You're freaking amazing - be sure that they know it!!

The final post in our series on resumes, how to handle the holes and other pitfalls that cause us heartburn as we try to get back into the workplace. We feel that this post was the most important and also the thing that we're all least likely to do - so work on bragging!

Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals.

What do you think is the biggest mistake that women make when writing/rewriting their resume?

Not taking full credit for all they bring to the table and not fully recognizing or appreciating their own worth or corporate value. Using “I’m just..,” or “I’ve only…” at the beginning of any sentence.

Women sometimes dismiss or internally diminish incredibly valuable skills and abilities, thinking they have less value, somehow, or mistakenly believing that openly recognizing their own value and worth equals arrogance.

Of all the times in your life where humility may pay, writing your résumé is not one of them.

Surely it hasn't been THAT long!? *@#!! I'm old!

This week we're continuing our focus on resumes, with special attention to the areas that make us want to pull our hair out, kick the cat, and consider a new career as a carny. Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals.

What about dates? Do I have to put the dates I received my degrees?

For employment, you don’t need to include months, you can just list years (i.e. 2005-2007), but you have to include dates.

For college degrees, you can omit dates in your résumé, but expect to provide this information at the interview or application process. Understand, too, that while your reader probably won’t give this too much thought, he or she is likely notice that the dates have been omitted.

My Mission Statement: To get a job.

This week we are focusing on resumes, with special attention to the areas that make us want to pull our hair out, put on the stretchy pants, and consider a new career in competitive eating. Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals.

Is it absolutely necessary to have a mission statement? If so, how do you write a mission statement for your résumé (especially if your mission is to just get a job)?

First of all, never forget that your résumé is a marketing piece or that you’re writing your résumé for the sheer and complete benefit of your reader.

Imagine, for example, an ad for vacuum cleaners that begins with the statement, “We really need you to buy this vacuum cleaner so we can pay our electric bill.”

At this stage of the game, your reader doesn’t care what your hopes or aspirations may be. They simply want to know whether or not you’re qualified for the position and company you’re targeting, whether it’s in their interest to meet you, in person, to learn more, and how they may benefit by hiring you.

Later, at the interview stage, your needs and interests will become more important. But for now, it’s all about the reader.

So if you include a mission statement, or preferably a summary of qualifications section, keep the focus on what you bring to the table and how your skills, abilities and characteristics will benefit the company and meet its needs and expectations.

For example, a typical objective statement tends to focus more on what the candidate hopes to secure than what he or she brings to the table, but this can be altered by focusing on the reader’s interests:

“To secure the position of ________________________ at (Name of Company) where my skills in ______________________, _______________________ and _____________________ may best benefit (Name of Company)’s ____________________ goals and expectations.”

"She said what?!?"

This week we are focusing on resumes, with special attention to the areas that make us want to pull our hair out, get loaded, and consider a new career as a rodeo clown. Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals.

What are some key words should you include in your resume? What words should you avoid?

Include terms that are relevant to the field, position and industry you’re targeting and the positions you’ve held in the past. For example, an engineer should use the verb “engineer” (or “engineered”) somewhere in his or her document. A manager should be using the verb “manage” (or “managed”) when describing his or her work. And yet you’d be surprised how often this doesn’t happen. Other strong verb choices for someone in a leadership role include: Guide, Direct, Drive, and Lead, among others, and yet you’ll see résumés that have bullet point after bullet point leading with “Responsible for…”

When you’re writing your statements of responsibility, lead these statements with strong action verbs that show your reader your direct role and level of responsibility. Avoid phrases such as “Responsible for…” or “Duties included…” which dilute the strength of the statement.

Avoid words that feel inflated or are words you’d never use in your normal speech. When I read “Elevated Customer Satisfaction,” I wonder, “Would this person actually say “elevated” in an interview or any other situation describing his work?” Probably not.

