ResuMAYDAY

Ask an Expert 888.556.2776

By

ResuMAYDAY’s Holiday Gift Guide for Job Seekers

holidayIf you have a job seeker in your life, consider giving that person a holiday gift that will boost their job search. The ResuMAYDAY team put their heads together and came up with ideas for great gifts that will work for any job seeker, from entry-level to executive:
1. Gift the services of a career coach or resume professional. While this may seem a bit self-promotional, the difference between a DIY resume and a professionally written resume can make all the difference in the world. Here’s a tip: offer to gift a specific amount, without choosing the company for your job seeker. Working with a resume writer or coach is a very personal choice and should be directed by the person who will use those services. Let the job seeker ‘interview’ a few service providers to make sure the one that ‘best fits’ is chosen and to ensure the job seeker is ready and motivated to use these services.

2. Make introductions to influential people. Invite your job seeker to a networking coffee or after-hours cocktail with hiring managers, human resource people or recruiters that are already in your network. Sharing your connections in such a personal way is a generous, low-cost, high-impact gift that not many people think of doing.

3. Pay the annual dues to an important business association or professional group. Memberships are crucial to connecting with industry experts and potential employers.

4. Pay for an enhanced LinkedIn membership for 3 or 6 months. A paid LinkedIn membership will give your job seeker more and easier access to recruiters and employers. Likewise, it ensures that their profile is easily accessible to recruiters and employers.

5. A good book never goes out of style. Every year, ‘What Color is Your Parachute?’ comes out with an updated print version and online supplement. Our clients find this one to be very helpful. Another good one is ‘StrengthsFinder 2.0′. It’s chock-full of great information. But these aren’t the only two out there. Take a look at career/job search books at your favorite bookseller and read the reviews. You’re sure to find something to help point your job seeker in the right direction, and these books don’t cost a lot of money.

6. Consider gifting something wearable, such as a power tie or pretty bracelet. This can be the perfect token to show your support, and boost your job seeker’s confidence in an interview.

7. Lastly, pick a gift that rewards their hard work. Finding a job IS a job, if you’re doing it right. Gift your job seeker with dinner and a movie, a manicure or something else that brings a bit of fun and relaxation to their schedule.

Here’s a news clip of Lauren Milligan, from ResuMAYDAY, DISCUSSING THESE IDEAS with Ray Cortopassi over at Fox 59 in Indianapolis. Is Ray on the Naughty or Nice list? Find out!

 

By

What Employers Really Think of Their Employees’ Facebook Accounts

 

“Wassup y’all? At work serving these rude ass white people.” Earlier this summer, these two sentences were posted by a young concession stand employee, to her Facebook page. In addition to these two sentences, she tagged her employer, Brookfield Zoo (Brookfield, Illinois), and in the picture she was wearing her employee uniform. This was a teen girl who wasn’t enjoying her job that day, and decided to vent. In response to her vent, the internet roared.

Brookfield Zoo reported getting countless phone calls and online messages, demanding that she be fired. Members threatened to cancel their memberships, trips and parties if swift action wasn’t taken. The two-fold complaints were valid – the post was seeped in racial overtones, and this girl was openly insulting her employer’s customers. The next day it was confirmed that the young woman did indeed lose her job. In follow-up interviews, the former employee acknowledged that she was very sorry and had learned a lesson. I believe her, and I believe she’s fully capable of moving on from this and doing great things in her education and career.

Every time I read a story about an offensive Facebook post (or actually read one posted by someone I know), I’m thankful that Facebook didn’t exist when I was a teen. Surviving high school, my first job, my first boyfriend, my first break-up and all the other things teens juggle was difficult enough without an audience of thousands. It’s easy for us Gen-X and Baby Boomers to have a ‘clutching the pearls’ moment when we read these misguided vents. In this case, it cost this young lady her job. Is that fair? Yes, absolutely. Posting negative things about your work is not smart, but tagging the employer’s name in the post and adding a picture wearing the uniform makes termination an easy call for any manager to make. Is it legal? That’s where the issue becomes a little less clear, although I’m confident Brookfield Zoo acted fully within their rights. Full disclosure – I’m a Resume Writer, not an Attorney. I see issues like these from the career advancement…or career regression angle, but not from a legal angle. Therefore, I reached out to Attorney Nina B. Ries of Ries Law Group in Los Angeles, who quickly pointed out that “employers should keep in mind that some states prohibit employers from poking around their employees’ social media profiles, including Facebook. California’s social media law took effect on January 1, 2013, and Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware have similar laws. Even states without social media laws are limited in what they can do.” The National Labor Relations Board has more information about this on their website, www.nlrb.gov. Keep in mind that if your employer sees you complaining about work on Facebook, but the law prevents her from using that against you, that employer could find other, legitimate reasons for disciplining or firing you. These laws can only do so much to defend you against a boss who would rather have a happy, non-complaining employee.

