Resume 101: Make These Mistakes and You Have No Shot

As a job seeker in the internet age, you have one chance to make a good first impression—and it likely will be weeks before you meet a hiring manager in person. With companies fully encompassed in accepting applications and resumes through their websites and via email, job seekers can be eliminated for jobs before having an opportunity to speak with a hiring manager in person or on the phone.

What does this mean for you as a job seeker? It means if you make a mistake on your resume, you are out before you have a chance to even talk about why you want to work at a company or why your experience makes you the best candidate for the job.

This week, we examine some of the top resume mistakes employers hate thanks to a survey from our friends over at CareerBuilder. We have also reached out to some recruiters in the industry to provide some feedback on these mistakes, and what you can do to avoid them as well.

Lying on Your Resume is a Bad Thing

For some reason, job seekers have gotten to the point where they think employers will not perform a background check. In the CareerBuilder survey, they were provided with a response that an applicant said he/she worked at a federal prison. When the employer performed the background check, they found out that applicant was actually in prison.

Technically they were not “lying,” since most prisoners do perform a job function while in prison. However, saying you work at a federal prison and actually working while in prison are two completely different things.

When we reached out to a recruiter about this matter (after they stopped laughing about the prison story), they had some choice words for job seekers.

“Sure, there may be a few companies out there who do not fact check every aspect of your resume…but why bother lying when the majority of them will? If you are lying about an experience you did not actually have in your work history and a company does not find it before you start, it is going to stand out once you get the job because you likely do not actually have that skill.”

Working in the digital world, I can vouch for what this recruiter is saying. So many people say they are proficient in things like SEO, email marketing and social media—but their experience is using a plug-in to handle SEO, sending an email to someone and composing a tweet. These people are weeded out very quickly at a new job when a website’s search ranking falls, their email marketing campaigns are not sent and they only send one or two social posts a day instead of having a complete social outreach plan.

Misspelling Words

resume-misspellings

This comic is funny, but you would not believe how many resumes have misspellings like this on them.

“One applicant said he/she had great attention to detail, but ‘attention’ was misspelled.”

That example was again from the great people at CareerBuilder and sadly is a real thing that happens with job seekers these days. I mean, think about that for a second—in a day and age where a red line appears under words that are misspelled thanks to this thing called spell check, someone still misspelled the word attention on their resume.

How can this be avoided? Well for starters, when you see a red line on your resume or cover letter, you should probably right click it to see what the issue is.

Secondly, one recruiter had this easy suggestion. “Ask a friend to read over your resume and cover letter before you hit submit. Seriously, even if your friend is not in the room with you they are likely one email away.”

Yeah, there really is not much more to say in this section. If you misspell something on your resume or cover letter, you are probably not getting the job. Also, bad grammar is something else to avoid. You should always have someone read your resume and cover letter before you hit submit.

Lack of Contact Information and Weird Hobbies

For this one, CareerBuilder actually reached out to those in the Twitter verse to ask what their biggest resume pet peeves were. Marvel Consultants responded, “Improperly and poorly formatted resumes with no contact info and sloppy/shady/shifty work history & weird listed hobbies.”

Okay first off, huh? If you are applying for a job and do not have at least three forms of contact information (phone, email and address) for a job on there, what are you doing? Your goal is to get a job if you are submitting a resume, so why would you not have contact information on there for someone to reach out to you for an interview?

Second, I want to know what constitutes as “weird listed hobbies.” I am not usually one to put hobbies on my resume to begin with, but what kind of things are people listing out there to get classified in the weird section to the point where consultants are actually turned off by their hobbies. On second thought, maybe I do not want to know.

Okay, I did want to know more about this—so I again reached out to another recruiter.

“You would not believe how many resumes I get that have bad phone numbers or email addresses on them. I always tell the candidates I am working with to verify their contact information before I submit them to a client.”

“Weird hobbies on the resume? Oh man, someone said they were proud of their gun collection on a resume once. Not that I have anything against guns, but I did not want the potential employer thinking they were going to be a future problem if something did not go their way—so I had them remove it.”

Final Word

Job seekers, your resume and cover letter are now essentially your first interview with a company. Remember how much time you put into preparing for that interview? All the research, all the question prep and your appearance? You need to put that effort into your resume and cover letter now.

There are so many templates out there for cover letters and resumes that it is almost inexcusable to not have something that is easy to read and provides all the information an employer would need before meeting you for an interview. If you are not getting called back for jobs you are applying to, maybe you need to go back to square one with your resume.

