Clue Wagon » Standing Out in the Crowd

One More Question to Ask the Interviewer

Kerry Scott — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:08:41 +0000

I didn’t really have a post written for today.

See, we’re supposed to be having this giant snowstorm today. There was supposed to be, like, a foot of snow. They’ve been hyping it for days on TV. So somehow my brain heard, “Snow Day!” This really makes no sense, since you can’t really have a snow day when you blog. I mean, it doesn’t snow on the internet. Apparently my brain does not understand the internet. Either that or I’m just lazy.

So today I woke up, and there’s exactly one inch of snow slush outside my window. One inch is less than a foot, so I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be a snow day here an Clue Wagon headquarters (although we’re expecting more later…but less than a foot. More like 3-6 inches. Further inland they’re getting way more than a foot, with blizzard conditions to boot…so mad props if you live north or west of Milwaukee. I’m really close to Lake Michigan, so it’s still rain and not snow here.).

So I went through my Google Reader looking for inspiration. Lo and behold, Alison Green at Ask a Manager has the best question EVER for when the interviewer says, “Do you have any questions for me?” It’s perfect, because it sound smart when you ask it, and it also gives you great insight for what to talk about when you write your thank-you note. Brilliant. You should definitely add this to your list of questions to ask.

I’m off to make chocolate Malt-O-Meal with vanilla ice cream…because the missing 11 inches of snow is not going to screw me out of my delicious snow day breakfast treat.

Photo by midweekpost

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Here’s An Easy One: Be Prepared

Kerry Scott — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:53:53 +0000

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out out the closet in my office when I came across some of my supplies from a previous life. I used to be an HR consultant, and most of the work I did during that period wasn’t really consulting. Instead, I served as an interim or ad hoc HR director. I swooped in, acted like I worked there for real, and then left when they didn’t need me anymore.

One of the interesting things about that kind of work is that you never know where you’ll be sitting. In some cases, I had a posh office. In others, I was in a hallway, a lunchroom, or the cubicle where they kept the fax machine. I never knew whether I’d have even basic supplies. So I put together a little office kit, so that I had everything I’d need no matter what. I had a little portable hanging file folder box, and in the top there were compartments for paper clips, staples, sticky notes, etc. Then I had this accordion-style thing that folded out and hung on a wall or door. I used my label maker to turn the top slot into an IN box, and then had the others labeled with “waiting for reply,” “calls to make,” and so forth.

I originally put this whole system together to help me get up and running more quickly at each location, and to give me a consistent system and set of tools to work with. Later, though, I found out that the real benefit was the effect on clients. It blew their minds. You would be amazed at how people respond when they see that you’re organized and prepared. I got some of my business from referrals, and each time, the new client mentioned that the old client said I was so freakishly organized that I had a traveling office, and that that made them think I could solve problems. It’s funny how people form opinions on little things like that.

You can use this same technique in job interviews. When you show up, have extra copies of your resume. If you’re interviewing for the sort of job where they’re going to hand you a paper application, have a neatly-typed list of all of your old jobs, with addresses, phone numbers, and everything else laid right out. Have a file folder with their company name on it, and when they say, “Do you have any questions for us?” you can whip out a typed list of questions, with spaces for you to take notes on the answers.

The effect is amazing. It shows that you’re organized, businesslike, and interested enough in the job that you actually put some effort into your prep.

A little window dressing can go a long way in setting you apart from the crowd. In can also make you feel more confident in the interview. Those are two good things.

Photo by jo-h

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Make the Cover Letter Your Secret Weapon

Kerry Scott — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:00:44 +0000

My post today is actually a guest post on the Pongo Resume blog. It’s about cover letters. You need one. Here’s why.

Photo by Michael Casey

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7 Ways You Can Use Your Phone to Screw Yourself Out of a Job Opportunity

Kerry Scott — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:55:03 +0000

This post originally appeared on January 26, 2009.

