Most hirers sort through hundreds of resumes a day and spend about 10 seconds reviewing each resume— 10 seconds is how long you have to make a powerful first impression. The following tips show you how to quickly attract a hirer’s interest based on what employers look for in IT resumes.
Section 1: Summary of Qualifications
The Summary of Qualifications (SOQ) is one of the most effective ways to impress a potential employer. Usually located just below your contact information, this section contains three to five one-sentence bullets that outline your best selling points. If you can hook a hirer’s interest here, you’ve got your foot in the door. This section should act as a summary of your depth of experience, certifications and degrees, and major areas of expertise. Also, keep in mind that you should only include information relevant to the position you are applying for—remember, you only have 10 seconds to impress a hirer. Some examples of attractive SOQ bullets for different IT positions might include:
• 8 years of experience leading network security for Fortune 500 companies.
• Credentials include CCIE Routing & Switching and CCIE Security.
• Areas of expertise include firewall, storage networking, and access routing.
Section 2: Technical Skills
As an IT professional, your technical acumen is an integral part of your resume. Therefore, your technical skills section should immediately follow the SOQ section. In the technical skills section, employers want to identify your proficiencies broken down by category, such as platforms, hardware, software, languages, peripherals, and protocols. Don’t think that employers will assume you’re skilled in such basic programs as MS Office Suite—they won’t. Also, be sure to prioritize your technical skills and list the most important ones at the top. If you are a programmer, you may want to begin this section with your programming languages first. An example of a quality technical skills section is:
Systems: Windows (2000/NT/XP), Linux, UNIX, Solaris 2.x
Hardware: Servers, Hubs, Routers, Switches, PCs
Software: MS Office Suite, MS SQL Server, Visio
Networking: TCP/IP, LAN/WAN, Ethernet, Token Ring
Languages: Visual Basic, C, C++, HTML, JavaScript
Technologies: VoIP (SIP protocol, SER, asterisk)
Section 3: Experience
If the SOQ and Technical Skills sections are stellar, an employer will invest more time reviewing your resume, especially the experience section. This area should provide examples of your skills and accomplishments, including quantifiable results to express how your work has positively impacted an employer’s bottom line. Hirers especially like to see numbers and percentages. The cardinal rule with all resumes is to keep bullets brief—aim for no more than 10 bullets. Examples of bullets that employers want to see for different IT positions include:
• Led seamless migration from Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 to Windows 2000/XP and Office 97/2000 to Office 2003 for 750 desktops.
• Developed diagnostic tools to troubleshoot network failures, resulting in 40% fewer service lapses.
• Serve as primary Held Desk Technician, resolving 250 trouble tickets daily.
Section 4: Education and Certifications
After reviewing the above sections, the final area that prospective employers look at is the Education/Certification section of a resume. The most attractive selling points of this section include your highest school level completed, as well as all of your certifications.
Section 5: Keywords
If you are applying for a position at a medium- or large-sized company, your resume will likely be sorted, preranked, and filed in an electronic database before a human eye even reviews it. An HR professional or hirer will then enter “keywords” into the database to select only those resumes that match the specific criteria relevant to the open position. Only those database documents with the right keywords will then be retrieved and reviewed by a hirer; the rest will be eliminated. This system helps expedite the hiring process and can save companies money. At the core of this database technology is Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which “reads” the text on mailed, scanned, emailed, and faxed resumes and stores the text in a database. OCR software, then, has become the first obstacle that many job seekers must overcome to obtain an interview.
To get past the OCR challenge and make sure your resume lands in the hands of a hirer, a keywords section on your resume is vital. Use this section to include alternate job titles you’re applying for, areas of expertise, and other skills not cited elsewhere on your resume. List your keywords at the very bottom of your resume. Examples of keywords for a Tech Support professional’s resume might include: Help Desk, Technical Support Technician, Tech Support, Troubleshoot, and Call Center.
These five sections are the primary areas that employers review in IT resumes. Items that can make a hirer reject your resume include typos, poor grammar, and sloppy layout. As a rule, have someone you trust read over your resume before you submit it to an employer. By making sure your resume contains the essential information that busy hirers are looking for, you’ll ensure you have the competitive edge you need to succeed in the IT field.
