“Detail oriented”
“Excellent Communication Skills”
“Hard Worker”
“Responsible For”
“Experienced”
“Motivated”
“Team Player”
“Innovative”
“Results-oriented”
“Dynamic”
“Proven track record”
“Fast-paced”
“Problem solver”
“Entrepreneurial”

There’s more, but those are the major offenders off the top of my head.  If you want someone to spend more than 6 seconds considering your background you MUST find more creative verbiage to communicate your message.  Here’s a great article on 100 powerful resume words that might help. Please keep in mind there are no “universals” when it comes to resumes.   Each job is different and each reader is looking for different things.  Go back to your 7th grade English class – you’ve GOT to find a way to grab the readers attention.   My best suggestion is to write a different cover and resume for each and every job and looking for “hot buttons” in the job spec to address early and often.  And find other ways to tell the reader you were responsible for something.  If you do a good job you won’t need to tell them you have excellent communication skills – your well-written resume will speak for itself.

Now, job seekers aren’t the only guilty parties – I read job descriptions on a daily basis that are simply awful, chock-full of information that needs to be revised or removed.  A friend of mine sent me the following job spec this week.  It’s so bad I’m not even going to do any editing, this speaks for itself:

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
A seasoned, experienced professional with a full understanding of area of specialization.
Works on moderately complex and diverse projects.
Exercises good judgment in selecting methods and techniques for obtaining solutions.
Strong knowledge in the following areas:
Technical knowledge in software development methodologies
Domain and industry knowledge

Able to demonstrate strong skills in the following areas:
Software design and implementation
Analysis and design at multiple-project level
Research, analysis and problem resolution
Communication and interpersonal
Organizational and time management
Able to manage and prioritize multiple tasks, with minimal assistance, while remaining flexible to changing requirements.

This was sent by a recruiter – a lazy recruiter at that – who obviously cut and paste what the client sent them.  I would be embarrassed if RiverPoint sent something this bad to a potential candidate.  My friend and I had quite a round of emails making fun of this description.  The information in it is so general and vague it’s laughable.  One of the ‘value-add’ services a recruiting firm should bring their client is a good copywriter!

And that’s not the end of it, I worked up some jobs recently that included the following:

Foster collaborative team approach.
Strong attention to detail with a focus on quality work.
Able to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with constantly changing demands.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Strong ability to motivate others to excel; leading by example.
Ability to multi-task with superior decision-making, analytical and problem-solving abilities
Exemplify professionalism in all business interactions.

Is anyone going to hire someone who doesn’t foster a team approach?  Someone who doesn’t focus on quality work and  adapt to changing demands and priorities?  Someone that can’t communicate or multi-task?  The last one really cracks me up.  Please, I beg of you, throw these “requirements” away.  You’re wasting valuable space with fluff.

The job market is getting tight – great talent have options and you need to find ways to sell them on your job.  One of the best ways to begin is by actually describing what the job entails.  Talk about the type of background you are seeking, but don’t get too wrapped up in “gotta have 5 years of experience”.  If someone with 3 1/2 years of experience is your best candidate you’re locking them out on a technicality.  Same with college degrees (unless, of course the job requires a degree due to regulatory issues i.e. doctor / lawyer).  If candidate A has been doing the job for 5 years and candidate B has a degree and one year of relevant experience which person do you think is more qualified?  I can’t answer that either, but I can tell you four years of experience swilling beer in a frat house vs. four years of actual work experience could potentially make candidate A more attractive.

Bottom line?  Both sides of the desk need to take a hard look at how they are branding.  Because this is branding.  You’re branding your services as a job seeker.  You’re branding your company every time you put copy out for the world to consume.  What message do you want to send?

I learned that not only is their logo a trademark, but they are the only company in the world that has a shape trademarked.  Nowhere else on earth will you get a product made by someone other than Coke in their universally recognizable bottle.

It was overwhelming how good they have been at getting customers (from soda fountain owners at the turn of the century to the “sophisticated” buyers of today) to buy their products.

Finish these sentences:

Have a Coke and a ______________.     Coke, it’s the _______    ________.

Branding is memorable.

In today’s job market you need to be memorable.

