Chapter 15 - Job Search and Resumes

If you choose to omit a career objective, what should you include in your cover message?

Objectives and goals

Pursuing the Hidden Job Market with Networking: Three steps:

-1. Develop a contact list -2. Make personal contacts in person and online -3. Follow up on your referrals

When writing a cover letter for a solicited job?

make sure you refer to the job title and how your qualifications fit the requirements. Also, include the exact source of your information.

What to place in capabilities section?

special knowledge, languages, skills. Emphasize your non-technical skills.

How to open a cover letter: *For solicited jobs*

-Refer to the name of an employee in the company. -Refer to the source of your information precisely. -Refer to the job title and describe how your qualifications fit the requirements.

Print-based resumes....

-Should be in an uncluttered, easy to read format -Print-based résumés need to be attractively formatted to maximize readability. Follow an outline with headings and bullet points, and present your information in an orderly, uncluttered, easy-to-read format. Double columns and unusual typefaces should be avoided because they decrease the readability of the résumé. -used for: during interviews, for person to person networking, for recruiters at fairs, when your competing for a job that does not require an electronic submission.

Work experience:

-Use action verbs to describe your experience -Summarize and try to quantify your achievements

Exploring Career Opporunties:

-Visit campus career center -Search the web -use the lib -take a summer job, internship, or PT position in your field -volunteer w/a non-profit org -monitor the classified ads -join professional orgs in your field.

What does a summary of qualifications do?

-it ensures that your qualifications are not overlooked. -Including a summary at the top of your résumé makes it easier to read and ensures that your most impressive qualifications are not overlooked by a recruiter. A summary of qualifications can draw on skills and experience from any point in your career and does not follow a chronological format or illustrate gaps in your employment history. -provide 3-8 bulleted statements -customize statements to fit the job requirements -AVOID being general! Describe clearly, specifically, etc.

What should one do when sending resume via email?

-reformat for shorter lines -Many e-mail programs wrap lines longer than 65 characters. To avoid having your résumé look disorganized, prepare a plain-text résumé that uses a short line length and left alignment. Center alignment, long lines, and right alignment will lead to awkward line wrapping that distorts your résumé layout.

The average worker b/ween ages 18-38 in the U.S will stay on a job for how many years?

6.6 years.

What might you include in a professional e-portfolio?

E-portfolios are collections of digital files that allow you to fully highlight your talents, accomplishments, and technical skills in a lively format. In an e-portfolio, you might include your résumé and cover message, relevant course work, work samples, thank-you letters, commendations for special achievements, and any other documents, images, or links that showcase your qualifications.

What's the best way to find a job online...

Exploring the company's website

Creating a Customized Resume: 2 types

Functional Chronological

When does the first step in conducting a successful job search actually begin?

Begins by understanding the job market, identifying your interests and qualifications, and opportunities.

What is a downside to using job boards:

Job candidates complain that many listings are outdated, and fail to produce leads. - On the other hand, online job boards provide insight into the many kinds of jobs that are available and offer extensive job-search information, like résumé, interviewing, and salary tips.

Inforgraphic Resume?

Uses colorful charts, graphics, and timelines to illustrate candidate's work history and experience. *often used in the fields on journalism or graphic design.

What should you do to build online social presence?

create a strong LinkedIn profile with a customized URL that makes you easier to find. -Consider making a prof. fbk and Twitter pages that focus on your job search or career goals. Increase your online visibility by writing blog posts, status updates, or tweets related to your career goals. Remember that employers often check the online presence of job candidates, so make sure your presence is professional. Don't post personal or nonprofessional information without considering the consequences.

Pursuing the Hidden Job Market with Networking: *Follow up on your referrals*

i.e. "Hello. I'm ___, a friend of ___. He suggested that I ask you for help. I'm looking for a position as a ___, and he thought you might be willing to spare a few minutes to steer me in the right direction

Pursuing the Hidden Job Market with Networking: *Make personal contacts in person and online*

i.e. "Hi, ___. I'm looking for a job, and I wonder if you could help me out. When could I come over and talk about it?" "Do you know of anyone who might have an opening for a person with my skills?"

