Same Day Resume is part of the Help in a Hurry series from JIST, which includes Next-day Salary Negotiation and Next-Day Job Interview, which are meant to train people with limited time in necessary job search skills. The author, Michael Farr, is also the author of books in the JIST series Top Jobs for... and Best Jobs for..., as well as the forthcoming 15 Minute Cover Letter book.
This book is for people who have never written a resume before, or who have not written a resume in a long time. It covers the basic formats for resumes--chronological, functional (called skills-based in this book)--and provides work sheets to create your own resume, as well as a wide variety of samples produced by professional resume writers for job seekers in several industries and varying levels of experience. I would recommend this book to someone who is struggling with writing their resume--not sure what format, why use certain techniques and styles--or if you were just looking for a resume bootcamp book. To get the most out of it, you need to fill out the work sheets and use them to create a resume. Fill them out in pencil because you will use this book and work sheets more than once. The book also has a great table of contents and a good index, which means you could easily recommend it to a patron for a quick peek.
On the minus side: no librarian resumes, so a librarian would need to supplement this book with another that has some professional librarian samples. Another negative: too many functional resumes which many employers consider to be deceptive or too text heavy. That aside, just a really great book if you are struggling to put together a resume, or as a supplement to a resume writing course.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
How to Say it on Your Resume, book review
How to Say it on Your Resume is part of the How to Say It series which tackles common business writing or business communication issues.
On the plus side, this book has plenty of samples for college-educated job seekers, especially more mature job seekers, people with plenty of job experience and miles between them and their post-secondary education. Each sample is introduced by a case, such as Sally Seeker is a comeback mom with a four year gap, an MBA, who is currently underemployed, and a before and after version of the resume.
On the minus side, the reader would need to recognize what their career issue is--they're a job hopper or have a gap that they need to account for--to realize which case suits them. There is also a layout problem with the before and afters: it would help to have them on facing pages so the reader can see the changes. And the font! I needed my magnifying sheet to read the typeface (I'm old, but not that old) to take a look at the changes. Each of the samples is virtually identical and there is no commentary about why some of the changes were made, though the afters do look better. There is no table of contents that identifies what type of position or industry the resume sample is for, meaning that this is a generic Jane Jobseeker book. The three sample cover letters, heavy on autobiography and light on how to write to fit an organization, just made me groan.
If you knew exactly what your career issue was--a gap, job hopping, not sure how to transfer between industries--and you were a college-educated professional, I would take a look at some of the samples. The lack of a table of contents--though there is a good index--and limited advice on why changes were made mean that this book is not my first choice to give to a patron who says they haven't written a resume in a while. This book might be helpful to a professional resume writer.
On the plus side, this book has plenty of samples for college-educated job seekers, especially more mature job seekers, people with plenty of job experience and miles between them and their post-secondary education. Each sample is introduced by a case, such as Sally Seeker is a comeback mom with a four year gap, an MBA, who is currently underemployed, and a before and after version of the resume.
On the minus side, the reader would need to recognize what their career issue is--they're a job hopper or have a gap that they need to account for--to realize which case suits them. There is also a layout problem with the before and afters: it would help to have them on facing pages so the reader can see the changes. And the font! I needed my magnifying sheet to read the typeface (I'm old, but not that old) to take a look at the changes. Each of the samples is virtually identical and there is no commentary about why some of the changes were made, though the afters do look better. There is no table of contents that identifies what type of position or industry the resume sample is for, meaning that this is a generic Jane Jobseeker book. The three sample cover letters, heavy on autobiography and light on how to write to fit an organization, just made me groan.
