Tech-Pro was mentioned this past Sunday in the Star Tribune on an article focusing on the IT Job Outlook in 2009. I was fortunate enough to have collaborated with both Laura French and Rick Deare on this article. You can check it out here: http://tinyurl.com/itjo2009. Laura is a regular contributor to the Star Tribune and has written many excellent articles around the Twin Cities job market!
For those of you that don’t know Rick Deare, he is both a friend and a mentor of mine. Rick is a wildly energetic veteran of the recruiting world that has focused in multiple areas but particularly in the IT world over the past several years. He has an outstanding blog I’d like to promote: http://meettheheadhunter.com/. You can also learn more about his company here: http://www.deare.com/.
Needless to say, I was excited to have even been mentioned in the same article as Rick.
We are certainly starting to see an uptick in the market which is great news. We did grow month over month from January to April which was the first four-month “winning” streak we had seen in some time. While we didn’t place as many consultants in May as April, we also saw a “net gain” in consultants as we placed more people than we had come out of a contract – which is still a positive sign.
The positions we’ve been busiest with have continued to be the more technical ones; particularly development and quality assurance roles. Where we’ve been slow the past 12 months is the project management and business analysis world – though that does seem to be changing. We are hearing about more projects that are “close” to becoming reality that are going to require talented PM’s and BA’s, along with technical professionals of course.
One trend we’ve seen that has REALLY emerged over the past few months is the power of the internal reference. I can cite several times where we’ve presented an OUTSTANDING consultant for a position – not only perfectly qualified for a role, but OVERqualified in most cases – only to lose to another consultant that had appropriate qualifications but also had either prior company experience and/or a strong internal reference inside the group they were interviewing with. This is something that wasn’t necessarily the case a couple of years ago, but it’s almost the norm now. Please keep this in mind when you are vying for a new position – the more internal references you can cite, the better!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Good signs!
We continue to see some good signs in the market when it comes to increased activity in the job market. While the general sentiment is that “we’ve still got a ways to go” – we’re seeing more positive reports lately than we have in some time.
One newsletter I subscribe to is the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, and I’d like to share an article posted there recently. This article talks about the spike in online job postings in May – an increase of 250,000 jobs posted over April! Please also check out the “Recruiter Confidence Index” – it’s the highest it’s been in a year and has gained 4 straight months. http://tinyurl.com/ncxxva
Another ERE article focuses on the reports last week you may have already seen – that there was a dramatic “slowdown” in job losses – something that was unexpected. While the unemployment rate continued to grow, the numbers of jobs lost were a welcome sign. Hopefully it’s yet another sign of the recession bottoming out: http://tinyurl.com/mt468n.
We also saw a DECREASE in unemployment here in MN from March to April! http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/Home.htm
Hopefully these are all trends that will continue as 2009 rolls on!
One newsletter I subscribe to is the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, and I’d like to share an article posted there recently. This article talks about the spike in online job postings in May – an increase of 250,000 jobs posted over April! Please also check out the “Recruiter Confidence Index” – it’s the highest it’s been in a year and has gained 4 straight months. http://tinyurl.com/ncxxva
Another ERE article focuses on the reports last week you may have already seen – that there was a dramatic “slowdown” in job losses – something that was unexpected. While the unemployment rate continued to grow, the numbers of jobs lost were a welcome sign. Hopefully it’s yet another sign of the recession bottoming out: http://tinyurl.com/mt468n.
We also saw a DECREASE in unemployment here in MN from March to April! http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/Home.htm
Hopefully these are all trends that will continue as 2009 rolls on!
Happy Summer!
Happy Summer!
Finally – another “edition” of the blogletter. What started out as something that was going to be a twice-a-month project has slowly regressed to a monthly post, then a every-other-month posting, and now it’s been three months, so more of a “quarterly” newsletter I guess. I am really hoping to post more in the weeks to come.
One of the biggest reasons it’s been so tough to keep this updated is that I am recruiting for two practices now and that has certainly kept me busy. I would guess I probably receive well over 150 contacts on a day-to-day basis between emails and phone calls – still, I’m excited to be in a position where I can help build both our PM/BA AND our Java practices and continue to be committed to helping create “the perfect fit” between candidates and the positions we see. I’m hopeful the work will pay off when the market does turn around. My #1 goal is to be the best possible resource I can be to the people I work with, and it frustrates me to no end when I don’t meet that goal. I promise that I will continue to work my tail off!
On that note, I would like to remind everyone about Tech-Pro’s $1000 referral bonus – as we are definitely on the lookout for the best and the brightest when it comes to java consultants! Where we’ve struggled a little is finding the “intermediate-to-senior” level developers – by that I mean those who have between 5-9 years of experience developing in Java. Of course, we’re on the lookout for ANY talented developer in any technology -- that just happens to be a particular segment we could use help with. As always, please drop me a line if you know of someone on the lookout for a new role, and I will ensure that you are made eligible for the $1000 bonus if we place that person on an engagement of 90 days or more!
