Latest / Voices for Voices® / Episode 80: Assemble Your Career - From Resume to LinkedIn Optimization

Transcript

Episode 80: Assemble Your Career - From Resume to LinkedIn Optimization · Voices for Voices®

• 0:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: Chapter 2 the Foundation.
• 0:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: Great job you just completed your blueprint and have taken the important first step to care about your professional career.
• 0:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: So it is now time to implement the blueprint.
• 0:16
  Justin Alan Hayes: After the blueprint is finalized and before any house can be built, the land must be first cleared of any trees, brush and rocks with a bulldozer that is within the dimensions of the lot and new house.
• 0:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once the land is cleared, construction can now begin.
• 0:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: The next step in home construction, after the land is cleared and leveled, is to start digging for the basement, otherwise known as the foundation.
• 0:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: The basement is dug in most cases with a backhoe in preparation for the concrete block to be laid for the foundation of the house.
• 0:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: It only makes sense for a house or physical structure to have a solid foundation before installing the subfloor, plywood etc.
• 1:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: If the foundation is not solid, then the safety inspector cannot deem the house safe to move into and a new homeowner would have to wait until the home building code is met before they can safely move in.
• 1:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: Many parallels can be drawn between the construction of a home and setting you up for a successful career in the workforce, no matter what industry you are interested in joining and adding value to, as a new home, must have a solid foundation.
• 1:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: You also must have a solid foundation.
• 1:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: The foundation in the house of you includes several elements.
• 1:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: First I will list each element and then I will go into greater detail to flush out the specific details.
• 1:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: The foundation in the house of you includes constructing and having a fresh cover letter, resume, linkedin profile and clean additional social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter, instagram and Snapchat.
• 2:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: For starters, it is a good idea to understand, or begin to understand, your strengths in the areas in which you can add value to an organization.
• 2:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Why?
• 2:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: Because knowing and understanding your strengths is a key factor in determining whether you are a good fit for a position.
• 2:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: It is uncommon for you, as a job applicant, to be a fit for each and every position accompanied post, so it is okay to determine the target positions that you are a fit for so you will not lose precious time searching and applying to positions that are not a fit.
• 2:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: Being a fit for a job opening means that an education in or skills you have earned and possessed match what a job description includes.
• 2:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: For example, if you have a marketing degree and enjoyed the marketing you did for projects at school and or during an internship, a potential position fit might be a job description that includes a requirement for the applicant who has earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and enjoys doing that work on a daily basis.
• 3:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: On the other hand, if you have that same marketing background we just discussed, in the job description states that the company posting the open position is interested in applicants who enjoy working with numbers and have an accounting degree.
• 3:27
  Justin Alan Hayes: You would not be a good fit for the open position.
• 3:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: So what do you look at to guide you on what fields and job openings would be a good fit for you?
• 3:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: We want to contain all this pertinent information about your strengths, education, internships and volunteer experience in the form of a cover letter and resume.
• 3:48
  Justin Alan Hayes: It is a good rule of thumb to formulate and complete the resume first, in the cover letter second.
• 3:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: One of the reasons behind this line of thinking is that the cover letter will be drawing highlights from your resume.
• 4:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: While you will be modifying your cover letter for each position you apply for, your resume will be more static, remaining the same unless you obtain new education, skills and or experience to update the resume.
• 4:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: For example, you may apply to five unique positions at different companies and will want to include a different cover letter for each position, but wish to include the same resume.
• 4:31
  Justin Alan Hayes: Additionally, you'll want to include company-specific information in your cover letter, such as a company name and physical address, street, city, state and zip code.
• 4:44
  Justin Alan Hayes: You would not want to have the company name and address for position 1 at company A on an application for position 2 at company B, would you?
• 4:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: No, you would not.
• 4:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: Also, job postings may seek slightly different skill sets and you would want to include your specific skills and experience as they relate to each job posting.
• 5:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: For example, position 1 at company A uses terminology such as negotiation skills and deal closing in the job description.
• 5:18
  Justin Alan Hayes: In your cover letter for position 1, you would want to make sure that you include your skills and experiences as they relate to negotiation and deal closing.
• 5:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: Position 2 at company B, however, does not use such terminology and therefore you would not want to include those skills and experience in your cover letter for that position.
• 5:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: This is why it is important to interchange your skills and experience based off of each job posting you choose to apply to.
