Catch an Employer’s Eye Immediately

When you send out your resume, you have less than 30 seconds to catch the eye of your potential employer.  There is one sure fire way to do this – have an objective!

When most people hear the word objective, they think back to the old two column style resumes where the objective would be a simple one-liner such as “Seeking system operators position in a fast-paced company to utilize programming and communication skills.”

This objective has one mistake – it’s all about you, you, you!  The position you want.  The type of activities you would like to partake.  The kind of company you’d like to associate with.  And as the employer is reading this and about to toss it into the garbage pile, he’s thinking, “Who cares?”

We will not make that mistake!

An objective is simply an employer’s way of knowing that when you sent out your resume it was meant for the position being advertised.  It lets the employer know you are focused, professional and not just arbitrarily sending out your resume to every opening posted on Careerbuilder.com.

So how do you create an objective?

It’s quite simple.  In this case, your objective has nothing to do with what you are seeking and more to do with what qualifications the employer needs.  Your objective will be transformed into what is sometimes called your headline.

Example headlines:

Ten year elementary educator experienced in collaborative planning and cooperative groupings.

Five year award winning human resource professional proficient at research, recruiting, and analysis.

These headlines are eye-catching because they immediately let an employer know:

• The employee’s experience in terms of years and position
• The employee’s top selling credentials
• The employee is not self-centered and is not focused on his needs, but on the needs of the employer

So who do you think will get the job?

Obviously, those of you who create employer based headlines over employee based headlines.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Sincerely,

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

Graduates Need Apply…

Are you graduating this fall?

Have you worked or volunteered in fields not related to your desired field of employment?

Scared of the current employment statistics and where that puts you, the new person on the totem pole?

Don’t fret.

If you are in the educational, medical, or law fields, you HAVE had field experience. Serving roles as assistants, observers, or clinical students, you know the ins and outs of what a typical work day will be. It is your job as a new job seeker to use this knowledge to make yourself sound knowledgeable to a potential employer.

How do you do this?

Typically, when I consult with clients who are recent graduates or more popularly, transitioning employees, there are two resume sections that serve their purposes best…

Highlights of Qualifications, also known as Summary of Qualifications or simply Summary puts your key accomplishments at the very top of your resume.  While every resume should have a Summary of Qualifications, for new graduates, the information that goes in your summary is a little different.  You will lead with the following:

• Awards and Honors as a Student, i.e. 3.0 GPA’s or higher, scholarships, etc.
• Specific industry successes through fieldwork experience, i.e.

-     A graduating Phlebotomy technician might write – Expertly administered 120 venipunctures for 96 patients.

-      A graduating Educator might write – Demonstrated cooperative learning techniques by teaching 3^rd grade math unit utilizing enrichment, ELL differentiation, and remediation.

-      A graduating Lawyer might write – Supported litigation of 10 family court cases through effective mediation techniques.

• Personal accomplishments that demonstrate your work ethic, i.e. Served as Student Government President; Conceptualized and organized mentorships between 150 entrepreneurs and 300 students.

A Professional Experience section should follow your Summary section, unless you are working for a career that requires certification or a certain level of education.  In your Professional Experience section, it will be broken into two subsections.

• Experience related to your desired profession, i.e. Teaching Experience for educators, Nursing Experience for new LPN’s, Law Experience for graduating lawyers.  In this section, you are boasting of the new skills practiced during your externships and/or fieldwork experience.

• Work Experience for all other employment held outside of your career.  In this section, no more than two or three bullets per job are necessary unless you have had substantial success that will be able to carry over to your new career.  Otherwise, a few simple sentences explaining your responsibilities or the fact that you worked the job while juggling a full course load will suffice.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

Ayesha Writes 4 You

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

(866) 620-2741

Being Excessed…

The school year is ending.  For thousands of teachers, this means relaxation, going on summer vacations and enjoying time away from a classroom of children.  For newer teachers, it often fails to bring about that contented feeling.

If you are a new teacher and have less seniority than other teachers within your school, your principal may be forced to fire you due to budgetary constraints or seniority of certification.  When you experience this downsizing, it is known as excessing.

