Sunday, March 15, 2020

What To Do With Your Hands During An Interview

What To Do With Your Hands During An InterviewDuring an interview, it is okay to be nervous, but dont let being nervous be a distraction to theinterviewer. This is your time to shine and first impressions mean everything. Interviewers notice everything about you from the moment you step through the door. Body language is a huge deal and it can tell a lot about the candidate. As a candidate, youre so focused on making a great impression you never pay much attention to your hand gestures. What exactly should you do with your hands during an interview? googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Source Business Insider

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

How Far Back Should a Resume Go Tips from 5x Certified Resume Writer

How Far Back Should a Resume Go Tips from 5x Certified Resume WriterPosted on March 21, 2019July 1, 2019 by Virginia Franco When it comes to writing a resume, many struggle with deciding how far back to go, what to include, and what not to include as part of your career history. I am an advocate of devoting the majority of the real estate on your resume to what happened in the past 15 years. In this article, Ill present the case for and against this stance, discuss some workarounds that might work for everyone, and throw in my two cents on what to include on LinkedIn. Why you might only go back 15 years on a resumeIn my experience, when readers (recruiters or hiring managers) start learning about roles that happened more than 15 years ago, and they see the dates associated with them, their brains unwittingly go down a rabbit hole.The rabbit hole is filled with questions like I wonder how old this person is? or I wonder how old their kids are? In my view, the rabbit hole is more of a menschenfreundlich nature idiosyncrasy than an intentional age discrimination issue. Furthermore, whether we like it or not, age discrimination does exist. Limiting your resume to your last 15 years can help mitigate this barrier to hiring, demonstrate that your fruchtwein relevant experience is recent and that youve kept up with current workplace trends. If your experience is older than 15 years but isnt vital or relevant to the role youre targeting, consider cutting it. (Whether or not you want to work for a company that doesnt value your years of experience is a topic for another conversation.) As an executive resume writer I strive to create a document that is timeless so that the reader does not know at first glance if my client is 35 or 75. How to show more than 15 years experience on a resumeFor many the idea of not including earlier experience, particularly when they perceive it as critical to who they are today, is a tough pill to swallow. In addition, there are times when earlier roles lend additional credibility to a candidates skills or showcase some additional skill diversity that otherwise wouldnt have been known. The workaroundI am a huge proponent of including an Earlier Experience category when the experience from prior to 15 years enhances the narrative or story I have crafted. Here are 3 examples of this1) My client is a military vet and the armed forces experience will resonate with the reader.2) The job titles associated with my clients earlier experience show that they learned an industry from the ground up, indicating to the reader that they understand its quirks or nuances.3) When my client is trying to show their skills are transferable across industries, there is value in name dropping, as many times company names are enough to indicate a particular industry. How an earlier experience section worksThe process I follow when creating an earlier experience section that includes roles from 15+ years prior is as follows Earlier Experience Example1 Identify Determine which roles, if any, advance or reinforce the story I am trying to tell.2 Synopsize Sometimes I dont include anything more than the name and job title, but if theres a noteworthy achievement, one line is more than enough to explain the point that makes this role worth including. 3 Remove Dates In my experience, removing the dates helps the reader bypass the previously-discussed rabbit hole.A caveat When a point from this Earlier Experience category is particularly noteworthy, Ill make koranvers to reference it in the summary section at the top of page one, a technique that informs the reader while also offering a tease to incent them to continue to the bottom of page two.Addressing ATS concernsWhile still searchable by many applicant tracking systems (ATS), earlier experience without dates might not get accurately parsed into a digital applicant profile. When I want ATS to accurately parse what Ive included in this section, I will in fact include the date s but change the text color to white making them naked to the human eye on first glance and only unmasked when parsed into an ATS.However when dealing with ATS as the first job search point-of-entry (versus sending your resume to a recruiter or decision maker via email), my recommendation is to remove the dates altogether allowing the first 15 years of experience do the heavy lifting.Is your resume ATS friendly? Check it with JobscanHow far back to go on LinkedInPeople read LinkedIn differently than they do resumes. When a reader has been hooked by a headline and a summary section, they then need to go the extra mile and keep on clicking to read earlier experience. Keeping this in mind, when experience older than 15 years is crucial to advancing the clients story, I will include it along with the dates. If the experience doesnt add any huge value-add, Ill eliminate it and err on the side of working to keep someone timeless and avoid the potential for age bias as much as possible.A balancing actDetermining how far back to go on a resume and LinkedIn requires a delicate balancing act with human nature and age bias on the one side, and stories and career points that advance the brand or narrative you are looking to promote on the other. The workarounds Ive shared should help to achieve some of that balanceVirginia Franco is a 5X Certified Executive Resume + LinkedIn Writer, Coach and Storyteller whose documents are written for todays online skim readers and get interviews. She helps clients all over the world to tell their stories and test the job search waters often for the first time in years or after deciding to make a career change.Facebook Commentswpdevar_comment_1 span,wpdevar_comment_1 iframewidth100% important

Thursday, March 5, 2020

87 Percent of Workers put Love Before Careers

87 Percent of Workers put Love Before Careers According to Spherions recent WorkSphere survey, 70 percent of workers believe its more important for them to focus on their personal lives first and then their careers. A whopping 87 percent of respondents said that when it comes to pursuing love, they would not delay or decide to forgo marriage or enter into personal relationships for the sake of their careers. The survey of more than 2,000 adult workers revealed that todays workers are willing to sacrifice their careers for love whether that means not taking a new job because it does not offer spousal benefits (46 percent) or taking a back seat with their own job for their spouses professional success. The survey found that both men (72 percent) and women (73 percent) are willing to focus less on their careers for the sake of their partners career and family life. Around one-in-10 (9 percent) worke rs said they have already taken a back seat in their career to help their spouse or partner advance instead, and 26 percent of workers are extremely or very willing to do so.Workers are even mixing business with pleasure as 26 percent of respondents reported that they met a spouse or partner at work.These findings illustrate that many workers are making their personal lives, their relationships and their families their top priorities, even ahead of their careers in many instances, Sandy Mazur, Spherions division president, said. For fruchtwein employees, work-life balance is a top priority and their job responsibilities must be able to be integrated into their personal lives for them to define their careers as successful.Other key highlights include61 percent of employees disagree that having a spouse or partner can slow down a persons career advancement.Just 18 percent of employees said they would delay or decide not to have children because of their career73 percent of workers who se employer offered benefits to their spouse or partner were more likely to stay with the employer because of the spousal/partner benefits72 percent reported that they are more satisfied with their job because their employer offers benefits to their spouse or partner