Music instead of ringing—Apparently, there’s this new thing where instead of hearing a ringing sound when you someone, you hear music, chosen by the owner of the phone. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that-but consider whether your choice of music is really representing you well. A friend of mine just called a candidate to set up an interview for a management position, and was treated to a song that mentioned the singer’s intent to go to a club and “spread a little love and spread a couple cheeks.” She called back twice to make sure she heard it right…and then she hung up and called another candidate instead.
Answering machine or voice mail greetings—Back when I started recruiting, most people didn’t have voice mail at home-just answering machines—and hardly anyone had a cell phone. As a result, I called people at home, and listened to long, long outgoing messages featuring their children singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and doing little skits and all sorts of cutsie stuff. I love kids, and mine are adorable too, but they don’t belong on the answering machine (at least, not while you’re job hunting). More recently, as more people have cell phones and home phones with personal voice mail, the mailboxes are usually for one person rather than the family…but that doesn’t stop the stupid stuff. The whole pretend-you-really-answered-the-phone-and-can’t-hear-the-caller routine is not that funny to begin with, and it’s even less funny when you have 20 candidates to call in a day. Knock it off. Change your outgoing greeting to something reasonably professional (and short!), at least for the duration of your job search.
Kids, spouses, or roommates— I can think of two-count ‘em, TWO-people I’ve called in my entire career whose kids have done an exceptional job taking a message. I made sure to let the parents know when I spoke to them later. The rest, though…forget it. Teach them to let calls roll to voice mail or the machine unless they recognize the number on the caller ID. I’d much, much rather leave a message with a machine than try to get a 10-year-old to successfully find a pen and some paper, spell my name, my company name, and my complete phone number, and then remember to give you the message. Roommates can be even worse. I can’t count the number of roommates I’ve spoken to who have refused to take a message altogether, saying they were too busy or couldn’t find a pen or said “I’m not his secretary.” Even better are the ones who think you are the other woman or something, and ask you what the hell you want with their husband/boyfriend. Love those. Best of all are the ones who, upon hearing you’re with XYZ Company, think you’re selling something and hang up on you.
Television— It blows my mind when people leave the TV blaring when they’re on the phone with an employer. I’ve had people try to do this through entire phone interviews, and guess what? That sound travels better than you think. I can’t understand a word you’re saying, because all I can hear is the Dr. Phil theme song. Hit the MUTE button before you even pick up the phone. It is never okay to have the TV on during a business call.
Call Waiting—Honestly, unless you are waiting for a call that is truly life-or-death, don’t interrupt a call about a job. You’re telling the employer that you have better things do to than talk to them, and that’s usually not a good message to send. If you MUST take the other call, make sure you’ve really pressed the right button. I once had someone say, “Hang on, I’m talking to some bitch from XYZ company,” not realizing I was still on the line.
Taking calls while driving (or at the checkout counter, or getting your hair done)—Seriously, I’d much rather leave a message than compete for your attention with the other people you’re dealing with. You’re being rude to them AND to me. That’s just not cool. Just let it roll to voice mail until you’re someplace where you’re not in traffic and not talking to someone else.
Peeing—Wondering whether we can hear that through the phone? Yes. We can.

Photo by flattop341

Thanks to Anna at ABDPBT, who started the Fighting Listlessness on Mondays trend in blogging. Anna’s blog isn’t about job hunting—it’s about other, way more interesting things. I highly recommend it.

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3 (Possible) Exceptions to the Do-Not-Call Rule

Kerry Scott — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:59:43 +0000

This post originally appeared on February 9, 2009.

Last week I talked about why you should never listen to people who tell you to call and follow up on a job application. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Here are three circumstances under which it might be okay to follow up on the resume you sent:

