need to see you at your best. If you’re too eager, or mopey, or tired your chances of success decrease slightly. Sitting at home doing the same thing over and over again with little or no success really demotivates a lot of people and they start complaining about everything, including the lack of employment in their respective areas. This is not attractive to any prospective employer.

Lucky for you, I’ve put together one of my famous numbered lists to solve all your problems.

1.       Wake Up at an Appropriate Time

It’s really easy when you don’t have a place to be, to sleep in, watch cartoons and live the sedentary life. You still have to put in the hours to be an effective job seeker. Also, interviews are always during work hours, so you’ll most likely need to be alert for a morning interview. It’s hard to do that at a 9am interview if you’re used to waking up at noon.

2.       Plan a Full Workday

It’s really easy to get sidetracked when you don’t have a plan. Create a job hunting strategy and map out all of the tasks involved.  You know when you are the most effective, so you can plan the heavy stuff for those times. You need to take into consideration the time it takes to fill out applications, write cover letters and tailor your resume. Make sure you include time to use social networking for job hunting purposes, and attend physical networking events as well. A former employer of mine once told me not to work on any one task for more than two hours at a time. He says after this time, you become less interested and less efficient. Change it up every now and then.

3.       Take Breaks

The reason steps 1 and 2 are important is that if you do them properly, you won’t feel guilty about taking regularly scheduled breaks. Your employer is required to give you a 15 minute break every four hours and 30 minutes for lunch on a full shift. If he’s not a douchebag, he gives you a full hour. Take those breaks. They are government mandated for a reason. Don’t be your own douchebag boss.

4.       Don’t Forget About Your Hobbies/Personal Life

If you are a regular gym-goer, now is not the time to stop. You should also take this opportunity to start eating healthier. Continue to go out and see people on a regular basis. Doing stuff from a computer at your kitchen table and then moving to the couch at 5pm, and then to bed and back to the table in the morning can make you a little crazy. The networking events you attend won’t be enough. Plan things with your friends and go out at night. Be a regular person even though you don’t have a job…just do it cheaply cause you’re poor.

When you neglect to properly plan and execute your job hunting strategy, you start to feel guilty about how little you’ve done. Then you don’t take time for yourself. This results in you being less effective. It’s a vicious cycle that ultimately results in a pint of ice-cream, a lot of crying and still no jobs. The worst thing you can do for yourself at this juncture is take away the things that make you sane. Also, if you have good friends, they will pay for things because they feel sorry for you. You won’t get this kind of treatment again until someone you love dies (true story).

P.S. These strategies can also be applied to people who work from home or for themselves. 

Networking Doesn’t Stop Being Important Just Because You’re Employed

Remember when you were looking for work, and people kept telling you the best way to find employment was to network both on and offline? Specifically, you should remember ME telling you that. Well once you start working, your networking shouldn’t stop. Opportunities are going to continue to present themselves outside of your current position and you still need to be visible to really take advantage of them.

Reasons to Network

Side Projects: Other motivated people will always have some kind of side project on the go that will enhance your resume beyond what your current job can offer you.

Random Really Cool Stuff: There is always some kind of event going on that you only really know about because you’re connected to the right people.

Finding Out How Much You’re Worth: If you’re decent at your job, and others see what you can do, you could start getting offers to “jump ship.” Then you see things like how much another company is willing to pay you, and you can feel confident asking for a raise.

New Job Opportunities You Never Would Have Thought of: Sometimes, you SHOULD jump ship and try something completely new. Sitting at your desk doing the same thing over and over followed by going directly home and not engaging with people outside your circle of friends really limits this opportunity.

You Could Be Looking Again: Someday your company could shut down, downsize, or just start to suck altogether. You’ll want to be able to exploit all of your contacts for a speedy job search. Remember, the bigger your network, the shorter the search.

Networking at Work

Meet Everyone at Work: Make a point to engage with as many people within and outside the company as possible. Vendors, agencies, clients…pretty much anyone.

Be Involved in Your Community: People are 300% more impressed with you when you are working vs when you are unemployed (Warning, may not be an actual statistic). So why not meet people at these events when you’re impressive rather than waiting until you’re sad and poor?

Leverage Social Media: Your community is going to have some kind of event calendar posted somewhere whether it is created by your local Chamber of Commerce or the city or town that you live in. Whoever has created it is going to love it when you comment, share or retweet it. This will also increase your presence among people who attend these events, even before attending them. Make sure to add all of your contacts to LinkedIn and Twitter as you meet them, so it doesn’t look so desperate later when you contact them (i.e. try to exploit them).

