blueskyresumesblog

How to Make a Career Change

One of my clients is embarking on a career change. He currently works in a related field, and has some good transferable skills. But after a couple of weeks, he wrote to me concerned that he hadn't had any response to his resume.

I thought it was worth addressing his concerns in a blog post because I know he's not alone in struggling to make a change like this.

The first thing you have to understand when making a career change is this: You are not what they're looking for.

That doesn't mean you won't be amazing at the job or that they are not dopes for overlooking you (I'm sure you will be and they are!) but right now, you do not meet the criteria that they developed when they set out to fill this position.

That means that if you submit your resume for jobs along with everyone else, or post your resume online, and then sit back and wait for a response, you will be disappointed. They will call the people who fit the job posting criteria and they will ignore your resume - no matter how good it is, or how well you have explained your transferable skills. It's a tight job market and they can afford to be choosy.

So should you just give up?

No! But you do have to be more aggressive, more creative and more persistent than everyone else.

The application process is stacked against you. Incoming resumes will be scanned by a machine or a human in order to find the skills and experiences that you don't have just yet (if you did, this wouldn't be a career change!). This means that your most important task is to find ways to sidestep the system altogether.

1) Network, network, network. I can't say this enough. Your best way in to the job of your dreams is through people who already hold that job or work in that industry. Do whatever you have to do to make contact with them. Use online networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook to reconnect with old friends.

Let everyone know about your goals - everyone! You never know who will be the person who can connect you, so don't restrict your conversations just to close friends.

LinkedIn also allows you to search for people by company name and job title, so you can find people who work at your target companies and attempt to make contact.

When making contact with strangers, never ask for a job. Instead, ask for information - how do they like their job? What is X company like to work for? Is there any advice they can give you about making this transition?

2) Ignore the rules! Applying for advertised positions is almost a waste of time when you don't have the right background, so you have to do more. Apply as instructed by all means, but then do some online research to find the names of people within that company. If you're lucky, you'll find email addresses online, but if not you can call and ask for the email protocol. Or you can mail your resume with a strong cover letter explaining your passion, work ethic and dedication.

3) Find ways to do the job without being paid. If you want to move into a new profession, it's much easier to do it from the inside. Many years ago when I was just out of college, I wanted to work for a particular record label. I knew they wouldn't have a job - it was a small indie label - so I wrote a letter to the owner asking her to consider letting me come and work for free. My letter must have been effective because she called and invited me to the office where I spent all day with her. In the end, she said she couldn't do it. I was only 20 and she wasn't about to let me move to a new city with no income (I don't even know how I thought I would live!), but she told me how impressed she was by my obvious passion and promised to stay in touch should anything come up. As it happened, my goals changed anyway, but I still believe that if I had continued to pursue this with other labels, I could have eventually found an unpaid position that would have let me get my foot in the door.

Other alternatives for 'doing the job' include working for free for friends or neighbors - for example, someone who wants to work in graphic design should be building up a resume of as many projects a possible. The work doesn't have to be paid to count as experience.

Making a career change can be a long-term project. Knowing your goal is half the battle - now you just need to employ some creativity and persistence to make sure that people pay attention.

Should I include that or not?

Just answering some questions from a client who wanted to know why certain information had been omitted from her resume and after a while my answers got repetitive - really there was just one answer: "I didn't include it because it won't sell."

For example, the two colleges she attended for a year before settling at a third and getting her degree. They're not ivy league schools and there's nothing remarkable about them - they won't sell her and so I left them off the resume to make room for more valuable information.

How about the retail sales job she had right out of college? She's not in retail sales anymore and it's 10 years later. It won't sell so why include it?

She wrote: "Shouldn't company names be bolded?"

My answer: "not necessarily - not if they won't help to sell you." (In this case, the companies were unknown and I wanted the reader to focus on the job titles, so I bolded those instead).

Finally she asked 'shouldn't I include the towns and states of the companies I worked at? By now you probably know my answer. 

If you have questions about what should or should not be on your resume, you can usually make a quick determination by just asking yourself 'does this piece of information make it more likely that I will get interviews?'

In other words: Will it sell?

Cross posted at Career Hub.

CNN Isn't "The Place for Politics"

I am political junkie and election time is my Superbowl. (Only it goes on for MUCH longer than the Superbowl, which I'm sure drives sane people nuts but actually just gives me months and months of weird pleasure).

