Career Doctor: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips #2

Career Doctor Q-TIPS #2:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips

These tips have been gathered from job-seeker Q&A's with the Career Doctor, Dr. Randall Hansen. For more information, go to The Career Doctor.

If you were not able to gain work experience while attending college, you may need to present your college experience creatively. Review your years of school to see if you can develop a list of experiences -- they do not need to be paid experiences -- where you have used, developed, and honed skills. For example, have you done any class projects, major research studies, or reports? You will also probably want to develop a functional resume. Read Should You Consider a Functional Resume? to get more tips and advice.

Go to the next tip.

To affirm whether your chosen career is right for you, consider setting up informational interviews with people in that field. What are informational interviews? They are interviews you conduct with key personnel in the field of your interest to learn more about how you can get a job in the field, what educational background is required, and more. Read much more in our Informational Interviewing Tutorial.

Go to the next tip.

Career assessments can be a great way to help you determine if you're headed in the right career direction, but before you even take one of the tests, sit down and make a list of the five skills you enjoy using and the five skills (or things) you really never want to do. Then make a similar list for the five things you like most about your current job and the five things you dislike about your job. These two lists should go far in helping you sort out what kind of work might make you happier.

Here are some other questions to answer: What was your major in college? Why did you choose it? Visit Quintessential Careers: Career Assessments for the best career and self-assessment tools on the Web -- some free and some fee-based.

Go to the next tip.

Don't worry too much about about making the right choice of college major early on. Many recent studies show that a large number of people are working in areas totally unrelated to their college major and that people will change careers -- not just jobs, but careers -- at least five times over the course of their lives. For guidance, though, read Choosing a College Major: How to Chart Your Ideal Path. Also, see how the Internet can help you choose a major at the Choosing a Major portion of our tutorial on Job-Hunting on the Internet.

Go to the next tip.

Keywords are nouns and phrases that employers use to search internal and external resume databases when searching for job candidates. While this practice started in the technology industry, it has spread to many other industries, and more and more job-seekers are placing keyword sections on their resumes (both traditional and scannable) to strengthen their chances of being selected. (See our article, Scannable Resume Fundamentals, for more details.)

The best way to develop a list of keywords for your resume is to first examine your accomplishments and skills areas. Second, examine the type of job you are seeking to move into. Third, conduct some job searches at some of the other major job sites and make a list of the keywords from the job postings (using, for example, job title, job description, qualifications, skills, software, industry jargon, etc.).

You might also consider searching the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook for keywords. Finally, good sources for more information about keywords and some keyword examples are Rebecca Smith's eR�sum�s & Resources and the keyword section of Canada's Web Access Employment Network.

Go to the next tip.

Demonstrating knowledge about a company and the industry (or industries) it operates in is critical to interviewing success. Employers want job candidates who take the time to do a little research.

A great place to start, of course, is Quintessential Careers: Guide to Researching Companies. Areas you can easily research (partly dependent on whether you are researching a public or private company) include:

strengths/weaknesses of key industry company operates in;
key competitors in the industry;
recent news about the company (new plants, takeovers, etc.);
past quarter, six-months, or annual sales performance;
past quarter, six-months, or annual profits (or losses);
recent stock performance (if a public company).

Go to the next tip.

Some folks are somewhat beyond "traditional age" when they decide to pursue a perhaps long-buried dream of going to professional school -- law school or med school -- and they wonder if they're too old. If you find yourself in that situation, talk to a number of people to get as much advice as possible. Talk to a financial adviser regarding loans and the ability to attend school, and the number of years before you are above water again. Set up informational interviews with professionals who are practicing in the field you want to pursue. Talk with the professional schools you are considering, and ask them about their placement success and typical starting salaries.

Listen to your heart; what do you really want to do with your life? Answer that question and maybe the rest of these points are moot. We often hear laments like this one: "If I go to law school for three years, I'll be 45 when I get out and am ready to practice law." Our retort: "How old will you be in three years if you don't got to law school?"

Go to the next tip.

Interested in a law career? According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, the job market for lawyers over the next eight years will be very competitive. According to the report: "Individuals interested in pursuing careers as lawyers or judicial workers should encounter stiff competition through 2008. The number of law school graduates is expected to continue to strain the economy's capacity to absorb them." Read all of the report.

