A Great Resume Blog

Is Your Personal Website Sending The Right Message?

You have a personal website... that's great. Does your website communicate the right messages, especially if you are conducting a job search?

If you are searching for a new job, most recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals will conduct an Internet search - aka "google" you. If your website is found, your messages must be powerful and must reflect your career and professionalism.

Most people with personal websites never consider that a hiring manager, recruiter, or HR professional will visit their website to discover more information. The content of your website could possibly get your name crossed off the list of possible candidates.

Your website should be extremely professional. My recommendation to anyone conducting a job search is to delete any non-professional information. In other words, hiring decisions makers do not care if a person likes a particular rock band, needs to lose 25+ pounds, recently went on a vacation, or loves their pets! Moreover, they do not need to know your religious or political views. They do not want to know your goals, such as getting out of debt or hoping to find the right soul mate. This type of information is not conducive to selling you as a perfect candidate.

Your website should be incredibly professional. It can include a professional photograph, your resume, short articles that demonstrate your expertise, and other professional information.

If you have a website and are conducting a job search, perhaps you might want to review the content and see if it is time for changes. I'm sure you don't want your content to discourage hiring decision makers from discussing possible job opportunities with you.

If you need help writing content about your career, I'd be happy to discuss this with you.

JoAnn Nix, Certified Professional Resume Writer

E-mail: info@agreatresume.com

www.agreatresume.com

Are You CEO of YOU, Inc.?

To be successful in today's global job market, you need to be CEO of YOU, Inc. This means you need to drive a job search as if you are the leader of a corporation. You, alone, are responsible for your job search success - not recruiters, not professional resume writers, not career coaches. Let's examine a few similar traits between a company and your job search.

1. Define Your Product. The product is just not you or your name. The product is what you are offering, the value you bring to the table, the services you deliver, the ways you contribute to business. Craft your value statement, your mission statement, and define your product. Differentiate your product from the competition.

2. Target Audience. Companies always define their target audience, and so should you. Who are you selling to - what companies, which industries, what specific people are in your niche audience?

3. Teams. You should form a job search team. No matter how small or large a company is, they all operate on team-based models. Even a solo entrepreneur should have a Board of Advisors or Board of Consultants (aka teams). The same concept applies to your job search - form and leverage the wisdom of a team or a Board of Advisors. Job searching is complex and multi-faceted... why not use a team for assistance?

4. Project Management. Job searching is a large-scale project. Break your job search down into manageable components, with goals, budgets, deadlines, and more. Integrate best practices into your job search and expect much better results. Projects always begin by defining targeted results and work backwards - what resources are needed, what is the budget, and what human capital resources are required to execute the project and deliver mission-critical results? The same is true for your job search.

5. Business Plans. Successful companies craft and execute business plans. They don't "fly by the seat of their pants" and pray everything works out for the best. The same principle applies to your job search - a successful, well designed business/job search plan will position you for success.

6. Promotions, Branding, Advertising, Communication Strategies. These are integral components to successfully marketing a product in the corporate world. The same principles apply to your job search. How will you promote and advertise your product? Have you completed a branding program? What are your communication strategies?

These are six similarities between a corporation and your job search. I hope these are helpful in driving your job search success.

JoAnn Nix, Certified Professional Resume Writer and Career Coach

www.agreatresume.com

1-800-265-6901

info@agreatresume.com

8 Reasons to Job Search During the Holidays

The majority of job seekers believe companies stop hiring during the holiday season. Most job seekers will begin moving into a hibernation mode, and plan to wait until after the holidays have passed to relaunch their job search. This can be a serious mistake as this holiday season is actually one of the best times to search for a new career opportunity.

Here are eight reasons why you should continue to move forward in your job search during the latter days of November and December.

1. Since most job seekers put their job search on hold, that’s good news for you! This means your competition is drastically lowered and your chances of landing interviews skyrockets. There will never be another time of the year when competition is so low.

2. At this time of the year, people feel less stressed in their jobs and are in a festive spirit. Busy professionals and executives are more available for exploratory meetings with job candidates and more eager to find time in their schedules for business meetings, networking, and interviews. Moreover, executives are typically in the office more so than other times of the year.

3. This time of the year equals greater opportunities for socializing and networking. Take advantage of all event gatherings. Establish new relationships, get reacquainted with family members, touch base up with former colleagues, etc. Briefly discuss your career with people during these networking opportunities, and be sure to follow up with each person you meet. Remember briefly discuss your career and/or job search – do not spend more than two or three minutes on this subject. After all, no one attends a party or event to listen to the details of someone’s job search.

4. You may find opportunities to volunteer during this time of the year. Volunteering is an excellent way to meet new people. In concert, this is an outstanding time of the year to donate your time and resources to worthy organizations and the people they help.

5. Plant seeds for the future. The relationships you build during this time period may be critical to the job search success in 2007.

6. Professionals will continue to change jobs, earn promotions, retire, and more during November and December. Managers will still look for an ideal candidate to replace poorly performing professionals. Hiring needs never end, they may taper, but the need for professionals never stops, not matter the date on the calendar.

7. Hiring managers and recruiters have a sense of urgency related to staffing at this time of the year. They do not want to begin the new year with a staffing deficit. The want to be ramped up to meet new business opportunities January 2.

8. Be available and flexible during the holidays. Would you be willing to interview for a job in the last few days of December? I know several people who have been available for interviews at Christmas time and even flew across the country for interviews – and they received a job offer!

Have You Realized Your Career Potential?

Do you feel you have great career potential but it's not being realized? Do you feel you are not yet at the place you need to be in your career? Do you honestly feel you are incredibly smart, ambitious, and talented and just haven't found the right job, the right career, or the right employer yet?

If that sounds like you, you are not alone. Most of the workforce is not living up to their full potential. Every day I work with job seekers who have not reached the top of the ladder, realize they are so much smarter and better suited for other jobs, and yearn for more. In short, they lack career satisfaction.

I work with a lot of clients every day, and many times I wonder why they are not working for a Fortune 1,000 company. They have so much potential, so many talents, so many business gifts, and such ambition!

There are many reasons for a person to be in this situation. Perhaps they have never had any career coaching, no one would help them see their future, perhaps they've never had a mentor, perhaps they lack confidence, think no one would hire them, let lack of education hold them back from **true** success, maybe they simply don't know how to climb the career ladder.

I believe if a person has to work to earn a living, then they should be doing the type of work that really satisfies them, meets their intellectual status, gives them passion, joy, and confidence. Why be under-employed? Why not be overjoyed to walk into your job each day, be happy about your future and your career?

If you feel that you really haven't reached your potential, perhaps you want to take the first step towards career success and letting companies know you exist and how you can help them. If you're really ready to move up the ladder, maybe today is the day to make decisions that will affect your future.

One way to do this is to team with a career coach. The Internet is a great place to find a career coach. As a Career Coach, I am also qualified, trained, and experienced to work with you. If this is something you would like to discuss with me, send me an e-mail at info@agreatresume.com or call me at 1-800-265-6901. If you like what you hear and are interested, we can chat. If not, that's ok too!

Revitalizing Your Reference Letters

Your Reference Letters are ready to go, and you think they are fairly decent letters. Right? Well, if your reference letters sound anything like the following example, you might want to revitalize your reference letters. Here's what most reference letters say:

"Ms. Tina Allen worked for Baker Industries from 1998 to 2005. During that time, she was punctual, hardworking, courteous to everyone, and was loyal to the company. Everyone loved working with Tina.  I would highly recommend her as an employee to any company. She will work hard for you."

Does that sound familiar? Have you seen letters like these?

The problem with these letters is they add absolutely no value to the job seeker. People who have worked side-by-side the job seeker have no clue how to sell someone else. These type of letters never impress anyone.

When you ask someone to write a reference letter for you, give them specific instructions, ideas, guidelines. Let them know what you are trying to accomplish in your job search, what you are trying to sell. They can never write a powerful and impressive letter if you don't provide guidelines, help them understand what type of qualifications you are trying to sell to your audience. Here's a powerful letter:

"Dear Mr. Allen:

I understand you recently interviewed Tina Allen for a Director of New Business Development position with your company.  As CEO of Baker Industries, I worked very closely with Tina for six years on new business development initiatives that included organic growth and Merger & Acquisitions. She brought over 25 target acquisitions to my attention and we aggressively pursued ten of them, and closed four deals. These deals generated over $245 million - money we would not have realized without Tina.

Tina understands business, pure and simple. She knows how to pursue business opportunities that add value and dollars to a company. She has a huge industry network that she leverages daily to understand what is going on in the business world and in the industry, and capitalizes on the opportunities. She is the best business development leader I've ever worked with.

Unfortunately for us, Tina's husband has accepted an international assignment and will be relocating to Asia...."

This letter IS guaranteed to make people take strong interest in hiring Tina. With this endorsement, why would they NOT want to hire her?

This is a great example of a reference letter that speaks to Tina's talents. Before the  CEO wrote this letter, Tina explained to him what she was trying to sell to a particular employer.

If your reference letters don't sound as powerful as this example, it might be time to ask your colleagues to rewrite your reference letters. Even if you aren't in a job search, now would be a good time to collect several reference letters. People are very busy, and it might be better to have them in your portfolio now, instead of "crunch time" when people are too busy to help you.

JoAnn Nix, CPRW, CEIP, JCTC, CCMC, CPBS, info@agreatresume.com

"One" Is a Lonely Number!

If you are feeling alone and isolated in your job search, it doesn't have to be that way. If you feel you're the only one looking for a job, you have plenty of company. Feeling isolated usually means the job seeker has confined themselves to their home and spends all day looking for jobs on the Internet. They may be home alone all day long, and the feeling of isolation and disconnection from the world becomes stronger with each passing day.

The good news is, you have the power to change this. Being isolated from the world IS one of the worst things you can do and will only bring you down, can cause varying degrees of depression, and certainly doesn't make you attractive to employers, or doesn't do much to accelerate your job search.

So what can you do when you are feeling totally isolated?

1. First, get out of your home because the jobs are not in your computer... it will be a sheer miracle if you do get an interview this way. But if you want things to happen, then go where the business people are... they are in their offices, at professional meetings, at conferences, having lunch, etc. Mingle with them, get out and about, be SEEN, be visible. Besides being the ABSOLUTE best way to find a job, your feeling of isolation will diminish.

2. Second, do some volunteer work. Select organizations you believe in and invest a couple of hours each week volunteering. It will make you feel great about yourself, you will be helping others, and your isolation will become a thing of the past.

3. Attend professional meetings. This is where people gather that have similar backgrounds and interests. They know what is going on at other companies and in their industries. They have connections that you need. Become an active member in the organization, volunteer for projects, get involved in committees, talk with other people, follow up with other people you were interested in, etc. Be SEEN, BE VISIBLE, BE ACTIVE.

4. Form a career team of 2-3 people who can help you with research and administrative tasks, and enable you to market yourself and network. Meet with these people regularly.

The whole idea is to get out of your home because the jobs just aren't going to arrive in your e-mail account. There are very simple cures for overcoming isolation. Isolation is a choice a person makes, but it's not the only choice.

I guarantee if you get out of your home and start doing some of the action items I mentioned above, you will feel better and great things will start to happen for you! There are people all around you, just waiting to talk with you! :)

You Sent In The Resume, Now What?

You sent the resume and cover letter, and you've been waiting and waiting but no one has called. Does this sound familiar? I bet it does .... that's what most job seekers do. I call those "passive" job seekers because they simply wait for things to happen, instead of making things happen.

Let's take a look at a few things you can do to make things happen for you!

1. First, pick up the phone and call the company - start with the Human Resources Department. Verify if they did, indeed, receive your resume. Maybe they didn't; offer to resend it via fax, e-mail, regular mail, drop it by the office!

If they have your resume, ask them where they are at in the interviewing stage. Perhaps they haven't even looked at resumes yet, let alone began interviewing. If you express interest, they are going to pull your resume out of the stack.

Find out if you can schedule a face-to-face or telephone interview with the HR Manager.

My best piece of advice is to find out who has the power to hire you, and go ahead and set up a meeting with this person... NOW. This means you are very interested in the job and company and aren't just "applying for a job."

Become aggressive. Do whatever it takes to start making connections in the company (ethically, of course).

Find out who you know who has connections to the company. Maybe your aunt or uncle has connections, your doctor, your lawyer, your next door neighbor, your tennis partner's wife's best friend's next door neighbor! Start making those links. This will enable you to speed up the process, and get your resume looked at now... You don't want your resume to go into the "Black Hole." If it does, it's more than likely forgotten forever.

The message is this... ethically do whatever it takes to get an "in" into the company by picking up the phone and calling people that work at the company, albeit it the HR Director, the person that would be your manager, the receptionist, the Customer Service Representative, etc.  Communication is POWER. Pursuing job leads and following up on resumes and cover letters are absolutely paramount.

Be an investigator - conduct an investigation to find out who you need to send the resume and cover letter too, before you hit the send button, the fax button, or seal the envelope. It's imperative. Never send your resume/cover letter to "To Whom It May Concern." It's just too easy to find out information in this day and age.

If you need help with your resume and cover letter, contact me - JoAnn Nix, at info@agreatresume.com or 1-800-265-6901. With 8,000 resumes to my credit, I can help.

Beyond The Resume....

The days of simply relying on a resume and cover letter to make a job seeker competitive and memorable in a sea of qualified candidates, are long gone. The problem lies in the fact that a huge majority of job seekers are not aware of this critical fact, or worse yet... ignore it and continue to hang on to outdated beliefs that a resume is the only tool they need to land awesome interviews.

My purpose in writing this article is to inform you that a resume is not good enough to sell you anymore, not in today's competitive job market. You may be losing job opportunities because you have not made yourself memorable, and the other candidates did.

Many candidates leave interviews believing they did a great job answering questions and asking questions in return. Then they are stunned to find out they weren't offered the job. Naturally, there many be several reasons that led to the decision, but one conclusion I have reached is the job seeker simply failed to provide enough concrete information and didn't take the critical steps to make themselves MEMORABLE.

Let's explore a few solutions that will make you memorable.

A BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT.  Did you develop an awesome philosophy statement that describes what you believe? Do the hiring managers now truly understand you?

A MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY. If you are a manager or executive, did you leave behind a comprehensive document spelling out your management philosophy?

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP ADDENDUM. Did you leave proof of your leadership experiences that state, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are a superb leader who effectively deals with crisis and business challenges? Did you show you have the intelligence to lead major companies through all types of business events and problems? Are they now clear about your talents in these areas?

PROJECT SUCCESSES. Did you succinctly outline your projects and successes - did you tap into the company's pain and provide solutions?

PROBLEM / RESOLUTION. Did you outline ways you will hit the ground running to resolve their company and industry problems?

REFERENCE DOSSIER. Did you provide a superb dossier with critical reference letters, performance appraisal comments, and other words echoed among your colleagues that illustrate you are a super star?

KUDOS / ACCOLADES PORTFOLIO. Did you bring any proof to the interview that you have been acknowledged for your successes?

ACHIEVEMENT PROFILE. Did you leave any proof with lasting memories that you have been successful? Did the interviewers "get" your successes?

CD-s, POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS. Many people are visual so using PowerPoint presentations to illustrate key talking points is a good idea. Leaving a CD behind with different career information is a powerful marketing tool and certainly will make you memorable.

BIO. In addition to the resume, use a Bio, a quick snapshot of your career.

EXCERPTS FROM CAREER ASSESSMENT TOOLS. Sort through career assessment tools and select key statements that will be of value to your prospective employers. This is "back up" information to support your career.

These are just a FEW of the marketing tools you can incorporate into your job search to make you viewed as a VERY TALENTED & MEMORABLE CANDIDATE, and to separate you from other candidates.

In today's technology-driven era, a job seeker can't afford to ignore these tools. Resumes just aren't enough to sell your VALUE to target employers. Competition grows every day and you need to out-think and out-smart your competition.

Blogs, personal job seeking websites, and e-portfolios are becoming more mainstream. Integrate them into your job search.

I would encourage you to highly consider many of these solutions to grab and keep the attention of prospective companies. You will need to make a monetary investment in these solutions, but it's critical to your success.

Go "Beyond the Resume" and experience success!

If you have any questions or need help with any of these solutions, contact me at info@agreatresume.com or 1-800-265-6901. JoAnn Nix, Certified Professional Resume Writer

Obvious Job Search Techniques - But Often Ignored

Sometimes it's very easy to overlook the obvious, regardless of your situation. When job searching, candidates are focused on the very big picture and loose site of the obvious and simple things. Here's a few tips that have huge impact on your success if they are not overlooked and neglected.

Voicemail/Phone Messages.

It's rather difficult for someone to return a job candidate's phone call when they can't understand the phone number (or worse yet, there is no phone number, or no area code!). Most people state their phone number so rapidly, it's impossible to understand it. Have you had this happen to you?

No one likes to listen to a message over and over to figure out a phone number. Bottom-line, state your phone number very slowly .... take a quick breath between each number & repeat it twice -- at the beginning so no one has to listen to a L-O-N-G message several times to write down the number. Repeat it at the end of your message.

"This is JoAnn Nix, 1-800-265-6901. I'm returning your call from this morning. My number is 1-800-265-6901. It's best to reach me between 1-4 Central Time today."

Don't assume someone will know your area code. If this person doesn't know you and yet you live in the same city, your odds of receiving a return phone message will be greater if you leave your area code. Make it easy for the other person to call you.

Get to the Point!

Be succinct! Do not ramble! Don't fill the voice message with non-important information. Write down your message if necessary. People do not have time nor patience to listen to long rambling messages that have no value or content. Be very precise.

State Your Name

Many people have a difficult time understanding people's names. State your name very clearly and spell it if necessary. Many names sound alike. It's really bad to return someone's call and you don't even know their name because you could not understand what they were saying.

Sending a Resume - Follow Up

Be aggressive. Period! If you send out a resume, then follow up, follow up, follow up. Do whatever you possibly can to talk to someone who has the power to hire you or speak to someone in HR. Whatever you need to do, convince someone to go get your resume out of the stack and start the wheels of progress moving in your favor. Be B-O-L-D... pick up the phone and talk to someone in the company. Many of my clients do this and guess what.... they get interviews! Take action.

Don't Rely on the Internet!!

This is by far the single most damaging thing a job seeker can do. The odds of getting an interview is one in a million. Your resume is only one of several thousand. Companies are simply not going to print out or read thousands of resumes on a daily basis, it's just not going to happen.

So what do you do instead? You network :) 86% of people receive interviews and job offers this way. If you want to use the Internet, only devote 1 or 2 hours a NIGHT doing this and then devote the daytime hours to networking.  The payoffs are handsome! :)

These are just a couple of quick tips that can have a profound impact in your job search. If you have any questions, let me know. JoAnn Nix, info@agreatresume.com, 1-800-265-6901

Tips on Holiday Job Searching

Now that Thanksgiving is only days away and December is fast approaching, the majority of job seekers will be shutting down their job search and reviving it on January the 2nd. Most job seekers put their job search on hold based on a myth that companies do not hire employees during the holidays. Let me assure you that, indeed, companies DO hire employees during the holiday season.

In fact, searching for career opportunities at the end of the year can work very well for you. Here are several reasons this time of the year is an exceptional time to search for opportunities.

1. Employers and hiring decision makers are in the holiday spirit, more willing to speak with candidates via networking meetings in their office. The office environment is somewhat more relaxed and the holiday spirit is truly in the air, hence their schedules are not quite so demanding and they are in a festive mood. Take advantage of this - set up as many meetings as you possibly can before everyone's schedule becomes highly demanding in January and professionals return "back to business."

2. Companies are finalizing their plans for 2006 - you need to be a part of their plans! They are contemplating their staffing needs for next year and finalizing their budgets. There is a sense of urgency among companies to fill vacant positions before the surge in business in January. A lot of people resign their jobs in December as they want to take off several weeks in December before launching a January job search.

Tips on Holiday Searching.

1. Be visible. If you are invited to social gatherings, go! Speak to many people at social gatherings - don't talk shop very much. Just introduce yourself, learn about the person's work, ask permission to follow up in the next few days and do so ... again and again. Network at the meeting, get people to introduce you to others. Don't try to hand out business cards and focus on work. You are not there to try to land interviews. Perhaps you could have a small notebook to jot down notes or collect their business cards IF they have one available. Don't be pushy. Ask your host or hostess later for the person's name and contact information. Remember, the people are there to relax and have fun, not focus heavily on business.

2. Beef up your networking activities since more business people and executives are in the office this time of the year. Use this time to your advantage.

3. Get your resume prepared or updated, create your own blog and/or e-portfolio, prepare your career marketing documents NOW. Hire a Career Coach now - improve your job search techniques, your interviewing skills, and other career tools. Don't wait until January. Take advantage of the slower month of December to accelerate your job search in January.

4. Coordinate your own holiday parties - invite people you would like to get to know better; those who can contribute to your job search. Think outside of the box so you will be memorable; you never know when one of your guests may have a job opening perfect for you.

5. Do some holiday volunteer work - it's good for your spirit and affords you an opportunity to visit with other people.

6. Be flexible during the holiday season. Would you turn down an interview on December 23 or 24? Many recruiters report finalizing deals with companies and candidates right before Christmas. Several of my clients in the last 13 years have landed jobs on Christmas Eve because they were willing to be flexible in their schedule. You could win a job simply because you were happy to meet with a company or negotiate a deal when other job candidates were inflexible.

My best advice is to work even harder than before on your job search. If you don't land a job during the holiday, you have surely planted many seeds for January. Nurture those seeds in January ... it's the beginning of something great!

If you need assistance putting together a holiday job search strategy, let me know and I can help you. JoAnn Nix, info@agreatresume.com