10 tips for a recruiter friendly resume

1- Social media presence

List the complete LinkedIn, website and blog URLs. Even if your CV will probably be read on a screen, the hyperlink doesn’t always work.

Recruiters, both internal and agency, are relying a lot more on social media. Being part of the pool of candidates who understand the importance of having a web presence is good.

2- Summary section

Sum up your experience in one sentence that includes:

- Total years of experience and the ones in your specialization

- The importance of the companies you worked for

- Your area of specialisation

3- Your objective

Explain in one sentence the goal you are pursuing, mentioning:

- The job you are seeking

- The career vision you are pursuing

4- Your value statement

A headline that captures your personal brand in five to seven words, revealing your:

- Beliefs

- Reasons you like your job

- Objectives (what you want to achieve through your job)

5- Look smart

Sharing your analysis of the market and the solution you bring to business will catch the hiring manager’s attention and is a good induction to more questions.

6- No picture

Even if I like a picture on a CV, a recent survey of recruiters showed that they reject CVs with photos 88% of the time.

7- Presentation

Integrate no more than 2 colours in the category/company headers and job title.

8- Images

To call attention to certifications, company logos, etc. or make it more visual, you may consider inserting images. But nowadays, resumes are scanned by ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) such as Taleo, Brass, Ring, PageUp, and graphics cannot be garbled.

9- Fonts

These are visually friendly: Calibri, Gautomi, and Verdana.

10- The physical address

Unless you are in the countryside or very specific about the time spent in transport, mention only the borough.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

5 ways to generate interviews - Part2

3- You are in the loop

Meeting with your informational contact is like putting a first step in the door. You have to consider it as seriously as you would do for a job interview. It is actually part of the recruitment process.

4- Turn informational into promotional

Even if the overall purpose is to gather information, bear in mind that this person is your key for the entry door: show your brightest side, sell yourself!

At the end of your interview your informer should be convinced that you are a valuable people worth to be introduced. Give him the elements: 3 major assets of your profile.

5- Always ask the way to return the favor

If that person has accepted to meet with you, there must be a reason. You have to ask what, how, when you could help him.

This will leave the door open and make it easier for that person to remember you by classifying you in his networks.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

5 ways to generate interviews

The networks you have built with the people you met are your bigger lever. You do not need to look any further: concentrate in taking the most out of those newly built relationships.

Do not under estimate the potential those targeted persons have in taking you further.

You should investigate in how you could take advantage of this great asset.

1- Look in their networks

Some people still have open networks. At least, you have access to the shared contacts. You can then sharpen your network mapping and have a comprehensive overview of who is connected to whom.

If by chance, your now 1st degree connection has an open network it is a great opportunity to identify the next people to have a coffee with!

In fact, chances are (and pretty high^^ in fact) that person has counterparts in other companies. You could have an easy referral for an informal interview. Better than turning back to cold calling, isn't it?

2- Join groups

We all start with searching relevant groups on LinkedIn. But I discovered that surprisingly not all of them appear in the results.

Moreover, if you are concentrating on a specific market (for example, I only concentrate in the Talent Acquisiton local market in Sydney). Niche groups are only accessible through your connection's groups.

-To be continued-

In the next post I will demonstrate the rest of the next step I am taking with my job search.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet

Do not listen to Eminem

Do NOT lose yourself!

One thing I found hard was to cope with the massive amount of "information" you deal with when opening up for opportunities.

Since I did not know where to start, I attempted several strategies, such as:

- direct application
- attend networking events; even some really generalist
- open a blog
- learn different plateforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ etc)
- personal branding (SEO, community management etc)

and so forth. I could have tried even harder as I still have many other GOOD ideas to put in practice, such as:
- video resume (in progress)
- consistent and designed portfolio
- turn this blog into a broader WordPress!

All these really interesting and each single one playing an important role in the wider strategy.
But in the meantime, distracting me from my core target and above all, effort and time consuming!

Leverage on the gold you already have at hands

Now that you have mapped your market, mapped your networks and started to engage informational contacts, do not turn back on Internet!

You have met some people within your targeted industry who can help you with:
- introducing you to their networks
- answering specific insightful questions
- advising or even counselling you on your career
- vouching for you!

This is a little step further in the process, but a really important one to get you to your goal: you have broken in !

You are not anymore a random, unknown applicant. Trusted people in the industry are now keen to help you.

You should build upon that.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Author - Kevin Simonnet