I put up a picture on Facebook yesterday of me as a kid sitting in my living room. I love this picture because it reminds me what my house looked like as a child and it’s a window into what trends influenced how homes were decorated at the time. My mother had a penchant for plastic slipcovers and she put them on everything in the living room, including the lampshades. Plastic slipccovers made their debut in the mid 50s and managed to haunt my family well into the next two decades. My friends and I have been chuckling over the picture and trying to figure out why anyone would subject their loved ones to the feel of sticky plastic, especially in the summertime.

But when my Mom had plastic slipcovers it was all the rage and many of my friends tell stories of “growing up plastic” as well. Of course now when we think about plastic slipcovers we immediately conjure up a “dated” image.

We moved on from the plastic slipcovers some time in the mid 70’s when they began to lose their “avant garde” appeal. It’s easy to figure out that your furniture is dated because you have to look at it every day and you are constantly comparing it to other people’s furniture and the trends you see on the Internet, television, and magazines.

But what about your resume? Many people don’t look at their resume or update it for years and years because they don’t feel they have a need to. And when they do need their resume for something, what do they do? Pull out the old one and just add the new job. No redecorating here…

So what people end up with is basically the same resume they wrote 20 years ago and have been “suffering with” ever since. ..kind of like outdated plastic slipcovers.

Here are some  of the telltale signs that your resume needs to be “redecorated”

1. Your resume leads with an objective. No one wants to see an objective on a resume anymore. They communicate what you are looking for which isn’t of much interest to a hiring manager. Hiring authorities want to know what’s in it for them…do you have the competencies and the proof of performance to help solve their business problems. Create a profile or executive summary outlining your big picture accomplishments and the value you can bring to an employer instead and leave the objective off the resume and in the past where it belongs.
2. Your contact information includes your fax number. Nothing screams the 80s like a fax number. Chances are no employer will need to contact you by fax. Leave the fax number off the resume or better yet, use that space to include your LinkedIn vanity URL.
3. Your dates of employment are all left justified. Having dates of employment to the left made sense in the days of the typewriter when tabs were the only way to indent content. Thanks to Microsoft Word, text is much more maleable and space can be better utilized. Place employment dates after the company name or to the right to optimize space and save room for other important content.
4. The font on your resume is Courier 10. Courier 10 was all there was when all documents were created on typewriters. Now we have scores of choices. Pick something else.
5. Your resume contains several personal attributes to describe you. If you are using adjectives on your resume such as loyal, detail-oriented, good communicator, or hard-working to describe your value to an employer, stop. Descriptions of personal attributes are meaningless unless there is tangible proof of these traits within the body of the resume. Their use is very old-school and my guess is you copied those words from someone else’s outdated resume or from a book of resume samples that was published during Clinton’s first administration.
6. Your resume states that references are available upon request. Well, they used to be. Now many hiring managers Google candidates before they call them in for an interview. So frequently your references are available online whether you want them to be or not. Ditch the statement about references and save the space for something more important.

There are furniture trends, fashion trends, and even resume writing trends. Be hip and stay informed of the latest resume writing styles and tips to increase the likelihood of getting noticed by hiring managers.

Occasionally I have to turn a prospect for a resume project away because I have determined that they really aren’t ready to work with me. There are five signs that a person is just not in the right place to begin a resume project and doing so would lead to frustration rather than a positive experience. Are you any of these people?

1. You don’t have time to be part of the process. Resume writing is a very collaborative process. Expect to spend time being interviewed by the writer or completing some sort of questionnaire so the writer can gather the appropriate information. Forwarding them a copy of your old resume and expecting them to glean the best information from it won’t cut it. If you are extremely busy, under an enormous amount of stress, or just in a really bad place emotionally, this might not be the best time to embark on an overhaul of your resume.
2. You haven’t spent any time thinking about the value you can bring to an employer. The writer’s job is to best represent you and advertise the benefits you can bring to an organization. But they can only write from the information you supply. A good writer will ask targeted questions to get at the key information that they need to write a strong resume for you. You must be willing to be introspective about your past experience. You need to start thinking less about your job tasks and more about what makes you good at what you do. If you wait until the day you meet your writer to discuss what you have accomplished, you are sure to omit key information or forget something that could help the writer do a better job.
3. You expect your writer to write about skills you don’t have. If you have an expectation that the writer is there to embellish your experience or suggest you have competencies you don’t, forget about it. An ethical writer will only create a true representation of your skills. We don’t make stuff up.
4. You can’t let go of anything. If you are so attached to the great work you did on a Y2K project in 1999 or your stellar GPA in 1982, you will struggle with one of the real benefits of working with a writer…the ability to look at all of your accomplishments objectively and showcase the ones that have the most relevance in the current market. Approach the process with an open mind and let the writer help you make decisions about the content.
5. You want a resume that looks just like the sample one on the writer’s website. Don’t get me wrong. it’s a great idea to review sample resumes to get an idea of the writer’s style. But don’t expect your resume to look like the one on the sample page. That resume represents someone else’s experience. Yours needs to represent you and you alone. This isn’t the drive through window at McDonalds where every hamburger is the same; it’s more like a salad bar that mixes and matches the best choices for each individual.