You were referred by a friend/colleague of the person you’re contacting. If the hiring manager or the corporate recruiter is a personal friend or colleague of someone you know, and that person says you should call, then go ahead and do it. What you’re looking for here is someone who can say with absolute certainty, “Yeah, I know Jose, and he’s not going to mind that you’re calling to follow up.”
You have serious problems with the application process that cannot be resolved any other way. Back in the days when resumes arrived via email, I occasionally had candidates who would call me because their email bounced, or they got error messages, or other stuff happened that genuinely made them wonder whether I’d receive their resumes. In those cases, obviously, I didn’t mind the follow-up (and, in fact, I appreciated knowing that they were having issues, because it helped me work with the IT folks to figure out what was wrong). More recently, most medium-sized and larger companies are using an applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage candidates. Occasionally they don’t work the way they should. If you have problems with a company’s online application process, look for an 800 number or email address to use. It’s usually at the bottom of the screen, or somewhere in the error message itself. Those are important because applicant tracking systems are usually run by an outside company that hosts the application…not the company to which you’re applying. The company to which you’re applying, ironically, can’t usually help much with the technical problems. If there really is NO online or phone support, and you really can’t get the thing to work, and you’re sure you’re following the directions…then it’s okay to call the company. Take good notes on what you did and which error messages you got, though, so they know you’re not just a dolt who can’t work a computer. Sometimes those systems really suck, but the corporate types who implemented them don’t always admit it unless you show them what went wrong.
You’re applying for a job where being obnoxious is a plus. In some company cultures, only the super-flashy people get ahead. I’d rather be hit in the head with a frozen chicken* than work for one of those companies, but if that’s your thing, knock yourself out. There are also some fields (like public relations, for example) where the definition of “obnoxious” is different than it would be for, say, accountants. That’s not to say that PR people are obnoxious…just that they are, perhaps, more likely to respect your aggressive approach, rather than resent it. If you work in one of those fields, and you are calling other people who work in those same fields, your mileage may vary. If you’re calling the HR person who is recruiting for one of those fields, though, the normal rules of obnoxious apply, because we HR people mostly hate that kind of thing. Be flashy only with your fellow flash-o-philes, please.

One caveat: Even in situations where it might be okay to call, I’d still recommend emailing instead. A telephone is an inherently rude object. When you are in the middle of doing something else, it makes a loud ringing sound, and asks you to drop whatever you are doing to talk to someone who randomly decided that this was good time to interrupt you without any real clue what you were working on. Email, on the other hand, is a little less intrusive. Additionally, unlike a phone call, an email recipient can reply at 3am if that’s what’s convenient. Email also allows you to show off the fact that you can form a coherent sentence. Not everyone can do that, so you get an edge instantly. If you MUST follow up on your application, I’d do it via email.

*NOTE: This is a colorful expression, not an actual invitation to hit me in the head with a frozen chicken. Last week I learned that there are some crazy people who are reading this blog, so I feel compelled to make this clear. I prefer not to be hit in the head, or in any other body part, with frozen dead animals of any sort. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Photo by Ballistik Coffee Boy

Thanks to Anna at ABDPBT, who started the Fighting Listlessness on Mondays trend in blogging. Anna’s blog isn’t about jobhunting; it’s about other, way more interesting things. I highly recommend it.

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Calling to Follow-Up? Hand Me a Fork.

Kerry Scott — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:37:08 +0000

This post originally appeared on February 3, 2009.

I’m new to blogging. One of the things that made me choose job hunting as my main focus is the fact that there are so many people giving unbelievably bad advice out there. Some of them are just tragically cluefree, and others are in the business of placing candidates and advising candidates rather than hiring candidates. There’s a big difference.

The one piece of advice that makes me the craziest is this:

“You should call to follow up on the resume you sent after you apply for a job.”

Honestly, every time I read that, I want to poke my eye out with a fork.

Yesterday, I read a quote from someone who thinks it is a good idea to call and follow up on your resume. Here’s what she said:

“Back when I worked in HR, I’d try to get people to follow the rules of course because that made my life easier – but the job seeker’s job isn’t to make HR’s life easier!”

And then I went to find a fork, so I could poke my eye out (unfortunately, we didn’t have a clean fork, because I forgot to run the dishwasher last night…duh).

Seriously, folks, this is SO not about “making HR’s life easier.” It’s actually really easy to skip-and-delete a couple hundred voice mail messages from people who want to make sure I have received their resume, or see if I have any questions, or whatever goofy line they’ve told you to use this week.

It’s really about understanding that the key variable in getting a job is being the right person for the job. It’s not about being the most attention-seeking candidate. It’s about being the most qualified candidate. If it’s not, you’re applying to the wrong company.

I know a guy who argues with me on this. He insists that you have to call to follow up, because you have to “stand out,” and “show them your enthusiasm” and all of that crap. He’s gotten various jobs using this pay-attention-to-me strategy, and invariably, he later whines about the politics and company culture. “It’s not fair!” he says. “They give all the plumb assignments to Joe, because he plays golf with the boss! Jane got a bigger bonus than everyone because she goes shopping with the owner!” And I’m like, dude, what did you expect? You specifically target companies who respond to the flashy one, not the talented one. If you try to side-step meritocracies, you can’t complain when you end up working someplace with no meritocracy.