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3 Ways to Get Ahead With LinkedIn

After a brief trip into the NexGoal toolbox last week, we have decided to return back to our “Three for Thursday” ways here in the content department. This week’s focus returns to a constant source of frustration for some job seekers—LinkedIn.

Commonly viewed as a “living resume” by some, jobs seekers do not seem to utilize LinkedIn to the most of its capabilities. Sure, it isn’t as “cool” as Facebook or Twitter, but creating and managing a top-notch LinkedIn profile could help you ascend to new career levels you never thought were a possibility.

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With the next evolution of LinkedIn on the horizon (I had the privilege of recently viewing the upgrade coming for users in the near future as part of an Influencers’ community), making sure your LinkedIn profile is updated and accurate is going to be of the utmost importance. With this in mind, let’s take a look at three ways you can create or update your LinkedIn profile to stand out from the crowd!

Take Advantage of the Summary Section

The difference between LinkedIn and an actual resume you send to an employer is you can personalize it more because you are not bound by the one/two page requirements of most resumes. The best place to do this is the summary section.

In this area, you have plenty of space (2,000 characters to be exact) to tell employers what you can bring to their company. Do not just reiterate what you have done at past companies, instead utilize industry jargon and keywords to draw connections to the skills you possess and help you stand out from the first moment they read this section.

In my personal summary section, I chose to let other LinkedIn users get to know me on three levels. The first level is in regard to my sports writing background, then the second is directly tied to my current industry experience. Finally, I put a short statement on what I bring to companies right there in the summary section.

You can obviously tailor this section to fit your industry and career desires, but make sure to put some thought and effort into developing something original for this section. The more you can stand out, the better chance you have of someone reaching out to you about a career opportunity.

Make Your Profile a Portfolio

Did you know you can add videos, images, documents, presentations and more to each of your positions on your profile? Seriously, it is a great feature that can help enhance your profile from just another resume to a small portfolio website that stands out from the crowd.

Pretend you are a hiring manager for a second. Say you are looking to hire someone for video editing and are searching on LinkedIn. How great would it be if you could actually view a video they have edited before reaching out to see if their skills match what you are looking for?

Well, that is exactly what LinkedIn allows job seekers to do—and many are taking advantage of it, so you should too.

Connect With People!

LinkedIn is all about connections, so you need to actually have some for the social networking website to be effective. You can connect with people you know in your personal life, former colleagues, those you have met at networking events and so many more. In fact, when you log on you even have the option to scroll through recommendations for people you may know based on your current connections.

Why is this important? Put simply, the more connections you have the better chance your profile shows up in search and recommendations for others. If your name and job title stand out to someone, that could then trigger them to reach out to discuss a possible opportunity for career growth. So go connect, now!

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How to Stay Motivated for Your Job Search During the Holidays

The music has already started playing and the decorations are beginning to appear in your neighbors’ front yards—yes, the Holidays have arrived. Although your life is about to get hectic with family obligations, end of the year quotas that need to be met at work and much more, there is one thing you should not put on the back burner; your job search.

There is a common myth in the hiring world that companies do not hire between Thanksgiving and the New Year because too many key decision makers are taking vacations and focused on hitting their year-end numbers. However, that is not the case.

Personally, I have been hired for two of my last three jobs during the Holiday season because I made myself available to take the interview that other candidates wouldn’t. In fact, one hiring manager said, “I was really impressed that you would take an interview so close to Christmas, I could not get other candidates to come in this week. That’s how I knew you were serious about the opportunity.”

The difference between my situation and other job seekers is probably pretty big. I am not married and I do not have kids. So, it was pretty easy to drop everything for an interview. For the rest of you, it may not be as easy—but you should not stop your search just because things get a little hectic. This could be a major opportunity to stand out from other candidates for the job you want!

Now, let’s answer the question I am sure many of you are asking right about now. How the heck do I stay motivated to find a job during the Holiday season? Well, here are a couple of suggestions.

Make a Top 10 List

Everyone loves lists, right? Top 10 this, Top 10 that—lists are everywhere and you know you love to click on them until the very end. Why not create one for yourself?

Your list will be a little different, but you will get to cross off jobs when you are done applying for them. Spend 30 minutes researching potential jobs you want to apply for and save them all in an Excel document (or spreadsheet if you do not have Excel).

