Five Simple Health Habits For the Office

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I just finished watching the four-part HBO documentary “Weight of the Nation”. Wow, we have a major problem – 2/3 of American adults are either overweight or obese (and 1/3 of children). The Disney movie “Wall-E” (in which everyone becomes so large they can no longer walk and must rely on hovering chairs to move around) is becoming a reality.

The reason I post this on a career blog is because it not just a problem at home. We spend a large part of our day at work and we work in overwhelmingly sedentary environments, which is part of why we’re moving closer to disability and premature death – at work. Also, we and our employers are literally paying the price for our weight by paying higher healthcare costs to handle the effects of our weight gain – including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, you name it.

This is not limited to any one segment of the population – the crisis spans every demographic, income level, etc. So, how do we cope? Here are a few ideas I took away from the documentary (which I highly recommend watching!):

1. Take healthy snacks to work (and leave spare change for the snack machine at home). This includes a banana, bag of almonds, carrot sticks, etc. These may seem unappetizing now, but if you’re sitting at your desk feeling snackful and this is the only option – you will be more likely to eat it!

2. Park in the back of the parking lot and take the stairs if possible. Odds are you don’t get much exercise once you get to your desk, so maximize your walking time. Besides, if you park in the back of the parking lot, your car is less likely to get bumped by other parking cars.

3. Identify healthy lunch alternatives close to you. Once 11:30 rolls around and you start to think about lunch, it is easy to gravitate to the fast food choices that are bound to be close to your office. Instead, Google restaurants or delis close to your building that are better choices ahead of time and decide that morning that you will eat there. Once you make your mind up and 11:30 arrives, you’ll already know where you are going – excluding the fast food chains as a choice.

4. Look for a wellness program in your company. Many larger companies have wellness programs available to employees, which provide diet and exercise support. It is always easier to combat weight when you have a like-minded support system with people who are trying to accomplish the same thing you are!

5. Eat breakfast. Seriously, don’t skip on this one! Whether you eat at home or take a muffin to work, research has shown people who eat breakfast everyday on average weigh less than those who don’t. In addition to burning those breakfast calories early on, you are also less like to snack throughout the day if you fill up early.

Let’s fight this problem at home and the office! Starting with a few small steps we can make a big difference! :)

How To Replace Your Resume’s Overused Keywords/Phrases

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While we have good intentions when we use common phrases to describe our abilities, the fact is we are only serving to bore hiring managers and recruiters! Many of these skills  - teamwork, dedication, enthusiasm - are ones that are simply expected in today’s workplace and don’t do the job of making you stand out to employers. In fact, hiring managers see them so often on resumes that they often don’t even notice them anymore.

For example, people commonly state they have “great communication skills”. While that is a good trait to possess, is more or less expected and tells them nothing about how you’ve demonstrated this skill, or the results it has created.

A great way to convey your communication skills is to provide proof through quality (e.g. examples) and quantity (e.g. measureable results or evidence of impact) to pump them up and actually show you are an ace communicator! A suggestion would be “Sharp, articulate communicator as proven by multiple large-scale presentations and applauded departmental reports.” You could follow this up with bulleted details about the presentations and reports you have completed.

Here are some of the worst offenders followed by questions you can ask yourself in order to find find better alternatives and bring your resume back to life:

“Great Communication Skills” - Quantity/Quality Questions: Did you improve means of communication within your company/department? How? Did you lead teams? Did you present content to a crowd? Did you organize presentations? Did you negotiate with clients/vendors? Did you resolve conflicts? How?

“Team player” - Quantity/Quality Questions: Did you contribute to group dynamics in your company (rather than just participate)? How? Did you organize and/or lead any groups? Did you work cross-departmentally? How?

“Problem solver” - Quantity/Quality Questions: Were you presented with a big problem? How did you fix it? Did people come to you for help in your job? Explain. What is your problem-solving method?

“Hard working” - Quantity/Quality Questions: Do you have examples of projects or events in which you worked late/on weekends when you didn’t have to? Did you earn accolades for your hard work? Quantify your hard work (quotas you have exceeded, impressive production results).

“Self-motivated” - Quantity/Quality Questions: Do you work independently? Make your own schedule? Work remotely? Are you a motivator for others? Have you created results for your company (e.g. saved money by proactively auditing reports)? How do you motivate yourself? Give examples.

The bottom line is that while these phrases are well-meaning, they don’t convey the extent of your abilities in these areas and result in an unimpressive resume to hiring managers and recruiters who read dozens of resumes each day. You must chose powerful wording and add quality and/or quantity to prove your worth!