How Not to Write a Resume
You can learn a lot about how to do something right by first learning what NOT to do. Take resumes, for example. I review about 200-300 a month, and most have at least 2-3 mistakes. Yet, all those hundreds of mistakes can be grouped into just a handful of categories, which you would do well to avoid. Read on and learn how to write a better resume by avoiding the mistakes of others, some of them unintentionally hilarious...
Mistake #1: “Golden Retriever Syndrome”
Never talk about yourself in terms that could also describe a hunting dog, like the following language, which appears in far too many resumes I see: “Hard-working, self-motivated and dependable individual.” Tired phrases like that mean nothing to employers, because they could apply to almost anyone ... or almost anyone’s dog.
Instead, dump the empty assertions and back up the claims in your resume with facts, like this: “Proven sales skills. Ranked in top 3 among 78 reps for 5 straight years, exceeding sales quotas for 18 of 20 quarters.” See the difference?
Mistake #2: A Verbal Jungle
To improve your resume (or anything you write), read it out loud. Since writing is just words on paper, reading it aloud will help you write as you would speak.
Here’s an example of language so dense, you’ll need a machete to find any meaning: “Directed assembly of elements from business units in engineering, development, program management, distribution, and legal to effect market research, proposal responses, and contract management into comprehensive, virtual, successful teams ...”
After reading that three times, I’m still baffled. Worse, do you think employers have time to read a resume three times to figure it out? No. As a result, that job seeker is still looking for work, I’ll wager. Solution: read your resume out loud before sending it out.
If you find yourself gasping for breath halfway through a sentence, stick a period or dash in there and break it in two. And if anything you write sounds less than 100% clear when you read it aloud, revise until it would make sense to your mother. Doing so will ensure that your resume resonates with readers at all levels, from HR managers to your future boss.
Mistake #3: Negative Nuance
Just one stray word can derail a whole sentence. You know that. But in a resume, the wrong choice of words can brand you as unprofessional or careless in the eyes of employers. Here’s an example of resume wording that gives off the wrong nuance, even though the facts are clear enough: “Spearheaded use of resources in Vietnam in spite of resistance from senior management ...” I don’t know about you, but “Spearheaded,” “Vietnam” and “resistance” in the same sentence make me think of a John Wayne movie. This detracts from what the job seeker is trying to say. Before sending your resume to employers, send it to at least 2-3 friends whose judgment you trust. Ask them
to read it for grammar and punctuation, but also for unintended meanings. Revise as needed.
Mistake #4: Jumbles of Jargon
Some resumes pile on the buzzwords in a vain effort to impress. Like this:
“New-media pioneer working with technical and business professionals to create new ways of presenting content and impact tools for producing content and organizing workflow.” We’ll pass on “impact” for now -- what does a “new-media pioneer” do, exactly? I’ve got a picture in my head of covered wagons and HD-TV, but I don’t think that’s right .... Again, you can nip most crud in the bud by reading your resume out loud and then sending it to a friend for honest input. Because friends don’t let friends embarrass themselves. Here’s hoping that exposing these 4 common resume gaffes will help you avoid making them!
Mistake #1: “Golden Retriever Syndrome”
Never talk about yourself in terms that could also describe a hunting dog, like the following language, which appears in far too many resumes I see: “Hard-working, self-motivated and dependable individual.” Tired phrases like that mean nothing to employers, because they could apply to almost anyone ... or almost anyone’s dog.
Instead, dump the empty assertions and back up the claims in your resume with facts, like this: “Proven sales skills. Ranked in top 3 among 78 reps for 5 straight years, exceeding sales quotas for 18 of 20 quarters.” See the difference?
Mistake #2: A Verbal Jungle
To improve your resume (or anything you write), read it out loud. Since writing is just words on paper, reading it aloud will help you write as you would speak.
Here’s an example of language so dense, you’ll need a machete to find any meaning: “Directed assembly of elements from business units in engineering, development, program management, distribution, and legal to effect market research, proposal responses, and contract management into comprehensive, virtual, successful teams ...”