So anyway, we're getting close to a general election and so my TV is pretty much constantly tuned in to cable news (this despite the fact that most of it makes me want to pull my hair out in clumps as a distraction). But it's the Olympics now apparently, and that means my usual channel of choice, MSNBC, has dropped its daytime news programming in favor of people swimming and running and jumping over things.

No biggie - this morning I flicked over to CNN and caught them during one of the ad breaks, where a deep-voiced announcer told me that "CNN is the place for politics." Well great! Because that's totally why I'm standing in my kitchen eating cereal and staring at this tiny little portable TV. Guess I'll hang on and see what's going on!

So I hung and I hung and I hung. I hung on for 11 minutes while they talked about: (1) a child who fell down a chimney somewhere I've never heard of; (2) Some bad weather somewhere far away from where I live; (3) Which movies did well at the box office this weekend, and (4) The Olympics.

And that's when I remembered why I stopped watching CNN. Because this is what they do pretty much all day. Now maybe all these things are more popular than politics. Maybe they bring in viewers. Fine - I get that. But don't call yourself 'the place for politics' if you're not. Don't think that if you call yourself that, I won't actually notice that you didn't show any politics the whole time I was watching!

I used to see job seekers make the same mistake when I worked in HR. I'd read a resume filled with words like 'dynamic' and 'high-energy' and then at the interview I'd meet a quiet little person, who could not, by even the wildest stretch of the imagination, be called either dynamic or high energy.  And I'd know they just wrote that because either they hoped it would magically just become true, or they copied it from someone else's resume.

If you're not dynamic, don't say you are! Say that you're dependable, professional, dedicated to the company's success or a team player. Then when you walk in for the interview, there won't be a disconnect.

The worst thing about pretending to be what you're not isn't losing out on a job - it's getting the job. If you fool people into hiring you based on qualities, skills or experiences that you don't really have, how will you do the job effectively?

For me this is the biggest argument for being honest. You may lose out on the odd job but ultimately you will win a position that's right for you, thereby laying the foundation for the rest of your career.

As for CNN, if they're going to act like "The Place for Little Girls Who Fell Down Chimneys" then they should own it and make that their slogan (or perhaps they could come up with something a little more catchy).

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For "Confused in Austin"

I received an email the other day from a reader who called himself 'Confused in Austin.' He's confused because after being told that the job market was hot in Austin, and uprooting his life to move there from New York City, he's finding it difficult to get interviews. He sent me a link to his online portfolio (he's a designer) and asked 'what can I do to get more call-backs and interviews?'

I won't link to his portfolio for confidentiality reasons, but I will say that it's clear to me why he isn't getting much response. The portfolio isn't the problem however - it's his resume. (Remember that people won't even get to your web portfolio in most cases unless they like what they see on your resume.)

Confused's resume looks like almost every other resume that I see, and that's the problem. Although I don't know him, I am 100% sure that he's better and more interesting than his resume. His resume communicates nothing of his personality. It says nothing about his design accomplishments. It doesn't even hint at the creative challenges he has faced and how he has addressed them. It basically says nothing about how he can be expected to add value.

Instead there are job titles, company names and dates followed by brief job descriptions - just lists of duties. All web designers have the same duties, however, so reading this list tells me nothing about this particular candidate.

Is he passionate about his work? Is he often the last one to leave at night because he just has to finish up a design? What are his design strengths? What projects does he love to work on and why? What is the most challenging project he was ever given and how did he handle it? How does he work under pressure? Does he do well when given a tight deadline? How does he approach difficult clients?

In other words, what are the unique blend of personality traits, skills and experiences that make this web designer different from the other people who sent resumes?

For me this is the core of writing a resume that drives call-backs and interview requests. (I wrote more about it in my free resume writing report which you are welcome to download here). Standing out from the crowd isn't about fancy designs or unusual fonts - it's simply about showing how and why you are unique.

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The Tyranny of the To Do List

Today I had a rare day to spend time looking at my business, assessing what's working and what isn't and jotting down ideas for improvements and new initiatives.

(I was supposed to have 2 days like that, but yesterday got eaten up with emails and phone calls and questions and last-minute client projects and before I knew it, our cats were looking for their evening meal and dusk was falling!)

It's amazing how many things I think of on these rare days. They never fail to help me come up with at least one good idea - often more than that.

So why do they happen so infrequently?

I wonder if I'm alone or of there are others like me. Is everyone else setting aside quality time every week to work on planning and thinking? I have a sneaking suspicion that the answer is no. That many people are like me, too busy with the day-to-day to stop and reflect.

But I also have a sneaking suspicion that I could do something about it if I put my mind to it. Hmm ... I'll have to give that some thought the next time I have a moment free.

Really? You Don't Have Time?

just got a proposal request that blew my mind. The potential client said she didn't have time to work on a resume with me, and would therefore need me to pull what I needed from her old resume and do the best I could.

She doesn't have time? She doesn't have time to work on a document that can, quite literally, determine her future? And she's be OK with me doing 'the best I could' with what she already had.

The thing is, this person isn't alone. Lots of job seekers treat writing a resume as a minor inconvenience and then wonder why they don't get a great response to their resume.

This is why I created a resume writing process that demands work of my clients. I want them to have to think about their career and accomplishments. I want them to spend time reflecting on what makes them unique and interesting. I want them to have to work at this, because that will result in a stronger resume and also in stronger interview performance (and better decision-making when it comes time to consider job offers).

Your resume may be the most important document you ever write - find the time!

The Future of the Resume

One topic of frequent discussion among career professionals and recruiters is the future of the resume. What will replace the paper resume? Is an online portfolio the answer? Will we all eventually just use LinkedIn profiles (or something similar)? Are video resumes the future?

Sadly, I don't know the answer - if I did I'd be on a beach somewhere sipping something with an umbrella instead of here writing this post.

But I do enjoy seeing examples of successful alternatives to the resume. And they are never to be found on sites that allow you to create your own 'visual resume' or video resume, because how can you look different when you're using the same approach as everyone else? No, the ones that catch my eye are always a direct expression of the individual job seeker's personality. Which is why I like this slideshow resume so much ...

| View | Upload your own

Saran posted this in the comments on my last post - after seeing it, I wanted to interview him even though I don't have a job for him!  Nice work, Saran.

Can Executives Get By Without a Resume?

Howard Nestler over on Blue Steps thinks so.

Nestler makes the point that when executives default to using a resume as a means of promoting, they have given up all the advantages that their skill, intellect and experience have provided them. “They become part of the crowd,” Nestler asserts. “Imagine a political candidate running for office by merely circulating a resume.”

“An executive must begin to see himself or herself as a product with discernable qualities and characteristics that set them apart from the many options a company has in today’s job market.” Nestler goes on to say that, “Executives must then headline their campaign with these qualities, which is something a resume does not do.”

I could not disagree more! Most resumes don't do that, it is true. But the good ones do. To suggest that senior executives can somehow do away with a resume is a complete myth and could only be suggested by someone who fundamentally doesn't understand the hiring process at most organizations.

Try telling the headhunter who calls you about a great CEO opportunity that you don't have a resume because you are above all that. The headhunter's response would likely be "well write one and send it over to me ASAP." And when a company expresses interest in you after your networking efforts paid off, how do you think they'll respond to being told "sorry, I don't use a resume."

Perhaps what Nestler means to say is that the average resume isn't effective.There I would agree with him and I've written extensively on the subject. No matter what level (entry or executive) your resume must communicate your unique story. It must show why you are the perfect person to help your target company to meet its goals. It must help you to stand out, showing why you are uniquely qualified for the role. All this takes time and effort, but its well worth the work.

For more on how to write a game-changing resume, feel free to download my free report: The 3 Inside Secrets that Will Transform your Resume. Or buy a book. Or study samples online. Just don't follow Howard's advice and try to dispense with a resume altogether

A Nice Thing Happened Today

I just finished working on thoroughly enjoyable a resume update for a client I first worked with 2 years ago. Why enjoyable?

Well, at that time my client was just finishing college and wanted to start working in the video game industry as a junior marketer. Those jobs are hard to come by, and my client had no experience other than an internship at a financial services company.

To generate interest when you have little or no relevant experience, you have to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Most graduate resumes - in fact most resumes from anyone - are dull and boring affairs. From the recruiter's perspective, everyone sounds the same.

