9 Things to Consider Before Prospective Employers Call

First impressions aren’t just visual. Sometimes a first impression is entirely auditory.

Take your home or cell phone voice mail for instance. As a recruiter, I’ve left more than my fair share of messages on all sorts of voice mail systems. Most of the time, when I call someone who is unable to answer, I receive a fairly clear and straightforward automated greeting. There have been times, however, when greetings have left me speechless, and I’ve heard the same feedback from hiring managers. Here are a few examples of candidate messages…

“Twinkle, Twinkle little star,
bet you’re wondering where we are?
Well, put your mouth up to the phone
And leave us a message for when we get home!”

“It’s Greg, you know what to do – so do it.”

“I’m on vacation this week and won’t be checking my voice mail until I return on January 15th.” (Which was especially interesting, as I called on February 2nd.)

I have a pretty healthy sense of humor, but when you’re in a job search, make sure your voice mail message fits your personal brand. If you want to come off as a true professional, leave greetings on your various voice mail systems that suggest you are a smart and responsible person.

Often, the best way to manage your risk, in this particular area, is to only include your cell phone number on your resume or within your resume postings. Keep it simple and professional with ONE phone number. And you don’t have to mention the fact that it’s your cell phone on your resume. No one needs to know or really cares. They just want to be able to talk to you or leave a message.

If you feel you must include a landline number on your resume, let’s think about how you, your family, or even a roommate should answer the phone. If you’re in job search mode, have an instructive talk with anyone in your household who might answer the phone. Let them know how critical it is they answer the phone in a professional manner, and the importance of taking detailed messages. While you’re at it, make sure to leave out some paper and pencils for easy message and note taking when the time comes. If you want to stick to a land line, you might also consider investing in individual voicemail boxes for each member of your household.

9 Things to Consider Before Prospective Employers Call:

1.) Never place your office number on your resume. Never.

2.) If you’re in job search mode, place your phone number on your Linkedin profile in several places. On my profile you’ll find my number in three different sections (top of my Summary, within the Personal Information section and within the Contact Settings).

3.) When you are in a job search, check and respond to your phone messages throughout the business day. There is nothing more frustrating for a recruiter than playing phone tag with a candidate.

4.) If you must use a ringtone, make a very safe and sedate selection during your job search period. To be honest, it’s hard to take you seriously, immediately after hearing 15 seconds of Lady Gaga singing the song “Bad Romance” (Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah / Roma, roma, ma / Gaga, ooh, la, la..,).

5.) If you are awakened by a call from a strange number, let your voice mail pick it up. Frankly, we can tell when we just woke you up – and your personal brand really suffers when you sound groggy at 10:30 am in the morning.

6.) Create an “Employer Cheat Sheet” to have near the phone. In other words, make a list of the companies at which you’ve applied and the titles of the positions for which you’ve applied. By having this at your ready, you will have some idea of which job someone is calling about. After all, the interviewer would like to think his or her company is important. You don’t want to say “Now what job is this again?”. When you do this you seem disorganized or desperate (as if you’ve sent out hundreds of resumes).

7.) If an employer or recruiter leaves a message for you, return the call as soon as you can. When you are returning the call, consider that the person who called you may have called 70 others candidates, within the same day – relating to ten different positions. So when you return their call, give your full name and indicate that you are returning their phone call regarding the _______________ position.

8.) If you didn’t get your message until after normal business hours, still call and leave a voicemail then. Again, give your full name, the specific position and your contact information for the next business day.

9.) Many interviewers would like to do a brief 5-20 phone screen, to confirm you are a qualified candidate. As the candidate, you have to quickly determine if you are in the right frame of mind and if you are in the right environment to be the best “you” you can be.

You never know. The interviewer may only have a couple of minor questions – or they may launch into a 45 minute, full-blown interview.

If you are a natural on the phone – and the environment you find yourself in is right – you may feel comfortable with an impromptu interview. However, if you are distracted, it might be best to suggest a different time. Simply tell them you’re very pleased that they called, but you aren’t able to talk at this time. They will understand and be glad to schedule a convenient time.

AUTHOR: Mark Newsom
Founder of FiveChairs, a Recruitment Firm, focused on Nashville Talent and
Goldfish Resumes, the foremost resume writers in Nashville. | mark@fivechairs.com

Invite Me. I’ll Accept.

Multi-page Resumes: What’s the Real Truth?

It drives me nuts when I hear self-described “experts” carelessly dispense their simplistic “absolutes”. I often wish I could assess contributing writers a $250 tax on the use of the words “never” and “always” in articles they pen for media outlets. Perhaps, then, they might not use these words so carelessly.

