FAQs
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For Professionals - Getting Started
We recommend that before you submit your resume to us or anyone
else, you take the time to contemplate the questions we’ve
listed below. Coming up with the answers to these questions could
help you perfect your resume, do a more effective interview, increase
your chances of being placed in a “perfect match” situation,
and better prepare you for a new job.
What kind of job do you really want?
The more focused you can be about the kind of work you are seeking,
the better your chances are of getting what you want. People sometimes
think that being “wide open” with the type of work
they are seeking will increase their chances of finding a position.
In some cases, this is true, but if the reason you are “wide
open” is because you haven’t taken the time to determine
your focus, it can end up hindering your chances for finding a
position. If an employer has a hard time determining your focus,
they are less likely to be interested in you as compared to a candidate
whose focus is clearly on the type of work that will be done in
the position they seek to fill.
Lacking focus can also put you in a situation where you become
unhappy with a job soon after you start, because lack of focus
is sometimes caused by putting off the thought process about the
kind of work you would truly be content doing. One can rationalize
that they are “open to all types of work” when, in
reality, they simply haven’t taken the time to do the appropriate
self-analysis to narrow down the kind of work they are best suited
for.
- What are the top skills and strengths you have that
you are most interested in utilizing in a job? (This is where
prioritizing matters – you hope to use all your skills
and strengths in some way, but which ones are the priorities
for your next position?)
- What are the attributes of the kind of job you desire?
What things do you want to stay away from in a job? It is useful,
in answering this question, to ask yourself how you like to spend
your time during your work day. For example, some people are
happiest working on their own and others are miserable without
lots of interaction with others and team work. Some people thrive
in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments and others are unhappy
in such an environment.
- What types of employers and industries are most likely
to be interested in your skills?
For referrals to resources that can help you sort through these
questions, see Resources
for Professionals.
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How’s your resume?
It doesn’t do much good to have a stellar track record if
it isn’t conveyed well in your resume! Your resume is what
gets your foot in the door, so don’t underestimate its importance.
1. Give your resume a 30-second once-over. Is it attractive? Is
it visually appealing? Is it easy to read? Or is it likely to overwhelm
the reader with so many words and so little white space that their
eyes glaze over when they see it? Think of your resume as an advertisement
of sorts, and implement strategies in formatting that make the
reader WANT to read it.
- No matter how much experience you have, your experience
probably doesn’t warrant a resume that is longer than 2
pages. Unless you need to attach additional pages to detail publications
that you have authored or something similar, stick to one or
two pages.
- Try not to do a 1.19 page resume. Try to do one full
page, two full pages, or (less preferable) 1.5 pages. You should
not have one or two sentences from the first page spill over
into the second page. Use formatting tricks to change the spacing
or edit your words.
- Is your contact information easy to find and easy
to read?
- Have you separated information logically with spacing
and indentation?
- Are the words that describe your skills and experience
concise, in plain language, and not unnecessarily repetitive?
Spend a significant amount of time tightening and cutting words
in order to be as direct and concise as possible.
- Do you have typos, grammatical errors, or outdated
information? Check carefully!
2. Does your resume “shout” to the employer the skills
you are most interested in utilizing as well as the type of skills
and experience they are looking for? For example, if you want to
be a financial analyst, does the phrase “financial analyst” or “financial
analysis” appear repeatedly in your resume? It is clear to
the employer that this is what you are interested in AND what you
have experience with?
- What are the “key words” that highlight
the skills and experience you want to use? Whenever possible,
use key words and short phrases that will jump out at your reader,
instead of using too many long, descriptive sentences that may
cause you to lose the reader.
- Have you used bold typeface, italics, underlining, or
a larger font to draw the reader’s attention to words and
phrases you want them to notice (in a way that is attractive
and logical, not obnoxious and random)?
- If you are seeking to change your career path, you will
not want to use the resume you used to get your last job! If
you believe you have the right skills for a certain position,
but you haven’t held a position like this in the past, you will want
to use your resume to highlight the various ways you’ve demonstrated
the skills necessary for this job. For example, if you have always
worked in human resources and believe that your personality and
skills are well suited for sales and you want to try for a sales
position, you will not want to submit a resume that shouts “human
resources” at an employer. You will want to submit a resume
that shouts the skills and personality traits you’ve used
in human resources that are skills and traits necessary to be a
successful sales person. You want to “connect the dots” for
the employer about how your experience in an area other than
sales will make you good at sales.
- Consider having more than one resume – each
tailored for different types of positions that interest you,
each highlighting the specific skills and experience you have
that relates to a particular type of position.
For referrals to resources that can help you sort through your
resume issues, see Resources
for Professionals.
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When can you start?
Perhaps you are in a situation where you’ve been out of
the workforce and are contemplating going back. Perhaps you are
in a situation where you are working full-time but have contemplated
finding something part-time. It is a good idea to ask yourself
the tough questions about whether you are really READY to plunge
in to the situation you are contemplating, as well as WHEN you’d
really be ready to do so.
- Are you on the fence about whether you want to be seeking
a position right now? Have you put off making the decision about
whether now’s the right time, hoping that a circumstance
will present itself to tell you that now is for sure the right
time? It is of course possible to not make a decision until presented
with an opportunity to “weigh your options” once
you have more than one option in front of you. But it is best
to at least think ahead about the specific criteria that would
need to be met in order for you to make a change. For example,
if you need a specific compensation level, a specific schedule,
or a specific type of work to lure you back to the work force
or lure you away from your full-time job, be honest with yourself
(and inform us, Balancing Professionals) about what those criteria
are.
- Have you thought about when, specifically, you’d
be ready to start work? If you have started looking for work but
don’t think you’ll really be ready to start a new
job for 3 more months, this is important information! Consider
delaying submission of your resume or informing those you submit
it to about your availability.
- How much lead time would you need between accepting a
job offer and starting a job? You might need a certain amount
of time to wrap things up with a current employer, or time to
make childcare arrangements, for example. Think realistically
about the lead time you’d need and make whatever preparations
you can ahead of time.
For referrals to resources that can help you sort through your
job transition issues, see Resources
for Professionals.
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