So with David, I focused on showing what made him the perfect fit for busy company in a creative industry - his energy, bright personality, and passion for the video game industry. To help convey this, I used a number of different strategies, including using a direct quote from David which expressed the value he would add and the energy he would being to any new position. Every word of his resume was designed to show why any video game company would benefit from having him on their team.

As with most clients, I didn't hear from David again once the resume was complete. People always promise to let me know how their search went, but usually they forget in the rush and excitement of a new job. So it wasn't until I started to work on David's update today that I discovered he has spent the last 18 months working in marketing for a video game company!  He got the job almost as soon as he left college.

This is one of those things that makes my job so rewarding. Much of the success is David's, but a little of it at least is due to my resume. Having spent too many years not really enjoying my work back when I was in HR, I like that feeling of having added value.

Choosing a Resume Writer: 10 Tips for Finding the Right Resume Service

This post isn't a sales pitch - in fact it's the opposite. I frequently turn away potential clients and I encourage them to do the same if they feel we're not a good fit. A good resume writer will require an investment of both time and money and you need to make a wise choice. And there are many bad choices out there. Believe me I know!

About once a month, I take on a client who has paid a lot of money to another resume service, only to hate the results. While I obviously like getting new clients, these situations make me both sad and angry on behalf of the clients who were hurt by one bad choice. 

So here are my recommendations for selecting a resume writer.

1) Shop around. If you like the first company you find - even if it's mine! - I still recommend contacting a couple of other services just to be sure that you're in the best hands.

2) Look at samples. All good writers should display samples on their site - preferably in 'before' and 'after' format so that you can see what changed. Look for quality, but also look for variation. Does each resume have a different structure? Does each one use different words? Or are they all the same, as though a template was used. And finally, do they impress you personally?

3) Ask about guarantees. Personally, I think all writers should offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. But most are not willing to go quite that far so you may have to settle for less - at the very least, your writer should promise to rework your resume as many times as possible to ensure your satisfaction.

4) Evaluate their qualifications. What makes them qualified to write your resume? Do they understand your industry or function? Have they worked in recruiting or HR? If not, do they have other expertise in those areas that gives you a sense of comfort? (Perhaps they have written books, or have lots of certifications, or come highly recommended by other people in your field).

5) Ask what they DON'T do. We turn away clients who want to work for the federal government or academia because none of our writers have expertise in these areas. Any good writer should be turning away clients - it proves their honesty.

6) Are they web savvy? Is their website modern and well maintained? Have they conveyed their brand well? Do they blog? Do they have a Linked In or Facebook page? You are hiring someone to help market you - make sure they know how to market themselves effectively in today's world.

7) Check LinkedIn testimonials. LinkedIn testimonials can't be fudged because the site allows you to click through as see who wrote the reference. To see them, you must be a member but it's quick and easy to sign up. Don't hire a writer who doesn't have glowing testimonials.

8) Who else refers their services? If you're still unsure, ask who refers clients to them. Do they have affiliations with career counselors, recruiters or other websites? Such relationships - especially with recruiters - are indications that their work is respected by the people who count.

9) Be sure the process works for you. Resume services have different approaches to writing a resume. Some require the completion of worksheets to develop a career history and value proposition. Some utilize phone interviews. Some do a combination of both. I personally prefer worksheets and we've developed a very specific proprietary worksheet that helps us develop a truly compelling resume- but not every client is comfortable with this process and it's important to know that upfront.

10) Finally, don't base your decision on price. I know that price has to be a consideration, but don't make it the be-all and end-all. Those cheap services advertising on the web are cheap for a reason - in most cases they will outsource your work to underpaid writers who have to work quickly just to make a living. In other cases, the fee is low because the person is in no way qualified to do this but saw a chance to make some money from home. If you can't afford to hire a good resume writer, take the time to learn about resume writing from books or articles and do it yourself. You'll get better results, believe me.

You'll notice that I didn't include professional certifications in my list. That's because I don't personally feel they are a reliable indicator of quality. This is a controversial view in my industry, so take it as just my opinion. If you do feel that professional certifications are important, by all means include that in your decision-making, but be sure to check for all the other factors as well.

Choosing the right resume writer can make all the difference to your job search so take the time to understand what you're getting. Good luck!