What NOT to Do in an Interview » Blog | Great Resumes Fast

Last week I had lunch with a colleague who had recently hired someone for a part-time position for her office.  My colleague was interested to observe the wide variety of people who applied for a low-paying, part-time position.  She was even more intrigued by one candidate’s behavior during the interview.

Apparently this candidate had called on her way to the interview to say she was en route.  Based on her supposed whereabouts, the candidate should have arrived 10-15 minutes early.  Somehow, she actually arrived 40 minutes late—without offering any explanation as to why.  As if her tardiness weren’t bad enough, this candidate then proceeded to scroll through and reply to e-mails on her Blackberry during the interview!

Social Media Etiquette:Ways to Lose Your Job Via Social Media | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

The World Wide Web is a vast place with users from all over the world, but that doesn’t mean what you post privately won’t come back to haunt you. Here are five cases of ex-employees who should’ve just kept their mouths shut.

1. I’m too sexy for my job…

A female working for a St. Louis area not-for-profit organization led quite the double life. She was the average, presumably “normal” employee during the day, and a sex blogger by night. She describes herself as being “Clark Kent” with keeping her extremely secret sex blog private. Her undoing was using Twitter. I have to hand it to her, as a single mother and keeping her blog anonymous, she probably could’ve gotten away with her unconventional lifestyle had she steered clear of social media. The reasons behind her being fired should be quite interesting to explain to future employees.

2. Guilty or not guilty? Take my poll!

This has to be without a doubt, one of the worst decisions ever made in making use of social media. A juror in a child abduction and assault case–which is clearly a very sensitive matter and a private issue–in the UK was uncertain of whether or not the defendant was guilty. She was so conflicted with making her decision, she took to her Facebook and asked her friends: “I don’t know which way to go, so I’m holding a poll.” It goes beyond the stupidity of revealing secret case details to a bunch of 200 Facebook friends. With non-existent privacy settings at the time, the information was laid out for any Internet users to see! She was obviously dismissed for breaching a fundamental rule of jury service. Next time, make the decision on your own or with the persuasion of the other jurors.

3. Attention Internet, I want to be fired!

A woman clearly misjudged the innocence of updating her Facebook status to a rant about why she wants to be fired–I mean, why her job is awful. Either thinking her privacy settings would keep her boss and co-workers from seeing her hate-filled post, or simply forgetting they were friends, she was in for quite the surprise to see a few hours later she had in fact been fired. Though for her it was likely a dream come true since she allegedly had the worst boss ever, she’ll go down in social media history of what not to do. It just goes to show you, swearing at your boss and vocalizing your hate for work in a public domain will not make you employee of the month.

4. Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

Don’t try to take down the celebrities. It surely will never end well. Waiter Jon-Barrett Ingels found out the hard way when he took to his Twitter to complain about actress Jane Adams, who allegedly skipped her bill on account of having forgotten her wallet. It was later paid, but without tip, to his horror. Well, Jane Adams isn’t one to stand for defamation. She returned, with tip and complaint in tow. Diss a celebrity, get fired. Yet Mr. Ingels definitely didn’t see that one coming, since he bitterly continued to complain on Twitter. Guess it would’ve been smarter to keep your comment off the Internet in the first place. Point one goes to celebrities.

5. Art is great, no ifs, ands or butts

One of my personal favorites is the story of Stephen Murmer, also known as “Stan Murmur”, whose love of art took him to do unusual things on the web. Though YouTube isn’t always on people’s radar, it can still cause quite the stir, especially if the video goes viral! For this art teacher, his strange…talent and poor disguise branded him a “teacher gone wild on the web” and lost him his high school art gig. While his fame as a “painter” grew, Stephen was able to keep his identity quiet until an interview came out with his true identity revealed. Though he wasn’t fired outright, the board voted to fire him unanimously, saying as a teacher he really wasn’t setting the positive example for students that he should’ve been. The lessons to be learned from Mr. Murmer: don’t post your butt on Youtube for the world to see, even if it is for the sake of an art piece (especially if you’re a teacher, but that should really go without saying) and perhaps keep certain odd talents to yourself.

So there you have it, a list of just some of the weird, the wacky, the equally horrific stories of being fired from social media. Don’t let this be you! Take these ex-employees as examples of what not to do (unless you’re a really good butt artist, but then you should open an art gallery or something and save yourself the extra drama) and there’s no reason Twitter, Facebook or even YouTube can bring you down.

via blog.brand-yourself.com

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Husband and Wife Get Fired Over YouTube Video - Careers Articles

Here's a question for you: What do you think would happen if you make profanity-laced videos about how much you hate your job and how stupid your customers are, use equipment from your employer to make the videos, and put them on YouTube?

If your answer is "get promoted," you must be living on another planet. If your answer is "get fired," you would be right.

A husband and wife who both worked on-air at KARK-TV in Little Rock, Ark., were fired this week, along with two other station employees, after two videos they made and posted on YouTube became the focus of an article by ArkansasBusiness.com.

