What do Employers Really Want?

How long should a resume be?

2010-01-28T08:24:00.009+11:00

You will see so much written on resume length you have to ask if anyone knows what they are on about.

The only rules I have on length are these:

Think about the audience and what you'll need to say on your resume to have any credibility. Think about why someone will read it. Think about the time they'll have to spend.

Keep in mind that the purpose of a resume is simply to secure you an interview. See my article on who’s reading your resume for ideas.

Short and sweet blog this week, and book plug time. For only $9.95 you can read what 25 top employers say on this topic.
www.whatdotheyreallywant.com.au

For a professional resume go here: www.interviewiq.com.au

Karalyn Brown

Get that job in Australia

2010-01-06T22:25:00.009+11:00

Karalyn here:

The content of this blog has now been moved to interviewIQ

Finding Your First Job - How hard can it be, really?

2009-12-20T09:19:00.010+11:00

Karalyn here,

Firstly, let's get the self promotion bit out of the way.

Had a funny chat with abc radio 702, Angela Catterns and Wendy Harmer on Friday about finding your first job. I made the statement that anyone who just looks for a job online, is looking the lazy way. I'm now thinking that's a bit harsh. I should have probably said misguided. (Can I say in my defence that I was under the spotlight and a little bit nervous?)

Anyway, what I meant was, that by far the best way to find your first job, is to door knock (shops, factories, small offices with a shop front, hairdressers - in fact go to mine, she always hires that way).

So, why should you door knock? Here are 4 reasons that you may not even think of:

1. You look human!

We make so many judgements about people based on the way that people look. It sounds obvious to say this, but if you look like you fit in, you probably will. A resume on the other hand, looks like a piece of paper with big set of claims.

I'm not talking about stereotyping here or that employers want to hire people who look like the rest of the people in their teams. I'm saying that people judge you by the way they can relate to you, the energy you give off and how comfortable they feel talking to you. They'll even relate to the nerves you'll naturally have if you walk in off the street.

2. You are demonstrating what you can only claim on your resume

Again obvious, but almost the only thing you have when you start off, is your attitude and communication skills. You're showing that you have initiative/attitude (good)/communication skills, when you present yourself directly to an employer.

3. You will find a job

I say this as I know it works.

I have helped a few refugees with no local experience, few workplace skills, and very poor English, find work. With one person, we walked around the local gyms and factories in my area. With another we dropped in at a nursing home to ask for kitchen-hand work. I found my first job in a factory by doing the same thing. I found a second job waiting tables by walking into a pub in a quiet time and asking if they needed anyone. (I since discovered I have no waitressing skills, but that's a whole other story)

4. There are some delightful people out there who'll give you a go for trying

Funny story. One of the callers on the radio said he accidentally hired a gardener and kept him. The gardener came to reception with very poor English and the receptionist thought he said "I'm here to start work" instead of "I'm here to look for work." She said "what to do"? He said gardening, so she got him started. The boss then felt so sorry for him, he kept him on.

Having said this, you are in a vulnerable position with your first job. So if someone starts talking "extended free trial", then perhaps it's time to keep walking.

Karalyn Brown

See my website at www.interviewiq.com.au I promise not to use a lecture list in my next post.

Seven things you may not know I know from reading your resume….

2009-12-07T18:35:00.009+11:00

Karalyn here...

The content of this blog has now been moved to interviewIQ

Karalyn Brown co-runs outplacement consultancy www.myenvoy.com.au and provides personalized resume writing and interview coaching services at www.interviewiq.com.au. She apologises in advance for any typos, wrong or redundant words, plus her poor expression in this blog post

What a blessing it is!

2009-12-02T19:47:00.007+11:00

Karalyn & I the other day had the privilege to meet and talk with a dozen or so wonderful people currently doing a course offered by the Australian Migrant Education Service (AMES). The students were in the 20's and 30's, highly educated, motivated and engaging and were recent migrants coming from a mix of countries -China, South Korea, Ukraine and Venezuela just to name a few.

After the presentation we gave, Karalyn & I met for coffee and chatted about the AMES class. Here was a group of people that travelled a long way from their homeland to seek life in a place where they didn't speak the language or understand the culture and in many cases had little if no local support network like family & friends. To that add the necessity to find work or start a business so they can afford to live. What amazing determination!

