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<p>Yesterday I had the unpleasant responsibility of rescinding two offers of employment for candidates. I had to tell the hiring managers that their new employees would not be eligible to work for them and I had to call the candidates and tell them that they were ineligible to apply with us for two years. And both of them were the same reason.<br />

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They lied on their applications. Specifically, they failed to disclose criminal convictions. <br />

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It is important to keep in mind that criminal convictions will not necessarily bar you from employment in most jobs. There are some guidelines, of course. If you have two DUI’s in the last three years, chances are you won’t be eligible to be a driver, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be considered for a sales position, for example. <br />

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Applications for employment are *legal documentation*. And they are the first "official" line of trust between you and&nbsp; a new employer. Why would an employer want to hire you if you start off your relationship with a lie? <br />

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Background checks of any kind are confidential. If a past conviction is disclosed but does not have a direct bearing on the responsibilities of the position, the hiring manager never sees the results of it. Only HR has access to this sort of information. So not disclosing it for fear of looking bad for your new boss is a needless worry. <br />

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So do yourself and us all a favor. Be honest. It really *is* the best policy. </p>

I’ve been seeing a lot of mysterious resume acronyms lately. Being new to the healthcare recruiting industry, I asked my new co-workers if they could define these "certifications" for me. (Appearing after the candidate’s name at the top of their resume.)

BA, MA.

They were as stumped as I was. Reading through the resume, we ascertained that the candidates were indicating their education level. And we all *also* agreed that it was inappropriate.

I’ve repeatedly stressed the importance of *targeted* information on your resume. With as many people out of work that each candidate is competing against, trying to be "clever" or to stand out can backfire on you in a major way.

Certifications are issued by governing bodies that establish and administer standards and then test that knowledge with rigorous *professional* examinations.

An advanced degree may be required to take the certification tests, but the degree is not the certification designation. For example, an attorney, or Esq., requires a JD. But the award of a Doctorate Jurisprudence is indicated in the appropriate educational placement. "Esquire" indicates that the attorney has passed the bar exam. Not all people with JD’s are attorneys.

Save the certification acronyms unless you’ve taken the *tests*. I’ll find out you have a BA or MA or MS when I read the education section.

Today I met with one of my resume clients. She is getting overwhelmed not only with the whole job search process, but also what she sees as conflicting viewpoints from recruiters and hiring managers about what they want on resumes.

Do use bullet points; don’t use bullet points. Do have a keyword-based competency list, don’t use the space up. One page, two pages. More details, less content.

OK first things to consider. That 1/3 – 1/2 of the top front page is your valuable real estate. This is where you get the "most bang for your buck". More and more commonly (thankfully, IMHO) we are seeing professional summaries. This is the single most effective place to put some *punch* if you are a seasoned professional. You probably want to put a short profile or summary statement at the top to orient your reader. It should indicate your profession (and also what you *want* to do, as so many professionals wear many hats today) in 2-3 sentences. Talk about specialties or industries as appropriate. It will be different for each person, and you may have more than one resume with this section.

Next comes the "keyword" section. Now, way too many people take this literally to be a set of "words". In my last post this is where I mentioned the generic soft skills vs. competencies. Personally, I prefer to see a list of 5-7 examples of things you have done *with those key words in them*. No more than that or it starts to look too much like a functional resume. Below are some terms that I received last year from someone asking for help with her resume. This was literally her second page and the front was crammed and unreadable.

Technical Writing/Editing

Business/Industrial Communications

Scientific/Technical Communications

Engineering Communications

Internal/Organizational Communications

Corporate Communications

Electronic and Desktop Publishing

Documentation Layout and Design

Technical Documentation Group (international

and domestic and reports)

Customer Liaison

Contracts

Bids and Proposals

Basically she wasted all that space telling me a variety of things she could do, without any context whatsoever. So what we did was take her competencies and put them in context:

-Freelance writer with expertise in authoring scientific articles on subject such as geology, meteorology, and biology for academic journals.

-Technical writer with a strong understanding of software documentation such as user manuals, training materials, software SDK, multi-lingual localization (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean).

-Experience with contracts such as software licensing agreements, construction management RFP’s, web development bids and project proposals

Then, below each of these statements she outlined the appropriate skills or projects for the audience she was addressing rather than one list of skills that *might* turn up in a keyword search for fifteen different different positions.

