In my career, I have written and read thousands of resumes and I will be the first to admit a well-written resume is no guarantee that you will be hired for a new job. However from my own experience and the experiences of many of the people I have worked with I can say with 100% certainty that a well-written resume will increase your apply to interview ratio by at least 25% and improve your chances of impressing the people who interview you.

To highlight for you how a effective a tool a well-written resume can be, I asked a number of people who found a new positions about the feedback they received on the resume we collaborated on, and here are a few responses..

1: The interviewer said “you are a candidate we could not afford to pass on so after I finished reading your resume I picked up the phone ASAP to contact you to schedule an interview.”

2: The interviewer said” the minute I finished reading your resume I knew you were a perfect match for the profile we developed for a new hire.”

3: The interviewer said “after reading your resume I felt I’ve known you for years even though we’ve never met.

4: The interviewer said “based on your resume I know what we can expect from you in the future if we hire you.”

5: The interviewer said “I screened over 100 resumes but yours was one of only a handful that stood out and caught my attention based on its style and content.”

6: The interviewer said “your resume answered all the questions I had about you and raised a few questions I had not considered about your competition.”

The bottom line is if you have a well-written resume you can elicit they same type of responses as well. Not every resume can get interviewers and screeners to react like this; after all you must have the talent and ability to put on paper that will excite people. But I can tell you that a well-written resume will get people to take notice of you and what you have to offer and it will increase your chances of being considered a front runner for a new job.

Perry Newman is a nationally-renowned job transition specialist who develops branded resumes and is a career coach for executives, professionals and MBA’s seeking six- figure positions in multiple industries within the USA. As a Certified Placement Consultant, Certified Social Media Strategist and founder and former Managing Director of a NYC-based executive search firm, Perry has a rare combination of talent and experience that is essential for your success in today’s job market. Acknowledged as a subject matter expert in his field Perry is a sought-after public speaker for radio, TV shows and career services seminars and his articles and blog posts are published in national newspapers, magazines and blogs throughout the nation and the world.

It is possible to increase the periods of happiness and reduce the other times in your career. We wanted to offer a few ways you can stay passionate and energized in your career, even when you may not be “feeling it!”

• Take a class, course, or other professional development offering where you can hone your skills, learn something new, and take your experience up a level.
• Remember why you choose your career in the first place. What was it you were passionate about, and how can you ensure that passion is being integrated into your work.
• Take time off. Whether a stay-vacation, a single day off, or a true vacation/get-away – get out of your normal routine and recharge.
• Volunteer your time or services. Volunteering has proven to increase moral and productivity, and it greatly enhances your overall perception about life in general. Find a cause you care about, and spend time giving back.
• Ask to be included in a new project, take on a new task, or do something out of the ordinary at the office.
• Mentor someone new in your industry. This gives you a chance to experience the passion and commitment of someone new, and it also offers you a chance to reconnect with how far you’ve advanced over the years.
• Enjoy the lull. Ironically, when your experiencing a lull, it’s a great time to actually enjoy the cycle of life. So, you aren’t as busy in the office, perhaps you’re even bored, what could you now use your for since you have some extra time?

These are just a few, simple things you can do to get re-energized about your career. What do you do when you want to recharge or renew your commitment to your work ? We’d love to know, please leave a comment below.

Here are a few things you can do to always come out as the better person.

1. Stop taking things personally. We all face challenging and difficult people at different times in our lives, whether on the job and even at home. Don’t let these encounters feel like a personal attack, in which you need to be defensive to win. Instead, realize that the person is likely experiencing their own set of challenges and is expressing them at everyone in their life. When you stop taking things personally, you can detach from their behavior.

2. Recognize different personality styles. Not all people are the same, and they shouldn’t be treated as such. The more aware you are of what makes people tick, what pushes their buttons, and how they interact with others, the more likely you are to engage with them in a productive way. For example, if you find that someone is highly defensive when they receive feedback, be sure to sing them extra praises when they do something right. This will help to break down their barriers.

