Each year Career Directors International (CDI) hosts a resume writing competition called the TORI Awards (Toast of the Resume Industry) where resume writers from around the world compete for first, second, and third place standing and a chance to prove their ability to write strategic, well-written, and well-designed resumes and cover letters.

The competition is a great way for me as a writer to showcase my skills to the judges and it’s wonderful to receive an award, but my favorite aspect of the TORIs is that it keeps me on the top of my game and motivates me to explore new, creative, and exciting ways to position client achievements.

The TORIs have helped make me a better resume writer. And the designation offers a promise of value to my clients and piece of mind that when they hire me to write their documents they are partnering with a writer who knows how to use multiple strategies to position them for success in their job search.

This year, I picked up awards in three categories:

1st Place, Best Sales and Marketing Resume

1st Pace, Best Technical Resume

3rd Place, Best Cover Letter

I am happy to add these three new awards to the three I earned in last year’s competition and look forward to writing even better resumes in 2010 and beyond!

I know there is a lot of career advice out there that suggests creating a cover letter that matches the job posting you are applying to as closely as possible. And while I agree with this in theory, the reality is that most job postings are useless and give very limited information about the position. Many are filled with fluff phrases stating that requirements include being a good communicator and a team player, and having a proven track record. Honestly, I’ve seen these phrases used on senior management and C-level postings. I don’t really need a job spec to figure out that these attributes are important components of the position…these are givens for any position. But few postings offer any insights into the strategic and tactical skills necessary to perform the role successfully. Scot Herrick of Cube Rules has a great post on this called Four Job Description Ingredients Candidates Would Love so please read it to gain some insight on the key elements of a solid job posting.

With so many poorly written job specs, it’s no surprise that hiring managers aren’t getting targeted candidates for their open positions. Instead, there is a conga line of strong communicating team players who feel they meet the requirements of the  job. As a writer, my first reaction to seeing these poorly constructed postings is “Who’s writing these? Are the descriptions simply recycled or cut and paste jobs from other descriptions? Did anyone take the time to interview the hiring manager to assess the department needs? Was the hiring manager under a tight deadline to get a job description over to HR so they could quickly evaluate it and benchmark the salary? What is the cause of such shoddy workmanship?”

Job seekers need to establish a compelling personal brand in order to communicate their  value to an organization. And employers need a strong employment brand to communicate their value proposition to potential hires. Part of that value proposition should be creating job descriptions that crystallize individual contributor roles and relate those roles back to the values of that company. Even if the position isn’t being posted in a very public forum, the company still needs to be able to articulate the “must haves” of the role they are trying to fill.

Having a poorly constructed job description is like having a poorly thought out business plan. You can’t launch a successful business without some sort of a road map. And you can’t source the best candidates for an open position if you can’t describe specifically what you want them to achieve.

For this week’s final post in the Ask the Recruiter series, I interviewed Winnie Corton. She has held several human resource roles in the financial services, retail, pharmaceutical, and not for profit sectors and most recently she was a recruiter for Citigroup.

1. What is your biggest interview pet peeve and why? “Job seekers must be prepared for the interview. They must arrive on time (and not 30 minutes before), an have copies of their resume. Job seekers should be prepared to fill out employment applications. I suggest they prepare a list of prior positions with dates of employment, full address, supervisor’s name, telephone number, and starting/ending salary and carry it with them.”
2. What is your biggest resume pet peeve and why? “I have a couple of peeves, but if I had to choose one, it would be a resume attachment that can’t be opened. Job seekers should save their resumes as Word documents. They should send the document to a good friend and ask them to open the attachment and review the resume for appearance and content.”
3. Do you read cover letters? Why or why not? ”A recruiter typically takes 15 seconds to review each resume.  We don’t have the time to read every cover letter. I only read cover letters when I am interested in the job seeker’s resume. However, a cover letter must be no more than 3 crisp paragraphs-anymore and I won’t read it.”
4. If someone has a gap in their chronology how do you recommend they deal with that issue on their resume? “Yes, it is important to address gaps in employment. I suggest they include an explanation in the resume. For example, large corporate downsizing, reference available; left due to relocation to (city/state); left to take care of ill family member, etc.” 

For this week’s Ask the Recruiter series I interviewed Laura Lashbrook of Clarity, a boutique staffing firm in New York City specializing in temporary and permanent administrative, support, and entry-level positions.

• What are the three most important interview questions you ask candidates?

1. “What would your current/previous manager say about you in terms of your personality, skills, and strengths?”
2. “What was your favorite job and why?”
3. “What is most important to you in your next position-the industry, people, environment, duties, salary, etc.”