Your reader wants context, not just a list of words.

It’s also important to note that *this is the section that should be tailored for individual jobs you are pursuing*. In the example above, because she had such a diverse background, each of those points would set the tone for the rest of her resume and more examples. So she had one scientific writing version, one for software technical writing, one more focused toward project management and internal business communications.

Regarding format: *most* recruiters I have spoken with prefer a short outline of each position with bullet points highlighting your accomplishments.

As the technology that recruiters use for evaluating candidates has changed, so has the style of resume construction changed to meet that technology. Long ago, candidates were advised to keep their professional history to one page. "Less was more". Your resume is a "teaser". This was when you were typing your resume on a typewriter and then mailing it with a paper cover letter to a company. Those days are long gone.

Nowadays, recruiters *do* use keyword searches, based on the job description. *Resume database search tools return results stack ranked based on the number of times a search term is repeated in the resume.*

What does this mean? Basically you want to make sure you repeat key terms at least 2-3 times throughout your resume. But again, not just as a string of words. *CONTEXTUALLY*. How did those skills relate to your professional history? This includes your *title*, your *accomplishments*, your *summary*, your *company*.

Most importantly to remember, your resume is a work in progress. It should morph and change and you shouldn’t be afraid to try a new format or restructure it. If it works, stick with it. If not, try something new.

I was at the Seattle Job Social last night, and I saw the same thing that is becoming a trernd nowadays. Using trite, generic meaningless phrases in your professional summary.

Examples: Critical thinker, Excellent Verbal and Written Communication Skills, Strong Cross-group collaboration, A strong leader known for the ability to motivate others.

Guess what? I rattled that off in about 30 seconds. Know why? *EVERYONE PUTS IT ON THEIR RESUMES*. And it tells me *nothing*. For my writer friends, this is an example where I want you to "show don’t tell".

Here is what I want: I want your professional competencies versus your soft skills on a resume. Your competencies are the things you learn on the job that are endemic to your field and industry. A couple of examples:

Instead of "Excellent Verbal and Written Communication Skills" I would prefer:

-Trilingual (English, German, Dutch) marketing manager with experience creating localized international web-based ad campaign resulting in a $3M increase in revenue over six months across the entire business unit

Rather than telling me "A strong leader known for the ability to motivate others" try:

-Manager responsible for software engineering teams between 12-19 with a 22% increase in productivity by introducing Agile Development methodology.

You want to orient your reader immediately to *you* professionally.Statistics are huge. How many managed, % increase/decrease, $ revenue earned/overhead cut, hours/time saved on project implementation.

Or, at the very least, orient me directly to what your key *industry and professional skills are*. (OK, admittedly this is my opening summary statement):

Strong Talent Acquisition professional with diverse experience recruiting technology, finance/operations, HR, sales/marketing, legal, R & D candidates, Professional Services. Proven success of sourcing diversity candidates. Experience interfacing with executive staff and management. Excellent history of creating and implementing unique sourcing strategies. International recruiting initiatives.

The point is, give your reader information that s/he can work with, that makes you stand out as an individual and not as another list of generic skills that everyone else is using.

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1)I met a Recruiter on Twitter at a very prestigious organization in Ohio (where I’m from originally).

2) Two days ago, I got an email from my family in OH requesting niche job board recommendations for friend of my brother.

3) I did a bit of research on niche job boards, and found out that the prestigious organization has a job opening that fits the resume of the family friend looking for a job.

4) Send resume to contact, who forwarded it on to the appropriate recruiter, who sent me an email requesting the candidate/family friend to apply online.

5) Forwarded the email to the family friend *with recruiter contact including name, email address, and phone number*. She now has a direct person to contact.

6) Am having dinner with my original Twitter contact when I’m in OH in 2 weeks.

That, my friends, is what networking is all about.

Last night I gave a resume presentation for the University of Washington Mu chapter of Sigma Kappa (I’m an alumna from OH). I put together a pretty detailed document, but I was gearing it more toward graduating seniors and those looking for internships. A lot of questions came up about whether or not to put anything from High School on your resume. I answered some of the questions but I’m trying to rectify that lack in today’s blog post.

The basic rule of thumb for writing any resume is that whatever you put on your resume should be 1) Recent within two-three years 2) Applicable to what you are looking at doing. "Relevant" is a very subjective term. If getting a job is your goal, you want to present yourself in the best light possible overall, obviously.

