Mark Anthony Dyson, Author at The Voice of Job Seekers

About Mark Anthony Dyson

Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!"

You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Simplified Evergreen Resume Tips For Any Year That Wins

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Companies want qualified people to do the job, and stories that combine the company’s heartbeat with the unique narratives of the candidates win.

This is the most robust resume discussion I’ve had in the 12+ years of this podcast.

In this episode, we discuss trends in resume writing, which help you write more purposefully, tell a story, and move employers to call you. More resume writers and career professionals, including myself and my guest, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, advise your resume, along with your LinkedIn profile, tell a complete story. We discuss storytelling everywhere, the importance of focus, and social media.

Do your resume and social profiles tell a story that helps your knowledge, skills, and abilities stand out? Here are three ways to provide feedback:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708.365.9822
Email: [email protected]
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com/72, press the Send Voicemail button on the left, activate your laptop microphone, and leave a message.

Jacqui (@ValueIntoWords) is one of the 37 Master Resume Writers quoted in many national publications, including TIME, Forbes.com, and FOX Business. She blogs for U.S. News, Glassdoor.com, and her blog CareerTrend.com

As a resume writer, I was reminded how important the process of ascertaining the job seeker. Jacqui loves the journalistic approach of the who, when, why, what, and how. I wanted to talk with Jacqui about trends, not necessarily how to write a resume. These days, employers are looking to shorten the time they review resumes and what gives them the most information in minimal time.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:

- We discuss the significance of the visual resume “The Resume Infographic” by Hannah Morgan and how the resume has evolved since 2009.
- Jacqui stated that storytelling had gained a drumbeat as a mantra, reaching epic proportions in social media circles.
- With headlines and subheadlines, content has become more affluent, detailed, and brief, but the words matter the most. Jacqui tries to add texture to clients by identifying the who, what, when, why, and how.
- The visual element enhances the content since words are the most critical element. Charts and graphs illustrate a snapshot view of some of the content. They condense content or give condensed content a top for skimmers or readers who want dashes of excitement.
- Jacqui stated that a visual resume shouldn’t be your primary resume, but there is an audience for “visual” as a part of your web portfolio.
- People need to slow down and think through the foundational stories behind visuals to become more meaningful and know they have roots – understanding who you’ve become and why that matters.
- LinkedIn has become a channel that can model the value shown on a resume. Jacqui says that 90% of her clients will have a LinkedIn profile and a resume.
- LinkedIn has expanded from an acceptable static profile to a more dynamic one. Job seekers must consider their audience and customize their participation.
- Social media can now be used to view or preview the epilog of your resume. Although it’s an old term, it says so much. We should expand our view of a resume.
- Everyone should know their story from the beginning to today and into the future.
- I asked Jacqui to share how the stories will differ between the resume and social media. In your process, you may end up in a different career position while enhancing the story elements.

I hope you enjoy this rare 80+ minute conversation. I wrestled with editing it to be shorter, but I felt this conversation and perspective are rarely published. Enjoy!

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How To Successfully Transition From Military To Civilian Jobs

My father was a decorated U.S. Marine who fought in the South Pacific during the Second World War. His valor earned him a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart, and he was my hero when I was a kid and well into adulthood. I once asked him how difficult it was to leave the military behind and enter the civilian job market. He replied with a truth still echoed today among veterans: “You never fully transition from the military…some part of it will always be with you.”

There’s a laundry list of things to consider as you transition to the civilian job market and close that gap. You’ll get advice (solicited and unsolicited) from various perspectives with varying degrees of reliability. I’m going to focus on one critical factor — from the hiring manager’s perspective—that I have seen most veterans struggle with returning to the civilian job market: relating how daily military tasks and duties translate to marketable civilian skills that hiring managers want.

Think “Entry Strategy,”; not just “Exit Strategy”

Planning your military exit strategy must include steps for entering the civilian job market. Don’t wait until you are discharged to think about this next phase of your life. An entry strategy involves considering how your military service can serve you as you transfer to a civilian career. Here are five questions to ask yourself to get started:

· Which industries could best benefit from my training and experience?

· What kind of work am I best qualified for within those industries?

· What kind of work do I want to do? How well does it align with my skills, knowledge, and experience?

· Do I want or need to return to school first to finish that degree and get an advanced degree, or do I have to pursue certification or a trade license?

· Will I have to move to improve my chances of getting hired in one of those industries? Which areas of the country have a better employment scenario, lower cost of living, and cheaper housing that will allow me to be successful?

