A personal note from Annemarie...

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 Friday, 28th March 2008

Hi,

Welcome to anther issue of Career Communiqué x-Press, and especially a warm ‘hello’ to all of our new subscribers. We consider it a real privilege to have you join us!

I’ve just come back from a 4-day Easter break where we spent some time with my 3 children, husband, and Maltese Terrier camping at our favourite camping spot – the Doon Caravan Park at Launching Place, Victoria. While the packing, unpacking, packing and unpacking can get somewhat tiresome, being able to get away from the hustle and bustle of a busy schedule and to just ‘relax‘ in the bush is good for the soul. I certainly feel like my batteries have been recharged.

Here is a picture of the Warburton area that I took during our drive up Mt. Donna Buang – isn’t the scenery just amazing!

My coaching request for you this fortnight is to find an activity that will allow you to ‘get back to nature’ so that you too can recharge your batteries.

Remember, we always welcome contact and feedback from our subscribers and visitors, so pop across to our Ask Annemarie siteand submit your topic of interest, question or comment. Or visit our blog at Career Communiqué blog. You may be able to share a success story or some insight for our fortnight’s ‘Your question answered’ section. We’d love to hear from you!

Career Change: Three crucial easy-to-follow Résumé Writing strategies

Considering a career change and need to develop a powerful résumé that attracts a recruiter’s attention, despite the fact that you have limited experience in your target role? This fortnight’s article covers three very important steps you MUST follow when writing your résumé in order to boost your candidacy and avoid being screened out of the running.

In this issue...

Coach's Corner: Career Change: Three crucial easy-to-follow Résumé Writing strategies

Ace that Interview: Compelling questions to ask the interviewer.

Your questions answered: Stay-at-home Dad: how do I enter the workforce profitably.

Resources & Tools to Catapult Your Career:  Powerful Resumes EXPOSED e-Course

 

 Coach's Corner

Career Change: Three crucial easy-to-follow Résumé Writing strategies

Following on from our article Career Change: Four simple steps to support your career transition in last fortnight’s edition of Career Communiqué x-Press to support you in determining a suitable career path, the next step in your journey is to create a résumé that will portray relevant skills, experience and successes to support your move.

While having a powerful résumé is important for all job seekers actively seeking new employment, it is especially important if the job seeker is targeting a role and/or industry that are completely different from their most current role or industry in which they are working.

Many job seekers making a significant change in their career can often experience disappointment because they fail to demonstrate relevance and capabilities within their résumés.

If you are making a career change, to avoid disappointment, here are 3 crucial and easy-to-follow steps you should follow when creating your professional résumé.

1. Research your target role and industry

Firstly, it is important to understand exactly what your target role and industry entails as far as functions and tasks and what the company is looking for in a suitable candidate.

Online resources are abundant including corporate websites, the Job Guide and online job boards (such as Seek or My Career). Information you may find useful includes:

• Backgrounds that could be deemed necessary for entering the industry.
• Job functions, tasks and challenges that a typical work day could present.
• Important skills and competencies required for the role and industry
• Relevant studies, qualifications and experience
• Employability skills, personal aptitudes and characteristics

2. Identify relevant skills and achievements that are transferable to your target market

Now that you have begun creating a blueprint of the job/industry requirements, it is important to identify relevant skills and experience you currently have that would be considered transferable to the role.

Even though you may have been working in another role or industry, you can still identify relevant skills, knowledge and experience through academic studies, professional experience, professional development, special projects and functions/tasks you have been involved in during the course of your career.

Here is an activity you may find useful to pinpoint relevant skills and experience.

Step one: Take a piece of paper; draw a line down the middle so that you have two even columns. Step two: In the left hand column, write down all of the things that the role/company requires in both the job functions and the characteristics of a suitable candidate.
Step three: In the right hand column, directly opposite what you have written in the left hand column, jot down experiences that can demonstrate your competencies in having performed these tasks and functions, and characteristics/personal aptitudes you possess.

3. Focus on the specific needs of your target market as you create your résumé

A combination style résumé is the best choice of format as this will allow you to position relevant skills without alerting the reader to the fact that you are not currently involved in the role and/or industry.

This approach harnesses and combines the best from both the Functional and Reverse Chronological formats, hence the name, Combination. This format can also be referred to as a hybrid résumé. A powerfully written qualifications/professional profile is often portrayed first to demonstrate expertise and qualifications. Other relevant sections also portrayed at the forefront of your résumé (following your profile) include selected accomplishments, relevant skills, followed by employment history presented in reverse chronological order.

Career change résumés require special thought and consideration so it is vital that you position relevant skills, experience, qualifications, special projects etc at the front of your document. Remember, the front page of your résumé is ‘prime real estate’. If you haven’t convinced the reader that you have the necessary skills and attributes on page one, you’ve missed out on a vital opportunity.