When sending a cover message by e-mail:

make sure you move your return address from the top of the message to just below your name. Also, remove formatting features that might be problematic: tabs, bullets, underlining, and italics.

The Big Boards:

• CareerBuilder claims to be the largest online career site with more than 1 million jobs and 49 million résumés. • Monster offers access to information on millions of jobs worldwide. It uses a search technology called 6Sense to match applicants with the best job opportunities. Many consider Monster.com to be the Web's premier job site. • CollegeGrad describes itself as the "number one entry-level job site" for students and graduates. Applicants can search for entry-level jobs, internships, summer jobs, and jobs requiring one or more years of work experience • Indeed aggregates job listings from thousands of websites including company career pages, job boards, newspaper advertisements, associations, and blogs

Motivating Action in the closing:

•Ask confidently for an interview (not for the job!). •Tie your request to reader benefits or review your strongest points. •Sound sincere and appreciative. •Make it easy to respond; tell when you can be reached.

Promoting your strengths in the cover message (letter of application) body:

•Explain how your preparation and experience fill the job requirements. •Choose your strongest qualifications and show how they fit the targeted job. •Demonstrate personal traits such as working on a team, showing initiative, and learning new tasks easily. •Refer the reader to your résumé.

Getting Your resume selected: to maximize keyword hits...

•Include specific keywords or keyword phrases. •Focus on nouns. •Use variations of the job title. •Concentrate on the skills section. •Don't use a keyword summary.

Three parts to a cover letter (regardless of length)

•Opening: Captures attention, introduces the message, and identifies the position. •Body: Sells the candidate and focuses on the employer's needs. •Closing: Requests an interview and motivates action.

Searching in the Digital Age:

•The Internet has drastically changed the job search: Job boards Search engines Social networks Online résumés and interviewing •However, personal networking and referrals remain the primary route to hiring.

What percent of jobs are part of the hidden job market?

-50-80%

Creating customized cover letter (letter of application)

-is a great way to introduce the resume.

What percentage of employers check FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn?

91%

in preparing a resume that will be scanned, you should

Focus on specific keywords or keyword phrases.

Video Resume:

•A video resume enables you to demonstrate public speaking, interpersonal, and technical skills. -traditional organizations make by less impressed.

Submitting Resume:

*follow instructions for submitting* Word Doc - Plain text doc - for online job board or by sending it thru email PDF Doc - for safety reasons. Company Database - larger orgs may prefer this. This enables them to plug your data into their formats for rapid searching. Fax - gets info to employer safely and quickly.

When listing jobs.....

-Aim for succinct job descriptions with details that relate to the position for which you're applying. Use bullet points to increase readability, and avoid listing every single thing you have done on a job. Highlight relevant achievements, and customize your information to match the job.

Are cover letters still important?

-Career advisors support them! -They reveal your ability to put together complete sentences and to sound intelligent.

Your resume main heading should include what?

-Contact information -Whether you use a functional or chronological résumé format, make sure your main heading includes your contact information: your complete mailing address, area code, phone number, and e-mail address. Your career objective appears below the heading and is not part of the résumé heading. Your employer's name, city, and state should be included in the work experience or employment history section.

What are ways to develop your own brand?

-Create your own tagline: briefly describe what distinguishes you -Distribute a busness card -Prepare an elevator speech -Build a powerful online social presence.

Pursuing the Hidden Job Market with Networking: *Develop a contact list*

-Crrent and former teachers -Fmily, friends, and friends of friends -Scial networking contacts -Yur dentist, doctor, etc. -Crrent and former work colleagues -College alumni

How to open a cover letter: *For unsolicited jobs*

-Demonstrate an interest in and knowledge of the reader's business. -Show how your special talents and background will benefit the company.