Start by adding one of these 3 to your list!
Don’t See One in Your Area? View More Here!
Outside Sales Representative – Columbus, Ohio- Need Someone Now!
Chief Financial Officer – Columbus, OH- Apply Now!
Distribution Manager – Los Angeles- Learn More About This Opportunity

From there, set a goal of how many you want to apply for each day. If your goal is to land an interview before Christmas, you should probably set a goal to apply for 10 jobs in 10 days so hiring managers have a chance to review your resume and call you in.

Once your list is all crossed off, in order to stay in the Holiday spirit you absolutely have to add two more bonus jobs to apply for. Why, you ask? It is pretty obvious—there are 12 Days of Christmas, not 10.

Reach Out to the Hiring Manager

You could be one call away from a job interview during the holidays.

You could be one call away from a job interview during the holidays.

Many job seekers seem to think hiring managers and human resource departments take off for half of December, but that cannot be further from the truth. In fact, some are more available at this time of the year than any. According to one hiring manager, “I usually spend the last week or two of the year cleaning up files and doing busy work to get ready for the New Year. I would love to interview and hire during that time.”

It actually makes a lot of sense why this hiring manager prefers to hire at the end of December. Most departments begin their new year by getting all employee benefits and compensation packages in order, so a new hire would roll right into that and not create additional work for them.

Aside from the ease of hiring, availability is the most important thing here. How often does it take days or weeks for someone to respond to a job application you filled out? If hiring managers have more time on their hands, you will likely hear back from them much quicker during the holiday season.

Create a Job Seeking Team

If you are a former athlete, you know what it is like to thrive in a team environment—so why not bring that into your job search?

You likely have more than one friend who cannot stand their job, so team up! Just like going to the gym, a job search buddy can help you stay motivated and accountable in your job search. Many job seeker teams even put a friendly wager (dinner, adult beverage, etc.) on who can land the first call-back, interview and job offer to add a competitive edge to it.

A job search does not have to private. Talking to someone else about what would make you happy and how you can achieve that goal could help you discover an industry or career path you were not even considering. And who knows, your job search buddy may even find a job opportunity you are interested in that you missed!

Final Word

The Holidays are stressful and hectic, nobody is denying this. But if you think about it, not searching for a job during this time of year is really doing a disservice to yourself.

Hiring managers are actually able to answer their phones, there are fewer people looking for jobs and you likely will not have to take off work to go on an interview thanks to vacation you have saved up.

It seems like a win-win if you ask me. So find a friend, make your job search list—and start applying!

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Is Your Social Media Presence Hurting Potential Job Offers?

Every week here at NexGoal, we challenge ourselves to go above and beyond providing our job candidates with advice and strategy to help them land the career upgrade they have been searching for.

One common discussion that comes up with candidates on a regular basis is their social presence. Do they have a social presence? What websites/social media platforms are they using to promote their brand? Have they audited their social presence recently to make sure it is up to date and does not convey a negative branding message to potential employers?

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Sales Representative – Strongsville, Ohio- Need Someone Now!
Chief Financial Officer – Columbus, OH- Apply Now!
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That last part is a major hang-up for job candidates, as many did not even think about the negative impact of their last angry tweet or those “night out” pictures they posted on Facebook or Instagram. In fact, some think that what they post on social media should not be allowed to be evaluated by employers because it is part of their “personal life.”

Unfortunately, job seekers do not have a choice in the matter—if you are putting yourself out there then it is available for public consumption. And in some cases, it could actually be hurting your ability to get potential job offers.

Back in 2014, Jobvite conducted a social recruiting survey among hiring managers and recruiters in the industry. According to this survey, “93% of recruiters use or plan to use social to support their recruiting efforts.” Furthermore, when asked about how they use the various social media networks, there was an intriguing response. 93 percent of them use LinkedIn to “keep tabs” on potential candidates.

You do not need to adjust your screens or ask me if I really just like writing the number 93, as both areas had a 93 percent response rate—as well as this next area. According to the survey, “93 percent of recruiters will review a candidate’s social profile before making a hiring decision.”

Take that in for a second. No matter how accomplished you are and if you crushed that interview, they are still reviewing as many social platforms as possible to evaluate your further. What are the recruiters and hiring managers looking for? Well, let’s take a look.

LinkedIn was used about how you thought it would be used at the top, with 97 percent looking for professional experience, 96 percent looking for length of professional tenure and 95 percent looking for hard skills. What stood out to me about LinkedIn was that 93 percent were looking for mutual connections with that job seeker—likely looking to evaluate them even further beyond the normal references they are provided.

