Stephen Van Vreede (http://www.ittechexec.com/) and Jennifer Hay (http://www.itresumeservice.com/) have joined forces to launch Tech Career Forum.
Tech Career Forum is designed to provide advice to IT and technical professionals in all career areas, particularly those related to personal branding, the technical resume, and the job search process. Tech Career Forum also assists resume writers and career services professionals in expanding their knowledge base to enhance their engagements with IT and technical clients.
Tech Career Forum has initiated a LinkedIn group (http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Tech-Career-Forum-4395590) with interactive discussions, which is available for all members. Tech Career Forum will be hosting live Twitter chats on Wednesdays at 3pm Eastern, with the first in the series beginning Wednesday 5/2. To view or join in the discussion, follow or post tweets at #TCFchat.
Showing posts with label job search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job search. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The Resume and Your Personal Brand
So many career services and resume writing professionals talk about "personal branding" today. It is so overused and cliche at this point...I must rebel. I understand the thrust of the argument and, at a certain level, agree. However, the advice regarding personal branding within a resume typically results in a sanitized version or account that doesn't depict the true nature of the individual.
Think about it! We all have unique strengths, flaws, passions, drivers, attitudes, and motives. Your "personal brand" needs to include these elements. Most do not...they simply state how you are just like everyone else. To successfully engage your audience, you must tap into these critical areas and harness them to help communicate how you are distinguished from all others.
Maybe the problem is that most resume writers and career services professionals have it in mind that the bulk of candidates they work with will be conducting the lion's share of their job search using job boards and submitting resumes through company websites. As a result, the candidate needs to "play it safe" and take the cookie-cutter approach. I propose that you showcase what makes you, well, you! And then suggest that you take that individuality and put it to work in your job search so that you don't simply become an applicant number of one among hundreds or thousands for each job you apply to.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
Think about it! We all have unique strengths, flaws, passions, drivers, attitudes, and motives. Your "personal brand" needs to include these elements. Most do not...they simply state how you are just like everyone else. To successfully engage your audience, you must tap into these critical areas and harness them to help communicate how you are distinguished from all others.
Maybe the problem is that most resume writers and career services professionals have it in mind that the bulk of candidates they work with will be conducting the lion's share of their job search using job boards and submitting resumes through company websites. As a result, the candidate needs to "play it safe" and take the cookie-cutter approach. I propose that you showcase what makes you, well, you! And then suggest that you take that individuality and put it to work in your job search so that you don't simply become an applicant number of one among hundreds or thousands for each job you apply to.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Resume Formula: Is It Real?
So many career professionals today spout across social media networks about their formula of Do's and Don'ts, Must's and Mustn'ts. Many are even able to convey their "rules" in 140 characters or less. All of this information and the average job seeker who is reviewing the material is saying, "What? Are you kidding me? Is this really what I need to do to get a job?"
The answer, in essence, is "No!" I am full agreement that there are essential elements in the resume that employers will focus on. What gets lost in translation is that these elements take on greater weight the more a job seeker goes through the traditional channels of identifying and responding to job opportunities. Those would be using job boards, premium job sites, or submitting resumes to job postings on a specific company website. Essentially, this would include any channel in which your resume arrives in a batch (electronic or hard copy) along with almost everyone else. The only opportunities you have to differentiate yourself are through the use of keywords and a very limited amount of content that will be scanned by the decision maker if it makes it past the HR person.
If you consider yourself unique--and really, who among us isn't unique--alternate approaches exist. These options can be quite effective in helping you successfully navigate through the job search process. Whether you are an Engineering Director, an IT Executive, a Manufacturing Manager, or a Technical Team Lead, it is important to convey to your audience what makes you, well, you! How do those unique skills sets and personality traits supplement what the organization is looking to achieve? Focus on that...play it up and you want be with the rest of the cookie-cutter resume crowd.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
The answer, in essence, is "No!" I am full agreement that there are essential elements in the resume that employers will focus on. What gets lost in translation is that these elements take on greater weight the more a job seeker goes through the traditional channels of identifying and responding to job opportunities. Those would be using job boards, premium job sites, or submitting resumes to job postings on a specific company website. Essentially, this would include any channel in which your resume arrives in a batch (electronic or hard copy) along with almost everyone else. The only opportunities you have to differentiate yourself are through the use of keywords and a very limited amount of content that will be scanned by the decision maker if it makes it past the HR person.