• 5:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: It may sound like a lot of work to prepare a polished cover letter in resume free of grammatical errors, or you may think the hiring manager should just hire you because you applied.
• 6:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: There are several reasons why hiring managers need to see your cover letter in resume along with the other applicants.
• 6:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: First, the cover letter in resume shows your prospective employer what education, skills and experience you are bringing to the table versus other applicants.
• 6:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: Your cover letter in resume are two distinct but related methods that are universal tools for applicants, human resources and or hiring managers to make the call whether or not an applicant is a good fit for the open position.
• 6:38
  Justin Alan Hayes: At this point, you may be wondering how to get started on your cover letter in resume.
• 6:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: The good news is, if you are still in school and or have already graduated from college and belong to an alumni association, all you need to do is to contact the career services department at your school for their cover letter and resume services.
• 7:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: Utilizing career services will help in a couple of ways.
• 7:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: First, career services has seen a variety of cover letters and resumes from all fields of study, so they have a great idea of what format to use, what information you should include and in what order.
• 7:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: Secondly, the service is free.
• 7:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: The key here is that if you utilize a service, that may be a word of mouth recommendation from a friend or family member, you could be looking at spending hundreds of dollars on their services.
• 7:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: I know I have, but if you have not or are not planning to go to school, you are still in luck.
• 7:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: In that case, you may also want to reach out to a local college or university to see if they would be willing to help you out or if they may have a low-cost alternative.
• 7:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: If that route does not come together, then I would reach out to your friends and family to see if they may know someone in the human resources discipline that can help you out.
• 8:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: If all those avenues turn out to be dead ends, then I would Google Cover Letter and Resume Service.
• 8:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may also want to add the geographic location that you would like this service to be located near.
• 8:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may live in North Carolina, but the service with the best reputation may be located in New York.
• 8:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: Think about your comfort level and the ability to meet your cover letter and resume specialist face-to-face versus meeting in a virtual setting.
• 8:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: One word of caution before paying for any service, I would ask for three references a past client that you could contact.
• 8:42
  Justin Alan Hayes: If the individual is reluctant or unwilling to provide you with this information, I would move on.
• 8:49
  Justin Alan Hayes: This could be a potential scam.
• 8:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you contact those references and see examples of the work this individual completed for them and it looks like something you would be happy with, then I would move forward in the process.
• 9:03
  Justin Alan Hayes: Another question I would also ask is how long the cover letter and resume process will take 30 days, 3 months Because there may be a job posting you'd like to apply to in the next 30 days and if your cover letter and resume will not be finished for 3 months, that particular timeframe will not work for you.
• 9:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: Timing is an easy area to overlook and some individuals are surprised when the cover letter and resume takes longer than they expect.
• 9:33
  Justin Alan Hayes: I always err on the side of caution.
• 9:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: My thought process is if I ask for and receive an estimated project completion date, it helps me to be proactive with other areas of my job search process.
• 9:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: At the conclusion of this chapter, I have included a couple of workbook pages that you can fill out and take in when you visit with your career service department friend.
• 9:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: That is, an HR representative, cover letter and resume specialist or consulting service that will guide your individual cover letter and resume process.
• 10:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: Linkedin is yet another tool that you should maximize to the fullest.
• 10:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Linkedin is a social media platform for companies and professionals to engage each other regarding company information and news and job openings.
• 10:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you are not familiar with LinkedIn, it is similar in nature to the Facebook social media platform.
• 10:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: Linkedin is intended for professionals and provides further information on work experience, skills and networking groups across all industries.
• 10:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: Linkedin is free to join, but has an available premium upgrade option for a nominal monthly fee.
• 10:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: The free version is what I use, but it is up to you if you feel the premium upgrade would be more beneficial to you and your needs.
• 10:55
  Justin Alan Hayes: I am covering LinkedIn at this point because the main objective of creating and maintaining a LinkedIn profile is to compliment your cover letter and resume.
• 11:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may be asking yourself why can I not just create a cover letter and resume and call it a day?
• 11:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: That is a great question, but as someone who has recruited, hired and developed professionals, I can attest that the LinkedIn profile is just as important as the cover letter and resume.
• 11:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: Another benefit of having a completed LinkedIn profile is that when proactively sourcing for candidates to fill open positions, recruiters use LinkedIn as a source.
• 11:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: There are specific tools and solutions available for companies to search, screen and contact LinkedIn members in an effort to network and find qualified candidates for their positions.
