Candidate “Chatter” – Questions Asked & Answered

Here are some responses to questions I've gotten from candidates recently:

How effective is networking – really?
Just over a year ago, it was estimated that 61% of jobs were landed through networking. For me, that was hard to believe as many of the jobs I’ve landed, I found on the Internet. When I thought about it, though, many of the recent ones were gotten as a result of relationships with people who opened doors or kept them open, in terms of giving me a glowing reference.

Today, newspaper ads are regarded as antiquated dinosaurs, and even the most un-technically-savvy are turning to the Internet to post jobs. Also, recent estimates are that 70-75% of jobs are gotten as a result of networking. This is not to say that candidates are not finding and applying to jobs on the Internet. However, networking with others who can get a candidate’s resume (or better yet, a candidate!) in front of someone inside of that candidate’s target company provides them with a much-needed edge.

Resume Formats: Many candidates have asked me about functional resumes vs. traditional formats. My “take” is that it depends on many factors, key among them:

1) Whether you are trying to change careers or industries or are returning to the workforce (which may require repositioning your skills or de-emphasizing periods of unemployment).
2) Whether your resume is/is not getting a good response rate.
3) How adept you are at positioning/marketing yourself relative to the job or jobs you are after.
4) Your skill at selecting the right action verbs to make your resume more powerful (If interested, request my verb list -- organized by skills categories).
5) Your ability to position your accomplishments in a compelling, result-oriented manner. I look for the "wow factor" in a resume, meaning, the ability for that resume to get the person reviewing the resume to say "wow" two to three times. I subscribe to the statistic that relates to things setting in/being memorable in groups of three. (If you listen to many radio spots or TV commercials, a number will be repeated three times. If this holds true, if you can get the resume reviewer to (even subliminally), say, “Wow!” three times, you will get a call. It's always best when possible to not only state WHAT you've done, but to state what the impact was (HOW or WHY it made a difference.). If your resume is not achievement based, then chances are that it reads more like a job description that anyone in that job before could have written. The lesson? Change your “So, what?” statements into “Oh, wow!" ones.
6) If a resume is MORE than two pages, it would be prudent, to consult a competent professional who can critique resumes. Most persons reviewing resumes these days are looking for very specific keywords and/or accomplishments. (When possible, ensure that your resume contains the very words they have placed in their ad/posting. Some employers use keyword searches to review resumes or keyword and/or parsing software. There are varying stats on this, but most experts say that the average time spent reviewing a resume is as little as 13-17 seconds. Hint: Aside from extracting keywords from the posting you are applying to, look at similar jobs. You will note that some employers/search firms actually disclose the key words right on the posting! What could be easier?!! (The analogy of shooting fish in a barrel comes to mind.)
7) If you have difficulty catching typos or other grammatical errors, it would be prudent to have others you trust proofread your resume or get a professional to review it. Aside from spell check, a good technique to catch typos is to read your resume backwards, so that typos stand out. The human brain likes to mentally “fix” typos, so it is very easy for errors to be missed. In addition, try to keep your bullets and form/sentence structure as consistent as possible, as it makes your resume more fluid and assists those reviewing it, making the review process more pleasant.

Hope these tips help. Have other questions? Please write to me at marissa@employerandcandidateconnection.com. You can also request a copy of my verb list.