Class of 2012: How Does Your New Grad Resume Measure Up?

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Whether you’ve gone back to school for your Master’s degree or you’re finishing up your undergrad, now is THE time to start networking and marketing your resume with potential employers.

But first, be sure your resume is thorough, polished, and focused. Don’t assume that by listing your degree and school, you are finished – far from it! You are selling yourself and your education short by not utilizing essential job skills you earned during your time in school.

Besides, preparing your resume now is a great way to combat senioritis because it mentally puts you beyond graduation and into the real world, when you actually get to start using what you have worked so hard to achieve! Here are some important ways to maximize your education to make your resume more appealing to employers:

1. If your degree is easily transferrable into a specific position (i.e. many Accounting, Engineering, and Education majors), you can list your degree right in your resume’s introduction (“Recent honors graduate in Accounting with solid interning experience, blah, blah, blah…”). This lets them know your education is current, cutting-edge, and directly applies to what you will be doing. You would also want to list your degree in your Education section with other academic credentials (i.e. honors you received, GPA if 3.5 or above, and organizational memberships related to your field).

2. If you are going into a field different than your degree (i.e. many Psychology, Sociology, and English majors), you will want to list your degree in the Education section, but perhaps listed with applicable related classes, internships, or research papers you completed. For example, if you where a Political Science major and you want to be in sales, you could list any public debates you participated in, internships where you presented persuasive content to audiences, or even related business classes. Again, don’t forget to disclose honors and relevant organizational memberships.

3. This is where internships pay off!  Unless you are an M.B.A. student with years of job experience already, you should present your paid and unpaid internships as if they were actual jobs. List your title – “Lab Assistant”, “Design Intern”, etc. – as well as company, location and dates of work, brief overview of responsibilities, and notable accomplishments. Show them you did more in college than sleep and study!

4. Analyze your extra value-added skills. These are those seemingly minor experiences you had along the way that may apply to your prospective jobs, including computer software/hardware, certifications, or other special skills that are present in many job descriptions you’re targeting. For example, if you learned Microsoft Project in one of your business classes, that counts! Take a look at your transcript – there is a good chance you learned valuable skills that you’re overlooking.

Cap-and-gown orders have been placed and finals are in full swing. Don’t leave the most important piece of artillery you are entering the workforce with – your new, powerful resume – to the last minute. Utilize your skills and experiences from school to enhance your resume and score interviews!

A Great Solution For Your Long, Wordy Resume

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The word of the day today is CONCISE! In the current economy, efficient, concise resumes are the way to go. If you feel your resume is too lengthy, it probably is. These days, resumes longer than two pages – and in some cases, one page – that boast a lot of long, blocky paragraphs are likely to remain unread.

However, there are options to shorten your resume for marketability, and transfer your more detailed “nuts and bolts” information to a separate document. It is called an Addendum and it is especially useful for IT, scientific, and academic professionals who may have a lot of certifications, trainings, speaking engagements, and published work that should be highlighted, but will bog down a resume.

It is becoming increasingly popular to offer a shortened resume, or “executive summary”, that highlights your best attributes, including hard skills (e.g. computer software knowledge) and soft skills (e.g. sales know-how, communication style). Then, you can use a longer, more in-depth addendum to present at an interview or send upon request.

An addendum is an often bulleted listing of your detailed qualifications that serves to essentially back up your resume data. It can be presented however best fits the candidate – a bulleted list of responsibilities or expertise, a “challenge-action-result” display of your past projects, or a traditional bibliography.

For example, your resume may state, “Successfully presented Oracle training to five large-scale conference audiences.” Then, your addendum would actually list those conferences with dates.

This allows you to bring your top selling points to the forefront of your resume, and makes hiring managers interested in learning more without growing bored leafing through a three-page resume. While it is not for everyone, it is a great option to have on hand in addition to your traditional, more concise resume.

Three Tips to Avoid the Dreaded Job Search Blues

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Ask any person who has been out of work for more than a few months and they will all agree that remaining positive is quite possibly the toughest part of unemployment – especially when they’ve been diligently searching for work.

Even the most optimistic people need a boost sometimes and everyone can benefit from people who have been in their shoes. So, I’ve reached out to a few of those professionals who know a thing or two about staying optimistic during a long job search, and here are some ways they found to beat the day-to-day job search blues:

1. Take solace in a nurturing community of professionals in a similar situation. You can either join a group in your town that meets twice a month or join an online chat discussion board that provides uplifting advice. Either way, it helps to surround yourself with people who know what you’re going through and need just as much encouragement as you do!

