Recently, I contacted a student about a position that she might be interested in and asked her to email me her resume. When I opened her attached resume, her name was nowhere to be found! Knowing how conscientious this student was, I knew it had to be an oversight. Intuitively, I realized that I was able to see her name on my version by hitting the backspace key. But, will recruiters have the time or the inclination to try to figure out why your name isn't on the resume (or for other discrepancies). Probably not. When I emailed the student about the problem, she said that her name did appear on her version of the resume. It turned out that this student's resume also went over onto the second page, another major faux pas for college students' resumes. Moral of the story? Always "test drive" your resume by sending it to a few friends or family members and ask them if there are any problems when they open your resume...before you send it to a recruiter. Better yet, send it as a PDF document.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Do you have good stories for your interview?
If not, you should. Don't you admire people who can tell a good story? Well, you want to be "that guy" in your interview. In preparing for your interviews, think of some good stories that have happened in your life so that you can use them, when appropriate, during your interview. And no, your stories shouldn't involve anything to do with parties you've attended, people you've dated or quirky family traditions. Instead, your stories should be about accomplishments you're proud of, successes you've achieved in life, times when you have satisfactorily resolved a problem, times when you used your creativity to think outside the box or times when you took initiatve.
During a recent mock interview with a student, I asked him if he had ever dealt with a difficult customer in his last job at a shoe store. "Oh, yes," he enthusiastically replied. "One time there was a woman who was trying on a boot and the zipper got stuck and she couldn't get the boot off. My manager had warned me that I had to solve these situations on my own and not go to him any more so I had to think quickly. I went into the back room of the store and Googled, "How to unstick a zipper," on my cell phone. The advice I found was to get some hand soap and a pencil. Quickly, I ran to the bathroom to get some soap and then found a pencil. Then I went back to the customer, put some soap on the zipper and used the pencil as leverage to unzip the zipper." "Then, what happened?" I asked. "Well, the customer ended up buying two pairs of the boot in different colors!" Wow! Not only was his story interesting but it showed that he would do whatever it took to make the customer happy and that he resolved the situation in an extremely positive manner.
Another student, who was Captain of his track team, was telling me about his greatest achievement during a mock interview. His team was competing at a meet, and he was in the lead. Suddenly, he realized that one of his teammates had fallen, and he was trying to decide what to do. Should he keep going to ensure personal victory or should he stop to help his teammate? I was on the edge of my chair, wondering what he ended up doing. Well, you guessed it! He went back to help his wounded teammate but still was able to break his personal record. That story demonstrated many qualities about the student: leadership, compassion, achievement and being a team player.
After you have chosen your stories, practice telling them to your friends and family members so that you can deliver them flawlessly in your interview. By having several good stories in your back pocket, you can pull them out when needed during your interview, and they may be especially handy when you're stumped with that one question you hadn't prepared for.
By being a good storyteller on your interview, you'll increase your chances of having a happy ending to your interview by landing the job!
During a recent mock interview with a student, I asked him if he had ever dealt with a difficult customer in his last job at a shoe store. "Oh, yes," he enthusiastically replied. "One time there was a woman who was trying on a boot and the zipper got stuck and she couldn't get the boot off. My manager had warned me that I had to solve these situations on my own and not go to him any more so I had to think quickly. I went into the back room of the store and Googled, "How to unstick a zipper," on my cell phone. The advice I found was to get some hand soap and a pencil. Quickly, I ran to the bathroom to get some soap and then found a pencil. Then I went back to the customer, put some soap on the zipper and used the pencil as leverage to unzip the zipper." "Then, what happened?" I asked. "Well, the customer ended up buying two pairs of the boot in different colors!" Wow! Not only was his story interesting but it showed that he would do whatever it took to make the customer happy and that he resolved the situation in an extremely positive manner.
Another student, who was Captain of his track team, was telling me about his greatest achievement during a mock interview. His team was competing at a meet, and he was in the lead. Suddenly, he realized that one of his teammates had fallen, and he was trying to decide what to do. Should he keep going to ensure personal victory or should he stop to help his teammate? I was on the edge of my chair, wondering what he ended up doing. Well, you guessed it! He went back to help his wounded teammate but still was able to break his personal record. That story demonstrated many qualities about the student: leadership, compassion, achievement and being a team player.
After you have chosen your stories, practice telling them to your friends and family members so that you can deliver them flawlessly in your interview. By having several good stories in your back pocket, you can pull them out when needed during your interview, and they may be especially handy when you're stumped with that one question you hadn't prepared for.
By being a good storyteller on your interview, you'll increase your chances of having a happy ending to your interview by landing the job!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Looking for a summer internship?
If you're looking for a summer internship, check out my recent article on Vault.com http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/vcm/detail/Career-Advice/Internships/How-to-Find-a-Summer-Internship?id=61626
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)