If you consider yourself unique--and really, who among us isn't unique--alternate approaches exist. These options can be quite effective in helping you successfully navigate through the job search process. Whether you are an Engineering Director, an IT Executive, a Manufacturing Manager, or a Technical Team Lead, it is important to convey to your audience what makes you, well, you! How do those unique skills sets and personality traits supplement what the organization is looking to achieve? Focus on that...play it up and you want be with the rest of the cookie-cutter resume crowd.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
No More Resumes? The Importance of a Candidate's Online Presence
A January 24, 2012 article by the Wall Street Journal online (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203750404577173031991814896.html) states that some firms are sourcing candidates for jobs by reviewing their credentials only through various online forums. In other words, they are not accepting resumes from job seekers.
So how will a prospective employer evaluate a candidate and their potential for the job in question? They will review the online presence or "brand" of each candidate. Some of the sites they will evaluate include:
Although the majority of companies still do want a resume, serious candidates need to establish and nurture their online presence as a professional, serious, and qualified individual. So creating and/or optimizing the information contained in these social media is of paramount importance to remain competitive and to distinguish yourself from other job seekers in this tough market.
To help you get started with developing or improving your online brand to enhance your career, visit www.ittechexec.com or call toll-free (866) 755-9800.
If you enjoyed this post, please tweet it or "like" it at StumbleUpon. Thank you!
So how will a prospective employer evaluate a candidate and their potential for the job in question? They will review the online presence or "brand" of each candidate. Some of the sites they will evaluate include:
- YouTube (for personal and professional video content)
- Google Search
- Blog Content (i.e., WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger)
Although the majority of companies still do want a resume, serious candidates need to establish and nurture their online presence as a professional, serious, and qualified individual. So creating and/or optimizing the information contained in these social media is of paramount importance to remain competitive and to distinguish yourself from other job seekers in this tough market.
To help you get started with developing or improving your online brand to enhance your career, visit www.ittechexec.com or call toll-free (866) 755-9800.
If you enjoyed this post, please tweet it or "like" it at StumbleUpon. Thank you!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Resume Solutions for Applicant Tracking Systems
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are a reality in today's world of the job search and resume posting. Regardless of your opinion of them or mine -- which is that the way companies set them up makes them ineffective and costs them lots of dollars -- they are here to stay and are increasing in number. A January 2012 Wall Street Journal article provides some good background and statistics on the topic. You can view it at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204624204577178941034941330.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet&_nocache=1327506661957articleTabs=comments&user=welcome&mg=id-wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle.
The real question is: What do I do with my resume so that it works well with these resume screening ATS systems? Although most claim that a Word document will work fine, that's not really true. Resumes done in MS Word inherently have a good amount of formatting behind the scenes to make the resume look nice. That's great when you email it or print it out for someone to view. Its not so nice for the ATS. The technology is such that they have difficulty parsing the data in your resume properly. Which means that information doesn't always get placed in the right bucket. Oftentimes, this leads to the resume being "booted out" of the system.
The answer is to have multiple versions of your resume to handle the various submittal requirements. When submitting through an ATS, a text-only (ASCII) or e-version of the resume is the best way to go. The text-only version strips out all the fancy formatting and reorganizes the information into the proper order so that the ATS can load it successfully.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition and get you past those automated systems in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
The real question is: What do I do with my resume so that it works well with these resume screening ATS systems? Although most claim that a Word document will work fine, that's not really true. Resumes done in MS Word inherently have a good amount of formatting behind the scenes to make the resume look nice. That's great when you email it or print it out for someone to view. Its not so nice for the ATS. The technology is such that they have difficulty parsing the data in your resume properly. Which means that information doesn't always get placed in the right bucket. Oftentimes, this leads to the resume being "booted out" of the system.
The answer is to have multiple versions of your resume to handle the various submittal requirements. When submitting through an ATS, a text-only (ASCII) or e-version of the resume is the best way to go. The text-only version strips out all the fancy formatting and reorganizes the information into the proper order so that the ATS can load it successfully.
To develop a resume that helps to distinguish you from the rest of the competition and get you past those automated systems in this tough market, go to www.ittechexec.com or call us today at (866) 755-9800 to schedule an appointment.
If you enjoyed this post, please "Like" it or "Tweet" it. Thanks so much!
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