The videos, entitled 'Report This,' feature KARK reporter Pete Thompson as a frustrated news reporter who hates his job, thinks people in Arkansas are stupid, and is desperately trying to find another job. Thompson's wife, KARK weekend anchor Courtney Collins, plays the role of Thompson's boss in the videos. Weekend sports anchor Jake Hatley also appears in the videos. Portions of the videos were shot at the TV station and others shot at actual news events that Thompson was covering, meaning that at least some of the video was shot using equipment owned by the TV station.

All three, along with one of the station's photographers, were fired, and station General Manager Rick Rogala sent this statement to ArkansasBusiness.com:

"In a very unfortunate series of incidents, a number of KARK employees acted on their own accord to produce unauthorized, offensive and distasteful videos that were subsequently posted to the Internet. I am personally shocked and saddened by the behavior of these employees. KARK has no tolerance for this type of behavior and messages that degrade and discredit our community and our employees. As a result, those involved have faced swift and appropriate disciplinary action. On behalf of the dedicated team members of KARK who take great pride in their community and profession, I would like to extend our sincerest apologies."

Thompson told reporters that he and his colleagues were putting together some videos as a test for entering a film contest.

The moral of the story is pretty clear: If you value your job, you might want to think twice about publicly dissing your employer and the people who use your services, and using your employer's resources to do it.

Watch the video, however a word of warning: they contain a lot of raw language.

via jobs.aol.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

7 Jobs That Make Yours Look Better - Excelle

Nealeigh Mitchell | Excelle

It’s called a job for a reason, but remember, it could always be worse — the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. In fact, it could be quite smelly and dangerous.

Remember all of those times you’ve said, “You couldn’t pay me to do that?” when confronted with a vomit-inducing task? Well, someone does do that for a living. So be thankful for your mundane job. You could be working in one of these fields.

Crime Scene Cleaner

No, cleaning up blood and guts is not as glamorous as CSI may have you believe. This job is grisly. Besides sweeping up rotting body parts and other biological waste, cleaners may be called in to mop up hazardous fluids, dangerous chemicals, and illegal drugs. If you’ve got an iron stomach and strong will, this job is all yours.

Stool Sample Analyzer

Wondering who gets to the bottom of your bathroom dilemmas? Stool analyzers dive into patients’ samples to diagnose digestive conditions. The dissection tests check the color, weight, shape, and odor of the droppings. The techs also identify any blood and mucus present in the samples. All day long.

Deodorant Tester

Deodorants are made to reduce perspiration and mask unpleasant bodily odors. How do you test them? Easily — by taking whiffs of subjects’ underarms and rating their pungentness on a scale of 1-10. And we’re not talking about the pits of the idle. To best test a deodorant’s strength, the subjects will have moved, shaked and perspired their ways to evaluators’ noses. So if sniffing noxious B.O. all day is your cup of tea, Dove is awaiting your call!

Breath Smeller

How do you tell how well gum and mouthwash mask odors? By testing them on garlicky mouths and unbrushed teeth, of course. The lucky odor analyzers sniff everything from nasty morning breath to mouths scrubbed with onion to evaluate an odor-reducer’s strength. And what about Fido? Dog breath analyzers interested in the effect of diet on a dog’s teeth seek out the filthiest canine mouths. The categories they use to sort the stench? Sweaty, salty, musty, fungal or decaying. Yum.

Test Subject

Sure it may suck to be a tester, but is being a human lab rat a better gig? Scientists need millions of people a year to test drugs and treatments. The pay is good — some studies pay as much as $10,000 per trial — but the risks are even greater. For example, eight volunteers for a rheumatoid arthritis and leukemia experiment suffered multiple organ failure and permanent damage to their immune systems. Are you willing to be poked and prodded without knowing the long-term side effects? Volunteer!

Sewage Treatment Workers

Sewage treatment workers spend their days wading in what you flush — with rats and other rodents in the mix. Workers dive down into murky, fecal waste to fix sewer leaks, bottle sewage samples, and make sure raw sewage is properly treated. Plus it’s pretty dangerous — workers can die from toxic fumes, contract hepatitis A, or get punctured by needles. Drowning and electrocution are also potential hazards.

Porta Potty Cleaner

When you gotta go, you gotta go. And unfortunately, someone has to clean up after you. Sanitizers armed with a vacuum wand and nose plugs first suck out all the waste into a tank. They then pick up wads of soiled toilet paper, power hose the walls with disinfectant and scrub them down — all in less than three minutes. It may get routine but it’s surely not a cinch. Most workers clean up to 60 modern-day outhouses a day.

They’re dirty jobs, but someone’s got to do them. These careers require not only an iron stomach, but also a huge amount of dedication. The workers courageously test, handle, and clean the things we use everyday. Let’s not take them for granted.

Next time you’re at wit’s end and about to throw in the towel over an overtime request or lengthy project, take a second to reconsider. You might be one of the lucky ones.

via excelle.monster.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Job Interview Tips - 16 Don't dos - Career advice blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career

Here are some top interview tips and don't dos for interviews. They are a good set of rule of thumb tips to stick to in order to make sure that your interview doesn't get sabotaged by something silly or that you could have avoided...