3. Don’t speak or react out of anger. Anger can get you into trouble, it makes you say things you don’t mean, react without being logical or sensical, and isn’t an emotion to express haphazardly. It’s not to say you can’t get angry, just don’t react while angry. Take a moment to walk, take a breath, get outside – don’t vent to co-workers or throw fuel on the fire. Instead, remember a mantra such as, “This too will pass.” Or turn on some tunes that can help shift your energy. When you deal with people while you are angry, it’s likely you’ll regret how you handled the situation.

A challenging co-worker can cause a lot of issues at work, if you let them. Instead, rethink how you handle the people that push your buttons, after all, when you are upset with another person, it is you who is most affected by someone at the end of the day.

While the holiday season may be behind us, the peak season for exchanging gifts and messages is not over. Not by a long shot. For many companies, it’s salary and performance review time. It’s bonus time. It’s profit-sharing time.These anxiety-provoking milestones are filling your organization’s calendar even as you read this, and they will continue to do so for at least the next few months. And there is plenty of anxiety to go around, affecting both providers and recipients of such tidings. What does this signify? What are they telling me here? What does it say about how I am valued?

For the feedback providers among us, there is ample available advice on how best to proffer messages and to ensure their effective delivery. However, there’s far less guidance to help us when we are on the receiving end of these “gifts” (after all, aren’t we always hearing how feedback is a gift?).

The purpose of this post is to start a conversation among us, to consider how best to take in the feedback messages we receive — not just at this time of year, but all the time.

Here are four ways to become better at receiving — and implementing — feedback:

1. Relax. Nervous going in? Even a little? Of course you are. There’s an imbalance of power, information and preparation from moment one. The providers of your feedback spent at least some time gathering data, synthesizing it, and formulating the message. Even if they prepared it all by themselves, it was probably part of a broader organizational effort involving multiple inputs from a number of people. And you? You’re going in with none of that information. Given that imbalance, why would you possibly expect not to be even a little nervous? Give yourself a break. Relax. Unless you’re already in trouble, there will be no trapdoor under your chair.

2. Prepare yourself to hear one or more unexpected “somethings”

a. Something you did or didn’t do, that you had no idea was even on the radar screen as a factor or an issue.
b. Something that was a bigger deal than you thought. Or a smaller one. And the consequences or impact in the feedback message seems disproportionate.
c. Something that could or should have been addressed with you weeks or months earlier.
d. Something that you thought had already been resolved or improved upon.

3. If you don’t agree with the feedback, don’t launch into a defense right away. As you listen, hold that thought and hold your tongue! Force yourself not to form a conclusion or communicate a response too quickly, and maybe not even in the course of the conversation. You’ve spent zero time on absorbing and interpreting the data at this point. Apply the following filters:

a. Put it in absolute context first. Even if you are disappointed that it’s not the biggest bonus ever, or you didn’t “Exceed Expectations” in every category, or you discover your nemesis received the equivalent of the Nobel Prize, what’s the summary message to you? Is it more valid than not? More positive than negative? Was it mostly on-target?
b. Figure out how to use what you have heard. As a result of this feedback, do you know what you can or should do the same or differently going forward?

While a few on-the-spot questions are OK, finding your own version of “I’m guessing it’s OK for me to come back to you if I have more questions” is a better approach.

4. When it’s over:

a. Thank them sincerely for their time and thoughts, regardless of whether you were thrilled with their message or their delivery. Unless they were bored or rude, it required some work on their part.
b. Reflect on the overall message, and what it conveyed. If you are contemplating a campaign to prove you were right on some specific point, consider that it might ultimately be more helpful to focus on the broader takeaway and what it will require to do as well or better next time.
c. Don’t just file it and forget it. Look at it again in a few months, and see how you’re doing.

Finally, remember this was but a single piece or episode of feedback. If you’re lucky, you’ll receive many more.

Now, what’s your feedback on receiving feedback?

