Anonymous writes:
I don’t think its smart to have my resume for all to review, how I can I post my resume and keep it confidential?
The Career Doctor responds:
There certainly is validity to wanting to be discreet about job-hunting when you are currently employed — you wouldn’t want your current employer to do a search for a position and get your resume from one of these job sites.
The good news is that many job boards now offer you a confidentiality option — thus your resume is still out there getting viewed, but you control who actually knows it is your resume. There are a few other job sites that even allow you to block your resume from going to certain companies, thus allowing no chance that your current employer will see your resume. You can search through a list of The Top 10 Job Web Sites.
And one final warning. Please remember that job-hunting on the Net should only comprise a small portion of your overall job-hunt — a little larger for people in technical and computer fields. You’ll do much better taking advantage of networking and other more traditional job-search techniques, but I also understand the value of the Web in a passive job search — putting your resume online and seeing what kind of responses you get, even when you are fairly happy with your current position.
Glenis writes:
I read your blog regularly, but recently it has become of more interest
to me because my son is job-hunting. He has been a financial-aid counselor
at two universities, having moved to take the position at the last one
because it was a career advancement. Unfortunately his position was
eliminated due to budget cuts.
After being unemployed for a 6 months, he decided to take whatever
employment he could get just to help pay the bills, which happened to be
at minimal pay. He has not included this employment history on his resume
because he feels it would not look good. He has interviewed with 2-3
universities but so far no offer of employment.
Do you think the lack of employment information for the last year is affecting
his chances of being hired?
The Career Doctor responds:
I hope by the time you are reading this column that your son has a
new job in his career field, but if not, let me make a few observations.
I think there is a possibility of three things happening here that your son
needs to address.
First, the stigma of being fired. We can call it something prettier — his job
was eliminated — but the bottom line is that he was forced to leave his place
of employment. He needs to focus on this issue and make sure he is totally
over the trauma of the experience — especially since he was let go through
no fault of his own. He obviously has valuable skills since he was able to
move forward in his career.
Second, he needs to deal with his resume — and the reality he is living. A
lot of displaced job-seekers in this current economy have been forced to
take survival jobs so that they don t end up homeless and bankrupt. Most
prospective employers would rather see an applicant that has been doing
something productive — even if outside his or her field — than a large gap on
the resume. Of course, if he has been doing any kind of consulting or
volunteer work in his field, he should put that on his resume.
Third, perfect interviewing skills. If he has gotten a few interviews, then at
least some of the colleges are not bothered by the gap on his resume
enough to not interview him, so if he is not having success in the interview,
then he is either not interviewing well or not following-up his interviews. He
may want to conduct a mock interview with a career professional to judge
the quality of his interviewing skills.
I suggest he read, Getting
Fired: An Opportunity for Change and Growth, published on Quintessential Careers.
He may also want to read this article on Quintessential Careers:
The Pros
and Cons of Taking a Survival Job. What Should You Do?
Shawn writes:
I have worked for Wal-Mart for the past three years. Last year I was promoted to
department manager. Around that time I also started college studying software programming.
About nine months after I started the department-manager position, I voluntarily stepped down
to concentrate more on my school work. The thing is, I have a job interview coming up in my
desired field that I have been going to school for. What I was wondering was, if they ask
why I stepped down, what should I say? I don’t want it to seem as if I am not willing to “go
up the corporate ladder” within the company. I am willing to do so, it just wasn’t in my
career path to be a manager in a retail company.
The Career Doctor responds:
It’s funny, because I don’t see it as much of a problem for the interview as I do on
your resume. If you already have at least one interview lined up, then I assume
you’ve handled it properly on your resume.
In normal situations, a step backward could easily be perceived by prospective employers as being a major red flag. Many might see your situation and assume
you are either lacking the skills or the drive to be successful.
However, you can totally spin your situation into a win-win. Here’s what you have
going for you: First, you highlight your time-management skills by showcasing
how you managed to work full-time and attend college. Second, you can showcase
your loyalty to the company by voluntarily stepping down from the manager position
for their best interest — since you knew you could not do the job justice and attend
college. Third, you can discuss how retail was simply a tool to help pay for college
(while also gaining valuable experience) and that what you are studying in college
is preparing you for your future career.
Just don’t go negative. Don’t trash retail or the company. Instead, talk about some
of your key accomplishments, as well as the transferable skills you have developed
while working there. Show how the combination of your experience and education
make you the ideal candidate for the position.