There are millions of ways to network. For a reminder on how to use social media to do it properly, check out an earlier post Dude, Where's My Job 2 - Networking Revisited. Remember, if you’re an introvert and have difficulty networking and meeting new people, just get over it cause there’s no real alternative that would yield the same results. 

Recruiting for Social Media: It’s Easier Than You Think

Your company understands that it needs to be active on social networking sites. Your Facebook page is quickly becoming more important than your website. The dilemma most small business owners face is though they understand the need for social media, they don’t understand the most effective ways to use it. You’d like to ask your marketing guy to do it, but yesterday you saw him make a voice call from a landline to a record store to see if they had the latest albums. At this point you resolve to hire someone to create and manage your online presence. Here are a few tips for when you’re looking.

1.  Age Doesn't Matter

Most people will assume that a young person will be better at social media, because they grew up in a generation that uses it more readily. This is incorrect. As a young person, I can tell you that we are literally not better at ANYTHING. Experience trumps (whatever the hell you think young people have) every time. We are more apt to engage in social media, but someone in their 40’s with an affinity for social media also has “life experience,” “related job experience,” “industry experience”  and other things to draw on that a younger person wouldn't.  Social media skills require a specific way of thinking. The person can’t be intimidated by a new program or feature, because there’s a new one every 5 minutes. There is no reason someone in their 30’s or 40’s can’t have this skill.

2. Hire a Writer

It’s all words. Your employee needs to make the words happen and he needs to make ‘em happen good.

3. Check Up on Them Online

If this person is planning to work in social media, they should have given you links to their social media accounts, and their presence should be quasi-professional. As much as you think you would like to separate the people from the organization, now that everything’s online, you really can’t. They will put your company’s name on their LinkedIn, and attach their Twitter feed to this account. Others will look your company up on LinkedIn and see who your employees are.  Anything they've made publicly available on purpose is fair game to use in your assessment.

4. Beware of Experts

Someone who walks into an interview telling you they know exactly what needs to be done and exactly how to do it is a dud. Social media is social, therefore you need to get to know the clientele before you’re able to really understand the best way to engage with them. A good candidate will offer suggestions of possibilities along with the caveat that everything is subject to change based on the results of the interaction.  

Don't make assumptions based on what you believe a good social media expert should be. Put these people through the same process you put all of your employees through. Identify the key skills and relevant experience you're looking for. Assess them thoroughly, and hire someone who is the right fit for your organization. 

Jumping Ship: Switching Careers

Remember when you started your career and you were super-excited about all the things you could accomplish? You had lists of goals, creative ideas, and enthusiasm. Over time, you may have found that the industry you work in, or the management team you work for, have slowly chipped away at all of that excitement and now every day is just a struggle not to slit your own wrists. It may be time for a career shift (or medication).

If you started in Human Resources like I did, you may have found that your position had significantly less “strategic consulting” and a lot more “glorified secretary” work. You also probably noticed that there was so much process and red tape, that anything new or innovative you came up with won’t be implemented for years, and by then it will be outdated.

Don’t’ get discouraged. Basically, you played Russian roulette with the career revolver and lost. Luckily, the consequences are less brain-spattery than actual Russian roulette and you can bounce back a lot faster.

Step 1 – Don’t quit your day job

The economy still sucks.  You need money. Food and shelter are still very important components of staying alive. You may not have any experience in this new industry you’re entering. Keeping your day job and testing the new industry in your spare time is an excellent way to not make the same mistake twice. Also, people will want to see proof that you know what you’re doing before they hire you. It’s a weird thing companies are doing now.

Step 2 – Start doing what you love

Just start doing it. If you want to be an events planner, start small. Host a dinner party. People will give you feedback on how terrible you are, and you can see if it is something you want to do full time. You can take on additional, larger events as opportunities arise. Once you develop a reputation, people will start asking you to do it, and maybe even pay you! …unless you suck…in which case, you still have your day job.

Step 3 – Advertise

Keep a portfolio of the new projects you’re working on. You don’t have to spend money on advertising. Post your portfolio on LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogger or any relevant account where your target audience would be.

Step 4 – Network

Develop a list of relevant people to follow and engage with online and learn how to do it properly. Think about where your target customer/employer will see you and who they engage with. If you would like to become an event planner, you should be interacting with companies that plan events, the events themselves (which will normally have their own social media accounts or at least a Facebook event) , and anyone else who is interested in what you’re doing. The more people sharing pictures of your place settings on Pinterest, or talking about you on Twitter, the better.

