Will Your Resume Pass the 6 Second Once Over?

Six seconds. That’s how long recruiters spend on average reviewing your resume. Here’s the video to prove it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBu7y9ShGaU. It doesn’t seem fair considering all of the hours you spend deliberating over each word choice and tweaking it to the nth degree, but that’s the harsh reality. The reason being, of course, that recruiters review thousands of resumes and are quite adept at spotting a good candidate at a glance.

I love helping my students and clients improve their resumes to more strategically position themselves for the job/career they want. Now I would like to share my top ten resume tips with you!

1. Due to the overwhelming number of resumes they receive, recruiters have the luxury to choose candidates who are as close to being an exact match as possible. Prove you’re an exact match by using plenty of key words from job descriptions and using them frequently throughout your resume. I tell my clients that your resume should “scream” what you’re all about at a glance. I recommend asking a friend to look at your resume to see what it screams to them. If it doesn’t match your career goal, then you need to revise it until it does.

2. Use bolding to draw the recruiter’s eye to those things that you want to emphasize. For example, I was just working with a client who wanted to transfer from the banking industry into market research. We decided not to bold the names of the banks on her resume because they were presenting her as a banking person and chose instead to bold her titles because they contained the key words (data, analytics, strategic) for the positions she was seeking.

3. Change your Summary or Profile at the top of the resume each time you apply to a job to match the key words from that specific job description.

4. Use a headline at the top of your resume in big bold letters that quickly conveys your key qualifications:

Proven Sales Results ● Relationship Builder ● New Business Development

5. Change the title of the generic word “EXPERIENCE” to one specific to your field such as “FINANCE EXPERIENCE.”

6. Break your work experience up into RELEVANT EXPERIENCE and then ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE so that you can push to the top of your resume only those experiences that are relevant to the job you’re applying to. I worked with a client once who wanted to transition into the real estate industry but she had no work experience in that field. However, she had been president of her condo association for several years so we decided to put that under her RELEVANT EXPERIENCE.

7. Use borders and shading to separate sections of your resume. They will make your resume look professional and visually appealing.

8. Use all capital letters for major headings and company/university names, etc. This might seem like a trivial point, but as someone who has critiqued thousands of resumes, I believe it makes a big difference in making your resume look more professional and powerful.

9. Reorder your bullet points to start with the ones that are most relevant to the job you’re applying to and demonstrate your strongest accomplishments and qualifications.

10. Put your accomplishment at the beginning of your bullet point:

From: Conducted five in-person sales calls per day to prospective technology clients to promote new software line resulting in the procurement of 10-15 new clients per month.

To: Procured 10-15 new clients per month by conducting five in-person sales call per day to prospective technology clients to promote new software line.

Why a Healthy Dose of Insanity Pays Off in the Job Search

Last Saturday I presented a “Job Search Strategies” workshop to management students at UMass Boston. At the beginning of the workshop I asked them, “What’s the key ingredient to a successful job search?” The students voiced several answers such as a professional resume, a solid LinkedIn profile, and a strong network. While these things are all important, it wasn’t the answer I was looking for.

So I pressed them further and I gave them a hint. “It begins with the letter “P.” Then the answer did come forth – perseverance – as well as some other P words that also make sense: persistence, patience and positivity. I explained how the average job search can take 3-6 months and that the people who emerge victorious are the ones who persevere despite encountering rejection, frustration and despair.

Quite spontaneously, I then shared my story about how I had applied numerous times to both UMass Boston, where I currently work, and to Boston University, where I previously worked, and interviewed at each institution several times before I landed a job there. Amid some surprised expressions, I told them that I even interviewed for the same job twice at BU and didn’t get it the first time, but did get it the second time! They laughed when I told them that I was either insane – expecting difference results from the same behavior – or persistent. I shared my story to show the students that rejection is a normal part of the job search process, but that it shouldn’t prohibit them from moving forward – and yes – applying to the same company, or even the same job, again and again and again.

Many job seekers think that if they don’t get a job at a certain company, then they should give up on that company and move on to others. Not true! Looking for a job, I told the students, is a lot like dating where you have to date a lot of people before you find one that’s the right match for you. The process of interviewing is for both parties to figure out if it’s a good match. In fact, this element is becoming even more important than a candidate’s qualifications. Sometimes it’s a match made in heaven but sometimes it’s not. If it’s not, it doesn’t mean you weren’t a strong or qualified candidate – it simply means you weren’t a good match for that particular job at that particular time. The key to a successful job search is to keep going until you find the right match for you, and for them.

