How long should the resume be? As long as it needs to be, and as short as needed to keep the reader’s attention. Only give them enough information to make them want to keep reading. It can be very tempting to try and stuff in every bit of information about you and your achievements into your resume. Don’t. Your resume is a marketing document, not a “career obituary” of everything you’ve done and everywhere you’ve worked. Consider that in today’s world of smart phones and ipads, a shorter resume is more easily read by mobile devices.

Resumes help you by showing potential employers that you are the right candidate for the position. Stand out from the crowd with a stellar resume. Words have power. Make your resume more powerful by using action verbs in your accomplishment statements. Resumes should always focus on results. Don’t write job descriptions. Don’t just describe what you did, but actually give concrete results that you achieved. Use captivating titles and strong keywords to draw the reader’s attention and to create a standout impression of you as a job candidate. Yes, you often only get one chance to make a first impression. Your resume is your first chance to make a good impression on hiring manager.

Resume Tips:

Then, I thought well this is stupid.

Everybody knows the concept of reinvention.  So, why are you going to be one of the tens of thousands who rehash the information?

At that point, I did what I normally do – I let it sit.  When I write, I think, I draft and then I let the article percolate for a day or two.

Well, the percolation process led me to think about what’s really important about reinvention.

It is not the ability to identify what changes are needed to transform a career; to discover talents, or hidden dreams; to design the next career chapter and to live the new career.

What is REALLY important? Sustainability.

I learned this – THE HARD WAY.  It was one of my most challenging life lessons.

Most successful professionals have worked very hard to make it into the $100k+ Club. Now that they have made it, it should be easy for them to stay there. So, why are so many asking for and accepting less than they are worth?

I think that the answer is simple. The incessant talk of the recession, combined with technology overload and the online networking bandwagon have sucked the life out of them.

If you are a six-figure professional, you must have done something right to get yourself in this prestigious tax bracket. Isn’t it time for you to stand up and believe in yourself again?

Here are four ideas to help you get things back in your control. Stop letting this fast-paced world intent on stressing and shocking your senses get away with it.

You’ll want to categorize your contacts by tags. You probably have never noticed this option because Linkedin seems to like size 4 fonts in some cases! Here are the steps to take.

a.)    Open Linkedin and go into Connections.

b.)    Click on the name of your first connection. A condensed version of that contact’s profile appears on the right. You’ll see their name, title, typically a photo, number of connections and the words “Send Message”. But notice the words just below Send Message: Edit Details.

c.)    Click on Edit Details. And you’ll see that Linked has a well-hidden CRM element here. You can put the date you e-mailed your contact here and any notes.

d.)    Note that below Edit Details there is a section called “Edit Tags”. Click on this. You’ll see options: classmates, colleagues, friends, etc.

e.)    Create 3 more categories: A, B and D.

f.)     Categorize your contacts as A, B or D.

Your criteria for each category is up to you. A’s are typically those contacts that you want to spend 80% of your time with, B’s 20% of your time, and D’s – you guessed it, they go to the dungeon. You’ll want to develop an “A” and “B” Category strategy of relationship development, which we’ll cover in detail in future articles. For now, I highly recommend the book “The 7 Levels of Communication” by Michael Maher, which shows you how to lift the B’s to A’s and how to create that most cherished of contacts: the “trust agent” who is working for the employer you are targeting – and wants to help you get into interviews. Referrals are far more effective than any other job search tool, including job boards and recruiters.

Which leads to an interesting question: what percentage of employers have hired people via Linkedin? The answer may surprise you. This is from recent poll by Jobvite (Social Recruiting Survey, 2011) of several hundred employers: 95%. In short, if you’re not on Linkedin, you don’t exist.

Obviously this Finance Chief hasn’t read any of my blog posts on the subject nor the excellent recent post by Jeff Ishamel.

Barrett Peterson (@CFOBP) asked me this: “How does an individual with that level of judgement become a CFO? Clearly old enough to know better.” These headlines just might scare Finance Executives all the way back into the 19th Century.

There are ways Chief Financial Officers CAN use social media to …

– further positioning as a subject matter expert;
– talk about passions and interests around a particular subject; and
– drive brand differentiation

… WITHOUT defaulting to complaining about their company or job or violating corporate confidentiality.

Finance Executives can also choose NOT to Facebook, tweet, or blog … but please don’t pass on having a branded and compelling digital footprint on Linkedin. If you don’t know how, email me … we can effectively navigate the sticky wicket together.

I recently had a conversation with the folks at an innovative new company called mynextgig.com. They offer a non-traditional job board experience where you can use video and social media profiles to apply for jobs.

What were some of the challenges in the college hiring process that you saw before starting up?

Top brass at Francesca Holdings certainly isn’t happy about Morphis’ social media blunder, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that their stock jumped 5% since Morphis’ departure.

Today we celebrate our six year birthday/anniversary.

The last six years have been a roller-coaster ride… it has been extremely fast, with highs and lows (although none of the lows were like the lows in my job search).

When I realized the idea for this online job search organizer I got a second chance at a career.  I was depressed, my job search was going nowhere, I was losing hope, and didn’t see any end in sight.

Then, this idea came, I pursued it, and we launched JibberJobber.com on May 15, 2006.  It was going to be a side project while I pursued my hunt for my dream job.

The hunt failed, though.  Here’s a list of some things we’ve done in the last six years: