Tips: Give your resume a face lift

Over on LifeClever, Chanpory Rith offers four good ways to give your resume a face lift:

1. Pick a better typeface
2. Remove extra indentations
3. Make it easy to skim
4. Apply typographic detailing

Chanpory is on a Mac, but PC details are available in the comments.

Must see site: NotHired

The NotHired site is a hoot! NotHired is run by “a dedicated group of HR monkeys and hiring managers” who “see thousands of cover letters and resumes every month. Some of them desperately need to be shared.” They’ve listed many great examples of horrible cover letters and resumes. Their site is “Dedicated to all those who wonder why no one has called to set up an interview…”

Here’s the best of the worst:

Hello,
I don’t know Craig personally, but my friend told me about his list and I saw your job on there.

The NotHired authors point out this message came from an AOL address.

Evil HR Lady on "We’re in a Hiring Slowdown"

I’ve not met the Evil HR Lady, but it looks like we’ve worked together. She just posted a perfect riff on what happens behind the scenes when the candidate is told “We’re in a Hiring Slowdown“. Here’s a short excerpt:

Here’s how the hiring process should go:

1. Manager decides there is a vacancy
2. Recruiter does what it takes to bring in several qualified candidates
3. Manager and friends interview candidates
4. Decision is made
5. New person accepts fabulous offer
6. Person starts job–total time, start to finish 4-6 weeks.

Here’s how it ends up going many times.

1. Manager decides that there is a vacancy.
2. Recruiter starts looking for qualified candidates.
3. Boss disagrees. “Even though Jane left, you can do the work without another headcount. I’m transferring your headcount over to Heidi’s department.
4. Recruiter sets up several appointments with qualified candidates
5. Manager says, “Ummm, I may be losing the headcount, but let’s interview anyway.”
6. Recruiter cringes, but goes forward.
7. First interviews happen
8. Boss finds out and is livid. Massive political nightmare ensues.

Check out her full posting for what happens with steps 9 through 22. The comments are good too.

See Moises Lopez at the March DTC CTRN meeting

Moises Lopez, souring genius, sourcing blogger and all around great guy, will be speaking at the 19 March meeting of the Colorado Technical Recruiter’s Network (CTRN). Moises is a blog buddy, but I’ve never seen him in 3D Real Life. Join me for what promises to be a great sourcing discussion. Register here to reserve your spot.

Here’s more about Mr. Lopez from the CTRN e-mail list:

Moises Lopez, author of the distinguished www.sourcingcorner.com recruitment/ sourcing blog, is a Director of Sourcing. Besides authoring and maintaining his blog, Moises has also been a guest author on www.recruitingbloggers.com. He is a distinguished writer and trainer in Advanced Sourcing techniques. He participated at the first ever Global Sourcing Conference, “SourceCon” were he served as an expert in a panel discussion of sourcing ethics which focused on phone vs. Internet sourcing as critical recruiting functions. He is also currently serving as co-editor in the development of the first Global Sourcing newsletter, due to release January 2008.

Is Your Employee Referral Program as Good as This?

Ephraim Salaam refers Chester Pitts to the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs. Pitts attended the California Academy of Mathematics and Science, which doesn’t have a football program.

This results in Pitts getting drafted in the second round, while Salaam didn’t get drafted until the seventh. This past season they were the starting left Tackle and left Guard for the Houston Texas.

I love the interview questions:
“What do you play?”
“I play the oboe.”

Does your company’s employee referral program screen people like Pitt in or out?

For more details, see the Sports Illustrated article: Pair of Texans reminisce at filming of Super Bowl ad

Tips: Make A Great First Impression

Brett and Kate McKay have created a vital service for western civilization: a web site and blog dedicated to the Art of Manliness. (Don’t worry, the McKay’s suggestions are appropriate for the ladies also.) The McKays cover topics from caring for neckties to Theodore Roosevelt’s On Living The Strenuous Life.