College Seniors: Don’t Get Detoured from Reaching Your Career Goals

Neither the New England Patriots nor the Atlanta Falcons would have made it into the Super Bowl game if they hadn’t keep their focus on the reaching the goal line during each and every game they played throughout this year’s season. Staying focused and determined on reaching the goal is critical to football success and it’s equally critical to students’ job search success. I often find that students get derailed from pursuing their career goals and dreams by external factors and pressures.

The reason this bothers me so much is because studies have shown that people are ultimately happier and more successful when they are working in a career that they love. If they don’t, they may have regrets later in life that they never pursued their dreams. I also feel that students have invested a lot of time, energy and money in earning their degree so should make every effort to turn find a job related to their major.

A finance major I was recently working really wants to work in financial services and is applying for internships in that field. However, he is currently working as a customer service representative in the telecommunications industry and is doing such an excellent job that his employer offered him full time employment as a manger after graduation. Sounds like a sweet deal, right? And one that is hard to refuse. Getting offers such as these are very flattering, especially to students who don’t have a lot of work experience and are grateful for any and all offers. The only problem is that if he takes this position, chances are he will never get back to his original career goal.

Another senior was in my office yesterday, and she had received a full-time offer from her current employer. However, it was for an accounting role, and she really wants to work in human resources. The offer was flattering and so was the salary! She confessed that the salary would help her pay off her tuition bills, and that is a very enticing reason to accept an offer. We discussed that she could work in the job for a year or so but then get back on track with pursuing her dream of working in HR.

Many students now are also getting contacted by recruiters on LinkedIn regarding enticing job leads. Again, it’s very flattering for a college student to be contacted by a recruiter! However, a lot of the time the recruiters are recommending jobs that have nothing to do with what the student really wants to do. The recruiters are working in their own best interest to fill their job quotas, but the job isn’t necessarily in the student’s best interest. Young college students just starting out in their careers are often naïve to this fact.

So the message here for college seniors is to take control of your career and keep your eye on the prize! Don’t let anyone or anything keep you from pursuing what you really want to do or you might regret it later.

The Face Lighting Up Career Assessment

Quite often students make appointments with me to try to figure out what they want to do for a career. Or sometimes this topic comes up during appointments for other career topics. Typically, I listen to the student express his or her thoughts and ideas, ask some clarifying questions and give them my insights about the particular career field they are thinking of entering.

When I have these kinds of meetings with students, I also closely observe their expressions and body language because those two things often tell me more about what a student is truly feeling, as opposed to what they might be saying. I call this “The Face Lighting Up” career assessment.

Recently, I met with a new MBA student who had previously held several different business positions in Iran. She had held positions in human resources, marketing and sales. I asked her to tell me about each of these positions and what she liked or didn’t like about them. The first time she mentioned her marketing role, she started beaming and was smiling profusely! We continued the conversation, and I didn’t observe her beaming about any other job. Every time we came back to the marketing role, her face would light up again! So there was her answer. She ultimately decided to specialize in international marketing since she had a lot of global experience.

This student didn’t need to take any formal career assessment, because her face said it all. Don’t get me wrong, there are many wonderful career assessments out there, and many students need them in order to make a wise and informed decision about their career choice. But some don’t, as my story indicates.

Here’s another story. I was recently working with a junior who was concentrating in marketing. She knew she wanted a marketing internship but wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do in the marketing field. She wasn’t too engaged in the conversation and seemed a little confused about what to do. Then, all of a sudden, she said, “Well, I really like the music industry.” And that is when her face lit up! I explained to her that she could look for a marketing internship in the music industry and proceeded to do a Google search to show her the possibilities. She was very excited to see all of the terrific marketing internships in the music industry.

So if you’re confused about what you want to do for a career, try to listen to your gut and what it is telling you. When you read job descriptions, which ones resonate with you? Which ones seem like something that would be fun and interesting to do? Or alternatively, which ones make you feel uneasy and a little sick to your stomach? Pay attention to those feelings. Don’t try to force yourself to like a position because you think it’s what you’re supposed to do or what your friends are doing. Choose something that is right for YOU!