1. Turn up late for your interview and keep the interviewer waiting
2. Sit there in silence or answering simple yes or no responses
3. Insult or swear at the interviewer
4. Answer your phone
5. Respond to emails or in any way shape or form use your blackberry!
6. Waffle at the interviewer
7. Be too dominant or domineering in the interviewer
8. Try to be funny when you’re simply not being!
9. Criticise your current employer or boss
10. Overtly clock watch
11. Turn up looking scruffy, sloppy or dirty
12. Express irrelevant opinions on things
13. Show bad humour – be sexist, cruel, racist or discrimatory
14. Act like a know-it-all
15. Ignoring or not really responding/listening to the question
16. Being underprepared – not knowing about the company or person interviewing you

Author: Nisa Chitakasem

www.positionignition.com

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Avoid Falling Victim to Resume Self-Destruction | EmploymentDigest.net

After working for a staffing and recruiting agency for nearly 6 years, I’ve seen my share of poorly written, badly formatted, and self-destructing resumes. Many jobseekers have shot themselves in the foot for making simple and basic mistakes. As I’m sure you’ve heard and read time and time again, your resume is a marketing tool to promote yourself. It’s evident to hiring managers how much time and effort you’ve invested in this critical piece and the results speak for themselves. If you are an active and serious job seeker, you should check your resume today to avoid make damaging mistakes.

Self-promote, don’t self-serve. Your resume shouldn’t be about what you are looking for in your next job opportunity, but instead how your skills and background can fill a void at an organization. For example, don’t state in an objective that you are looking to utilize your education and experience to grow within a company. This is a very self-serving statement and doesn’t provide the hiring manager with insight as to why they should hire you. Check your email address. Your email address says a lot about you. Some addresses reveal more then what a hiring manager would ever want to know. I’m sure you want your friends and family to know you as hotmama166, but do you want your future employer to know you that way. Create a new email address specifically for your job search. When doing so, keep it simple and professional. Don’t undersell yourself. Spend time thinking of all the tasks and responsibilities you had at your previous jobs. It may be something you only did monthly, but that experience could be relevant to a prospective employer. Use action words. You can make any sentence pop by adding a power or action word. For example you could state that you file documents or you could state you accurately and systematically file confidential information. Don’t include pictures or personal information. A guaranteed way to get your resume tossed aside is if you include a picture with your resume. Even if your picture is professional, which the majority of the ones I see are not, it shows a lack of judgment on the job seekers behalf. Leave the pictures for your online profiles. Also, do not include anywhere in your document your personal interests. Knowing that you like to fish with your family has no relevance on your professional future and may even cause an employer to negatively judge you. Quantify your successes. Nothing stands out more than numbers. For instance, which candidate would you choose; someone who states they have customer service experience or someone with over 12 years of progressive growth in customer service? If possible, try to back up your success with numbers. Here’s another example; by researching and selecting a different paper vendor I saved the company $450 per month. Make sure to spend some time upgrading your resume. With the job market as competitive as it is, those who spend the time will be the ones who get results.

 Katie Lindbloom is the Marketing Manager at QPS Employment Group and manages QPS’ Resume Writing Services. To have your resume written by a professional, visit our Resume Writing Services webpage. QPS is a staffing and recruiting company with over 20 offices throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. QPS has been placing great people at great companies since 1985. Visit the QPS website at http://www.qpsemployment.com to find a branch near you.

via employmentdigest.net

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Interview Technique - 6 Tips on what not to do - Position Ignition

We get asked a lot to help with interview technique. The things you should do and shouldn't do when preparing for an interview.  Here are a few tips and tricks outlining what not to do for your interview:

Turn up late

Never turn up to an interview late.  Imagine you are the interviewer for a moment. If you were kept waiting by someone you have never met before and by someone who is meant to be trying to ‘win’ the job – would you be impressed by their lateness? Turning up late will reflect badly on you as it suggests that you are disorganized and bad at time keeping – which can be important qualities for certain roles.

Waffle or talk too much

Talking non stop in an interview is a bad move. This is bad interview technique. No-one wants to be talked at! An interview is a two-way conversation and so make sure that it stays that way. Make sure that what you have to say is relevant and has a point to it otherwise it’s just waffle i.e. a lot of noise but without much in it.

Criticise your current employer or boss

Criticising who you currently work for is not a good idea. Even if you do not like them, do not talk badly of them or put them down. Describing them in a negative light will only look badly on you.  Your interviewer doesn’t want to know that if things don’t work out with them you are going to bad mouth them to everyone you meet! Your interviewer will know that you want to leave your current job because you’re in an interview. Whether it’s because you hate your old boss or company or not – is irrelevant and isn’t something you should dwell on.

Answer your phone

Turn your phone off when going into an interview. Having it ringing in the middle of an interview is not only distracting but is only rude. What is even worse is answering a call in an interview. It is disrespectful to the interviewer and implies that you are not serious about getting that job nor do you respect the person who has taken the time to interview you.

