Resumes

LinkedIn Profile Checklist

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How Good is Your LinkedIn Profile? If you are a do-it-yourself-er, you may want to see how your LinkedIn Profile stacks up. Check out this self-assessment worksheet for LinkedIn:

Profiles that are considered “complete” by LinkedIn’s standards receive 40 times more “opportunities” (contacts from prospective hiring managers and recruiters) than incomplete profiles, according to LinkedIn’s research. LinkedIn has its own criteria for “profile completeness.”

These are the items you need to have on your LinkedIn account in order to have a “complete” profile, according to LinkedIn:
• Your industry and location
• Up-to-date current position (with description)
• Two past positions (under “Experience”)
• Your education
• Skills (minimum of three)
• Profile photo
• A minimum of 50 Connections

A picture is worth 1,000 words. Is your LinkedIn profile photo giving the right impression?
• You have a photo on your LinkedIn profile
• The photo is appropriate for a business profile (not a glamour shot)
• Face is clearly recognizable (in focus, close up, looking at camera)
• Photo is high resolution (sharp, clear)

For your LinkedIn profile to help you reach your personal and professional goals, you must be able to communicate what makes you exceptional and compelling — this is your personal positioning, or “brand.”

Ensure that:
• Information in your LinkedIn profile is concise yet comprehensive and provides a good representation of your career and qualifications
• Keywords relevant to your job target are woven throughout your LinkedIn profile (helping increase your ability to be found online)
• This profile answers this question: “Would I want to hire someone with this profile?”
• The profile is attention-getting and persuasive

Do you make these mistakes with your LinkedIn profile?
• Profile is focused on a single job target. 
(Mistake: An unfocused profile tries to be “all things to all people”)

• Profile is written from the correct point of view. 
(Mistake: An informal profile written in third-person, or a formal profile written from the first person point of view – most LinkedIn profiles should be written in first person.)

• You use all the content sections available to you 
(Mistake: Not including information in all relevant sections 
— i.e., Honors & Awards, Languages, Certifications, Courses, Patents, Projects, Publications, etc.)

• Your Profile includes several positive Recommendations 
(Mistake: Not asking for Recommendations; not having enough Recommendations on your profile)

10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Improve Your Resume

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Most of us are looking for quick and easy things to improve our resumes without a lot of work or time. Here are 10 things you can do; all totaled, these should take less than 30 minutes:

  1. Is your education listed first? If so, move it to the end unless you have no work experience. Most employers value your work experience more than your education. EXCEPTION: if you are an academic and presenting a formal CV.
  2. Are there tables embedded in your resume? If so, remove them.
  3. Does your resume go back more than 10 years or so? If so, eliminate your earlier work experience; employers want to know what you have done lately.
  4. Do the dates and jobs on your resume match the dates and jobs on your LinkedIn Profile? If not, make them match.
  5. Does your resume include a Hobbies section? A Personal section? Something similar? Delete them; everything on your resume should be focused on your target job.
  6. Does your resume include references? Or the statement, “references available upon request”? If so, delete this; all employers know that you will provide references if asked.
  7. Do you still have your college graduation date? And it was more than 10 years ago? Delete it.
  8. Is your private sector resume more than 2 pages? It shouldn’t be. Likewise, if your federal resume is ONLY 2 pages, more content is needed. A typical federal resume is 4-6 pages.
  9. Do you have an objective statement? If so, get rid of it; your objective is to get the job! Which is implied by applying for it.
  10. Does your resume have typos or grammatical errors? Not sure? Ask someone else to read it and fix them.

BONUS: Does your resume contain key words for the positions you’re targeting? If not, add them. It’s not about knowing that you can do the job but proving that you already have!

Main Differences Between Federal and Private Sector Resumes

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Most of us remember the rule drilled into us at school that no resume should be more than 2 pages—and 1 is better! That “rule” points out one of the major differences between federal and private sector resumes.