Another good resource can be found at FindLaw.com's Web site, which has numerous articles and links to other resources.

Go to the next tip.

If your resume has large (or even not-so-large) employment gaps, remember that the first rule of job-hunting is don't expose a weakness to the employer -- and never do it before you've had a chance to have an interview and build a case for yourself. Yes, employers do worry about employment gaps but you can take action to make the gaps less obvious and project yourself in a better light.

First, develop a functional resume that focuses on your technical achievements and skills. If you already have one, ask a professional colleague, mentor, or resume professional to evaluate and critique it for you. Second, you need to plan a strategy for explaining the gaps. Were you doing volunteer work? Were you taking classes? Were you working part-time or as a consultant? As much as possible, fill the gaps with activities so that it doesn't seem as though you were just sitting home all that time (even if you were). Third, be sure your skills are current. If not, you might want to take a course or two to become more marketable. Fourth, once you have a professional resume and feel more confident about yourself, go back into the job market.

Go to the next tip.

Confused about what you want to do in your career? The following books may help: Career Tests: 25 Revealing Self-Tests to Help You Find and Succeed at the Perfect Career, by Louis H. Janda (Adams), or Career Adventure: Your Guide to Personal Assessment, Career Exploration, and Decision-Making, by Susan M. Johnston (Prentice-Hall).

We also list some very helpful career exploration Web sites at: at Quintessential Careers: Career Exploration.

Go to the next tip.

In a cover letter, how do you address relocation for personal reasons? Easy. You simply need to say you are relocating for personal reasons. People move all the time, so changing geographic locations should not be an issue.

What may be more difficult is your strategy for finding a new job before you relocate. Start contacting those in your network, especially in your new location, and let them know you are relocating and looking for a new job there. Then, get on the Web and do some research on the types of jobs, companies, industries where you want to work. Check out the Relocation Resources in our our tutorial on Job-Hunting on the Internet.

Go to the next tip.

If you've held a job that might raise a few eyebrows -- say, as an exotic dancer -- what do you tell potential employers when they ask what you've been doing for the past few years? Focus on any jobs and school work you might have held before your more questionable gig. Did you complete any projects/internships/co-ops while in college? You'll probably also want to use a functional resume, concentrating on the transferable skills you've attained from all your school and work experience. Finally, list your actual work history, but try to optimize the title for your job; for instance, in the exotic dancer example, you could use "entertainer."

Spend some time with our Quintessential Careers: Resume Tutorial, where we provide a more detailed explanation of functional resumes -- along with samples.

And remember to project poise and confidence in the job you've had, even if not everyone would understand it.

Go to the next tip.

A common interview question is: "Where do you see yourself in the next several years?" Employers ask this question partly to see if you truly are seeking a permanent position. This question is also one of the most popular for employers to ask because it's a way (they think) of understanding a prospective employee's drive and ambition. Yet, you don't want to answer that question too ambitiously: "I plan to be running this company," or "I plan to be your boss." But you need to show some direction and ambition.

A good answer would be something like: "I would hope I am still with this organization in a position of increased responsibility, making a vital contribution to its success." You could also add a statement about professional career growth to your answer: "I hope to be in a position of increased responsibility that allows me to continually sharpen and grow my career skills, while making a significant contribution to the success of this organization."

Go to the next tip.

Looking for a career that offers travel, good money, but also creativity? Consider consulting with a firm such as Accenture (the former Andersen Consulting), or international management. Both of these careers can offer you a travel, allow you to be creative in handling new problems, and provide a good salary.

Go to the next tip.

If you're in college, your best source for career information and contacts is the professors in your school -- and, specifically, in your major department. Most professors have contacts with local firms, and thus, using your professors to build your network is a logical move. Next best is your college's career services office. This office can help with finding potential employers and with working on your basic skills -- cover letter, resume, and interviewing.

Go to the next tip.

To maximize your experience with recruiters, seek out specialists in your industry/profession. Check out Oya's Recruiter Directory, which you can search by specialty, for leads on specialized recruiters.

Go to the next tip.

What if you've chosen your college major but suddenly realize that the careers associated with that major are not at all what you want to be doing for the rest of your life? Relax, you've taken the first -- and perhaps most important - step, which is realizing that you have made a mistake and you need to look at other possible careers to find something that better suits your unique skills and attributes.