• 11:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: For example, let us assume you apply for a job, which I am the hiring manager Position, your application submission or your basic contact information cover letter and resume when the job posting closes for applicants to apply, I have received 10 applicants, one being you for the open position.
• 12:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: So what do I do?
• 12:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once the position closes, I begin reviewing each of the 10 applicants submitted application cover letters, resumes and their LinkedIn profiles.
• 12:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may be asking why a hiring manager would do that.
• 12:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: The reason I and many other hiring managers utilize LinkedIn is because it is another data point to determine whether or not we want to move a job applicant through the hiring process.
• 12:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: One of the key areas we hiring managers look at with regards to LinkedIn is whether or not an applicant has a profile that is up to date.
• 12:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: If the job applicant has a LinkedIn profile that is up to date, the information listed in their profile should be consistent with their cover letter and resume.
• 12:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: You would be surprised at how many times the cover letter and resume do not match with an applicant's LinkedIn profile.
• 13:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you were a hiring manager, what would you be thinking if this happened?
• 13:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may be thinking is this the same individual that applied for this position?
• 13:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: Did they embellish accomplishments on their cover letter and resume or, on the flip side, did the applicant embellish their education and or accomplishments on their LinkedIn profile?
• 13:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: As an applicant, the last thing you want is to have a hiring manager begin questioning you and your integrity before an interview even takes place.
• 13:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: In my experience, one of two things happens if there are inconsistencies.
• 13:42
  Justin Alan Hayes: One, I put this applicant into the past pile, or two, I put the applicant into the maybe pile.
• 13:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: What is the maybe pile?
• 13:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: The maybe pile is reserved for applicants that have raised questions as to whether they should continue in the hiring process but have enough attributes that I am looking for in the position.
• 14:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Some applicants in the maybe pile move forward and some do not.
• 14:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: Make sure you do your best to not end up in the maybe pile due to a misunderstanding.
• 14:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: I will reiterate that at the end of the day, you do not want any HR representative and or hiring managers having questions about your integrity.
• 14:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: Would you want to hire an individual that lacks integrity?
• 14:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you are in the shoes of the hiring manager, I know that I do not want to go down that road.
• 14:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: Cover letters, resumes and LinkedIn profiles are controllable, meaning we are all responsible for creating and modifying the content that is viewable in these tools, whereas impressions from others about us are uncontrollable, meaning we cannot control anyone other than ourselves.
• 14:52
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may not get every job you apply for, but if you limit ambiguity about the things you can control, you will be in a much better position for success in all areas of your life, especially in the workforce.
• 15:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: Building off the importance of LinkedIn, so too is it important to have clean additional social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter, instagram and Snapchat.
• 15:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: I will cover this area in two ways Before employment and during employment.
• 15:25
  Justin Alan Hayes: Before employment is the time before you become an employee at a company, while during employment is a time while you are a paid employee at a given company.
• 15:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: A paid employee at a given company can also be referred to as an active employee.
• 15:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: Having a clean social media presence is another controllable element where you control the information that is projected and viewable to others.
• 15:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: As the job market has become more competitive over time, some hiring managers and HR representatives have begun taking an applicant's social media presence into account when considering them for potential employment.
• 16:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: I will keep this section brief by stating that it is in your best self-interest to not post anything on social media that you would not be comfortable having a hiring manager and or HR representative view.
• 16:19
  Justin Alan Hayes: This also includes during the time you're an active employee at a company.
• 16:24
  Justin Alan Hayes: More than once an employee has gone home after a workday and posted a negative statement about their manager, colleague or company in general on social media, to find themselves coming into work the next day and being told they are no longer an employee of the company.
• 16:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: Once again, control what you can control and do not expend time, energy or resources worrying about what you cannot control.
• 16:51
  Justin Alan Hayes: Take some time to get started on your foundation with the following cover letter and resume preparation worksheet.
• 17:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: Cover letter and resume preparation worksheet.
• 17:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Please list the following primary and secondary education.
• 17:09
  Justin Alan Hayes: Strengths that translate to the workforce.
• 17:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: Technical skills, for example project management, data management and analytics.
• 17:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: Social media experience.
• 17:22
  Justin Alan Hayes: Key projects worked on and deliverables.
• 17:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: Industries of interest, internship experience.
• 17:30
  Justin Alan Hayes: Organization and skills gained, for example, project management, negotiation, cross functional team management and volunteer experience.