Let’s look at that and some of other myths about resumes in more detail:

  • Resumes should not exceed 2 pages. SOMETIMES. While I agree with that rule for private sector resumes, if your federal resume is only 2 pages, it will be difficult for you to get traction. From a federal Human Resources (HR) perspective, if its not on your resume, you did not do it; federal HR reviewers of your resume are not allowed to make assumptions or draw conclusions about your experience; it must be spelled out. A typical federal resume is 4-6 pages, while a strong private sector resume is 2 pages (or one, if you are relatively new to the workforce).
  • Resumes do not need to include names of supervisors, starting and end months, hours worked per week, etc. SOMETIMES. As mentioned above, Federal resumes require significantly more detailed information than private sector resumes. This includes things like citizenship, hours worked per week, supervisors’ names (and whether they may be contacted), and more. This information should not be included on a private sector resume (although most private sector employers want to know start and end month, in addition to year). Federal HR can eliminate people from competition who do not include all required information—why take that chance?
  • Uploading resumes is always better than copying and pasting into the builder. WRONG. Private sector organizations have created resume builders for a reason: information appears in the order and location recruiters want to see it. Ditto for USAJOBS. (and not all federal agencies accept uploaded resumes—it would be a drag to figure that out at 11:58PM). While it may take a bit longer to copy and paste your Word document into the available builder, remember that is how organizations want to receive it.
  • Resumes should reflect duties. TRUE BUT. Whether you are putting together a federal or a private sector resume, duties should be included. But so should accomplishments; its not enough for your resume to show that you do “x”; you need to show accomplishments so that readers of your resume can see how you have added value to your organization(s).
  • Generic resume work. WRONG. All resumes, whether federal or private sector should be tailored to individual job postings. This means including all of the job postings’ key words.
  • Email doesn’t matter. WRONG. If you are still using AOL for your email, that screams that you have not updated that part of your life—and begs the question whether you have updated other parts of your work life. While concerns about age are a bigger issue in the private sector than the federal one, it is always a good idea to have a professional email address; preferably, one that has your name (without the year of your birth). And make sure the “display name” is appropriate as well.
  • Formatting should be attractive. IT DEPENDS. Federal resumes are not typically heavily formatted and the USAJOBS builder does not accept formatting tools like bold, underline, small caps, italics, etc. You can get a bit more creative with private sector resumes but remember that most private sector Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) do not accept embedded tables, certain fonts, PDF, and borders.

While federal and private sector resumes both require the use of key words, the inclusion of accomplishments and accomplishments, there are substantial differences in length, level of detail, and content. When applying for jobs, it is important to make sure your resume matches your target sector for maximum consideration.

10 Reasons You Were Not Referred To The Hiring Manager

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One constant theme I hear from resume clients is that they know that they are well qualified for a job but did not get referred to the hiring manager and they don’t understand why.

Here are 10 reasons why you could be well qualified but did not get referred:

  1. Your resume does not reflect your qualifications for the specific position. For maximum effectiveness, your resume needs to be tweaked for each job. Make sure that your resume mirrors the language of the announcement and questionnaire. For example, if your resume talks about “cybersecurity” and the job posting uses the term “information security,” you should change your resume to include the words “information security.”
  2. You did not submit all required information. Perhaps you forgot to include your transcript (for positions requiring them) or neglected to include your DD214. Without all of the required documents, your application may not have received full consideration or the highest rating.
  3. You did not give yourself enough credit on the occupational questionnaire. If you did not rate yourself highly on the questionnaire, it is unlikely that your application will be scored at a level to be referred to the hiring manager.
  4. You have time-in-grade but do not meet the specialized experience requirements. Without the requisite specialized experience, it is unlikely that your application will be considered best qualified and referred. Be sure to spell out your possession of the specialized experience requirement in your resume.
  5. Your resume is acronym-laden and full of technical language so Human Resources (HR) reviewers have a hard time telling whether you are qualified or not. Remember, the first audience for your resume is HR; if they don’t understand your resume, it will be hard for you to be referred. And, just because you are applying in your own agency, doesn’t mean that they understand the technical work that you do.
  6. Your resume is too short; you are not likely to achieve success with a 1-2-page resume; a typical federal resume is 4-6 pages. From a federal HR perspective, if it’s not on your resume, you did not do it. HR Specialists are not allowed to make assumptions or draw conclusions about your experience—you need to be specific.
  7. Your resume is too long. If your resume is 10, 12 or even more pages (and you are not a scientist with multiple professional publications, etc.), your resume has far too much content and it is likely that a lot of that content is irrelevant to the job you’re applying for. Make good use of your “resume real estate;” everything on your resume should be focused on the job you’re applying for. Everything else should be eliminated. And there’s no need for your resume to go back 15, 20, or 30 years.
  8. Your most relevant experience is not current. While you will certainly be rated qualified if your relevant experience was a long time ago, it’s going to be hard to be rated best qualified when there are likely applicants who are currently engaged in relevant work.
  9. Your resume is missing relevant accomplishments. If your resume is a list of duties and does not include any accomplishments, it’s like saying, “I do this, I do that, trust me, I do it well…” The strongest resumes include relevant accomplishments.
  10. Your resume is missing metrics. Without metrics, readers of your resume do not know if the budget you manage is $1, $100, $100,000, or $1,000,000. Your resume should include metrics so that reviewers of your resume understand the full scope of your work.
  11. BONUS REASON: You are not applying appropriately. If you have status, you should apply as a status applicant; if you do not have status, you should be applying under delegated examining or all citizens announcements. If you are eligible for specialized appointment authorities, make sure your USAJOBS Profile appropriately supports your eligibility and your resume clearly shows that eligibility.