If you don’t want to be memorable, your resume should start like this:

Sincere, hardworking, self-motivated, excellent written and oral communications skills, quick-learner, team member, able to adapt to new work environments and situations, possesses responsible leadership qualities.

The only cliche’ this person missed was “great organizational skills & detail oriented”.  Frankly, employers aren’t going to hire anyone that doesn’t possess these skills.   I recently read an article that said you have SIX SECONDS for your resume to grab the reader’s attention.   Six seconds of overused catch phrases and unsubstantiated buzzwords does not make you memorable.  You’re just another cola in a world that orders Coke.

I’m not saying that your resume is the only thing that will determine your brand, but it is a vehicle to introduce your brand to a potential employer.  That means your resume (along with your online persona & other “personal marketing” initiatives) need to reflect who you really are, and what you’re actually capable of doing for an employer.

Brand Discovery – keep these things in mind as you determine your message:

• Determine your key skills and research what those skills offer the marketplace.
• Choose 3 important characteristics and translate into identity related terms.
• Determine your look.
• Express your mission in a statement.
• Make a marketing plan.
• Maintain your authenticity.

Building a Brand

• Focus your message (fire with a rifle, not a shotgun).
• Think before you act.
• Listen more than you speak.
• Leverage social media, but don’t forget traditional marketing vehicles.
• Enlist the help of others.
• Make it about them, not you.
• Measure your efforts.

Personal branding doesn’t happen overnight – it takes time, visibility, and consistent messaging.   And your brand does not become what you’re saying about yourself – it develops based on how the audience receives the message and is based on their perception of your value.  Your brand also is not permanent – you need to keep fresh ideas on brand position to keep it relevant.

Branding takes work, but it does return dividends.  It’s the Real Thing.

And I’m glad we did – Memphis has a lot to offer.  In addition to a return trip to Graceland, we stood in the room where Rock and Roll was born & where Elvis recorded his first demos and singles.  I held a microphone used by some of my musical heroes (including Johnny Cash).  We visited the very solemn and sobering National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Hotel where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968.  We parked the car and traveled by trolley.  We saw the Lakers beat the Grizzlies in double overtime and toured the factory where my Gibson was built over thirty years ago.  We enjoyed the best chicken I’ve ever eaten at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, and sampled Memphis BBQ at the BBQ Place and Corky’s.  We even had a deep fried hamburger at Dyers.

And we left wanting more.  We didn’t have time for the Memphis Zoo or Art Museum.  We missed Mud Island and the University of Memphis campus.  We didn’t get to eat at the Rendezvous or see the ducks march out of the Peabody fountain.

Which got me thinking.  My experience with Memphis is much like the experience you should have with a potential employer.   I got a brief taste of Memphis in 2007, yet it was five years before I really got to know her.  Memphis planted a seed in 2007 that bloomed last week.   Working or not, we all should be planting seeds and giving others a brief glimpse into what we can do for them.  When your next employer needs someone, are they going to be thinking about you?

When you meet a potential employers are you planting seeds early?  These meetings don’t need to be a formal or informal interview.  They don’t even need to be planned, you just need to recognize the potential opportunity when it is presented.  Don’t force things, let them flow naturally.  Eventually you’ll gather enough information to put together a plan of attack.  Then you’ll be ready to get in your car and make the trip to a more formal meeting.

We planned our trip for several weeks – figuring out where to stay and what to do.  When we got there we executed on most of the plan, but left enough flexibility in our schedule that we didn’t feel like we had to miss out on something we discovered.  And when we left, we left with enough of a reason to go back.

Before you meet with a potential employer make a plan that leaves room in to adjust to the situation.  Be ready to execute on that plan because just like Memphis, you have a lot to offer.   And here’s a big take-away – leave something behind that gives you a reason to go back.  I’m not talking about your keys (although I have seen that happen), this is more important than being forgetful.  Keep some information in your back pocket that you can use when you follow up.

“I was thinking about our conversation this week, and as we were talking about ‘X’ I just realized that my experience with ‘Y’ could give you a new perspective on how to achieve your objective”.

“I attended a seminar this week that I think we can use to take your marketing to the next level.”