Tasks and Duties, Core Competencies, and Functional Expertise

Let’s first define some terms before we drill deeper:

· Tasks and duties: Daily work-related activities aligned with a particular job or position. Example: Laborer who distributes stacks of sheetrock into different areas at a building site.

· Core competencies: A series of related duties/tasks/responsibilities. Example: An ability to read house plans, use power and hand tools, and frame a house would suggest a “carpenter” core competency

· Functional expertise: A series of related and/or peripheral core competencies. Example: Knowledge/expertise in home design, home building, finance, and one or more related core competencies (HVAC, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc.) would suggest a “general contractor” or “builder” functional expertise.

Figure 1 is a simple example of the Task/Duty to Functional Expertise model.

Figure 1. Task/Duty to Functional Expertise Model (modified from Confessions of Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0, Second Edition, by Donn LeVie Jr.)

Can you have more than one functional expertise area? Absolutely! Typically, one area of functional expertise will be dominant for most people. In my book, Confessions of a Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0 (Second Edition), I show several specific military examples in the chapter for military veterans where I take duties/skills and translate them to core competencies and then to functional expertise.

There are two primary questions you can ask yourself as you create your Tasks/Duties to Functional Expertise hierarchy:

1. What specific skills, knowledge, and experience must I have to perform these military duties, tasks, and responsibilities?

2. How would I classify those skill sets, knowledge, and experience into practical job function categories civilian employers would understand?

Don’t kid yourself….these questions require thorough and deep thinking, maybe even help from other veterans. Two websites that can help here:

http://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/explore-careers.aspx

http://www.military.com/military-transition

Two Examples from Military Résumés

The following examples come from résumés in client organizations. I asked the individuals, “ How did this task fit with a higher strategic objective for the organization?” “How did your job fit in with the bigger picture?” For some folks, the question had to be asked multiple times in different ways to extract more information for determining core competencies and functional expertise.

Example 1: U.S. Air Force returning veteran (C-130 crew chief) seeking opportunities in private industry (commercial, private airlines).

Original bulleted item: “Performed C-130 aircraft maintenance at locations worldwide.”

Revised bulleted item: “Led team that maintained state-of-the-art C-130 military transport aircraft/gunships using various technical skills and knowledge to ensure crew safety, operational readiness, and mission success at strategic global locations.”

The task, as expressed in the original bulleted item, becomes a functional expertise that embraces the core competencies of project management, personnel management, aeronautical mechanics, electronics, safety systems, and so on, just by asking more probing questions.

Example 2: U.S. Army returning veteran (armored vehicle mechanic) seeking opportunities in private industry (heavy equipment mechanic).

Original bulleted item: “Responsible for maintaining several Abrams M1A1 armored vehicles.”

Revised bulleted item: “Maintained three state-of-the-art Abrams M1A1 armored vehicles valued at $13 million with XXX hours Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) for a 92 percent uptime efficiency rating to support field operations in a location in the Middle East.”

Whenever quantitative values for an accomplishment can be included, your stock goes up with hiring managers because they speak the language of numbers (revenues generated, costs avoided, percent improvement, etc.). Place quantitative values in a bold typeface on your résumé to draw the hiring manager’s eye.

The very nature of the word “transition” implies a gradual change from one state to another. Any job search should start with the premise that getting hired is all about what the hiring manager needs and wants; getting hired is never about you. It’s always about how the hiring manager will benefit from the future benefits of your expertise.

Don’t fall into the trap of using your cover letter as a summary of your résumé (eliminate the military jargon and acronyms); get to the point immediately in your first sentence and don’t state the obvious (“I have enclosed my résumé…”). Show how you can serve as the hiring manager’s “forward observer” through your demonstrated expertise.

Former Fortune 500 hiring manager Donn LeVie Jr. is the author of Strategic Career Engagement (September 2015), and the book that reset the rules for successful job and career strategies: Confessions of a Hiring Manager Rev. 2.0 (June 2012, Winner of the 2012 Global eBook Award and Winner of the 2012 International Book Award for Jobs/Careers). His next book, The Demilitarized Zone: From Deployed to Employed will be available later in 2016. He is a keynote speaker and leads career strategy seminars from the hiring manager’s perspective at conferences, business/trade schools, colleges and universities, and U.S. military veterans organizations. Follow Donn now on Twitter @donnlevie and his blog at http://donnleviejrstrategies.wordpress.com.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!"