My life has been a bed of roses in comparison. I was born and raised in Sydney in a loving and supportive family. I went on to university right after high school (pre HECS!), got a great job upon graduating, got married and had children, started a successful business and so on.

If I migrated to South Korea, Ukraine or Venezuela would I have had the same life? I don't think so. I would need to learn the language and customs, understand the culture, find work, make friends etc... How hard would that be?!

What a blessing it is to be able to live and work in a country which has so much opportunity. To my shame I sometimes forget this. Spending a little bit of time with the AMES students reminded me just how good we have it here in Australia.

Signing off for now,

James

Why are job advertisements so confusing?

2009-11-29T18:47:00.004+11:00

Karalyn here on the weasel word soap box part 1!....(unfortunately)

One of my clients recently applied for a job in the public sector. The position description said...."Building effective communication strategies with a variety of stakeholders and colleagues to ensure information exchanges are timely, accuarate and useful."

It's almost impossible to write a good application responding to language like this. It says a lot but means nothing. The only way around dealing with such cloudy descriptions is to actually try to speak with someone who knows about the job. In the public sector that may not be the person who is handing out the application packs. So ask for the convener or the person the role reports to.

Ten points and a big jam doughnut to anyone who could guess that this actually meant: "providing advice over the phone, in writing and via email on research applications to staff and students."

Karalyn Brown
www.interviewiq.com.au

Career Q&A

2009-11-23T18:01:00.004+11:00

Jeff writes:

Dear Karalyn & James,
Can you please offer any advice to those of us from a traditionally technical/engineering background wanting to transition to more business oriented pre-sales, sales or consulting roles?

Hi Jeff, Karalyn here.

Engineers are not traditionally known as communicators. In fact sometimes they need to be kept in a dark room and fed by sliding food under the door! So, if you haven't already, I would sharpen up your skills by doing some communications courses. I say this because if you're technical, and can de-complicate complex ideas (that send others eyes rolling), you may be picked out from the rest of the pack when it comes to being considered for a more business related role....if you're in a large organisation, that is.

Otherwise, think about your move as a transition, rather than a leap. Perhaps target technical advice or support roles as your way away from engineering. You'll have more chance of persuading people of your sincerity if you do it this way. Plus you'll seem like less of a risk than if you launch straight into applying for business development roles.

Have a read of last Saturday's myCareer. Dr Jim Bright has an article about how much luck plays a part in a career. It seems like a lot. But, he says, you can generate lucky breaks by being out there and amongst people who can help. So put on your friendliest face and go along to an expo in engineering products and the like. It will be full of sales people and you can hit them up for useful advice you can use later on in your applications. They'll be happy to talk, that's what they do best and you never know, you may find a job lead or two in amongst all the yadda.

Hope this makes sense and best of luck with it all....

Karalyn

How do you stand out?

2009-11-17T07:16:00.001+11:00

We were asked a most insightful question by a blog follower Carl a few days ago. "With most corporates wanting electronic ocpies of resumes and entering your details on their e-recruiting system, how do you make yourself stand out?"

Many corporations do in fact transfer candidate details to their in-house recruiting & HR systems. That being said, there are several things you can do to stand out from the pack. Here are just three:

1. Establish some form of contact with the HR group/department. Most people applying for jobs simply send in their application & CV and wait to hear back from the company. One definite way to stand out is to call and/or email a person or two within the HR department and ask questions, send in extra material and generally try to build some form of rapport. Of course there is a fine line between being proactive and being a pain in the neck, so don't over do it.

2. Make/find a friend within the company. These days with the incredible power of social networking tools like LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter it is relatively easy to find people who work in companies you may be interested in. I favour LinkedIn myself. Think of LinkedIn as a huge virtual bucket of business cards. Once you find someone who is at the right level within the company establish contact. You would be amazed at the power of asking a simple question or two. Generally speaking, most people love to be asked for their advice so long as the person asking is sincere and respectful. Having access to someone (they don't have to be in HR) in the business can potentially be a treasure trove of information and "angles" you can use to better understand the company and consequently the skills/experience they are looking for in new recruits.

3. Depending upon the type of role you are applying for one great way of standing out from the pack is to "add value" in some way. Lets say you are applying for a pre-sales role and your research tells you that this particular company has a less than effective process in pre-sales. Why not (without giving too much away) email or even snail-mail a document outlining 10 ideas you have to enhance their pre-sales process. By doing this you show two things (a) You don't even work for the company and you are already adding value!, and (b) You're a team player who wants to collaborate and improve the whole company and not just your own job.