Facebook was much different, as the number one reason was cultural fit at 46 percent. Mutual connections came in second at 35 percent, while industry-related posts came in third at 27 percent. That last bit of information is intriguing, because it shows they want to see how much you care about the industry you are going into.

Why is all of this important to you as a job seeker? Put simply, having a good resume, wearing the right clothes and doing a great job at the interview is no longer enough in today’s job market. If you do not believe me, take a look at this next statistic from the survey.

“55 percent of recruiters have reconsidered a candidates based on their social profile, with 61 percent of those reconsiderations being negative.”

Wondering what items most commonly caused a negative reconsideration? Don’t worry, the survey reported these items as well.

Screenshot taken from Jobvite survey.

Screenshot taken from Jobvite survey.

Remember that person you called out for being part of the “Grammar Police?” Well, it turns out they could have actually been helping you out. Did you enjoy that open conversation with a Twitter friend about that guy/girl you met out at the club when you were so drunk last weekend? You may have earned 100 likes/favorites, but you just got a big negative mark from the hiring manager you interviewed with Monday morning.

It may have seemed funny and not harmful at the time, but many job seekers do not see the negative impact of what they are sharing on social media.

Listen, I am not telling you to suddenly delete your social footprint and stop interacting with people on social media—trust me, if you follow me on Twitter or any other social media outlet, you know I am the LAST person to make that recommendation. I get in more Twitter sports arguments with people than I care to really admit. But there are a couple of things you can do right now to clean up your social media act moving forward.

No. 1: Make Your Facebook Account Private

We have talked about this in a past article here on NexGoal, but it deserves reiteration. Right now, your Facebook account is searchable on Google without you even knowing it. To stop this, head to “Settings” in the drop down menu and go to “Privacy.” From there, you will find a section that looks like the below picture. The most important question is, “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?” Change your answer to “No” right now.

Screenshot from Facebook.com.

Screenshot from Facebook.com.

Also, make sure your posts are limited to your Friends being able to see them. Finally, I am a big fan of changing what people can tag me in to allow me to review it first. Most of my friends are good about what they tag me in, but there are still those that like to send that “Getting wasted in the Munilot trying to avoid watching the Cleveland Browns” with – Bob Evans tag every once in a while.

No. 2: Review the Pictures You Have Posted on All Accounts

Alright, this section should not be that difficult—you are no longer in college. While having that living, breathing photo album of every beer bong you did and every time you fell down a drunken mess in public is funny now, imagine what a hiring manager will think. Is this the person I really want representing my company?

Sure, you are probably not going to come into work drunk—but what happens if there is a company outing or event that requires you to interact with potential clients and customers over drinks? They do not know how many drinks it took for you to get the way you were in those photos. So they are going to make the assumption that one or two drinks means you cannot represent their company in a professional manner, and nobody wants to hire that.

What is my advice? Delete the drunken pictures now. You can save them on your computer and post them around your place so they still exist, but make sure they do not exist in your social footprint.

No. 3: Think Before You Tweet or Post

My final piece of advice comes with an admittance of a failure to adhere to this rule many, many times in the past. Nobody is perfect, and there are a lot of people in the social media universe that will push your buttons the wrong way. However, 140 characters defending your honor to a keyboard warrior is not worth it—it took years of defending my honor to realize this.

Also, just because you hit delete on a Tweet does not mean it is suddenly gone forever. People will take screenshots and your temporary lapse in judgment will live on forever.

This is not an attempt to have you not interact with people on social media, I have opened so many professional and social doors through it. But as time goes on and companies are investing more and more into getting a full background picture on their employees, it is time to stop and think before you hit send.

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MLB Playoffs Can Provide Inspiration for Your Job Search

When it comes to Major League Baseball, anything can happen once you get to the playoffs. Other professional sports try to claim this in advertisements getting you excited for a No. 1 seed to play a No. 8 seed, but the odds are stacked heavily against the underdog. In baseball, that is not the case.

In the 2016 MLB Playoffs, fans have already witnessed the No. 1 seed in the American League (Texas Rangers) not only lose to the lowest seed (Toronto Blue Jays), but get swept in three straight games. The Cleveland Indians—despite losing two of their top three pitchers to injury in the final month or so of the regular season, came out and stifled the top offense in all of baseball in route to a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

In the National League, the Chicago Cubs finished the regular season with 103 wins, yet they had to scratch and claw their way to a win in the ninth inning against the 87-win San Francisco Giants to advance to the NLCS. They are waiting on the winner of the Los Angeles Dodgers (91 wins) and Washington Nationals (95 wins), who face each other one last time on Thursday night to determine who moves on.

