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!

• As a member of a new community of resume writers and career coaches called the Career Collective, this post is one of many responses to the question, “Are you a cookie cutter job seeker?” I encourage you to visit other members’ responses, linked at the end of my reply! Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.

Frequently I meet job seekers who think that there is a strict format for resumes and refer to the resume format they used when they graduated from college or find something on Google templates to use as their guide. Some job seekers are fearful of changing up any of the content or adding any type of stylistic design elements to their resume for fear that their resumes will look different from others. Huh?

Strong brands have a value proposition, look, and feel that separates them from the pack. Apple didn’t become successful because it was just like a PC and Starbucks didn’t become the powerhouse it is because they are just another coffee shop. Strong brands allow people to experience an important emotion and the packaging of the brand is all part of that emotional connection.

A resume is a marketing tool designed to get the job seeker interviews. Every facet of the document needs to exude your promise to deliver, your passion, and your differentiating features. And this can never be achieved with a template resume or one that was created based on the way resumes were written many years ago when you graduated.

Develop content and design based on that unique value. Write about your compelling stories of success and validate that success by showing the impact your actions had on the organizations you supported. Doing so will help build trust between you and your reader and solidify the emotional connection to your brand. Use design features such as bold, shading, graphs, charts, and even color if these elements better communicate your key selling points. Don’t be afraid to do things differently if doing so will help you get your message across.

Here’s what my colleagues have to say about this topic.

Keppie Careers – Conscious awareness and your job hunt

The Emerging Professional: On the “Cookie Cutter” Approach to Job Search: Do You Need a Recipe?

Sterling Career Concepts: Job seekers: Break out of the mold!

Dawn Bugni The Write Solution: Dawn’s Blog Is your job search “cookie-cutter” or “hand-dropped”?

Rosa Vargas, Creating Prints Resume-Writing Blog: Being a Cookie-Cutter Job Seeker is a Misfortune

Heather Mundell, life@work: How Not to Be a Cookie Cutter Job Seeker

When I was in high school I assumed everyone went to college. My brothers were both away at Ivy League schools at the time and just about all of my friends were busy prepping for the SATs and visiting college campuses. But one good friend at the time told me he didn’t think he was going to go to college and I was shocked. I managed to convince him to go which in retrospect was not a great idea because he hated the experience and left after his second year.

I thought he should go because he was so smart. Not your typical straight A student smart, but street smart. He used his wit, charm, and good looks to talk his way out of anything and he was always able to stand up for himself, no matter what cards he was dealt. To me, it just seemed like college was a logical place for him to refine these skills and figure out how to apply what he knew to the real world. A few years after he left school he earned his real estate license and went on to become a successful agent and later start his own agency. He’s great at what he does because he knows what will sell, he sizes up people quickly, and he’s a great negotiator…people want to do business with him not because of his education, but because of his experience.

I have another friend who I met in my early 20s who was exceptionally smart in the traditional sense. He’s very well read with a rich vocabulary and an incredible imagination. He could have a conversation about just about anything from history to sports to music to literature and wow you with what he knows. He just never chose to learn what he knows through an institute of higher education. I caught up with him recently and now middle-aged and currently unemployed, he has decided to go back to school to earn a degree because he can’t seem to get past the job boards without one. His classes are way too easy for him and knowing him the way I do, he is probably bored by them already.

Both scenarios beg the question “What does a college degree have to do with intelligence or the ability to do a job well and why are many employers listing it as a hiring requirement?”

I recently sat in on a recruiter panel where a recruiter from a Fortune 500 company admitted to adding a Bachelor’s degree to the list of job requirements on job postings because it made it easier to screen out candidates. There was no discussion around the relevancy of the degree in predicting success in the job; just that the requirement made it easier to sort candidates in a competitive job market. I know that this recruiter is not alone in this practice which presents a challenge for job seekers who lack a college degree.

I meet many job seekers who are very concerned with the fact that they lack a four-year degree. Many often express regret, guilt, and even shame over not having one. They seem to have bought into the idea that without the degree, they either aren’t qualified for the position or don’t stand a chance at landing it. This is not necessarily the case. The real issue is that they are dealing with a gatekeeper who has put up an obstacle that they can’t get past. But the solution isn’t to give up or decide that the gatekeeper must be right; the solution is to go around the gatekeeper and find another door for entry.

I often write about the fact that most people get their jobs through their network.  And when there is an obstacle in the way of  your search, your network becomes even more crucial. So if a lack of a college degree is the obstacle, getting the degree isn’t necessarily the most efficient way around the obstacle. Here are a few things to consider.

