A resume that only provides a summary of your career history and is not strategically developed to capture attention and highlight your value, will never get a second glance in today’s highly competitive job market. Effective resumes should read like a marketing document with the words jumping off the page.

Keywords are attention grabbers, easy to locate and read, and help to provide information on the skills, experience and value you offer. Whether in a column, table, separated with commas or sprinkled throughout the resume, keywords are most effective when they are specific to a position, field and industry.

If you are unsure of what words best fit the position you are seeking, look through several job descriptions that fit your targeted position to see which keywords are used most often and which skills and requirements are being asked for. Identify these keywords and incorporate them into your resume.

The use of keywords in your resume and other marketing tools is important because they help the resume fit accurately into a particular job, industry or company. Keywords are also vital when applying for a position online. If you have ever used your resume to apply to an online application form, it was most likely scanned and placed in a database by the company or recruiting firm. Tracking system software varies but in many systems data is collected and used to weed-out ill fitting applicants. The closer your resume matches the keywords, phrases and need of the position, the more likely your application will get noticed.

The key to using keywords correctly is to embed them throughout the resume so that they are picked up by tracking systems but also make you very appealing to hiring manager, recruiters and the decision makers that will also read your resume at some point during your interaction with a potential employer. Used correctly keywords will be key to bringing you attention and interview offers.

Shine on Job Seekers!

Your resume is a marketing tool and is most effective when it is custom designed to attract a specific target audience and make you shine! Looking at what is important to potential employers will help determine what to showcase and what to weed out in your marketing tool; creating an irresistible resume.

It is like a puzzle, you have to know what the picture is before you can begin building the frame and filling in the missing pieces. The picture for you is your focus, your current career target.

A good first step to identifying your unique puzzle picture is to evaluate your personal, professional and financial likes and dislikes and strengths and weaknesses. Discovering what you are best at, what is most important to you and what you most enjoy doing, helps to determine the type of position you will consider a target position. Review job descriptions that interest you to help better understand the skills, experience and achievements required to develop a solid frame for your resume puzzle.

Once you are clear on your current career goals you can begin the process of finding out which companies and positions will offer what you are looking for. Researching the companies you are interested in can provide a better understanding of the added value you can offer to help you stand out, get noticed and get interviewed. Not sure where to look?

Start with the company website, industry blogs and websites, Google the industry and company, check out the competition, and use social networking groups to learn about the company culture, the management style and decision makers.

While filling in your resume make sure to match your experience with the skills and requirements of the positions you are seeking. Make their focus your focus by building a custom resume that will have everything your targeted employers are looking for – making you and your resume irresistible!

Shine On Irresistible Job Seekers!!

While taking in my daughter’s second soccer game of the season, it was easy to see in the first five minutes who were the go-getters and who were just playing the game. Those that were truly motivated and successful in the game played far beyond their skills and speed.

Those that just ran along side the ball and did not attempt to get in front of the ball or out maneuver the opponent ended up on the bench for the most of the game. The girls that looked like they were out for blood were the ones that played almost the entire game. They played as if there were in the championship game even though they knew they were likely to lose because they were playing a team that was the league champions.

Watching those girls reminded me of what it takes to succeed in life and in particular, a job search. Job seekers that are determined to play hard and play their best every day are the candidates that successfully find the jobs of their dreams.

Tips to learn from soccer players in your job search:

• Stay Focused
• Remember to practice, prepare, improve your skills if needed.
• Know your competition and target.
• Play to win – If you fall down or get pushed, get up and keep playing.
• Believe in Yourself – lead with determination and don’t let your lack of skill or speed hold you back mentally or physically – believe in yourself.
• Know matter the outcome of the game; maintain good sportsmanship.
• Have fun!

Realize that your job search is not a game but it is very competitive and if you hope to win an interview you need to treat it with the same drive and aggressiveness as a dedicated soccer player.

Most of my clients are experienced professionals in their 40’s or 50’s and come to me in the throngs of a failed job search. Usually their career has progressed easily through internal promotions or word of mouth referrals. Now faced with a struggling economy and a new job search arena, they feel unsure and even fearful of the challenge before them.

Suddenly they are 6 years old again and afraid to step off their bed for fear something is waiting underneath. Too afraid to look, they sit on their bed waiting for their mom to appear, then begs her to check for a safe path.

As adults, the wait for someone to come and hold your hand, help you look under the bed, and calm your fears might be a long one. There is help of course, in the form of certified career coaches and resume writers that are qualified to help with the process. We come with a flashlight and often a hug to light the way and rebuild confidence.