Finally – another “edition” of the blogletter. What started out as something that was going to be a twice-a-month project has slowly regressed to a monthly post, then a every-other-month posting, and now it’s been three months, so more of a “quarterly” newsletter I guess. I am really hoping to post more in the weeks to come.
One of the biggest reasons it’s been so tough to keep this updated is that I am recruiting for two practices now and that has certainly kept me busy. I would guess I probably receive well over 150 contacts on a day-to-day basis between emails and phone calls – still, I’m excited to be in a position where I can help build both our PM/BA AND our Java practices and continue to be committed to helping create “the perfect fit” between candidates and the positions we see. I’m hopeful the work will pay off when the market does turn around. My #1 goal is to be the best possible resource I can be to the people I work with, and it frustrates me to no end when I don’t meet that goal. I promise that I will continue to work my tail off!
On that note, I would like to remind everyone about Tech-Pro’s $1000 referral bonus – as we are definitely on the lookout for the best and the brightest when it comes to java consultants! Where we’ve struggled a little is finding the “intermediate-to-senior” level developers – by that I mean those who have between 5-9 years of experience developing in Java. Of course, we’re on the lookout for ANY talented developer in any technology -- that just happens to be a particular segment we could use help with. As always, please drop me a line if you know of someone on the lookout for a new role, and I will ensure that you are made eligible for the $1000 bonus if we place that person on an engagement of 90 days or more!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Working with a Recruiter -- some thoughts
I was fortunate enough to have collaborated with Laura French on a Star Tribune article recently. The article was on how to find and work with recruiters on the job hunt. You can read it here: http://tinyurl.com/dkxdnv.
Obviously, this is a profession that is near and dear to my heart so my viewpoint is that of a recruiter. I wanted to add a few more thoughts along with Laura’s article.
We talked a bit about the “right” number of recruiters to work with. In a normal market, I hold to the “work with 3-4, maybe 5, but anything more than that is really tough to manage” theory. It becomes really tough to manage all the opportunities that come in from different sources. I’ve seen that lead to other issues, the worst of which is having your resume submitted by more than one company for a given role (which often results in a candidate being disqualified). However in today’s market I would say that there’s not necessarily a “right” number of recruiters to work with – we’re all a little down in the number of opportunities we have to share, so it may not be a bad idea to spread the “fishing net” out as wide as is manageable. I still think it’s possible to work with “too many” recruiters but the market is a little different right now.
Also, keep in mind that all of us recruiters tend to do things a little differently. You may like another recruiter’s style much better than that of mine. Ultimately, it’s always best to work with those you are most comfortable with. Some companies and recruiters are going to do a much better job focusing on full-time positions than consulting roles (which I tend to focus on). If you typically look for full-time positions, than you’ll likely find those recruiters are better ones to connect with. Companies in town like Recruiters of MN and McKinley are two that I know of that do more full-time placements, and I feel both are well-respected. If you are open (or prefer) consulting work, there are numerous firms to work with – Tech-Pro included of course! And all of us are different as well – some firms hire salaried consultants, others prefer to work only with hourly and independent consultants, and those that have a blend of all of the above.
Other “corporate recruiters” work just for one company – so when you apply for a full-time role directly with a given organization, you’ll likely be contacted by that individual. The role of the “corporate recruiter” is much different than those who work for third party companies – however, if you have your eyes on one company in particular for full-time work, they may be your best asset. They can be easy to find too – just go out to LinkedIn and do a search on “recruiter” and then enter whatever company you are looking for.
Laura does a great job on touching on some bad traits of recruiters as well. All of us have things we do well, and things we don’t do as well. The biggest trait that we recruiters must have is the ability to build trust. If there’s anything I do that you feel “you know, I just don’t think I can trust that Kirk guy”, then I am not a recruiter you should work with. For a recruiter to be successful, they need to be someone that balances a candidate’s best interests with those of their client and the mission of their employer (in my case, Tech-Pro). If you feel someone is trying way too hard to talk you into a position you don’t feel is right, they’re not doing a great job of balancing your needs with “the need to make a placement.” That sort of short-term thinking is likely to catch up with them in the long run.
You may want to get to know what makes your recruiter tick – how long they’ve been in the industry, and why they enjoy doing what they do. That may often shed some light on how much you’d like to work with them.
There are a lot of great recruiters in town -- many of whom are facing the same challenges right now, but very eager to help people find that next “perfect role.” I appreciate everyone that has met with me and hope that we can work together sometime, but it’s always a great idea to find that group of 3 or 4 you feel you can work with consistently over time. I’d be just honored to be considered part of that group!