Reena writes:
I got my PhD degree in microbiology a year ago. Since I am an
international scholar, I had to wait for my immigration papers to get
processed for my permanent-resident status (that I got through marriage
to an American citizen) for a year. I was not legally allowed to work (earn
any money) for a year. Now that I have got my permanent-resident
status I have started sending out job applications, and I keep getting
asked what work I did for a year since I got my PhD. I did do some
volunteer work off and on during my year off, and I also did a lot of traveling.
Do I need to explain my year off in the applications that I send out?
How do I explain it? I am just afraid that potential employers will not
understand this explanation since none of them had to go through
this themselves (some of them are really rude when they demand
an explanation).
The Career Doctor responds:
While yours is a very specific question, I include it in the blog because
there are some lessons here that all job-seekers should learn.
Employers want to hire productive employees, and so any unexplained
gaps on a resume or vitae send out a large caution flag to hiring managers.
As a job-seeker, your goal is to show that you were productive during any
and all gaps — pursing further education or credentials, volunteering or
freelancing, in some way staying active in your career field.
In your situation, newly minted PhDs are supposed to be at one of their
most productive peaks, so appearing to take a year off of research would
be very worrisome to prospective employers who want to hire a research
workhorse. And those that don’t go to work right after the degree often
to some post-doctoral work.
I would avoid the whole immigration issue — mainly because employers
never want to hear complications… they simply want workers who will
show and work.
So, I think you do need to show that you were somehow working during
that year… perhaps through the volunteering, perhaps through some
pending research or publications.
Tamala writes:
I’m e-mailing you to find out if going to a professional resume writer is
worth the time and money. Right now I really don’t have the funds, but
I am desperate to find a job that I will be happy doing and making at
least $35-40K a year.
The Career Doctor responds:
You need to look at your job-search as an investment in your future. You
can do a haphazard job-search and maybe find another job, or you can
really put a lot of effort into it and find a great job and great career move.
The same holds with each tool of your job-search, and your resume is an
extremely important job-search tool. You need to make the decision to invest a
lot of time and energy to make it the best resume for you — or — you need to hire
an expert to do it for you. Either way, it’s an investment of time or money; but
either way, the payoffs should be big.
If you have the time and inclination, I suggest you read up on resume writing.
You can find some good resources online and in your local library. Most
job-seekers should have the ability to write a solid resume.
You have one other option besides hiring someone to write your resume. You
can also get your resume critiqued by a professional resume writer — usually
free or for a very modest fee. You can then make the changes yourself or hire the
expert to do it for you.
You can also find quite a lot of resume-writing advice and strategies in the
Resume Resources
section of Quintessential Careers.
Linda writes:
My husband is retiring from the service. He has made his way
up the ladder, from an enlisted personnel to an officer. He is in
the engineering field. The problem is most of the minimum
requirements for positions he is applying for require a bachelor’s
degree. He is approximately 20 credit hours away from this,
and still actively in school. What are some suggestions on
verbiage for the cover letter and resume to address this?
The Career Doctor responds:
First, kudos to your husband, both for the service to our country,
but also for working on furthering his education in preparation for
work in the civilian sector.
Your husband has three things working for him right now. First,
many employers are actively seek transitioning military veterans
because of the extensive experience and training they receive
while in the service. Second, engineering is an occupation back
in demand. Third, he is close to completing his degree.
Here’s how you address his situation on these key documents.
On the resume. The goal of a resume is to secure a job interview.
I would start with a summary of qualifications section, outlining
his three or four key qualities that make him the perfect candidate
for the job he is seeking. One of those bullets should be his
college education, the others should focus on his experience.
Since he is actively working on his education, I would list
education next, and when you list the degree he is receiving,
put the date you expect him to be done with it. Then list his
experience. I would also have a section on his advancement
from enlisted personnel to officer.
On the cover letter. Remember the key task of the cover letter is
to sell the hiring manager just enough so that he or she will
review the resume. You want to start of strongly identifying the
key strengths — and ideally tie those directly to what the employer
is looking for in a job candidate. In the second paragraph, I would
highlight some of the specific accomplishments of the work
experience, along with the number of years in the field. In the
third paragraph, I would mention the near-completed degree,
and the specific date when it’s expected to be completed.
Note: some employers will substitute years of experience for
an incomplete education. For example, college grad and five
years experience, or some college and eight years of experience.
Learn more both in the
resume resources
and the military transition
sections of Quintessential Careers.
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