Despite a variety of career related articles suggesting that phrases such as, “Proven record of achievement in…” or “Extensive experience in…” should be omitted from the résumé, I disagree. Include these kinds of declarations, but back them up with proof. If you have extensive experience in any area that’s vital to the position you’re targeting, it’s good to let the potential employer know this, but don’t stop there; tell the reader how this expertise will benefit him or her. Example:

“Extensive experience in brand building and market share. Consistently penetrate competitive target markets and increase revenue growth, even in challenging economic climates.”

Function versus Form?

This week we are focusing on resumes, with special attention to the areas that make us want to pull our hair out, eat a tub of Ben and Jerry's, and consider a new career as a balloon animal engineer. Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals

How do you organize a functional resume, as opposed to a chronological resume? Is that the best way to go?

A functional résumé is typically used by job candidates who:

• Have gaps in employment they want to hide.
• Wish to bring relevant, but possibly less utilized, skills to the forefront.
• Want to bypass titles which poorly reflect actual work responsibilities or accountability levels.
• Hope to change career paths and therefore want the reader to recognize transferable skills.

All of which are great reasons. The problem with using a functional format is that most hiring managers and HR directors know why candidates use functional résumés, too, and often will look for the very problems the candidate is trying so hard to hide.

A functional résumé is typically organized by skill groups or areas of expertise, with examples of these skills applied (but not where or when), followed by a brief outline of job titles, company names, locations and dates (without description). Example of order of information:

• Name
• Contact Information
• Summary of Qualifications (brief)
• Functional Headings (such as: Marketing, Management, Project Leadership, etc.) in the order of their value and relevance to the position and company being targeted – with bulleted details showing these skills applied, and including the results of the candidate’s efforts and contributions
• Employment History (in reverse chronological format, with little or no detail)
• Education
• Relevant Professional Associations (optional)
• Community Service (optional)

There are HOLES in this resume!!

This week we are focusing on resumes, with special attention to the areas that make us want to pull our hair out, crawl back into bed, and consider a career in origami. Our guest blogger for this series is Sue Campbell, 1st-Writer.com, a professional resume writer and career strategist with over 18 years experience helping job seekers of every level achieve their career goals.

How do you cover the "holes" in your resume for the time that you were out of the workforce?

Rather than trying to hide gaps in your résumé, fill them, instead.

If you haven’t been spending any of this time in self-improvement, it’s not too late to add a layer of current activity to your résumé through volunteer work or education.

Actively employed candidates will always be viewed as “more hirable” by hiring managers. And candidates with recent experience will appear more “current.” However, if you’re reentering the workplace after a significant time away, you can give the same impression of being current by showing recent activity in areas deemed relevant or valuable to the types of positions and companies you’re currently targeting.

First, determine what skills, abilities and characteristics (personal and professional) the potential employer is trying to secure in potential candidates. This information is usually obtained via job ads, recruiters or company research.

Next, consider in what ways you’ve actively applied these skills in the recent past. Consider personality characteristics along with applied skills and technical abilities, such as communication, problem-solving, time management and resource allocation skills.

Create a summary section that focuses on that which you bring to the table – TODAY – in relevant skills, abilities and characteristics, and then show the reader your most recent application of these skills – even if this was through a continuing education course (leading with your education) or via non-paid community service – early in your document.

The what, where and when is always going to be important – but what really matters is what you CAN DO, and how what you can do –your efforts and contributions – will benefit a potential employer.

Snow Days

As many of you know, the East Coast is stuck in a huge "weather" situation.  Being in Atlanta, this is extremely difficult, as we are not used to snow and ice, and the whole city sort of shuts down.  We have now been stuck home for 3 days, school cancelled, meetings postponed, appointments re-scheduled.  While the kids and I have had a great time playing in the snow, sledding, and snuggling next to the fire, I am ready for them to go back to school!  I have things to do!!

So, tell me, what do you do, when you can't do your absolute best?  When the inclement weather makes you miss a deadline, or keeps you out of the office?  Do you just apologize and move on?  I spoke with one of my friends, a working mom, who has also been stuck at home, missing work, playing in the snow with her kids and not getting anything done.  She hasn't been into the office all week, but neither has anyone else.  This, she says, helps her to reconcile the guilty feelings.  She is also one of the only people I know who does not have a work issued laptop computer.  (wonder if she'll get one after this snow-storm?!)