Obviously, this is a profession that is near and dear to my heart so my viewpoint is that of a recruiter. I wanted to add a few more thoughts along with Laura’s article.
We talked a bit about the “right” number of recruiters to work with. In a normal market, I hold to the “work with 3-4, maybe 5, but anything more than that is really tough to manage” theory. It becomes really tough to manage all the opportunities that come in from different sources. I’ve seen that lead to other issues, the worst of which is having your resume submitted by more than one company for a given role (which often results in a candidate being disqualified). However in today’s market I would say that there’s not necessarily a “right” number of recruiters to work with – we’re all a little down in the number of opportunities we have to share, so it may not be a bad idea to spread the “fishing net” out as wide as is manageable. I still think it’s possible to work with “too many” recruiters but the market is a little different right now.
Also, keep in mind that all of us recruiters tend to do things a little differently. You may like another recruiter’s style much better than that of mine. Ultimately, it’s always best to work with those you are most comfortable with. Some companies and recruiters are going to do a much better job focusing on full-time positions than consulting roles (which I tend to focus on). If you typically look for full-time positions, than you’ll likely find those recruiters are better ones to connect with. Companies in town like Recruiters of MN and McKinley are two that I know of that do more full-time placements, and I feel both are well-respected. If you are open (or prefer) consulting work, there are numerous firms to work with – Tech-Pro included of course! And all of us are different as well – some firms hire salaried consultants, others prefer to work only with hourly and independent consultants, and those that have a blend of all of the above.
Other “corporate recruiters” work just for one company – so when you apply for a full-time role directly with a given organization, you’ll likely be contacted by that individual. The role of the “corporate recruiter” is much different than those who work for third party companies – however, if you have your eyes on one company in particular for full-time work, they may be your best asset. They can be easy to find too – just go out to LinkedIn and do a search on “recruiter” and then enter whatever company you are looking for.
Laura does a great job on touching on some bad traits of recruiters as well. All of us have things we do well, and things we don’t do as well. The biggest trait that we recruiters must have is the ability to build trust. If there’s anything I do that you feel “you know, I just don’t think I can trust that Kirk guy”, then I am not a recruiter you should work with. For a recruiter to be successful, they need to be someone that balances a candidate’s best interests with those of their client and the mission of their employer (in my case, Tech-Pro). If you feel someone is trying way too hard to talk you into a position you don’t feel is right, they’re not doing a great job of balancing your needs with “the need to make a placement.” That sort of short-term thinking is likely to catch up with them in the long run.
You may want to get to know what makes your recruiter tick – how long they’ve been in the industry, and why they enjoy doing what they do. That may often shed some light on how much you’d like to work with them.
There are a lot of great recruiters in town -- many of whom are facing the same challenges right now, but very eager to help people find that next “perfect role.” I appreciate everyone that has met with me and hope that we can work together sometime, but it’s always a great idea to find that group of 3 or 4 you feel you can work with consistently over time. I’d be just honored to be considered part of that group!
More weapons for the job hunt – the social media explosion
10-15 years ago, when the internet was being widely used for the first time, the job hunt often came down to the use of a small handful of websites – monster.com and careerbuilder.com the most widely used among them of course. And why not? They are excellent websites, very intuitive, well laid out, and have a sole purpose – connecting employers with potential job seekers. As a recruiter, I still use both sites often and like them both.
However, with the market being where it is today, it’s important to make use of all tools at one’s disposal. While monster and careerbuilder are still the de facto standards for what they do, they certainly aren’t the only tools to utilize when looking for work. These days, taking advantage of the social networking craze can not only help you connect with past friends and colleagues, it can also help with finding that next role.
I’ve covered LinkedIn in a past blog entry and from a “professional networking” site, no question, LinkedIn is the most widely used out there. Today I want to focus on two more sites: Facebook and Twitter. Recently there was a great report on Kare11 News talking about using Twitter and Facebook on the job hunt. Here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/k11SN I’d like to expand on the report as well.
Chances are you’ve at least heard of Facebook at this point. It started in 2003 and was put together by students at Harvard University as a way for students to get to know one another. Eventually it expanded to other Ivy League schools and Stanford. Within a couple of years it expanded well past the reach of college and high school campuses and became available to anyone and everyone. It challenged and eventually surpassed MySpace as the most widely used “social networking” website on the planet. Currently, Facebook is the 3rd most visited website in the United States. What was once limited to college students now sees those over the age of 55 as its fastest growing population. (in comparison, Facebook ranks ahead of YouTube (4th), and MySpace (5th) and is WAY ahead of careerbuilder.com (55th) and monster.com (86th). In fact, both LinkedIn (43rd) and Twitter (78th) rank ahead of Monster.)
