On my flight from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale I had the good fortune of sitting behind a gentleman who was going to the same conference I was – Reliability2.0. I suggested we share cab fare to the hotel but he declined as he had a rental car. He did invite me to join him though and in the end it was the two of us and another individual from the same Plant/Facility as the first man.

As we drove to the hotel, I inquired about their purpose in attending the conference…what did they hope to get from this conference? (more…)

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Henry Hartman, famous Illustrator of the 20^th century was quoted as saying “ Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity”.

This is true of many an endeavor, and certainly so for interviewing.  Even if you have the “gift of gab”,  going into an interview unprepared is foolish.  In most organizations today, interviewing a potential employee is a multi-level process involving different layers within the organization.  Do not expect to receive an offer on the first interview.  Your goal at the first interview is to get a second interview! (more…)

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You have worked hard and paid the piper.  You’ve put in the blood, sweat and tears….toiling into the night, skipping lunch all to prove your commitment, keep up your productivity and ensure your job security! Has anyone noticed? Just in case you are not being acknowledged or appreciated for your hard work, don’t worry.

You may be thinking about what you can do to get the news of your abilities or potential known within your career space.  Or, you might be brainstorming future steps to expand your personal brand and make your job search more successful…..In either case, two immensely valuable outlets for you could be a combination of popular social media outlets such as Linked-In an Twitter. (more…)

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If you’re like most job hunters, you are likely unsure where to find some easy resources that will give you some text to wrap around your previous work history.  That is why we’ve included just a few quick links  that we particularly like to use when searching for resume content when we’re assisting clients.  We hope you find them helpful also.

We’ve used some of them to assist job seekers in looking for job descriptions and in general getting some text to wrap around duties and responsibilities they may not have had the words….or had forgotten were part of a long-ago position.

Take a look and see if you don’t agree that the following sites are useful to you as well…

www.indeed.com

www.nextupcareers.com

www.reliabilityresumes.com

www.dice.com

Just to name a few!

We usually assist job seekers by doing some upfront tasks like:

1. Review old position titles for current listings.

- This exercise jogs your memory for relevant duties and tasks that you may have forgotten.

2. Print out any NEW opportunities that sound like they would suit you

- Highlight the responsibilities you immediately see are your core competencies *this also shows by ommission those that you may need to consider whether you can learn or whether they are willing to pay your training to become more proficient in doing.

3. Placing the existing chronological work history into a new format

-The act of doing this really can make the old – NEW again and you can see glaring errors or ommissions as well.

We really hope these “upfront tasks” help you to prepare for your resume review or re-write.  If you are still having trouble, refer to the Inquiry and Profile Forms from the website.

As always, we would be honored to be YOUR professional resume writing service.  Feel free to contact us if we can be of any assistance whatsoever.

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I recently caught an segment of ABC’s Good Morning America called: Get a Job in January: 3 Success Stories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhVkcEAhQYE

In short, it covered 3 individuals all over the age of 50 who had been out of work well over a year each.

It was stated in this segment that 40% of those unemployed have been for over 2 years and are over 45 years of age and older.

A few of the highlights include:

*Embracing your “breakthrough moment”.  Basically, most of time, we are reacting to fear and the real power of your search for employment is to overcome the fear and control it instead.  If you’re in the market for a job and you’re letting your fear drive your decisions.  Once you control the fear,  you can get back to being the best you in the job search.

Don’t flood the employers with your résumé.  Everyone who is unemployed is working every day at applying for every job out there and getting the same results.  No call backs, no interviews, no jobs.  This segment recommends that you stop applying and start engaging.  Use non-traditional means like Linkedin.com; join groups within industries you have experience in or interest.  Begin chatting about subjects you can contribute to.  Employers have people online in these communities and you’re more likely to peak their interest in a much more meaningful way.  Don’t forget that you also can make great connections within the professional organizations of your industry too and conferences are usually able to grant free tickets to tour exhibition halls where you can press some flesh and engage with companies looking for talent like yours!

Finally, this segment addressed what one “overqualified” candidate did to make “exceptionally qualified” a hiring managers’ dream.  To find out how go to: Get a Job in January: 3 Success Stories.

I hope some of this helped you to come up with a few new job search strategies.

Happy Job Hunting,

Amy J. Campbell

The Résumé Lady

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In the November 24^th, 2009 edition of the Wall Street Journal, I located an editorial I thought exemplifies every aspect of the errors I find most prevalent when reviewing résumés in the Industrial Maintenance and Reliability Engineering field.  The article authored by Sarah E. Needleman titled “Creating A  Résumé That Sells” has a case study of a woman with some résumé do’s and don’ts.  I briefly listed a few I found resonated most with me and I completely agree with….

Some of the highlights you of this editorial include:

• The importance of having a “top-notch” résumé in today’s job market
• “That two pages – or even three – can make sense for someone with [her] level of experience”.
• It is good to use key words – terms
• “Acronyms are fine to use but spelling them out in parenthesis might be smart”.
• Details, non-ambiguous information and proper grammar are essential
• Be very clear about the work you’ve done
• Don’t discount early positions, it can be helpful in explaining how you made it up the ladder
• Don’t omit the education section (they will verify)
• List all technical capabilities – these speak to your experience and credibility
• Software you’re familiar with
• “Employers want someone who can plug and play pretty quickly”.
• More metrics! More metrics! More metrics! (Show the value you’ve added to your employers in real figures and dollars)
• The Summary needs to “cut to the chase” and to be tailored to the specific position for every job you seek
• Check and double check your spelling and grammar

For more on this editorial check it out online at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704431804574539403154677622.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_Careers_NewsTrends_4

Happy Job Hunting!