Thanks again for the question Carl - we hope the above helps!

Questions and questions.... ask your questions here

2009-11-08T15:46:00.005+11:00

Who knows where to get good career advice?

More to the point, who's qualified to give good career advice? An (experienced) recruitment consultant with a pretty solid network may be able to talk to you about your prospects in their market. A career counsellor can help you if you are confused about where to head. An HR Manager can discuss roles within a company and what you may need to do to succeed in that company. A professional resume writer can sell you on paper in the best possible. But who has time to access all these opinions, and who actually has access to all of these people?

Good news. That's where we come in. (That's James and me - Karalyn) For any career question large or small, feel free to post it here. We'll wear whatever hat we need to and answer your question, plus add in expert opinions as well. So post away!

Karalyn

Business vs Human Resources

2009-11-02T17:19:00.004+11:00

We purposefully chose a mixture of business owners, professional managers and human resource (HR) specialists to interview for the book. The reason we did this is because fundamentally these decision makers, although wanting to achieve the same goal and hire/promote the best person for the job, sometimes reach that goal having different viewpoints and taking alternate routes.

Typically HR specialists, once a person's skills and experience has been established are looking for the "softer" aspects of the potential employee/promotee. Things like flexibility, openness, willingness to collaborate, ability to work in uncertain situations, communication with others and the like top the list for HR people when looking to hire or promote someone.

Conversely, professional managers (i.e. CEO's, MD, GM's etc ...) although happy to keep the above aspects in mind are more focussed on the "hard" things like achieving budget, ability to lead & manage staff, lowering risk and saving time & money when running the business.

Business owners who are hands on and operational within their business tend to have a mix of the viewpoints of both HR specialists and professional managers. The weighting of the mix usually depends upon the persona and world view of the owner - some are "softies"; others are "hardies."

The Common Thread

2009-11-01T16:02:00.000+11:00

When doing the research and conducting the interviews for the book it was evident early on that a common thread was quickly emerging. It was this thread that gave us the idea for the jigsaw & piece graphic that appears on the cover of the book. The common thread we refer to was fit.

By fit we don't mean the health or physical appearance of the employee but rather the degree to which they can work well with other people in the organisation. This is by far and away the single most important thing that employers (both big & small) want and in fact need. They simply want people that are able to get along with others, add value, communicate openly & respectfully and get the job done with the minimum of fuss. This doesn't mean that the employee can't put up their hand if there is a problem or offer some critical input at certain times. Such actions should be encouraged if they improve the operation of the workplace and the objectives of the organisation can be better achieved.

Why not ask a few trusted people with whom you work (not necessarily your best friends!) the question "Am I someone who fits in and adds to the organisation?" The answer(s) may just surprise you.

Until next time,

JE & KB

The Journey Begins ...

2009-10-31T11:02:00.000+11:00

Well it's been a couple of days since the launch and the excitement of seeing the book in the hands of our supporters & friends has now died down.

We got together yesterday and discussed some of our plans to promote the book. It's one thing to go to the time, trouble & cost of researching, writing and publishing the book it is (of course) a very different thing to get the word out about the book!

So here are some of our ideas:

- Sending out a bunch of press releases to media outlets around the country (via get2press.com.au)

- Promotion of a "getting ready for the workforce"workshop built around the book aimed at school & university students

- Meetings with Independent booksellers to discuss stocking our book

- Using social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube

That's enough for now.

We'll be in touch soon!

Signing off,

JE & KB

The Big Launch

2009-10-29T05:27:00.000+11:00

Well the day has finally arrived - BIG WEDNESDAY - the launch of the much awaited book "What Do employers Really Want?"

We are staging an intimate (a fancy way of saying small due to our budget limitations) launch event tonight at the offices of Marque Lawyers. We interviewed Michael Bradley, Marque's Managing Partner, for the book.

We'll let you know how things go tomorrow. We still have 378 things to do before the launch!

Signing off - JE & KB

What do Employers Really Want? - Book launch

2009-10-27T20:31:00.000+11:00

Looking forward to the big book launch tomorrow, we'll be posting an update to keep you all informed. Watch for Tweets as well as the website launch.

J.E.