The great thing about Facebook is that it can be used for so many different things. I originally joined to keep an eye on the students I coached at Eden Prairie High School (which had a well-publicized incident where students were suspended for the "activities" shown on pictures that were posted on Facebook). What I found in a short time is that I was using Facebook for so much more – getting back in touch with old classmates, displaying pictures of our family, and connecting with potential consultants. It’s that last piece that I really want to focus on.
Facebook creates an easy-to-use and fun portal for connecting with people. It stands to reason that those you connect with are folks you trust. And what better group of people to help with the hunt for a new opportunity? The “status update” feature of Facebook allows you to let the world know what is going on in your life. And making your hunt public will allow others to help in that hunt. I have heard numerous success stories from those that have posted things in their status update such as “looking for a job in project management” or “java development” or whatever field your specialty is. Many recruiters are in tune with using Facebook to find and connect with candidates as well, so if you get an invite from one, much like LinkedIn, feel free to connect with them on Facebook (you can always disconnect with them later if they become belligerent or annoying).
I’d write more about Twitter but wanted to save that for a future blog post. The Kare11 report listed above does touch a little bit on Twitter.
I am a Facebook addict (more or less) in my free time so if you ever had questions on how to best utilize the site, don’t be afraid to ask – please feel free to connect with me there as well: http://www.facebook.com/people/Kirk-Walton/679991124.
However, with the market being where it is today, it’s important to make use of all tools at one’s disposal. While monster and careerbuilder are still the de facto standards for what they do, they certainly aren’t the only tools to utilize when looking for work. These days, taking advantage of the social networking craze can not only help you connect with past friends and colleagues, it can also help with finding that next role.
I’ve covered LinkedIn in a past blog entry and from a “professional networking” site, no question, LinkedIn is the most widely used out there. Today I want to focus on two more sites: Facebook and Twitter. Recently there was a great report on Kare11 News talking about using Twitter and Facebook on the job hunt. Here’s a link: http://tinyurl.com/k11SN I’d like to expand on the report as well.
Chances are you’ve at least heard of Facebook at this point. It started in 2003 and was put together by students at Harvard University as a way for students to get to know one another. Eventually it expanded to other Ivy League schools and Stanford. Within a couple of years it expanded well past the reach of college and high school campuses and became available to anyone and everyone. It challenged and eventually surpassed MySpace as the most widely used “social networking” website on the planet. Currently, Facebook is the 3rd most visited website in the United States. What was once limited to college students now sees those over the age of 55 as its fastest growing population. (in comparison, Facebook ranks ahead of YouTube (4th), and MySpace (5th) and is WAY ahead of careerbuilder.com (55th) and monster.com (86th). In fact, both LinkedIn (43rd) and Twitter (78th) rank ahead of Monster.)
The great thing about Facebook is that it can be used for so many different things. I originally joined to keep an eye on the students I coached at Eden Prairie High School (which had a well-publicized incident where students were suspended for the "activities" shown on pictures that were posted on Facebook). What I found in a short time is that I was using Facebook for so much more – getting back in touch with old classmates, displaying pictures of our family, and connecting with potential consultants. It’s that last piece that I really want to focus on.
Facebook creates an easy-to-use and fun portal for connecting with people. It stands to reason that those you connect with are folks you trust. And what better group of people to help with the hunt for a new opportunity? The “status update” feature of Facebook allows you to let the world know what is going on in your life. And making your hunt public will allow others to help in that hunt. I have heard numerous success stories from those that have posted things in their status update such as “looking for a job in project management” or “java development” or whatever field your specialty is. Many recruiters are in tune with using Facebook to find and connect with candidates as well, so if you get an invite from one, much like LinkedIn, feel free to connect with them on Facebook (you can always disconnect with them later if they become belligerent or annoying).
I’d write more about Twitter but wanted to save that for a future blog post. The Kare11 report listed above does touch a little bit on Twitter.
I am a Facebook addict (more or less) in my free time so if you ever had questions on how to best utilize the site, don’t be afraid to ask – please feel free to connect with me there as well: http://www.facebook.com/people/Kirk-Walton/679991124.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Make your resume ROCK!
True story:
Yesterday, a consulting opportunity came out with a client in town that was potentially a very good fit for many consultants we work with at Tech-Pro. In under an hour, the client had closed off the requisition to new submittals. They received 50 resumes in under an hour from the sounds of things. In the few years I’ve recruited I’ve never seen anything like this – but I imagine it may not be all that uncommon a happening over the next few weeks.
That led me to think it would be a good time to write about just HOW important it is to make sure that, in a time when a hiring manager can potentially get dozens of resumes in such a short window of time, you have to make darn sure your resume is going to WOW that person in a matter of seconds so much so that they decide you could be the right person for the role.
There have been a lot of articles around resume writing best practices lately – this is one of the best ones I’ve seen: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/careers/2009/01/22/5-rsum-mistakes-youre-probably-making.html While I personally wouldn’t necessarily highlight every point here, the first two are ABSOLUTELY spot-on in my opinion.