For those job seekers that want to overcome their fears themselves and succeed in a 21^st century job search, the most important tip I can offer is to get educated. Things don’t seem as scary when you know how something works, what to expect and which strategies to use to succeed. Doing nothing only makes the fears grow and immobilizes you even longer. If you are like most job seekers, you really can’t afford to allow the fear of the unknown to threaten you and often your family’s wellbeing and safety for too long.

“…the only thing to Fear is Fear itself.” ~ FDR

It isn’t finding a job that is fearful, it is not knowing how to find a job and not knowing where to look that holds people back. So how do you educate yourself? You start small. While you are beginning your job search make sure to read blogs, articles and books on successful job search strategies – it will save a lot of pain and suffering!

While you are educating yourself, realize what type of job you are looking for and begin researching companies that support that kind of a position. Research 5 – 10 companies to find out their current needs, goals, culture and whether it is a company you would like to work for. If none seem to fit find, 5 -10 more and do it again. When you have located several companies that do seem to fit, have your resume written to specifically answer and solve the problems of those companies, targeting their needs using your career history to back up your abilities.

You can find these companies and contacts using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other online networking communities. Or you can work offline using the phone, knocking on doors and communicating face-to-face. I think a combination of the two works best. Finding contacts that can refer you directly to the hiring manager will put your resume on the top of the pile – every time!

If you are uncomfortable with communicating or networking with new contacts researching the contacts will help you feel more comfortable and give you specific content to use as ice breaker conversation. Find a few contacts for each company you have researched. Find out something you have in common such as, did you attend the same college, work at the same company, know mutual friends, or have similar outside interests; pets, sports, or volunteer activities? Even just by knowing their history will help to generate interesting conversation.

Doing your homework, having questions prepared and knowing the background of your potential targets will help you gently engage these new contacts. Your preparation can open doors to new connections, friendships and referrals. Remember to say and write thank you letters to your contacts and ask if you can reciprocate the assistance in some way.

The more you know the easier it will be to take that leap of faith, trust your preparation and look under the bed. You might be surprised to find a new job hiding under there!

Recently I had a conversation with a job seeker which I have had similarly with many others in the past. The conversation begins with a recap of what actions they have taken in their job search and what their expectations are for working together. I often here something like, “I can handle the job search – I just need a resume to get me in the door, and I know I can talk my way into the job – I can talk my way into anything”. Have you ever said or heard or said this before?

As articulate and compelling as You might think your communication skills are, if you have nothing to say that interests the interviewer, you will not gain a job offer.

The key is to know what to say in the interview and once again, it comes down to knowing who you are interviewing with. For every interview or influential contact you schedule a meeting with, you should spend several hours researching and educating yourself on the company in question. Areas to become familiar with include the industry, current needs or issues of the company, biggest competition, new projects underway, future plans and problems the company is currently facing. Think ahead of 3 – 5 ways you can use  your skills, expertise, contacts, or experience to help in achieve current corporate goals or resolve existing problems.

Coming to the meeting prepared will allow you to fully engage in the conversation, where you can communicate your expertise and the value that you will bring to the company. Otherwise your conversation ends up sounding like a “me, me, me” story instead of a “here is how can I help you” conversation.

To be memorable you must have something worth saying and fitting for the position. If you go in blind with no preparation or understanding of what they are looking for you are selling you skills and yourself short. You might have exactly what they need but it is up to you to let them see how well suited you are for their job, their company and solving their problems.

5 Tips to Make the Most of Your Meandering Work History

Each individual is different of course, but those with a history of job hopping might find resistance by hiring managers looking for candidates that will remain loyal to their company as the economy works to recover.

I recently encountered such a client who was concerned with his resume and interview options because of the wide range of jobs he has had over the past 15 years.  We discussed strategies and decided that it would be best if we identified the skills and requirements of his current job search and focused the resume on those criteria.

Passionate about the career and direction he has chosen, he wanted to do what ever he could to make sure this issue was addressed in the best way possible.

Five quick tips I offered include:

1. Determine the crucial transferable skills, experience, and requirements of the current career focus. Investigate what education, certification, skills, experience and other requirements are expected when pursuing the chosen position. Research targeted companies to uncover the culture, values and expectations of the company for further use in your resume. Check out the job descriptions on a few job boards to get the full understanding of what will be expected in that role.
2. Build your resume with the new career focus in mind. Determine which transferable skills and experiences to mine from each past position. Showcase these skills in the resume by knowing what the reader is looking for and boldly providing examples of the sought skills.
3. Show commonalities between jobs to increase the look of a strategically planned background. If you are seeking a position in an industry you have worked in before, make sure to show the total number of years in the industry to give your experience more credibility. Also, highlight the repeat use of transferable skills in your past positions such as customer service, IT, leadership, training, or management.
4. Prepare a few answers ahead of time for interview questions pertaining to your work history. First and foremost, always be honest. Be sure to communicate to the interviewer that the strength of the skills and achievements you developed has led you to your ability to succeed at the targeted position. Convey your passion, interest and excitement for a chance to work with their company or in the particular position.
5. Use those past positions to regain contacts, make new connections and build your network. A varied history can actually have an advantage over someone who has been in the same industry for 20+ years with like minded professionals. Use the diversity of your background to expand your networks and opportunities into areas that might have normally seemed too remote.

