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'Tis the Season?

I am often asked if there is a “busy season” in the professional image/career development industry. Years ago, I would have said, “Yes, absolutely”. Around the holidays, I could pretty much count on a surge of calls from the “New Year’s Resolution” clients who swore that THIS next year would be THE year for changing jobs, getting started on that dream career, going for the promotion or looking for some way to increase or supplement their income. Then in May or June I would see another boom. The recent grads who felt that their career placement service wasn’t helpful enough, or perhaps that their “situation” was different enough and they wanted to or simply felt they had to take a different approach.

And although these two situations are incentives to get a new resume, or have an outdated resume polished up, there really is no ‘season’ anymore when it comes to trying to market yourself. This should be an ongoing process and having an up-to-date resume is just one of the must-haves in your arsenal. You never know when that opportunity will arise. There’s one thing for sure. When you hear about that golden, “gotta have it”, “take a shot at it” opportunity, that is NOT the time to start the process. Nothing beats being able to get that resume out there to the decision maker within a day or two. It shows energy, professionalism and your appreciation for the sense of urgency to make things happen. You mean business.

So for those of you who are attempting to prepare your resumes yourselves, here are some reminders and tips to gain greater odds of getting calls for interviews. (And remember, that IS the goal of the resume - it’s your ticket to getting your foot in the door!) REMEMBER: A resume that doesn’t produce invitations for interviews is nothing more than a nicely formatted biography on a sheet of paper. That being said, keep in mind the following:

Watch out for typos! Sounds simple enough, but more than half of the resumes I see have typos and grammatical errors - this is an indication of your attention to detail and typically a way to weed out a large percentage of the applicants for almost any job. Spell-check can’t always save you!
Keep it short – no more than one page with very few exceptions. It’s not that your career isn’t exciting, but keep in mind that the hiring managers are looking at stacks of resumes and there would have to be a very compelling reason why you would need more than one page to describe why you would be the right fit for this position.
Don’t try to be too creative or too cute. Gimmicks usually backfire. Surprisingly, this applies even to those jobs that are in the more artistic fields. Wild paper, too-decorative font styles and photographs and “visual aids” are generally frowned upon.
Know what is truly relevant information. Hobbies and interests do not belong on a professional resume. But, the fact that you speak another language or belong to associations/organization and do community volunteer work or fund-raising show additional assets and strong qualifications that may set you apart from the competition.

If you’re not sure about the resume you’ve put together, feel free to call my office for a critique.

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