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Your resume is a first impression. Plain and simple. Your celebrated personality may win over a hiring manager at an interview, but you will never even get to that stage if that one piece of paper doesn’t make a statement. Invest time in writing your resume. Draft it, edit it, and most importantly have others look at it and make suggestions. Know What You Want and Frame Your Resume Accordingly Before you even start to draft your resume, it is imperative you have some idea of your goal when setting out to look for a new opportunity. You do not need to list an objective on your resume, but you do need to know what you are looking for. Is it career advancement to the next level? A change of industry? More money? Whatever the case, decide on some goals. As for your resume– maybe you are not sure what it is you want to do and have a few things in mind. If so, you will need tailored versions of your resume. This extra effort will go a long way. Silver Bullets Although you pore over perfecting your resume, a hiring manager will most likely spend about 30 seconds skimming it. If your resume is difficult to read, you’re toast. Past accomplishments and responsibilities should be written in bullet form using the least amount of words possible. Some like to put all their accomplishments in bullets and just list the places they worked. Not a good idea. People like to be able to follow a clear employment history. Highlight accomplishments under each position listed. One more note on format – use simple fonts in a 10, 11 or 12 pt. type. Don’t get fancy. Focus on Accomplishments: Be Specific and Quantitative Generalities can be red flags to a hiring manager. They may judge a candidate as not having a lot of substance if there are no specifics. Often the case, one thinks about what they do all day from a task perspective, rather than what they have accomplished and where successes have come. The key here is to include relevant statistics that highlight the results of your work. If you are in sales, emphasize quotas and how you matched up against them if successful. Identify how you ranked among your sales team if you were highly productive. Perhaps you are in a tech role, finished a project early and saved the company money — point that out. If you were responsible for marketing efforts that helped drive revenue, write about it. If you manage others, include the number of employees for which you are responsible. Just be sure you are prepared to be asked more detail about your statistics in an interview. Be sure you can back it up. And…Action! Presumably you are trying to convince a hiring manager that you are a hefty contributor to an organization. Strong action verbs help to create the take-charge impression you need to make to show your ability to be proactive. You don’t want to just look like a participant. Hiring managers like leaders. For example, rather than writing “Helped with marketing efforts” you should be more specific and exemplify how you were an essential player in the department. Try, “Executed details of newly developed webinar which resulted in 1000 new sales leads.” Blah, Blah, Blah Irrelevant information should not be included. Some may be of the opinion that listing hobbies and activities adds personality. We all have pastimes that we love to talk about, and sometimes those may even come up in an interview. However, a resume is not the place to tell a future employer that you love hiking with your dog. Don’t waste valuable resume space on facts that don’t matter. And please, please, please do not say “References will be furnished upon request.” Have you ever seen a resume that says, “I refuse to provide references if you need them”? Of course not. At the appropriate stage, it is a given that references will be requested by a potential employer. Keep It Short Remember that high school English teacher who was always reminding you that sometimes less is more when writing papers? Well, that notion is equally important when writing a resume. There is no reason for your resume to be longer than two pages. If you feel that is that is impossible, evaluate what work experience will be most relevant to the position for which you are applying, as well as consider just listing the name of your company and your title for older positions. Now go get ‘em. Good luck!

Cari Tuna from the WSJ published an article on April 3rd (“Some Employers See Hiring Opportunity” http://tinyurl.com/dyynzh) which got me thinking and opened up a number of questions.

Everywhere you look people are talking about executive compensation – capping the amount business leaders can earn, how they are compensated, what they receive for perks and bonuses, etc. etc. I understand all of this concern. There have been enough cases of executive greed to cause such an outrage and our current fiscal crisis has most looking for people to blame.

Attention Resume Writers: I am making an appeal to everyone writing their resume for the first time in years, as well as those just making updates. If you have the following: “References furnished upon request”, please delete it immediately. I’m not exactly sure how long this has been floating around, or when it gained such popularity, but think about it. Offering up references as if they are the sparkling alternative to tap water? Come on. Of course you will provide references if you are longing to get that dream job – or even a job that will barely suffice for the time being. References are an absolute given. Although some employers may not ask for them, they fully expect for them to be available. Oh – and who is Mr. MOTO ? He’s Master of the Obvious.