A skilled career counselor will be able to help you with this discernment process and will be able to objectively observe which things make you light up and which ones don’t as part of the overall career exploration and assessment process. Often, job seekers overlook this critical step in their career planning. But it’s one that shouldn’t be overlooked if you want to find a career that is fulfilling and makes you happy. After all, you’re going to be at work for a large portion of your day so you might as well be doing something that makes you light up each and every day.

"He said WHAT on his interview?" How to avoid being that guy.

Recruiters I know who interview lots of people as part of their job will sometimes share stories of the ridiculous things that people said or did on their interviews (anonymously, of course!). We often shake our heads in disbelief and question, “How could they have possibly done something like that!”
You definitely don’t want to be that guy (or girl)! 

The way you avoid being that guy or girl is to conduct a mock, or practice interview, with a career coach or counselor. This way you can get your dumb mistakes out of the way before the real interview and get feedback about them before they become grist for recruiters’ water cooler banter. Believe me, everyone makes mistakes on interviews at some point in their lives, often unknowingly. You don’t know what you don’t know, but your career counselor does, so make sure to tap into his or her interviewing wisdom.


Because we’re nearing the end of the academic year, I’ve been conducting a lot of mock interviews with students who are looking to land their first job out of college. I applaud these students for realizing the importance of preparing for their interviews and soliciting feedback so that they can ace the real interview. For the benefit of helping my readers, I’m sharing three of their stories below.

I was conducting a mock interview recently with a student who had a real interview coming up for a tax position with PricewaterhouseCoopers. “So tell me, what’s your greatest weakness,” I asked her. “Well,” she said, “I have a real weakness for chocolate and can never resist having some no matter how hard I try.” The minute she said “chocolate,” I cringed. Up until this point she had been doing a fantastic job and was answering all of the questions extremely well. For this question, however, her answer was inappropriate, and I explained to her that she should give an example of a professional weakness and then explain what she was doing in order to improve upon it. We then brainstormed examples to use. Here’s some advice from my From College to Career blog regarding how to effectively answer the dreaded weakness question. I am happy to report that I got an email yesterday from this student stating that she got the job!

Another time recently, I was conducting a mock interview with an international student who was preparing for a real interview for a supply chain position with an American firm. I asked him why he wanted to pursue a career in supply chain and he said, “I want to learn everything about supply chain that I can in America and take my knowledge back home to help my country.” While the student’s response was true and admirable, it would not be the response that an employer would want to hear and probably would have jeopardized his getting an offer. Why? When companies hire an employee, they invest a lot of time, energy and resources in the hiring and training process, and they want a return on their investment. So they’re obviously going to frown upon a candidate who says he plans to go back home because this wouldn’t be a good investment on their part. Instead, I advised this student to talk about how he wanted to build a career with the company and the ways that he could contribute to the company’s growth and success. While he may in fact go home in a few years, he doesn’t need to share that on the interview.

My last mock interview example is of a student who, whenever I would ask him a question, would detail his failures before getting to his successes. He had an upcoming interview with a company he had interviewed with before. When I asked him, “So tell me about yourself,” he began by saying how he had gotten rejected by the company last year because he did a poor job on his interview. While that may have been the case, I suggested instead that he focus on the positive by saying how excited he was to be interviewing with them again, that he felt confident he was now a good candidate and to tell them about his recent accomplishments. Later, when I asked him about a current position on his resume, he again began to outline how he didn’t get the job the first time around. Some people may think that these are great examples of persistence and perseverance, but after a while, the pattern of hearing about his failures was establishing a negative impression. Instead, I recommended he focus on sharing only his successes. I saw this student a few days after his interview, and he thinks it went very well.

In general, I advise students to always stay positive during an interview and to avoid saying anything negative. I also tell them that an interview is not a confessional, which I wrote about in my personal blog, From College to Career. Sometimes students starting out in their careers feel that they need to reveal all during an interview. Again, conducting a mock interview is a way to avoid spilling your guts on the real interview.If you were scheduled to perform in a concert, a play, or a key athletic game, what would you do? Practice, of course. You certainly wouldn’t want to wing it. The same should be true of your interviews since there's a job at stake. Most college career centers offer mock interviews as part of their services. Make sure to take advantage of them!