If you knew exactly what your career issue was--a gap, job hopping, not sure how to transfer between industries--and you were a college-educated professional, I would take a look at some of the samples. The lack of a table of contents--though there is a good index--and limited advice on why changes were made mean that this book is not my first choice to give to a patron who says they haven't written a resume in a while. This book might be helpful to a professional resume writer.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
American Libraries Digital Supplement
American Libraries released a digital supplement that talks about the library profession. The article the Bun Heads are Dead, originally put me off because I am tired about reading about how librarians buck the stereotypes (it makes me guilty to wear glasses feel guilty to wear glasses), but I overcame my prejudices and read the article which has some good suggestions for non-traditional library careers. There is a good PD supplement and an article on "service learning", also known as experiential learning, which is a good way to evaluate a program before applying to graduate school. Practicums and internships, on-the-job learning, are a good way to get your foot in the door or to learn what type of librarianship will suit you.
Take a quick scan of this one, no matter where you are in your career, since it has good general career management advice.
Take a quick scan of this one, no matter where you are in your career, since it has good general career management advice.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Why you shouldn't blog about patrons
According to this blog post from BNET, some employees of Tesco in the UK have found themselves in hot water for talking about customers on a Facebook page. A librarian also got dismissed for writing a book about patron client interaction in a library, even though she wrote under a pseudonym.
The truth is, every person who is responsible for hiring in a library googles their candidates to see what they are up to online. Usually, they are looking to see publications and what you have done for the profession, or as a student. They are looking for your digital footprint, the good stuff, but sometimes they find dirt, publicly available. And blogging about patrons, no matter how witty, is dirt.
It's in the ALA code of ethics that librarians "protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted". It doesn't matter if their query is ridiculous or if the person is smelly or nasty; we need to protect their privacy--unless a crime has been committed, and there are appropriate policies to deal with that issue.
And if you are blogging about it, even if you believe you are anonymous, people will find out about it. Librarians especially. You might think you are anonymous and do a few google searches to make sure your digital footprint is a proper fit, but I want you to go and search yourself in Pipl. Use some of the usernames you have signed on to online services for, like browser mail, blogs and social networking and see what comes up attached to your aliases. You might think you are anonymous, protected by a handle, but if librarians are good at anything it is following rabbits down digital holes. See where some of yours lead and don't make any online dead ends by violating professional ethics.
The truth is, every person who is responsible for hiring in a library googles their candidates to see what they are up to online. Usually, they are looking to see publications and what you have done for the profession, or as a student. They are looking for your digital footprint, the good stuff, but sometimes they find dirt, publicly available. And blogging about patrons, no matter how witty, is dirt.
It's in the ALA code of ethics that librarians "protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted". It doesn't matter if their query is ridiculous or if the person is smelly or nasty; we need to protect their privacy--unless a crime has been committed, and there are appropriate policies to deal with that issue.And if you are blogging about it, even if you believe you are anonymous, people will find out about it. Librarians especially. You might think you are anonymous and do a few google searches to make sure your digital footprint is a proper fit, but I want you to go and search yourself in Pipl. Use some of the usernames you have signed on to online services for, like browser mail, blogs and social networking and see what comes up attached to your aliases. You might think you are anonymous, protected by a handle, but if librarians are good at anything it is following rabbits down digital holes. See where some of yours lead and don't make any online dead ends by violating professional ethics.
How to pick a resume book
- There are generic resume writing books, which have samples for everything, and resume books that are specific to industry, sector or based on common career issues (a comeback mom or a career transitioner, for example).
- Good resume books have a good table of contents that describe the samples and what types of positions the resumes are to be matched with. Resumes should be targeted, so a generic job-seeker resume won't help most experienced job seekers. In the case of librarians, a good index can overcome the lack of a table of contents, but can frustrate clients who don't think about checking the index. No table of contents with listing by type of resume, or an index equals skip that book.
- There are at least three different types of resume, and a wide range of types of career within a sector, or even an occupation, such as librarianship, so you want a wide-range of types of resume that shows different fonts, styles and layouts.
- How sophisticated is the writer? If you are a poor writer who has run out of friends willing to write or rewrite your resume, you need a book with exact samples that match the position you are applying for. (But don't copy them exactly--that's cheating and dishonest, and the recruiter has probably seen that resume at least once before.) If you are more sophisticated writer, you need book that has samples, but which also explains the "rhetoric" of resume writing. Especially if you have to get over some prejudices against the resume writing style.
