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!

Which Comes First: The Internship or the Experience?

Most students these days understand the importance of doing internships in order to complement their academic studies, to discover what the real world is like in their given career field and to make themselves more competitive candidates upon graduation. In fact, the title of the career center where I work at UMass Boston includes the word “Internships” (Office of Career Services & Internships) because we want to remind and impress upon students that internships are vital in terms of rounding out their college experience.

Very often when students come in to meet with me to discuss how to get an internship, they express some real concern about their ability to get one due to their lack of experience in their career field. At this point I reassure them that employers aren’t looking for experience when hiring an intern because the nature of an internship is to learn about a career field. In fact, the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of an intern is “a student or recent graduate who works for a period of time at a job in order to get experience.” So you see, experience isn’t a requirement to get an internship.

Well then, what are employers looking for when they hire an intern? As I always point out to my students, employers are looking for a set of transferrable skills that are relevant to the internship. The skills that they are seeking are often posted in the job description under a section entitled “Qualifications” or “Requirements,” and they typically are listed in order of significance. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the top skills sought by employers in 2016 are as follows:

Most students have developed these skills through part-time jobs, volunteer and community service experience, leadership roles and their academic studies. When writing their resume and cover letters, they should make sure to highlight the skills that the employer is seeking, not necessarily the skills they think are best or strongest. For example, a student may speak another language but if it’s not required for the internship, there’s no need to mention it in the cover letter, but it can go on the resume.

Another common question that students often ask me is, “How many internships should I apply to?” I used to give them a ballpark number like 25, but then I realized there is no magic number. So now I say, “Just keep applying to as many as possible until you get one.” Quite often students will apply to a few companies, perhaps their dream companies, and then wait for the calls to come in. With this approach, they’re wasting valuable time that could have been spent searching for and applying to more internships. The saying, “It ain’t over until it’s over,” definitely applies to the internship search. I advise students to set up email alerts on the popular internship sites which will generate daily emails with internship matches so they don’t even have to think about it.

So the answer to the question posed in the title of this blog is “the internship.” By doing one or more internships during the course of your college career, you’ll be gaining valuable experience in your career field to build your resume and become a more marketable candidate when you’re looking for your first entry-level position. That is when employers are looking for experience, which you will have gained through your internships.

Looking for a Job? Read my Eight Tips to Stay Motivated

A major part of my job as a college career coach is to keep my students motivated in the job search. During a recent appointment with an MBA student, I asked her if she had any last questions. “Yes,” she said, “how do I maintain my confidence level in the job search?” Good question!

The job search can be tough – no doubt about it – especially in competitive career fields and job markets. The ultimate key to success in landing a job is not your experience, not your expertise and not your networking prowess. Pure and simple, it is your perseverance. As an unknown author once said, “Don’t be discouraged. It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.”

With graduation fast approaching, I’m finding that many of my meetings with students involve some kind of pep talk to keep them motivated in their job search. But college students aren’t the only ones who need motivational coaching to persevere. The tips below apply to anyone and everyone in job search mode.

Expect to Fail

At first glance, this tip seems negative, but it isn’t. If you go into the job search with realistic expectations, you’ll be less likely to feel defeated so easily. No team wins every game and no one gets every job they apply to. The sooner you accept this reality, the better. Approach your job search with the understanding that chances are you won’t get the first job you apply to, or the second, or the third and remember that the average job search can take three to six months, or longer.

Get Back in the Saddle

Repeat after me, “Not getting a job, does not necessarily mean I’m not a strong candidate or that I’m not qualified,” and make this your daily mantra. Not getting a job often means that you weren’t quite the right fit for that particular position at that particular point in time. Just because a company doesn’t think you were a good match for Position A, doesn’t mean you won’t be the perfect fit for Position B. Job success will eventually be yours if you continue to dust yourself off and get back in the saddle.

Don’t Dwell on the Past

Recently, I was meeting with a student who shared with me how poorly she thought she performed at the last networking event she had attended. Without hesitation, I responded, “That was then, this is now,” regarding the upcoming career fair should she would be attending. If you performed less than optimally at some points during your job search, learn from your mistakes and move on.

Have a Support System

Who do you know that wholeheartedly believes in you and your abilities? Perhaps it’s a trusted mentor, or close friend or relative. If you can’t think of anyone in your own circle, find a career or life coach who can encourage and motivate you. Make a point of speaking to this person often during your job search to express your frustrations and get the confidence and ego boost you need.

Consider joining networking and job search support groups. The Riley Guideprovides links to many resources on this topic, and you can also find support groups on Meetup.