But, what happens when you're the only one who is missing the deadlines, meetings, and work, due to a sick child or other child-related responsibility?  In a discussion that I recently had with several of my married, working mommy friends, they said that this responsibility usually falls to them, and NOT their spouses.  Their husbands just say, "Sorry, I have to work".  Hmmm... definitely something to think about, and probably something to discuss with the husband before going back to work....

THE INTERVIEW or....

How I decided that self-employment seemed like a pretty good idea. By Kim

Last April I was dying to go back into the Manufacturing Operations industry – I was eagerly looking forward to the challenges and being able to interact with peers, I just wanted to get through the summer. In May, I was eagerly searching, figuring it would take the summer months to find something and get the ball rolling but that I would be able to enjoy the time with my family. In June, I was less actively searching but still jonesing to get back into my profession after school started in the Fall. In July, eh….but a couple of prospects had come along and so I thought that I might as well go interview.

Now I’m not going to say that THE INTERVIEW(s), and everything that went along with them, completely made me want to explore the possibilities of self-employment, but….

Suits and pointy-toed heels:

After my time in Thailand, where I had to wear everything to death due to the lack of shopping for “Western-sized women” (“we don’t have extra extra-large size for you, Madame”), I came back to the US with one suit and one pair of shoes. No worries, as you only need one to interview. I found them, pulled them out and started getting dressed. Maybe you’ve heard the expression “two possums wrestling in a gunny sack”, well apparently some badgers had eaten the possums and were PISSED to be stuck in this particular gunny sack – not pretty, not pretty at all. OK, no big deal, I would just have to go shopping, I thought, that’s fine I like shopping and at least I have the shoes.

The shoes….after 20+ years of wearing heels of every type, you would think that a person’s feet would be immune to just about anything and there was a time that I could’ve jogged the NYC marathon in stilettos without even wincing. Unfortunately, after a year+ of sandals, flip flops, tennis shoes and ballet flats, sliding back into those fabulous heels was a bit like sliding into medieval torture devices. I was undaunted though, my feet just aren’t used to heels anymore, I’d wear them around the house for a while and get readjusted in no time flat. Twenty minutes later, I was pretty certain that my effing feet had also gotten fatter, and as I crawled up the stairs to my room, I cheerily repeated to myself – shoe shopping too, I love shoe shopping!

Shopping day…trying on suits. I was feeling pretty good because I haven’t actually gone up a size, it’s more like bits of me have shifted around (read: down) a little and that’s ok, it’s normal in fact, gravity and all that (full turn in the mirror)…..what the hell is that on my ass….is that….cellulite??!!!

Spanx.

The best thing that I can say about that particular shopping excursion is that I did find the penultimate pointy-toed heel – Cole Haan makes all of their shoes with the Nike Air technology in them and the Miranda Pump is without a doubt the best multipurpose “work” shoe I’ve ever worn. Don’t misunderstand, it’s still a pointy-toed heel but your “back-to-work” feet will thank you!

I know that I haven’t even gotten to THE INTERVIEW yet, but I’m going to have to regroup and have a glass of wine before I can recount the rest of my humiliating tale.

If you’re wondering why I’m (over)sharing this with you, it’s partly to illustrate one of the 3 major obstacles that Diane and I see in getting back into the workplace, which is:

"If it’s been so long, and so much about me has changed, that my work wardrobe is obsolete, I can’t begin to imagine what has changed in my industry. I know that there are new business philosophies, technology, and buzz-words, and that business practices have shifted along with the economy. But I’m not entirely sure what has changed AND if I have this much trouble getting my wardrobe together, how am I possibly going to catch up on my industry in time to sound articulate and relevant (and not like I’ve been talking “mom-speak” for the past 5 years) in time for THE INTERVIEW, much less in the actual workplace? Being humiliated in the dressing room is one thing, being humiliated in front of my peers is another!"

So one of our goals is to provide that industry knowledge so that there’s one less thing to worry about.

…..and you’ll find the Spanx link in the LifeSavers section of this blog! ;-)