WisBusiness: Changing times mean changes in job-hunting etiquette

By Kay Nolan

For WisBusiness.com

Forget about paring your resume to one page and politely waiting to hear from prospective employers – these days, the keyword for job hunters is proactive.

Employment professionals say the restraint that was preached for years may now make job candidates fail to stand out.

Today’s resumes, especially for people with considerable experience, fill at least two or three pages, said Doris Appelbaum, owner of Appelbaum’s Resume Professionals in Milwaukee.

Although some “very classic business positions” may still call for a one-page resume, a general rule of thumb is for every extra degree or about five to seven years of experience, you’re allowed to add a page, said Sheila Keaton, career counselor and advising team leader at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science Career Service office.

For years, applicants were warned that employers would not bother to read lengthy resumes, but today, it’s the opposite. Resumes should contain plenty of specific examples of accomplishments, rather than simply listing job skills or duties, the counselors say. In fact, nowadays, employers won’t bother to read a resume if it’s too barebones, says Appelbaum.

“A resume is more of a marketing and sales tool than ever before,” she said. “You want to go in-depth.” Plus, because companies increasingly scan resumes, searching for keywords that link the candidate to the job position, “you’ll want to sprinkle those keywords throughout the resume and cover letter,” she said.

After seeing even the best resumes get overlooked, Doug Lane of The Lane Group, an executive recruiter in Milwaukee for the past 20 years, now suggests that candidates submit an addendum to their resumes to further explain how they suit a particular job position.

“One of the top 10 companies in Milwaukee called us out of frustration last year — they had interviewed 26 people for a job that had been open for a whole year, but nobody fit the bill,” he said. Within days, Lane located a candidate who seemed perfect.

“The company said they actually had her resume, but didn’t see it — it sat in a huge pile of ‘no’s,’” Lane said. “We put an addendum in there and we addressed how the candidate was appropriate for this position, because it just wasn’t screaming out on her resume,” said Lane.

After a false start — the hiring manager still didn’t have the resume and addendum on hand during the candidate’s first interview — she was eventually hired and is doing well, he said.

In addition, Appelbaum recommends leaving areas of white space on resumes, rather than squeezing the information into as few pages as possible. For one thing, it’s easier to read, she says, but there’s a practical reason as well: it gives the employer space to jot down notes during interviews.

Cover letters today tend to be in-depth, too.

“In a good cover letter, people should really be addressing all sorts of different levels about why that position might be good — from that particular job function, to maybe the department that it’s in or subset of the organization, the organization itself, the field, maybe the geographic location,” said Keaton. “It’s really about proving yourself to be a really good fit for that particular organization, making it worth their while to bring you on,” said Keaton.

One thing you can trim from a modern resume: “We’ve heard recently from employers that putting “References available upon request” at the bottom of your resume is outdated,” said Keaton, because it’s assumed that an applicant will have references.

In addition to offering plenty of information in resumes and cover letters, counselors say companies look for proactive follow-up communication from job-seekers. One employer told Appelbaum he won’t consider a candidate who fails to follow up.

The first call might be in a few days, to ask if the company received the application and if sent electronically, was able to open the attachments. A second phone call might be to ask if the position has been filled, and if not, when a decision could be expected.

But if the ad says no phone calls, you must abide by that, warned both counselors.

Lane goes even further. He has advised his clients — typically, experienced business professionals — to place a direct phone call to a desired company’s hiring manager, instead of simply submitting a resume to human resources. “I don’t think that candidate is going to get penalized necessarily by a company, by doing a little homework on the company, by finding the person that would be responsible for the hiring of that job, and actually calling in and trying to get that person on the phone,” he said.

“In that way, I think things have changed,” said Lane, especially for companies that are posting executive jobs themselves to avoid paying recruiting fees during the economic downturn. “But what’s happening is that they are missing the resumes that could be good,” he said.

Keaton says companies seem surprisingly open to inquiries in general. “The most recent, kind of newer advice I heard, which I thought was just great, was when we were asking employers what they wanted students to wear to interviews — does it always have to be a suit — and we heard from a couple of employers that they really like it if people just call them and ask,” she said. “Most counselors would not have advised that.”

With so many companies asking applicants to submit resumes and cover letters via e-mail, the question arises: Should you attach your cover letter separately or make it part of the body of your e-mail?

Employers seem to be divided into two camps, said Keaton.

“One of the camps is, ‘Just go ahead and write your cover letter or application letter in the body of the e-mail and just attach your resume — it’s less work for the employer,’” said Keaton. “The other camp is, ‘You know, if you do that, if and when they print it out, it’s not going to look like a cover letter; it’s going to look like an e-mail.’ So that school of thought would say attach the letter as a separate PDF, and in the body of the e-mail, just say, ‘I’m writing to apply for this position. Attached are my resume and cover letter. Let me know if you have any trouble with this attachment. Sincerely, and your name.’

“I kind of fall into the second camp,” Keaton said. “But I might pay attention to the aesthetic piece more than somebody else might. I certainly wouldn’t look down on a candidate if you did it the other way.”

What to put in the subject line of your e-mail?

Definitely, your name, says Keaton.

“What I wouldn’t do is just say, for example, “administrative assistant application,” she said, because dozens of other applicants might use the identical subject line. “I’d put my name along with the position title.”



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