Here’s the thing: in most instances, companies receive hundreds of candidates for a particular position. Let’s say there’s only 100 for the job you want (which is a really, really low number in this economy). If every one of those people called and left a two-minute voice mail, that’s nearly 3.5 hours just to listen to the voice mail messages. If they actually called you back to tell you that they’d receive your resume and would call you if they were interested in setting up an interview, that’s another 3.5 hours (assuming you only talk for two minutes, which, again, is a really low number). That’s why no one is calling you back (or calling you back with a terse message in a mildly hostile tone). Think you’re endearing yourself to the person who would rather have spent that seven hours actually interviewing qualified candidates? Nope.

Of course, all the advice says that you’re not really one of 100 candidates. It’s all about you. You’re the special one, so although those other people weren’t worth seven hours of somebody’s time, you are, because you are perfect for the job (or you really want the job, or whatever the logic is for this sort of thing). You have to stand out. You have to get ahead of those other people. You’re telling the recruiter that they need to see you…but that you don’t really trust them to figure out that you’re The One (because it’s not like they assess people’s fit for a particular job for a living, right?) . You’re saying that you need to take up some of their time giving them that guidance. Think that’s endearing? Nope. Even if you’re right, and the person on the other end is an idiot who wouldn’t know talent if it bit her in the ass, she’s unlikely to appreciate the fact that you’re essentially pointing that fact out to her.

Now, I have known handful of corporate recruiters who say that they pay more attention to the ones who call. In every case I can recall, it was because the recruiter was so disorganized that he/she wasn’t keeping up with the work, wasn’t really reading the submissions, or was otherwise…well, incompetent. I know far, far more recruiters who say they consider it a huge negative when people call. In fact, when companies say “No Calls Please” in their ad, it usually means they’re going to disqualify you if you call. That’s actually a little harsh for me, but “can’t follow directions” or “thinks the rules only apply to other people” isn’t a good way to impress a company.

Now, there are a few (very few) circumstances under which a follow-up call after an application might be a good idea. I’ll cover those in a future post (probably on Monday, because Monday is list day around here). Also, if you really just can’t resist the urge to follow-up, you can do it by email, and it’s far less annoying than a phone call. Because people read faster than they speak, email is MUCH faster than voice mail. It’s less intrusive than a ringing phone, and unlike returning phone calls, responding to email can be done 24/7. You’re at least showing a little bit more respect for the recruiter’s time.

Generally speaking, though, if someone tells you that you should call to follow up on each of your applications…well, somewhere an HR professional is reaching for a fork. Let’s hope it’s not the one who is deciding whether you’re going to get an interview or not.

Photo by kevindooley

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The Myth of Resume Buzzwords

Kerry Scott — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:54:50 +0000

Yesterday’s post on why you shouldn’t customize your resume generated a fair number of comments. One of the things that came up a lot was the idea that you have to have certain buzzwords from an ad in your resume in order to have a recruiter actually see it.

Let me tell you a secret:

That’s pretty much bullshit.

This is more or less an urban legend. It’s something that some talking head said on some 24-hour news channel once, and then other people started saying it, and now there’s this whole legion of people who earnestly believe that recruiters have secret codewords, and you only get to have your resume viewed by a human if you know these secret codeword. Being codewords, they’re very, very hard to figure out, and you probably need to spend a lot of time pondering it (or better yet, hire somebody way smarter than you to “coach” you).

Doesn’t that just SOUND like a load of crap? Because it is. I really can’t say enough what a load of crap this is. It’s right up there with “Microsoft will send you $1,000 if you forward this email” and “If you go to New York, people are going to kidnap and drug you and steal your kidneys.”