This gives you an opportunity to test out a new job risk-free. It’s like an internship, but more impressive because of the entrepreneurial aspect of having to create the opportunity yourself. After a while, you’ll have developed enough experience to make yourself a marketable employee in a completely new industry. …or you’ll have realized this job isn’t for you, but without getting all wrist-cutty. 

Resume Do’s and Don’ts

Remember when I used to blog about things? Well I’m doing it again! I committed a cardinal sin of social media and took a short hiatus while I started a new job. Since my last post in April, my Klout score has dropped 6 points. This can mean one of three things.

1. My social media presence is strong enough without my blog to sustain a fairly consistent score.
2. No one was really reading my blog anyway.
3. Klout doesn’t really measure anything accurately.

Luckily, for you guys, my new position is in recruitment. I have spent the last month going through resumes of marketing and communications professionals from all over North America, and I have put together a list of tips that can help you get from the recruiter to the hiring manager.

A while ago, I wrote a blog about how no one really knows what is supposed to go on a resume. After screening hundreds of applicants, I have a general idea of what “I” like to see on a resume as well as what I hate to see.

Do

Add links to former employer’s websites – If you were the marketing manager of a company I’ve never heard of, I will want to see that company’s website. If I can’t find it…how good were you?

Insert a brief description about what your former employers do – It’s possible that your business development experience at company ABC is a perfect match for one of my vacant positions. If you don’t tell me that company ABC produces widgets for a specific niche market, you’re assuming I will know or that I will go looking for that information. If you didn’t intrigue me somewhere else on the resume, I probably won’t do that.

Insert links to your social profiles – If I’m on the fence about someone or I like them and just want to learn more, I will try to creep them on LinkedIn. If you’ve applied for a position that requires social media experience, I’m going to creep you. If I can find you easily and see that you’re active, you get bonus points. (Warning: bonus points are non-transferable and have no cash value)

Be specific about what you did – If you worked in business development, throw some numbers in there. If you don’t have numbers, tell me about some specific impressive accounts you landed.

Example: Generated $1.2M in revenue from new accounts in fiscal year 2011-2012. OR Secured accounts with Unilever and Proctor & Gamble.

Don’t

Only include generic tasks you would read in a job description – A lot of people appear to copy and paste job descriptions to their resumes. (i.e. conducted research, lead generation, created marketing collateral.) This gets scanned over really quickly and doesn’t catch the eye of the recruiter (i.e. Me). If you do get to an interview I have to make sure I know:

• ·         What kind of research it was and what the results were.
• ·         What kind of leads you were looking for, how you looked for them, and which ones you were able to secure.
• ·         What kind of marketing collateral you created, who the target audience was, and how effective it was.

Include an Objective Statement – No matter how good you are at writing, these are always terrible. I don’t know who invented these, but I wish someone would have stopped them from doing so. Include a point form list of your strengths. These should be correlated to the job description.

Forget to market your abilities in other ways – If you have a graphic design background, don’t give me a crappily formatted word document. Show me you know what you’re doing. Don’t tell me you have strong attention to detail and then leave typos in your resume.

Ignore the job description – I have read objective statements for applications to marketing positions that state “looking for exciting new opportunities in human resources” …FAIL! I mostly hire independent contractors, and though the ad specifically states “contract position,” candidates tell me they are not interested in contract work. I already have frown lines from calling these people. 

Apply for jobs you’ll never get – Sometimes, you can get to an interview without all the required specifications. For example, I might still consider someone for a position where I’ve asked for 5 years’ experience if they only have four years, but an impressive resume. I will not consider you for a marketing manager position if you’ve only ever been a cashier. Think before you apply.

Cram everything into two pages – Someone made a rule that resumes had to be two pages long. It’s a stupid rule. If you have 5 years of experience, your resume will be longer. If you have an impressive resume that is clear and concise, it can be as long as it needs to be. Don’t leave out important details or reduce your font to 8 points thinking that you’re helping yourself get an interview…you’re not.

This is just a short list of my own pet peeves disguised as tips and tricks for job applicants. I’m sure there will be many more to come. If you’re a marketing and/or communications professional, feel free to send your resume along asking for feedback or a job. Our contract positions are listed here: VentureWeb Jobs, but often we have many more that aren’t posted. 