• What level of follow up do you expect from your job applicants? How much is too much? “Generally once a week is good. Three times a week is too much for a general check-in.”
• What is your opinion on sending a thank you letter after the interview? Do you prefer they be sent via email or snail mail? “Candidates should always send thank you letters. It shows courtesy and doubles as a way of showing personality and writing skills. Email is acceptable but snail mail is always a nice touch.”
• What is your biggest interview pet peeve and why? “My biggest pet peeves are when candidates bring coffee into the interview (brought from the outside). Gum-chewing and a lack of eye contact are also distracting.”
• What is your biggest resume pet peeve and why? ”My biggest resume pet peeve is paragraph format. Bulleted format is much more clear and concise.
• Do you notice significant stylistic differences between your gen Y, gen X, and boomer candidates? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each group? In general we find that those in the Boomer generation desire stability and are more open to change in terms of advice, feedback, and making accommodations. Longevity and loyalty are typically most important. Gen Ys tend to be more concerned with having their needs met. They are good at projecting and communicating their wants and desires but aren’t typically as willing and open to figure out how to get there. Gen X tends to be a combination of the two.”
• Are you using business or social networking tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook to source candidates? Do you Google candidates or check out their online profiles before interviewing them? Is there something that you could see in a networking profile that would make you think twice about calling that person in for an interview? “We use LinkedIn regularly but do not use Facebook to source candidates. We do not Google candidates or view their online profiles before interviews however I would hesitate to call a candidate if I saw excessive use of profanity or intoxication. It would make me question his/her maturity level and ability to be responsible.”
• If someone has a gap in their chronology, how do you recommend they deal with that issue on their resume? “The gap should always be addressed even if it’s just a quick bullet with a sentence or summary explaining the gap.”
• Do you read cover letters? Why or why not? “As a general practice, no unless the candidate is applying to a specific position or if one has been requested by a hiring manager. I use the cover letter more as a tool to get a sense of communication skills and personality versus why the candidate is a strong match for the position. Generally the experience listed on the resume, our phone conversation, and the in-person interview are better tools for us to determine if the qualifications and skills match the job requirements.”

You can read last week’s Ask the Recruiter interview here and be sure to check back next Monday for the final installment in the series.

For this week’s Ask the Recruiter series, I interviewed Lorri Zelman, Managing Director, Human Resources Practice for Solomon-Page Group, a permanent recruitment and temporary staffing firm in New York City.

• What are the three most important interview questions you ask candidates and why? 

1. Tell me something about yourself that I won’t be able to discover in a one-hour interview.  If people have something to hide, they often panic when asked this question and get defensive. That’s not at all the purpose, but it’s an interesting outcome. It’s often telling to see what topic they choose (i.e., something about style, an experience, personal – relevant or not).
2. Tell me about a mistake you made and what happened.  This helps in determining what they consider to be “good and bad” and demonstrates problem solving abilities – some tell you the mistake without a clear outcome/resolution. It tends to also distinguish between those that are tactical and those that are strategic. I also find this is much more helpful and targeted than asking about weaknesses.
3. When you think about all the factors that go into making a decision about a job (personal and professional), what is most important to you at this point in your life?  This helps to understand the readiness of the person to leave; sometimes this answer is something completely new that didn’t come up in the interview; sometimes this brings up something that could be a deal-breaker down the road or something that will be tough to accomplish (e.g., leaving every day at 4pm, an incredibly generous benefits package that’s hard to be replicated, the fact that they work 5 minutes from home).

• What level of follow up do you expect from your job applicants? How much is too much? Once a month is fine. Once a week is too much. I think you need to understand if the recruiter uses a database. If so, each time a new job comes in, candidates that are qualified come up in a database search, so you don’t have to worry about “out of sight, out of mind”.  For recruiters that don’t use a database, you may need to stay in touch more often to make sure you are not forgotten.
• What is your opinion on thank you letters after an interview? Do you prefer that they be sent via email or snail mail? My clients like when they receive a thank you that is specific to the role and draw a clear link, after learning about the position, as to why the candidate is a good fit for the job. I think most expect email thank yous, but snail mail can stand out more. Very often they are not sent if the candidate is not interested, so when very interested in a position, I’d get one out right away.  And make sure there are no typos or spelling errors!
• What is your biggest interview pet peeve and why? I can’t stand when someone goes through an obviously rehearsed script. I will usually stop them and ask a specific question to change direction. It makes me crazy when they do not answer my question and keep going with their script.
• What is your biggest resume pet peeve and why? Formatting errors, extra spaces, inappropriate “wrapping”. I just think it doesn’t look professional.
• Are you using business or social networking tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook to source candidates? Do you Google candidates or check out their online profiles before interviewing them? We use LinkedIn all the time because it is more of a business networking tool. We do not search Facebook because you find out too much personal information that should not weigh-in as part of the interviewing process.  I recommend my candidates Google anyone they are going to meet as an Interviewer, but we do not Google our candidates.
• If someone has a gap in their chronology how do you recommend they deal with that issue on their resume? It depends on why there was a gap and whether or not what they did during that time was related to the type of job they are looking for. If it’s a long period, it may be appropriate to add a sentence that describes the nature of why someone wasn’t working. But there could always be a bias on the reasons. If it was less than a year, I’d say just put years on the resume instead of months/years and explain the gap once you are in the door. If it’s more than that, it may be necessary to put something down, but again it depends on the reason.
• Do you read cover letters? Why or why not? No.  My clients don’t read them and count on me for a summary of what they need to know. It’s rare that I get anything substantive out of them, distinguishing one candidate from the next. I do scan them, however, to make sure they are the appropriate length and to ensure there are no typos or formatting errors.