If you are not putting your best foot forward with each and every application, you are doing yourself and your career a disservice. If you are applying for jobs for which you are fully qualified; responding to the questionnaire appropriately; using a targeted, federal-style resume; and following all instructions in the job posting, you should consistently get referred to the hiring manager.

10 Common Private Sector Resume Myths

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Many people who haven’t looked for a job in a long time are still carrying around a number of myths about what a private sector resume should look like. Here are the 10 most common myths:

Myth #1: Private Sector Resumes Should Be Kept to a Single Page

Wrong! Depending on the number of years’ experience you have, a 2-page format is quite acceptable. Generally, anyone with 5 or more years’ experience should use a 2-page format.

Myth #2: Education Should be Listed First

Wrong! At this age and stage, you are most likely “selling” your experience, not your education. Most employers value your experience most of all. The exception to this “rule” is for people who are new to the workplace and academics.

Myth #3: Unique/Unusual Resumes Attract Attention and Are Better Read

Wrong! Please, do yourself and your readers a favor; stay away from “gimmick” resumes. You do not want to be seen as nonconformist, oddball, loner, etc. Exception: Creative jobs requiring these traits

Myth #4: Exaggerate Accomplishments — Nobody Will Check

Wrong! Skillful interviewers generally ask probing questions and will not accept surface answers to interview questions. Exaggeration (and out-right lies) will likely be uncovered (if not during the interview, then during the reference check) and you will lose the job.

Myth #5: References Should Be Listed on the Resume

Wrong! Listing references is on your resume is considered old fashioned. If a potential employer wants references, they will ask for them. All job seekers should have a separate reference page available.

Myth #6: Resume Content is More Important Than Layout

Wrong! The layout of your resume needs to be attractive and visually appealing. White space is important. And you want your resume to stand out from the pile. Regardless of content, a poorly organized or sloppy resume will likely go unread.

Myth #7: Personal Photos Enhance Resume Appearance/ Effectiveness

Wrong! Regardless of how attractive you may be, use of personal photos are a major no-no (unless you’re looking for an acting or similar job). Many employers may discard a resume with a photo automatically so they cannot be accused of discrimination.

Myth #8 The Cover Letter is Often More Important Than the Resume

Wrong! The advent of Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and online applications has changed thinking about cover letters. Many veteran employment professionals will only read the cover letter after they have read the resume—if at all. And, they know that cover letters often repeat the same information that is in the resume. Of course, if a job posting specifically requires a cover letter, be sure to include one. You want to demonstrate that you know how to follow directions!

Myth #9: Functional Resumes Have Greater Marketing Impact Than Chronological Resumes

Wrong! Generally, a chronological resume is more common, easier to follow, and typically more effective, especially when you have had a positive work history and career progression. Some reviewers of functional resumes may think you are trying to hide something—that’s never good. Stick with a chronological resume.