Yesterday was my son’s birthday. It is a tradition in our family to tell our kids the story of the day they were born each year on their birthday. And while I’ve been telling my son this story for the past 13 years, it has always been somewhat sanitized. You see, my son’s birth was particularly hairy and what seemed like a routine delivery quickly turned into an emergency. For awhile, the doctors didn’t know if he would survive the birth. So every year I’ve pretty much glossed over this part of the story, thinking it would be too scary for him to hear. But this year, I decided he was ready to hear the whole story.

I encourage my clients to tell me authentic stories about their work experiences so I can craft a strong resume for them. Frequently, they shy away from telling stories  about disastrous departments, sluggish sales, failed projects, or difficult relationships because they think their story has to be sanitized in order to be acceptable to a hiring manager. But I disagree. Job seekers can show their ability to influence positive outcomes, even when the deck is stacked against them and business conditions are exceptionally challenging. Here are some examples of such situations and how information can be presented in a positive way under challenging circumstances.

Selling in a challenging market…

• Secured sales meetings with 80% of target audience; successfully introduced products and services despite inherent obstacles including saturated and shrinking market.

Providing leadership in environments plagued with infighting…

• Successfully broke down business silos and improved information sharing across cross- functional teams by creating an open and transparent work environment to foster collaboration.

Salvaging a damaged client relationship…

• Reversed strained client relationship that was damaged due to a previous producer’s missed deadline by quickly mobilizing team resources to shave close to 75% off the normal project completion time.

Preparing for a failed company’s closing…

• Developed a liquidation strategy that maximized profit margin from inventory and kept vendors and staff engaged until final closing.

Managing poor performers…

• Reversed performance issues for a struggling employee who went on to become the division’s #1 account executive and ranked in the top-ten firm-wide.

What are your harrowing work stories and what positive outcomes can be drawn from them?

On the day my son was born, during labor the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Oxygen wasn’t going to his brain. The doctors performed an emergency C-section and time was so critical that they had to start the procedure before the anesthesia kicked in. And while I don’t love remembering that part of the story, I certainly do love the end result which was a healthy baby. Happy 14th birthday to my positive outcome, Darius!

I just bought a pair of new running shoes. You are supposed to replace your running shoes every 300 to 500 miles depending on your running style, weight, and the sneaker. My sneakers had seen at least double that amount of mileage. The tread on both sneakers was worn down so far that I was striking the pavement at an odd angle and accentuating an already pronated right foot. And every day I kept saying to myself “You should really get a new pair of running shoes.” But then I would just go running anyway and put it off for another day that turned into a week and then a few months. It’s amazing I didn’t get injured.

Another important task that is easy to put off is updating your resume. It’s so easy to tell yourself you will do it tomorrow and tomorrow quickly turns into next week or next month. And when that golden opportunity surfaces and you are asked for your resume, you scramble around to put a patch job together to get it to the hiring manager or recruiter. Bad plan.

I put off buying new running shoes and ran the risk of getting injured which would have resulted in severe pain and lost running time. If you put off updating your resume, you run the risk of being out of the race if an opportunity presents itself.

December is a great time to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and update your resume. Because in January their will be a lot of others at the starting line in their search.

My son is getting braces. In order to prepare for the braces, he first needs to wear a special “appliance” to realign his jaw. When you look in his mouth it looks like he has four giant screws in the back, all in different places. Each time he closes his mouth he must push his jaw forward in order to have the desired effect. As you can imagine, this makes chewing quite cumbersome. On the first day he could only eat soup and jello. Today he has moved on to mashed potatoes. And by the end of the week we are told that he will have figured out how to chew more solid foods.

I think that when people find themselves in a job search after many years of being comfortable in a job, they have a similar relearning process and nothing comes easy at first. The old methods of job search don’t work the same way anymore and job seekers need to work around more obstacles to find the right leads. Here are some ideas to chew on (pun intended) as you create a direction for your job search.