For those of you who are ready to accelerate your level of success in the job market as you change careers and want to make the best impression as possible - consider our multi award-winning Résumé Writing services or our Powerful Résumés!: x-POSED - 6 crucial writing strategies to Secure that Interview! e-Course

Want to learn more about our multi award-winning Résumé Writing services? Contact me at: annemarie@annemariecross.com.

To your success!

Annemarie

 Ace that Interview!

Compelling questions to ask the interviewer

While practising for your upcoming interviews, an important factor to consider is the questions you will ask of the interviewer to ensure you and the organisation have the ‘right fit’.
 

Take heed that not only is it essential to establish whether this would be a working environment in which you could fit and enjoy working, but more importantly, asking compelling questions allows you to demonstrate an interest in the role and the company.

Surveys conducted asked recruiters and employers for their top 5 dislikes when interviewing candidates, with the top ‘pet hate’ being when a candidate did not have any questions to ask that were of any real substance. This gave the perception that the candidate was not really very interested or enthusiastic about the role.

An edition of HR Magazine provided some great tips for people considering a career change, to avoid becoming a casualty of the ‘bad-fit’ syndrome.

In summary, it is important to gain understanding around:

• The ‘right fit’ - to ensure you perform better in your new position allowing you to advance…
  
• Self awareness – do you prefer a stable, low-key role, or are you stimulated by change, challenges and a fast-paced environment…
  
• The importance of research and preparation – comprehensive research to gain key information about the company, its culture, and the team you will be working with…
  
• Management / leadership style – observe the responses for clues as to whether you will have a good match with your manager…
  
• Seek Your Comfort Level – based more on your intuition rather than fact, what does your ‘gut’ tell you? Is it a dynamic work environment that you can get excited about? Does the idea of working with the company thrill you?
  

Here are three of the top 25 questions that can determine whether you would be a good fit with the prospective employer:

• How would you define the company's culture?
  
• Could you describe the company's management/leadership approach?
  
• How have you found working for the company? And, what would be the two or three most important key elements?
  

Want to learn more about compelling questions you can ask a potential employer? You can!! 10 key steps to Ace that Interview presents over 30 thought-provoking questions that will demonstrate your enthusiasm and interest in the role, while allowing you to establish whether or not you and the organisation are in fact, a right fit.  Send me Ace that Interview today! 

Need to get your hands on 10 key steps to Ace that Interview! immediately for an unexpected interview? Get a copy of our new e-Book version delivered to your inbox today! Send me Ace that Interview today! 

Note: Want to learn more about how our laser-focused interview telecoaching sessions can drastically improve your interview performance? Click here to find out how.

Each fortnight we will answer one of our subscribers career-related question and/or issue. Do you have something that has you confused? Send us your question to: annemarie@annemariecross.com and we will endeavour to answer it in one of our upcoming issues of Career Communiqué x-Press or in our Career Communiqué blog.

This fortnight's question comes from Michael, when he asks:

Dear Annemarie,

"At age 50, how can I ‘enter’ the workforce profitably in the field of my initial training after running a small home office business in a different field as a stay-at-home Dad? I would like to continue operating my business while pursuing additional work opportunities in this new field on a part-time basis."

Michael

Dear Michael,

This fortnight’s article is relevant to your situation so I would encourage you to follow the steps as outlined in the article. In particular to your situation (which is within the HR/psychology field):

• Find out exactly what organisations are looking for and make sure you can identify these relevant skills, knowledge and experience through your work involvements.
  
  Even through your business in another industry, I’m confident that your involvements and achievements would highlight strengths, skills and capabilities that would be transferable to the role you are applying for.
  
  

  - Consider complexities of the projects you worked on and the successes you were able to deliver to your clients;
  
  - Determine the relevant skills and experiences in your business operations such as the hiring and management of contractors/part-time staff and other HR-related functions.
  
  - Your academic pursuits (relevant to your current job target), can portray relevant knowledge and experience through successful projects and assignments you completed as part of your course requirements. Did you out-score other class participants or achieve High Distinctions for various subjects during your course?



• You mentioned going back to work on a part-time basis, so in the research you are doing, it would be advantageous to find out which organisations would require part-time HR support. I would imagine that larger companies would require full-time staff, so perhaps small to medium size organisations who do not require full-time HR staff may benefit from your services on a part-time basis. You may consider contracting your HR support and expertise to SME businesses in and around your local area.

Existing clients or contacts in your database may be a very good place to start, as you have already established a relationship with them, causing them to be more receptive to you as you pitch your proposal. You may even consider doing a pro bono project for them and use this success as a case study and testimonial as you continue marketing your services to other prospective clients.

As you can see, further research to establish who your target market is and their needs is vital and should allow you to begin tailoring your marketing messages and proposals accordingly.

All the very best Michael – please keep in touch and let me know you go!

Annemarie

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