Career Archives - Page 25 of 28 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Career Advice I Will Not Follow From Observing Politicians

Politics is an inflammatory subject that people take personally. But more often than not, politics is the lot for career advice. Americans in general take criticism of their favorite candidate seriously. I watch the debates, speeches, and commentaries and as it has reinforced what not to do in the job search. One thing that stands out to me is that you can turn people on and off without having a conversation.

Networking: Your hands say what your mouth won’t make clear

Despite what we believe on the political elections, we learned this week that your hands speak a language of its own, and those excluded from the conversation will interpret it any way we want. Hand gestures are easy to mis-interpret, thus terminating your employment candidacy. Hand gestures are not wrong, but undisciplined movement can fail efforts to communicate well. An article in Forbes in 2006 confirms,

“Use hand gestures for emphasis…”

and that,

“You’re not a cheerleader, and you don’t want to fidget unconsciously. This is why it’s important to practice before a mirror.”

The startling image of Jan Brewer pointing at President Obama thrilled some, and angered others, depending who you champion. If no one has coached your hand gestures through Toastmasters or Theater, then you may not know what non-verbal messages you’re sending. If second and third interviews are rare, consider getting some coaching, especially if your hand movements are family entertainment.

Interviews: Mean what you say, and show what you mean

The whole tax return controversy with Gingrich and Romney is a great lesson in sending clear messages. If what you show people is different from what you said, it is hard to retain credibility (assuming you earned it to begin with). This is a common issue with job seekers who are able to get interviews, but no call backs. A frequent anomaly is stating on your résumé a certain type of experience, but unclear in displaying through accomplishments and results the skills needed to perform the job.

It shows up in your writing, too. You are just the last one to know.

Job search: The first candidate is not always the best job candidate

CNN reported right after the South Carolina Republican primary, that Romney had spent over million dollars in Florida primary ads before the other candidates spent money. We don’t know the outcome of the Florida primary, and neither do you when you race to be the first to apply for job. When employers announce an opening, most job seekers race to apply. That is old thinking as employers have many choices, and will wait until they have a pool of candidates. For me to say that this is recent is wrong because it has been that way for years. That is why, you apply when you have established and determined that the package you offer is your best.

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

Teach Your Employed Teen About Career And Life

Your working son or daughter cannot wrap his or her head around money or worth yet. They will need to understand the value career and life. Teaching this to children may save them heartache, so they won’t sell themselves short.

My son, “Boy Wonder,” has a budget from us on payday. He knows to save X amount for the first year of college because he will not work. He pays his own cell phone bill (two months in advance). He gives his brother an allowance (he insisted on giving an allowance).

The rest is for himself. We allow a little freedom for him to spend it on what he wants, but we have used his freedom as training opportunities.

Parents need to look for training opportunities that will add value, and not build Dad or Mom’s domain of authority. Although he or she is 16 or 17, and legally a parent’s responsibility, the bully in the parent should be dying, and the trainer and mentor are regular guests. That is if they are not doing drugs, or out of control the bully will need to stay longer. But I digress.

It is the trainer and mentor that will need to show a lifelong lesson to their employed teen about value.

Demonstrate responsibility monetary value, not just the value of money. My working son used calls me “frugal” and not cheap. He is starting to shop around, but his natural inclination is seeing it—get it. Instead of saying “no,” have them research before acting. Have him or her share what they earn with siblings.
Mistakes and error in judgment are OK. Teach them the correct way. Video games are a tool for this lesson. Both of my sons have used their money to buy games they regret. “Boy Wonder”has bought two video games ever since November 2010.
Show them the value of doing the dirty work. This is a career lesson for every age: dirty work sustains value at 17 for life. I told the story of my son cleaning poop at work and assigned to poop duty several times after the one incident. He knows that he may need to do that for a patient one day as a nurse. Some of the value is in sharing that with every employer he interviews with how it translates to his future career.
Model for them what money will not bring, and the value this adds to life. If he or she is saving, sharing, learning, earning, and implementing the lessons learned, eventually they will adapt your values and philosophies (assuming that this is out of love and not an obligation).
Display the value of love. The hardest thing for a parent to do is not to allow success and failure to influence the attention given to your working teen’s siblings. Love is unconditional, and each lesson as a result of failure needs to have the same intensity of love given in success.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

My 9, 9, 9 Plan to Remove Errors From Your Resume. Now.

