Tuesday’s Tip: Isn’t a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?

I have always heard that "A picture is worth a thousand words", and I have always believed this to be the case (at least for me). I learn better when I see the information being presented in a visually appealing, colorful format. In fact, more than 65% of Americans are visual learners. And last time I checked, at least 99.99% of all Americans have a color television set. The black and white ones are for antique collectors.
So it puzzles me why most job seekers hold onto the development and distribution of a plain, old, boring black and white text version of their resume. Heck, they think they are going outside-of-the-box by putting something in Bold or ALL CAPS. And don't even get me started on this false rumor about an ATS stopping the transfer of your resume when it finds a hyperlink or an email address (this rumor was started by the Easter Bunny).
So my plea to anyone that wants to differentiate themselves from their competitors, is to throw away that boring 2007 looking resume. If you don't have color, pictures, graphs, hyperlinks, tables, or a visually appealing layout, then you are just another candidate with a resume. It is so easy to climb to the top of the pile, by just trying. Recruiters will only glance (notice I didn't say read), at your resume for 30 seconds and if during this time frame they are not "convinced" to glance some more, can you guess which circular file your resume will end up in? If you make it easy for them to read the content, they will not only learn more about your capabilities, but they most likely will be impressed with your technical capabilities (ie. inserting a Hyperlink on your resume). To those of you that are trying to disguise your age (because of the age discrimination that is prevalent in society), this may be your ticket out of that!

Thursday’s Thought: Where Are The Risk Takers?

I admit that I have a lot of “out-of-the-box” ideas, and I don’t expect everyone to implement every single idea that I recommend. However, it amazes me how many people elect to ONLY take the SAFE route in their job search (and especially if they have been out of work for an extended period of […]

Tuesday’s Tip: I’ll Tell You a Secret if You Promise Not to Tell Anyone

There is a “back door” way to send a message to LinkedIn people that you are not 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree connections with, nor are you in a group that they belong to as well (and it’s free – for the time being; unless you tell our little secret to anyone). Basically, when you […]

Thursday’s Thought: Asking for Referrals…

As I would coach anyone looking for talent to do, I am going to follow my own advice; and ask for referrals. Corporate Transition Services is growing and we are looking for a Marketing Intern to work with us this summer (and possibly longer if schedule permits). Below is a “real” job description. The program […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Set Up Google Alerts

Everyone should go out today and “hire” the Internet as their personal assistant. This assistant can play a critical role in helping you find your next job opportunity. The good thing about this new employee is that she is virtually free, reliable (available 24 hours a day; most of the time), accurate (if you visit […]

Thursday’s Thought: I Might Be Wrong… Nah, Probably Not… But Maybe…

Those of you that have been following me closely know that my stance on the job market recovery is not an optimistic one. I never promote pessimism so I like to think of myself as a realist. I have consistently said that we are in for a very long-term recovery (ie. multiple years away; around […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Are Your Bullet Points Firing Blanks?

Regarding your resume, absolute worst way to write a bullet point is to copy and paste the job description from your current job. This guarantees that you will be put in the pile of all other rejected resumes; as a recruiter, I know that at least 50% of you do this! You have to differentiate […]

Tuesday’s Tip: The Jobseeker Fairy Tale

Ralphie is a typical 2011 jobseeker. He was downsized, rightsized, laid off, let go, outsourced, discharged, restructured, position eliminated, or many other names just a year ago. Ralphie is over 50 and was with his last company for more than 10 years. Since he has had many positions in his 30+ year career, he knows […]

New Webinar!

This isn’t my usual Thursday Thought (it’s still coming) but I wanted to quickly send out a note about a new webinar that I’m holding. It’s called “The Top 10 Mistakes People Make on Their Resume” and I spend 90 minutes going over not just what people typically do wrong, but how to do it […]

Tuesday’s Tip: Twitter Time

The time has come for job seekers to step up and learn to speak Twitterese. This tool can dramatically increase your job search awareness and effectiveness, and you cannot run a full blown job search without it. The first step is to get a Twitter account from www.twitter.com. Make sure it is either your name […]