One of the best ways to teach people how to write a winning resume is to provide constructive criticism on their existing documents. Starting in April, I will be offering free resume critiques on this site. If you are interested in having your resume critiqued, please email your resume in MS Word format to freecritique@resumepower.com. Tell me about your career goal and any issues you are facing (for example, how to handle employment gaps or a career change).

If you are selected for a free critique, you will be asked to fictionalize your resume — remove your name, phone number, address, email address, employer names, and any other identifying information. I will review your document and post your fictionalized resume along with detailed feedback on this blog.

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

PS: Important update: Thank you to everyone who has submitted a resume — I’m swamped with requests and closing this offer for now. The first review is posted here.

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I am often asked the same resume questions over and over again, so we’ve answered the most common questions in our free Special Report - Top Resume FAQs.

In this Special Report, you will learn how to keep your resume concise, work with recruiters, avoid age discrimination, deal with a career change, hide employment gaps, handle a lack of a degree, and more! Click here to sign up for our free Special Report and learn how to handle common resume issues that may be holding back your job search.

To your success,

Kim Isaacs

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One of our clients is a graphic designer who is about to launch an aggressive job search. Two weeks ago, we asked her to register her name (e.g., MaryJones.com) to use for her online portfolio. Her own name would help her site rank high in the search engines if an employer or recruiter Googles her name, and would reinforce her name brand. We checked and her name was still available. She wasn’t quite ready to develop her online portfolio, but we advised her to register and park her name at GoDaddy.com for future use.

You know how this ends, right? Today, her name is gone. She snoozed, and she lost. Of course, you can be creative and use a dash, middle initial, or an alternative extension like .net or .org, but it’s more desirable to have the .com version of your name.

If you haven’t yet secured your name (even if you’re not ready to develop your website), please find a registrar — GoDaddy is my favorite — and register your name so that it’s available when you’re ready. I am recommending this for all career fields, not just creative professionals. For more information about picking a name, check out Katie McCaskey’s post on Ladies Who Launch, “What’s in a (domain) Name?”

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Patrick asks, “If you’re returning to work after a long absence (such as caring for a sick parent), how should this be handled on the resume?”

Patrick, you’re not alone in taking time off of work to care for a sick family member. The best strategy for your resume depends on the length of your absence from the workforce. If it wasn’t too long (say, a year or so), you don’t need to mention in your resume but you can include a brief explanation in your cover letter. State that you took time off to care for a sick family member, but you are now ready and eager to return to your career.

If it’s been many years, add a brief statement to your resume so employers understand the reason for your gap. If applicable, include other activities during this time such as volunteer work and self-study. Consider a brief statement like the following (of course, amend any details that don’t fit your situation):

Primary Care Provider, 2003 to present
Served as full-time care provider for chronically ill parent. Additionally participated in volunteer activities (American Red Cross/United Way) and kept current on computer skills (mastering Access, Excel, and PowerPoint through self-directed study).

Check out this article for more ideas: Return to Work with a Winning Resume

Best wishes in your job search, and I hope that this helps.

Kim Isaacs

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Even leprechauns need resumes - check out the resume of Lawrence “Lucky” Leprechaun.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Most cover letters I see are pretty bad. I mean really, really bad. The majority of letters do exactly what they shouldn’t do which is focus on the job seekers’ needs. Remember Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy and how he would say, “Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay” when Lucy got herself in another pickle? That’s the problem with cover letters, but “Ay, ay, ay” becomes “I..I…I…” — “I did this,” “I want that,” and I’m so great because…” How do hiring managers read through such — as my grandfather would say — dreck?

So let’s talk cover letters. What is the purpose of a cover letter? To get the hiring manager to read your resume and call you for an interview. It’s a sales letter. You know all of those direct mail (AKA “junk mail”) pieces you get in your mailbox daily? They’re from companies trying to sell you something. You’re trying to sell something when you write a cover letter, only the product is you. The first step in writing a winning cover letter is to change your mindset from writing a cover letter to writing a sales letter.

To do this, you will need to get into the hiring manager’s head. Big companies get inside our heads when creating their sales letters. They’ve set up focus groups, tested and tweaked their materials to make sure they get the best response. We might call it “junk mail,” but advertisers call it “targeted marketing.” Big money is spent getting in your head so that you part with your money.

Let’s create an imaginary hiring manager named Hank and get in his head. Hank is overworked and now has the added responsibility of recruiting a sales manager. In fact, his boss is pressuring him to find the perfect manager to successfully open and build a new territory. Hank arrives at work feeling grumpy, knowing he’ll have to sort through hundreds of resumes. Making his job more difficult, more than half of the resumes will contain lies and exaggerations. He needs a proven performer. Someone with sales experience. Someone who has opened new territories while keeping costs down. A go-getter. A leader. Someone who would fit in with the corporate culture. Hank has painted a picture in his head of the ideal employee. Now paint a picture in your head of what that employee looks like, and give that to him in your cover letter, which may start with something like:

“If you have identified multimillion-dollar growth, new territory startup and expansion, and seven-figure cost reductions among the goals for your organization this year, my credentials will be of interest. I offer a proven track record of delivering these precise results throughout my 10-year sales management career with ABC Company…”

Bingo! Hank will continue reading. You’re in his head. You’re giving him what he wants. The rest of your letter will back up your claims. Give examples of accomplishments that would impress Hank. Write a proposal for how you’re going to lead the territory to unprecedented growth. Give clues on how you will do that and the outcomes you expect. Get Hank excited! Give him every reason to trust you and want to call you this very second to arrange an interview.