Here are some of the TOP benefits we’ve heard:

1. We save you a lot of time digging through resumes, screening initial applicants, and coordinating schedules and interviews.
2. We allow you to see only the best, most qualified candidates, after they’ve been screened and interviewed – leaving the company with just a few interviews to conduct.
3. We know how to properly screen and filter applicants.
4. We save you time and energy in coordinating the process, from posting on job boards, to gathering the information for the position, to screening applicants.
5. We understand how culture works, and look for candidates that not only match the position, but match the culture of the company as well.
6. We are able to make the process happen much faster, as it’s our sole focus, whereas a hiring manager within the company is often tasked with many responsibilities.
7. We specialize in finding individuals within finance and accounting.
8. Before the company sees any candidates, we’ve taken the time to understand your company, the culture, and the needs of the position and then deliver exactly what you are looking for. The process doesn’t stop there, with frequent check-ins, follow ups, and ongoing support.
9. We focus on a solution for the company, and not filling a position.
10. We make the process less stressful, less complicated, and at the end of the day make the hiring manager look good!

Do you have a staffing need within your company? Have a question about how we work? Contact us today.

This is such a great quote, and one that can be applied at anytime in your life. Although many people use the calendar new year to start fresh, remember that you can make a fresh start any moment you decide to.

With that said, what are your plans for 2012?

• Will you make a career change?
• Are you seeking a promotion?
• Would you like to increase your performance, sales numbers, attitude?
• Do you plan to move into management?
• Go back to school? Take a course? Become certified in a skill?

Beyond setting goals, making plans, and writing out your intentions – also consider your state of being. Perhaps you can choose a word for the year – like “Fortis” – meaning strength. You could also choose words like courage, balance, or harmony.

A word for the year can be a focal point. Something for you to remember, and bring yourself back to a solid base throughout the months ahead.

Writing your goals and intentions, means you are more likely to achieve them. Take the time to do this over the next few days. Then put them in a place where you’ll see them frequently, revisit them, adjust them, and make them happen.

Happy New Year!

Here are some questions to assess your year.

• What three things did I accomplish that I am most proud of?
• What successes can I celebrate to honor my progress in 2011?
• What did I do best this year?
• What can I do better next year?
• What areas can I improve on?
• Who were the most important/influential people in my life this year?
• How did I foster those relationships?
• What mistakes did I make, what did I learn from those mistakes?
• What skills have I developed this year?
• What new skills do I want to develop next year?
• What task/goal/objective didn’t get finished this year that I am still committed to?
• What am I most excited about for 2012?
• What did I most enjoy for fun?
• Does my life feel full and valuable? How so or why not?
• What’s the most important thing for me to focus on in the New Year?

Taking a look back over your year will help you strengthen and reposition yourself for what’s next. Reflection is a time for learning, so despite how much you accomplished, look back and know that every small step is forward movement.

Most companies claim they want enthusiastic, engaged employees — and with good reason. Employee engagement and financial performance are connected. A recent study by Aon Hewitt, for example, found that companies with high levels of engagement outperformed the stock market in 2010.

And yet Gallup research indicates that more than 70 percent of employees in the typical company are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged.”

What’s the reason for this failure? In my view, it boils down to a startling disconnect between how companies try to promote engagement and what truly inspires and motivates employees.

At most companies, the human resources department “owns” and measures engagement. It issues a lengthy annual survey, asking employees a withering barrage of questions — everything from your overall satisfaction to the adequacy of prescription benefits to whether you have a “best friend” at work. The resulting report, issued after lengthy analysis, leads to an improved benefits program, “supervisor coaching,” or other initiatives run by staff at the center.

This approach is just like the way most companies used to deal with customers. Marketing or customer service departments owned customer satisfaction, relied on traditional staff-directed tools (such as training programs) to improve it, and gauged their success through old-style satisfaction surveys.

