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Friday 26, January 2007
Hi,
Welcome to another edition of Career
Communiqué x-Press.
As the first edition of our newsletter for
the year I would like to extend a BIG
'welcome back!" to our regular readers and a
BIG 'welcome' to all our new subscribers!
It's a pleasure and honour to have you on
our mailing list. We hope you continue to
enjoy reading our articles.
Could I ask you a huge favour? To ensure
that we continue covering the 'hot topics'
that you want to read about, pop across to
our
Ask Annemarie site and submit your topic
of interest, question or comment. We'd love
to hear from you! I am also planning our
upcoming
Career Communiqué Live telecalls
(starting in early February), so your
suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
2007: the year of the mature aged
candidate?
If you are a mature aged candidate who
has been struggling to find employment up
until now, if Hays Recruitment predictions
for 2007 eventuate, then it's time to get
your resume and interviewing skills in tip
top shape, as job opportunities are on the
increase. This week's Career Coach article
titled 'Resume Marketing Strategies ~
Achievements vs Accountabilities'
provides some great advice on how to turn a
lacklustre document into a
achievement-driven marketing piece.
Until next time,
To your success!
Annemarie Cross
Career & Master NLP Coach
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2007: the year for mature aged workers?
In one of my recent
blog posts I wrote about a recent
article that was published in The Age where
the journalist (Daniel Hoy) painted quite a
positive picture for mature aged workers.
Hoy mentioned several
comments made
by the head of Hays Recruitment, confirming
that bosses will begin to see the value in
hiring older workers in comparison to
letting this valuable resource go.
The article quotes Nick Deligiannis, Hays’
senior regional director “Over 2007 we
expect an altered and more positive attitude
from business in relation to mature-aged
candidates.” “In previous years many of
these candidates ended up looking for
temporary and contract recruitment, however
in the permanent market these candidates
remain an underutilised resource.”
Even with many
more job opportunities on the horizon, it's
important that your personal marketing
documentation (i.e. your resume, cover
letter and/or
career web portfolio) heightens your
chances of being invited to interview,
rather than hinders you.
While many job seekers appreciate the need
to include achievements within their resume,
unfortunately though the hundreds of resumes
I see each month
still fail to
achieve the standard levels as expected by
recruiters and employers. So, if you're in
the job market and your existing resume has
not made much of an impact in terms of
attracting the attention you want (and of
course deserve), then you may want to read
through the following article to ensure you
have adopted the writing strategies as
indicated.
Resume Marketing Strategies ~ Achievements
vs Accountabilities
With only
15-20 seconds to impress a potential
employer it seems almost impossible to
develop a resume that is compelling enough
to capture attention … or is it?
Gone are
the days where a simple summary of personal
details (name, address, contact numbers,
etc), employment history (company, job
title, followed by a list of general
responsibilities), and education (a listing
of all your education and certifications)
would suffice. Often faced with an extensive
pile of applications to sort through, the
recruiter or potential employer will only
dedicate a short amount of time to view your
resume, and if you have only provided a
basic listing as described above,
unfortunately your document will not make it
past the initial round of screening.
When
writing your resume, your objective should
be to highlight the special projects you
were involved in, your accomplishments and
contributions, and incorporate this
information into a document that positions
you for success. While your job
responsibilities are important, emphasizing
the accomplishments and overall
contributions is the key, as this will
communicate success, drive, determination
and value you offer a prospective employer.
Let’s
review the following case study:
If you
were an HR Generalist Manager, your
responsibilities (to name a few) could
include:
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Recruitment and selection of staff; |
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Staffing policy/procedure development
and management; |
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Industrial and employment relations. |
Just
providing a listing of these
responsibilities and not qualifying your
statements with a result will leave the
employer asking, “So what? What difference
or value is this person going to bring to my
organization?” Remember, career achievements
are the core message of your resume and will
not only portray your expertise but also aim
to distinguish your talent from your
competitors.
Asking
and addressing the following questions and
including the quantified outcomes could make
the difference between a mediocre resume and
one that dynamically markets your
competencies.
For
instance:
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Q 1: |
What
experience have you had in recruitment
and staffing, and in particular any
innovative recruitment strategies you
have developed that captured significant
improvements to the company? |
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A:
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Yes,
the company I am with now had no HR
infrastructure in place, so I developed
the mission statement, organizational
plans, employee job description manuals,
administrative guidelines and EEO
compliance tools. Also, I created a
selection and recruitment strategy for
the entire company that minimized
expenditure through using internet
tools, university recruitment, job fairs
and internal succession planning.
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Q 2: |
Were
you instrumental in introducing any
strategic HR programs including
employment contracts, performance
monitoring, staff incentives or other
such initiatives? What were the results? |
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A: |
The
company had previously not had any
performance management tools to speak
of, or employee satisfaction surveys,
and once implemented, staff turnover
decreased by 65%. I also developed the
first incentive program which saw
production increase by 23%.
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Q 3: |
What
experience, if any, have you had with
union/employee negotiations? What was
the outcome? |
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A: |
I
received an award from the CEO for my
involvement and negotiations during a
dispute with unions and staff. I was
able to avoid stand-downs or production
losses. |
The
information was then re-written as the
following accomplishments, demonstrating the
client’s HR expertise:
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Pioneered development and implementation
of complete HR infrastructure including
mission statement, one-year/five-year
organizational plans, employee manuals,
internal administrative guidelines and
EEO compliance tools. |
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Orchestrated company-wide recruitment
strategy with focus on cost containment
by using Internet tools, university
recruitment, job fairs and
implementation of internal succession
planning. |
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Spearheaded creation of company’s first
performance management tool and employee
satisfaction surveys that reduced staff
turnover by 65%. |
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Developed and executed company’s first
incentive program for production
department enhancing production
performance by 23%. |
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Received CEO’s award for outstanding
contribution during union negotiations
and dispute settlement to resolve
grievances without incident, stand-down
costs and production losses. |
Creating
a resume that showcases your
accomplishments, compared to just listing
your accountabilities, will be the catalyst
in accelerating your job search campaign,
and can be used by everyone - whether you
are just at the beginning of your career, or
if you are a seasoned professional.
If you'd
like any additional hints and tips on resume
writing please do not hesitate to email me.
My direct email is:
annemarie@annemariecross.com.
To your success!
Annemarie
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A personal note from Annemarie...