Not a sales manager? You can use this sales letter strategy for any position. Figure out what drives the hiring manager and tap into that in your letter. Write about your interest in meeting the employer’s needs, not your needs. Show that you will help solve their problems. Make yourself the solution, and watch your resume rise to the top of the stack.

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[Note: If you prefer to listen to Five Ways to Send Your Resume to the Trash, click here to open the mp3 file. You may also download to your computer by right clicking the link and selecting “Save Link As.”]

I’ve written about common resume blunders, surefire ways to diminish the power of your resume. But what will really send your resume to the “Delete” bin? Here are five unforgivable errors that will likely doom your resume. Check your resume to make sure you’re not guilty of the following:

1. Typos. Hiring managers hate them! It’s like showing up for a job interview at a Wall Street office wearing ripped shorts, a Jethro Tull t-shirt, messy hair, and old tennis shoes. Your resume is your introduction, and typos are saying, “I really don’t care.” So, carefully proofread your resume before sending it out.

2. No clear goal. The late, great resume writer Yana Parker said it best. She wrote, “Somebody knocks on your door. You open it and say, ‘Hello, what do you want?’ They say, ‘Duh…’” Honestly, if your resume doesn’t have a clear career focus, a busy hiring manager will not take the time to figure it out for you. You don’t need to use a formal Objective section — you can weave your goal into a tagline at the top of your resume or add it to a Qualifications Summary.

3. Information overload. If your resume is jam-packed with information and reads more like your autobiography, and you’ve used tiny fonts and little white space, it’s unlikely that a hiring manager will be wading through all of your data. Make your resume a quick read - it’s possible to include a lot of juicy information without going overboard.

4. A virus. Yes, a virus! If you send your MS Word document along with a nasty computer virus, you will not endear yourself to the hiring manager. Please, run your file through a virus checker before hitting “Send.”

5. Too much personal info. I recommend letting your personality shine through on your resume, but avoid including highly personal information like political or religious views (unless you are 100% sure the hiring manager shares your viewpoint). For example, if you put hunting down as a hobby and your resume has landed in the hands of an animal rights supporter, guess what? There’s a good chance that your resume will end up in the trash. Also, don’t link to a personal website that reveals a side of you that you wouldn’t want prospective employers to see. Keep your resume ultra-professional and you will avoid the dreaded trash bin.

 

  Five Ways to Send Your Resume to the Trash [3:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I spent the weekend in NYC and saw the hysterical Broadway musical Avenue Q. The show follows a new graduate named Princeton (a puppet) who doesn’t know how he will get a job and make ends meet with his useless degree in English. Princeton realizes that he’s got to find his purpose:

“I don’t know how I know, But I’m gonna find my purpose. I don’t know where I’m gonna look, But I’m gonna find my purpose.” - Avenue Q, Purpose

I know one thing — when Princeton finds his purpose, he will need a dynamic resume if he wants to move from Avenue Q to Avenue A (the nicer part of town). If you’re like Princeton and just starting out, here are a few tips to help your resume get noticed:

• Include a career goal. Many new grads try to keep their resumes “general” so they can apply to a number of different jobs. Show hiring managers that you have focus by incorporating a specific career goal in the resume. You don’t have to create a separate Objective section; you can weave your goal into a Qualifications Summary. If you have more than one objective, create a different resume version for each goal. Yes, it’s more work, but you should see better results if your resume is targeted to one goal.
• Reveal your passion. One thing that new grads can offer is passion to succeed in their new careers. You’re not yet burned out like some experienced workers — wide-eyed and enthusiastic, you are willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Express your passion for your new career in your resume’s Qualifications Summary, as well as in your cover letter.
• Don’t necessarily limit yourself to one page. That’s right, you may have heard that new grads should always have one-page resumes. But that doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s okay to develop a two-page resume if you need the space to adequately communicate your qualifications. Consider a two-pager if you have lots of relevant information like internships, school projects, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, jobs, multiple degrees, publications, technical skills, and public speaking. Just make sure that the most compelling information appears on the top of page one.
• Emphasize education. If your related work history is minimal, your Education section should appear before Experience. Expand your Education section to include courses that are related to your goal, special projects, academic honors, and extracurricular activities. As your career progresses, you can move Education to the end of the resume and cut down on some of the activities listed.
• De-emphasize unrelated experience. If you spent summers waiting tables and are seeking a chemistry lab technician job, it doesn’t help to go on and on about your food service duties. Include the positions to show that you worked while attending school, and highlight any stand-out accomplishments (like awards won or leadership roles such as training new-hires), but limit the space you use for unrelated jobs.
• Incorporate keywords. More experienced professionals have keywords appear naturally throughout the resume. For example, job titles are often used as keywords when employers are searching resume databases, so an experienced pharmaceutical sales representative will have that keyword listed under Experience as a job title. If you’ve never held the job but want to enter the field, you have to find a creative way to incorporate the term or your resume may never be found. One way is to add the keyword to your Qualifications Summary — you can say that you are seeking a position as a pharmaceutical sales representative. This post provides more information on finding the best keywords for your field.

Photo courtesy of Michael Schamis via Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons. Thanks, Michael!

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