- Before and after resume samples can help, but these are more helpful to sophisticated writers who understand what the problem is in their writing, but who want some suggestions on how to improve their resume.
- If you're going to buy the book for your own collection, a chapter on cover letters, advice on emailing, formatting and laying out a resume, as well as advice on how to write in the resume style, such as how to write a solid highlights of qualification, should I include a job objective, when do I move my education below my work experience on my resume, should be included in the book that you purchase. I would also recommend, for librarians, that the book you buy has some CV samples, or advice on how to make a hybrid resume/CV.
You can apply this advice in your work life, since I am sure you will get the question, I need to write a resume, do you have any resume books? many times in your career.
Resume books reviewed:
Farr, M. (2007). Same day resume. Indianapolis, IN.: JIST Publishing.
Karsh, B., & Pike, C. (2009). How to say it on your resume. New York: Prentice Hall.
Salvador, E. (2006). Step-by-step resumes. Indianapolis, IN.: JIST Publishing.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Don't wait for a rescue
There are lots of posts (like this one) and articles (like this one) about is it a recession or a depression, how long will it last, etc. The only uniform answer is, we don't know. No matter how much knowledge a person has, or expertise in the area, that is the one certainty: we have none.
But there is one constant theme in all of this analysis that is beginning to make me nuts: The Obama Effect (Let Me Google That For You). Obama supposedly has had an effect on the campaign, on the confrontation in Gaza, and now, he will have an effect on the economy, (etc.)--possibly for the better. And his and the plans of his advisors will have an effect on the individual, so the Obama Effect is not all hot air.
But, in case you're confused, Obama's dad was from Kenya, not Krypton. The only person who will save you is you. If you're in school and you're worried about the future, this is what you need to do:
But there is one constant theme in all of this analysis that is beginning to make me nuts: The Obama Effect (Let Me Google That For You). Obama supposedly has had an effect on the campaign, on the confrontation in Gaza, and now, he will have an effect on the economy, (etc.)--possibly for the better. And his and the plans of his advisors will have an effect on the individual, so the Obama Effect is not all hot air.
But, in case you're confused, Obama's dad was from Kenya, not Krypton. The only person who will save you is you. If you're in school and you're worried about the future, this is what you need to do:
- Check your bank balances and start saving, especially if you have no savings. Try this rule: with the exception of cost of living needs, if a desired item costs more than you make in an hour, don't buy it, eat it, visit it, view it, or hang it on your wall.
- Don't buy anything else on credit since you will just have to pay it off later, with interest. Put your credit card in the freezer until you need it to buy bus or plane tickets to interviews or conferences. See suggestions #13 and #15 on ways to save money on traveling.
- Look for ways to bring down your personal costs.
- If you have a student loan, some lenders make sure you go through a consultation about repayment. Find out about getting one booked and learn about the repayment process, especially if your lender has a program for loan remission.
- Ruthlessly squeeze every cent out of your tax return. See if there is a student service that will help you file for free or cheap.
- Is your resume ready to go? If not, complete it and have it proofread by the end of this month.
- What are the job resources available to you in your state or province? Does your library school have a job search library? Have you made job searching part of your daily schedule?
- Ask your current employer about the prospects for extending your job into the summer or the likelihood of a position after you graduate. Do not believe gossip--cut backs or increases--go directly to the person who has hiring authority. Find out about their hiring plans and find out how you can become a candidate.
- Subscribe to the appropriate listservs that have job postings in the field you are interested in.
- Have you spoken with your references, or your internship/co-op coordinator or supervisor? Did you remind them that you are on the market and would be grateful for any advice (read job leads) that they could send you?
- If you are thinking about relocating, start using vertical search engines and niche job boards in that province or state and start applying for work.
- Next month have a mock interview with a real professional interviewer and polish your skills. Get honest feedback, not from a person who loves you or forgot to give you a Valentine.