Myth #10: Objectives are Important

Wrong! Objectives are only about what YOU want (and besides, who doesn’t want a job that will allow them to grow, use their skills, etc.) Instead of an objective, you should use a Summary or Profile to show what you bring to the table.

Get Professional Endorsements Before you Need Them

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We have talked about the importance of documenting your experience on your resume and through your cover letter. In addition to documenting your experience through achievements and metrics, another way to demonstrate your expertise and effectiveness is through third party endorsements. There are several ways to approach this:

  • Consider featuring a quotation from a recent performance evaluation or award recommendation on your resume. On a USAJOBS resume, you could call it a Supervisory Endorsement and put it in the Additional Information Section of USAJOBS. Be sure to identify where the quote came from (e.g., Recent Performance Evaluation) and identify the source, either by name or title. Here’s an example:

“Branch Chief Smith is keenly versed on all laws, regulations and policies relevant to the program. He is working diligently to transform the operational paradigm from solely security to a frontline/investigative methodology…and to retool training…He is an expert on the science that distinguishes DHS’s program from all others, particularly in the area of guarding against cross contamination.” 2016 Performance Review.

This concept also works on private sector resumes; if you are creating a private sector resume, you may want to feature the quotation in a text box or something similar.

  • Ask your LinkedIn Connections to prepare a Recommendation for you so when prospective employers look at your LinkedIn Profile, they will see your endorsements. Authentic, genuine Recommendations are powerful. Instead of sending out those presumptuous LinkedIn “Can You Endorse Me?” emails, select a handful of people in your network and write Recommendations for them, without asking for one in return. You will be surprised at how many people will reciprocate. You can also ask people if they would be willing to Recommend you and, if so, whether it would be helpful for you to do the first draft to get them started. If they take you up on your offer to do the first draft, make sure you let them know that they should feel free to edit what you have drafted. When drafting for someone, be specific and detailed. The reader should be able to tell exactly who it was written about. Quantify accomplishments (with percentages, numbers, and dollar amounts) as much as possible.
  • Select and prepare your references. References should be professional, not personal. You will want to select 3-5 individuals to be your preferred references. These individuals may be current or former managers or supervisors, co-workers, peers, or team members, current or former customers of the company, vendors or suppliers, and people you have supervised. The best references can talk about your day-to-day job performance — so choose someone who supervised you or someone who worked with you closely. Select someone who knows your work well. You want someone who has seen you in action and can speak to your abilities. It’s better to have someone who can speak to your skills and accomplishments than a “big name” on your list of professional references. If someone seems hesitant to serve as your reference, ask someone else.

Once you’ve decided who you would like to be your references, always contact these individuals and ask their permission to use them as a reference. Call your references directly (don’t just email them). Not all potential references will be able to provide this kind of stellar recommendation. But some of your references may be hesitant to say no to you directly if you ask.

So you can give them a way to let themselves off the hook, without turning you down directly. Instead of asking, “Will you be a reference for me?” Ask them, “Do you feel you know me well enough to serve as a reference for me?” Or ask, “Will you be a great reference for me? (If the answer is anything less than enthusiastic, you can collect their information, but not list them on your reference list. It’s perfectly fine to ask a reference to support you, but then not use them when applying to certain jobs, or not at all.) Verify each reference’s contact information, including the preferred phone numbers (cell, home, work) to list.

Do NOT ask your references to pre-prepare written recommendations for you; most employers do not value these. Instead, let your references know that they may be contacted over the phone or via email. Immediately send a letter or email thanking them for serving as a reference, and provide a current copy of your resume (or let them know you will be sending them a copy of your resume soon, if it is not yet completed).

Once someone has agreed to be a reference for you, prepare a references page that you can provide to a prospective when asked. Do not put a section on your resume that says, “References Available Upon Request.” This is old fashioned and considered self-evident. Instead, you should have a reference page in the same format, font style, and font size of your resume. If you are using USAJOBS, it is not necessary to fill out the reference section unless the job posting requires that you provide references. Your Reference Page will work for both private sector and federal resume searches.

Using third party endorsements is a great way to differentiate you from other applicants. Each of these approaches add value to your job search.