Stalking Your Way To Work

Have you ever been reprimanded for following someone too closely? Have you ever been served with a restraining order? Well then I have good news! Because of the internet’s ability to lull people into a false sense of security, causing them to report all of their personal details on a public forum, you can use these skills to find employment.

A lot of job-hunting enthusiasts will give you all kinds of information about how to set yourself apart using your cover letter and resume. They also give you a general overview of how to network, but don’t really get into the nitty-gritty of how to do it. The current job market is …terrible, and any advertised job you apply for is going to be riddled with competition. Unless you have been in the industry for years, have won some kind of award or have like a third arm or something, it’s going to be difficult to stand out… unless you have an “in” (a contact who is aware of your talents and your job situation). The more “in’s” you have, the better. A lot of jobs won’t be advertised, because they’ll be given to people with “in’s.”

First: Find A Company You Want To Work For

Start following these companies on every social media account they have. Engage with them. Their websites will also name their executives and employees, who will most likely also have social media accounts. You need to follow these people too. Passively begin to engage with them. Retweet, Like, Share, etc. relevant industry material, current events or general information. (You should already be doing this…we’ve discussed this already).

This part is important. Don’t be creepy! Do not comment on pictures of their vacation (where they’re wearing bathing suits) or on things their mom may have posted on their wall. If you have difficulty with this…maybe just skip Facebook altogether.

Through these accounts you’re using your online presence to let them get to know you. You’re also getting to know them. They’re going to tell you things like:

• ·        What committees they are on
• ·        What charity/networking events they go to.
• ·        What events they are hosting, sponsoring or just attending.

You need to go to those and meet them in person.

If they’re sponsoring an event, you can go, network and take pictures of yourself there. Use your social networks to tell them what an awesome time you had and post pics of you there on your networks. Blog about it! Companies will eat this attention up.

Once you’ve spent some time doing this, find a tasteful way to tell them you’re looking for work. This at least puts you on their radar. They can let you know if something comes up. Also, when you apply for an advertised job, you can let the people you’ve been in contact with know you’ve applied.

If you were successful, and they like you, they can give you tips and keep you abreast of the status of the competition. They can also favor you over other candidates, because they are familiar with you. This is your “in” and you did it using social networking…which is something your body needs anyway. 

Protect Your Career From Your Personal Life

Remember a couple of months ago when we were discussing whether it was a good idea to use Social Networking to find job applicants? Some of us were a little gun-shy. These online profiles have pictures, and information about age, political affiliations, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and all of the other things recruiters/employers aren't supposed to know. Then, as HR got its feet wet, it got braver.

 

Companies started asking job applicants to open their Facebook accounts and show them the content. This made some people uneasy, but it could be justified. Your Social Networking profiles are publicly available information. It could be assumed that the average social networker (is that the correct term for us?) publishes their employment details online. It is important for a company to know how you are going to portray yourself as one of their employees. Look at some Twitter profiles if you want to see some examples. People put their employer’s name and position title…and then write “tweets are my own and do not represent my employer.” Your tweets do represent your employer though. Especially if you’re one of the people the client will need to interact with when receiving the company’s service. “Hey remember that douchebag who posted his unpopular opinion about the situation in the middle-east? I don’t want to buy a car from him.” Candidates even had the ability to make their profile employer friendly, and use it to their advantage in the interview. They could show pictures of travelling and engaging in activities that make them appear more well-rounded.

Now we’ve crossed a line into ridiculousness. Asking for someone’s Facebook password so you can peruse its content at your leisure is like asking for their personal cellphone so you can read their text messages. The ONLY reason companies have the ability to do this is due to a lack of legislation regarding online profiles of any kind. If you’re an employer and you’re debating whether this is a good idea or not…I’d play it safe and wait for some relevant case law. If you’re an employee, go back through your Facebook profile messages. Did you just realize that if you’ve never deleted them, they’re all still there? I did! What is an employer going to think of those messages…especially without the context of the relationship you have with that person?

For Example:

• If someone did not understand my sense of humour, they would think I was really mean to my Mom.

• Did you ever subscribe to a dating app for Facebook? Did you meet a lot of people? Is your status still set to single? They’re gonna think you’re either a big player or just a sad, sad man.

• Remember that time the obviously fake Facebook profile sent you a message asking for your banking information, and you responded in the most inappropriate manner you could think of to see if you could gross them out enough to stop messaging you? Facebook does! The employer isn’t gonna know that’s what you were doing. They’re gonna think you’re filthy…and double-jointed.

Technically, employers shouldn’t be allowed to ask for this information, and I’m confident they won’t be allowed to in the future. However, in the interim it might be a good idea to clean it up. You already know that anything you post online stays there forever. Well so do your emails and private messages. If an employer interviews one of your friends, they can access all of the messages you sent your friend as well. Just because you deleted the message, doesn’t mean they can’t find it. If you are talking to someone online, and you feel the urge to be inappropriate try not to use a site an employer would think to request access to. Telling someone off is much safer and more effective when done in person, or with a good old fashioned telephone call. 

Dude Where’s My Job? Panel 1 – Straight Talk on Resumes: Part 1

Remember when I gave you all that super-helpful information on how to write a proper resume? That’s because I didn't really. What I did tell you was that the personal taste of the hiring manager and the culture of the organization are huge factors to consider when it comes to resume content. There may be some best practices, but for the most part it’s a very subjective topic. I also encouraged you to get advice and feedback from others. Just in case you were waiting for me to do it for you….I did!

The following individuals have graciously offered to contribute their resume-writing expertise.

Kathy Wishart, Recruiter and Job Search Consultant with Priority Personnel Inc. 

Priority Personnel Inc. is an independent and locally owned New Brunswick recruiting services company. Operating since 1993, our office is conveniently located in the downtown core of New Brunswick's capital city of Fredericton. Wendy Southworth, President, leads this dynamic, forward-thinking organization. Priority Personnel Inc. is driven by a commitment to meet and exceed the needs of our diverse customer base. 75% of our business comes from repeat clients and word-of-mouth referrals.

A wide range of job classifications and services are provided to all levels of Government; not-for profit organizations; and private business such as consulting, legal, insurance, financial, accounting, development projects and corporations, communication, and information technology.

Click here to follow them on Twitter

Dana Leavy is the founder of Aspyre Solutions, and a self-proclaimed "Entrepreneurial Wingwoman", helping aspiring entrepreneurs & creative freelancers start, build & grow sustainable small businesses, through career transition and business consulting. As a career advisor and small business entrepreneur, Dana has helped hundreds of professionals in advertising, marketing, design, multimedia and other industries in creating and executing effective career plans to find and DO the work they are passionate about.

Click here to follow her on Twitter

Mark Babbitt is CEO and Founder of YouTern, where emerging talent connects with entrepreneur-driven businesses and non-profits through high-impact, mentor-based internships. Mark has been quoted on internship, experiential education and career matters in Forbes, Mashable, Under30CEO.com and ReadWriteWeb. Mark also contributes to Business Insider, StudentBranding.com and Intern Advocate. A serial mentor, Mark was recently honored to be named to GenJuice’s “Top 100 Most Desired Mentors” list.

Click here to follow him on Twitter

The panel was asked to respond to ten questions regarding resume content and formatting. Below are the first five questions. The answers to the next five questions will be posted next week. This is in the interest of keeping the blog post fairly brief, and not (as some have pointed out) an opportunity for me to have two weeks’ worth of blog posts that I don’t have to write myself.

1. What can I include in a resume that really makes it stand out for you from the hundreds of others you see?

Kathy Wishart - This is a tough one because I’ve seen all manner of format and feature in resumes over the years.  A resume that stands out to me now is one that has energy to it and gives me a glimpse into the person I’m considering.

Dana Leavy - A solid resume summary statement is one of the best "tools" you can utilize to add oomph to your resume, and really give it a solid branding message that communicates your top skills and experience.  I say "summary" instead of an "objective" statement because a summary focuses in on the great qualities that you're essentially bringing to the table for the organization (what are they gaining?), versus an objective, which speaks from the perspective of what you want as a job seeker.  While that's important, it's not going to grab any company's attention - they already know you want to work for them, and leverage your skills!  A great branding summary tells them who you are in terms of your qualifications, what you're there to do, and what unique experience or perspective you can really bring to the role.  If you were to answer the question, "What do I want prospective employers to know about me?" this would be the place to really answer that strategically.

Mark Babbitt - Good resumes tell me what you CAN DO for me, not what you DID for someone else. This includes soft skills, quantified statements of achievement – and confidence.

2. What is the most common mistake that people make on a resume and/or what is the one thing you see on a resume that really irritates you (not including typos)?

Kathy Wishart - A good many people submit resumes that look like a list. They’re bare bones information and lack the flesh and muscle that tell me about a person’s accomplishments and suitability.  A straight up pet peeve, for me, in a resume is the word “etc.” It tells me nothing. I’m also not fond of the personal pronoun “I” in a resume.

Dana Leavy - The biggest mistake I see is utilizing a resume as little more than a sheet of paper that denotes your experience, education and skills.  There is no branding message that tells me why you're uniquely qualified for the role, versus having the minimum qualifications.  A resume should follow a slightly formalized format, yes, but it should tell the "story" of your career by really sticking to a clear branding message that's evident throughout the document.  And the other mistake?  Assuming it all has to fit on one page, cramming information together, and ultimately sacrificing the readability of the document.

Mark Babbitt - The inclusion of an objective statement and other “I” related comments. At least until the first interview, as a recruiter the least of my worries is what “You” want or expect. I’m looking for a good culture fit, coachability – and someone who can do the job right now.

3. I keep hearing that “keywords” are the best way to get your resume noticed, but I also hear not to use “over-used” “buzz” words….but the job ad ALWAYS has these words in it. What are your thoughts on this?

Kathy Wishart - Buzz words don’t bother me, personally.  I think the problem with buzz words is that people tend to overuse them and not back them up with concrete examples that demonstrate that they possess that quality.  I’d much rather infer that someone is creative by reading about a cool accomplishment than the job seeker simply telling me s/he is creative.

Dana Leavy - The summary and skill sections are great places to include an keywords or buzzwords that you know your audience is going to be looking for.  Don't overdo it, and keep it genuine - anything you say in your resume you should be able to back up with context and examples in the interview, so don't just throw in keywords for SEO sake.

Mark Babbitt - If you are applying to a larger organization or agency that uses an Automatic Tracking System (ATS) you have no choice but to pepper your resume with keywords from the job description.

4. Everyone says objective statements are overrated. How should the resume open, and what should be included with it?

Kathy Wishart - In the most technical sense, the resume opens with a solid cover letter.  The cover letter should replace the objective statement.  Resumes open with the name and contact information of the job seeker.  After that, I like to see a well-crafted profile statement and relevant summary of qualifications.

Dana Leavy - See #1 above: Open not with an objective, but with a summary that clearly communicates your brand in terms of your skills, experience and any particularly unique angles that would catch your audience's attention.  This is the first section they will read, and you want to set a strong context for the rest of the document that compels them to keep reading.

Mark Babbitt - The summary statement mentioned above is far more effective at showing the recruiter how you will solve their problem; how you will contribute. The summary statement can be either a short paragraph (maybe 400 characters) or five to eight bullet points that highlight your abilities, experience and soft skills.

5. How important is it to include elements of your personality in your resume? Can it be detrimental?

Kathy Wishart - In my opinion, certain aspects of one’s personality, as they relate to the job at hand, should come through in the resume. The employer is hiring the whole person, not just a skill set or repertoire of experience.   This lends itself to cultural fit which is a huge factor in why people stay in or leave their jobs.  But, be careful, some details are just “TMI” – too much information.  Employers don’t care to know (and don’t need to know) about things like sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and hobbies.

Dana Leavy - LinkedIN is a better place to do that, as well as a blog, or even your cover letter, because you can make the connection between the qualifications in the resume, and why you want to work for that particular company.  If you're vying for the attention of a creative company, a startup, or anywhere else where you know there's a very particular company culture that you have to appeal to, you can make that connection in the cover letter, or the other documents.  While it might seem antiquated, the resume still has to follow the old standards and function as a more formalized representation of your qualifications.  But I do think you can get a little creative with your brand - throw your volunteer or internship experience in there, maybe list your memberships & affiliations with certain groups they might find appealing. 

Mark Babbitt - Depends 100% on the industry and company. In a conservative Fortune 500 company showing a unique personality can be a huge detriment. In a start-up, non-profit or entrepreneur driven business, however, “being a character” may be exactly what you need to do to get the interview. In all cases, tailor the resume to the audience.

I want to thank all of the participants for taking the time to share their knowledge in this area. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave one on this post, or follow the participants on twitter and talk to them for yourself. Tune in next week where we address the following questions;

6. If you are over-qualified for the position, should you leave out some of your qualifications?

7. Chronological, Competency Based or Other? How do we organize our resumes to screen in and catch your attention?

8. Is there a better font, font-size, length etc.? When the employer doesn’t specify these things, what do we do?

9. How helpful are graphics and other media in getting through the screening process? Do you have any tips on this for applicants?