Career Solvers is proud to announce the release of our new book “Happy About My Resume: 50 Tips for Building a Better Document to Secure a Brighter Future.” Click on the link to learn more about our resume book and visit our new sister blog, Happy About My Resume for more tips on resume writing.

From time to time I add testimonials or a quote from a letter of recommendation to a client’s resume or cover letter to add some extra “wow” to their presentation and underscore how well respected they are in their field. Recently, two of my clients questioned this practice because they were unsure how the testimonials would be perceived by the reader. I think that sometimes job seekers get caught up in what they think are the rules of resume writing when in fact there are very few rules when it comes to resumes and standing out in a sea of ordinary is often what lands you the interview. One of the reasons that LinkedIn has become so popular is that it allows you to get a 360 degree view of the person you are reviewing. The content is not just from the perspective of the owner of that profile. Through endorsements, people can elevate their professional brand and show their audience that others validate their value-add and core strengths. If endorsements work for the 25M+ users on LinkedIn, why would one doubt their effectiveness on resumes? Break out of the mold of what you think your resume should be…and what probably looks like everyone else’s resume and add authentic content that differentiates you.

 I wrote a post yesterday about how cover letters are perceived by recruiters, HR, and hiring authorities. Steve Levy, Talent Scout, OD Consultant, and blogger extraordinaire, sent me some thoughtful comments regarding cover letters that I think are worth repeating.

• “I wonder how many recruiters actually listen to themselves talk about what a candidate should and shouldn’t do during a job search. Some recruiters read cover letters, some don’t – is it any wonder so many candidates put so little effort into things that so many recruiters won’t even read? 
• What’s worse is that recruiters are scanning resumes and cover letters, items that even the best professionals have trouble crafting. So in effect, by scanning and skimming, the recruiter is denying candidacy to potentially great future employees. 
• I think if more recruiters assessed to include people rather than to deny people, more would read the cover letters and over time the quality of cover letters would improve. Think of it – if your ad says that you will read cover letters for content, you’ll probably receive better letters and have better information on which to base your decision.” 

Steve’s words are really refreshing. Hiring managers hire people, not resumes and cover letters. Taleo and other applicant tracking applications can help recruiters track and organize talent, but only humans can make decisions regarding each applicant’s potential value to the organization.

I recently sat in on a panel of staffing professionals representing such prestigious companies as Microsoft, Starbucks, and PacSun. One of the questions that came up in the audience was “Do you read cover letters?” All three representatives of these companies said they do not. But is this representative of most recruiters and hiring authorities? I decided to conduct my own informal survey and quickly realized that people’s reactions to cover letters are all over the board. So here are my conclusions:

1. Half the people you send your cover letter to will probably read it and the other half will not. Since you can never be sure who your audience is, it is best to cover your bases and send a cover letter.
2. A strong cover letter might distinguish you in a sea of mediocrity. Most people’s cover letters fail to convey a message of value to the employer. But a strong cover letter can help you customize your resume and grab the attention of a hiring authority.
3. A resume is fairly formulaic; a cover letter is not. Cover letters can be used to communicate interest, passion, and enthusiasm regarding a job opening. They are often used to build the initial rapport between the job seeker and the employer.
4. Specific action-oriented cover letters work better than generic ones full of fluff. Showcase strong accomplishments that are relevant to your reader and use metrics whenever possible to validate your competencies. Stay away from tired cover letter phrases such as team player, strong communicator, or detail oriented. Hiring authorities assume you have these competencies. Leverage accomplishment statements to prove your success across these competencies.

What type of content is included in a strong cover letter? Check out our samples here

Each year, Career Directors International hosts the TORI (Toast of the Resume Industry) international awards competition. This year, Career Solvers received five nominations and three 2nd place awards in the following categories:

• Best Executive Resume
• Best Creative Resume
• Best Cover Letter