Express bad humour

Humour is a funny thing! Some people will find things funny when others will not so tread carefully here. Anything that could be construed as cruel, racist, sexist or discriminatory is a no no.  Having someone try to be funny when they’re not, is not a pleasant sight or experience.

Sit in silence

Being overly quiet is not a good move in an interview. Again - bad interview technique. Responding with basic yes and no answers isn’t what the interviewer is looking for. They want to see energy, enthusiasm and passion for the role. They want to get to know you and see that you are interested in it. Short responses or just sitting in silence won’t get anything across or give the interviewer anything to work with.

 

Author: Nisa Chitakasem and Simon North from Position Ignition (www.positionignition.com) - taking you to the next step in your career!

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Detect A Good Liar By Knowing Their Most Effective Tactics - Mind Hacks - Lifehacker

Breaking someone's poker face doesn't require a piercing look so much as knowing what makes some liars so effective. Pyschology Today details the most effective strategies of good liars.

Photo by polandeze.

The most effective liars are often people who tell some version of the truth—a half-truth—and enjoy the game of deceiving others. But if you're getting suspicious and they suspect, sometimes you have to step back and see how they might be changing the game:

(Good liars often) raise the emotional stakes. "The best liars are natural manipulators," says Sgt. Yarbrough. He cites as a perfect example the scene in Basic Instinct where Sharon Stone is brought to the cop station for questioning and winds up flashing everyone a glimpse of her Lesser Antilles. "She was turning them on," Yarbrough explains, "and that's a form of manipulation—using sexual or emotional arousal to distract the interviewer."

You might not be able to run everybody you meet through a human lie detector, but check out the Psychology Today article for a few other ways to spot good liars and the tactics they commonly employ, along with our previous tips on knowing if somebody's feeding you a line.

Top 10 Secrets of Effective Liars [Psychology Today]

via lifehacker.com

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Consider Serious Lack of Sleep Like Being Drunk on the Job - Insomnia - Lifehacker

Pulling late nights, or an all-nighter, feels like a badge of honor you can wear at some jobs. But given the impact of sleeplessness on work, at least one researcher considers it like showing up at work loaded.

Photo by cbowns.

A fascinating article on what we understand about sleep (read: not a whole lot) in National Geographic Magazine makes the case that workers, and the culture at large, have underplayed the seriousness of sleep. It starts off with an examination of actually fatal insomnia, then covers a lot of ground, including the impact of sleep fatigue on jobs that require concentration and decision-making. One tragic example:

In February 2009 a commuter jet en route from Newark to Buffalo crashed, killing all 49 aboard and one on the ground. The copilot, and probably the pilot, had only sporadic amounts of sleep the day leading up to the crash, leading the National Transportation Safety Board to conclude that their performance "was likely impaired because of fatigue." This sort of news enrages Harvard's Charles Czeisler. He notes that going without sleep for 24 hours or getting only five hours of sleep a night for a week is the equivalent of a blood alcohol level of 0.1 percent. Yet modern business ethic celebrates such feats. "We would never say, 'This person is a great worker! He's drunk all the time!' " Czeisler wrote in a 2006 Harvard Business Review article.

After a read, it's easy to start thinking about whether you treat sleep like a second-class citizen among your needs.

Secrets of Sleep [National Geographic Magazine via TMBLG]

via lifehacker.com

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5 Reasons Your Resume Makes Me Sick — Personal Branding 101

Personal Branding 101 is proud to present the following guest article by Tim Tyrell-Smith of www.TimsStrategy.com.  Tim clearly has a passion for helping others build careers.  His blog contains a wealth of information to jump start your job search, networking efforts, social media presence, and more  – enjoy!

Yes, I know what you are thinking.  ”Really?  Another article telling me what to do with my resume?”  But until I start seeing a better paper flow, I’ll keep bringing it up.

And, remember that this little two-pager is often the first thing people see from you.  The first flash of your personal brand.  It better be easy to read and worth reading. And while a lot of interesting formats for exposing your brand are now available (LinkedIn, Twitter, Visual CV, Facebook), people still expect a traditional resume prior to and during an interview.  Even if they didn’t find you that way.

So here today I’ll offer 5 reasons your resume makes me sick.  I haven’t left my breakfast on the page yet, but I’m getting a tickle in the back of my throat.  And will soon experience a queasy feeling.  One that compels me to move your information to the “other” pile.

#1.  Poor Or Over-Use Of Formatting

Style does matter in life and in the hiring process.  So if you are bolding, underlining and italicizing everything on the page, you are telling me that everything on the page is important.  Or nothing is.  Hard to read and makes me dizzy. Or maybe you are using multiple fonts or font sizes.  Or you’ve created a resume that looks like the front page of the NY Times.  And I don’t know where to start.  So I don’t.

#2.  “No White Space”

Great print advertising uses the page well.  It places just enough information in the ad to allow the reader to naturally find important content.  There is a flow to it.  And the eye is given room to work.  So when you use a margin of .2 all around to keep your resume to two pages, it leaves no white space.  No place for my eyes to rest as I am scanning to quickly learn where your resume fits against the job requirements.