10. Is there any advice you would give to job applicants regarding their resume that you have not already addressed?

Social Networking for Nubes

I was recently asked by someone who managed a twitter account for a small organization what they were supposed to tweet if they don’t have anything to say. My response was “why do you have Twitter?” Apparently in person I’m slightly less eloquent than if I have time to think about it and write it down. I thought I’d go ahead and respond to this person’s question in a less arrogant manor.

Think of the internet like a giant convention. You are in a room full of people and information. Your goal is to connect and interact with as many potential clients as possible to promote your business (P.S. if you’re looking for work, your organization is you, and your clients are companies and recruiters).  You have a booth. The booth is your company’s website. It has all kinds of information about your organization including contact information for head office and the contact information of your employees attending the convention. You brought several employees to this event.

Employee 1: Facebook

Facebook is the most well-known of all your employees. He is connected to the most people, is the life of the party and everyone’s best friend. They all interact with this guy. He’s great to have around, but sadly he suffers from ADHD. When he seeks someone out directly he’s able to focus and get your message across to that person. In a crowd of people his message gets lost. He often stops to play games with people or show them pictures of his kids doing idiotic things like learning to crawl or enjoying their first few moments of life. Sometimes amongst all of the things he’s trying to do, your message doesn’t really reach anyone.   He’s probably the first point of contact for a lot of your audience, but he’s definitely not the most effective.

Employee 2: LinkedIn

This guy is all business. He wore a three-piece suit to a business casual event, and is shaking the hands of all your employees, potential job applicants, representatives of affiliate companies, and everyone who is looking to make business connections. However, these are the only people who will talk to him. Because of his “all work and no play” attitude, he is not able to effectively engage people who are just there to mingle and have a good time. Those girls in the back who could probably benefit from your product or service are shying away from him, opting to hang out with Facebook, who is showing them how to play Bejeweled.

Employee 3: Twitter

This is your most efficient employee. In 140 characters or less, he spits out data in a way that lets everyone in range hear and understand exactly what your message is. There is no long drawn out conversation. He generates interest and steers traffic to your booth, where people can learn more about you. His message is also the easiest for others to share with their entire network, and he politely reciprocates by sharing their message as well. He does often get off topic, but your message is there. He lets people know he has pictures of his dog, but lets them decide whether to view them or not. Though not as much fun as Facebook, he’s a healthy balance between business and fun. Just don’t ask him to organize your contact list, it seems so easy, but he just doesn’t do it (I feel like he could if he tried though). 

Employee 4: Google+

Your newest employee is a little less distracted than Facebook. Of all of your employees he is certainly the best at organizing your contacts, but he doesn’t have the network of Facebook or the efficiency of Twitter. Don’t count this guy out because he’s new. His affiliation with Google means he has a lot of potential. At some point he will be the main hub for all interaction with Google, giving him the potential to surpass Facebook’s network, and his Android affiliation could make him a more mobile friendly app than Twitter someday.

You would not expect employees to run around and hand out business cards and not engage with anyone. You should be using this same logic with your social networking tools. They are in fact, “networking” tools and not just promotional tools. When you’re asking the question “what do I tweet.” ask the question, what would I tell my employees to say if they ran into someone who knew/didn’t know what my organization does and how it can help them? Treat it like a conversation. It evolves as your interact with your clients. 

How I Buy Things Now – Episode 1: The Cell Phone Search

Those that know me know that I've been trapped in a three year contract with Bell Aliant and an LG Bliss I never wanted in the first place. I’m going to omit the gruesome details at the risk of this turning into a rant…ask me about it and I’ll tell you though (A.K.A Don’t get me started). I thought I would attempt to make a decision using only information found from Internet Research and Social Networking. I know what you’re thinking, and this was an experiment and not just an excuse for me to spend an evening sitting on my couch on my internet machine….mostly.

Step 1: Research Hardware

I didn’t want to be left in the dust, buying a phone that is clearly inferior to the one everyone is going to have in a couple months (like I did with this one). I assumed the best would be the iPhone 4S until I started hearing all my nerdy friends get excited about the Galaxy Nexus. So I put the question to my nerdiest of friends… the people I have on my social networks. I also went online and looked up Youtube videos of people with foreign accents (Nasal is an accent right?) comparing the Nexus to the iPhone as well as the Galaxy SII. The only apparent downfall of going with the Nexus is that the camera is blatantly inferior to the iPhone and the Galaxy SII.

Dear Samsung.

Tell your engineers that the other companies publish their specs on their websites. Why you would purposely install an inferior functioning camera in what could be a superior phone?

