Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo

Resume Mythbusters: Myth #1 Busted!

by • Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

2056398799_5849080c71_oA number of resume “professionals” say not to use formatting such as bolding or underlining because it can prevent Applicant Tracking Systems from identifying formatted keywords in your resume. ATS’s are often used by large organizations to do initial automated resume screenings for job postings, before resumes are seen by a human. My take on this claim: TOTALLY FALSE.

How do I know? Simple—you can test it yourself. Get a free Google Drive account, which includes gigabytes of cloud storage, and upload your PDF (or Word) resume there. Google Drive is known for making More

How to Write Emails that Land Interviews & Meetings

by • Getting Interviews, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

letters from morgueFile file0001515540276Many cold emails and cover letters (i.e. those sent to people you don’t know asking for a meeting or an interview) are not even read by the recipient; the email subject line doesn’t resonate, or the content is too dense, boring, irrelevant or seemingly pointless to engage the reader. Clients who have applied the following 10 rules, however, have seen big improvements in their email response rates.

Rule #1: Make your letter easily “scannable”
These days, work is too fast-paced to allow time for reading through a long, dense letter. More

When They Say You are “Overqualified”…

by • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

What do you do if a hiring manager says you are “overqualified” for a position? First, you need to know that what they really mean is a) you’re going to want too much money, b) you’re going to be bored and will leave in six months, or c) you won’t fit into the culture. All three of these underlying issues can be addressed with these two approaches: More

Land Your Next Job with LinkedIn’s Volunteer Marketplace

by • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo, Social Media •

LinkedIn now makes it easier to find volunteer opportunities. Gain access by going to http://volunteer.linkedin.com or by clicking on the “Jobs” menu option, selecting “Advanced Search,” “More Options,” and then entering “volunteer” in the job title. LinkedIn has partnered with some major volunteer matching sites to make this happen. Here’s why this feature is so great. More

3 Tips for Delivering a Powerful Presentation

by • Building a Business, On-the-job Success, Org. Effectiveness, Presentations, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

How you present yourself or your work can determine a potential promotion, sale, or job offer. These three simple ideas, from my new book, Peak Presentations, can go a long way towards helping you achieve the outcomes you want.

PowerPoint Slides: Don’t Compete!
When using PowerPoint slides to support a presentation, make sure the slide content doesn’t compete with what you are saying. More

How to Find & Use Keywords for Your Job Search

by • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Interviewing, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo, Social Media •

Keywords in your resume, LinkedIn profile, emails and ‘pitch’ help to communicate your value. To job prospects, your use of the right keywords tells them you are an “insider” (everyone wants to hire insiders) and that you understand the problems they face. Organizations use keyword filters for candidate searches, so your use of strategically placed keywords will improve your likelihood of being spotted.

When someone is searching on LinkedIn for a candidate with your skills (increasingly LinkedIn is the first stop for candidate searches), keywords in certain parts of your profile  matter more than others. More

LinkedIn “Recommendations” vs. “Endorsements”

by • Building a Business, Getting Interviews, Job-Search Strategy, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

Getting a recommendation on LinkedIn can help your career. LinkedIn recommendations are valued by hiring managers. Why? 1. The first-degree connection giving the recommendation is visible, hence “researchable” on LinkedIn, 2. significant effort is involved in writing a recommendation, adding to the authenticity, and 3. the content’s often descriptive nature helps the hiring manager to understand your value. I would suggest getting at least three LinkedIn recommendations. LinkedIn considers three-plus recommendations to be a factor in “profile completeness,” which figures in it’s search rankings. More

Resumes vs. LinkedIn Profiles: What You Need to Know

by • Getting Interviews, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo, Social Media •

You can create an effective LinkedIn profile by following many of the same principles that I would recommend for your resume. For example, focus on accomplishments, have a summary section, use keywords that resonate with your audience, etc. etc. (see this blog post and this one for other guidelines).  Key differences in the way that resumes and profiles are shared, however, could have a big impact on how you choose to modify your resume for your profile. Below I’ve shared an excerpt from my book Advanced LinkedIn to highlight four of these differences. More

Top Resume Mistakes to Avoid (Part 2)

by • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

Oops!In Part 1, I covered the top two mistakes that I see clients make on their resumes.  In this post you’ll learn how to avoid six more resume pitfalls.  Topping off this list:

Your resume places too much focus on responsibilities, not enough on accomplishments

Which phrase do you think is more powerful?

  1. Responsible for running monthly financial reports.
  2. Redesigned monthly financial reporting process, cutting production time from one month to five days. More

Top Resume Mistakes to Avoid (Part 1- the top two)

by • Career Change, Getting Interviews, Resume, LinkedIn, self-promo •

Oops!(Update: Part 2 is here) When a potential employer reviews your resume, s/he thinks: a) Can this person help me to do my job? and b) I have about10-30 seconds to scan this resume. Hence, the Golden Rule of resume writing: Your “how I can help you” message needs to jump off the page in the 10-30 seconds it’s being reviewed. You’ll hear many rules (like this one) tossed around by experts. My suggestion from experience and training is to forget all those other rules, and just follow this one rule.  Anything that serves this Golden Rule is good, anything that doesn’t is bad– which brings us to the top two resume mistakes: More

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