Brett posted a great essay about how to make a great first impression in an interview:

Make Yourself Stick With These First Impression Tips
When you’re interviewing for a job, one of the keys to success is your first impression. If you’re about to go in for an interview, maybe its time to re-evaluate the first impression you give off. Do you come off as likable? Do you exude professionalism and charm?

The goal of every first impression is to stick to a person’s brain.

• Dress to impress.
• Look fit.
• Give an impressive handshake.
• Focus on speaking.
• Use the person’s name.
• Let the person know you’re listening.
• Shine the spotlight on the other person.

This is Wisdom. See the whole post for all the details. Then use them.

Also – download their free Ebook: Guide to Being A Gentleman in 2008.

Video Resumes: The Worst Idea Yet To Come

Mark Lucker is a good friend, a fellow alumnus of Denver South High School, and the brave man who served as my wife’s date to the senior prom. Mark is also one of the best writers I know. He’s one guy who should have his own blog (hint, hint!)

Mark and I think alike on several things, including the utility of video resumes. He covered the bases nicely in an article on the Training Media Review site. Mark had reviewed WorkBlast, and the CEO of WorkBlast parent HireMeNow.com tried to rebut. Mark did a masterful rebuttal. See the exchange here: Are Video Resumes a Good Idea?Mark’s main point is great:

Does a video resume really save time? If I’m a hiring manager reviewing a stack of resumes, I can easily whittle a pile of 100 candidates down to a more manageable 10 to 15 candidates in about 10 minutes. If I’m a hiring manager with 100 resumes to go through on a website, I’m looking at 10 minutes simply waiting for the online videos to load, not including actually viewing them.

I’d only add the caveat that video resumes might work for some select circumstances: professions like Performing Arts, News Media (same thing) and Cinematography come to mind. Like we’ve done with leisure suits and Dorothy Hamel haircuts, the rest of us should forget the video resume.

Edit: Updated the date to 2008.

Facebook vs. LinkedIn: Which is better for business?

Today’s issue of ComputerWorld asks the question:
Which is better for business,
Facebook or LinkedIn.

ComputerWorld (CW) looked at six different areas, comparing both tools for business networking.

LinkedIn	Facebook

CW called it a tie, which IMHO shows their bias. Here’s my analysis, which is at least as unbiased as theirs:

Topic	CW	TCB
1. Look for a job without your boss knowing	Tie	LI
2. Find information about a job you’re interviewing for	LI	LI
3. Find a contract worker for a three-month Web project	FB	Tie
4. Solicit ideas and discussion from team members	FB	FB
5. Get feedback on a nasty IT problem from peers outside your company	LI	LI
6. Keep track of former associates	Tie	LI

A few notes:
1. Find job – Facebook’s lack of privacy and security are well known problems that CW didn’t even address. Plus, Facebook ties your search to Jobster, which is a huge negative in my book.
2. Find information – Facebook only allows users to research certain areas, and is known for editing profiles to remove vital information like titles.
6. Track associates – ComputerWorld seems to assume that all of us are college kids. Okay – I’m over 40, and can only find a few of my friends and associates on Facebook. However, I can find plenty of my friend’s children on Facebook!

I liked what Chad D. said in the comments:

As far as Facebook. It’s a “social” network. Why do people continue to try and make it anything but what it is? Do I really want my brand and professional reputation within arms length of teenagers poking, biting and tagging? Stop trying to force a round peg into a square hole. Let Facebook be what it is… a virtual playground.

Tips: Miriam’s Top 5 Resume Do’s and Don’ts

• Sell
• Focus
• Design
• Target
• Be Precise

These are the top five To Do resume tips offered by Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers. Miriam’s five do and five don’t tips are worth reviewing – find them on the Secrets of the Job Hunt blog.

Alabama: Forty Hour Week for a Living

Today’s video break comes from Alabama, and is dedicated to all the working people out there. Keep up the good work!

Yes, I know that here in the USA, 40 hours is a start, not an end. Let’s not get too technical about this.