Entries tagged 'resume'
3 Tips for Getting What You Want in the New Year
Hello Dear JobsBlog Readers,
We are rounding out an amazing year of growth, loss, and change in the world of technology. As a part of the people that make up this workforce, I wanted to reflect on 2011 and starting 2012 - another year full of possibilities and products.As citizens of the high technology world, this is a chance to think about what you will do in the New Year and what part you will play:
1. Recommit yourself to your job. Maybe you have been thinking the grass is greener but are generally happy with your job. Either recommit yourself to your job – doing the best work possible with a positive attitude - or recommit yourself to finding a job that will get you to do your best work with the best possible attitude. Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener and I think as a whole we need to be thankful for what we have been blessed with. This is a trait often forgotten in this world of tumultuous talent change. If you’re not there personally, you can take steps to get there.
2. Keep yourself marketable. Complacency is another thing that is so easy to fall into. As we all know the economy is something that is uncertain. Equip yourself with what you need to be marketable – a class, a programming language, a mentor. You know you’re marketable when you meet the requirements for jobs you are interested in and get job interviews and offers if you choose to take it that far. Don’t let comfort and loads of work block you from taking care of yourself and your future.
3. Choose your attitude – I hinted about this earlier. Your attitude towards life and work – you control it and it controls the outcome of your work, job, and sometimes life. I’m not saying to view the world with rose colored glasses but be aware that you control your happiness. Sometimes keeping up with Joneses and getting to the next level are not what you are really looking for. Reexamine what your top priorities are and reinvest your time, energy, and attitude to those things.
Here’s to a happy and successful New Year and may 2012 bring you and your families’ great joy, hope, and true happiness.
-Eugenia
The best way to handle unrelated experience on your resume
Dear JobsBlog:
How much work detail should I include on my resume? I’m a little late coming to the technology industry though it is my first love and my dream career. Most of my work experience prior to getting my degree and most recent work experience is outside the tech industry. Should I include that on my resume? I don’t want to appear like I am lying, but it may be a bit of a shock for me to walk into someone’s office for the first time. Especially if they are expecting a relatively young person!
-Lots of ExperienceDear Lots of Experience:I think it’s great that you realize what your true passion is! It will come across in any interviews you go on and I appreciate that you care enough to tailor your resume for your audience. From your question, it sounds as though you recently completed a degree in Computer Science or a related field. A lot of recruiters and hiring managers would like to see your experience if you feel it is relevant to the job you’re applying to. So even if it is outside of the technology world, the fact that you were a program or project manager, a manager of people or teams, or have experience in long range planning or managing huge budgets, those are all traits or skills we love to see in combination with your new degree/skills.
Tailoring your resume to put those skills front and center and tying that together with personal projects (a technical blog, site, app) you have worked on in the tech world will get you where you want to go. Remember it’s not about who you worked for or what you worked on – the type or scope of work and the quality of work are what you will bring to your next job. If you can find a job where you can carry over your domain expertise – even better.
In the end, we are hiring people. People are not just skills and experience on a piece of paper; we are complete packages with a story. It will be your job to tie those parts of your story and make them relevant to the new job you’re trying to land.
Best of luck to you!
EugeniaResume review & advice: what I look for in a resume
Resume review & advice. Part II of II. (read Part I)Resume review actually consists of several different “layers” of consideration.
There are multiple factors that I consider simultaneously and all need to be accounted for before I make the decision to contact a candidate for a phone interview. What I’m looking for is a resume that “pops out" at me on multiple layers.
The first thing that I look for when reviewing a resume, are the basics: does this candidate meet the minimum requirements for the position? Keep in mind, for many positions there are two sets of requirements – the bare minimum required – and the bonus qualifications that I’m ideally hoping to find. In this layer, I’m only looking for the former – but I’m militant in my resolve. If I need a year of experience, and you have six months – sorry, I just clicked “NEXT”.
Resume review & advice: behind the scenes
Resume review & advice. Part I of II. (Read Part II)I’ve considered writing about resume advice since I started contributing to JobsBlog. However, I’ve put it off and even considered not writing about it at all because the subject matter can be VERY controversial.
I’m not going to make you the empty promise that following my advice will *really* help you land that next job or get your resume noticed in the sea of resumes. Resume writing is more art than science and any advice charading as the singular truth can lead you down the wrong path.
What I will share with you is, for better or worse, the process I use when reviewing resumes – and I’m going to give you the honest not-so-sugar-coated-truth about what goes through my mind when I click “NEXT.
This is an unvarnished account. Reader beware:JobsBlog Rewind: Does a failed startup on your resume count against you?
This article was originally posted in August 2008 and remains both a popular post and a poignant question.
Does a failed startup on your resume count against you?
This is a great question. In classic recruiter style, I’m going to be very definitive and say: I think that it depends. :-)Startups are great because they force people to wear multiple hats, work in a resource-constrained environment, and think about how what they work on interacts with other pieces of the puzzle rather than of owning a very narrow project or piece of code. While that entrepreneurial flexibility is highly desirable in any size org, a pattern of several in a row might unfairly brand someone as a serial startup person, likely to bolt every year or so.
