Michael asks, “I recently started a job that I absolutely hate. I don’t want employers to think I’m job-hopping, so I’m thinking of leaving the job off my resume. Is this the right thing to do?

Kim’s answer: This is is a common dilemma. My recommendation is to include the position on your resume. First, you will show current employment, which is always good. Second, it’s more honest to list the experience, and then you don’t have to explain to potential employers that you omitted a job from your resume.

Use your cover letter to briefly (and as positively as possible) explain your circumstances, and avoid writing anything negative about your current employer.

Best wishes,
Kim Isaacs

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Stand out from the crowd, even if your career has taken an unwanted turn!

Are you unhappy in your current job and wishing you can return to a former career? Chances are, you can!

You might feel like you’ve been out of your field for so long, you wouldn’t be desirable. But there are resume and cover letter strategies you can use to make a seamless transition back to the career you loved.

Follow these tips, and please post a comment if you have other strategies that have worked for you:

Resume Tips

• Lead with a bold headline or title section that clearly states your new goal.
• Write a Qualifications Summary that emphasizes your strongest credentials related to your former career field.
• Include a Key Skills section that highlights skills related to your previous career.
• Rearrange your work history so that you lead with your former, related employment. You can rename sections as appropriate (such as “Management Experience”) so it’s clear you’re grouping work history based on type of work and not chronologically.
• Emphasize recent training or activities related to your previous career to show that you’ve kept your skills up to date.

Cover Letter Tips

• Explain your decision to return to a former career. Hiring managers will be wondering why you’re doing this, and this is a perfect chance for you to express your passion for your previous career path.
• Reference accomplishments from your earlier career so employers see that you excelled in this field.
• Give examples of how you’ve been keeping your skills refreshed.

Speaking of keeping your skills refreshed, it’s very important to do this! The best way to keep your skills updated depends on your specific career field, but options include taking a class, attending conferences, participating in networking groups, practicing your skills on a freelance basis, volunteering, and keeping abreast of industry changes and trends.

Can you think of other ways to refresh your skills to prepare for a return to a former career?

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Link to a Fox Business News interview with Anna Gilligan regarding career change resumes. I hope I made the point about how important it is to express passion for a new career — that can really make a difference in getting hired for your dream job!

Kim Isaacs

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Another career change resume came across my desk today, and the job seeker used a functional format…as usual.

Career changers seem to be lured in by the potential benefits of a functional resume, which focuses on relevant skills and downplays employment history. The attraction makes perfect sense, but the problem is that employers often don’t like functional resumes. In fact, this style has been used for so long to hide undesirable aspects of a person’s work history (job-hopping, gaps, career change, incarceration?), that hiring managers may assume there’s a problem as soon as they see a functional resume.

Not a good way to make a positive first impression: “What’s the matter with this guy?”

I’m not saying that a functional resume could never work. But I do think that most career changers have sufficient transferable skills and accomplishments that can be highlighted by using a combination resume format. This style provides the best of both worlds — the inclusion of a qualifications summary and key skills, plus the reverse chronological work history that employers like to see.

If you’re changing careers and trying to decide on the best resume format for you, consider a combination resume. And please, avoid a functional resume unless you have a highly thought-out strategy or are using the services of a talented professional resume writer.

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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I received an email from Ron today: “Kim, I converted my resume to plain text and it looks terrible! Is there any way I can keep some of the formatting from my MS Word resume, like bold and bullet points?”

Kim’s Answer: Plain-text (ASCII) resumes are indeed ugly. ASCII files don’t use formatting features like bold, italics, or underline, or special characters like bullets you would find on a traditional resume. The tradeoff is that your resume can be read on virtually any computer system, and employers can easily save your resume in their applicant tracking systems. Content is king with ASCII resumes, so make sure your resume “sells” you and the value that you offer.

The good news is that you can maximize your ASCII resume’s readability and avoid the jumbled mess that many ASCII resumes become when they are converted from Word documents. Check out this post for detailed instructions on how to convert your resume to ASCII format: ASCII Resumes: Learn How to Convert Your File

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Do you want to make your resume more compelling? Add testimonials.

Why?

The majority of resumes are written in first-person voice. You’re basically saying, “I did this. And I did that.” All this talking about yourself can get monotonous, and even hard to believe. (Employers are catching on to the majority of people who lie on their resumes.)

But if you add someone else’s voice to your resume, you add credibility. Yes, it’s true that you could be fabricating these testimonials, but if done correctly, you could pique the interest of hiring managers who liked what your contacts had to say. Follow these tips to find and use testimonials in your resume:

Where to find them:

• Performance reviews. Scour your performance reviews — you will probably find wonderful quotes you can use (the good stuff only!).
• References. Colleagues, supervisors, employees, customers, vendors, business associates — anyone who would have something positive to say about you can write you a reference letter. You can then pull the strongest, most relevant quotes from the letter and use in your resume.
• Informal thank-you notes. Did you ever get an email or card from a grateful customer, your boss, or a team member thanking you for your help or contribution? If so, great — there’s your testimonial.
• Social networking sites. Some of the leading social networking sites like LinkedIn allow people to add testimonials to your profile page. If you have received a nice testimonial, ask the contact for permission to use it on your resume.

How to incorporate them:

• Add a Testimonials section. You can call the section “Testimonials,” “Supervisor Comments,” or a name that best describes the nature of your testimonials. If space is tight, create a final page of your resume called “Addendum” and include the testimonials there.
• Add to your Qualifications Summary. You can offset a testimonial by centering the quote and writing it in italics at the end of your summary.
• Incorporate excerpts throughout the resume. This works well on resumes that are in two-column format. Quotes can appear in the left margin, and you get brownie points if they are next to the job that the quote is referencing.
• Add to a list of accomplishments. If the quote is relevant to the job, you can add it to a bulleted list of job-related accomplishments.
• Use your cover letter. This is another great place to incorporate a testimonial or two.
• Be creative! You can include a quote wherever it seems to fit best. But don’t overdo it — testimonials are meant to enhance your resume, not take it over.

Testimonial etiquette:

• Ask permission before using your reference’s name, contact information, and/or quotes in your resume.
• Edit the testimonial down to the most important facts (but don’t change what the person has said without permission). Testimonials should be short and sweet or hiring managers’ eyes will start to glaze over. Check out Grammar Girl’s tips on how to use ellipses (scroll to the section on the omission ellipsis) to learn how to cut unnecessary words or sentences from long quotes.
• Use professional references — the strongest testimonials are from people who know you professionally. We all know Aunt Betty thinks you’re the greatest!
• Be relevant. Make sure the testimonial supports your resume’s message. For example, if you are seeking a leadership position, look for testimonials that outline project successes, outcomes of management initiatives, and other business benefits.
• Be current. A testimonial from 30 years ago is virtually useless today. Seek out quotes that refer to recent accomplishments.

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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I bought my friends tickets to see The Big Apple Circus. They loved the show, and when I asked about their favorite acts, juggling was at the top of the list. Juggling just seems so amazing (as well as aerodynamically impossible).

The one fact that’s not apparent at the live act is the multitude of times the performers have dropped items during training. Untold hours of practice and lots of mistakes have led to a pristine performance at the circus.

I couldn’t help but see the correlation with job searching. The process can be so frustrating, and is fraught with rejection, roadblocks, and failure. There’s so much competition for the best jobs, and even the strongest candidates can be left jobless for a long time.

The lesson for job seekers? Keep trying. If you don’t get a response to a job posting or don’t hear back from an employer, move forward and keep the momentum going. Reach out to someone in your network. Refresh your resume. Learn new job search skills that will make you more marketable. Job searching is a learned skill, and the more you know, the more successful you will be. When you’re feeling like no good jobs are on the horizon, keep in mind the juggler who has dropped the ball thousands of time before he is able to perform to a live audience.

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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