- Does your web cam work? Do you know how to get it to work if it works but you have never used it? You can keep down interviewing and traveling costs by checking to see if your web cam is ready for action. [Sheesh, not that kind of action.]
- Attend a session on negotiation so you can learn how to deal with HR, interviewers, bankers and landlords, so you can negotiate in regards to rent, repayment and salaries. You will need these skills if you have to work in purchasing or licensing in any library that has contracts with external companies (like, all of them) so now is the time to learn and practice, practice, practice.
- Take advantage of as many free or low cost services that you can use right now, as a student. First of all, take advantage of the student rate to go to library conferences that have a career fair so you can hit at least ten potential employers, and get through some screening interviews.
Friday, January 16, 2009
A little off the sides, please
According to this post in BNET, some companies are making the decision to cut back on labour costs, but not cut back on the labour. Cutbacks include working a four day week, cutting back on benefits, asking people to take their holidays or a furlough (a furlough means to grant a temporary leave of absence; a layoff is a temporary suspension which rhymes with "you're fired"), all in an effort to keep staff.
In academia, administrators have asked professors and administrators to take a pay cut--or imposed, not asked--and frozen salaries and plans to make new hires. There's even an article on the BBC magazine about the Prime Minister asking that public employees voluntarily contain their pay raises to keep inflation down, and an argument as to why it might help the economy. But when it comes to less money, should you? And how do you know if you can?
When the economy was boiling, we were asked to figure out what types of salary would be fair, and people wanted to know how they could negotiate. In industries with lots of competition for jobs--i.e. academia--we told clients: make a budget. Your needs, please debt repayment and some realistic savings are your minimum. You can't accept anything less.
You need a budget: for salary negotiation, whether up or down in these economic times, to understand where your money is going and to make some rational decisions about what you can and cannot afford. A budget can help you in both good and bad times, and now, just like writing your resume, it can help you in the job search since it can give you valuable information about the position, or positions, that you are eligible for with your financial responsibilities.
So, again, look to the free options on your campus, get your student budget and your proposed graduate budget in order and figure out what you can do to start living a lifestyle that doesn't allow your money--which includes your job--to make you into a prisoner.
In academia, administrators have asked professors and administrators to take a pay cut--or imposed, not asked--and frozen salaries and plans to make new hires. There's even an article on the BBC magazine about the Prime Minister asking that public employees voluntarily contain their pay raises to keep inflation down, and an argument as to why it might help the economy. But when it comes to less money, should you? And how do you know if you can?
When the economy was boiling, we were asked to figure out what types of salary would be fair, and people wanted to know how they could negotiate. In industries with lots of competition for jobs--i.e. academia--we told clients: make a budget. Your needs, please debt repayment and some realistic savings are your minimum. You can't accept anything less.
You need a budget: for salary negotiation, whether up or down in these economic times, to understand where your money is going and to make some rational decisions about what you can and cannot afford. A budget can help you in both good and bad times, and now, just like writing your resume, it can help you in the job search since it can give you valuable information about the position, or positions, that you are eligible for with your financial responsibilities.
So, again, look to the free options on your campus, get your student budget and your proposed graduate budget in order and figure out what you can do to start living a lifestyle that doesn't allow your money--which includes your job--to make you into a prisoner.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Resequencing the Monster
ERE takes a critical look at the Monster remodel, celebrated in commercials and the salvation of unhappy workers everywhere. But no one has ever satisfactorily answered the question for me: can you really get a job from Monster?
I used job boards, including Monster, in the last days of the previous millennium, and I got one call back--for a job selling insurance, though my post clearly said "Librarian". I also told the pushy interviewer that I wanted to be a librarian, not an insurance salesperson. I even asked if they had a library, and he said no, but this job was just as good. If I had been an insurance salesperson, I'm sure it would have been. Like a military recruiter, he was determined I would be candidate fodder, until he went, "heh, you don't live in Jersey", and hung up on me.
That is my sole experience with the Most Wanted of Job Boards: one call for a job that I was completely not interested in and had stated so on all of my documents submitted to the site.
