How Certain Can You Be About Your IT Resume?

When I begin working with a new IT job seeker, without fail, there are two things they are hoping for:

(1) a simplified career move backed with a level of (2) certainty (or peace of mind).

With the job market a bit of a "zoo" and corporate hiring processes a mess (what I call the corporate "goo" that most professionals get stuck in), no matter whether you are just starting out in IT or a Fortune 100 CIO, we all want to find some level of simplicity and certainty amidst the chaos. At ITtechExec, my team and I spend a lot of time considering, creating, and updating solutions (from the resume through the job search process) that work toward that goal.

We also combine these elements with a key market demand, which is (3) proper positioning or targeting. Employers are overwhelmed with misaligned candidates, which creates more havoc on the hiring process at all levels. Therefore, making sure you are hitting the right target is vital.

How Certain Can You Be About Your IT Resume?

Since the resume is such a big question for so many IT pros getting ready to make a career move ("should I update mine," "how do I know how good it is," "whom do I listen to for resume advice", etc.), I've put together a basic 8-question, anonymous and complimentary, self-assessment tool or quiz, if you will, to help you understand the level of certainty you should have in it.

How can an 8-question quiz possibly do all that?

Simple. It examines a key ingredient in resume design: priorities. If you understand what the priorities should be for the technical job market, then you will build a resume that meets them. If you don't, then you won't. You'll build it for a different set of priorities. It might be nice looking; it might say all you want it to say; it might make you look like an IT giant. But it will be misaligned.

And this misalignment is the hardest thing for most IT pros to grasp because they think that if they just meet all the job description requirements, then they are a perfect fit! The problem is that companies often say one thing and do another. So you really have to be watching the hiring process closely to see what actually works.

Based on our experience working with hundreds of technical leaders each year, helping them to craft resume and personal brand messages, as well as provide concierge job search solutions, if you can score 80% or better on our quiz, then you are on your way to a simplified, targeted, and certain career move. If not, then there's some work to be done, no matter how eye-catching your IT resume is or how much you personally like it.

So take less than 30 seconds and see at how your resume was designed and where it is focused (only you will know your result):

About ITtechExec

Simplified. Targeted. Certain.

My name is Stephen Van Vreede, and I overcome uncertainty everyday for my senior-level client members as an Executive IT Résumé Writer and Job Search Specialist, as well as a Technical Career Adviser to several news/industry outlets, like TechRepublic, Dice, the Linux Foundation, and CIO.com. I'm also co-author of UNCOMMON with renowned speaker and career coach Brian Tracy (released June 11, 2015). Along with my team of writers and concierge job search agent, from established "techies" (15+ years), to those who lead software/systems development initiatives, to project/program managers (PMPs), to IT strategy visionaries like CIOs and CTOs, and many others in between, they all have one thing in common, most likely the same thing you're looking for:

To feel certain when you conduct your next career move that you are ready for the market and well positioned to meet its demands (not to hope you are or think you are but to have a level-headed, frank understanding of the market and your place in it).

That's why after working with hundreds of clients each year, and after reporting on the technical job market to several industry news outlets, my team and I have put together a very simple, anonymous, self-assessment quiz designed to determine whether the IT resume you've put together should bring you a level of certainty (or peace of mind) that you are well positioned for the market.

So, give it a shot. Take the quiz above and find out. It's free, quick (take less than a minute), and anonymous.

Why You Need More Than Conventional Salary Negotiation Advice

There's a lot of salary negotiation advice out there that on the surface is solid, such as "go online and look at various salary comparables." But most of the advice only focuses on one side of the negotiation, building your argument. To get the most out of any negotiation, however, you want to make sure you understand the other side's position as well as your own. And that's where most professionals go wrong. The following presentation helps you go beyond the conventional to get the best number, not just a satisfactory number, from your next salary discussion:

7 Salary Negotiation Tips You Probably Haven't Used (Well) from Stephen Van Vreede

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You? Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!

How to Make Your CIO Job Search Simple

I get asked all the time by various types of technical leaders how they can make their job search much simpler. My answer?

Don't Do It All Yourself.

It's really not as hard as it may seem. We get help for almost everything of importance we do in life (and yes, your career is important. It may not be the most important thing, but if you need to eat and pay bills, then it's important.) From big things like investment planning to tax preparation to real estate advice down to small things like yard work and hair cutting, we might like to think of ourselves as DIYers, but generally, we rarely go it alone.

For some reason, when it comes to careers and protecting our livelihoods, we act like it is a burden we must carry by ourselves.

And maybe there is some justification for that. In the past, the job search process was less complicated. Corporate ladders, at least seemed, more straightforward. There weren't so many dotted lines and grays areas. Today, well, it's a bit of a zoo with corporate hiring practices that are full of "goo" (aka, a hot, sticky mess).

All of that makes for a shifting landscape, and unless you're a professional job seeker, it's unlikely you are up on all the latest and (not so) greatest in hiring. So while you can still go it alone, just like you can try and sell your house on your own, it can make for a long, frustrating, and complicated process.