For my client and other job hoppers to succeed, use your vast experience to address the needs and expectations of the targeted position or company by building your resume to showcase your value toward those needs. What can you offer that will help them or fill a need? Promote that value and you will get noticed regardless of your job hopping past.

Lots of exciting things took place for me and ResumeWonders in 2009. I didn’t realize just how much had been achieved until I started this blog post. It was a wrap up of the year in preparation of 2010 goals and provided a surprising dose of pride when I realize all that I have achieved. Here is how my year looked.

• The business and my clientele grew for the 6^th consecutive year even with such a volatile economy.

• Earned 3-nominations for the 2009 TORI (Toast of Resume Industry) awards and won a 2^nd Place Award in the Career Change category.

• I spoke at several networking and workshop events providing job seekers with information, tricks, and tips on resume development, and job search strategies including social media venues.

• Was interviewed several times for different media programs developed by Channel 2 and Murray Feldman.

• With a little anticipation I assisted in training and leading in a 12 week, Dan Miller, 48 Days to Work You Love, career program. I assisted my friend Chad, a financial coach at PennyCoach.com and it turned out to be very rewarding for me as well as the job seekers.

• Attended the CDI Career Summit conference in October held in Orlando.

• Grew my local client base and hopefully helped many job seekers by participating in several local career fairs. Here I spoke with hundreds of job seekers educating them in job search strategies, reviewing their resumes and many times just listening to their fears at career fairs sponsored by Fox 2 Detroit.

• Was part of a collective resume writing group interviewed by The Recruiting Animal (@animal) on his blogtalkradio.com/animal internet radio program.

• Attended several webinars, teleseminars seminars and workshops to improve my business tactics, and my writing, speaking, selling skills.

• Moved my blog to www.resumewonders.com/blog which is a Word Press blog and have worked hard although not always successfully, to post new articles on it a couple of times a week.

• I’ve also made some great contacts, partnerships, and new friends during the year on Twitter and LinkedIn – both are invaluable to me and should be to you too.

Looking back over the year I realize I’ve accomplished a great deal in my professional life and my business. It gets me excited to think of the possibilities for 2010. Some of the achievements were planned goals but many were opportunities I was ready to take advantage of.

Many might be wondering, how you could write a list of accomplishments when you’ve lost your job. Well, have you volunteered elsewhere, donated time, gotten closer with kids, spouse or relatives? Have you taken up a hobby or a new health program? Have you networked and grown your contact list? Have you mastered Monster, Twitter, and LinkedIn?

Are you getting up every day and making an effort to find a paying job that will enhance your career, life and self-worth? Have you gone back to school? Did you fix the fence or read a few helpful networking books? Have you updated your resume, researched companies and sent out contact letters? All of these are achievements to be proud of yourself and written on your list of 2009 achievements.

Writing down your achievements will help to direct your new goals for 2010. What still needs to be done? What can you improve upon? What do you want to happen in your professional or personal life. Tomorrow’s goals start with today’s thoughts. So get thinking!

Although the economy remains weak as we round out the year, I believe it will start to start making a comeback during the end of the first quarter of 2010. You don’t want to miss the big wave when it arrives so make sure you are prepared and ready with your resume arsenal, a targeted job search strategy, and the determination and motivation to make it happen. Whether planned or unexpected if you prepare now,  you will be ready to take advantage of the wave of opportunity when it hits.

Shine On Job seekers!

Try Something New to Take the Insanity out of Your Job Search

I’ve gone to the same mall area shopping for Christmas presents three times in the last couple of weeks. Each time I have gone, I come home less and less satisfied with the amount of purchases I made. I just can’t seem to find what I am looking for at the stores available in that location. With just a week left until Christmas and with more than a few presents left to purchase, I decided to change my game plan.

What is the old Einstein saying; “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Well I decided to stir things up, not go insane and try and new shopping venue.

Wow! Was I excited to find new stores that had new ideas and gifts I had been looking for! I even went in to some of the same stores as the other location but they had a different variety of items to choose from and again was successful.