What  is excessing?

Similar to being laid-off, an excessed teacher has been let go by the administrator because her certification area will not suit the needs of the students during the next academic school year.  Based on seniority, the last teacher hired is the first teacher fired within that specific certification area. Different from being laid-off, you are still considered a staff member of your school and are appointed as a part of the Absent Teacher Reserve (or ATR).

I’m being excessed, now what?

The good news is that being excessed is not the end of the world.  According to your New York State UFT contract, an excessed teacher can be on the ATR indefinitely and cannot be laid-off. If, however, you are not within New York State and are actually laid-off, it is still okay as long as you are proactive.  Here are tips to help you find better employment:

• Ask your principal for district contacts in which she has a good relationship. Consult with her on the best way to approach these principals. When you approach your tentative new principal, be sure to bring up positive observation reports, your portfolio, and a recommendation from both your assistant principal and your principal.
• Sign up for the Open Market.  For each school you apply, follow up with the principal.  Call the principal and let him know how interested you are in working for his school.  Offer to send in a hard copy of your resume and to do a mock lesson for one of the open grades.  Between 10-20% of principals will allow you to come in and demonstrate a lesson.  Most will hire you on the spot if your lesson is of superb quality.
• Network. Tell your other teacher friends that you have been excessed, but have an excellent school record and would like to find new employment.  If your teaching network is limited to teachers within your current school, attend UFT outings or join Kappa Delta Pi and network with educators outside of your immediate environment.
• Be professional. Whenever you are networking or meeting a prospective employer for the first time, give the best impression.  Dress appropriately.  Make sure your portfolio documents highlight you in the best light possible.  If necessary, hire a professional to help you create and organize your resume, mission statement, and portfolio documents so they will complement each other.
• Stay positive. Nothing is worse than a disillusioned educator.  Remember that being excessed is not a testament to your potential as a teacher.  Every principal understands this and most will be happy to hire someone who has teaching experience, proper certification and wonderful recommendations from the excessing school.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

Ayesha Writes 4 You

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

www.AyeshaWrites4U.com

* To learn more about contractual rules of excessing, visit the UFT website.

Executive Job Searching through the Internet

My last few posts have been all about utilizing networking and researching industries to help cultivate job opportunities. Does this mean that you do not post on the major job boards? Of course not!

While most of your time should be spent networking and following up on your contacts, you should still spend about 20% of your time looking on industry websites to help you find a job. Industry websites are different from major sites like monster.com or careerbuilder.com because industry websites have positions and information only relevant to your field. Many companies are more likely to post on industry websites because they have the feel that people who come to these websites are more knowledgeable and serious about their job search.

If you are a c-level employee (CFO, CEO, SVP, etc) five sites of interests are-

• 6 Figure Jobs provides relevant career information and job postings for positions of $100K or more.

• Korn/Ferry International is a recruitment firm that matches executive candidates with their clients’ job openings.

• ExecuNet.com advertises job posting for positions of $150 K or more. They also support communication between executives so they can connect with each other and share business ideas.

• MBA-Exchange.com is a website dedicated to connecting top-level candidates with executive recruiters both nationally and internationally.

• Netshare is a subscription based service that posts openings for positions of six-fugure salaries.

Use these websites to help you locate job openings relevant to your position and expertise. Be sure to follow up just like you would with any other job inquiry. Most importantly, make sure your resume is professional and highlights your unique skills and accomplishments in the best way possible.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Sincerely,

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4U.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

Visit me on LinkedIN

(866) 620-2741

I need a job – Help!

There has been a national cry of doom from national retailers going bankrupt to the media spotlighting the 8.1% unemployment rate.  The words echoed across our nation?  I need a job!

How ironic is it that the people who most often say they need a job are the very people who have jobs?  Most of my clients are people who are already employed, but are looking for something different.  It is odd to me to notice this phenomena.  While the media proclaims thousands upon thousands of people are being laid-off every day, these are not the people proactively hunting for jobs.  Why?