Hugs and Kisses,

Scott

After flopping back and forth on this decision I found two people I trusted to give me accurate advice. I consulted @ZacherySchiller and @SamsungTMobile. I asked @SamsungTMobile to evaluate the choice between the Nexus and the Galaxy SII. They recommended the Galaxy SII, but only because of the camera functions. I was leaning towards a Samsung product, because they actively sought me out on Twitter and always respond to my tweets. Thus, if I have a “phone” issue, I feel like I have a “go to” person. I felt I could trust @ZacherySchiller, because his Google+ profile picture shows a pale individual with dark-rimmed glasses and he once referred to himself as a Nerdosaurus Rex. He also stated that he has owned both a Nexus and an iPhone which makes me trust his judgement. He recommended the Nexus because he had more control over everything on it and it didn't have a “skin.” Then he gave me a short lesson in what a “skin” was and why he didn’t like them.

Short Lesson: When the operating system is created by someone other than the person who built the phone (in this scenario, the operating system is created by Google and the phone is created by Samsung) the phone creator “tweaks” the operating system to make it look different. This is called a skin. When upgrades come out, it takes longer for users of phones with skins to get them, because the update needs to be tweaked to be compatible with the skin. Because the Nexus is “Pure Android” it will not have a “skin” and will be compatible with anything Google creates. For those of you who are like me and are an entirely different kind of nerd, the Galaxy SII is probably muggle-born and the Nexus is a Pure-Blood.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus 

Step 2: Assessing Customer Service: Finding a Provider

The next step was to not get stuck with some douchebag provider with no accountability or concern for my experience. I wanted to assess my ability to speak with someone about my experience. This would determine my comfort level with this company. Someone who cares about what people are saying about them online makes me feel comfortable as they will want to fix my problems in a timely fashion to avoid a slew of negative tweets about their products or services. I sent the following tweet out.

Ok people. My @Bell_Aliant contract is up soon. @RogersBuzz @TELUS @Koodo_Mobile There could be a 3 year contract and a happy tweet for you.

Within 20 minutes @RogersRavi (a Rogers employee) tweeted back with a link to their specials and told me that if I needed any help, I could feel free to tweet him. He won some brownie points, but then I received a slew of other messages from friends saying things like “anyone but Rogers” and “not Rogers” and “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T GO WITH ROGERS!!!” If they do have good customer service, it must be fairly new. This counteracted the fact that they won the race to tweet back.

12 hours later @Bell_Aliant tweeted back.

“Unfortunately we cannot assist you but Bell Mobility can be reached at 1-866-434-0344 or http://www.bell.ca/Mobility .”

After 6 years with them, I found the wording ““Unfortunately we cannot assist you” to be very appropriate. In their defense, they gave me as much information as Rogers did AND I should actually be talking to Bell Mobility. However, Bell Mobility does not have an active twitter site. If I sold smart phones I feel like that’s a thing I would have. Fail!

Telus and Koodo were absent from this round. Fail! However, everyone I know who has Telus recommended them, and no one had anything bad to say about them.

Step 3: Pricing

After deciding on the Galaxy Nexus, I checked the websites for prices.

Koodo

Didn’t have it. Fail! Koodo loses.

Rogers

599.99 or 99.99 on select three year plans. (Select did not appear to be defined) Fail!

Telus

649.99 or 99.99 on three year plans of 50$/month or more. The price to purchase just the phone is a little more than Rogers, but I don’t plan on doing that anyway. I also appreciated the fact that they identified how much I was going to have to pay monthly in order to get that deal.

Bell Mobile

159.95 on three year plans of 50$/month or more, and I couldn’t find their price for buying it outright. WTF Bell?!?!?!?! You don’t have a twitter or facebook account and you’re not even trying to be price competitive! 

Score Card

Samsung beat out Apple with its use of social networking to make me feel like they care about me, and the volume of nerd-hype the Nexus has been able to accumulate.

Koodo neglected to carry the winning hardware. They lose.

Rogers won social networking race, but lost points when everyone in the entire world told me how much they hated them. They also failed to clearly define “select plans” somewhere on the site I wouldn’t have to dig for.

Bell Mobile was absent from the social networking round, they charge more for the hardware than any other carrier and they don’t have a good history with me. They are only still in the race because they are my current carrier. 

While they did not actively participate in the social networking round, Telus’ clients did and they had only nice things to say. Their website clearly indicated all of the information I needed ...Telus is currently leading.

Tune in for Episode 2 where I look at plans and Bell Mobile gets a bonus “retention” round, where they try and win my affection.