At Tech-Pro, the resume is possibly the most important part of our marketing efforts in working with clients. We have one of the best sales teams in the market and a great staff that handles our company marketing, but if our resumes do not show our clients that “this person is absolutely the right person for your opportunity” then we probably lose. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time putting strategy behind the resumes we put together.
Here are some best practices I’ve seen that I’d like to share. Keep in mind, this is merely opinion and other recruiters might argue these all day, but they seem to work for me at least:
1. Start with a summary that is going to show why bringing you on board is going to benefit the company. Too often, resumes are written with an “objective” section that focuses on what you as a job seeker wants. “I seek this” or “I am looking for this”, etc. In today’s market, it is CRITICAL for that initial summary to show how your existence at the company is going to benefit them, no t you (sad to say). Keep one simple rule in mind: “I” should never, not once, show up on your resume. Always write in the third person. It looks much less “what you can do for me." Then, talk about the impact your years of experience and specific success stories that will allow you to have a similar impact at this company right away in this summary.
2. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. Along with the above point and as highlighted in the US News article, you want to get in the habit of making your resume results-oriented, and not just action-based. Too often resumes look like a job description, where you write about your day-to-day duties, and not enough about the successes those duties resulted in. Most often, those successes can be measured in numbers. The $ amount of the budget you managed, or the project budget you were an analyst on. The number of people on your team. The amount of time your project took (or more impressively, the amount of time you saved from what was originally scoped out). The number of end users you trained. The human eye is drawn to a number when included amongst a sea of words – take advantage of that by loading your resume up with numbers that make a strong case for you!
3. Include a “synopsis” section. What we do at Tech-Pro is have an initial “summary” that we’d pretty much use for any resume that we’d send to any client, and then underneath that we use a “synopsis” section that is custom-tailored to a particular role we are submitting to. What you will want to do here: take the job description that you are applying for, and MATCH it, bullet by bullet if you can, to your own experience. We typically use only bullet points in this section, not paragraph form, to make it easier for a hiring manager to quickly see how your experience matches what they are looking for.
4. Do not CRAM your resume into an arbitrary number of pages. This is where many recruiters and I differ. There are those out there who feel a resume has to be two pages or even ONE page long. I personally don’t agree with that. Granted, I would never say to add “fluff” to get it past two pages – but I do think you need to be careful not to take something out of a resume that might allow you to look like the right candidate. If your relevant experience and success stories of your career can’t be fit into less than 6 pages, then you should have a 6 page resume. If you only have enough to fit into two pages, then your resume should be two pages long. The most important thing is to share all successes that could win you a position.
5. Write in the past tense. By the time your resume is being read by someone, everything you’ve done is in the past. You’ll want to write it as such. And then double check for errors. I have seen a number of resumes that switch from past to present tense from section to section – it’s a very simple thing to correct. Also, be sure to watch out for the most misspelled word on a resume: “led” (as in, “’Led’ a $2.2 Million dollar project”, not “’Lead’ a $2.2 Million dollar project.”)
6. Add as many keywords and buzzwords as you can – as long as you can back it up. The past several years have seen many advancements in search engines that allow recruiters to find candidates based on very specific skill sets. It’s a great idea to include, explicitly, any technologies, platforms, methodologies, etc. that you’ve worked with (or even been exposed to) so you make it through an initial round of filtering, and get “found” by these search engines and recruiters. But, and this may go without saying, do NOT include any of the above if you don’t have a fair enough understanding – no better way to hurt your credibility when you do get called, and that can do harm for other opportunities down the road.
7. Add recommendations from LinkedIn or other sources. This is something that I’ve seen a couple times recently that I really think is a neat idea. LinkedIn allows you to include personal recommendations right on your profile. Why shouldn’t your resume do the same? You can even take the ones written for you on LinkedIn and copy them right to your resume! Or, just ask others to come up with a brief (one or two sentence) recommendation that you can include. In all cases, it’s always best to get the person’s permission for doing so. I’ve seen two ways to include them: one is to have them all grouped together at the end of a resume, the other is to include a recommendation for a particular position you’ve held right with that particular section of your resume. Either way is fine depending on how you’d want your resume to flow. I think the personal recommendation does allow for a bit more personal touch and a definite third-party account of your success with a particular role.
Those are just a few best practices that I like to really spice up your resume and make it “sing” in the eyes of a hiring manager. With the market as competitive as it is, having a resume that “rocks” is the easiest way to connect with the individual that is going to want to meet you and bring you on to their team!
Yesterday, a consulting opportunity came out with a client in town that was potentially a very good fit for many consultants we work with at Tech-Pro. In under an hour, the client had closed off the requisition to new submittals. They received 50 resumes in under an hour from the sounds of things. In the few years I’ve recruited I’ve never seen anything like this – but I imagine it may not be all that uncommon a happening over the next few weeks.