#3.  Poor Use Of The “Top Third”

You have an opportunity in the top third of your resume to grab people.  To quickly communicate important and unique aspects of your skill and experience that will trigger a decision to keep reading.  I’m not saying that people will not look at last employers, positions and accomplishments if your top third is bad.  But it is kind of a shame.  Because with an enticing positioning statement, a strong career summary, and a short list of key strengths, you can brand yourself up front. Before someone drops you into a mental pile based only on their take on the facts.

#4.  Drowning In Responsibilities

Resumes should be full of relevant and tangible accomplishments.  Relevant in that they will make the hiring manager think “that’s the kind of impact I’m looking for”.  Tangible because it measures the impact and suggests a direct benefit and value.  We all want to interview people who can come in and make a big impact or solve a problem.  If your resume details the role you played for each company without detailing the value you added, you will look like everyone else.  So in two short sentences under each prior position, tell me what you did.  And in 4-6 bullet points tell me what you accomplished while there.

#5.  Who Did You Work For Again?

Maybe I’m not as worldly as I’d like to think, but I see a lot of resumes that include companies I’ve never heard of. Don’t know what they do, how big they are and how influential they might be in their industry.  Are they great at training their employees?  Are they global?  What brand names do they own?  If you are not providing a quick company profile, especially if your company is not well known, you are letting me assume things.  And if I assume that the company is “just OK” you may lose some credibility.  In short, it helps to know where you’ve been and how you’ve been influenced and educated in the world of business.

I don’t like to feel sick.  When I do, it compels me to get rid of the source.  If that source is your resume, then take action to control this aspect of your job search effort.  Make it easy and comfortable for people to learn about you.  And to find key points that create a growing sense that you might just be the one. To help my company grow.

There.  Now I feel better.

Tim Tyrell-Smith is the founder of Tim’s Strategy: Ideas for Job Search Career and Life, a fast growing blog and website.  Tim is also the author of: 30 Ideas. The Ideas of Successful Job Search.  Download the book and other free tools at http://www.timsstrategy.com and follow him on Twitter @TimsStrategy

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Open Mouth, Insert Foot – How to Ruin an Interview in 8 Easy Steps | EmploymentDigest.net

A mediocre interview is generally pretty easy for most people. But to really mess it up, to have a colossally bad interview, to have the kind of meeting that leaves people discussing you around the water cooler for weeks to come, well, that takes work and planning. Here are 8 easy tips for becoming the stuff of recruiting legend.

1. Insult the interviewer. There are so many ways to do this that this should really be a slam dunk. However, you want to be sure the interviewer is offended and doesn’t just write off your gaff as nervousness. One way to accomplish this is to glance around the office and proceed to disparage something that is obviously important to the person. For example, if there is a diploma from MilkShake University (mascot: Frappe), you might discuss your lactose intolerance and the various side effects caused by drinking anything with milk.

2. Arrive late with a really bad excuse. This is a variation on number 1, but allows you to go farther into the field of creativity. Convincing someone that you are serious about your really bad excuse (for example: it took longer to brush my teeth than I expected) takes practice and a fair amount of acting skill.

3. Don’t wash. After all, who doesn’t wake up in the morning hoping they will have the opportunity to spend half an hour in very close quarters with someone smelling like an overripe cesspit? The more pungent you are, the more you will inspire the interviewer to think of your time together as not merely an interview but as fodder for the next cocktail party.

4. Talk endlessly. The more you ramble, the better. In fact, you get extra points if you talk for so long that the interviewer forgets what the question was.

5. Convince the interviewer that you are unable to answer the question. This works much better if you use this tactic on the majority of the questions you are asked-especially the easy ones. For example, when the interviewer is walking you to his or her office and asks, “Did you have any trouble finding the building?” as a way of making small talk, you should stop in your tracks, pause thoughtfully, and say, “Hmmm…that’s a really good question….I don’t know…Let me think for a moment….No, I really don’t know…”

6. Ask your interviewer out on a date. You get extra credit here if you can clearly see a wedding ring and photos of kids. Bonus points if the interviewer has already mentioned spending the weekend playing with the children.

7. Inquire about areas the interviewer has not mentioned. Obviously, some things are critically important, and you should not leave the first interview without a good idea of what to expect of this company. Be sure to ask about vacation policy, sick leave, paid time off, smoking breaks, lunch breaks, coffee breaks, whether personal phone calls are acceptable and whether you can use the company computers for updating your resume.

8. Assume you are the only viable candidate for the job. By all means, take control of the interview. Just ask whether you should begin Monday or if it would be OK to wait a week.

 Judi Cogen is a Principal with J Grace Consulting and an expert in reducing unwanted organizational turnover. Her Selection Strategist Program helps companies reduce turnover and take the guesswork out of hiring by using proven conative testing and company specific analytics to select the right person for the right position. J Grace Consulting also offers Youth Strategist, a program to help 10 to 17 year old kids understand their conative attributes for more success in life and school. Learn more about Selection Strategist and Youth Strategist at http://JGraceConsulting.net You can read Judi’s blog at http://JudiCogen.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter at @JudiCogen.

via employmentdigest.net

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10 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your Resume Scream “I’m an Amateur!”