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The 17^th Annual Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals (SMRP) was held this week in St. Louis, MO, October 19^th to 22^nd, 2009.

The Résumé Lady and NextUpCareers.com were proud to co-sponsor the SMRP Job Fair that took place Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2009 from 10:00am- 2:00pm.

This was the first year SMRP offered a job fair with free attendance for any unemployed Maintenance and Reliability Professionals interested in finding their next role. The event was held at The Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, and featured companies looking to hire individuals for positions in varying industries across the US.

For more on ways to connect to this community of M&R Professionals, go to: www.smrp.org and on linkedin.com there are 12 separate SMRP groups for you to consider engaging in.

Happy Job Hunting

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One of the questions I get is “How am I ever going to get all my work history on one page?”

To which I answer “Why would you even try?”

The one page résumé, (I’m still trying to find the origin of this horrid mythical rule), is really almost ridiculous!

To have a candidate resort to restricting their résumé to only one page means that probably they’ve cut so much content out that you’ll never really see the quality of the candidate, particularly if they are a senior manager or executive OR they have tried to cram so much content onto one page that the font is nearly illegible or the margins and formatting are so crazy that any potential employer would likely just dismiss it out of hand rather than reach for the handy magnifying glass.

I have seen candidates take it to a new level with the 8+page approach.  This is not really good either because it is likely that much of your content is redundant and un-necessary.

In the final analysis, your content really rules just how long your résumé should be.  If you are concerned that you cannot be frugal with your use of content and MUST include more than the customary 2-3 pages nowadays, then consider adding it in a nicely formatted addendum.  This is also the place where you might want to add your publications and editorials, workshop/presentations and keynote appearances etc… In most cases, an unbiased reader will point out some content that you should not include because it just isn’t that relevant.

So, don’t be frustrated when you sit to come up with a several pages if you’re only just getting into the job market and don’t try to eliminate valuable content in hopes of getting down to a “one-pager” if you’ve been in the job market a while.  You will find that if you let your content dictate the length of your résumé (within reason), you will have just the right one for you.

Happy Job Hunting

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Do you know a man named Chris Bigelow?  His post: “Have You Googled Yourself Lately”  caught my attention because, I immediately answered “NO”.  Followed by the question…”Should I?”

After a little further online searching, I did find myself, or rather, I found entries online that were really about me.  My facebook page, twitter and Linked In….my old My Space page were all there for everyone to see.  That made me wonder….do I really know how that content will be interpreted by others?  I don’t do keg-stands but if I did, I don’t think that is the impression I would want my potential employers to get about me.  Photos of you wasted are not really the most flattering and photos of you passed out…..hmmmmm……what are employers to make of them?  They should not pry into your personal lives but they likely will and if you aren’t getting work, maybe you should look at your “personal brand” or the name you have made for yourself.  Did you save a man from a burning building or are you on the front page of the paper for having donated blood at the Red Cross?  THOSE are great items to show you’re a person of good character…..partying (drinking or recreational drug use), scantily clad garments or dancing in provocative You Tube videos is probably going to come back to haunt you.  If you’ve already done this, try to clean it up….if you haven’t done this, DON’T! You risk a future employer making a snap judgment about you regardless of your stellar résumé or other credentials.  One way to get around this is to build a personal website and add content to it that you definitely want someone to find.  Links to your photo debuts in any newspaper or press releases etc.  Do a little exercise and pretend you are a potential employer and google you, then search the online communities, viewing the content through the filter of an employer.  Would you hire you based on that?

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According to this feed found on Manufacturing.net on August 5^th, 2009, the AP in Washington reported:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Factory orders rose in June for the fourth time in five months, an unexpected gain and the latest sign of recovery in the ailing manufacturing sector.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that factory orders rose 0.4 percent, after a 1.1 percent increase in May. Economists expected a 1 percent drop, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

A 2.7 percent rise in orders for nondurable goods, such as chemicals and textiles, was the most since June 2008 and drove the overall increase. Orders for petroleum and coal products jumped 13.2 percent, as the price of oil rose. Wholesale oil prices rose 18.5 percent in June, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Orders for durable goods, big-ticket items such as aircraft and appliances, fell 2.2 percent. Commercial aircraft orders, a volatile category, fell 38.6 percent after rising 60.4 percent in May.

Still, there were signs of strength in durable goods. Orders for cars and auto parts rose 1.5 percent, and orders also increased for iron and steel mills and construction machinery.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a key measure of business investment, rose 2.6 percent, the second consecutive increase.

Other recent news on manufacturing also has been positive. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group, said Monday that manufacturing activity in July contracted at the slowest pace in almost a year.

The institute’s index of manufacturing activity was 48.9, up from 44.8 in June. Readings below 50 indicate that economic activity contracted, but the survey’s chair expects the figure will top that threshold next month for the first time since January 2008.  To read more (http://www.manufacturing.net/article.aspx?id=210732)

RL: Well, I guess we know where they’ll be hiring first eh?  Honestly, I cannot find anyone who believes this.  If I wish it to be true, sadly, it doesn’t make it so……

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