Job Search at the Holidays or Take a Break?

 

~ The holidays certainly present opportunities to network. 50% of jobs come through our network - neighbor in line at grocery store; cousin at family dinner; partner of a co-worker at holiday party. So, be prepared to describe what you do (to get more business) or what you are looking for (in a target job). Your description should be short and engaging and you should sound enthusiastic. I coach others to do this all the time but struggle myself. We will all benefit by practicing with a friend, family member or colleague. You might think of your tag line on LinkedIn and start building your short work story from there.

Now, what about job search at the holidays? Well, when I was a hiring manager, I interviewed and hired for two new reqs, the week before the holiday shutdown. I started a job the week after New Year's. One of the reasons for this stimulus in hiring is that companies get budgets approved at the start of the new calendar year (which in most cases is the start of their fiscal year). Sound like a reason to continue your search through the holidays?  

If not convinced, here's another reason for you. Many people take a break from their search at the holidays. So, your competition drops off a bit. I look at it this way: You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And, earlier this week, Glass Door published this article: 17 Awesome Companies Hiring Before the New Year by
Amy Elisa Jackson. It's in line with my philosophy. So, check it out and happy job search.

 Engaging Your Hiring Audience: Writing an Effective
Professional Resume Summary

The Professional Summary is an excellent way to grab the eye and interest of hiring managers There is great advice on the internet about writing a Professional Summary for your resume. You will find information about including your outstanding skills and past experience that stands out, pertinent to the job at hand, and being succinct and targeted. I've also included the following tips for you:

• Include numbers and specifics - years of experience, size of teams managed, company annual sales, team or individual awards, themes throughout your career, and names of customers impacted are just a few examples. Including these will increase the impact that your summary content will have ion the reader. And, the use of DIGITS (numbers) draws in the reader's eye and so your content is much more likely to be read. 
• Strengths and abilities are often included in a summary but it's important to make this specific not general. Excellent communication could be anyone. Strong communication to technical or C-Level audiences is specific and stands out. 
• If using paragraph form only, make it short - 3 sentences is good. If your summary is longer, consider integrating a small space of separation that divides the summary into two small paragraphs. 
• Bullets draw the reader's eye in, so you might use a combination of sentences and bullets. You might start off with one or two lead in sentences followed by three bullets.
• Highlight an achievement that will also be in your experience section. It's OK to highlight a success in two sections of your resume. That's good marketing practice.

A well written, targeted summary will grab the reader so that she or he wants to read on, into your experience section. When that happens, the summary has fulfilled it's marketing purpose.

I've included an internet blog article link. Add the tips above and you will be on your way.
http://biginterview.com/blog/2013/11/resume-summary-statement-examples.html

Two Tips for Your New Year  

There are two things that are "nice to do for career" early on in the new year. One is updating your resume. The second is evaluating your support team or, as I refer to it, my board of directors. 

Let's begin with the first item - updating resume. Why do it now? Well, one reason is to insure that you take the time and do it. A great way to feed your updates is keeping a "kudos" list of accomplishments and acknowledgements throughout the year. Then, you review that list and use the ones that will add value and impact to your resume content. If you have too many bullets (rule of thumb is about 7 under your most recent position), then it may be time to clean house and remove older bullets or ones with less impact. OR, you can leave them all on and only pare down when you are applying for a position or using your resume for an introduction.

For the second tip, I am including the link to a mid year post of mine in 2015. http://designyourdirection.blogspot.com/2015/08/getting-to-career-success-finish-line.html  This post describes in detail why it's important to have a support group for career success. And, while you are at it, develop a support team - your board of directors - for support of achieving personal life goals, too. I'm planning to do this for myself. We all benefit from the support of others in our lives.

Have a great start to 2016. It's a year of rebuilding and now is a good time to start.  

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  
  

Wishing you much success and I'm here to be a resource and answer questions.

Marianne 

408-295-6656

marianneadoradio@gmail.com

Ask about sliding scale if you've been laid off.