Is your resume not getting as many replies as you expect?

This is a guest post by Casey Accord. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guidelines.

You’re probably not actively seeking ways to make yourself appear LESS professional. But plenty of resumes suggest otherwise. This article outlines the 10 most common things people do that make their resumes—and themselves—look amateurish, whether or not that’s the intention.

1. Use Comic Sans or some other over-used, impractical font. Hiring managers especially love flowery script that’s hard to read!

Pro Tip: Stick with fonts that are easy to read and professional looking. Great choices are Times New Roman, Georgia, Arial, Verdana, and Tahoma.

2. Include every job you’ve ever had—even that 2-month gig as a video store clerk in junior high.

Pro Tip: If it’s not relevant to the position—or completely outdated—forget about it.

3. Include a bunch of unnecessary personal information like your height, weight, birthday and social security number. (This is especially helpful if your prospective employers are also identity thieves.)

Pro Tip: Avoid giving any information that may be too personal or could be used to discriminate against you. Focus on your unique professional traits, not personal ones.

4. Create solid, single-spaced blocks of text in 8-point font to squeeze as much information as possible onto one page.

Pro Tip: Use bullets to break up text and make it easier on the eyes. Be concise and organized in your formatting, and if your experience warrants it, allow your resume to fill two pages. The one-page rule is considered by most to be outdated.

5. Use a lot of clichéd buzzwords like self-motivated, outside-the-box, people person, and team player.

Pro Tip: Don’t waste space with meaningless jargon and corporate-speak. Be authentic and cite specific examples that demonstrate who you are and what you are capable of doing.

6. Throw in a few graphics. A little clip art makes any document more fun.

Pro Tip: No. No. No. This is not an art project. It’s a resume. Keep it professional. That goes for pictures of yourself as well. Don’t do it.

7. Avoid numbers and specifics. Be as vague as possible. Draw them in with mystery.

Pro Tip: Quantify your accomplishments. Using real numbers to back up your claims creates a compelling story.

8. Don’t worry a lot about editing. No one cares about proper spelling these days.

Pro Tip: All it takes is one typo for a hiring manager to toss your resume. Careless mistakes can make you look sloppy or—even worse—uneducated. Proofreading is an absolute essential.

9. Lie, exaggerate or embellish your qualifications. Just keep your fingers crossed that no one finds out.

Pro Tip: You want your resume to represent the real you. The job needs to match your skills. Don’t fake it just because you’re desperate to get an interview. The truth will always come out—eventually.

10. Use a bunch of cute text lingo and emoticons. This’ll show how tech-savvy and fun you are ;)

Pro Tip: Just say no to slang and other “adorable” embellishments. Your resume is not the place for smiley faces. Focus on using powerful words that add value. Save the textese for your BFF.

About the author

Casey Accord is a writer monkey for Resify.com, the coolest site on the web for resume-related advice and free resume templates. She’s passionate about helping job seekers, correcting public displays of grammar dysfunction, and dressing her dog in silly costumes. You can connect with her on Resify, via email (Casey@Resify.com) or on Twitter (@Resify).

If you recognize who the cartoonist is for the image above, please tell me in the comments so I can credit them. Thanks!

If you found this article useful, you’ll also enjoy The Secret “So What?” Method To Resume Writing Success.

10 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Your Resume Scream “I’m an Amateur!”

Doh! 50 stupid (and common) job interview mistakes

A crappy job market makes bringing your “A” game to each and every interview totally essential. One slip-up could mean the difference between a comfortable cubicle and moving back in with your parents. Fear not, job hunter, because US News & World Report has put together a list of the fifty worst of the worst, yet most common, job interview slip-ups.

Here’s a little sampling:

• Bad-mouthing your last boss.
• Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.
• Talking more than half the time.
• Saying “you know,” “like,” “I guess,” and “um.”
• Speaking rudely to the receptionist.
• Being too familiar and jokey.
• Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.
• Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.

Full list at Yahoo! Finance.

Bad Freelancing Opportunities

Original Post: Here

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With the economy being the way it is, the bad freelancing opportunities are coming out of the woodwork. Here are three to watch out for:
1. Continuing to work for the same company, but as an independent contractor. Last year, this happened to employees at advertising and PR agency here in Tucson. Our local newspaper headline said, “Most Unnamed Inc. employees losing benefits.” (Unnamed Inc. is not the real name of this agency.)

