thecareerbeat.com Blog

The worst way to discover a resume error

In last week’s Yahoo! HotJobs poll, 15% said they have been alerted to a typo in their resumes by a recruiter or interviewer. Ouch.

Typos and other simple errors are very, very common in resumes. Ask any recruiter.

“There is nothing worse than receiving a cover letter addressed to a different person in a different company, misspellings of my name or my company name, or obvious errors in a resume,” says Lindsay Olson of Paradigm Staffing. “I receive resumes and cover letters like this daily, and it is hard for a recruiter to stand by their candidate if so little precaution and attention to detail has been given prior to hitting the send button.”

Hearing about your error from a beleaguered recruiter has got to be as fun as having a friend thank you for a 40th birthday card after he or she just turned 38.

A few tips for catching your resume errors:

• Spell-check, using the automatic tool that comes with Word.
• Proofread more than once. If possible, leave a few hours between readings to allow yourself distance. This will help in spotting errors.
• Have a friend read it over. You don’t need a cracker-jack copy editor, just another pair of attentive eyes.

Don’t let simple errors on a resume ruin your chances of landing the job! For more tips, see “Worst Resume Bloopers.”

What if the president was an engineer or doctor?

Last week The Economist took an interesting look at the types of professions that world leaders had before getting into politics.

The leading profession is law (e.g. President Obama), and that is especially true in the United States. But Hu Jintao, president of China, was trained as a hydraulic engineer. Those two very different paths to power might explain a lot about how each president executes his duties.

The chart from the article (included here) depicts several surprising professions that make up the world’s politicians. I had no idea there were so many journalists who became politicians!

Interesting factoid from the article: Herbert Hoover was the last American president trained as an engineer.

Poll: Job fairs not very effective

Last week’s poll on Yahoo! HotJobs suggests that job fairs may not be the best use of a job seeker’s time and effort.

As you can see from the graphic below, only 12% of respondents said they got a job through attending a career fair.

Q	Have you ever landed a job by attending a job fair?
Yes	12%
No	88%
9898 Votes to date

The main takeaway: Don’t put all your job-hunting eggs in one basket!

• Diversify your search efforts: Use many different job sites. Check newspapers, local or alumni career resources.
• Network as much as possible, both online and off.
• If you attend a job fair, adjust your expectations. You may not get a job, but the experience could yield helpful information, leads, and contacts.

Make more green in a green job

In some professions, you can make more money than your peers if you green-ify your job. That’s pretty good news for Earth Day.

In the article “Increase Your Earning Power by Going Green,” electricians and construction managers, for example, pull down higher salaries when working on renewable-energy or other green-associated projects.

It sounds like a pretty good formula — make more money while helping the environment.  If you want a green job, here are some good tips to remember:

The field is broad. Green jobs aren’t just for climate scientists or inventive recycling gurus. Research the possibilities. Try downloading the “Green Jobs Handbook” to learn more about the wide range of possible jobs, or check out this overview of green-collar jobs at Green For All.

Follow the stimulus money. Many of the job-creation projects funded by the $787 billion stimulus plan support green initiatives, from improving energy efficiency in housing to updating infrastructure and electricity delivery systems. Pay attention to your local news sources to learn about these projects. You can also learn more at the “Stimulus Job Watch” and recovery.gov.

Think long term. Experts predict that the green sector will continue to grow and provide new jobs for years to come. That means you have time to update your skills or training, or plan a career-changing strategy. Or even volunteer so that you become more knowledgeable and skilled in your selected green niche. Many colleges are adding green-related programs and certifications to help gear workers for new successes.

For more, check out the “Finding a Green Job” section of Yahoo! Green or the resources page at Green For All. Or see my previous post: “Green Jobs Have Momentum.” Happy Earth Day!

Poll: More than a third would take pay cut

In the latest Yahoo! HotJobs weekly poll, more than a third of site visitors said they would take a 10% pay cut in order to keep their jobs. (The number is even higher if you exclude the unemployed participants.) When the alternative is a layoff, a salary sacrifice becomes understandably preferable.

