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Getting Hired: The Inside Scoop from a HR Professional
Getting Hired: The Inside Scoop from a HR Professional
Getting Hired: The Inside Scoop from a HR Professional
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Getting Hired: The Inside Scoop from a HR Professional

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Getting Hired is a collection of Lynda Spiegel's articles that provides individuals looking for new jobs an insider perspective based on her 15 years as a HR professional. Lynda explains the essentials of resume writing and LinkedIn profiles, along with tips on how to use social media to network your resume directly to hiring managers. Interviewing and negotiating strategies are covered in depth, and Lynda includes a case study outlining the dos and don'ts of the job search. Unlike much career advice, Lynda's is based on her actual experience as both an executive who interviewed and hired professionals, and a job seeker herself.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherLynda Spiegel
Release dateApr 27, 2016
ISBN9781310581236
Getting Hired: The Inside Scoop from a HR Professional
Author

Lynda Spiegel

Lynda Spiegel is a career coach and resume writer who extensively recruited, interviewed and hired thousands of talented professionals during her 15+ years as a human resources executive. She founded Rising Star Resumes to leverage this background, which affords her a unique perspective on how recruiters and hiring managers view candidates. A career coach and expert resume writer, Lynda collaborates with clients to help them market the value proposition they represent to employers through networking skills, a keyword-rich resume, interviewing, job search and salary negotiation skills. A graduate of The University of Rochester (BA, Philosophy) and Queens College, City University of New York (MA, English), with doctoral level courses at CUNY’s Graduate Center in Rhetoric, Lynda has worked at in financial services, telecomm and SaaS companies. She has recruited for positions in IT, legal, finance, sales, marketing, public relations, media, project management and customer service. A frequent writer and speaker on job search and networking skills, Lynda draws on her global experience in advising a multi-cultural audience of millennial and mid-senior career professionals. She is also a Wall Street Journal Expert panelist.

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    Book preview

    Getting Hired - Lynda Spiegel

    The Job Search

    Resumes for Today’s Job Market

    Here are three trends I'm seeing in resume writing, plus some tips on how they may or may not optimize your job search.

    Getting Personal: As recently as 5 years ago, this would have been considered a bit gauche, but resumes written in the first person get great results.

    Formerly, resumes were very - well, formal. Candidates referred to themselves in the third person without actually using pronouns. Actually, that's not a bad way to think about yourself. It's difficult for most people to write their own resume because people are typically somewhat reticent when talking about themselves, so creating distance through the third person allows you to write about yourself.

    But now that so many recruiters and employers are searching for candidates online, it may be a better strategy to develop a cyber-bond by speaking in your own voice. I don't do it for every client; sometimes it just doesn't sound authentic, but I do recommend it for everyone's LinkedIn profile.

    Attracting Attention (the right kind): What do employers want? They have a need (the job opening) and they want it filled (by hiring the best candidate). You have a need as well, and that's to demonstrate how and why that best candidate is you. In order for your resume to pass the 3 - 6 second test to determine whether or not it will get read completely, you need to attract attention. The wrong kind of attention is by being unprofessional; the right kind is by showcasing specific detail about what you have done well and what you are noted for having accomplished.

    Eliminating the Superfluous: Does it do any harm to mention that you'll provide references upon request, or to mention personal information? What about your objective?

    Don’t distract the recruiter's attention with superfluous information. Of course you'll provide references when asked. So why mention it?

    With respect to mentioning your hobbies, there's no hard and fast rule. Some recruiters like it; they feel that by mentioning personal interests, the candidate can forge a common interest with an employer. Others feel that resumes should focus strictly on professional attributes. I lean towards the latter. Once you get called in for an interview, you should do your due diligence on the person with whom you'll be meeting. That's where you'll discover common interests, and you should definitely mention them during the get to know you part of the interview. But as I said, it's not an exact science, so go with what seems authentic to your professional brand.

    As for stating your objective, that's a resounding no. The trend in resume writing is to target it to your audience, and not make it about your hopes, dreams and desires. Besides, I've never seen an objective that wasn't some version of to utilize my skills in a company where they can develop further. Focus instead on fulfilling the employer's objective - and that's to make a great hire!

    Should You Include Your Address on Your Resume?

    Here are 2 reasons not to include your address on your resume:

    ATS Ah, the evils of ATS software! It's programmed to reject resumes that are not within whatever the employer considers reasonable proximity to the job location. So let's say that you live in New York City, but are open to opportunities in Austin, TX or Boston, MA. If you submit your resume online, even if your cover letter mentions that you are willing to relocate at your own expense, the ATS software will reject your resume, and neither it nor your cover letter will be read by human eyes.

    Recruiter discrimination Recruiters are only interested in candidates who 1) they think have a good chance to get hired and 2) who are likely to be retained (at least long enough for the recruiter to get paid!). So if a recruiter thinks that even if you get the offer, a difficult commute might cause you to bail on the job, he or she won't present you to the hiring manager.

    And here are 2 reasons you should include your address in your resume

    It's expected It's still expected by some employers, and for some recruiters, your resume looks odd without an address. Also there's a chance that a recruiter might feel that you're trying to hide something if you don't include it. I personally don't think this is much of an issue. So long as your mobile phone number and email address is featured directly under your name, a recruiter can contact you, interview you, and assure himself or herself that you are a legitimate candidate.

    It may work to your advantage I've had clients who wanted to apply for positions at companies within their own neighborhoods, or at least close by. Hiring managers would love to make an offer to a qualified candidate who won't have issues with lateness due to commuting problems or bad weather. So in cases

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