Quit Taking it Personally (Q-TIP)

Many people beat up on themselves if they don’t get the job. They believe that they didn’t get it because of something they did wrong. This isn’t necessarily the case. You can do everything right and still not get the job. Why? Because someone else was just slightly more qualified, or had a networking connection, or was an internal candidate, etc., etc. Remember: It wasn’t necessarily about you.

Have a Sense of Purpose

Yes, you need to spend a part of your day searching and applying for jobs and, yes, you need to spend a percentage of your week in networking activities. Beyond that, however, you should find things to do that keep you active and engaged and boost your confidence. Consider getting involved with a community organization, taking a class or learning a new hobby.

Celebrate Success

Every time you get an interview, consider it a success and celebrate it! The fact that you got an interview tells you that your resume is strong and presents you as a well-qualified candidate. Plus, you made the cut out of many other applicants. Even if you don’t get the job, at least you got the interview and a chance to network with professionals in your field.

Avoid the Naysayers

Everyone you meet is going to have some horror story about their job search or their friend’s job search. Don’t pay attention to them. Their story is not your story. People will readily share grim statistics about the job market in general or your career field in particular. A very good friend of mine recently proved the naysayers wrong. As a woman of a “certain age,” she landed the job of her dreams – and it was the very first one she applied to! Had she listened to the naysayers about the inability to find jobs at her age, she never would be where she is today.

Your Resume Should be as Unique as a Snowflake

Right now we’re buried with snow here in Boston so I figured a snow analogy would be in order in this blog post. Just as no two snowflakes are alike out of the gazillions that have fallen in the Boston area over the last three weeks, no two resumes should ever be alike. That’s why any article entitled “The Top 10 Resume Tips” or the like should always be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. Unlike some products where “one size fits all,” there is no resume advice that fits everyone. Each person’s resume should be unique and targeted to their specific career field. That’s why the best resume advice is “it depends.”

Granted, there are definitely resume “do’s and don’ts” that should be adhered to in order to avoid having your resume placed in the “no” pile, but my concern is that some people, particularly college students just starting out in their career, may take resume advice too literally. For example, I read a resume advice article recently that said you should never put your GPA on your resume. While this may be true for someone in mid-career, it is certainly not true for college students since GPA is one of the top criteria employers use to assess students’ candidacy.

When I meet with students to discuss their resumes, they often ask me if a certain experience should go on their resume – things like a volunteer experience, a part-time job that seems irrelevant, or a student club activity. I always say “it depends.” I advise them to keep a master resume which includes everything on it (paid and non-paid work experiences, volunteer/community service, student club activities, leadership roles, etc.) and to extract from this master resume anything that is relevant to the job they’re applying to. Contrary to what they think, an experience doesn’t necessarily have to be paid in order to be relevant.

This point may be particularly important for those who are seeking to transition from one career to another. For example, I was recently working with an alumna who wanted to transition from a career in accounting to a career in real estate. After some discussion, I discovered that she was president of her condo association so we decided to put that at the top under her “Experience” section. We also decided to highlight the fact that she was currently taking a real estate course, something she hadn’t thought to include on her resume.

If you’re unsure about what to include on your resume, it would be a great idea to meet with a career coach who can help you create a resume that is as unique as you are and presents you as a highly qualified candidate.

What Happens at the Career Fair Shouldn’t Stay at the Career Fair

‘Tis the season for college career fairs. As a matter of fact, we held our annual business career fair last week at UMass Boston and hundreds of students attended. Prior to the career fair, I presented a couple of workshops entitled “How to Prepare for the Career Fair,” and several students also came to see me in my office to get advice and pointers on how to make the most of this premier career event. While preparing for a career fair is definitely important, what happens after the career fair is even more important.

A few days after the career fair, one student came to my office and expressed her dismay that she did not have a lot of time to speak with recruiters and that one recruiter seemed eager to move on to the next person in line. I reassured her that this is a normal practice since recruiters want to make sure that they get to speak with every student in line. She was left wondering however, “What’s the point of going to a career fair if I only have a few minutes to make an impression?” and “How will recruiters even remember who I am given the fact that they meet hundreds of students within the span of a couple of hours?” Good questions.

I think the best way to answer these questions is to first clarify what students should realistically expect from attending a career fair and what they shouldn’t expect in order to avoid disappointment and frustration. At a career fair, you will not be interviewed, offered a job or have a chance to have an in-depth conversation with a recruiter. However, what you will get from attending a career fair is a chance to meet and speak with recruiters at your dream companies and to personally hand them your resume, as opposed to having to submit it through the online job application black hole. Just think: If you hadn’t gone to the career fair, none of this would have happened!

To make the most of your career fair experience, you need to maintain those relationships with recruiters in the following days, weeks and months ahead in order to reap the full benefits. By doing the following, you’re bound to be noticed and remembered!

