Alison was skeptical about whether a new resume could help her job search. She believed that her current resume gave employers all the facts they needed and anything I could add would be, as she put it, “sugar coating.”The first thing I explained to her is that relaying “facts”—where you worked, how long you worked, what duties you performed, what responsibilities you had—were certainly important but were only a small part...

Sometimes I see a resume in which the job seeker has followed every piece of advice I ever gave on writing a resume and it is still not ready to send out.The contact information is clear and professional, the opening profile explains the job applicant’s value to the company and the resume is targeted for the companies and industry the job seeker is interested in.So what’s wrong?Unfortunately, the one item that sinks many re...

Q. I’m really confused. I keep hearing about applicant tracking systems that electronically pick out keywords from your resume and discard your resume if the keywords are not there. Then I hear about hiring managers spending 10 seconds reading the first third of a resume. So should the first third of my resume be a list of all the possible keywords that could get me a job?A. A short list of your key areas of expertise is fi...

There are many reasons you may not have competed for a job in the last several years. The most common is that you have been employed in the same company for all those years and were not searching. However, you may also have dropped out of the job market because of family obligations; because an economic downturn left you among the long-term unemployed; or because of other changes in your situation.If you have not competed f...

Too many job applicants think of their resume as a list of the jobs they have held and the tasks they have completed over their career. They focus on their old responsibilities and job titles, forgetting the true purpose of a resume: to help them move on to their next job.One of the statements I make over and over in these blog posts is that a resume should be targeted for the job you want, not the job you had. The require...

A professionally written resume can spark the interest of hiring managers and recruiters; keep your personal network well informed; and give you the confidence you need to ace an interview. But here are six things your resume cannot do:◾Your resume cannot get you a job. It can get you phone calls and interviews; but the final result is up to the company who interviews you.◾Your resume cannot qualify you for a jo...

Some people feel that a long career at one company is a drawback, revealing a lack of initiative. However, that loyalty to one company shows not only your commitment to your employer but also your employer’s recognition of your value over the long term. Your resume should demonstrate how your long career at one company will benefit another company. How do you do that?Step 1. Remember what your current company looked like wh...

A good friend of mine told me about his sister who had been out of work for almost a year. His sister refused to go to a professional resume writer because she had already sent out dozens of resumes with no success whatever. So why should she pay for a product that would not get her a job?My friend asked to see her resume. He told me: “I looked at the resume and rolled my eyes. My sister has years and years of experience, a...

Under the pressure of writing a clear, concise resume, job seekers often assume that they know how to use and spell words that they read every day of their lives. That assumption can cost them an interview if they make a mistake; hiring managers and recruiters are very rigid about rejecting resumes with mistakes. Here are six words that are commonly misused in resumes and some guidelines on how to use them correctly.Complem...

In these blog posts, you will find many occasions when I have mentioned the danger of including too many acronyms in your resume without defining them. It is easy to assume that “everyone” knows what an acronym means, only to discover that the acronym has an entirely different meaning in another company—or even in another division. A resume loaded with acronyms is difficult to read even by someone who knows exactly what you...