My team and I have spent a lot of time considering three important factors when it comes to both our resume/brand messaging solutions and our concierge job search services:

1. How can the job search process be made more simple for the job seeker?
2. How do we ensure that our client members are properly positioned or targeted to communicate value, not just credentials, to their desired audience?
3. How can we build certainty into the job search process?

Simplified. Targeted. Certain.

Of course, there is no magic pill or no slam dunk, but even with our current crazy job market zoo, making a career move doesn't have to be a crap shoot either. Nor does it have to be all on your shoulders to carry.

Isn't that a relief?

But sometimes getting started is the hardest part (let's face it, there are "sexier" things to spend your time on), but for most of us, we know we need to get going on making that next career move. And if you are a CIO or looking to move toward that CIO role, we offer 3 great options. (If you're not a CIO but in the technical arena, please see Bonus Option at the end of article.)

1. Start with the very simple. Get properly matched with CIO recruiters who specifically place CIOs like you (and in YOUR salary range). This is very important, and believe it or not, it can take a lot of work, researching, vetting, and trying to meet recruiters who are really well suited for you (and you for them). Recruiting is not local anymore, and it is all about timing. So you need to contact many of them, but they should be targeted to fit you and your needs.

So why not do yourself a favor? Save hours of research and frustration. We've already done most of the legwork for you.

Click Here to Learn How to Get Your U.S. CIO Recruiter Directory for $49

  2. Better yet, why not get the directory for free? For 30 minutes of your time, you can have a 1-1 complimentary consult with me and receive the CIO recruiter directory for free. How's that for simple?

Get a Free Consult, Get a Free Directory! Click Here to Find Out More.

  3. Get educated. Receive our brief presentation called: "How You Can Leverage Technical Recruiters to Build a Career Protection Pipeline"  

BONUS OPTION

Here's the simplest one of all! Whether or not you are a CIO or future CIO, to see whether we are a good fit for you, take our free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz:

Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You?

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!

Where Technical Resumes Are Headed

 

Perhaps you can relate ... you think:

• Resumes are no big deal.
• Resumes are a VERY big deal.
• You have no idea what kind of deal resumes are anymore.

Here's the real deal:  

Resumes are one piece of the “career move” zoo. They still play a vital part out in that zoo, but other aspects are just as vital.  

95% of professionals spend so much time either over- or underestimating the job market that they end up focusing on the wrong things.

So where are technical resumes headed? (In truth, they are already there; it's just so few candidates that are actually doing it.)

Resume portfolios along with an industry-focused job search strategy are the most effective approach today.

This is not an opinion. It is proven time and again by today’s market.

 Because we are so caught up in it, we often forget that the job market runs on supply-and-demand. So when you watch what companies do as part of their hiring today (and NOT listen to what they say or what “experts” say they say), you discover two interesting things:

1. Companies respond well when information is “dripped” to them. They want to be introduced to you, get a feel for you (a summary), talk to you, learn more about you, get to know you, and finally be reassured that you “fit in.” In other words, it’s a process.

2. Companies really want to believe you are one of them. And that goes way beyond the list of credentials they stuff job descriptions full of. (Again, they often say one thing and do another!)

So what is a “resume portfolio?” And why is it so effective?

Most people see the resume as a list of credentials and experience. That’s what they are used to reading and that’s all they know. So they don’t want to give it much time. They just want to toss it together and hope it stands out from the crowd. Or, perhaps worse, they end up obsessing over every square inch of it, still missing the bigger picture. Remember, we can all produce lists of credentials (feel free to read more about mine and those of Our Team). The question is, though, “how will you leverage them to benefit the one hiring you the most?”  

Hiring is largely determined by benefits, not by features!!  

The resume portfolio gives you more room to focus on the benefits. The more you do that, the more companies want to know about you.

To do that, we start with the traditional resume as your foundation with addenda or add-on pages that serve as reinforcements to build off the positioning of the resume. We then use a form of “drip marketing” to present the material throughout your discussions with the prospective employer. When you do this, leadership begins to pay a lot more attention to what you have to say. (For more specifics on how this works, check out Move Over Resume, Hello Portfolio and Making the Most Out of Your Resume Portfolio.)  

With up to a 74% reduction in job search time over the national average, our resume portfolio stats paint a convincing picture!

So what's in a technical resume portfolio arsenal?

• Resume
• LinkedIn Profile
• Cover Letter
• Marketing Brief
• Bio
• Thank-You Template
• Infographic Resume
• Problems-Solutions-Results (PSR) Page
• Innovation Page
• Testimonials Page
• Project Highlights Page

Now, no one needs to have ALL of these materials. But you should build your portfolio based off of your goals, target market demands, and specific situation. In other words, it should be customized to you.  

Too many people are saying that "less is more," but our experience with hundreds of technical leaders each year proves that it's not less, it's information provided in smaller chunks that makes more of an impact.  

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You? Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!

So Exactly How Are Your Video Interviewing Skills?

 

If you're like most professionals today, regardless of where you fall on the corporate ladder, the answer to the title question is, "I don't really know."