Take advantage of the advice and resources discussed in our article, Choosing a College Major: How to Chart Your Ideal Path, which takes you through a six-step journey that should lead you to greater clarity and direction about your future career. Most importantly, don't panic.

Go to the next tip.

How should you send cover letters electronically? In our book, Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates, we advise: "brevity is particularly important. For some readers, a screen of email seems equivalent to a page of type."

Other guidelines for sending your cover letter via email are:

keep it brief; even shorter than a standard cover letter;
know the company guidelines, which can usually be found on each company's Web site (Check out our Directory of Company Career Centers.
use limited formatting so that the letters can be more easily scanned (and because not everyone has email software that allows stylized text);
make good use of keywords in your cover letter;
as always, proofread and edit your work, making sure there are no errors of any kind.

Go to the next tip.

Some tendencies to watch out for in interviews: Enthusiasm is absolutely key in an interview, but job-seekers must tread a fine line between displaying eagerness and exuding desperation. Most employers have no interest in hiring people who appear desperate for a job. Also be careful not to focus on what employers can do for you rather than the benefits you can offer potential employers. This tendency is one of the most common job-seeker errors.

You can read many more tips and strategies in our Job Interviewing Tutorial.

Go to the next tip.

For career-changers, the key to developing a strong functional resume is identifying key transferable skills that apply to your new possible career(s). And when you conduct a self-analysis, you'll be amazed to find all the many skills you have that easily transfer from one job to another.

Read our article, Should You Consider a Functional Resume? for more specifics.

Go to the next tip.

Need help writing a "winning" resume when you feel that everything about your education and experience has been "average?" There are all sorts of ways to quantify your successes and skills, but first, step back and identify what they are. We recall a young woman who came to us for advice after several years of doing clerical and secretarial work. She thought her experience and skills would not help her get the job of her dreams, but she was wrong. Look at your experiences in terms of what skills from your "average" jobs you can apply to your ideal job.

Read our section on transferable skills at Quintessential Careers, starting with Strategic Portrayal of Transferable Skills is a Vital Job-search Technique.

Go to the next tip.

One of the first -- and most important -- lessons of job-hunting, regardless of whether online or offline, is that employers do not respond to all job-seekers. Employers are inundated with letters and emails about job openings -- even more so when they have a published job opening, and most firms simply do not have the resources to respond to every single applicant. Thus, don't expect to hear back from many of the employers you contact.

The second lesson -- and just about as important -- is that you need to be proactive with your job search. Very few people have gotten a job by sitting back and waiting to hear from employers. Employers will not hunt you down just because you emailed them a job application. The old adage, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, is true -- up to a point -- in job-hunting. Once you've submitted an application or mailed a cover letter and resume, you MUST plan to contact each employer and ask for the job interview. But one caveat: Do NOT contact the employer so often that you become a nuisance; you will not get the interview by being annoying.

Go to the next tip.

If you're transitioning from a military career to a career in the civilian sector, consider all your transferable skills. The second step is to go and visit some of the sites listed at Quintessential Careers: Job Resources for Veterans and Former Military. One of our favorite sites on the list is Transition Assistance Online, which provides free services to separating military service members to assist you in finding their next job or career with employers seeking to hire individuals with the unique training, education, skills and leadership that only the military provides.

Finally, once you've done a full self-analysis and determined all your skills and accomplishments, look at all the traditional methods: networking, other offline job searching, job-hunting on the Net, etc. We outline all the steps in our tutorial, Quintessential Careers: Job Search 101.

Go to the next tip.

Wondering how to address a cover letter in response to a blind ad in which no contact person, address, or business/organization name is listed? As we write in our book, Dynamic Cover Letters (Ten Speed Press), sometimes employers, for various reasons, place blind classified ads that do not identify the company. But some blind ads are more blind than others. Some may use the initials for the company's name sent to a post office box. In these cases, you may be able to discover the name of the company. The most common blind ad, however, uses only a box number at the publication carrying the ad, and in these cases, there is virtually no way to uncover the name of the company.

So, how do you address your cover letter? Our favorite for blind-box ads is "Dear Boxholder." We've also often used "Dear Friends" or "Dear Hiring Manager for [name of position]." Avoid at all costs "To Whom it May Concern," or worse, a sexist salutation such as "Gentlemen." Finally, it is also acceptable when responding to a blind-box ad to omit the salutation and begin with the body of the letter.