Everyone seems to be asking the same questions — “When is this craziness going to end?” “How low can the market go?” “What will become of our economy?” No one can predict this, of course, but do we have the ability as a business society to help the process along? How much truth is there to the “psychological” impact on the economy? In my opinion, psychology carries quite a bit of weight. OK – sure – let’s restate the obvious — many companies are really in trouble. They are laying off, cutting salaries and shutting down. Those are the ones you hear about every time your blackberry beeps with an email delivering the latest grim statistics from a news outlet. For some reason, the country thrives on bad news. Was the average American checking their portfolio every 2 hours twelve months ago? Were we on edge waiting to hear the latest statistics when unemployment was at 4.6% in 2007? The fact is, when things are good, most are not paying very close attention. When things go wrong, everyone is keeping an eagle eye. Just like dealing with clients – no one is going to tell you how great things are when you are performing at or above expectations, but first time something goes wrong, you will hear about it…and hear about it…and hear about it some more. Negativity gets people excited. So where do we go to find the feel-good stories about companies that are growing and doing well? Since that topic is not one that is high on the list for most news organizations, it is tough to find. There are actually a number of companies that are thriving right now. How are they dealing with the recession? Unfortunately, psychology is playing a part here. We see numerous organizations that are flourishing getting caught up in the headlines, which has brought on a case of paralysis to their organizations. Over and over I hear many report to be ”doing great”, but are “waiting for the other shoe to drop”. You have to wonder how much they are hurting themselves. Imagine the missed opportunities, the loss of productivity and the potential revenue that is left on the table. So we just wait, I guess…..But — if you are smart, motivated and have the resources, now is a great time to step it up. Don’t worry about the factors that you can do nothing about. What you can do – which will help the big picture, is get moving. If it makes sense, invest in marketing, build out your sales team, upgrade your current employee base. On a positive note, I am happy to report that in the past two weeks, we have seen some multiple offers being delivered to candidates. Usually – being in the business of talent acquisition — we don’t love to see any of our candidates have competitive offers, but right now, we will make an exception. If it is an indication that companies are starting to move, then we’ll take it. The point is, you need to look at your own situation and make an assessment. Are you avoiding risk at the risk of lost opportunities for your company?

In Part One, we covered what you needed to do to prepare for your interview in advance. Who knew there are so many things to focus on while you are actually on-site interviewing! Follow the tips below for continued success in your interview process.

So you are a small to mid size company with a less than desirable amount of expendable revenue to dedicate to increasing your staff size. The million dollar question is how do you compete with the big boys? They have a dedicated army of recruiters, a plethora of external agencies they can tap, and a brand recognition that has applicants beating down there door to get in. Let’s look at some no cost strategies to get the high quality IT talent you need to compete. You do not need to spend extravagant amounts on the pay sites only to find the same people that 20 other recruiters have already called on that day. The passive job seeker could be the diamond you are looking for. I define a passive seeker as someone who may be happy where he or she is, but would be at least open to hearing what you have to say. These are also people who, although may not be willing to make a move now, you can keep in touch with. They are however the people who, If you carefully plan your recruitment strategy, will come looking for you when they are ready to make a move. Social Networks With more and more people getting on social networks their use to find candidates is on the rise. LinkedIn is still my recruiting source of choice, followed closely by Facebook. Both allow you the option of searching for skill sets by geographic location. Both also give you the option to connect with the individual. With a little extra Googling you can more than likely get a phone number. Google Searches If you were to stack all of the articles on finding candidates using advanced keyword searches you would probably have a stack two stories high. These can be a little more challenging, but you are also more likely to find the passive seeker. Trade Sites/User Groups/Related Blogs Relevant trade networks, blogs, and user groups are a gold mine. Think about the places you go to get information on your industry. These circles are also frequented by likeminded people with similar skills, albeit at varying levels. The people who tend to write articles are doing so because they are confident in their mastery of a particular subject matter. People tend to gravitate toward these people as thought leaders. If that is the case, then these are people you want to know. They can be an excellent source of referrals. The Grass may not always be Greener on the other side How many times have we left a job only to wish we could turn back time…or maybe you are one of the lucky ones that have never had regrets. There are people that we have worked with in our past that we were sorry to see go, you know the ones. They are the ones you give the enthusiastic reference for, not just give the simple answers. Stay in touch with good people who leave, you may be able to give them a call in six months and give them the open invitation to come back. Many people would not actively go to a prior employer and say “I was wrong”. What if an old boss calls up and says “I wanted to see how you were doing. I really wish you still worked here. Things have not been the same since you left. You know you always have a job here if things don’t work out for you.” A little ego rub goes a long way. Your Website Make sure your free advertising is up to date. Make your website an interesting place where people come to get your expertise. Make it known you are hiring good people. They have to know you are looking. Where do I go from here? Once you have connected with the person, it is up to you to put forth a compelling story as to why someone should listen to you and explore a potential opportunity with your company. Just keep in mind though; you can’t sell something to someone unless you know what they want to buy. Listen, listen, listen for what motivates them and what interests them. I welcome comments on what you have done that has allowed you to grow your company with no additional cost.