Today, I read the following gem from a self-proclaimed “communications expert” – aimed at a few hundred thousand innocent readers of our local newspaper:

“A resume should never be more than one page”.

Before I explain why this isn’t necessarily the case, let me reflect on an old quote my father often repeated to the Newsom family, “Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice.” In other words, you risk hurting people when you offer solutions – or dispense advice – without first considering all the factors and individual circumstances.

Telling the world “a resume should never be more than one page” is like saying…
“Brochures should never be longer than one, single-sided page.”
“Television commercials should never be more than 15 seconds in duration.”
“Magazine ads should never be more than one-quarter of a page in size.”

As a former marketing executive, turned executive recruiter, I’m happy to report that there are no absolutes when it comes to the proper length of a brochure, the size of a print ad – or even the number of pages for a resume.

TIPS ON RESUME LENGTH:

Use as many pages as it takes to tell a persuasive story – but no more.
Only those with significant qualifications and strong resumes are even invited to interview. As a result, more – not less, relevant information is now needed on the resume. However, don’t confuse a resume with a biography. Everything on your resume needs to support your personal brand. And remember, the primary objective of a resume is to generate leads that result in interviews.

Don’t try to stuff six pounds of flour into a five-pound bag.
It’s actually less taxing to read a well-formatted two-page resume than a crammed one-page resume.

When it comes to electronic resumes, key words are king.
For resumes in electronic formats, that are intended to be placed directly in online databases – whether it be for a large employer or a commercial job search web site (e.g. Monster.com, CareerBuilder, etc..,), page-length is immaterial. When it comes to electronic resumes – key word searching drives results.

New grads and entry-level candidates
As a general rule-of-thumb, resume length depends on the level of the position. Resumes for new grads and entry-level candidates are often, but not always, one page. Most undergraduate career-placement centers tell students to limit their resumes to one page. In most cases, new grads don’t have enough relevant experience to justify more than a page. However, some new grads have lots of relevant internships, summer jobs, extracurricular and leadership experience that certainly justifies a two-page resume.

The two-pager: What the majority of job seekers typically need
A two-page resume is the typical length for the vast majority of job seekers who are above entry level, but below the executive level. Once someone has been in business for 10+ years, it is very difficult to keep everything on one page.

Functional Resumes: For executives who need to repackage themselves
Those who have had a 15+ years career – and need to re-package themselves – typically need a functional resume that is often 2 1/2 to 3 pages in length. For instance, if you’ve had a 20 years career in wholesale footwear sales and want to simply be perceived as a B2B Sales Professional – you’ll need to start your resume by presenting all of your B2B Sales skill sets, and push your footwear industry pedigree to the third page. Otherwise, you’ll be instantly pigeon-holed as a shoes sales guy, rather than someone who can succeed in any product or service segment.

Resumes for the corner office dwellers
When it comes to senior-level positions (COO, CFO, etc.), decision-makers have a much larger scope of need than just skill sets or even accomplishments. The hiring company will be making an enormous investment and betting the future success of the company on the candidate, so they need to know much more about the candidate than can typically fit on even two pages.

Was this article helpful? If so, let me know. And if you have additional thoughts and suggestions, I would like to hear from you. To provide feedback, either click on the tiny “comment” link, at the conclusion of each article (or click on the title of the article) – and you’ll find a comment box at the very bottom.

What’s Your Name?

My dog is my buddy. When people visit my home and see her tail happily wagging, one of the first things they often ask is “what’s your dog’s name”? I tell them her name is Zoe – but that’s not exactly correct. As an AKC registered West Highland Terrier, her “real” name – reflected on her pedigree papers – is something like “Wembly Williamson Westifer.” You end up with crazy names like this when no two AKC dogs can have the same name.

This reminds me of what I’m faced with every day as a recruiter. Initially, I meet people in the form of a resume, and the first line of their resume is usually their name. Since I meet with all of the candidates we represent, I like to know how to address them.

So, when Hampton Theodore Sedgwick, IV walks into your office, what do you call him? Well, unless he offers his hand and says his name, I typically offer my hand and say “Hello Hampton, Mark Newsom.” Candidates are often nervous, so even if they haven’t been called Hampton since they were 10 years old, they still look me in the eye, smile, shake my hand and say “nice to meet you”. For the next 40 minutes, I try to be personable by peppering our conversation with the name Hampton about a dozen times.

Now, let’s speed ahead a couple of days. I open my mail and receive a nice thank you note from… Ted Sedgwick. Who the heck is… oh, that must be Hampton Sedgwick. Boy, do I feel foolish.

So let’s reflect on what really happened. Ted made a sales call, to sell me on Ted, but his brochure (aka resume) proclaimed him Hampton Theodore Sedgwick, IV – in bold 18-point type.