In recent years, however, leading companies such as Zappos and Apple have led a revolution in creating great customer experiences:

• They make wowing customers a priority for every frontline employee, not just a central team at headquarters.
• Instead of infrequent satisfaction studies, they ask their customers for feedback all the time.

These companies typically give their customers short, quick surveys. They promptly distribute the scores and verbatim responses to frontline reps and supervisors, who follow up right away with unhappy customers, fixing the problems wherever possible. And these companies build closed-loop learning into their daily operations so that they’re constantly improving.

These efforts earn these companies deep, long-lasting customer loyalty. Their customers not only spend more, stay longer, and recommend the company to their friends, but they also contribute ideas for improvement because they believe the company values their feedback.

So, suppose you applied that same methodology to building employee engagement. What would you do differently?

For one thing, you’d conduct short surveys that respect your employees’ time and ask only the few questions that yield the most important insights. You would do this often enough to generate a steady stream of information about engagement levels and ideas for improvement. JetBlue, whose employees I wrote about in my last post, sends a survey ninety days after an employee’s start date and every year thereafter. Apple surveys its employees every few months.

And instead of delegating the effort to HR, you’d make employee engagement a top priority for frontline managers and employees themselves, with built-in procedures for closed-loop learning.

In fact, you’d take away the crutch of thinking that “someone else” is taking care of it, placing responsibility squarely and undeniably on the shoulders of frontline managers. That’s how it’s done at Apple stores. After each survey wave, store managers review the data for their store. Employee focus groups identify key themes and issues, and employee teams help develop solutions, which they present to store management. There is no waiting for analysis and recommendations from some central team. By the time the next survey comes around in a few months, managers and store employees know whether their solutions have had the desired effect.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the same basic techniques for earning customer loyalty also work with employees. At their core, both efforts depend on treating people with dignity and respect. Both require real-time learning. Both address the relationship in a human way, not just as a transaction or piece of data.

And, as it happens, they reinforce each other. Employees learn how to wow customers and feel great when they do. Customers love the experience. It’s a virtuous cycle — something we call the Promoter Flywheel — and it leads to great financial performance.

Conventional approaches to employee engagement tend to focus on overall workplace improvements and benefits because those things can be directed by staff from the center. They’re the “easy” things to do. Obviously, they’re important: A safe and pleasant work environment, fair compensation, and the tools needed to do the job are table stakes for employee satisfaction.

But what you really want isn’t just satisfied employees, it’s passionate employees — people who love working for your company, love your products and services, and love wowing customers. You build that kind of advocacy by creating a real commitment to enriching your customers’ lives, giving employees the tools and freedom to delight customers, and helping them see and hear the effects of their actions.

Here are a few things you can do to get organized for your new hire.

1. Have as much information about the position as possible. This includes knowing the day-to-day tasks, who the person reports to, what they are responsible for overall, and the big picture vision of their position.
2. Obtain the data, facts, projects, and any other miscellaneous information from the team in which the new person will be working. This entails the group projects, team meetings and information, and anything that help this person become more successful.
3. Have a training and integration plan. The more organized and detailed you can be upfront and in the beginning, the more the person will have confidence in their position and the company. This means you’ll need to be fully prepared for your new hire on their start date. If your week is too busy for a new hire to start on a Monday, consider moving their start date to Wednesday or Thursday.
4. Make their first day organized, planned, and incredible. This can include things like knowing their logins and passwords, having their office or space setup, giving them a calendar with meetings, expectation and upcoming deadlines. People love to be led, and they love when a company is organized.
5. Cater to the personality of your new employee. If you had your new hire take a personality test before employment, or at the start of employment, use that information to ensure the success of the individual. If they are an introvert, perhaps running them around to meet everyone on the first day, including lunch with the managers may not be the best bet. A one-on-one with their team lead however, would go over nicely!

Above all, remember that the more organized and prepared you are for your new hire, the more the relationship will start out on the right foot.  What that really means is a successful transitions into the new position.

