The Whole Truth and Only the Truth!

One of the most basic rules to writing a great resume is to be completely honest at all times! Embellishing, exaggerating, or (please do not ever do this) lying will get you absolutely nowhere and might even set you back a few steps. Most employers are doing extremely intense background checks before hiring anyone at any level. There are numerous services available to companies that are capable of digging quite deep into your past almost with one click of a mouse. I have known people who have lost offers because of something so innocent as claiming a college degree when they actually fell a few credit hours short of graduation. Keep in mind, if a registrar receives an inquiry such as: Did Jenny Expediter graduate from your university...and she did not finish (3 credits shy), the simple answer will be...NO!

When writing a resume, be sure to show everything you have accomplished. No matter how much or how little background you think you have, the key is you are demonstrating exactly who you are to potential hiring managers. Some of you have probably heard the claim that your resume is like a demonstrative advertising brochure. Please remember this when it is time to advertise your availability on the job market! If you have questions about preparing a winning resume, please ask me!

Some sage advice on Memorial Day

Whether you are a candidate deciding between new job opportunities or a hiring manager trying to select the best person for a job, it is impossible to be correct 100% of the time. Luckily, any mistake may be rectified but a non-decision is just that, a non-decision!

President Theodore Roosevelt said it well many years ago:

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

Never Shut the Door

For over 20 years, I have advised candidates to never turn down a job offer on the spot because they are shutting the door, likely for good. At the same time, accepting a job on the spot could lead to accepting an offer without knowing all the details. The best compromise solution is to ask for 24 hours before presenting your decision. This allows time to kick the tires a bit and see if everything adds up. If the salary sounds great what about the required hours? Is there schedule flexibility? How are the benefits? Will you receive family coverage if needed? What type of training is involved? There is absolutely nothing wrong with thinking of the unanswered questions and making a phone call to review the answers before making the final decision. One word of caution, try to have all your questions prepared first as you do not want to keep pestering your potential employer! This could annoy them, and even worse, make them doubt your interest in what they have to offer! Remember, open doors (even those open just a crack) have opportunity on the other side, closed doors are dead ends.

Feel free to write me at hblevin58@gmail.com if you want to discuss this in more detail.

Sound Advice

Please keep the following quote in mind when developing your resume and setting out to upgrade your employment situation:

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."- Martin Luther King -

Screen Names That Could Cost You a Job!

Imagine finding a resume of an Ivy League educated Mechanical Engineer on the web, getting excited when reading his list of past employers, noticing an amazing array of certifications then looking for the return email address and finding: nouseforascreenname@yahoo.com !!! Perhaps an employer is looking for a Project manager with 3-5 years experience in the media research field and finds the resume of a candidate who spent two years each at Gallup and Nielsen. The recruiter is all set to write to the candidate and clicks on the link to hotblondemomma@hotmail.com !! There is nothing wrong with having fun with your email address but please create a more conservative one such as robertf@yahoo.com or maryprogrammer@gmail.com while searching for a new job opportunity. Quite frankly, goofy or quirky, email addresses might just drop you to the bottom of the list.

Have you seen any unusual email addresses recently? Let me know!

My first post!

The purpose of this first post is primarily to serve as a test drive for a brand new blogger! My hope in the coming posts is to share some of my experience and insight as Technical Recruiter in the placement industry and my past experience managing the Career Services Department of a proprietary trade school.

One common flaw I am finding made by many hiring managers of late is procrastination! Even though the unemployment numbers are growing daily, highly qualified candidates are in short supply. If you are trying to hire someone and find a really strong candidate, remember this simple idea: if the candidate has caught your attention, more than likely, your competitors are checking this person out too!