A lot has been made recently about a story where a man named
Jose changed his name to Joe on his resume and suddenly the interview requests
started pouring in. This article, which you
can find here:
This got me to thinking about other little changes people
could make to improve their chances in a job search. Below are my thoughts:
1. Omitting things on your resume
The road to unemployment is paved with well-intentioned bad
advice. One of the most egregious is the
suggestion that you omit things from your resume. Now, you can play semantics and say that
omission isn’t really lying and you would be correct. However, it doesn't change the fact that a
hiring manager feels that they are being lied to. It’s about perception not whether something
is technically a lie. Now, I do think
that your resume should only go back about 15 years unless the previous experience is relevant and necessary. However, not sharing your first job out of
college 18 years ago is not the problem. Instead, the problem is when people do
silly things like combine two jobs into one or just decide not to put any dates
into a resume. Omitting dates makes a
hiring manager assume that there is something really big being hidden.
What should you do
instead?
Emphasize your recent successes by only having bullet points
highlighting your most recent jobs. Put your
education at the bottom of the resume.
Your resume should be an advertisement for you as an employee. Customers get mad when they are bait and
switched and employers are the same way.
Instead, make things like previous irrelevant jobs and your graduation
date the equivalent of the fine print.
2. I can do anything
This is a major problem.
There are a lot of people who interview for jobs and say – “I was really
successful doing X, therefore I can do any job that you might be offering.” First of all, let me say that I believe
people can and should make moves outside of their industry and grow. It is absolutely possible and probable. However, you can’t use the above logic as you
value proposition Why? Because it makes you sound
condescending. Because you are
essentially saying “Because what I was doing was so important/difficult/prestigious
,you pick the adjective, that I can
easily step in and do whatever job you are offering in your lowly company.” You
also sound uninformed because you are essentially saying that even though you
have done no research, you are pretty sure you can do the job.
What should you do
instead?
Look for common denominators between the two jobs. Focus on them and why this would make it a
smooth transition. Then acknowledge what
you need to learn and share how you would overcome it. Essentially, you need to come up with a value
proposition that is stronger than “I’m so awesome, I can do anything, you
should hire me.”
3. I did that 15 years ago, therefore I can do
it today
This one is pretty cut and dry. If the best value proposition you can come up
with is “It’s just like riding a bike,” then you are screwed. The fact is that jobs change over time and
the skills needed for said jobs change.
To assume that you can seamlessly step back in makes you seem
arrogant.
What should you do
instead?
Does this mean that if your most recent relevant experience is
fifteen years ago you can never do the job?
Again, you need to support your argument with data. Something like this:
“ I know I haven’t
worked as a burger flipper for years, however, I think that I can do
this. You see, because it was my
favorite job ever I have kept up with the industry by reading Burger Flipping
Quarterly – do you subscribe to this? I've
also done some research and I understand that you guys are working with the
most state of the art spatula. It looks
like a pretty nice piece of steel. I
haven’t used one but I think with a little work I can get the hang of it. “
4. Not giving a good reason for relocation
So… your kids are all grown, you don’t own a home, you hate the
snow. Bottom line. You can move anywhere for a job. That’s great!
Here’s the problem, being a nomad isn't a major selling point. When a potential employer asks - Why do you want to move to my hometown? – the
answer can’t be because that’s where the job is. It may be the god’s honest truth, but you
have to give more. Here’s why. Employers are irrational, just like the rest
of the world. If the only reason you are
moving to their hometown, a community that they know and love, even cherish, is because there is a job then they
will make the leap that you will probably leave for someone else’s hometown at
some point in the near future.
What should you do
instead?
Come up with a reason to be somewhere. First of all look for the obvious. If your sister, brother, cousin, uncle lives there
it’s a slam dunk. If you've visited
there before and love it its easy enough.
But what if you are being asked to move to Ames, IA for the job of your
dreams and you’ve never been there, let alone heard of it. You research the city and find a good reason
to be there besides the job. For
instance, you could do some research and find out that Ames has the highest
quality water in the United States (true fact you should Google the song – City
of Ames) and say:
Besides the fact that there is a great job here? Water quality is really important to me and my research shows
that Ames has the best. Additionally, I’m
a big fan of below average college football.
This just seems like the right place for me!
What do you guys thing?
What are some other little things you could change in your search to
make a big difference?