Personal Branding (PB) + Relationship Capital (RC) = Career Branding (CB)

PB + RC = CB

Why does this matter?

The answer is simple.  If you work the formula you will have more successful career branding!

The time to build a network is when you are seeking nothing in return. If your objective is to time results, you will most likely come up short of goals because your relationships will be all short term, results oriented.   Thus any “relationships” will lack depth and breadth.  What you really need to do is position for the “whenever”.   You position for the “whenever” by building Relationship Capital before you need it.

Obviously, the unemployed are at a significant disadvantage to maximize an effective Career Branding campaign because by definition they have an immediate need for results.  Thus their ability to build Relationship Capital is limited.

The unemployeds’ immediate need for results has lead to the proliferation of LinkedIn advisors that make two strong recommendations.

1)      Build a large network of connections fast.

2)      Come up with a slick LinkedIn tag line

Concept 1

An artificial network is effectively a “spray & pray” marketing technique. There are numerous LinkedIn webinars or services that suggest (or actually help) build large LinkedIn networks instantly through variousInmail and aggressive “Group joining techniques”. Our opinion is that this does not represent a strategic job search and offers very little true utility in finding work faster.  It certainly can work and you could also win the lottery today and thus not be reading this article.  Creating artificial networks is counter to our formula for Career Branding.

Concept 2

Over the last several years, the unemployed have been coached to change their LinkedIn profile headline to titles like:

• Quality Guru
• Sales Superstar
• Digital Print Expert
• Online Marketing Sherpa

Career Brander definitely recommends and respects the attempt to clarify one’s specialty and create a personal brand.  A succinct and accurate LinkedIn headline is a good idea, however this is simply a beginning, and the real work is getting the personal association of the title in the marketplace. The mistake people make is waiting until they are looking for a new job to address their personal brand.  Brands are earned not instantly accepted!

The trick is to build the personal brand over time and then match it to one’s networks of connections/relationships.

Think about a salesperson cold calling a prospect.  If a sales person cold calls prospects, saying we are the best at “X” and asking for orders, they will fail 999.9 out of 1000 times.   This is not how “buyers” are wired and is a fairly ridiculous approach.   The prospect has not been nurtured.  The sales person is not a known entity and thus the recipient of the call has no inclination to listen or necessarily believe anything they are saying.  There is no reason for trust and trust is implied in every purchase!  The same principle applies to job search.

Successful salespeople (and companies) brand themselves by building relationships BEFORE they need them.  Career branding is no different.  Relationships are best built before one party in the relationship has an immediate pending need.  Trust is built by non-threatening exchanges that are not self centered.  The exchanges need to offer something to the other party such as knowledge, connections or other learning’s.  This principle is why, Career Brander does not advocate Linking on LinkedIn just to build out a network, but rather Linking based on real relationships.   Perhaps a Luddite’s view; but an on-line relationship is generallynot nearly as deep as a more traditional personal one that has relationship capital build through non-cyber means.  There are exceptions, but just connecting on LinkedIn does not represent Relationship Capital.

Personal Brands and Relationship Capital are earned.  They take time to develop and require continual and consistent re-enforcement to build and become meaningful. They cannot be instantly achieved through LinkedIn profile headlines, cold calling, artificial social networks, or introductory emails.  Start now and invest time to PB and RC every week.

If you look at your peers, those who cycle through successful career positions without extended job searches, they have mastered the PB + RC = CB formula.

Let’s relook at the formula at this articles beginning.

Personal Branding (What you are known for.)

+

Relationship Capital (Your network and how committed are they to you based on historical actions and interactions.)

Equals

Career Branding

Ian Levine is a leading authority and frequent speaker on sales optimization techniques.  As the founder ofCareer Brander he applies sales and marketing techniques to Career Branding and Job Search.  Career Brander’s Job Search Radar, is a robust tool that integrates Hoover’s premium content, social networks and web agents into an effective career transition platform.  You can read additional personal branding, job search and career articles by Ian Levine on the Career Brander Blog.