1. Take a bite out of that old resume. Examine the content of your resume closely. If there is information on it that is dated or irrelevant to your target audience, get rid of it.
2. Sink your teeth into networking. Building relationships takes time. Do something for your network everyday so the task is less overwhelming and more productive. Set attainable goals to schedule coffee with a colleague or lunch with an old friend. Be consistent and purposeful and remember to approach networking with a “give more than you get” attitude.
3. Get a taste of social media. Dabble in LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and create profiles on Google and Zoom Info. Be part of the conversation and share expertise, ideas, musings, and your experiences.
4. Explore the different flavors of interview questions. Practice responses to behavior based interview questions such as tell me about yourself, tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision, or tell me about a project that failed and what you learned from it. Interview questions come in all flavors…some are about positive experiences and some are about difficult situations you faced…learn how to answer all of them with confidence.

The “appliance” in my son’s mouth is an obstacle right now. But he will overcome it…the kid’s gotta eat! Job seekers face obstacles everyday. But with some thought, preparation, and a commitment to do things differently they can overcome these obstacles and savor the taste of a sweet new job.

I’m having a piano delivered to my house. Arranging for a piano delivery is no small feat.  Besides making arrangements with the showroom, I had to coordinate the insurance with my apartment building’s managing agent and figure out if the piano would fit in my elevator. Delivering a baby seemed to be much easier than this ordeal.

The delivery was scheduled for tomorrow, yet the piano showed up at my house today. It seems that the employee from the piano showroom missed one minor detail…recording and communicating the correct delivery date to the movers. The piano arrived just as I was leaving my house for a meeting, so I had to refuse delivery and send the piano back to the showroom.

Ok, we’re all human and we all make mistakes. But in some situations you are going to be judged more harshly than others. If a delivery of new sheets or towels showed up on the wrong day, I might not have given it a second thought. But it’s hard to shrug off the fact that a 450 lb piano showed up on my doorstep unannounced. And even if the employee at the showroom is the employee of the year every year and is frequently praised for her attention to detail, to me she will always be “the lady who delivered a piano to my house on the wrong day.”

Job search is a situation where your actions are under a microscope. Errors that might be passed over in your day to day work are scrutinized much more diligently when hiring managers are reviewing applicants. When you start the job search process, an employer doesn’t know you and they don’t trust you yet. They don’t know if you are competent to do the job so each of your interactions with them either builds that trust or destroys it. Here are a few errors that job seekers often make and are frequently judged by.

• Resume typos…It’s very rare that I receive an email without a typo. And I see typos on websites and blogs all the time. And it doesn’t really color my opinion of that person. But in job search, typos on the resume make a red flag go up for many hiring managers. The concern is that if the applicant wasn’t detail-oriented enough to catch the typos in their resume, they may make other, more costly errors for the company.
• Fashion Faux-pas…Everyone has showed up at work at some point in time in some outfit that was far from flattering, too casual, inconsistent with the company’s corporate culture, or even offensive. In most cases the fashion faux-pas becomes fodder for the water cooler for a day or two and then just goes away. But on an interview, the candidate quickly turns into “the applicant in the fishnet stockings” or “the guy with the really bad tie” and again a judgement is passed. The concern is that based on the applicant’s dress they won’t fit in with the company’s culture or perhaps lack sound judgement in other areas.
• Arriving late to the interview… Just about everyone has been late to work at one time or another.  And unless it becomes a chronic issue, it is generally accepted and not a big deal. But on an interview, arriving late can signal to a hiring manager that you are not reliable or dependable or that you don’t manage your time well.
• Electronic whoops…We’ve all been in situations where someone’s cell phone rings during a presentation or important meeting. And maybe it’s a bit embarrassing but it’s quickly forgotten. However, if your phone rings during an interview, the interviewer notices and may pass a judgement about you or even your consideration of others.

When you apply for a job, you are a lot like a 450 lb piano. Everything you do is obvious. Everything you do gets noticed. And little errors in your job search strategy can quickly turn into detrimental ones. The person who arranged for my piano delivery should have checked and double checked the delivery date…because it’s a piano. Job seekers need to check and recheck all the little details that go into an effective job search…because it’s your career. Both are really big things that you don’t want to screw up.

I’m excited to announce that my second book, #JobSearchTweet will be released shortly. The book delivers 140 tweet-like tips on just about every aspect of job search. It’s a book that you can read quickly but continue to reference for the duration of your career. Resumes, cover letters, thank you letters, references, recruiters, networking, social media, interviewing, and salary negotiation are all addressed. Here’s a sneak peak at a few of the tweets.