Now, I am completely happy with my experience on niche boards. It's how I got my current full-time job, and all my fill-in-the-lines gigs, but I wonder: has anyone, ever, gotten a job on Monster. All job seekers, not just librarians, send me an answer.
I used job boards, including Monster, in the last days of the previous millennium, and I got one call back--for a job selling insurance, though my post clearly said "Librarian". I also told the pushy interviewer that I wanted to be a librarian, not an insurance salesperson. I even asked if they had a library, and he said no, but this job was just as good. If I had been an insurance salesperson, I'm sure it would have been. Like a military recruiter, he was determined I would be candidate fodder, until he went, "heh, you don't live in Jersey", and hung up on me.
That is my sole experience with the Most Wanted of Job Boards: one call for a job that I was completely not interested in and had stated so on all of my documents submitted to the site.
Now, I am completely happy with my experience on niche boards. It's how I got my current full-time job, and all my fill-in-the-lines gigs, but I wonder: has anyone, ever, gotten a job on Monster. All job seekers, not just librarians, send me an answer.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What's the worst that could happen?
I have posted some doom and gloom here before, but I am not going to do that today. I'm going to ask you one question to make yourself feel terrible, think about it and then fix it: if you don't have a job once you graduate, what is the worst that could happen?
Not that you are unemployed. That is the experience of many and will happen more than once in your lifetime. Think: Will you not be able to pay your rent? Will you lose your car? Will you not be able to pay your line of credit, student loans, credit cards? Will you not be able to eat? What is the worst that could happen?
Once you know the answer to that question, take some steps to fix that problem, right now.
If the worst that could happen is you will lose your place to live, what can you do to stop that, right now? Can you have the discussion with your parents or a sibling about moving in with them? Can you get a roommate? Though the cost of moving might eat up some of what you will save on moving to a cheaper place, can you find less expensive housing? Some of you may lose your place to live once you move out of campus housing, so what steps are you taking to deal with this issue?
Now, once you have some ideas, who can you talk to about fixing that problem. Open up the discussion about the basement bedroom with your parents. Get the forms for remission on your student loan or interest free status, now, fill them out and put them in an envelope ready to be mailed or processed. Use the services on your campus in regards to debt repayment, budgeting, or talk with someone at your bank--just pick up the brochures--that give you the information you need to deal with the problem. Don't freak out during finals about where you will be sleeping in a few weeks. Take care of it now.
If you can fix the worst of your problems, you will have time to invest toward your other problems and your job search, not to mention less aggravation for your grad school induced ulcer. Dealing successfully with one problem gives us a boost in optimism, a belief in our own self-efficacy and a feeling of relief. All of those can help your mental outlook.
If you want to feel optimistic or prepared, take hold of some of the problems in your life, which you directly control, like where you will live, sleep, eat and pay, and come up with an actionable plan, or solve them entirely.
Not that you are unemployed. That is the experience of many and will happen more than once in your lifetime. Think: Will you not be able to pay your rent? Will you lose your car? Will you not be able to pay your line of credit, student loans, credit cards? Will you not be able to eat? What is the worst that could happen?
Once you know the answer to that question, take some steps to fix that problem, right now.
If the worst that could happen is you will lose your place to live, what can you do to stop that, right now? Can you have the discussion with your parents or a sibling about moving in with them? Can you get a roommate? Though the cost of moving might eat up some of what you will save on moving to a cheaper place, can you find less expensive housing? Some of you may lose your place to live once you move out of campus housing, so what steps are you taking to deal with this issue?
Now, once you have some ideas, who can you talk to about fixing that problem. Open up the discussion about the basement bedroom with your parents. Get the forms for remission on your student loan or interest free status, now, fill them out and put them in an envelope ready to be mailed or processed. Use the services on your campus in regards to debt repayment, budgeting, or talk with someone at your bank--just pick up the brochures--that give you the information you need to deal with the problem. Don't freak out during finals about where you will be sleeping in a few weeks. Take care of it now.
