Mark Anthony Dyson, Author at The Voice of Job Seekers

Job Seekers, Don’t Let Donald Sterling Happen to You (diversity is not just race)!

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In this diversity discussion, Job Seekers must decide not only that biases will determine where he or she works, but also if it will have an affect at all on their workplace experience at all. We advocate that job seekers hire their next employers, not just the other way around.

Linette Singleton (@NPDIVUS) is the CEO of Singleton Consulting Group, Inc., and founder of NonProfitDiversity.us. The latter encourages and advocates conversations of diversity and inclusion issues and job postings to companies that promotes the same causes. She is a non-profit marketing professional, and is often found on Twitter starting meaningful conversations about diversity.

The L.A. Clipper/Don Sterling incident has sparked further discussion about race, and although it affects many, a much broader discussion takes place in this episode. This discussion nationwide needs expand to inclusion and the overall picture of the workplace. Linette brings up an excellent point that the Clippers have excelled despite the owner’s comments. It matters how your immediate work environment responds (including immediate leadership) that makes a difference in your tolerance and response.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:

Diversity is more about cultural differences than race alone
Employers need to expand their cultural hiring to reach as many markets as possible
Diversity is so much more than a black and white issue, but more of a grey issue
Job seekers should investigate deeply in looking at the leadership of a company to see if they reflect claims of diversity. If it doesn’t reflect in the leadership, it is unlikely the company has diversity among employees
Everyone is different in their tolerance as everyone has a breaking point. Each individual understands and decides what he or she will tolerate

Linette references:

Guidestar.com

990 reports

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

5 Ways Grammarly is Useful for Proofreading Resume and Cover Letters

Editors note: Grammarly is the first affiliate partner for this blog, and those who purchase it through my affiliate link, I receive compensation. The reason is simply coincidental, I have recommended before this post 2 1/2 years ago. It is a product I believe in for the job seeker who needs help to edit resume and cover letters (and other documents).

I have heard many different arguments for NOT using proofreading software over the years. As a writer, I understand that most people will not take the time to proofread for many levels of grammar. Just as it is unrealistic for every English major to master all phases of grammar, it is also unrealistic for all proofreading software to catch every single grammar anomaly.

Editors are paid to be perfect. I use an editor for my client’s work, you know, the ones that pay me hundreds of dollars to write resumes, business documents, etc.

I use Grammarly to help me to write for the blog from time to time, because real editors are so doggone expensive. It also helps me manage the increased volume of work received around this time of year. How many people use an editor, or can afford an editor, or clear about the value of an editor? I have edited documents for other resume writers, and they consider me a good editor, but not as effective as the ones that do it for a living.

That is why using Grammarly is worth its value for most job seekers. There are colleges like the University of Phoenix and University of South Florida who provide the use of the software for students. Naysayers argue that proofreading software does not recognize, and cannot address context or recognize the less obvious grammar rules. This is true. That is where the human eye is the most important, but if most people can assess the context well enough beyond their spelling and verb tense Achilles heel, then Grammarly will add value.

To check a quick sentence on email to an employer or to a friend, you have choices to set to “business” or “casual,” and other choice settings you deem appropriate.

I am offering five reasons why it’s so useful for most people who can use a second pair of eyes:

1. Spelling

Grammarly is excellent at picking up spelling errors. Even if it does not discern the context 100% of the time, choices will be available for your choosing.

2. Correct comma placement

I found that Grammarly is mindful in accepting the placement when listing three items in a row as demonstrated. On a resume, this is important to get right. Many employers ding the applicants for not having a perfect resume and many times comma placement were a problem. Grammarly is consistent to alert the user whether to remove the comma, or to correctly place it.

3. Past and present tense

This is where I cough and gasp here because most of the time Grammarly recognizes inconsistent action verbs used as past tense. Then there is the current job situation where there are accomplishments past and current that need to be noted. Although, in this example, Grammarly OK’d the content, it does not always succeed.

4. Capitalization

Grammarly is excellent in recognizing capitalization errors. No matter the level of profession, I have found that these errors are common and sometimes egregious. The 2013 version of Microsoft Office is equal to the task, but Grammarly has always been a champion in this area. I have tested around 15 of the major (or popular) grammar proofreading software or grammar tutorials. Grammarly so far has been the most consistent as far as a correction software.

5. Passive tense

I have used the academic version of Grammarly and to me, it is nearly perfect. Should you choose the “casual” setting on the paid version (see 1st example screen shot), it will not be as keen as the technical or business setting. Phrases such as, “could have been” or “should have been,” are mostly flagged.

I will say that there are times when Grammarly will say to check the sentence again for passive tense (I tried to provide an example, but the examples were too confusing). As with all proofreading/grammar software, you must use good judgment.

Conclusion

Some of my colleagues will be outraged for me to recommend Grammarly or any software for grammar. I think that if you have witnessed as many resumes and cover letters with horrid grammar, tools like Grammarly can bring you significantly closer to perfection than without an editor or an English major (choose a professional editor). The cost of paying for Grammarly is far less than an editor. It is an opportunity to take your documents from subpar to great, or from great to excellent.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

TweetMyJobs, and Follow Up Advice for Job Seekers

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TweetMyJobs was created and formed in 2009 during the worst economic downfall since the depression. Gary and Lauriana Zukowski leveraged Twitter to help job seekers get the competitive advantage quicker than the job board that were on the market. Steve Levy is an industry leader and mentor in the career recruiting space, who stated the obvious in our conversation, “job seekers, follow-up so you won’t fall behind in your job search.”

TweetMyJobs, a division of CareerArc Group, is the leading social and mobile recruitment and job distribution network matching job seekers with employers. Gary Zukowski (@GaryZukowski) is the co-founder (along with his wife, Lauriana) of TweetMyJobs launched in 2009. The Zukowskis found a way to leverage Twitter to deliver job leads to users, and create a competitive advantage to most of the current job boards. Gary has been seen on CNN, MSNBC, and Tweet My Jobs is often featured on “best of ” career site lists.

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation:

The company was started in 2009, and Gary shares the story of how he and Lauriana started the company in the middle of the Great Recession
Since Twitter is considered a public domain, and more searchable than most of the other social media platforms, was easiest to build job channels to serve job seekers
We discussed how the acquisition of TweetMyJobs by the CareerArc Group brought access to other resources such as internships.com and brilliant technology personnel and eventually opened the door to power jobs to cities as a platform like Atlanta, Newark, and Houston.

Steve Levy (@levyrecruits) is self-described as an “Old School”/”New Cool” Player-Coach-Strategist who recruits to retain, and mentors recruiters to think and perform better as well as employees at all levels to become Talent Scouts. I wanted to discuss follow-up with Steve inspired by his article on YouTern’s, The Savvy Intern Blog, “The Best Rule EVER for Following Up: Promised Plus 1.” During our conversation, I quoted from his article as a good model for following up with a recruiter:

““Steve, while I’m certain you’re the busiest person at XYZ Company, I’m very much interested in becoming the second busiest person there – if not the first. So I’m calling now to follow-up. For me to become the second (if not the first) busiest person at XYZ, I need to hear from you. I can be reached at…”

Other highlights from our conversation:

Steve says that it is not good business if you do not follow-up shortly after an interview with the recruiter
We also discuss that the lack of follow-up says something about the job seeker’s confidence
Picking the phone and not waiting is as much a part of networking and the other components of the job search