Here’s the truth:

Not every company has an applicant tracking system (that’s the fancy resume database—it’s called an ATS for short). Most big companies do, and some mid-sized companies do (but not as many as the media and the blogs and the people who sell them would lead you to believe). The company I last worked at had 3,400 employees and a TON of turnover/recruiting, and they only just implemented an ATS in 2007. It cost $600,000. A lot of companies don’t have that kind of money…so they don’t have an applicant tracking system. Very generally speaking, if a company has you apply by filling out a long form online, they have an ATS. If they have you copy-and-paste your cover letter and resume into a very brief form, they may or may not have an ATS (but mostly they don’t, or the form would take you an hour to fill out). If they’re having you email a resume, they probably don’t have an ATS (there are some ancient systems from the 1990s into which you’d email a resume, but they’re the exception, not the rule).
When you enter your cover letter and resume into the ATS, they’re both searchable. That means that, to use the example Charles gave in the comments on yesterday’s thread, if your resume says that you have experience as a trainer of beginners, and you’re concerned that the ad says they want someone with experience with novice users, you can call that experience out in your cover letter using phrase novice users. That way you’re covered no matter what phrase they’re using (although I would bet you a lot of money, if I had it, that even the dumbest recruiter is using the phrase trainer).
I’ve been recruiting for 14 years, and I’ve hired more corporate recruiters than I can count. Most of my friends are in recruiting and/or HR (jealous?). I know a lot of people who fill jobs for a living. I don’t know a single one (even the ones who suck) who is using secret codewords to filter resumes. They’re using words so obvious that if they’re not on your resume, you’re probably seriously un qualified. For example, when I’ve run an ad for a recruiter position, the words I use to search the ATS are: Recruit*. Hire/Hiring/Hired. Interview*. If I’d run an ad saying I wanted someone who was AIRS-trained, I might search on AIRS…but never in a million years would I ONLY look at the ones that had that word, even if I knew I was ONLY going to hire people who had that training. Even the recruiters I know who suck wouldn’t do that, because then they wouldn’t have a sense of their candidate pool. Recruiters want to know what sort of population their ad drew in. They want to know whether their ad drew in 10 good people out of 250, or 200 out of 250. It makes a difference, because the hiring manager is going to ask, and because that’s part of how they determine how much to pay the person who gets the job, and because they need to know whether that was a good ad to run or if it needs work. So nobody, and I mean NOBODY is going to be dumb enough to ONLY use the secret codewords. Seriously. In fact, I don’t know very many recruiters who don’t at least glance at every submission, for curiosity’s sake if nothing else. I’ve never run an ad and not looked at every submission.
Some people are putting out this information because they want to make money. One of the reasons I’m so fired up about this today is because a couple of days ago, a friend of mine got an email. This friend works for a company that is widely known to be laying off a ton of people, and the email was an offer from a “resume coach.” The email talked about how employers only search for certain words on resumes, and these words are very hard to figure out for lay people, and since my friend didn’t know these secret words, he’d never get a job and his children would starve and they’d be buried in unmarked graves under a freeway overpass. For the low price of A THOUSAND FREAKIN’ DOLLARS, though, this guy would help my friend by writing him a resume that would get past the pearly gates of every employer in the U.S., and ensure that he took his rightful place among the incredibly lucky few who knew the secret and were therefore gainfully employed. My friend, who is facing a job loss after 15 years with the same company, is feeling pretty vulnerable, and she sent me this email asking if she should hire this clown, because she certainly didn’t know the secret codewords, and she didn’t want to starve her children. Now, how the hell would this “resume coach” know the buzzwords of my friend’s particular line of work better than my friend, who is actually IN that line of work? And how many people has this “resume coach” actually HIRED? And how many people actually fell for this line of crap?

Bottom line—corporate recruiters search for resumes using keywords. They do it the same way you search, say, Google for something you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a job hunting blog, you probably search for job hunting blog. You don’t search for clue boob ice cream Sandberg (well, actually, one person DID use that to find me…so maybe that’s not the best example). People try to make this (and lots of other things about job hunting) into this big scary thing that you can’t possibly figure out because you’re an idiot and they’re not. It’s just not true. It’s hard, but it’s not THAT hard.

Disclaimers: I’m not knocking all resume coaches. In fact, I’ve met some great ones through this blog and through Twitter. I’m just knocking the ones that prey on your insecurities and treat you like a moron and make stuff up. Also, there’s no picture on the RSS version of this post and it’s probably full of typos because I’m trying to get it done before the bus drops off my daughter, who is on her third day of kindergarten. I want to get this pissed-off post done quickly so I can play Candyland. Also, it’s fine with me if you want to put buzzwords on your resume. I just don’t want to you to feel you have to spend two hours on each opening. That’s going to beat the crap out of you, and then it won’t matter if your resume had the right buzzword, because you’ll suck in the interview. That’s a bad investment.