That led me to think it would be a good time to write about just HOW important it is to make sure that, in a time when a hiring manager can potentially get dozens of resumes in such a short window of time, you have to make darn sure your resume is going to WOW that person in a matter of seconds so much so that they decide you could be the right person for the role.
There have been a lot of articles around resume writing best practices lately – this is one of the best ones I’ve seen: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/careers/2009/01/22/5-rsum-mistakes-youre-probably-making.html While I personally wouldn’t necessarily highlight every point here, the first two are ABSOLUTELY spot-on in my opinion.
At Tech-Pro, the resume is possibly the most important part of our marketing efforts in working with clients. We have one of the best sales teams in the market and a great staff that handles our company marketing, but if our resumes do not show our clients that “this person is absolutely the right person for your opportunity” then we probably lose. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time putting strategy behind the resumes we put together.
Here are some best practices I’ve seen that I’d like to share. Keep in mind, this is merely opinion and other recruiters might argue these all day, but they seem to work for me at least:
1. Start with a summary that is going to show why bringing you on board is going to benefit the company. Too often, resumes are written with an “objective” section that focuses on what you as a job seeker wants. “I seek this” or “I am looking for this”, etc. In today’s market, it is CRITICAL for that initial summary to show how your existence at the company is going to benefit them, no t you (sad to say). Keep one simple rule in mind: “I” should never, not once, show up on your resume. Always write in the third person. It looks much less “what you can do for me." Then, talk about the impact your years of experience and specific success stories that will allow you to have a similar impact at this company right away in this summary.
2. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers. Along with the above point and as highlighted in the US News article, you want to get in the habit of making your resume results-oriented, and not just action-based. Too often resumes look like a job description, where you write about your day-to-day duties, and not enough about the successes those duties resulted in. Most often, those successes can be measured in numbers. The $ amount of the budget you managed, or the project budget you were an analyst on. The number of people on your team. The amount of time your project took (or more impressively, the amount of time you saved from what was originally scoped out). The number of end users you trained. The human eye is drawn to a number when included amongst a sea of words – take advantage of that by loading your resume up with numbers that make a strong case for you!
3. Include a “synopsis” section. What we do at Tech-Pro is have an initial “summary” that we’d pretty much use for any resume that we’d send to any client, and then underneath that we use a “synopsis” section that is custom-tailored to a particular role we are submitting to. What you will want to do here: take the job description that you are applying for, and MATCH it, bullet by bullet if you can, to your own experience. We typically use only bullet points in this section, not paragraph form, to make it easier for a hiring manager to quickly see how your experience matches what they are looking for.
4. Do not CRAM your resume into an arbitrary number of pages. This is where many recruiters and I differ. There are those out there who feel a resume has to be two pages or even ONE page long. I personally don’t agree with that. Granted, I would never say to add “fluff” to get it past two pages – but I do think you need to be careful not to take something out of a resume that might allow you to look like the right candidate. If your relevant experience and success stories of your career can’t be fit into less than 6 pages, then you should have a 6 page resume. If you only have enough to fit into two pages, then your resume should be two pages long. The most important thing is to share all successes that could win you a position.
5. Write in the past tense. By the time your resume is being read by someone, everything you’ve done is in the past. You’ll want to write it as such. And then double check for errors. I have seen a number of resumes that switch from past to present tense from section to section – it’s a very simple thing to correct. Also, be sure to watch out for the most misspelled word on a resume: “led” (as in, “’Led’ a $2.2 Million dollar project”, not “’Lead’ a $2.2 Million dollar project.”)
6. Add as many keywords and buzzwords as you can – as long as you can back it up. The past several years have seen many advancements in search engines that allow recruiters to find candidates based on very specific skill sets. It’s a great idea to include, explicitly, any technologies, platforms, methodologies, etc. that you’ve worked with (or even been exposed to) so you make it through an initial round of filtering, and get “found” by these search engines and recruiters. But, and this may go without saying, do NOT include any of the above if you don’t have a fair enough understanding – no better way to hurt your credibility when you do get called, and that can do harm for other opportunities down the road.
7. Add recommendations from LinkedIn or other sources. This is something that I’ve seen a couple times recently that I really think is a neat idea. LinkedIn allows you to include personal recommendations right on your profile. Why shouldn’t your resume do the same? You can even take the ones written for you on LinkedIn and copy them right to your resume! Or, just ask others to come up with a brief (one or two sentence) recommendation that you can include. In all cases, it’s always best to get the person’s permission for doing so. I’ve seen two ways to include them: one is to have them all grouped together at the end of a resume, the other is to include a recommendation for a particular position you’ve held right with that particular section of your resume. Either way is fine depending on how you’d want your resume to flow. I think the personal recommendation does allow for a bit more personal touch and a definite third-party account of your success with a particular role.
Those are just a few best practices that I like to really spice up your resume and make it “sing” in the eyes of a hiring manager. With the market as competitive as it is, having a resume that “rocks” is the easiest way to connect with the individual that is going to want to meet you and bring you on to their team!
My Super Bowl Prediction
I believe I’ve mentioned this on a prior blogletter entry and no doubt have told many of you this in person, but I’m an enormous football fan. Almost obsessive at times, what with fantasy football and all of that. So I’d feel remised if I created a “Super Bowl” edition of the blogletter and didn’t actually say anything about, you know, the Super Bowl.
I know many predict the television ratings to be down for this game – despite the fact a team with such a huge following is in it (the Steelers). There's no team from New York or Boston, no Cowboys, etc – but I for one am pretty excited that the Arizona Cardinals are in the big game. Yeah, they’ve been a non-factor for decades, and yeah, they really have no discernable fan base outside of Arizona (and may not even have much of a fan base there, actually), and yeah, I’m still bitter that their 4th string wide receiver knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs in 2003… but for me it’s always fun seeing a new team get a chance to play in the big game. Not to mention the fact that one of our own (Larry Fitzgerald) has grown up and become one of the best players in the game right before our eyes over the past few weeks (well, he’s been there all year, the world just noticed it over the past few weeks).
Then there’s the Steelers… pretty much the opposite of the Cardinals. They’ve already won 5 Super Bowls, and they’re the overwhelming favorites to win this one. But as a Minnesotan, how can you cheer that hard against a team that employs three former Gophers (Matt Spaeth, Tyrone Carter, Gary Russell) and three ex-Vikings (Mewelde Moore, coach Mike Tomlin… heck even punter Mitch Berger!)? I can’t.
So ultimately I’d be pretty happy with either team winning. But who is going to win?
It’s a classic “immovable object vs. irresistible force” game on paper. Pittsburgh has one of the finest defenses, statistically, in NFL history this season. They had the #1 overall defense, the #1 defense against the pass, and only the Vikings had a better defense against the run. Meanwhile, Arizona has an offense that is playing at a level matched by very few others in the history of this league. They had THREE wide receivers go over 1,000 yards this season! (as a point of reference, the Vikings’ top guy only had 964 yards himself) Their quarterback, Kurt Warner, had a phenomenal season at an age when most players have hung up the cleats.
Many people aren’t buying the Cardinals yet – after all, this is a team that gave up 4 touchdowns to Tarvaris Jackson less than two months ago – which is why the Steelers are a 7-point favorite. But Arizona has become an increasingly trendy pick lately – many online polls have more fans picking them to win than the Steelers, despite being 7-point underdogs.
There’s a couple precedents here which I will base my pick upon:For one, having a team that was not a top-2 seed (in this case Arizona was the 4th seed in the NFC going into the playoffs) win it all is not only not uncommon, it seems to have been the norm this decade. Baltimore in 2000, Pittsburgh in 2005, Indianapolis in 2006, and the Giants last year all won the Super Bowl despite being a lower seed. Particularly in the past three years, the eventual winners were the team that “got hot” at the right time, which is certainly what Arizona has done the past three weeks.
Secondly, and for me the most important thing, is the story behind the coaches. For those that don’t know, both Cardinals’ head coach Ken Whisenhunt and assistant coach Russ Grimm were part of the Steelers staff as recently as two years ago. Both were in the running for Pittsburgh's head coaching position and both desperately wanted the job. Whisenhunt was also being courted by Arizona at the time, and just didn’t feel confident enough that Pittsburgh was going to offer him the role, so he ended up bolting for the Cardinals. Grimm was assumed to have won the position, but it was given to then Vikings’ defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Grimm left to rejoin Whisenhunt in Arizona.
Why I think this is important (apart from the obvious revenge factor): fast forward to this year, where both ex-Steelers coaches get to face off against their former team in the big game Sunday. Now, it’s been two seasons, but the Steelers offense really operates much the same way it did when Whisenhunt coached in two years ago. Many of the players are the same – Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, etc. Do you think Ken Whisenhunt knows a thing or two on what they do, or more importantly, how to stop them?
There is a precedent for this as well – in 2002, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (my “other” favorite football team – another story for another time) faced off against the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl. Tampa’s coach, Jon Gruden, had just coached Oakland the previous year, and Gruden’s specialty was his offensive scheming. The offense he had established in Oakland was pretty much the exact same that they brought into the 2002 Super Bowl. Gruden’s knowledge of this offense helped prepare Tampa’s defense in such a way that the Buccaneer players literally knew what was coming when Oakland was on the field. The end result: Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl-record 5 interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns (also a Super Bowl record) and Tampa Bay won convincingly, 48-21 (despite being slight underdogs heading into the game).