And why should you really? It's not like video interviewing has been around a long time or was taught in any college course you likely took. Yet, the use of video, be it via Skype or FaceTime or Google Hangout or web conferencing is increasingly be used throughout the global marketplace. And it has found its way into the interview process as well.

Slowly but surely, the video interview is starting to replace the phone interview and even some face-to-face interviewing.

This trend will only increase as time goes by and video tools become more sophisticated. Therefore, just like with any interview, preparation is paramount, only you want to make sure you understand some of the differences between video interviewing and face to face. It might surprise you, but the way you appear on camera and the nuances of body language, surrounding environment, and tone of voice are all more pronounced on video, so you need to understand what someone else is going to see and hear. Unfortunately, far too many people spend their time obsessing over resumes and LinkedIn profiles only to bomb the interview because they won't invest in mock interviewing. But truthfully, the mock interview just might be the most valuable of all.  

It takes a little swallowing of pride perhaps, but a mock interview with expert feedback can make the difference.

Last year, my team and I realized that too many professionals were out there going it alone. So we decided to do something about it. We launched our concierge job search solutions that now include "crash courses." One of them is our Video Interviewing crash course. It's designed for those who want to improve their video interviewing skills, and who want something 1-1 and customized to them. So if that is you, check it out!

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You? Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!

IT Resumes: How to Stick to the Pertinent Facts

 

Once again, Sharon Florentine of CIO.com asked me to participate in its "IT Resume Makeover Series." This time I had the privilege of working with David Thornurb-Gundlach, a leader in enterprise architecture, who was having a hard time sifting through the wealth of experience he had accumulated to slim his resume down to one that showcased his most marketable qualities in today's market.

In the end, David remarked, "What surprised me most was how unexpectedly excited and motivated I was when I saw the revised version for the first time. Now, I have a great marketing platform that will do a much better job of presenting me, highlighting my strengths, and delivering my message to potential employers. A resume is a living document, and now I've made it past the 'resurrection' and am in a great position to be able to tweak and fine-tune it for different opportunities and markets." To see the end result of my work with David, and to learn more about the process we went through to tailor the resume to the "pertinent" facts, check out the full CIO article:

IT Resume Makeover: Just the facts (and only the pertinent ones)

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You? Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!

Still Struggling to Make LinkedIn Effective for You?

 
If you are, trust me when I say that you are not alone.

LinkedIn has been, and most likely will continue to be, an ineffective albeit "neat" Rolodex tool for most professionals. For awhile, it was the "thing" just to have an LI profile and to connect with all your colleagues past and former. Then it was the "thing" to join groups and find some like-minded souls. And now it seems to be the "thing" to turn LI into this career branding tool, where you are assessed based on the strength of your LinkedIn finesse.

But like so many of these "things," it all takes time to cultivate, learn, and sift through the hype and misinformation to get at what really matters.

(Nevertheless, if LinkedIn has its way, pretty soon careers will be launched or doomed all within the confines of its network.)

Here's the deal: LinkedIn is becoming increasingly more important not just during a job search but as part of your employee brand "ambassadorship." We network through it, we read up on one another, and we size each other up through it. (Maybe you don't...but many others do...that's the point.)  

So it is worth the effort to make sure you present well and are optimized on LinkedIn.

Despite all that, however, it doesn't mean you must become a LinkedIn guru or spend countless hours on it to make it effective for you. Instead, you need to understand a few things:

1. What your short-term and long-term career strategies are (yikes...I bet that scares many of you)
2. You need to stay in control of your branding (don't let your company write your LI profile for you or tell you what it must say outside of confidentiality info)
3. You don't have time to stay on top of it all, and that's OK

It's impossible in today's job market to be an expert at the modern-day job search. It doesn't matter what level you get to or how many years you have in. Things like LinkedIn, internal corporate hiring practices, and recruiting oddities all make for a job market "zoo" that seems to be in some constant state of flux.

Last year, my team and I realized that too many professionals were out there going it alone. So we decided to do something about it. We launched our concierge job search solutions that now include "crash courses." One of them is our LinkedIn crash course. It's designed for those who want to improve their effectiveness on LinkedIn, whether or not they are in job search mode, and who want something 1-1 and customized to them. So if that is you, check it out!    

--About Stephen----

Stephen Van Vreede is not your average IT/technical résumé writer. He provides career strategy and concierge job search solutions for senior (15+ years) (ITtechExec) and up-and-coming (NoddlePlace) (5-15 years) tech and technical operations leaders. Stephen and his team focus on building simplified, targeted, and certain career move campaigns, be it an external search or an internal promotion. He is co-author of UNcommon with career development leader Brian Tracy (out June 11, 2015). Contact Stephen directly at Stephen@ittechexec.com or send him an invite at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenvanvreede. To see whether Stephen and his team are a good fit for you, take their free (and anonymous) 1-minute compatibility quiz, Is the ITtechExec Approach a Good Match for You? Also, feel free to take his complimentary resume self-assessment quiz, How Certain Can You Be About Your Technical Resume? You might be surprised by what you find out!