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No other sport brings the postseason drama like the MLB can. It is pretty much the only sport where season in and season out, teams with a 16-win regular season difference are battling into the final inning, or heavy underdogs like the Blue Jays can come out and sweep the No. 1 overall seed in a league.

The chance for greatness is endless in the MLB playoffs, which is why job seekers should use the parity of baseball as inspiration for their next job search.

Think about it, if a team that has been written off by the entire world before even playing a game can do the impossible—you have a chance to beat out anyone for that promotion or new career you have been putting off applying for the last six months. Just because you do not think you have what it takes to beat out other candidates for the job, does not mean a hiring manager is going to eliminate you in the first round.

So, what can you do to channel your inner MLB playoff team mode to attack your job search this fall? Well for starters, start doing these three things.

Do Not Fear the Competition

In this technological age of applying for jobs, many job seekers seem to think every single job they are interested in is going to have more qualified applicants applying for it. Once this mentality creeps into their head, many do not pursue the job thinking it is “just a waste of time.”

This mentality needs to be removed from all job seekers right now. Do you think a team like the Blue Jays went into the series against the Rangers thinking they did not have a chance to win? Absolutely not, and it is the reason why they are getting ready to take on the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.

It is human nature to think others are better than us, we are constantly reminded of this fact every single day by advertisements and 24/7 coverage of celebrities and what they are doing with their millions of dollars. However, when it comes to your career—you control your destiny.

Sit down and make a list of all the things you are good at when it comes to your current job. Now read over the job description of that new career you have been putting off applying for—notice something? You probably have the majority of, if not all of the qualifications they are looking for.

Taking yourself out of the game before you give the manager an opportunity to give you the start guarantees you will not play. Just like in baseball, not taking the time to apply for the career you want because you are afraid better candidates will apply is the only way to ensure you have no chance at the job. So go apply, now!

Spend Extra Time in the Cage

Major League players are willing to put in the time and effort to prepare for what they want. For them, it means spending extra time in the batting cages to make sure their batting mechanics are on point for the upcoming series.

For a job seeker, spending extra time in the cage means putting in the extra effort to make sure your cover letter and resume are fine-tuned before you hit submit. It also means putting in more effort to research the company and prepare yourself for that interview when you get the call to come in and meet the hiring manager.

Just like making sure a swing is perfect heading into a major series, job seekers need to make sure they are ready to hit their first impression out of the park. Also, do not forget to look in the mirror a few days before that interview. You just may find a shave or a trip to the barber/hair salon is in order as well.

Prepare Yourself for Situational Hitting, Pitching and Fielding

One of the things very few people who never played baseball fail to understand about the game is that there is more to it than swinging a bat and catching a ball. There is a mental aspect to the game that separates the great players from the average ones.

Knowledge of situational hitting, pitching and fielding is also what makes managers like Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians a cut above the rest. Time and preparation have been put in to understand the tendencies of every player his team will face. He also has moves and counter-moves to go up against the managers he will face, and understands their managerial tendencies during the flow of the game.

How can job seekers prepare themselves in this manner?

First off, having an in-depth knowledge of the company you are interviewing with is key. It ensures you will not be surprised by any questions or situations that are discussed during an interview. Nothing is worse than being asked a question you do not have a response to, just like if a player is inserted into a game that Francona does not have a scouting report on so his pitcher knows how to pitch to him.

On top of this, job seekers need to know when to press during an interview and what questions/comments should probably be held for the second conversation or follow-up opportunity. This is no different than when a manager needs to decide whether they should pull their pitcher at first signs of struggle or let him press on to get the next batter out.

Making sure you are prepared for anything that can come at you during the job seeking process is key—even if that means you have to spend a little more time “studying the film.”

Final Word

As the MLB playoffs continue on into October, teams will have more preparation and adjustments they need to make than ever—but that is what makes this time of year exciting and gut-wrenching at the same time.

So as you sit there and debate your next career move, try and take a page out of the playbook of the players in the MLB playoffs. Do not be scared of the competition, make sure you are prepared for whatever comes your way during the interview process and make sure you are putting the extra time in when it comes to getting that cover letter and resume together.

Once you understand you have the power to control your career destiny in the way MLB players can control their team’s fate in the playoffs, attaining your next career move will go from being something you have dreamed about for years to something you could be doing in the near future.

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