• Rather than trying to get past a job board with a structured set of requirements, try to find an insider at the company who can advocate for you and let the decision maker know all you have to offer. Try every possible angle; talk to friends and family, reach out to colleagues and people you know through affinity groups, and search your contacts on LinkedIn and Facebook to find an in at the company. Once there is someone advocating for your candidacy and singing your praises, your academic credentials rarely become an important factor in granting an interview.
• If you have any college credits, list the university and area of study on your resume to show you have some college experience. If you have more than one year of college, you may want to list the number of credits you have as well.
• If you have licenses, certifications, or training classes that are relevant to your target audience, list them on the resume to show your dedication to continuing to gain knowledge in your area of expertise.
• When interviewing, showcase stories that prove you have been successful in your previous roles…maybe it’s a story about being the top sales person, the accountant who reaped the greatest savings for the company, the HR manager with the best time-to-hire metrics, or the self-made CEO who led the company from being in the red to multimillion-dollar profits. Your recent professional accomplishments generally have more relevancy than educational accomplishments achieved decades ago.
• During an interview, ask if there are any concerns about your candidacy to see if the hiring manager brings up your education. If they do, discuss how you have performed as well as or even better than your colleagues with a degree. Maybe you trained colleagues who had more formal education than you on a particular product or were selected to lead a  project over your teammates despite not having a degree. Prove how your lack of a degree was not an impediment to doing your job well.

I learned a long time ago that education is not necessarily correlated with success in a job. I have read the success stories of corporate icons such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Barry Diller, and Mark Zuckerberg, all who never graduated from college. If you have been struggling with your search and believe that your lack of a degree is creating a roadblock, try going down a different path to find the right contacts who can help you land your next gig.

Last week when I was in Annapolis at the NRWA conference, I listened to a panel discussion with five recruiters representing the corporate, not-for-profit, and government sectors who shared their preferences regarding resumes. Their preferences are consistent with those of other recruiters I talk to. Here are the key takeaways:

1. Include both months and years of employment for any positions that you held for less than 2 years.
2. Use bulleted lists to show accomplishments rather than blocky paragraphs of text.
3. Create a brief paragraph under each job title to explain the position responsibilities.
4. If listing multiple roles in one company, only list the company name and full employment dates once and list the individual position titles underneath.
5. Include embedded links such as LinkedIn url or other links if relevant.
6. Keep the resume to one or two pages unless applying for a federal job where a longer resume may be needed.
7. Explain any employment gaps on the resume.
8. Paste your cover letter into the body of the email rather than as a separate attachment.
9. Make sure all company names, job titles, and keywords are easy to spot on a quick scan.
10. Use a chronological format whenever possible; alternative formats can raise suspicion with some recruiters.

September is a time of new beginnings. The kids go back to school, fall begins, and many companies start aggressively recruiting after the slower-paced summer months. September is the perfect time to update your resume. Here are a few points to consider if you plan on updating your resume in the coming month.

1. What successes have you achieved since you last updated your resume? Have you worked on specific projects that have helped the company make money, save money, save time, grow the business or keep the business? Have you completed mission-critical projects ahead of schedule or under budget?
2. Have you recently completed a degree or certification program or taken classes that better position you as a subject matter expert in your field?
3. Have you taken on any new leadership roles through professional/volunteer organizations?
4. Have you authored any books or articles, or presented at any industry events?

In honor of Update Your Resume Month, I am offering a choice of any two of my September 14, 2009 webinars at no cost to new clients and return clients who purchase resume services and start working with me before September 30, 2009. The webinars you can select from are:

• Negotiation Strategies
• Networking Strategies for the 21st Century
• Leveraging Online & Print Resources to Find Hidden Jobs
• LinkedIn for Job Search

You can view more details about the webinars here.

Recently The New York Times published a piece called Your Career: Video Resumes Get More Popular about the fast growing popularity of video resumes with job seekers who are trying to differentiate themselves in a crowded space. This article seemed to follow quick on the heels of the Hire Me video where a recent college grad sang a song to employers explaining his background and asking for a job.  After the video resume article came out, I noticed a number of people using Twitter to spread the message about video resumes gaining more popularity…and this is how bad advice, urban legends, and other nonsense gets transferred from person to person these days.

If you think that video resumes are a better alternative to traditional resumes, think again. These days everyone wants their information fast. Everyone needs to be a master scanner just to keep up with the incredible amount of information that is put in front of them each day. Think about how you use LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. You aren’t reading every post, clicking on every link, or viewing every video or podcast the community posts. You are scanning the information, looking for the golden nuggets and ignoring everything else.

This is how resumes are reviewed. No one is reading them. They are giving them a quick glance and/or using applicant tracking systems to slice and dice your data and determine a match between your candidacy and their open job.  Hiring managers are looking for keywords and impact verified by strong metrics…the facts ma’am…just the facts. So in today’s fast paced world, why would anyone want to look at a video resume…or video resumes from 500 applicants? Currently there is no real way to parse the information and no one is going to take the time to view the video or even fast forward through it.

On top of this, there are many other landmines associated with video resumes…Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers has a great post on this topic here.

I’m not saying that video and other rich media has no place in your job search campaign. Very brief presentations that deliver a message of value can be created through tools like Visual CV, a personal website or blog, or a presentation on Slideshare that is linked to your LinkedIn profile. But use these tools as an additional way to support your candidacy after the hiring authority has reviewed your resume or a follow up strategy to complement a first interview rather than your initial strategy for getting the hiring manager’s attention.