The newspaper’s online comments were very harsh in their assessment of this agency. The politest comments were of the “lousy PR move by Unnamed Inc.” variety.
If your employer decides to make your benefits your responsibility, I’d advise lining up other work. Things aren’t going to get better. Or you could start freelancing – for other companies.
2. Freelancing for very low pay. Last week, I was at a networking mixer in a building that’s being converted into a collaborative workspace for creative professionals.
The mastermind behind the conversion process gave us a brief history of other local businesses that had previously occupied the space. One of those companies was an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and the very mention of its name set the alarm bells off in my head. I really had to struggle to keep my mouth (aka The Troublemaker) shut.
Around Tucson, that ISP was known as the company that offered freelancers the measly sum of $10 an hour for website work. I don’t know of any freelancer who accepted this offer, but it sure got talked about around town. And not in a good way. By way of an update, this ISP was bought out by a competitor.
Moral of this story: If your potential client is paying so little that you’ll struggle to cover even the most meager operating expenses, it may mean that the business isn’t viable.
3. The job that isn’t. In my previous FreelanceSwitch article, I talked about how I stumbled and fumbled around in the publishing business. In the spring of 1995, I realized that my publishing venture was doomed. So, I started job-hunting. Finally got an interview in the summer of 1996.
Here’s what happened: The interview was with another local ISP. This one was much more devious than that $10 an hour outfit. Starting with the advertisement in the local paper. It looked to all the world like the ISP was looking to employ a website designer.
Then there was the appointment at the ISP’s lavish headquarters in a Downtown Tucson office tower. We, the job-seekers, sat in the lobby, hunched over the applications that we were required to fill out. While we were working on our applications, haughty employees strutted back and forth, barely hiding their condescension toward, us, the lowly job-seekers.
A Gordon Gekko lookalike summoned me to his back office for the interview. At last, I thought, here was my chance to leave Struggleville and return to Steady Paycheck Land. The guy quickly disabused me of any such notion when he said that the job wasn’t a job. It was freelance. I was too stunned to point out the bait-and-switch that his company just pulled on me and the other job applicants.
A few weeks later, I got a form letter from the ISP. Among other things, the letter said, “We are not in a position to offer you a position at this time.” I was tempted to send them a thesaurus so they could find some synonyms for the word “position.” Wasn’t too long after that when I heard that they were on the verge of going under.
Oh, by way of an update, this ISP was also bought out by a competitor.
So, there you have ‘em. Three cautionary tales from the Martha file. Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

Can Facebook Harm Your Job Search?

Original Post Here

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For years now, as social media has proliferated, we’ve been hearing more and more about how what you do online can be viewed and viewed negatively by your boss… or by a prospective boss.
But what about Facebook? After all, can’t you control who sees what on Facebook?
Well, if you’re doing a job search, you’d certainly better hope so.
According to new research by Microsoft, if HR people can check your Facebook page, then they probably will. And what they find there can have an impact on your chances of getting hired. In other words, Facebook can have an impact on your job search.
(via GigaOM)

“…the top online factors for rejecting a job applicant are unsuitable photos/videos, concerns about a candidate’s lifestyle and inappropriate comments written by the candidate.
(…)
The survey also found that not only are HR staffers search for information about job applicants online, most of their companies have made online screening a formal requirement of the hiring process. Recruiters and HR professionals also said that they believe the use of online-reputation information will significantly increase over the next five years. And while the survey found that most consumers manage their reputation at least to some extent, a significant percentage (between 30 and 35 percent depending on nationality) “don’t feel their online reputation affects either their personal or professional life [and] consequently, they are not taking steps to manage their reputations.”

So, obviously, the key takeaway here is that you should be aware of your privacy controls, and definitely make use of them. This article from last week’s New York Times is invaluable: The 3 Facebook Setting Every User Should Check Now.
Because, the other point to keep in mind is, your online profile can actually help your job search in a lot of ways. As the article says:

“Our research shows that managing your online reputation can be a significant benefit. Everyone should think critically about the image they’re digitally portraying,” Peter Cullen, Microsoft’s chief privacy strategist, said in a statement.

If you’re not using social media as a part of your job search, then you’re not taking advantage of all the modern tools available.
Just make sure those tools are helping you, and not hurting.
And, as I always say at the end, don’t forget the invaluable job search tool of resume writing.
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Big 3 Recruiting Mistakes – Continued - RecruitingBlogs.com

Big 3 Recruiting Mistakes – Continued

• Posted by Corey Harlock on January 21, 2010 at 1:08pm
• 
  

Reputation is HUGE, especially now with social networking and immediate feedback. People talk, especially when they feel like they have been treated unfairly.

Your reputation is a consideration at every level of your business. Here are some areas you may not have thought of:

How you advertise your positions. Are you targeting the right people or using the “dirty bomb” method? Post it everywhere and hope the right person sees it. I can not stress the importance of posting the right job in the right place. Too many advertisements can = desperate.

Your selection process. Do you take the time to send a “thanks, but no thanks” letter? Here is what I know – over 70% of applicants in our industry receive a response to their online application 60% of the time or LESS. Too busy to respond? You should make time because 36% of those people you didn’t respond to WON’T re-apply! Talk about shrinking your candidate pool. You think finding good people is hard now – keep finding reasons not to respond to their application and you will find it very hard!

Your hiring process. Don’t make the candidates wait. In today’s world of instant feedback and information, making candidates wait for interviews and feedback can kill your reputation too. Here are some more scary stats and remember these are Execs & Mgrs. 42% of candidates think the interview process should be a maximum of 5 business days. Another 41% think the max should be 10 business days. Yep, take longer than 5 days and you have not met the expectations of 42% of your applicants – that’s 2 in 5. That number jumps to 4 in 5 if you go past 10 business days. Here is the worst news, take to long and 70% of these people will never re-apply again! No “thanks, but no thanks” and you lose 36% of your candidate pool. Then take to long to interview the people you actually liked and lose another 70% of your candidate pool. Ouch!