We know how critical it is to remove resume errors as it is the first impression an employer gleans from hundreds of resumes seen for a position. That is unless you know how to leap over the hurdles you see.

Edwin Moses jumped hurdles for many years and won 122 races in a row. Job seekers should not create their own hurdles through their own writing, or someone else viewing. Your resume must be hurdle free. Edwin Moses also had the first 9-9-9 accomplishment, that is 9 years, 9 months, and 9 days undefeated, converse to Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 economic plan.

Can you imagine doing anything perfect for almost 10 years?

If you are struggling with writing your résumé, and you can’t hire a competent resume writer, then I hope the following 9-9-9 plan will work for you.

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The first 9 are straight forward:

1. Remove your physical house address.

2. Toss your super vague OBJECTIVE, SUMMARY, SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS that says nothing. Create a contribution statement than feeling obliged to filling in this space.

3. Delete interrupters such as “…as well as…”—it douses the fire you want in your résumé.

4. Castrate adjectives. 1 or 2, are fine. More than this borders on bragging than evidential.

5. Replace or banish overused words (check how many times you use provide, ensure etc.).

6. Change the italics, underlines, and funky fonts (not all scanners will pick up creative fonts).

7. Redo the challenge, action, but no result, or, challenge without an action or results. Each description should contain all three elements.

8. Revise the use I, we or me. Although acceptable and debatable in writing federal resumes, in the private or civilian sector it’s unacceptable. Your résumé is describing you.

9. Edit the long paragraphs that almost say something, but fails to say anything.

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The second 9 apply carefully

10. Age identifying information. I have always said exclude jobs that go back more than 15 years. If your degree is past 1995, leave the year off. If the position doesn’t require a degree, consider omitting the degree entirely.

11. Too much information for the wrong reasons such as age, religion etc. Things like the address and zip code is an unnecessary evil.

12. Three pages is too long for civilian and private industry résumés. Three to five-page resumes are common, and acceptable. If it doesn’t have to be four or five pages, then consider condensing.

13. It looks more like a “to-do” list. So you copied, and pasted the job description on your résumé, and it looks like a longer job description. Why would an employer ask for a résumé if everyone copied and pasted the job description, when they want to know how you contributed?

14. Company speak. If there is language that only your company uses that you include on your résumé, you will lose the reviewer.

15. Antiquated and unknown file attachments of your résumé. This is a crime in all states, but most employers will not tell you that they cannot open your attachment. Everyone can open a .doc Word extension or a PDF version.

16. Resume is broadly written for more than one position. Since most resumes keyword scanned for one position, and not having enough keywords can only achieve minimal results. One résumé, one position.

17. Lacking description with action verbs at the beginning of sentences. It is not possible to write a challenge, action, and result in four words or less. People will generally insert action verbs for most of their résumés instead of being consistent with verbs throughout the entire resume.

18. Bragging and boasting without quantifiable measures and results. No one’s impressed if you say that you are “dynamic” or “excellent” without substantiating that you are…awesome.

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9 Ingredients to Market Yourself and Your Resume

19. Sprinkle and not pour your résumé to the job market. Think twice about sending 100 résumés monthly (or weekly), and consider sending 25 monthly (or weekly). Research, and talk to a person before sending.

20. Know the name. Don’t forward a résumé without a name, even if the posting says to do so.

21. The prize is to customize. One résumé, one employer.

22. Emphasize “how well,” not only on “how.” The two signs that catches the eye are the $, and the %.

23. Cast a spell…checker for the secret ingredient. It’s the sugar that makes the medicine go down.

24. Knoweth thy resume submission rules. Strict guidelines are a source of immense frustration if you lack the understanding.

25. Keywords are not just action verbs. That is all.

26. Don’t master the art of “almost” saying something. Say it, qualify it, quantify it, succinctly, and watch the commas splices.

27. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself. No one else will.

Feel free to add others in the comment section, as there are plenty more infractions.