Photo by waa

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“Would this annoy you?” Yes. Yes it would.

Kerry Scott — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:18:43 +0000

A loyal Clue Wagon reader sent me a link to this article, asking, “As a recruiter, would this annoy you?”

Yes. Someone calling me at the end of a meeting when I have to pee, to recite a script that says…what? “Please hire me, because I’m really sick of being unemployed, and I’m really fabulous?” Yep, that would be annoying.

I see these articles a lot. In fact, they’re one of the reasons I started this blog. And the thing is, the advice isn’t really too far off the mark. I mean, you can’t just apply and wait for something to happen. You have to make contact. But this article is missing a few key points:

Phone calls suck. I’ve said this before: a telephone is an inherently rude instrument. You’re busy doing something, and suddenly a loud bell rings, and you’re supposed to drop everything because it was a good time for someone else to talk. That’s a flawed concept. That’s why email was invented. If you want to cold-call complete strangers, cold email them instead. At least then there’s some chance that you won’t annoy the crap out of them, that they’ll remember your name, and that they’ll be able to actually respond to you. I don’t have time to talk to people when I’m running from one meeting to another, but I have time to respond to emails at 5am (when I can’t call, because it’s too early). The email candidates get a response. The phone candidates probably won’t.
Scripts suck. Have you ever received a call from a telemarketer? They have scripts too, and they’re annoying. Most people aren’t good at delivering a script. That’s another reason email works better than phone calls. I’m a fan of having a few key bullet points written out to help keep you on track during difficult conversations. But scripts? Nope. Additionally, what are you going to say that’s going to make me want to throw out my current hiring process and just pick you instead? Even if the hiring process is bad, most people aren’t going to admit it that easily.
Everyone’s doing this. The economy is bad, and it has been for a while. That means salespeople aren’t making sales. Do you know what salespeople do? They cold call. The HR people I know aren’t answering their phones at all anymore, because they’re being bombarded with cold calls from desperate salespeople. Do you really want to get into that mix? Because if you think you’re the only one calling to say you want something, you’re crazy.
“Key hiring positions” are relative. I hope the book spells out that someone in a “key hiring position” is a hiring manager, not an HR person. Remember, HR people don’t hire (unless the job is in the HR department). Hiring managers hire. That’s why they’re called “hiring managers.”
It’s a whole lot of peddling in the wrong direction. You’re supposed to do in-depth research to find all of these names of people to call, and “the point is not to know them personally, just [to get names of] people to call.” That’s a lot of work just to get 50 names so you can get one interview (and really, I think that’s an incredibly optimistic ratio). What if you put that same effort into building a network so you DID know someone personally? Because cold calling doesn’t get you a job. Warm calling gets you a job. Spend your time building your network so that when you put a message out to everyone you know saying, “Does anyone have a contact at Acme Corporation?” someone does. THAT’S a good use of your time.

Don’t get me wrong—there are a few things about this message that are dead on. I agree that you have to be aggressive about looking for a job. I agree that you have to talk to a lot of people. I definitely agree that you have to be prepared for rejection, and that you can’t let all that rejection get you down. It’s part of the job of finding a job.

In terms of the mechanics of how this is supposed to work, though, I have to ask: Do you like getting calls from telemarketers? Do you buy what they’re selling? Because this approach boils down to the same concept…calling a bunch of people hoping someone will bite. That plays to your desire to DO something to alleviate your frustration, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a job. Putting that same about of effort into a more targeted approach will get you back to work much faster.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I haven’t read the book in question…just the blog post I linked to above. I tried to find the book, but they didn’t have it at my nearest giant two-story bookstore, and my local library didn’t have it either. I didn’t think I knew the author of the book, but in trying to find his company’s website or something else to tell me about his background, I found his LinkedIn profile. Apparently we worked for the same company at the same time. I worked in Milwaukee, and he evidently worked in Chicago. I don’t remember him, and I don’t think we ever met (although I suck at remembering stuff like that, so if he reads this: Sorry dude. Nothing personal. I’m bad at remembering stuff like that). I avoided going to Chicago whenever possible, and I was on maternity leave for a big chunk of his time there, so I don’t really know anything about him. His LinkedIn profile appears to be incomplete, and I couldn’t find a company website for him.