• When writing a resume, include graduation dates; omitting them raises suspicion and calls more attention to the very thing you are trying to hide.
• Half of hiring managers read cover letters and the other half do not; but you never know which half you are dealing with so always send one when applying for an open position.
• Have a phone interview? Sit in front of a mirror to anchor you during the conversation and make you feel like you are talking to someone (even if that someone is yourself!)
• When networking, ask people you meet a lot of questions about themselves. People think you are a great conversationalist when you let them do most of the talking.
• With traditional networking you can only be in one place at a time; with online networking you can be interacting in multiple communities simultaneously.
• The negotiation process begins the moment you submit your resume and continues until the offer is finalized. You can’t position yourself at one level on the resume and expect to be compensated at a higher level later on.

Interested in the other 134 tweets? Learn more about the book here and for more job search tips follow the #jobsearchtweet hashtag on Twitter.

My daughter is addicted to the musical comedy Glee and I’ve started to become a fan myself. Last week, two students on the show competed in the school’s first “Diva-off” and the competition required that they sing the song Defying Gravity from the Broadway show Wicked. Since watching the show, I can’t seem to get the song out of my head and I’ve been thinking about the importance of defying gravity in a job search ever since.

I think that everyone who is in a job search has to defy gravity in order to gain traction, particularly in a competitive job market such as the one we are facing right now. You need to take a leap of faith, step outside your comfort zone, and do things differently. Because techniques that worked during your last job search might not work today. So here are my five gravity defying recommendations to help you take that leap and still land safely.

• Don’t pull out your most recent resume, slap on your last position, and call that an update. Stop treating your resume like another piece of paper that needs to be in your briefcase when you start interviewing and start acknowledging it for what it is…a marketing tool and advertisement for “brand you”. Forget about what you think are the rules around resume writing…I have news for you…there really aren’t any. The goal is to make a powerful and memorable impression…quickly…and with whatever it takes. This can be achieved by communicating your impact on the organizations you have supported and it can be proven with stories, visuals, case studies, testimonials, or links to podcasts, whitepapers, and even YouTube videos. Resumes that read like job descriptions won’t cut it…they will never defy gravity, but instead will fall flat with the hiring manager.

• Get off the job boards. Job boards cater to the most complacent of job seekers. The ones who expect the jobs to come to them. The ones who think that if they throw enough resumes against the job board wall, one of them is bound to stick. But it doesn’t really work that way. Because the person on the other side of that job board is getting resumes hurled at them much faster than they can catch them. So they are forced to use applicant tracking software to parse the data in your resume and reduce its substance down to a few keywords. And keywords don’t really communicate success. In addition, while that hiring manager is trying to field all the applicants from the job boards, they are also building relationships via other channels. And let’s face it; if someone they know introduces them to a candidate, there is a much greater likelihood that they will check out that candidate first and actually look at their resume while the applicant tracking system does all the grunt work parsing data on the other 500 applicants. Which set of eyes would you rather be in front of…the human eye or the computer one?

• Don’t expect a recruiter to find you your next job. Even a recruiter will tell you that you are more likely to find your next position through a connection than through them. Just because you found your last job via a recruiter, it doesn’t mean you will land your next job the same way. Recruiters are inundated with prospects but don’t necessarily have the inventory of job openings to match the demand. Build your network by becoming an active member of professional and personal communities to extend your visibility and circle of influence. Break away from a reliance on recruiters and start making things happen on your own.

• Don’t turn your back on social media. I’ve heard all the excuses…If you don’t think that social media is relevant to you in a job search, watch how quickly you become irrelevant to the many decision makers using it to find top talent. Dip your toe in the social media water, start some conversations, support others, and learn how to protect your privacy to alleviate any concerns you have about using these tools.

• Don’t purchase a book on interviewing and expect to interview well. Interview books can help you lay the foundation for your interview strategy, but they can’t tell you how you should answer the interview questions. A strong interview strategy is one that communicates your unique value proposition through stories of success. Review interview questions to determine the underlying competency the hiring manager is searching for. Then showcase an example of something you did in the past that proves you have that competency. This strategy builds your credibility and helps the hiring manager gain trust in your abilities. You will never wow a hiring manager by regurgitating the pat answer listed on page 23 of some interview book.

Defying gravity in your job search takes a lot of work and it requires some risk. But if the old methods of job search aren’t working for you, then you need to try something new. And while you are planning your gravity defying job search strategy, here’s the song to get you motivated.