One of my clients joined a church-based group that was started as a result of the economic down-turn. Not only did he find comfort in connecting the other unemployed peers, he also found some great job leads, and eventually a job!

2. Realize that no job is perfect. It is easy to get excited about an open position to the point that you rely on your chances of getting an interview. But, putting your eggs in this one basket can cause you to become overly distraught when you’re not called to interview – and may distract you from other great opportunities.

A client I had in late 2008 (one of the worst times to look for a job) was so convinced that she was right for a specific position that she cast aside all other opportunities to focus on this one. She was devastated when she wasn’t called for an interview … until a few months later when she learned that the open position was actually pulled due to company layoffs.

A great way to approach the tendency to put positions on a pedestal is to put them into perspective by realizing their cons. Maybe you’ll have to sit in heavy traffic, or the job demands are highly stressful, or you’ll have to travel a lot, or the job requires software knowledge that you lack. Any number of cons will help you to still be interested in the job, but recognize that there is no perfect job – without exception.

3. Approach interviews as if they’re practice. After applying to a dozen or more jobs and only getting one interview, it is too easy to feel eager anxiety to give a perfect interview for the sole opportunity. But for most of us, this creates way too much pressure and often backfires in the interview.

If you do get a phone or in-person interview, the best way to mentally prepare is to consider the meeting as an opportunity to practice and hone your interviewing skills. While you will want to put your best foot forward, it is best to avoid unnecessary anxiety.

I once had a client that was so invested in an upcoming interview, she later said in retrospect that she actually tried too hard by memorizing answers and concentrating on being perfect in every way. She, in turn, came off as a robot and gave clunky, rehearsed answers. As you may have guessed, she didn’t get the job! However, she said she learned from the experience and had great interviewing experiences thereafter.

There are a number of online discussions and blogs dedicated to helping unemployed professionals remain positive during long job searches. Take advantage of these resources, take unnecessary pressure off yourself, and know that you’re not alone!

My Five Trend-Resistant Resume Rules

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More than ever before, professionals are taking creative, and even risky, chances with their resumes in order to get noticed. While these risks can be a great way to catch a hire manager’s eye in a crowded job market, they can also turn those same managers away. Here are some resume writing rules that should not be broken:

1. Explain your responsibilities. So much advice is given nowadays to provide measurable, high-impact accomplishments, that importance has been taken off of what you actually did in your jobs. Hiring managers want to know you have the experience and skills to do the job, and that can do it better than everyone else. So, tell them what you did in a given week or what your high-level responsibilities were followed by a list of your top achievements or significant contributions.

2. Be confident yet grounded. In an effort to stand out in the currently crowded job market, candidates are desperately trying to stand out and sell themselves – but this backfire big time! I recently read that a hiring manager had a candidate arrogantly tell him, “I’ll have your job in five years.” There is a big difference between radiating confidence and coming off as threatening or boastful. A better way to have phrased that would be to say, “Enthusiastic in my aspiration to learn and grow within your company, ideally in your department and on your team.”

3. Don’t let your resume’s design overshadow it’s content. Including visuals is great, especially when they help to make a point or add a touch of interest (e.g. using a graph to show increases in your sales results, adding a blue line below your branding statement), but there is such a thing as too much. The rule for most professional resume writers is (unless you are an artist or photographer) do not include photos, designs, or other distracting artwork. It just ends up taking away from your fantastic qualifications.

4. Don’t go over two pages (unless you are a C-level executive or college professor). Unless you are a tenured college professor with dozens of books published (in which case you should present a curriculum vitae) or a top CEO with 35 years of experience, there is no need to go over two pages. In fact, most hiring managers will have moved on be the time they get to the end of the second page. For instance, if you want to learn about a person in a hurry and you have the choice of reading a one-page executive summary or a three-page resume, which would you choose?

5. Leave out information indicating religious or political affiliations (unless relevant to your work). Unless you are applying for a position at a church or with a political campaign, the general rule is to avoid including participation in these types of organizations. Although your involvement shouldn’t influence your chances, you would not want to diminish those chances by indicating views that may conflict with a potential employer’s stance or even affect your work.

It is essential to take some chances in your resume to stand out, but these resume blunders are still passé even in the current “anything goes” job environment, and are likely to get your resume thrown out. Use this advice and you are on your way to having a strong, professional resume.