“Real pay cuts for people are something companies are very cautious about doing. We’re seeing some, and it is a sign of the times,” said John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. He was quoted in the article “4 Types of Pay Cuts, and What You Can Do About Them.”

For complete poll results, see the table below.

Q	Would you be willing to take a 10% pay cut in order to keep your current job?
Yes	38%
No	30%
I don’t have a job	32%
10717 Votes to date

Wacky but wise: “I Have Confidence”

I’ve talked and read a lot lately about how important a good, confident attitude is for getting a job and succeeding in one. But with all the bad news about the economy and unemployment, discouragement lurks at every turn. How to keep your attitude on the right track?

On some level we can all relate to Maria, the plucky heroine on The Sound of Music who faces a daunting new job as the governess of seven kids. Faced with self-doubt and fear of failure, she nonetheless takes a moment to reflect on the situation and — as is the case in all good musicals — sing about it.

Through the course of the “I Have Confidence” song she gets herself in the right frame of mind to tackle the job and succeed. If you’ve seen the movie (and who hasn’t?), you can’t help but smile and feel inspired by the end of the song.

Call me sentimental or cheesy, but the song can lend some perspective for doing your best in a job search, a job interview, or any number of obstacles in your career. (It’s better if you can also replay the scene in your mind with the guitar-swinging and skipping!)

You can also find some good non-musical tips for your attitude in these articles: “C’Mon Get Happy: Tips for Staying Positive at Work” or “Love the Job You Have.”

At the end of the day, a good attitude is critical to success, so do what it takes to get you there. And if it happens to be a bit of karaoke to Maria’s song, here are the lyrics for you:

(Full disclosure: I’ve had Sound of Music on my mind this week after seeing this fantastic video about a seemingly random moment in a European train station.)

1 in 4 look to stimulus for career boost

Interesting result for latest weekly poll on Yahoo! HotJobs — nearly a quarter of respondents said they are looking to get a job or career boost from the U.S. stimulus plan.

Q	How much does the U.S. stimulus plan factor into your job/career plans?
Plenty. I hope to get one of the new jobs!	24%
Some. It may help me, if only indirectly.	13%
Not much, but I’m keeping options open.	20%
Not at all.	43%
5160 Votes to date

Daring job hunters go for broke

Job hunting season is getting more competitive than ever, and some creative participants are taking it to a risky new level.

Take Beverly Shepard. An award-winning marketer with degrees in journalism and law, she has tried for months to find work. She sent resumes, made phone calls, and networked – with little result.

Now she’s put her networking into hyperdrive: She’s offering friends a finder’s fee of up to $6,000 to get her a full-time job.

Expanding reach in a big way

Shepard, who lives in Norfolk, Virginia, has set her offer to expire on April 30 as an incentive for her friends to “work fast.”

Networking also inspired Mark Heuer, an unemployed management professional, to take out a billboard to advertise his job search. “I thought, ‘How can I get in front of more people?’ Highway 45 in Milwaukee captures 100,000+ cars a day,” he said.

San Francisco resident Robin Stearns was so fed up with the bleak job market for her husband, a recent MBA graduate, that she started the site myhusbandneedsajob.com.

Both Heuer and Stearns told Yahoo! HotJobs their approaches have attracted widespread media attention and some interviews, but as of this writing no relevant job offers.

Should you try it?

While these and other tactics — like display ads on social networking sites or elaborate video resumes — can make any job seeker stand out, some experts caution about getting too creative.

“Even in today’s market, it’s excelling at the fundamentals that helps job seekers stand out,” says Andy Denka, executive director of financial staffing firm Accountemps. “Individuals should focus their efforts first and foremost on creative top-notch resumes, networking with everyone they know, and honing their interview skills.”

For more tips, check out my article on extreme job hunting and this article, “Unconventional Job-Search Strategies: Savvy Move or Silly Stunt?”

“I recommend doing things that set oneself above the sea of candidates that are out seeking opportunity,” says Heuer. “Especially now in unprecedented times.”

But renting a billboard now might just make you seem like a copycat.