Resume - *Chronological*

-Focuses on experience -Fav of recruiters -Best for people with experience and steady career growth *However - this style is also used by many students*

Resume: *Functional*

-Focuses on skills rather than past employment. -best for people with little experience, frequent job changes, different career areas, or employment gaps. *However - may be hard to write and recruiters may be suspicious*

What should the education section of your resume include?

-If your education is more noteworthy than your work experience, include it after your career objective or summary of qualifications. Make sure to list the degrees and honors you've received in this section. Job titles and employment dates belong in the employment history or work experience section.

When to use plain text?

Convert basic resume to plain text so that it is available for emailing or pasting into online resume submission. Employers prefer this b/c they avoid possible email viruses and word processing incompatibilities.

Who is likely to have a one page resume?

Job seekers who have fewer than ten years of experience, are making a career change, or have had only a few employers will likely have a one-page résumé. Make your résumé as long as needed to sell your skills to recruiters and hiring managers. However, be sure to be as succinct and to the point as possible. Job seekers with more than ten years of experience often have two-page résumés, while experienced executives may have résumés that are three or more pages in length.

Awards, honors and activities.

List awards and extracurricular activities, especially if they demonstrate leadership, teamwork, reliability, loyalty, initiative, efficiency, and self-sufficiency.

What's the biggest mistake that job seekers make when writing cover letters:

Make them sound too generic. A customized cover letter is more appealing to an employer b/c it fits the job's requirements more closely.

Employers are most interested in how a candidate will add vale to orgs. The most successful candidates highlights what on their resumes:

Qualifications!

Ways to process incoming resumes:

Some organizations ask for traditional, print-based résumés, while larger organizations may request electronic submissions that they may screen with an applicant tracking system (ATS). To optimize your chances of finding employment, familiarize yourself with both print-based and electronically submitted résumés. You may also decide to prepare a professional e-portfolio, video résumé, or infographic résumé to showcase your work.

To increase Applicant Tracking System selection...

To increase his chances of ATS selection -include terms from the posted job advertisement or job description, focus on nouns, use variations of the job title, concentrate on the skills section, and skip a keyword summary. These techniques will maximize keyword hits.

To conduct safe and effective online job searching...

To keep personal information safe while conducting an online job search, -post privately to control who has access to e-mail address and contact information. - avoid "blind" job postings, which may contain fake jobs and may be used by scammers to gather personal information -limit the amount of personal information included on résumé, use a dedicated e-mail address that is set up for the job search -keep careful records so that once finished searching, all information from each site can be removed.

Why would one include a personal data section in the resume?

Today's résumés usually omit personal data. However, you can include hobbies or interests that might grab a recruiter's attention or act as a conversation starter. Do not include information about your height, weight, marital status, religious affiliation, or other personal characteristics. Know that recruiters are discouraged and, in some cases, legally prohibited from asking for such information.

Self analysis questions include:

•What are you passionate about? Can you turn this passion into a career? •Do you enjoy working with people, data, or things? •Would you like to work for someone else or be your own boss? •How important are salary, benefits, technology support, and job stability? •How important are working environment, colleagues, and job stimulation? •Must you work in a specific city, geographical area, or climate? •Are you looking for security, travel opportunities, money, power, or prestige? •How would you describe the perfect job, boss, and coworkers?

Assessing one's qualifications include asking:

•What technology skills can you present? What specific software programs are you familiar with, what Web experience do you have, and what social media skills can you offer? •Do you communicate well in speech and in writing? How can you verify these talents? •What other skills have you acquired in school, on the job, or through activities? How can you demonstrate these skills? •Do you work well with people? Do you enjoy teamwork? What proof can you offer? Consider extracurricular activities, clubs, class projects, and jobs. •Are you a leader, self-starter, or manager? What evidence can you offer? What leadership roles have you held? •Do you speak, write, or understand another language? •Do you learn quickly? Are you creative? How can you demonstrate these characteristics? •What unique qualifications can you offer that make you stand out among candidates?