What is the Key to Finding Joy in a Job You Hate?

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I was listening to a popular morning talk show on the radio the other day and something someone said struck me (and is still staying with me a week later). When the host asked a caller what he had planned for the day, the caller answered begrudgingly, “Man, they’ve got me drivin’ these trucks.” His answer was dripping with self-pity and resentment of his plight. Immediately and without hesitation, the host chimed in, “Nobody has GOT you doing anything! No one is making you drive that truck with a gun to your head!” To drive his point home the host said, “And by the way, driving trucks is a good job. A lot of people would love to be in your position!” Needless to say, the caller moved on to the reason for the call (a trivial topic if I remember).

The caller’s sentiment is way too often expressed by people who feel they deserve better right now (instant gratification often without the effort), including more pay, easier work, and often less accountability. This way of thinking is especially surprising with the still high unemployment rate.

This thinking is also a recipe for discontent. The first way to change the caller’s situation is to change his attitude. Perhaps a more productive and positive answer could have been, “I’m driving trucks right now. It’s not the best situation for me, but I’m working towards something else and I’m glad to have this job in the meantime.” This is a good example of the key to job happiness.

The key to finding happiness in any job  ­– just like finding happiness in life – comes down to one key component: gratitude. It is virtually impossible to find happiness at work, home, or in any aspect of life without the willingness to feel grateful. You may not be in your ideal job, but you will be much better off feeling grateful for your bi-weekly paycheck, 15-minute breaks, your friend in the next cubicle, the new opening for a position in another department, or any silver lining you can find that makes you realize, “You know, my situation could be so much worse and my future is in MY hands.”

Instead of dreading or complaining about your job situation, finding and expressing gratitude for what you do have can not only make you happier in your current job, but in all facets of your life!

Interview Success: Five Easy Tips for Making a Great First Impression

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Some experts say more than 90% of communication is non-verbal, and in this ultra competitive job market you must pay attention to every silent detail in order to make an impression. Why? Because there are many other candidates out there who are equally qualified and dedicated, and who know how to make a great first impression.

But there are lots of ways to get the edge utilizing your professional appearance, communication, and attitude. You may think, ‘Surely employers aren’t so shallow that they will judge me based on my appearance.’ While a lot more goes into their impression of you, your appearance is certainly a big part.

By showing an employer that you know how to make a great first impression and you have attention to detail, you can communicate way more than you may think. Here are some basic and sometimes overlooked areas that make a big difference in an interview:

Your attitude: It is important to get along with the hiring manager/interviewer. It doesn’t matter if you like them personally, but you must make an effort to connect with them. While it can be harmful to appear too agreeable, timid or aloof, coming off as too pushy, overconfident or disinterested can also turn away a hiring manager. It boils down to being confident, honest, and personable.

Your attire: You don’t have to wear an Armani suit or Prada heels to tell an employer you are dressed for success, but you do have to dress neatly with absolutely no wrinkles or stains on your clothing. Your clothing should fit well, but not be too tight.

Ladies, do not wear skirts ending above the knee, heels above 2 1/2 inches, or deep “v” camisoles. It is simply inappropriate and can make the interviewer uncomfortable when your chest is staring at them. Dressing provocatively simply has no place at work.

Men, invest in a suit (including a tie depends on the company). It is true that the American workplace is less formal than it used to be, but job interviewing is a very important exception to that trend. Check the corporate culture to see what is appropriate before  showing up to an interview in a polo and unpressed khakis. Even if you are applying to a mailroom job, adopt the very wise adage: Dress for the next position you want!

Your “essence”(a.k.a. hygiene): We all know to lay off the cologne when going to an interview, but it bears repeating. Of course, men should also have a haircut, shave, and a light spray of cologne, but nothing else. For the ladies, neat hair, minimal jewelry, and light on the perfume. At the end of the day, the company needs to see you as upholding their reputation as a representative, so it’s important to convey to a company that you are prepared to represent them in the best possible light.

Your greeting: A firm handshake, strong eye contact, and a simple, confident introduction will never go out of style. Employers want to know you are self-assured and know your worth. A good conversational rule of thumb is to let them talk first and be a respectful listener.

Your interview communication: Rehearse as much as possible beforehand with another person and have them point out your verbal and nonverbal ticks (e.g.  saying “um” too much, fidgeting, using poor grammar, rambling, laughing too much, talking too fast). These are easy to pick up on when a hiring manager has interview hundreds of candidates, and they send strong signals. They know you are nervous but they need to know you can overcome that.