When the day of shopping was through, I had successfully crossed off every item on my list. I drove home thinking of how thankful I was to not have decided to give my usual stomping ground another try. Some times you’ve got to move away from routine to find the best deals.

Before you go insane in your job search, make sure to shake up your routine every once in a while. Take stock in the results of your efforts. If something isn’t working for you – try something new. Just because your friend was wildly successful on a specific LinkedIn group or networking event doesn’t mean you will immediately get the same results. Take hold of what Einstein said and try something else.

For example, if you are only working with job boards get involved in online groups in LinkedIn or one of the really great job search groups on Ning or Yahoo Groups. If you tend to visit more than network at networking groups try a new one, and develop a new elevator speech that accentuates your strengths and personal brand. Check out industry associations, newspapers, groups, or volunteer somewhere but try something new.

The most important thing to remember is to be creative and open to new ideas or suggestions, find what works for you and keep moving forward. Even with the Holiday season in full swing, now is still a good time to be setting up new year meetings and filling that pipeline with contacts and networking activities that target and work towards your goals. Keep your goals close and review them often to keep you focused and motivated. Save yourself the grief of driving yourself crazy by not trying new strategies, techniques, activities or groups to help you find the job you deserve.

There seems to still be an on going battle over the cover letter relevance. The majority of resume writers I have talked with still believe the cover letter can hold a few unique nuggets  of value that you can use to persuade hiring managers and decision makers to take a second or first look at your resume. Most recruiters I have talked with feel the cover letter is not important to the decision making process – however recruiters only place 2-3% of new employees so fo r the ir select clients this may be the case.

The truth is that 60% of hiring professionals read cover letters.

Often the gatekeepers, HR, recruiters do not read cover letters but when it comes time to narrow the selection to start the interviewing process, the decision makers can use the cover letters to identify which candidates have more than the required skills, achievements, and experience. They can also see if you also have a passion, a resolution for a current corporate issue or a new idea that can be a determining factor in offering you an interview.

You really never know who is reading your cover letter and how it will be used. I tell my clients – for those that do read it, it’s a vital part of the interview decision process so we need to create a targeted and focused letter that will open doors and get your resume read. The cover letter allows candidates the opportunity to promote their unique value and another chance for reader to identify your strengths and fit for the company.

A few examples of value and fit would be to include that you have got a true passion for working with numbers or your father worked for IBM 30 years ago and you have always wanted to work there too. You can also walk them through a dynamite combination of say, international experience and accounting strengths if you were going to work for an international company and you would be doing accounting work for subsidiaries in other countries. Sometimes they don’t recognize the value so if you find some reason for a great fit, make sure to share it with the reader.

Don’t assume they’ll make the connection…

you know what happens if you assume something?

If you are sending the letter to a recruiter, find out what their priorities are and incorporate examples of the priorities in the letter. If it is for a decision maker really work to bring out your unique value and why you would be perfect for the job, their team and their company. If it is for a general online application and you don’t know the company, keep it short but focus the cover letter on the requirements given in the job description. Whoever it is that you are righting it for, meet their needs and show you can make a difference in their company.

Watching the Ohio State University vs. University of Michigan football game over the weekend, a comment from one of the commentators stuck with me. It was during the 3^rd quarter and Ohio State was really creating some space between them and Michigan and Michigan had begun to make a lot of mistakes. The commentator said, “Mistakes happen to all football players but it’s how you respond that makes the difference” – well said. It makes the difference between a good football player and a great one.

Just as in every situation where a mistake is made, the person who chooses to learn and grow, look forward and move on after a mistake, is the one who will succeed personally and professionally. It is often said that

The choices you make today will decide your success for the future.

So, how do you know if those choices made today are the right ones for your future? By making decisions according to your goals. Goals? Do you have concrete goals on which to base your decisions? Do you have short and long-term goals for your personal and professional life? Having goals that are well thought out, written down and reviewed often will get accomplished much more often then those goals only dreamt about.

For job seekers in the process of an intense job search where so much seems out of your control it is critical to have a set of goals for your professional life. It will take you from wondering aimlessly to marching toward your future. What is it you want for your future? Money of course – that’s a given. But have you really taken the time to think about what you want now, in 1, 5 or 10 years?

The more you know about yourself and your goals, the more control you will have over your job search.

You don’t have to wait until the start of the New Year or until you are out of a job. You can set up goals today or at least begin to think strategically about your skills, your strengths, your passion and your drive to realize the type of career you want, the type of employee you are and what you want from your career. Don’t wait a day – start now. You will feel in control and will make better choices for you and your career, and you’ll be glad you did.