I do think that Whisenhunt’s knowledge of the Pittsburgh offense is going to give Arizona a strategic advantage, and I think Arizona’s offense is clicking so well right now that they’ll be able to score enough points on Pittsburgh’s #1 defense.
I think it will be a close game, but my prediction is: Arizona 20, Pittsburgh 14.
I know many predict the television ratings to be down for this game – despite the fact a team with such a huge following is in it (the Steelers). There's no team from New York or Boston, no Cowboys, etc – but I for one am pretty excited that the Arizona Cardinals are in the big game. Yeah, they’ve been a non-factor for decades, and yeah, they really have no discernable fan base outside of Arizona (and may not even have much of a fan base there, actually), and yeah, I’m still bitter that their 4th string wide receiver knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs in 2003… but for me it’s always fun seeing a new team get a chance to play in the big game. Not to mention the fact that one of our own (Larry Fitzgerald) has grown up and become one of the best players in the game right before our eyes over the past few weeks (well, he’s been there all year, the world just noticed it over the past few weeks).
Then there’s the Steelers… pretty much the opposite of the Cardinals. They’ve already won 5 Super Bowls, and they’re the overwhelming favorites to win this one. But as a Minnesotan, how can you cheer that hard against a team that employs three former Gophers (Matt Spaeth, Tyrone Carter, Gary Russell) and three ex-Vikings (Mewelde Moore, coach Mike Tomlin… heck even punter Mitch Berger!)? I can’t.
So ultimately I’d be pretty happy with either team winning. But who is going to win?
It’s a classic “immovable object vs. irresistible force” game on paper. Pittsburgh has one of the finest defenses, statistically, in NFL history this season. They had the #1 overall defense, the #1 defense against the pass, and only the Vikings had a better defense against the run. Meanwhile, Arizona has an offense that is playing at a level matched by very few others in the history of this league. They had THREE wide receivers go over 1,000 yards this season! (as a point of reference, the Vikings’ top guy only had 964 yards himself) Their quarterback, Kurt Warner, had a phenomenal season at an age when most players have hung up the cleats.
Many people aren’t buying the Cardinals yet – after all, this is a team that gave up 4 touchdowns to Tarvaris Jackson less than two months ago – which is why the Steelers are a 7-point favorite. But Arizona has become an increasingly trendy pick lately – many online polls have more fans picking them to win than the Steelers, despite being 7-point underdogs.
There’s a couple precedents here which I will base my pick upon:For one, having a team that was not a top-2 seed (in this case Arizona was the 4th seed in the NFC going into the playoffs) win it all is not only not uncommon, it seems to have been the norm this decade. Baltimore in 2000, Pittsburgh in 2005, Indianapolis in 2006, and the Giants last year all won the Super Bowl despite being a lower seed. Particularly in the past three years, the eventual winners were the team that “got hot” at the right time, which is certainly what Arizona has done the past three weeks.
Secondly, and for me the most important thing, is the story behind the coaches. For those that don’t know, both Cardinals’ head coach Ken Whisenhunt and assistant coach Russ Grimm were part of the Steelers staff as recently as two years ago. Both were in the running for Pittsburgh's head coaching position and both desperately wanted the job. Whisenhunt was also being courted by Arizona at the time, and just didn’t feel confident enough that Pittsburgh was going to offer him the role, so he ended up bolting for the Cardinals. Grimm was assumed to have won the position, but it was given to then Vikings’ defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. Grimm left to rejoin Whisenhunt in Arizona.
Why I think this is important (apart from the obvious revenge factor): fast forward to this year, where both ex-Steelers coaches get to face off against their former team in the big game Sunday. Now, it’s been two seasons, but the Steelers offense really operates much the same way it did when Whisenhunt coached in two years ago. Many of the players are the same – Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, etc. Do you think Ken Whisenhunt knows a thing or two on what they do, or more importantly, how to stop them?
There is a precedent for this as well – in 2002, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (my “other” favorite football team – another story for another time) faced off against the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl. Tampa’s coach, Jon Gruden, had just coached Oakland the previous year, and Gruden’s specialty was his offensive scheming. The offense he had established in Oakland was pretty much the exact same that they brought into the 2002 Super Bowl. Gruden’s knowledge of this offense helped prepare Tampa’s defense in such a way that the Buccaneer players literally knew what was coming when Oakland was on the field. The end result: Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon threw a Super Bowl-record 5 interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns (also a Super Bowl record) and Tampa Bay won convincingly, 48-21 (despite being slight underdogs heading into the game).
I do think that Whisenhunt’s knowledge of the Pittsburgh offense is going to give Arizona a strategic advantage, and I think Arizona’s offense is clicking so well right now that they’ll be able to score enough points on Pittsburgh’s #1 defense.
I think it will be a close game, but my prediction is: Arizona 20, Pittsburgh 14.
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