After reading that three times, I’m still baffled. Worse, do you think employers have time to read a resume three times to figure it out? No. As a result, that job seeker is still looking for work, I’ll wager. Solution: read your resume out loud before sending it out.
If you find yourself gasping for breath halfway through a sentence, stick a period or dash in there and break it in two. And if anything you write sounds less than 100% clear when you read it aloud, revise until it would make sense to your mother. Doing so will ensure that your resume resonates with readers at all levels, from HR managers to your future boss.
Mistake #3: Negative Nuance
Just one stray word can derail a whole sentence. You know that. But in a resume, the wrong choice of words can brand you as unprofessional or careless in the eyes of employers. Here’s an example of resume wording that gives off the wrong nuance, even though the facts are clear enough: “Spearheaded use of resources in Vietnam in spite of resistance from senior management ...” I don’t know about you, but “Spearheaded,” “Vietnam” and “resistance” in the same sentence make me think of a John Wayne movie. This detracts from what the job seeker is trying to say. Before sending your resume to employers, send it to at least 2-3 friends whose judgment you trust. Ask them
to read it for grammar and punctuation, but also for unintended meanings. Revise as needed.
Mistake #4: Jumbles of Jargon
Some resumes pile on the buzzwords in a vain effort to impress. Like this:
“New-media pioneer working with technical and business professionals to create new ways of presenting content and impact tools for producing content and organizing workflow.” We’ll pass on “impact” for now -- what does a “new-media pioneer” do, exactly? I’ve got a picture in my head of covered wagons and HD-TV, but I don’t think that’s right .... Again, you can nip most crud in the bud by reading your resume out loud and then sending it to a friend for honest input. Because friends don’t let friends embarrass themselves. Here’s hoping that exposing these 4 common resume gaffes will help you avoid making them!
Four Tips for Acing Interviews by Phone
Mindy Gikas was interviewing a senior-level manager on the phone in October when suddenly the job candidate paused. He said he was reading an email, recalls Ms. Gikas, a managing director in New York at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, a unit of WPP Group PLC of London. “It showed me that his conversation with me wasn’t very important,” she explains. He wasn’t invited to interview in person. Job hunters often mistakenly believe that phone interviews are less formal than face-to-face meetings, recruiters say. Yet they’re a critical first hurdle in landing a job.
For applicants, the goal of a phone interview is to secure an in-person meeting. For recruiters, it’s to narrow their list of prospects. You can increase the odds of passing this initial screening if you follow the advice in these four tips:
1. Minimize distractions.
Flushing toilets, clamoring dishes and barking dogs sometimes interrupt phone interviews, recruiters report. If you have scheduled a conversation, plan to be in a quiet place, says Chris Wilkins, manager, strategic staffing, at the Montvale, N.J., office of Ingersoll Rand Co., a manufacturer based in Hamilton, Bermuda. If the call was unexpected, it is OK to ask to reschedule, he says.
Avoid using a cell phone, if possible, says Kathleen Downs, division director, finance and accounting, at the Orlando, Fla., office of executive-search firm Robert Half International Inc. “You never know when a signal is going to be problematic,” she says. “I’ve had that happen several times with candidates. It was hard to hear them, and calls ended prematurely.”
2. Sharpen your verbal skills.
Given a phone interview’s lack of eye contact and body language, candidates are evaluated largely by what they say and how they say it, according to recruiters. Interviewers listen for clues indicating such qualities as passion for the job, professionalism and whether the person might be a good cultural fit. In May 2005, Ruth Bielobocky, principal of Ion Design LLC, a marketing-communications firm in Frederick, Md., rejected a candidate for a senior copywriting job because she wasn’t able to “get a sense of who he was,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine putting him in front of a client to communicate a concept, because you need to have enthusiasm and intonation in your voice to sell.” “Teen speak” and other unpolished speech habits are a common knockout factor, says Mr. Wilkins. “I’ve had people call me ‘dude’ and ‘brother,’ and use words like ‘freakin,’ “ he says. Other turn-offs are gum chewing, smoking and eating.