“Here’s a great article on one of the topics we discussed this week.  I would love to share my thoughts with you on how we might be able to leverage it at XYZ Company”

Many job seekers suffer from “sameness”.  Their follow up is about as creative as “I haven’t heard back from you on our conversation and I just wanted to check in to see where things stand”.  Imagine if you call back two days later with a great idea for a problem you had discussed during your time together.

We really enjoyed Memphis and there’s still plenty of things to do.  We will be going back sooner than later.  Memphis got the job.   Dallas, you certainly qualify as a great place to go, but you’re currently our second choice.  Memphis left us wanting more – and that’s how they win.

He goes on to point out that Meryl “might be losing her edge. Unemployed for two years … do you really want to take a chance on her? Maybe the times are passing her by? Maybe she can’t keep up with younger actresses? What if she can’t adapt to all the new technologies? What if she’s uncomfortable working with directors who are younger than she is? That could be a problem. And you know she was unemployed before she got this part. Can’t we find a currently employed actress for our next film?”

Meryl is arguably the greatest actress of all time, yet if producers judged her by these standards Snooki could have played Margaret Thatcher.  (Well, maybe not.  She is pregnant after all.  Maybe J-Wow got the part.)  My point is this – age discrimination isn’t nearly as widespread as some people believe – employers work very diligently to hire the right person for the job regardless of age.

About eighteen months ago I did a two part blog titled “Age Discrimination v1.1 and v1.2“.  I pointed out that age discrimination does exist but you can’t do much about employers who won’t hire you because of your age.  Why should you even care?  Does it make sense to spend your time or emotional energy on that type of company?  Do you really want to work with people who don’t value your contribution because you went to high school in the 70’s?

I also proposed that people often blame age discrimination when in fact there are other reasons unrelated to age that caused the employer to go in a different direction.  This is where you can change your attitude and approach.  Don’t assume a company said no because of your age.   Think about the entire process because a misstep at any point can close the gate.

When you sent your resume who got it?  HR or the hiring manager?  Did it even get viewed by human eyes, or did you just apply online and let the resume go into their database?  Did you tailor your resume specifically to their needs or just send them the boilerplate resume you send to everyone?  If you did tailor it, did you go off a job description or did you find someone on the inside that could give you better information on what they expected?  If you’re not getting calls or interviews generally your problem isn’t your age – it’s how you’re positioning yourself to the employer.

If you made it to the next step you probably got a call from HR – were you prepared?  Do you know what kind of questions to expect from a phone screen?  Are you aware that HR has different screening objectives than the hiring manager?  When they asked you about your previous salary and expectations did you give an answer that was honest and answered an unspoken objection about  the lower salary on the new job?  When you really think about it, are you the best qualified candidate for the job or is it a job you had twenty years ago?  And if that was the case did you have a good explanation for the HR person on why you want to go two decades back in your career?  Did you ask HR for a chance to meet with the decision maker?  Are you continuing to follow up with that person for information on that, and other potential jobs?

This is just scratching the surface of things you need to do well before you even have the chance to shake someone’s hand.   When you finally do get a chance to interview you’re probably going to be up against at least a half a dozen other qualified candidates.  You’ll have plenty of opportunity to make it or break it during that part of the process.

And this doesn’t even take into account the factors out of your control.  Sometimes a firm hires someone from a competitor.  Sometimes they’ve already made their decision but because of EEOC they have to advertise the job & you apply to a filled position.  The hiring manager’s relative, neighbor, or best friend might be in the chair next to you prior to your interview.   You can’t do much about those situations other than find a way to put yourself in that position for a future opportunity.

The solution is to keep going.  The solution is to keep positive.  The academy can be fickle.  That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve the Oscar.  Eventually you’re going to win.  Meryl is employable.  So are you.

From the day the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock until Henry Ford built his first Model T the US was largely an agricultural economy.  That’s 300 years of making your own way.  You made a living by either owning something (land or business), inventing something, or knowing someone that would pay you to help them work their land or business. 

Sidenote:  Slavery obviously impacted this economy and is the saddest chapter in American history.  Its worth mentioning simply because slave labor impacted the marketplace similar to how outsourcing impacts our marketplace today.  Workers who built my iPad in China are paid a fraction of US wages.   A recent story on Nightline documents conditions and challenges faced by Apple in China.   This is the ugly underbelly of today’s US economy.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Anyway, back to the agricultural economy.  It was rare for people to travel more than 50 miles from their birthplace.  They lived, worked, and died in the same house, doing the same job.   Their children and children’s children took over the family business.   For three hundred years.