If you can fix the worst of your problems, you will have time to invest toward your other problems and your job search, not to mention less aggravation for your grad school induced ulcer. Dealing successfully with one problem gives us a boost in optimism, a belief in our own self-efficacy and a feeling of relief. All of those can help your mental outlook.
If you want to feel optimistic or prepared, take hold of some of the problems in your life, which you directly control, like where you will live, sleep, eat and pay, and come up with an actionable plan, or solve them entirely.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Simply Hired Trends Graph
Simply Hired now has a trends graph that you can use to look at the ups and downs of the number of job postings for your occupation, based on the numbers available in their search engine results.
You can compare various titles, as shown above, to see what has increased, decreased, or what the fluctuation looks like. It can also give you a glimpse into when most of the jobs you are looking for are usually posted. Actually, for librarian, it looks like jobs are posted all year round, with very few extreme high-low periods, unlike, say camp counselor.
What I found most valuable was using it to discover how jobs are listed, i.e. jobs with similar skills and what the preferred title is for the job posting. This may not come as a surprise for anyone, but I found that I got more relevant searches if I used a number, as in Librarian 1, than if I just searched for reference or generalist, though those searches also returned relevant results.
The percentage of matching jobs refers to all of the results harvests by Simply Hired, which indexes lots and lots of jobs, so don't freak out because the percentages are low. This tool is only available on the US version of the site.
| Generalist Librarian, Reference Librarian trends | Generalist Librarian jobs | Reference Librarian jobs |
You can compare various titles, as shown above, to see what has increased, decreased, or what the fluctuation looks like. It can also give you a glimpse into when most of the jobs you are looking for are usually posted. Actually, for librarian, it looks like jobs are posted all year round, with very few extreme high-low periods, unlike, say camp counselor.
What I found most valuable was using it to discover how jobs are listed, i.e. jobs with similar skills and what the preferred title is for the job posting. This may not come as a surprise for anyone, but I found that I got more relevant searches if I used a number, as in Librarian 1, than if I just searched for reference or generalist, though those searches also returned relevant results.
The percentage of matching jobs refers to all of the results harvests by Simply Hired, which indexes lots and lots of jobs, so don't freak out because the percentages are low. This tool is only available on the US version of the site.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
This is Agent Scully, and I'm Agent Mulder
Update: According to this post on Careers that Don't Suck, the overwhelming response to the FBI hiring initiative temporarily shut down their servers. If you were interested in this opportunity, try again later on in the week.
According to this article in Reuters, the FBI plans to fill almost 3,000 positions in a wide variety of professional fields, as well as special agents. I couldn't get into the job postings (said the servers were down) to check for other positions beyond the special agents, but the FBI Careers site is up and slightly active--you can apply for positions, but you can't see all of the occupational profiles--though that may change in coming weeks.
If the front-lines of law enforcement doesn't appeal, librarians have many of the necessary skills to work in intelligence and data management careers, possibly in some of the computer careers. This employer may not be for everyone, but, in general, the government may be a good choice for the graduating class of 2009, since NACE has indicated that government hires will increase by almost 20%.
It's not as cool as when Jennifer Garner helped recruit new CIA members, but a job with a badge has its own cachet for some, as well as the public service and all that.
According to this article in Reuters, the FBI plans to fill almost 3,000 positions in a wide variety of professional fields, as well as special agents. I couldn't get into the job postings (said the servers were down) to check for other positions beyond the special agents, but the FBI Careers site is up and slightly active--you can apply for positions, but you can't see all of the occupational profiles--though that may change in coming weeks.
If the front-lines of law enforcement doesn't appeal, librarians have many of the necessary skills to work in intelligence and data management careers, possibly in some of the computer careers. This employer may not be for everyone, but, in general, the government may be a good choice for the graduating class of 2009, since NACE has indicated that government hires will increase by almost 20%.
It's not as cool as when Jennifer Garner helped recruit new CIA members, but a job with a badge has its own cachet for some, as well as the public service and all that.
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