Photo by The U.S. National Archives

As always, thanks to Anna at ABDPBT, who started the Fighting Listlessness on Mondays trend in blogging. Anna’s blog isn’t about job hunting; it’s about other, way more interesting things. I highly recommend it.

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Modesty Sucks.

Kerry Scott — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:19 +0000

This post originally appeared on January 15, 2009.

It really does.

Lately, I’ve heard from a number of friends who have either lost their jobs or will soon. A few of them have asked me to review their resumes before they start sending them out.

Now, I live in the Midwest, where people tend to be self-deprecating. Wisconsin is, generally speaking, not a state filled with flashy people. These folks are raised to avoid tooting their own horn at all costs. The ones who fail to hide their light under a bushel move to places like New York, or LA, or someplace else where the culture is more accepting of self-promotion.

As a result, I have seven resumes I’m reviewing here, and five of them contain descriptions of people I barely recognize. Most of these are friends I worked with at one point or another, and I thought highly of their work. That’s how we became friends.

But when I read things like, “Responsible for the ____ department,” or “I work with managers to fill jobs,” well, no. That’s not going to work. Nobody wants to read your job description. They want to read what you achieved, what you overcame, what sort of difference you made to the client or the company. Language from your job description has no place on your resume, because you’re not supposed to describe your job. You’re supposed to describe yourself, in terms of what you achieved. That’s an entirely different thing.

I sent an email back to one friend, and asked him to tell me what he was most proud in each of the positions he’d held. He wrote back with some GREAT material. It was the kind of stuff that would absolutely make you want to hire him. Modest people, though, tend not to think in terms of what they’re proud of when they write resumes. Pride makes them uncomfortable. They tend to write about what they were responsible for, which is meaningless.

Modesty is a great trait in a friend and in a colleague. No one likes working with a egomaniac. But when you write your resume, you’re writing to someone who doesn’t know you, and may never know you if you don’t make them understand why they need to meet you. This is no time for modesty.

Think in terms of the three or four things that you achieved that made you most proud, in each job. Those are the things that belong on your resume.

Photo by Billy Rowlinson

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Candidate Rage (And Why it Might Be Your Fault)

Kerry Scott — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:37:55 +0000

Photo by Lauren

Unemploymentality has a post that’s really an open letter to employers who treat candidates like crap. In it, the author rails against companies who force candidates to apply only by filling out those very narrow online application forms, search for resumes using only keywords, and do other things that prevent them from really evaluating a candidate’s full experience (and finding the best people).

On the one hand, I agree. Companies who do that stuff suck. HR people who use these tools to look at an artificially narrow pool of candidates are idiots, and if the company’s hiring managers are dumb enough to let them choose their employees that way…well, that’s probably someplace most of us wouldn’t want to work anyway. Smart companies have multiple ways of sourcing candidates, and aren’t exclusively using ads that feed into the applicant tracking systems. They use referrals, social and traditional networking, and other stuff too. They also know how to use those applicant tracking systems as a tool to find great people, not a crutch to keep them from having to look at “too many” candidates. When I talk to those HR folks treat candidates as a mass of humanity they want to avoid contact with, I get crabby. That’s a sign that they’ve been in the business too long and need to find something else to do for a living.

On the other hand, if you’re only looking for a job by applying through company websites, you’re kind of an idiot too. Stop doing that. Go through those channels if they’re required, but after you’ve filled out their annoying online form, take the initiative to find a real human (preferably the one who is doing the hiring), and make a real connection. Use your network to find people who work for companies you like, and ask them for help. If you’re relying entirely on technology to find you a job, instead of using it as a tool to connect you humans who will give you a job…well, you’re just as bad as the HR folks who are relying entirely on technology to find them a candidate. The trick is to use the technology to find a human. THAT is why tools like Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook are useful to job seekers.

Don’t get me wrong—big companies are going to require that you jump through their hoops. That’s just a fact of life. But you can’t stop there. You have to have more than one way in if you really want to get noticed. Filling out forms and waiting for the phone to ring is not going to get you a job.

No company is impenetrable. It’s up to you to find a way in. I guarantee that the way in will somehow involve a human, not a computer. The computer is the key that opens the door…it’s not the door. Don’t confuse the two.

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