At the turn of the 20th century Henry Ford invented the assembly line and the US economy began the transition from agriculture to manufacturing.   Agriculture was still a very big part of the picture, but during and after WWII millions migrated north to work in the factories.

Post War Detroit was built largely by agriculture workers migrating from the southern states.  The middle class was born.  Jobs still were generally secured by knowing someone – a family member would go to work at Ford and others would follow.  Unions used their members to recruit.  If your dad was a Ford man, you certainly didn’t go work for GM.

There is no internet – no online postings, no LinkedIn.  Resumes and job applications are the exception rather than the rule.  If you wanted a job you walked into a place of business and talked to a human being, got to know them, and they hired you.  Maybe you joined a professional organization or knew someone from the PTA.  You knew who the employer was and you sold them on hiring you.  Do you see where I’m going with this?

Back to the perspective…

Over the past 50 years some think the country has been in decline, and you could argue it’s true.  We’ve shipped our manufacturing jobs to other countries.  Big companies have become “too big to fail”.  We’ve built an unsustainable level of national debt.  Our politicians refuse to get along lest they lose their power.  I don’t think the country has been this ideologically divided since the Civil War.  We lost a war in Vietnam and now our enemy has no border or uniform.   Unemployment hit its highest level since the Great Depression.  Pardon my French, but what the hell happened??

Yet with all this turmoil there is still opportunity for those of us blessed to live in this country.  We continue to be the model of a democratic union.  The government is at least taking notice of the little guy (well, it is an election year after all).  Entrepreneurial people are creating jobs and job numbers are creeping back up.  We’re figuring it out.  Americans are resilient.

The “Take Away”

For the better part of four centuries the majority of work was discovered by word-of-mouth.  Fathers taught their sons and daughters their trade.  Workers enlisted their friends.  Personal relationships were valued over a well-written resume.   It’s only been in the last two or three decades a resume and technology have infiltrated the process of getting  a job.

Fax machines whirred with resumes in the 80’s and Applicant Tracking databases started to fill up with applications in the 90’s.  The classified ad in the newspaper gave way to Monster.com.   When unemployment is 4-6% you can apply to a job and have success.  If there’s more jobs than workers you can slap together a quick resume and you’re gold.

This is not the case when unemployment is 9%.  Technology and the process of the last 30 years will work against you unless you combine it with good old fashioned relationship building.

When unemployment is 9% you need a little historical perspective.  So dust off your buggy whip and hit the street.

I don’t want to pretend I know exactly what makes recruiters like that tick, but I have experienced some general “jerk factor” behaviors that you will want to keep in mind when talking to a recruiter.

1.    They think you’re a ‘great fit’ for a job even when you’re not.  You look at the details of the job and you’re not even close.  This is the hallmark of a ‘numbers game’ recruiter searching keywords in a database and reaching out to EVERYONE that meets their search criteria.  Either they’re not reading your resume or they don’t know HOW to determine someone’s expertise from a resume.   Either way it demonstrates a lack of commitment to recruiting professionalism.  I’d cut a newbie some slack but if they’re not inquisitive about what you do they’re not going to last long.

2.    There’s a “hot job” for you so they’re your best friend until your resume is in front of the client.  Then they go radio silent – calls aren’t returned until a year later when they have another “hot job” for you.

3.       The conversation never strays off your resume and experience. They don’t seem to have much interest in what will be important to you; they only want to make sure you’re a fit.

4.       There’s not much enthusiasm to help you beyond a specific job they have in mind. A good recruiter will always be a source of information and leads outside of their immediate client needs.

5.       You know the used car salesman stereotype? Not that all used car salespeople are like this, but you know what I’m talking about – there’s just something about their approach that doesn’t sit right with you.  You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you have a gut instinct that this person shouldn’t be trusted.  Your gut is usually right.  The implications to your career are too important to not implicitly trust the recruiter.