Send Thank You Notes

Send each recruiter you spoke with a personalized thank you note. Mention why you are interested in their company and why you are a good fit. Also state that you look forward to applying to positions there.

Recruiters keep these emails and refer back to them when you apply for jobs at their companies. All things being equal, the person who sent a thank you note will get the interview over someone who didn’t. It also shows the recruiter that you were interested enough in their companies to make time to attend the career fair and make a point of meeting them.

Connect with Recruiters on LinkedIn

Connect with the recruiters you met at the career fair on LinkedIn and make sure to change the default email message to a more personal one, mentioning something you spoke about at the fair. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is professional and complete before you do so.

Reference the Career Fair in Your Cover Letters

When you write your cover letters to apply for internships or jobs at these companies, make sure to address your cover letter to the recruiter you met at the career fair. Then mention where and how you met them in the first paragraph of your letter.

Follow Companies on LinkedIn

Make sure to follow the companies you interacted with at the career fair on LinkedIn. That way you’ll get updates about what’s happening at these companies and can make comments about those updates. This is a terrific way to get noticed!

Attend Other Company Events on Campus

Often companies will have separate information sessions, workshops, and networking events on campus as a way to connect with students. Make sure to attend those events to meet recruiters for a second (or third) time.

Stay on Recruiters’ Radar Screens

Send them periodic email updates about your academic accomplishments or links to articles that might be of interest to them. Post frequent status updates on LinkedIn which will show up in their newsfeed if they’re in your network.

A Proven Success Tip for Your Informational Interviews

Recently, I was asked by a colleague to conduct an informational interview with her. Being a huge fan of this form of networking, I readily agreed. We had a nice lunch and great conversation. To my surprise, most of her questions were about my career path and things she had read on my LinkedIn profile, as opposed to questions about the career counseling field or the university where I currently work. To be honest, I loved the opportunity to talk about myself and my career path. How often do we have a chance to talk about ourselves without boring others to death or appearing to be egotistical? 

I know that many students are intimidated at the thought of conducting informational interviews with professionals in their career field. However, if you remember that people love to talk about themselves and can get them to do so during your meeting with them, it is almost gauranteed that they will take a liking to you and want to help you out in your career. So, when preparing for your informational interviews, make sure to research the person's LinkedIn profile and develop a list of questions about his or her career path.

This principle is actually discussed in Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends & Influence People. A book that has been translated into every written language and sold more than 15 million copies can't be wrong now, can it?

Got Skills? Show them!

When working with my students in developing resumes and cover letters, I always recommend that they incorporate key words from the job description because many companies these days are electronically scanning resumes and cover letters for key words. If you don't have the key words they want, you won't make the first cut.

The key, however, in using key words is to show how you used them in an internship, job, school project or volunteer or leadership experience. It is not a good idea to just have a laundry list of skills - anyone can do that. For example, I could list on my resume that I have super human intelligence, but if I can't prove it, no one is going to believe me. On your resume demonstrate through your action statements how you've used your skills and provide examples in your cover letter. Show them what you've got by putting your skills into action!

Job Search Strong!

Before, during and after this year’s Boston Marathon, we all were exposed to countless images and poignant stories of heroism, courage and determination exhibited by victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Collectively, we marveled at how they were able to overcome their wounds, both emotional and physical, and rebound this year by participating in the event in some form or another and how they have chosen to focus on the positive outcomes that emerged from such a terrible act of violence. They persevered by keeping their eye on the prize, as opposed to letting an unfortunate event deter them from reaching their goals and pursuing their dreams.

The same is true in your job search. Having coached numerous college seniors in their job search over the last several years, I can attest to the fact that perseverance is the key ingredient to landing a job. I think that sometimes students give up too quickly in pursuing their career goals when, if only they had just stuck it out a bit longer, their dream job would have been just around the bend.

You can rest assured that you will experience your own version of “Heartbreak Hill” at some point during your job search (or several times!). It may be because you’ve sent out 20 resumes and haven’t gotten one response. Or you’ve been on 10 interviews and haven’t received any offers. This can be discouraging, for sure. But you need to stay in the race and send out that 21^st, and 22^nd and 23^rd resume. Go on that 11^th interview. The next one could be the one, so it’s critical that you don’t give up.

I’ve worked with many seniors who came into my office feeling really down about the job search only to contact me days or weeks later to share their joyous news that they had landed a job. The same will happen to you if you stay in the race all the way to the finish line!

Read my eight tips below to ensure your job search success:

1. Get a Coach
It’s no secret that the job search can be grueling and frustrating at times so make sure to enlist the support of a career counselor at your college. They will not only supply you with awesome career tips and advice but will also keep you motivated all the way throughout your job search. Remember too that most colleges continue to provide career services after you’ve graduated and as an alum.