I wonder if after being laid- off, many people feel it is time to relax and breathe.  Or maybe the shock of losing a job they’ve had for 5, 10, 15 plus years has made people bitter and timid of stepping back into the world of job searching.  Or worse yet, people have forgotten how to conduct job searches and have become complacent once they’ve realized the world of the typical chronological resume being sent to an employment agency and garnering a permanent position within two weeks has all but disappeared. So what can you do?

For starters -

• Don’t blame yourself! It is not your fault that you were laid-off.  The economy is bad and employers are conducting cuts across the board to save themselves money.  So unless you were painting your nails or taking two coffee breaks each hour, you are not the problem!

• Conduct a skills analysis. Take a look at your skills and traits and conduct an inventory.  What new skills have you learned as a result of your most recent position?  What were your accomplishments?  Would another company be happy to have an employee as skilled and trained as you? Are any of your skills or traits transferrable to another occupation or field?  Write down your thoughts.  Find the two or three most prominent successful traits you have and use those as your selling points.  These are your unique value propositions (UVP’s).  You will be using them to help you network and to update or write your resume.

• Begin networking immediately! Let people know you are in the market for a job and if they know of anyone interested to please contact you or give you the information of the person to contact.  Many people have successfully used social networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook to find their jobs.  But you still need to conduct some face to face networking, such as using your local Chamber of Commerce or using a rotary group such as Kiwanis.  Just be sure to keep going back to these groups, so that people get used to seeing your face and begin to establish relationships with you.

• Update your resume. Dust it off.  Read it.  Make sure that the skills you have are pertinent the job(s) for which you applying. If you are applying for different positons, then you should have a separate resume catering to each position.  Employers are turned off by reading resumes that are “One size fits all” and fail to explain how an employee can help establish their specific company’s goals and needs.

• Follow up! If you have sent out your resume and after two weeks have failed to get a response, you should call the company and ask about the status of your resume.  Practice this call with a friend first.  Be sure to explain that you are very interested in working for this company and then explain two or three traits that make you perfect for this job.  Ask if they have begun interviewing yet and if you are a viable candidate.  Yes, some employers will be turned off, but many are impressed by the initiative shown by persistant (not pesky) candidates.

• Remember your manners! If you have had an interview or received a referral from someone in your network, then be sure to send a personalized thank you note.  These notes show the employer or contact that you respect their time and appreciate their consideration of you and your skills.  It also keeps you on their mind.  Employers interview dozens of candidates and you want to be the candidate that stands out.  A thank-you letter helps you do just that.  In the case of contacts, by sending a thank you note and keeping them updated on your job search, they will know you appreciate their efforts and will continue sending you more referrals.  So 24 hours after receiving your interview, send a type-written note thanking the employer and/or contact for their efforts and consideration.  Be sure to remind them of two or three positive traits you possess as an employee.

• Be flexible! If the larger companies in your field are not hiring, then don’t be afraid of trying out start ups or smaller businesses.  If you have over ten years experience, you might even look into starting your own entrepreneurial ventures to offset any monetary losses from your current unemployment status.  The key here is to think growth.  You might be able to garner more experience working at a smaller firm with the potential of growing, then you will at a larger company, where you are focused only on your own occupational tasks.

• Stay positive! Finding a job is hard work.  When you are “unemployed”, you are still working.  Your occupation is finding a new job.  If you feel yourself getting depressed over lack of response to your resume or failure to ace your interview, take a break.  Spend some time with friends.  Maybe have them conduct mock interviews with you to help you find areas of weakness.  Contact a career coach who can help you through the process of finding a job.  But don’t let negative responses change your perspective.  You will find a job – you just have to be willing to stay committed to your job search. Many senior level executives don’t find a new satisfactory position until 6 months after they begin.  Just imagine what would have happened if they gave up after only a few weeks of searching.

Finding a job is hard work, but is a lot easier if you stay focused and persistent.  Don’t accept the first job offer you receive just because there is a doomsday cry of a latent economy and you are afraid of being unemployed.  Yes, jobs are being lost, but there are also a lot of jobs out there as well.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Sincerely,

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4U.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

Visit me on LinkedIN

(866) 620-2741