Attention to detail goes beyond an error-free resume or available references. When you are competing against dozens or even hundreds of applicants that may have the same or better qualifications, you had better look beyond the obvious and get the edge however you can!

How to Maximize Your Resume’s Real Estate

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Real estate is not just about properties and land. It is how advertisers see ad space and web developers see web pages – it is about the value of a particular area within any space, even resume space. Yes, a simple 8.5×11 piece of paper is real estate when turned into a resume.

However, it is a common mistake for job seekers to bury their best qualities, skills, and accomplishments in bad real estate – hidden in long paragraphs, under irrelevant content, or even on subsequent pages, leaving the reader feeling unimpressed because they can’t find your best stuff. If you want to market your best qualities, you must position them in the best place possible on your resume.

But, why? Because employers will take about 30 seconds to scan your resume for keywords, specific skills, measurable achievements, etc. and if your best assets aren’t advertised in key real estate, they will easily be overlooked.

So, what is the best way to get the biggest aesthetic bang for your buck? Here are some suggestions.

What to send up front: Include your most relevant and impressive skills sets, experiences, and accomplishments at the top of your resume to form a strong, focused introduction. This sets the stage for the rest of your document and tells the reader who you are (before telling them what you’ve done). If you specialize in a specific field, make sure industry-specific keywords and phrases are present here.

If you’re field is technical in nature or requires extensive computer knowledge, list your applicable skills and certifications “above the fold.” That means put a bulleted list of your technical qualifications (e.g. C++, QuickBooks, CRM software, etc.) above the middle of the first page.

Make it easy for them to reach you. By that, I mean don’t feel the need to list two phone numbers, a fax number, a mailing address, email, personal URL, blog, LinkedIn, and on and on. Your address (in some cases just city and state will do), email address, and one phone number will suffice. This information should always be at the top of your resume under your name.

If you just completed a degree, list that above your professional experience to show your knowledge is current – and essentially to show what you’ve been up to during the past few years.

What to minimize or omit: I’ve seen many resumes that waste valuable page-one real estate on large, fancy print, photos, personal information, or just plain irrelevant data. Including these types of insignificant content can be detrimental to your search. The best way to combat this is to read the first half of your first page and ask yourself, “Is the content on this portion enough to keep the reader interested?” If the answer is no, you need to rethink that part of your resume.

Other aspects of your resume that should hang in the shadows (in poor real estate) include job gaps, brief job tenure, and less relevant information that may not apply directly to your current field.

Once you begin to view your resume in terms of real estate, you will begin to seeing where your best qualities will shine! Check out our samples to see how our writers maximize resume real estate.

Five resume basics to help avoid the rejection pile

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Giving your resume a polished, professional look proves to employers that you are detail-oriented and serious about your job search. Hiring managers see many, many resumes, and their eyes are sharpened to notice resume no-no’s (e.g. poor or unorganized content, lack of focus, typos, etc.). Resumes with these fatal flaws often end up in the rejection pile without much consideration, but there are several ways to avoid this fate and make your resume stand out as professional.

Here are just some quick fixes for common missteps I see:

- Don’t use first person language. While it is okay to refer to yourself in the first person (e.g. I, me, my) in your cover letter, this is a definite no-no in resumes. For example, instead of “I was responsible for 10 helpdesk employees”, simply change to third person: “Led 10-member helpdesk team”, which sounds more refined and concise.

- Don’t use lazy language. Informal language does not translate well to a resume. For example, instead of saying, “Filled out balance sheet reports for accounting to give to the management team,” say something like, “Successfully completed and delivered balance sheet reports to accounting management.”

- Make your email address clean and easy to remember. This is especially important if your resume is sent in print. Employers simply do not want to send an email to partygirl52317@email.com. Choose an email that is a variation on your name and has as few numbers as possible so they know exactly who the email is going to and there is less room for incorrectly typing your email address.

- Don’t position your bullets too far to the right. This is a common misstep I see with clients and it tells employers you know nothing about formatting a Word document, which is very basic to most jobs these days. You can adjust bullets by sliding the tabs on the top ruler of your document to the left.

- Do not list irrelevant information. This includes your karate black belt, your church singles group, or other activities not relevant to your potential position. This information simply wastes valuable resume real estate and is best left off.

It is more important than ever to look at your resume as a marketing tool, and an attractive, professional resume is what will set you apart from your competitors. Do everything you can to make yourself stand out by using these tips.