Go to the next tip.

If you're a high-schooler feeling pressure because all your friends seem to know what they want to do with their lives, don't feel rushed to find your "one right thing," especially since that one right thing will probably change about five to seven times over the course of your life, according to most recent studies.

There are lots of ways of discovering what you're good at. Sit down at your computer or with a piece of paper and make a list of things you like to do and things you do not like to do, then make a list of things you are good at. Then see if you can combine the things you like doing with the things you are good at, and then you can investigate careers that use those strengths and skills. You can also take some assessment tests. Many are available both on and off the Web. You can take a look at some of the better ones on the Web by visiting Quintessential Careers: Career Assessments.

Finally, while it may be a little early for you to start thinking about a major in college, you can use the same thought process for where you are now and read, Choosing a College Major: How to Chart Your Ideal Path.

Go to the next tip.

The best resource for career-changers is Career Change: Everything You Need to Know to Meet New Challenges and Take Control of Your Career, by Dr. David P. Helfand (VGM). Dr. Helfand's book, which has been recommended by numerous career professionals, gives you proven advice and solid strategies in making a career change -- a life change. Some elements of the book include understanding self-assessment test results; strategies for overcoming fears of change; steps to increase your self-esteem; and much more.

In the meantime, here are a few short tips for anyone contemplating a career change:

Make a plan
Join an industry association
Get experience -- transferring within your current company, volunteering, consulting
Get training or education, if necessary.
Stay focused and don't get discouraged.

Go to the next tip.

How to handle the reversion from a maiden name to a married name -- or conversely, from a married name back to a maiden name -- on your resume, especially if you've published work under one name and are now using a different name: Do not change your name in your publications to your maiden name because if a potential employer were to look up the article and find a different name, the immediate assumption might be you are lying on your resume or vitae, and that's the end of your chance with that organization.

Instead, try one of two simple remedies. First, and perhaps the easiest, is to simply include your current name in parenthesis, so, for example, if you were Mary Smith when you published those research works and you now go by Mary Jones, simply add the Jones on your vitae, such as Mary (Jones) Smith. Second, you could do the same thing on your resume as you would if an organization you worked for changed its name. Under your name at the top of your vitae, you could place, in smaller type, your former name, thus, Mary Jones in large type, (formerly Mary Smith) in smaller directly underneath.

Go to the next tip.

Are you a young teen looking for a summer job? It's a great idea to start thinking about a job -- as long as your family thinks it is okay. Most states have laws limiting the amount of hours teens can work in a given week.

Read A Guide for Teens: How to Find a Summer Job.

Go to the next tip.

Most employers stress the importance of experience. They want the combination of experience and education/training/certification. Thus, if you're thinking about making a career change that requires training, look at schools that offer the classes you need and see if they also have co-op programs,internships, placement, etc.

Consider remaining employed in your current profession, while taking classes, AND starting to gaining valuable experience in your new field. Get a copy of Dr. David P. Helfand's Career Change: Everything You Need to Know to Meet New Challenges and Take Control of Your Career.

Consider your transferable skills and read: Quintessential Careers: Transferable Skills.

Go to the next tip.

Virtually everyone -- at least once in their career -- has been promoted, but without an increase in salary or even a better title. It's baffling why so many employers have not realized that promoting someone without giving them a new title or a raise is really a de-motivating factor. It's like the employer is saying, "we really like you. In fact, we like you so much we want you to work harder and longer, but for no more pay and no more prestige."

If you find yourself in this situation, you can try to build a case with your manager. But failing that, the unfortunate truth is that it may be time to polish that resume and start looking for a new job with a different company. Don't give up on your current company, but start talking with the people in your network, and start planning a job-hunting strategy. If the situation does not get resolved with your current employer, begin job-hunting at full speed.

Read more tips from the Career Doctor in Career Doctor: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips #3.

Review all our Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Job-Hunting Tools:

Career Tools:

Career Categories:

Career Doctor Q-TIPS #2: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips

These tips have been gathered from job-seeker Q&A's with the Career Doctor, Dr. Randall Hansen. For more information, go to The Career Doctor.

Review all our Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Career Doctor Q-TIPS #2:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips