When It Comes to Your Resume, Size Doesn't Matter — Or Does It?
"How long?" Of all the questions I get about resumes, that is the one I get most often. HR managers, school career counselors, and even professional resume writers can't seem to agree on the appropriate length for a resume today. The internet — particularly in the guise of LinkedIn and other professionally oriented social media sites — has changed how we look at resumes. Instead...
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Applicant Rights: What Candidates Should Know About Employer Credit Checks
Background and credit checks are scary parts of the job application process. Even if you have no reason to fear what an employer might find, it's unsettling to have someone comb through your personal information. As a candidate, however, you should know you're not completely at the mercy of the employer in this situation. You have rights, and failure to respect those rights can land...
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Stay-at-Home Moms: Here's How to Ease Back Into Your Career
Taking some time off from your career to raise your family can be extremely rewarding. Many stay-at-home moms and dads say they wouldn't have it any other way. Still, coming back to your career after several years away — maybe as your child goes off to school — can be challenging if you're unprepared. Wherever you are in the parenting journey, it is important to think about how you can...
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5 Steps to Keeping Your Job Search Toolkit Up to Date
If you're on the hunt for a new position, you know how important your job search toolkit is to your success. The key components of your toolkit include updated documents (resume, cover letters, etc.), a polished online profile, and an extensive professional network. These pieces work together to give you the best shot at landing your next role. However, you shouldn't wait until you're...
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Underqualified? You May Want to Apply Anyway
Most people have had the experience of coming across a job they really want but are unqualified for. This is especially common when you are searching for your first job out of college or making a big career change. Think back to a time this happened to you: You read the ad and loved what you saw — but then you realized you didn't meet all of the requirements. Did that stop you from...
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How to Get Inspired in Your Job Search When You're Out of Work
I was speaking with a business friend of mine, a CFO who had been out of work for several months due to a company reorganization. He was looking for advice on how to approach a job opportunity. It was a position in which he could hit the ground running and save the company a considerable amount of money. After the first interview with the COO, my friend was advised he would be brought...
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If You Want to Get Hired Faster, Look for Ways to Be Different
As a recruiter, I've spoken with hundreds of job seekers. Along the way, I've noticed a pattern: Most people want to do what everyone else is doing. They don't want to stick their necks out, take big risks, or do anything "crazy." Here's the problem with this line of thought: Many companies get hundreds of applicants per job, and only about 10-20 of them will even get a phone screen. If...
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7 Quick and Easy Resume Hacks You Need to Know
In an ideal world, we'd all have hours on end at our disposal to learn how to write a resume and tailor it to each position we apply for. In reality, nobody has that kind of time, so we have to strike a balance between working efficiently and creating attention-grabbing job application materials. Sometimes, the best option is to make use of simple solutions to get the job done as well as we...
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10 Moments When a Career Coach Can Help
Over the years, career coaches have grown in popularity. Once seen as a luxury only top executives could afford, they are now thoroughly mainstream. The shifting perception of career coaches may have something to do with the increasing complexity of the workplace. Professionals are switching jobs more frequently, and companies are searching for ways to empower and retain their top...
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4 Things Your Resume Can't Do
A great resume can further your career. The stronger it is, the more interviews you'll land. An excellent resume can even get you headhunted! However, no matter how good your resume is, it can't do all of the heavy lifting in the job search process. While it can make a fantastic first impression and provide employers with a detailed account of your career history, here are four things...
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4 Tips for Your Small Business Job Interview
Believe it or not, small businesses accounted for two-thirds of all net new jobs in the US last year, according to data from the Small Business Administration. Working at a small business can provide numerous benefits, from the chance to take on a wider scope of projects to the opportunity to establish closer relationships with clients and vendors. If that sounds exciting, there is...
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5 Things to Know Before You Make a Career Change
A successful career transition takes planning. You'll need to prove to an employer you have transferable skills that will help you be effective in a new role outside your previous career path. You'll also need to communicate why a career transition makes sense for you. If you're planning to make a transition soon or are in the middle of one now, here are a few things to keep in...
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12 Ways to Customize Your Resume and Cover Letter
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Today's Question: What is the most important thing for applicants to customize in their cover letters or resumes? The answers below are provided by Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization of the world's most successful young entrepreneurs. YEC members...
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The Right Answer to 'Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?'
"So, where do you see yourself in five years?" It's one of the most dreaded interview questions, and it's one you're likely to come across at some point in your job search. No one really knows where they will be in five years, and even if you do have a plan, there's no way to know for sure it will pan out. Still, interviewers will keep asking the question, so it's your job to learn how...
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3 Ways to Make Your Professional Reference's Job Easier
I recently received a phone call asking if I would provide a professional reference for someone named Margaret. I racked my brain, trying to remember a student, client, or someone I worked with in the Marine Corps by that name — but I came up empty. I even tried thinking of a Marge or a Maggie or some other variation of the name, but I had no luck. Therefore, I did not call...
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Job Search Rejection: It's Not Personal, But It Sure Feels Like It Is
The job search is perhaps the most personal impersonal experience there is. As a job seeker, you pour your heart into your cover letter. You customize your resume. You agonize your way through every step of the process, which can drag out for many months. Along the way, you may encounter many tests of your abilities: phone screens, in-person interviews, panel interviews — and perhaps...
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5 Things to Cut From Your Cover Letter Now
If you want recruiters to read your resume, then you'll need an enticing cover letter to convince them. Your cover letter is your introduction to a new recruiter or hiring manager, and it can be the difference between a potential employer opening your resume or clicking "delete." The aim of a cover letter is simple: to persuade a recruiter to give your resume a chance. Unfortunately,...
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Where Does Your Resume End and Your LinkedIn Profile Begin?
In today's digital world, it is easy to think platforms like LinkedIn have completely diminished the importance of traditional resumes. However, they both have their purpose. Recruiters and hiring managers will look at both your LinkedIn profile and your resume. There will be some differences and some similarities between these two documents, but used effectively, they can be...
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This Year, Make a Promise to Submit 100 Job Applications
You're tired. You're worn out. You're disappointed. You didn't get the job you really wanted. You were a great candidate, and you made it pretty far in the process, but you cannot figure out what went wrong. I am with you. Job searching is emotionally and mentally exhausting. Employers will run you through the gauntlet of resumes and cover letters and interviews and assessments and test...
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5 Things You May Not Know About Working in the Insurance Industry
According to an industry trend report, 63 percent of insurance companies plan to increase their staff sizes in the next 12 months. By 2020, there are projected to be nearly 400,000 open positions in the insurance industry. The high number of openings — coupled with the fact that only about a third of all millennials have any interest in working in the industry — means there has never...
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3 Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Counteroffer
While most career advice professionals will adamantly advise you against ever accepting a counteroffer from your current employer, the honest truth is accepting one can sometimes be a good career decision. It all depends on a few factors. The sad fate of those who do accept counteroffers is often referenced in recruiting circles: 90 percent of them leave or are let go from their company...
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Learning a Trade? You May Still Want to Earn a Bachelor's Degree
The trades industry is hot. According to Tradesmen International, some of the most common jobs for craftsmen are projected to experience double-digit growth by 2024. For example, openings for millwrights are expected to rise by 15.2 percent, openings for electrician helpers by 18 percent, and openings for solar photovoltaic installers by a whopping 24.3 percent! It's no wonder many...
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Why Job Seekers Should Focus More on Their Skills Than Their Experiences
When you're creating a resume or professional profile to showcase your value to potential employers, you have a choice to make: Should you emphasize your skill set or your previous job experiences? Hiring managers certainly want to see relevant professional experience, but the fact is they often value skills over work history. To understand why, we should talk about how these two...
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First Day on the Job: Make a Great Impression Without Coming on Too Strong
It's your first day on the job, and you want to make a great impression on your supervisor and coworkers. This is an understandable urge, but you must be careful. You don't want to come on too strong — like a person wearing so much perfume or cologne you can smell them before you see them. You don't want to be that person, metaphorically — and literally! — speaking. The following...
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5 Easy Ways Stand Out to Employers
Last summer, Geoffrey Owens, once a regular on the legendary Cosby Show, was seen working a — *gulp* — regular job at Trader Joe's. The press quickly ran with the story, and people around the world began making negative comments about Owens's situation. Owens ended up quitting his job because of all the unwanted attention. However, there was a silver lining in all of this: Tyler...
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It's Time to Break Up With Your Job
Happy Valentine's Day! It's time to end that toxic eight-hour-a-day relationship. You wouldn't put up with all the negativity in a romantic partner. Why are you putting up with it at work? Every February, I write a column about why it's important to love your job. This year, however, I've decided to take a different approach. I'm going to encourage you to break it off with your job —...
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How to Write a Killer Cover Letter
You've found the perfect job, your resume is ready to go, but there's one last thing on your to-do list: the dreaded cover letter. While it might seem easy to write a one-page letter touting your strengths, many job seekers struggle to understand what, exactly, an employer is looking for and how to translate that into a couple of paragraphs. Cover letters are unavoidable, and many...
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Apply the Genius Habit to Your Job Search
Being able to navigate a job search seamlessly is imperative in the changing landscape of work. While a job search can be intimidating, you need to get used to the idea because you will have to go through the job interview process many times over the course of your career. Gone are the days when most people stayed with the same company — or even the same industry — for their entire...
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My New Pet Peeve: Getting Personal on LinkedIn
Sometimes, you see something you just can't unsee it. Unfortunately, that seems to be happening to me more and more on LinkedIn. What was once a very professional website is now host to some very unprofessional things, and it's frankly shocking. I've tried to push it out of my mind, but I just can't any longer. I've seen an influx of cartoon profile photos, as well as overly casual...
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Designing a Standout Interview Portfolio: What HR Looks For
When applying for a job, most people assume that whether they get the gig depends mostly on who they're competing against and their personal presentation. The logic is sound, but it may not be entirely accurate. In fact, simply including one additional document along with your resume and cover letter could significantly increase your odds of getting hired. The next time you head to an...
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Don't Be Distracted by All the Bells and Whistles — the Old-Fashioned Job Search Tactics Still Work
You've been waiting for the right time, and it's finally here. 2019 is the year — the year you find a new job. You've hated your job for years, but you've stuck it out because you weren't sure of the employment market. Now, the economy has turned around. Job seekers have leverage, and organizations are desperate for talent. You're ready for something new, and this is your perfect chance...
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4 Things to Do Before You Relocate for a Job
Congratulations — you got a new job! Now, it's time to think about relocating. Packing, moving, and settling into a new place can be a stressful and costly undertaking. Paying attention to the details early on can help ensure your move goes forward without a hitch. Here are a few things you need to know and do before relocating for a new job: 1. Review Your Relocation...
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5 Executive Resume Mistakes That Attract Soul-Crushing Employers
I want to tell you about a client of mine. We'll call him "Greg." Greg recently took a new job. The company is a successful, mature business, but it is currently having trouble allocating resources to the offshoot division it hired Greg to lead. This wasn't supposed to be a problem — not according to the discussions Greg had with his potential employer during the interview process....
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Job Hopping: Does It Help or Hurt Your Career?
A couple of generations ago, people would get hired out of college or high school expecting to stay with the same company until retirement. Today, that career approach is very much the exception rather than the rule. It has been reported that millennials resign from their jobs almost twice as often as older workers. In fact, 75 percent of people ages 18 to 34 think job hopping might be...
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How to Deal With Rejection During a Career Change
Dealing constructively with rejection is an important part of almost any job hunt, but especially when you're making a career change. When you switch industries or take on a role that doesn't quite fit with your previous experience, you have to be prepared for some pushback. According to psychologist Guy Winch, "the same areas of the brain become activated when we experience rejection as...
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The 6 Biggest Mistakes You're Making on LinkedIn
So you want to get a new job. The first thing you should do is update your LinkedIn profile — which is actually easier said than done. Many job seekers make big mistakes when prepping their profiles, sabotaging their searches without even realizing it. Here are six mistakes you're making on LinkedIn right now: 1. You Don't Have a Photo It is no longer okay to opt out of having...
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How to Stand Out From All the Other January Job Seekers and Land the Interview
The holidays are behind us, and the party is over. It has been a few weeks since you returned to the same old job and the same old routines. Once again, you're having thoughts of looking for a new job. There is good reason why the start of a new year sends so many of us to the job boards. It's the season of new beginnings and new resolutions. Many of us spent our holidays talking about...
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Structured for Success: Resume Formatting 101
The average recruiter spends just six seconds looking at a resume. With this in mind, applicants need to ensure their resumes are easy to read so that recruiters can find the hiring data they are looking for within that minuscule time frame. The best way to make sure your resume lands in the "yes" pile is to structure it for success. Keep the Format Simple You want to make sure your...
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It's the 'Best Job Market in a Generation' — Use It to Your Advantage
2019 is set to be an amazing year for job seekers. In fact, according to Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain, "this is the best job market we have seen in an entire generation." If I could knock on the door of every single reader to deliver this message personally, I would. If I could yell it from rooftops everywhere, I would. If you have been thinking of looking for a new...
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It's the Little Things: Strengthen Your Executive Resume by Focusing on the Details
If you've ever been on a job hunt before, you likely know the importance of details — but do you know which details to include on a senior-level resume? A professional resume writer may be able to help you with formatting, length, and similar concerns, but even they don't know the details of your work history. When you're applying for a senior-level position, strengthen your resume by...
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4 Simple Ways to Stand Out During Your Job Search
Embarking on a new job search can be a stressful, overwhelming experience. In order to secure the right position for yourself, you need to find a way to stand out from the hundreds of other applicants vying for the same opening in the job market. A great resume and cover letter are necessary starting points, but they are far from enough. Go the extra mile by deploying these strategies during...
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How to Explain — and Make the Most of — an Employment Gap
Career-orientated people don't make a habit of missing work, but sometimes things beyond our control can pull us out of the workforce. Anyone can face an employment gap, but women are especially prone to them, which can exacerbate the wage gap, contribute to low numbers of women in the C-suite, and leave younger women without female mentors and advisors in the workforce. Part of the...
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Should I Stay or Should I Go? How to Determine If That New Job Is a Good Fit
Surfing the job boards one day, you come across an ad for what seems like the perfect role for you. You send in an application, and you hear back from the employer right away with a request for an interview. You go in for your first interview, which you ace, followed by a few more, which also go well. A week later, the phone rings. You got the job. You show up to work on your first day,...
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More Than Just Eggnog: Holiday Parties Are Perfect Networking Opportunities
Chances are you've got holiday parties coming up in both your work and personal lives — and you might not be able to avoid them! These parties can be draining, especially for those of us who are introverts. This time of year can be rough for everyone, though. It can feel like there's just no room for yet another item on the to-do list! However, if you're planning to be on the job...
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Look the Part: How to Make a Great First Impression at Your Interview
We all like to think our shot at securing a dream job is solely a matter of our abilities. Unfortunately, this isn't entirely the case. A number of factors can influence your success in an interview, and whether or not we like to admit it, image and looks are two of them. This might sound superficial at first glance, but the way you present yourself truly does say a lot about how you...
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What It's Like to Work for a Regulated Company
Most financial products are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which create sets of regulatory frameworks to which businesses must conform. Someone who is new to working in a regulated environment should be aware that it is different from working in other industries due to the strict procedures in place to...
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The 6 Best Careers for Introverts
The modern workplace holds many challenges for introverts. The noise and distractions of open-plan offices are not conducive to an introvert's best work, and collaborative porjects are often prioritized above individual efforts. In the right roles, however, introverts can really thrive. Here are six careers where introverts can use their gift for calm, focused effort to its...
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4 Reasons Your Resume Is Being Ignored
Have you spent hours upon hours writing what you thought was the perfect resume, only for it to be consistently ignored by hiring managers? The job market is highly competitive, and your resume is up against tens or hundreds of others every time you apply for a job. Before sending your resume out to another role, address these common weaknesses that may be holding you back: 1. Your...
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