You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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by Mark Anthony Dyson

Be the Ultimate Prescription to the Company’s Job Description

Many people want the resume dead – or they at least want to hold a funeral for it. It’s very sexy to proclaim the resume’s demise, bringing significant street cred.

The resume is still an essential part of your job search. The job description still tells you where to send or upload it. It’s a stimulant for conversations at every level.

But the rest is up to you. Resumes still matter, but they are no longer your primary tool for the job search. They only jump-start the process. A resume alone does not give cause for an employer to call you. Recruiters and hiring managers will Google you first for more information – which is all the more reason for you to make sure Google points to your best profiles and work.

And get this: You can start your job search without a perfect resume. Your resume is not a magic potion. Those who obsess over tweaking it are overthinking it and its value.

What job search tactics provide additional value than a resume alone?

Here are 10:

1. Build a Personal Brand That Has Global Appeal

Your skills can be taught – in the classroom, online, or through coaching. However, no one can learn your personality. Your life experiences, trials, victories, and outlook are unique. Once you understand how your skills and personality mesh to make a viable marketing unit, then you can confidently conquer what’s yours.

2. Know Your Market Value

Negotiation is a constant fact of the job hunt, and everything is about your total compensation package. Think about your investment of time, travel to learn your skills, the value of the opportunity, and the process of perfecting your craft, and then research.

There are many tools, articles, and books to help you determine your salary and market value.

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Read: Why Your Career Needs CPR

3. Keep Lifestyle and Values in Mind

Consider options like remote work. Stop treating life as it were the obstacle to your ideal career. The happiest people wrap their careers around what matters to them most. Recognize the nuances of your lifestyle; they will show you how to shape your career around life’s challenges.

4. Deliver Content Where It Is Needed and Wanted

Too many job seekers move from job to job. If you want to take control of your career, you must create quality opportunities by providing content. The more recruiters and employers know about you, the more likely they will contact you about open roles. Providing content lets you control the conversation by focusing on your strengths and expertise.

5. Make Sure You Deliver Content Through the Right Channels

How you deliver content matters. You want to be top of mind. Consider posting on a personal website or via LinkedIn Pulse. You could even offer instructional videos on YouTube, Instagram, or Snapchat. Podcasts also provide raw, informative, and personable content to create engagement and visibility.

How you deliver content depends on where decision-makers in your industry are active. Use the channels they use.

Listen to Personal Branding, Social Proof, and YouTern

6. Service Is the New Networking

You will be memorable when you offer genuine help to your network and meet people’s needs as best you can. The hardest part is doing that without expecting anything in return.

Remember that the people you are helping aren’t the only ones who benefit.

Consider depositing goodness in the bank of karma as a viable and long-term career strategy.

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7. Be Smart About Personal SEO

It is critical to be found on Google. One day, it will be essential to be known by AI if you want your work to be seen. Your social presence should trigger interest and intrigue in employers. You can use tools such as Google Alerts, Talkwalker, and Google Analytics (if you have a website) to tell who shares or links to your content. You can monitor your reputation and credibility to ensure your mentions are positive. If there were negative narratives about you (barring any crimes committed or unethical actions), positive things others say push down the negative.

8. Be the Prescription to the Company’s Job Description

Job seekers with a “remedy” mindset know the industry challenges at large and the particular difficulties of potential employers.

Engaging your network, industry news, and professional organizations create growth.

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Let remedies and solutions dominate your social presence. It will make it easy to identify and stand out to anyone interested in working with you.

Listen to 6 Hazardous Roads to an Unsuccessful Job Search

9. Set Up an Online Location to Serve as an ‘Epilogue’ to Your Resume

I am all for using LinkedIn for content creation, but the optimal place I recommend is a blog. LinkedIn could go away, taking your content with it. A blog is where you ultimately control what people see and how much they see.

10. Persuade Through Social Proof

Networking and researching are essential when preparing your career documents and for interviews. Before almost any interaction today, both parties will use Google and forms of social proof to check the authenticity of the other party. You will be searched by someone you’re meeting for coffee or an interview. Do you think they take your word when you say you’re a “guru”?

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More and more, the Web is your resume. Your internet presence should expand on the skills and capabilities listed in your resume. The less employers see your work and know about you, the more you’re liable. It’s better to craft your social profiles to tell a career story so employers and recruiters will want to know more.

This article was originally published on Recruiter.com