Your Resume is a Marketing Brochure!

Always think of your resume as a marketing brochure, never as a duties and responsibilities list.  Your resume must market you towards a specific position and show how you have been of value to your past employers.  It is never just a general career document.  Remember, companies look for keywords and key phrases that relate to the position they are hiring for, and the explanation of how you used those skills, software, competencies, career-related acronyms, etc., in your bullet points under each position.  To your job search success!

Don’t Give Up On Your Job Search During The Holidays

Every year around Halloween I start hearing those individuals pursuing a job, whether currently employed or unemployed say the following:  “I think I will take a break on the job search over the holiday season.”  This is the very last thing you should do. 

People use a litany of excuses for this annual trend, including:

--No one interviews during the holiday season.

--No one hires during the holiday season.

--No one is really working until January 2nd

--Everyone else job seeking is taking off for the holiday season.

--My friends, family, or other people I know said "blah, blah, blah" about the holidays and a job search.

--Only part time, temporary holiday jobs are available during this time of year.

--Companies don’t have any money to spend on new employees during the end of the year.

All of the above reasons are patently false.  Here is the truth:

First, many companies have an established budget for hiring year round, and their fiscal year may or may not be the same as a calendar year, and regardless of timing, they often need to spend that money or lose it for the next year – so they will hire people year round.  

Second, companies do not have time or money for endless holiday parties and fluff time.  In fact, more organizations are short staffed and they work just as much or more overtime during the holiday season trying to keep up with work and hire additional staff. 

Third, not all companies may hire, but they will interview to make those decisions in January and if you aren’t in the mix, you won’t get the job. 

Fourth, your friends, family and acquaintances don’t know what most companies do and most likely don’t know what the company they work for does in hiring,  stop listening to amateurs.   

Fifth, let other jobseekers take the holidays off and lose out on job opportunities.  Remember what your parents used to say:  “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump off too?”  We are not concerned about what other jobseekers are doing; we are concerned about getting a new job. 

Sixth, actually the trend is a boost in both part time and full time hiring at the end of each year, including a Career Builder article for 2014 citing the following results of a survey on permanent hiring for fourth quarter in 2014:

Company size	Permanent hiring in Q4	Seasonal hiring in Q4
50 or fewer employees	16%	17%
51 to 250 employees	34%	27%
251 to 500 employees	36%	27%
More than 500 employees	35%	31%

So, get out there and job hunt and take advantage of a period that so many people ignore as a prime time for a jobseeker.  To your job search success!

Hire a Veteran!

On this Veteran’s Day, and as a veteran myself, I wanted to take the time to encourage companies to incorporate more veterans into their workforce.  Many companies have already started an initiative to bring these incredibly talented and dedicated individuals into their organizations, including General Electric (GE), Amazon, Google, Paychex, FedEx, Canon, Cintas, BNSF Railway, Dollar General, Northrup Grumman, Sears/Kmart, Waste Management, Inc., Barnes & Noble, Bayer, Bank of America, Humana, Sodexo, Burns & McDonnell, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Comcast, United Health Group, and Zurich.  

Let go of the thought that veterans might be too regimented or not fit into your organization due to their time in the military world – these are old, outmoded myths.  Also, learn about veterans with PTSD or injuries and what they can also bring to your team so as not to shy away from hiring them.  With a veteran or guardsman you get an employee that is highly trained, disciplined (they will show up early and leave late), a leader, tenacious, flexible and adaptable, teamwork oriented, and technologically savvy. 

Acquire a few skills yourself in translating military jargon, there are many tools available on the Internet to help, and find the veterans that are the right fit for your company. If you truly want to thank a veteran who has given so much for our freedom – give them a job!

Top 35 Veteran Employers: http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/job-hunting/top-35-veteran-employers.html

Companies that actively hire veterans:  http://vetcentral.us.jobs/veteransmembers.asp

Skills Veterans Bring to the Workforce: http://www.siop.org/Media/News/veterans.aspx