I wondered what employers think about their employees’ Facebook pages. I reached out to various business owners in my network and learned that we all feel about the same – do what you want on social media as long as you don’t create a problem for the business, and that you don’t waste company time. But some of them, such as this high-end event planner, take a proactive approach: “I have my employees sign a social media clause in my employment package. If they decide to disclose that they are an employee for my company, they are not allowed to post comments or negative interactions with clients…if something is brought to our attention, like negativity about a different employee or direct comments that may be considered harmful to the well-being of our business, it may be grounds for dismissal…Haven’t had an issue yet.”

A manager at a Human Resources Consulting company tells me that just like Brookfield Zoo, they also have terminated employees for negative social media posts. “Employees should be aware that employers watch for the company to be ‘trending’ online and will see all company-related posts. We’ve let people go for talking negatively about their position or company while on the clock.”

Facebook posts that discuss things such as underage partying can mean losing out on career-boosting offers. An owner of a computer forensics firm offered the following example: “we had an intern that had publicly posted references to partying, including ‘420’. That intern, although very bright and with much potential, was not provided further opportunities to move forward with our firm.” (That’s the nice, corporate-speak way of saying that he was shown the door quickly, and told never to come back.) Think about how much time, energy and money was spent by this intern and his parents towards his career development, and how one unwise post took away a dream opportunity.

I also asked employers about consistency in disciplinary actions. (This is where the responses to my questions started to get interesting.) Of the employees who get fired for negative Facebook posts, most of them are younger, entry-level. This demographic is usually easy to replace. But what if a Manager or even C-level employee posted the same thing? Would the consequences be the same? Some pointed out that people don’t make it to the higher levels if they have a tendency to bad-mouth the company or clients. If that happened, it would probably be a first offense. Overwhelmingly, employers told me that the higher the position, it would be looked at on a case-by-case basis. But I found that no one is completely insulated. A quick google search of “fired for Facebook comments” turned up plenty of professional, management and executive-level people who lost a great job with just a few misguided sentences.

So what can be learned from this? First of all, don’t post your unhappy work thoughts on Facebook. If the public sees it, they will probably react…LOUDLY. Secondly, disciplinary action is not always doled out equally. Before you hit ‘enter’, stop and ask yourself if your comment is really worth public backlash, making your boss angry, or even losing your job. No matter what your position is on the totem pole, once in a while you’re going to be unhappy at work. When that happens, don’t go for Facebook. Go for a walk, instead…especially if you work at a zoo!

fired

By

Resume Tips for Interns

internDid you catch Lauren on Fox 59 in Indianapolis today? If not, watch the clip of her Top 5 resume tips for interns. And as promised, here’s the entire Top 10. Trust us, this list will get you to the head of the class!

ResuMAYDAY’s Top 10 Resume Tips for Interns:

It’s that time of year when college students start looking for internships or career-related jobs. Today, I’m going to tell you exactly what skills and attributes employers want to see in younger candidates’ resumes. When you’re just starting out, no one will expect that you saved thousands of dollars or supervised dozens of people. You’re not supposed to be leading, you’re supposed to be learning. Many companies want to round-out their experienced staff with interns and recent grads, so they have people on their team who are learning the job and honing their skills internally. Here are skills and traits employers have in mind when they’re looking at college candidates for jobs and internships:

1. Communication Skills: Intern candidates should be able to speak, write, present and listen well. They also need to accept criticisms and respond to questions. Include bullets that discuss times that you have made class presentations, and list papers that you have written. Upload your more important papers and projects to your LI profile.
2. Computer/Technical Skills: This is a no-brainer because today’s college kids have grown up with computers. Employers need to see that these skills are at an acceptable level for business use. Can you create a smart and coherent PowerPoint presentation that will impress clients? Can you put an Excel spreadsheet together that a manager can use to track sales? And not only can you use these programs, but can you help less tech-savvy coworkers to strengthen their skills? Include all of your computer and technical skills on your resume.
3. Student/Peer Leadership: Include any student or volunteer roles where you led a team, or made decisions that favorably impacted a group of peers, particularly if your goal is to work up to a management level.
4. Teamwork: In addition to leadership, candidates need to show that they can work well with different people. A big corporate issue right now is diversity and inclusion among multi-generations. If you have academic experience working with people younger and older than you, make sure to include that on your resume.
5. Personal Traits: Candidates should have initiative, be motivated, adaptable to change, industrious and be able to juggle tasks. The way to show this is to list sports or academic teams, volunteering and even hobbies. You don’t want this section to be the majority of your resume, but employers want these insights into your personal traits.
6. Work History: Of course, if you’ve held a job – even a summer job, you want to list that. Don’t only list your job description. Include any accomplishments and anything above-and-beyond. Ask yourself, “what was my best day on this job, and what happened?” Thinking about your current and past jobs in terms of your ‘best day’ will make you remember those important things like accomplishments and results.
7. Interpersonal Skills: Employers want candidates who can relate to others, inspire them to participate or quell conflict among co-workers. While this might be difficult to express on a resume, have stories that illustrate these skills available for upcoming interviews.
8. Passion for the Job: Why are you applying to that particular employer? Is the industry, the role, the company, or something else? State that in your summary statement at the top of the resume, and in your cover letter. Make this part personalized, as if you are speaking directly to your future boss.
9. Length: Younger people have a tendency to think that a longer resume is a better resume but that’s simply not true. Most of the resumes that I write for professionals with years of experience end up being perfectly sized at one page! Your internship resume needs to be no more than one page. Any longer and your potential employers will think it’s just puffery. No padding is needed – go for the quick impact.
10. Format: What you put in your resume is just as important as what the resume looks like. Don’t use one of the Microsoft supplied templates that comes free with Word. That tells your potential employers that you put no thought into your presentation. Instead, look on google for modern resume formats and find something striking, yet professional – and something that feels right to you.

By

Jobs That Didn’t Exist 10 Years Ago…

jobsRecently, the WGN Morning News Team asked me to compile a list of jobs that are fairly new to the market – jobs that have only been around for the past ten years or less. They added an extra challenge by specifically requesting jobs that utilize skills that people already have. Challenge accepted! I introduced a few of these jobs on air this morning, and am sharing the entire list here:

New Position: Chief Listening Officer (Skills Needed: social media, communications, marketing)
A Chief Listening Officer is someone who scours social media looking for patterns, trends and anomalies. This role requires finding out who the company’s customers are, reaching out to them, listening to what they are talking about, and then reporting that back to the company. They have a lot of influence over the company’s future product and service offerings, based on what consumers are talking about. These people will also respond to online complaints, and keep an eye on what the competition is doing.

New Position: Healthcare Liaison (Skills Needed: medical, customer service, account management)
A healthcare liaison is similar to a patient advocate, but a patient advocate usually is most familiar with one part of a patient’s treatment plan or medical facility. A Healthcare Liaison works side-by-side with the patient through all systems of that patient’s care, from initial diagnosis through billing and after care. A Healthcare Liaison will also research and find medical services or support in different systems. For example, this person will work with a patient’s doctor, but also coordinate services of a holistic practitioner or nutritionist (for example).

New Position: Sustainability Expert (Skills Needed: business management, environmental science, purchasing)
20 years ago, this was the person in the office who wanted everyone to recycle their scrap paper and not print out every email. Today, it’s a big industry that spends (and saves) big dollars. A sustainability expert will advise on everything from green building materials, green retrofitting practices, to adapting a company’s offerings and packaging to be more eco-friendly.

New Position: Talent Management Coordinator (Skills Needed: human resources, recruiting, business coaching)
This is a new role in the Human Resources development. Companies who invest a lot of money to attract, recruit and onboard key employees want to protect their investment. A Talent Management Coordinator works as a go-between between staff and management, to ensure that staff members are utilized according to their highest-level skills and are fulfilled and challenged in the work they do. They also help with the recruiting process, very much like an internal recruiter.

New Position: Medical Coders (Skills Needed: anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, research)
This isn’t a new job, but it’s one that is drastically changing. For that reason, I’ve added it to this list. In October of 2015, a national overhaul and update of the coding system will be implemented – mandated by law. There has always been a demand for coders, and this implementation will certainly increase the demand. Many coders work from home, making this an even more attractive career opportunity. There’s a caveat to that – this job is best suited to people who don’t require a lot of interaction in their day. It’s very much a solitary role. If you’re interested in Medical Coding, please make sure to talk to people who currently work in this field. There are a lot of expensive certification programs that are not the same certifications that employers are requiring. I’ve talked to a lot of people in the past few years who spent a lot of money on a program, and can’t get a job. Before you sign up for the classes, do your homework!