Your retention policy. Do you know what really keeps your managers working for you? Do you want to know? Here it is – 62% want the training, coaching and mentoring they need to get promoted to the next level of their career. The 2nd most important reason an employee stays with you is… input and collaboration which came in at a whopping 16%. To put this in perspective salary and bonus came in at 3.6% and 3.1% respectively.

People talk, that’s a fact. And more importantly they talk more when they feel undervalued or disrespected. The ol’ “if you don’t like it, there’s the door” mentality doesn’t work anymore (I don’t know if it ever did). You need to recognize and meet the needs of your most important asset or an equal side of your triangle or the topic of your vision statement or whatever! The fact of the matter is – good people are hard to find. As the market recovers their stock will rise and finding good people will be challenging. Now is the time to address any concerns – fix your reputation and get ready for the future.

Does your resume fail?

from getpickd by Adam

image from Bart Clays

Welcome to the getpickd blog! We'll be launching our new online resume service on June 23 at getpickd.com, but in the meantime, be sure to follow our blog for updates, resume ideas, and interview tips. You can also follow us on Twitter @getpickd.

For quite some time, my colleagues, friends and family have been asking me to review their resumes. After years of hiring numerous young professionals for a non-profit in Washington DC, I've reviewed countless resumes. I can say, without hesitation, most resumes are simply not up to par. Beyond being fraught with grammatical errors, most resumes do a poor job emphasizing the uniqueness of the candidate. In addition, they visually fail to stand out from the crowd. Here are a few specific reasons why the average resume fails:

The average resume contains spelling, grammatical, and formatting errors. This one seems obvious, but honestly, over 90% of resumes have at least one serious spelling, grammatical and/or formatting error. Most have multiple errors. The last job opening I supervised had close to a thousand applicants. We probably spent an average of one minute looking at each resume; those with errors were immediately eliminated.

The average resume is poorly designed. The average resume looks no better than the average Word document (many look even worse). This is a tough one, because most people don't have access to or experience with more advanced design software. However, a professionally designed resume will catch the eye of potential employers and really helps you stand out from the crowd.

The average resume fails to sell your assets. Most importantly, the average resume fails to sell the candidate's assets and unique qualities. Unfortunately, people are generally bad at marketing themselves and overly concerned with modesty when it comes to their resumes. Modesty is great, but your resume is a brochure of your professional life. It's a time to be proud and sell yourself!

If you're struggling with finding a job, there's a good chance your resume is preventing you from even getting your foot in the door. Get connected with getpickd and let us help you shine!

Adam Sterling is the founder of getpickd

8 Reasons To Avoid Making A Video Resume

Original Post 8 Reasons To Avoid Making A Video Resume: "

The other day, I was reading an article discussing the pros and cons of making a video resume. Although it covered the basics well enough, there are a few things that it did not cover (and some that it did) that you should know about. A video resume, if used correctly, can be a powerful tool in the job applicant’s arsenal. But if made without proper awareness or preparation, can lead to disaster.

1. You will be judged on quality. Unlike a standard online application (or even a paper resume), simply having a video resume is not necessarily a good thing. You will have to make sure the picture, sound and overall quality are high, as well as finding unique and interesting ways of presenting yourself. A bad video resume can hurt you more than help you.
2. You probably shouldn’t email it. Many employers will scan through the bodies of emails, but due to a fear of viruses or other digital nasties, might not open attachments. And given the size of a video file, it might take too long on both ends to send and receive the file.
3. It can’t go up online. Most online applications do not have an option for you to upload a large file, such as a video resume (if you are permitted to upload anything at all). And despite the allure of doing so, it’s not a good idea to put your video resume up on YouTube or other video hosting sites.
4. They might not want to watch it. Whereas a resume can be scanned into a program to search for key words and phrases, a video resume must be watched. And since they are usually at least several minutes long, an employer may not have the time or inclination to sit through the video.
5. They might not be able to legally watch it. Many companies are equal opportunity employers, meaning that they do not employ people with a bias towards race, gender, age and so on. By showing yourself in your video resume, you will be showing them what you look like, which could open the door to legal problems for the company.
6. It’s not always worth what you put into it. Unless you’re sending in the video resume because it actually pertains to the job you’re applying for (video production or TV commercial development, for example), having a video resume might not make that much of a difference in employers’ decision-making processes. And given the time it would take to plan, shoot and edit the video, you might be getting a lot less back from all of your efforts.
7. It might cost more than you care to spend. The monetary costs for the camera, editing software and storage (like CD-Rs, DVDs and flash drives) might be more than you can afford.
8. You might get the opposite response from what you had hoped. See exhibit A.

But then again, you could have a masterpiece like this. So if you plan to make a video resume, plan carefully!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/canhasjob/~3/O3T3SMQk2Ws/