How To

What grabbed the recruiter’s eye was the security pro’s certification, on top of his resume and smack dab in front of her face. CISSP: How’s that for a resume title? The acronym stands for Certified Information Systems Security Professional. Listing just the acronym without spelling it out, let alone using a more generic term such … Read More

After 25 years with a major retailer, Tommy M. was ready for a change. He had been steadily promoted through application-development and project-management positions based on consistent success, but his resume had rarely been seen outside internal HR. He knew that resume – comprising 40+ bullets scattered across four pages – was not going to … Read More

In a new book, Adam Bryant talks to more than 70 CEOs about what they want from new hires. Seventy CEOs walk into a room … Top executives are often the objects of wry humor and close scrutiny over their compensation and strategic fumbles as well as the financial performance of their companies. In his … Read More

Describe your value, then convince others. Your personal brand is the keystone to communicating your value during a job-search campaign. Once you have a clear statement to describe your value to an employer, you can start convincing others to believe it. Gain a competitive advantage by honing a personal brand statement. Include it in your … Read More

How does your cover letter rate? Use this test to score your cover letter before you submit it with your resume and job application. Before you submit your cover letter to recruiters and hiring managers, run through this battery of questions to gauge its readiness. Q: How is your cover letter addressed? A. Personally addressed … Read More

Letters crawling with creeping arrogance inflict hiring managers with terminal cases of Don’t-Hire-This-Jerk-Itis. The job seeker couldn’t figure out how to find a C-level HR person’s name to follow up with. “I found out that… the secretary (sorry, assistant) forwarded my letter to the HR recruiter without showing it to his boss,” he wrote. Look … Read More

Why unconventional resumes drive hiring managers and recruiters nuts. Steve Silberberg is into a lot of things: certified Wilderness First Responder; published in scientific journals; and, according to his database-driven, configurable, searchable online resume, maintains a collection of over 2,100 air sickness bags. Everybody hates this resume. Only about five hiring managers over the years … Read More

Open up opportunities by demonstrating subject-matter expertise with a blog. For job hunters, getting published can help you establish yourself as a subject-matter expert, make new connections and set yourself apart from the crowd. While getting published in a trade publication or mainstream media outlet is challenging, there’s one publishing platform that is completely in … Read More

Don’t let these common errors brand you as unprofessional. Resume screeners can be very picky: they have that luxury. You want the job, and so do hundreds of other people. These busy professionals develop criteria to “disqualify” some of the many potential employees/business partners. It’s easy to knock out a candidate for lack of correctness … Read More