New Position: Social Media Manager (Skills Needed: social media, copy writing, journalism)
Many business make the mistake of adding ‘social media’ to the job descriptions to their marketing or admin person, because that person is familiar with Facebook. But companies who are serious about connecting to their online community – those who want to dominate their industry in the social media realm hire Social Media Managers. Social Media is now easily a full-time job and comes with its own skill requirements. Asking your receptionist to post things in between taking messages and greeting visitors means you’ll be left in the dust. These people will have excellent writing skills and crisis communication skills (and will know how to avoid posting something that creates a crisis!)

New Position: User Experience Designer or Customer Experience Manager (Skills Needed: account management, sales)
This is a big field that spans into every industry. This person measures and monitors every interaction between a company and a customer, from start to finish. If there are any bottlenecks in that process, the CEM would develop a better process. They also come up with the unexpected things that make a customer interaction extra special. The grocery store that I shop at now offers anti-bacterial gel and wipes before I grab a cart. It’s very likely that a CEM thought that up. Think of a CEM as a high-level concierge…on steroids. A website UXD will go through every aspect of a company’s website to make sure that all pages and links work, and that uploading time is kept to a minimum. They’ll also measure that the most sought out information is placed in an easily located area on that website. In a retail store a UXD or CEM will make sure that the clothing displays are visually appealing and that customers can easily locate an associate if help is needed.

New Position: Cloud Computing Manager/Engineer (Skills Needed: IT, help desk)
This role ensures cloud computing-based resources work as they should and interact perfectly with users and other applications. A Cloud Computing Manager performs monitoring (response times, latency, up-time, etc.), security and compliance auditing, and initiating and overseeing disaster recovery and contingency plans.

New Position: Data Miner / Big Data Analyst (Skills Needed: market research, database)
Thanks to sites such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix (and hundreds of others), everything we do online is turned into data. Companies want – need – that data to figure out how to make us their customers. Data Miners and Analysts create programs that grab this data, then they turn it into understandable content that becomes advertising and marketing campaigns – campaigns that were specifically designed for you based on your search history and online activities.

New Position: Millennial Workplace Expert (Skills Needed: human resources, business consulting, organizational development)
There are now more millennials in the workforce than there are baby boomers and Gen Xers. Companies are realizing the value of integrating younger workers into roles of increasing responsibility. Millennial Workplace Experts help companies with this integration and they create recruiting programs to attract younger workers to companies.

New Position: Elder Care Services Coordinator (Skills Needed: gerontology, executive assistant, management)
This person is hired by a family to help navigate the maze of healthcare, insurance, legal, financial and other long-term care services. Many families try to manage this themselves but through inexperience or letting details fall through the cracks, they usually end of spending more than if they had hired an Elder Care Services Coordinator. For those who can afford it, this is a smart investment.

New Position: Telework Coordinator (Skills Needed: program management, staff management, help desk)
With so many companies adopting a WFH infrastructure, a Telework Coordinator acts as the go-between between telecommuting workers and the department managers. The coordinator will assign work and monitor progress, provide training, handle scheduling, and technical issues.

New Position: Educational Consultant (Skills Needed: education, research manager)
An educational consultant is hired by a family to guide a high-school student into appropriate higher education options. The consultant will find schools that offer programs that are well-suited to the student’s learning styles and career goals. They also find support and resources for students with learning disabilities or those who need alternative learning channels or students seeking out study abroad programs.

New Position: Green or Natural Funeral Planner/Director (Skills Needed: funeral director, eco-friendly practices)
Many people are opting for a natural burial, and so they need funeral planners who specialize in this. They advise on everything, including chemical-free body preparation, natural fiber coffins, biodegradable urns and even appropriate site choice.

New Position: Data Integrity Manager (Skills Needed: IT, security)
Every time a large store experiences a data breach, it’s a big news story and consumer confidence drops. Large retailers have no choice but to take data breaches seriously, and the best way to do that is to prevent them. That’s where a Data Integrity Manager comes in. This person is responsible for data management, including data migration, data clean-up, governance and compliance. They implement controls and constantly monitor the system’s security.

I hope this list is helpful for you – perhaps we’ll see one of these new positions printed on your next business cards!

630-901-3595 / (888) 556-2776

info@ResuMAYDAY.com

Serving global clients from our HQ in the Chicago suburbs.

Connect With Resumayday

ResuMAYDAY on Facebook

ResuMAYDAY on LinkedIn

ResuMAYDAY on Twitter

ResuMAYDAY on Google+