I don’t think about my age too much. People often tell me that I look younger than I am so I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to look older, not younger. But recently, four events occurred within the same day that forced me to think about age and the perception that age can create.

• I saw a lead that a major magazine was offering a job search makeover for women between 25 and 45 years old…I did the math and realized that if I had been interested, I wouldn’t be eligible.
• A colleague posted on Facebook that he was celebrating his 35th birthday. I commented back that I recently celebrated my 35th birthday…for the 11th time.
• I was exercising and monitoring my recommended heart rate and realized that I fall into the category for the oldest exercisers on the chart.
• A client listed her work history on her resume back to 1995 and asked if she should remove that information because it was “ancient.” I didn’t even think my teenage kids thought 1995 was ancient history!

So what happened? I went to bed feeling young and woke up feeling old? I had become Rip Van Winkle overnight? How could this be? I think many boomer job seekers face the same dilemma. Age was never a factor in their job search, but now it is. I have heard stories from clients telling me recruiters have told them they are too old for certain positions. Others, who are often several years younger than me just assume they will be discriminated against based on their age. And everyone seems to have a different cut off for what they think “too old” is. Some say 40, others say 50 or 60.

In a job search there are some things we can control and many things we cannot. I always coach my clients to focus on the aspects of the search they can control. And while we can’t control our age or other people’s perceptions about our age, there are proactive steps all job seekers can take to make sure age bias is minimized.

Resume Development

• Group earlier experience into a category that reads “Additional Experience.” Create an abbreviated overview of the positions you held more than 15 years ago, but include the dates. This allows the hiring manager to focus on more current and more relevant experience. Many people believe that by omitting the dates there is less likelihood that the bias will surface. I think the opposite. When the dates are missing, people wonder why and often assume you are even older than you are. If you chose to leave off certain employment experiences to make you look younger on paper, I say proceed with caution. If you are called in for an interview and it is obvious that you are much older than the information on your resume represents, you run the risk of making the hiring manager believe you are not truthful…not a great way to start out a relationship.
• While I’m not usually a big fan of a “hobbies” section on a resume, the information displayed there can sometimes offset a potential age bias issue. If you regularly participate in a sport that showcases your active lifestyle, this is something I suggest including. And if you have certain technology skills that prove you are current in your field, I recommend adding that information as well.

Online Identity

Some job seekers believe that by not having a picture on online identity and networking sites, they decrease the chance of being discriminated against. Again, I disagree. If you do not post a picture in communities where they are the norm, people will think you have something to hide. Sometimes people post pictures that are 10-15 years old. Another mistake that could damage your credibility when you meet the person who viewed your profile in person. Your picture is part of your brand. Pay as much attention to it as you would your other marketing collateral. Lighting, makeup, clothing choice, an updated hairstyle, and maybe even a wee bit of photo-shopping (shhh) will help you present your best image while still being transparent and authentic.

Interview Strategy

Sometimes when a hiring authority figures out your age, they draw the conclusion that you command a certain salary and that perhaps they won’t be able to afford you. When interviewing, if you detect this feeling, be sure to be able to discuss your interest in the position, your desire for meaningful work, and your flexibility. This can help the hiring manager to understand that salary in not necessarily your main motivator. The reality is that many older workers are not more expensive; if anything they are often behind market value because of longevity with a previous employer. Large salary bumps generally occur by switching jobs more frequently; not by staying with the same employer over many years. So the very thing the employer is concerned about might actually turn out to be a non-issue. Better to explore the issue than let the hiring manager come to their own, and possibly incorrect, conclusion.

Job Search Research

No one is the right fit for every company. Some companies do have a more youth-oriented culture. But many do not and even tout themselves as best places for boomers or people over 50. AARP publishes a list each year called the Best Employers for Workers Over 50. By targeting the companies that embrace older workers you dramatically decrease the potential for encountering age bias.

Attitude

It sounds so cliche but it is true. If you believe you are old, others will believe it as well. If you refuse to put arbitrary limitations on age you increase the chances that others will reject these notions as well. Focus on the value you can bring to an employer, not the longevity of your career history. Leverage the latest social media technologies such as Twitter and Facebook to stay connected in current conversations. Ditch phrases such as “back in the day” and “when I was your age.” Rewrite the rules.

I take my cues on age from my soon to be 79 year “young” mother. She still wears her hair in a ponytail. She knows more about the hardware and software on her computer than most 25 year olds. She has no major health issues. And she can get away with wearing clothes designed for women more than half her age. So that’s my barometer. What’s yours?

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!