If you are a freshman or sophomore, the first thing to remember is that prospective employers are looking for work and applicable collegiate experience demonstrating leadership, teamwork, and initiative. You should first take an inventory of your *current* college experiences to see what you can pull from it. Do you have a part-time job? Have you done volunteer work during the school year? Are you a member of any clubs or sport teams, or receiving any honors (academic honors, like Dean’s list or on any sort of scholarship). Have you worked on any projects like a class presentation that has given you skills such as public speaking, research, and perhaps using PowerPoint? These are the items you need to think of first. If you are a sophomore are you perhaps an RA?

Work or volunteer experience should come first after your education section. *Education is always first on a collegiate resume until after one full year out of college or a full time job in that time*. It is always in reverse chronologic order, meaning most current to oldest. If you are a freshman, I wouldn’t recommend going back any further than your junior year in HS unless you had some exceptional experience your freshman or sophomore year, or you held the same job multiple years running (like a summer job). Sophomores shouldn’t go back any further than their senior year, or again, to call attention to something exceptional (an example would be a foreign exchange student your Junior year.)

Freshman and sophomores may have a minimum of actual work experience from their collegiate years, and they may be satisfying basic requirements that aren’t specialized toward their majors; or, alternatively, they may not even have chosen a major yet. In this case, high school may provide the best source of "experience" for them. In my own case, the summer after my senior year, I babysat
for a family. I was actually more of a nanny, and that was a valid job to put on my resume at the time.

Here is how I would write such an entry (I’m dating myself here!)

Summer Child Care/Nanny – Foote Family
BR />June-August 1984

Westlake, OH

Responsible for full time weekday care of three children ages 15 months – 12 years old and assorted household chores. Duties included devising activities for the children, feeding them lunch, ensuring the toddler took assigned naps, keeping the household for two working parents (ie cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.)

The main thing to remember is that your high school years should not overshadow your collegiate experience. You want prospective employers to see your potential and work ethic *now*, not two or three years ago.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been doing some career counseling involving professionals wanting to change industries. One *into* IT, one *out* of IT into HR.

I’ve been so focused on finding the right skill set for existing industry positions and how the economy is effecting recruiting, I have almost had a block up against the thought of anyone trying to "change" not only career path, but also switch industries.

Lately I’ve been following a lot of talk about the effect of age in the employment arena, namely laying off/hiring practices with regard to the older employee. One of the main arguments (as I’ve stated, documented, counseled how to overcome, etc.) from those that practice ageism is that many older workers are inflexible when it comes to adopting and embracing change. And I realize that my block against career change could conceivably be construed as an example of that whole resistance to change. At an even more base level, it’s a fear-generated reaction; I’m admitting that in a spurt of overall self-examination and growth.

But here’s the thing: I’m *not* resistant to change. I love trying new tools and processes, giving them a "test run" to see if they might make my life easier and more interesting. For example, I joined the Twitter revolution a couple of months ago, and have quickly learned how to use it effectively for my needs, and understanding the business impact it can have across multiple industries. I’ve tried two independent applications and even a new social media browser, in a delighted attempt to explore this whole culture evolving in the personal and professional realms. BR />

A large majority of people reach a point in their lives where they want to sit back and enjoy the fruits of twenty, thirty, or more years of hard work, overall growth in life, and accomplishments. Maybe they are just *tired* of constantly trying to be moving up, being agile and managing constantly changing elements around them and having *responsibilities*. They look back and see how complex things have gotten and long for a return to a simpler time. I see this as being a form of burnout, honestly.

Culturally the last fifty years have been about growth and acquisition. Money, possessions, prestige, power. We have started the downward slope of the bell curve. We can look to the industrial age, the excesses of the twenties and the great Depression as examples; the rise and fall of the Roman Empire or Classical Greece; the Middle Ages on through the Renaissance. Over and over we see these bell curves. And for some reason, we keep repeating the patterns.


As a species, we are uniquely suited to change and adaptability. Individually, I believe the majority of people are focused on "necessities". But with these changes, we have to change our cultural definitions of "necessities". And once our cultural outlook changes, I believe "change" won’t evince such a gut fear reaction. Hopefully we can look at the last 2000 years our "Lessons" won’t be so cataclysmic to learn.