The lesson: Unless you’re aiming for a position in a big stuffy law firm, you should use the first and last name you would use when introducing yourself to a client or new associate within your firm. Save your full, given name for your social security card, diploma or headstone.

Now, what if your name is Phyllis, but your friends and family call you Pippi, or if your name is Joel but everyone calls you Bubba? Well, in these cases, nicknames are out, so use your given name during the job search process.

Lastly, you might have been anointed with a double first name you’ve carried into adulthood (Grace Ann, John Mark, Lee Marie, etc.) If that’s the case, you might want to consider, temporarily, hyphenating your two first names on your resume so the receiver knows how to address you. Otherwise, you can be sure the hiring manager will pronounce half of your name.

Was this article helpful? If so, let me know. And if you have additional thoughts and suggestions – I would like to hear from you. To provide feedback, either click on the tiny “comment” link, at the conclusion of each article (or click on the title of the article) and you’ll find a comment box at the very bottom.

Don’t be a Swiss Knife

Swiss knives are extremely versatile. They can tighten a screw, trim your fingernails or even open a bottle of champagne. But what if you wanted something to cut your medium rare filet mignon? I doubt you would turn to a Swiss knife, even if you had one in your pocket or purse. What you really want is a sharp, single-purpose steak knife.

This is a fitting analogy for your career. Rarely are employers looking for someone who can do nearly anything. On the contrary, employers are looking for just the right tool for just the right problem or opportunity. They want someone who was “made” for the task, and they’ll ask for it by name.

It’s all about focus, reputation and packaging wrapped up into what I like to call your personal brand.

You probably haven’t thought of yourself as a brand, but I can absolutely assure you that is exactly how the world sees you. You are the sum of a whole host of things, including the companies you’ve worked for, the job titles you’ve held, the industries you’ve served, the clothes you wear, and even the way you annunciate your words. These, along with a long list of other things, make up your personal brand.

In this post, I want to talk about focus within the general idea of your personal brand. Another word we can use for focus is “positioning”. Marketers must find the right positioning for their specific product so it’s competitive and unique among many other like-products. The same principle applies to how you position yourself among other job candidates.

Let’s say your job title is Marketing Manager and your goal is to become a Director of Marketing for a small company. Now, let’s say your current role as a Marketing Manager includes some sales, on occasion. When crafting a resume, your first instinct might be to include your role in sales. But the inclusion of this additional item, albeit an accurate reflection of your duties, is likely to blur your brand focus.

Hiring managers need to believe you’re an expert in your field. You were made for the job. So how can you regain focus, in light of the responsibilities you’ve held? Simple. It’s called sacrifice. Don’t talk about your occasional sales responsibilities.

Can you imagine a manufacturer including the following bullet points on the packaging for a set of their steak knives: “Also great for spreading butter or paring apples!” The inclusion of these “extras” instantly calls into question whether the knife is REALLY a steak knife.

So, sacrificing the fact you also dabbled in sales actually “sharpens” your focus, and significantly increases the chance that an employer will view you as a Director of Marketing. Stop thinking of your resume as a biography, and start thinking of it as a highly targeted brochure. A great resume is all about relevance, not quantity.

As an executive recruiter, I never cease to be amused by some of the conversations I have with extremely intelligent people. Let me share a sixty-second exchange between myself and a recent candidate –

Me: So, I see you spent three years as a purchasing manager, but the past year as a sales representative. So, where do you want to go from here?

Candidate: I want to get back into purchasing – that’s my true passion. I was laid-off last year and couldn’t find a position in purchasing, so I accepted a job selling insurance and also got my real estate license.

Me: Do you enjoy selling insurance or real estate?

Candidate: No, I hate both of them.

Me: Your current position says you are a Sales Representative and you have no professional summary leading your resume. How does an employer know that you aren’t looking for another sales job?

Candidate: Well, I guess they don’t – other than what I have explained in my cover letter.

Me: What if they don’t take the time to read your cover letter?

Candidate: Does that happen?

Me: Far more often than you might expect.

Me: So, if you’re looking for a purchasing position – and you have no more interest in continuing a sales career – why is it important that you list the fact that you have your insurance license and you’re a certified Senior Real Estate Specialist?

Candidate: I guess it really doesn’t matter.

Me: I agree. Let’s remove this from your resume.

Again, you can’t have focus unless you have sacrifice. When in doubt – toss it out. Make it simple for people to understand your brand positioning.

Was this article helpful? If so, let me know. And if you have additional thoughts and suggestions – I would like to hear from you. To provide feedback, either click on the tiny “comment” link, at the conclusion of each article (or click on the title of the article) and you’ll find a comment box at the very bottom.