Category: Resumés

Resumés, Cover Letters, Applications, References and all the fun stuff that you to need to provide in order to apply for a job.

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Resumé Red Flags and How to Avoid / Address Them

Red flags are an indication of possible danger. When the temperature is hot with low humidity and the winds are high, red flag warnings are issued by the National Weather Service to indicate a high probability of raging wildfires. Hurricane warnings are indicated by a red flag with a black square in the middle of it. In the 1700’s red flags were first used as to indicate floods.

So, what does that have to do with resumés? Everything, it turns out!

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Don’t write a “Pain Letter” write a Cover Letter…the right way

Forbes and other job searching advice website are really kean on writing what they call “Pain Letters” in place of cover letters. I am going to tell you exactly why a Pain Letter will inflict you the pain of not getting an interview and why they are a pain for the Hiring Managers who have to read them. Then I am going to show you a much more effective method for writing Cover Letters that will substantially increase your chances of securing an interview.
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The Top 10 Job Searching Mistakes and How to Avoid Making Them

I love the first verse to Queen’s We Are The Champions. That first verse is all about perseverance towards attaining a goal, which is in this case, a Championship. However, pay attention to lines 5 and 6 of verse 1:


“I’ve paid my dues
Time after time
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few”

“Bad mistakes, I’ve made a few.” One can conclude that if the Champions have made bad mistakes, then everyone is going to make mistakes, which means by extension, you are going to make mistakes in your job search. So what are the most egregious mistakes and how can you avoid making them?
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Building a slick, effective and professional resumé that will get you interviewed

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of schools of thought on what constitutes a strong and effective resumé. You could submit your current resumé to 100 different employment agencies and recruiters and ask them what they would change and would probably get no less than 200 variations on how you should revise it.

A resumé is an advertisement, and an advertisement by definition is a request to accept offers. As far as advertisements go, you can have a slick professional and technically adept presentation that highlights the benefits of a product or you can be this guy. I recommend leaning towards the first option.

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The Experience Conundrum – Overcoming Inexperience in a Job Search

It seems like a paradox. You are applying for a job that requires 1-2 years’ experience. You have zero years of work experience, which is less than 2 years or even 1. Meanwhile, it seems everywhere you look, everyone is requiring experience. So how the hell can you be expected to get experience when everywhere is requiring….experience?!?
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Resumés and Cover Letters – You’re doing it all wrong!

Traditionally, resumés are where you crap out all of your experience onto 1 or 2 pages of 8 ½” x 11” processed tree parts. They are impersonal and just state your version of the truth. Hopefully they sway the reader to react like a miner who has panned a nugget in the 1860’s.

Traditionally, a cover letter is where the appeal is made stating why you should be picked and is often much more personable. The cover letter is you putting out your cupped hands and asking for more gruel like Oliver Twist, with heartfelt words intended to turn the darkest hiring hearts into rainbows, unicorns and sugar plumbs.

Traditionally, many traditions suck and much like iPhone screens they will eventually be broken. Time to kick tradition in the nuts.

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7 important rules for listing references. Are your ears burning yet?

I had a friend of a friend who had a crush on this one girl in Jr. High School.  We will call him Jerry.  Jerry was very shy and not the type to actively pursue girls, but he started crushing seriously hard on Jenny.  Now Jenny did not know Jerry too well, but lo and behold word got back to Jenny that Jerry had a thang for Jenny.  So, Jenny, not in the same social circles as Jerry wanted to find out what kind of dude Jerry was. Continue reading “7 important rules for listing references. Are your ears burning yet?”

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Painting your masterpiece – putting together an effective resumé

Your resumé on its own may not appear to be the most masterful document created.  It may not look well in a frame, but like many things it is the sum of the parts that completes the masterpiece.  Most artists work in sections and spend countless hours and weeks on perfecting the overall final product.  That is what we’re going to learn about today!
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Dick and Jane vs. Moby Dick – How Long should my resumé be?

In High School my Junior year, I remember having to read many books. For the most part, I don’t remember which books I was required to read exactly, but one particular one comes to mind when I think of Mrs. Bernstein’s 11th grade English Class. That damn Moby Dick!

NOTE: This is now the second and I promise the last reference in this blog to that infernal novel. (Yes, I am expanding upon my prior entry on resumé preparation.) I think this point is so important it deserves it’s own separate entry.

To get back to my story: that book is memorable because it was far too long, far too irrelevant and far too boring. For those of you who have never had to snooze through too many pages, let me set this up for you. Continue reading “Dick and Jane vs. Moby Dick – How Long should my resumé be?”