6.       Commission drives decision making. This one is a little harder to detect, but if you see other behaviors that make a recruiter a jerk this is probably an issue.  Recruiters in this business who are primarily driven by money don’t have a heart to serve & will not have your interests in mind.  Often it will manifest itself with a ‘hard-sell’ to get you to make a decision that you don’t necessarily think is the best decision.

To be honest, recruiters who are jerks usually have a ‘me first’ attitude.  You have to accept that there are people who are simply consumers.   They take every opportunity possible to use what they can to get where they’re going.  They don’t see the value in giving anything back.  This type of personality does not make a good recruiter.

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who has been a customer of mine for some time.  He recently decided to get into the recruiting game and said something that any good recruiter will have at the core of their value system.  He said what we do has such a profound impact on a person, both in the immediate and in the long term, that we can’t afford to get it wrong.

He’s right, there’s nothing more important to me as a recruiter than making sure that we’re making a good match between candidate and employer.  And that goes well beyond buzzwords on job descriptions that align with buzzwords on a resume.

Some recruiters are jerks simply because there’s jerks who are recruiters.

But I digress – by the time he retired he was the #2 guy over the largest state organization in Iowa, serving the last decade as the public sector version of a COO in an organization with a 3-4 Billion (with a B) dollar budget.  He worked hard, sacrificed, and was rewarded with a fulfilling career spanning five decades.  My how the world has changed.  Today your employer (even if its the government) will not carry your career cradle to grave.  Your career stability will come from you, not your employer.

I’m not saying you won’t have to work hard & sacrifice.  You will.  I’m not saying you won’t have a fulfilling career.  Because you can.  What I am saying is you should always be looking for potential opportunities.  The average Gen X / Y / Millennial will likely have a new employer every 4-5 years over the course of a career.

Expanding your network has never been easier.  Rather than turn this into a ‘”How To” on networking and developing relationships the take away is this – if you are not networking you are stunting your career growth.  If you wait until you’re looking for a job to network you’re going to be playing catch-up.

The market for top talent is tight.  To attract that talent means I spend a lot of word-smith time authoring job descriptions. Part of the challenge I face as a recruiter is when we get clients asking for resources it can be hard to accurately paint a picture of the job from the description provided.  Maybe I’m wrong, but descriptions like the following are so generic I don’t see them as something that will get a top flight software engineer to reach out.

As a Java Developer, you will be enhancing systems created using the following technologies:  J2EE 1.5, Java Server Pages, Java Servlets, Struts, Javascript, HTML and XML.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

• The ideal candidate must have atleast 3 years’ experience with Java development
• The ideal candidate must be well versed with J2EE, JavaScript and JSP
• The ideal candidate must be well versed with Unit testing.
• The ideal candidate must have experience working within the Oracle or SQL environment

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS PREFERRED:

• Experience with JDBC or ODBC
• Experience with UNIX
• Experience with stored procedures, CGI, Access
• Experience with MVC, web services, SOAP, and xml
• Experience using Jbuilder or Eclipse

This was not sent to me by a client, I just pulled this off a job board as an example of what I frequently run across.  Notice the repetitive verbiage and “atleast” typo?  That’s how much thought can go into this very important aspect of marketing an organization to potential employees.

I’ve been authoring and editing job descriptions for years, and am always experimenting with different styles.  Yesterday it seems I crossed the line from informative / creative to lame.  At least that’s what I’m starting to sense from the audience I’m trying to reach.

Based on the feedback I’ve gotten so far, and on some other things I’ve been reading, this description I wrote is lame.  And that’s cool with me – I’d rather make mistakes trying to make something happen than be like everyone else.  After talking to a few people I trust and respect, and going through this thread from a developer forum, I make this solemn pledge – no more job postings for a “Rock Star Ninja Warlock from Mars” (unless I need to hire Charlie Sheen at some point).

Which brings me back to what’s important in a job description.  If I was looking for a job I’d want the posting to ‘pitch’ me a bit.  Give me a little flavor of what I could expect doing the job and what the company thinks is important.  Of course I’d want some qualifications, but if your description leads me to believe you aren’t interested in hiring me because I don’t have X amount of years of experience, or specific hands-on expertise with some obscure piece of software you happen to be using (even though its EXACTLY like something I use every day) I’m going to be turned off.

So my question to you is what do YOU want to see when you read a job description.  In general, what types of things spark your interest and what turns you off?