2. Be Realistic
Keep in mind that the job search can take an average of three to six months. It’s also a numbers game. The more jobs you apply to, the better your chances are of getting interviews and landing a job. Don’t stop after you apply for a certain number of positions and then sit back and wait for the phone to ring. Keep on applying.

3. Avoid the Doomsayers
I’m sure you’ve all heard things like, “There aren’t any jobs,” or “It’s a rough job market,” or “It’s really tough to find a job with your major.” Ignore them.  Remain focused and positive about achieving your career goals.

4. Get Unplugged

It’s pretty easy to sit at your laptop and click 'send' as you apply for as many positions as possible that you find online.  Since it's so easy to do, think about just how many other recent college grads are doing the exact same thing. Scary, huh? Well, there's a solution. Set yourself apart from the competition and be proactive in your job search by setting up informational interviews with your school’s alumni or attending professional networking events.

5. Create Your Destiny
If you have extra time, do an internship or volunteer at your dream company. This is a great idea for several reasons.  It gets you up and out of the house, allows you to hone your professional skills, keeps you current in your field AND could possibly lead to a full-time offer if you "wow" them with your amazing abilities.  If your dream company doesn't have any posted internships, create an internship proposal for them.

6. Have an Open Mind
Explore every opportunity that comes your way because you just never know. What initially may not have seemed like an ideal situation could turn out to be a wonderful opportunity for you to gain professional experience, develop your skills and build your resume. Look beyond the big brand companies – there are wonderful professional opportunities with companies you’ve never heard of. Remember too that the average person will have 15-20 jobs in his or her lifetime so your first job won’t be your only job.

7. Boost Your Confidence
Think about the things that will boost your confidence, and then do them.  It might be connecting with your favorite mentors who can motivate and encourage you. Or it might be challenging yourself at the gym to achieve new workout goals.  Do things that you excel at to increase your sense of confidence.

8. Set Goals and Reward Yourself
Establish daily and weekly goals for yourself that move you forward in your job search and put them on your calendar. By setting and meeting goals, you'll not only feel good about yourself but you won't feel so guilty when you do decide to go to the beach...after you've completed your job search activities. Find other ways to reward yourself after you accomplish each of your goals.

Should you accept your first job offer?

Read this article for some great tips on how to assess whether or not you should accept a job offer: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140408115623-10999323-should-i-say-yes-to-my-first-job-offer.

Be True to Yourself

Listen to your own inner wisdom to determine what it is that YOU really want out of life and don't be influenced by other people's personal values and opinions. In the end, it's your life, not theirs. Read the following article for tips on how to stay true to your personal goals and dreams.
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10329/how-to-stick-to-your-path-when-friends-family-just-dont-get-it.html

Would you try this approach to landing an internship?

Here's a creative approach to landing an internship! What do you think? Would you try something like this? http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/most-adorable-r-sum-ever-aspiring-intern-pitches-lego-version-herself-agencies-156557

Ways to Make an Impression at Your College Career Fair

Are you planning to attend your college's career fair this spring? If so, I would recommend that you read this helpful article about how to make an impression on recruiters: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/career-transitions/201402/how-succeed-career-fair.

I would add one more tip and that is to practice your technique with an employer that you're not really interested in. Then you'll be good to go and meet the recruiters from your dream companies.

You Gotta Have Heart to Get the Job

Recruiters consistently say that they are looking to hire employees that have heart for the organization. Well, they don't exactly say it that way, but since this post is coming on the heels of Valentine's Day, I thought it would be fun to relate this post to the heart-obsessed holiday.

Having coached numerous college seniors in their job searches,  I know just how grueling the job search can be for you, especially since there's just so much competition out there. How do you set yourself apart from the thousands of equally bright and ambitious recent college grads who are applying for the same positions as you? The key is to demonstrate heart, or enthusiasm and passion, for the company you're applying to. So how do you do this? It can be done in several ways. One way is to follow the company on LinkedIn. Another way is to connect with recruiters and people you know or your school's alumni who work at the company. A third way is to show your passion in your cover letter. And lastly, the ultimate way, is to show your enthusiasm during every stage of the interview process.

If you're finding it hard to muster up your enthusiasm during any step in the job application process, it could be a red flag that the company and/or position isn't a good fit for you. Go with your gut feelings. Then find a job and company that do excite you, and you'll be surprised at just how easily everything flows.

And by the way, this advice doesn't just apply to college seniors. It applies to anyone looking for a job. Read this article to learn more about the connection between passion and landing the job: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2014/01/23/aol-career-luck-college-student-needs-job/