3. Prepare in advance.
If you’ve scheduled or are anticipating a phone interview, keep notes and your resume at hand, says Amy Segal, director of talent management for Verizon Communications Inc., a New York-based telecommunications company. “The interviewer is none the wiser,” she notes.
A bit of homework can go a long way. In January 2005, a candidate for a job as vice president of human resources at Ingersoll Rand impressed Mr. Wilkins by mentioning its acquisition of Italian manufacturer CISA SpA. “The press release came out literally the day we spoke,” he says. Mr. Wilkins invited the candidate to interview in person, though the person withdrew because of the job’s location. Susie Klinck, manager of the site-management team at the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Xerox Corp., says a candidate for a content-manager position at the technology and services company emailed her some work samples, and they reviewed them together on the phone.
The candidate secured an in-person interview. While she didn’t win the job, says Ms. Klinck, “being able to review her work together went a long way in her getting as far as she did.”
4. Follow up.
After a phone interview, send a thank-you that recaps your best selling points. Yvonne Gagnon, a part-time communications-management student at Manhattanville College’s School of Graduate & Professional Studies in Purchase, N.Y., did just that after a phone interview in July. She had emailed her resume to a recruiter at an executive-search firm and called a few days later to follow up. She was interviewed on the spot for a communications job at a credit-card company. “I didn’t know anything about the position or where her questioning was going,” she says. Afterward, Ms. Gagnon crafted an email summarizing what they had discussed and information that she hadn’t thought to mention.
“I’m really glad I did it, because I ended up getting five [in-person] interviews” for that job through the recruiter, she says. While she didn’t get the job, she still makes follow-up emails a practice. “The face-to-face interview won’t happen if you don’t treat a phone interview with the same gravity,” she says.
For applicants, the goal of a phone interview is to secure an in-person meeting. For recruiters, it’s to narrow their list of prospects. You can increase the odds of passing this initial screening if you follow the advice in these four tips:
1. Minimize distractions.
Flushing toilets, clamoring dishes and barking dogs sometimes interrupt phone interviews, recruiters report. If you have scheduled a conversation, plan to be in a quiet place, says Chris Wilkins, manager, strategic staffing, at the Montvale, N.J., office of Ingersoll Rand Co., a manufacturer based in Hamilton, Bermuda. If the call was unexpected, it is OK to ask to reschedule, he says.
Avoid using a cell phone, if possible, says Kathleen Downs, division director, finance and accounting, at the Orlando, Fla., office of executive-search firm Robert Half International Inc. “You never know when a signal is going to be problematic,” she says. “I’ve had that happen several times with candidates. It was hard to hear them, and calls ended prematurely.”
2. Sharpen your verbal skills.
Given a phone interview’s lack of eye contact and body language, candidates are evaluated largely by what they say and how they say it, according to recruiters. Interviewers listen for clues indicating such qualities as passion for the job, professionalism and whether the person might be a good cultural fit. In May 2005, Ruth Bielobocky, principal of Ion Design LLC, a marketing-communications firm in Frederick, Md., rejected a candidate for a senior copywriting job because she wasn’t able to “get a sense of who he was,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine putting him in front of a client to communicate a concept, because you need to have enthusiasm and intonation in your voice to sell.” “Teen speak” and other unpolished speech habits are a common knockout factor, says Mr. Wilkins. “I’ve had people call me ‘dude’ and ‘brother,’ and use words like ‘freakin,’ “ he says. Other turn-offs are gum chewing, smoking and eating.
3. Prepare in advance.
If you’ve scheduled or are anticipating a phone interview, keep notes and your resume at hand, says Amy Segal, director of talent management for Verizon Communications Inc., a New York-based telecommunications company. “The interviewer is none the wiser,” she notes.
A bit of homework can go a long way. In January 2005, a candidate for a job as vice president of human resources at Ingersoll Rand impressed Mr. Wilkins by mentioning its acquisition of Italian manufacturer CISA SpA. “The press release came out literally the day we spoke,” he says. Mr. Wilkins invited the candidate to interview in person, though the person withdrew because of the job’s location. Susie Klinck, manager of the site-management team at the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Xerox Corp., says a candidate for a content-manager position at the technology and services company emailed her some work samples, and they reviewed them together on the phone.
The candidate secured an in-person interview. While she didn’t win the job, says Ms. Klinck, “being able to review her work together went a long way in her getting as far as she did.”
4. Follow up.
After a phone interview, send a thank-you that recaps your best selling points. Yvonne Gagnon, a part-time communications-management student at Manhattanville College’s School of Graduate & Professional Studies in Purchase, N.Y., did just that after a phone interview in July. She had emailed her resume to a recruiter at an executive-search firm and called a few days later to follow up. She was interviewed on the spot for a communications job at a credit-card company. “I didn’t know anything about the position or where her questioning was going,” she says. Afterward, Ms. Gagnon crafted an email summarizing what they had discussed and information that she hadn’t thought to mention.
“I’m really glad I did it, because I ended up getting five [in-person] interviews” for that job through the recruiter, she says. While she didn’t get the job, she still makes follow-up emails a practice. “The face-to-face interview won’t happen if you don’t treat a phone interview with the same gravity,” she says.
Expert Advice on Interviewing
Your resume did its job and you’ve landed an interview for a position you really want. Now what? We asked recruiters and human resource managers around the country for their interviewing tips. Based on their input, you have some work to do before the interview.
Know the Company
Employers expect you to know about the company so don’t disappoint. Do some research online or talk with someone who works at the company. “Another thing candidates will do is that they’ll get on the phone or apply for the job and they’ll say things like: ‘I don’t know the job description.’” says Jason Kreuser, corporate technical recruiter for Information Builders Inc., a software development company. “You have to be on your toes. That type of thing can put off a corporate recruiter because it says you’re not prepared.”
Review You
Candidates often forget to review what they know best: themselves. Before an interview, go over your work history and your technical skill set. “If you’re a design engineer in circuit design, you should be prepared for theoretical questions to be asked of you. Brush up on your theory,” suggests Dawn Dryer, contract recruiter for L3 Photonics. Don’t forget to inventory your “soft skills” including communication, teamwork, and leadership, and be ready to share examples that illustrate your talents. “The main weakness I see is the candidate’s inability – or unwillingness to explain what they’ve done,” says Tricia Bielinski, resource manager at K2 Partners, an IT recruiting company. “Some consultants are very much of the mindset that it’s on their resume and you should be able to read it…Obviously, what’s on a resume and what a person can tell you about it are two very different things.”
Dress to Impress
The workplace may be more casual these days, but interviews aren’t. First impressions count, so dress professionally and be on time. And don’t forget to turn off your cell phone during the interview.
Ask Questions
A good interview should be a give and take. Shailesh Bokil, director of recruiting and partner at CEI, an IT contracting and solutions business, encourages candidates to ask questions during interviews. “It shouldn’t be a one-way interview. When they interview, they should be able to ask questions, ask what the environment is, what their day-to-day responsibilities are going to be, and what their challenges are going to be. They should be able to strike up a conversation.”
Communicate and Relate
When asked about their perfect candidate, employers said the candidate must have technical skills, but the ability to communicate well is crucial. In describing their ideal candidate, they used phrases like “a can-do person,” “someone who can articulate,” and “someone with good communication skills.” How well do you communicate? And how do you relate to new people? Ask trusted friends and colleagues for honest input on your communication skills. Some questions to consider include: Do you speak clearly? Do you project enthusiasm and confidence? Do you answer questions directly? Can you think on your feet? Work on areas that need improvement. Remember that communication is a two-way street. “It’s the ability to communicate and the ability to listen, too,” points out Dani Woolwine, a recruiter at Columbia IS Consulting Group.
Follow Up
A formal thank you letter isn’t expected, but a follow-up email is a smart, professional – and easy – gesture that can set you apart.
Know the Company
Employers expect you to know about the company so don’t disappoint. Do some research online or talk with someone who works at the company. “Another thing candidates will do is that they’ll get on the phone or apply for the job and they’ll say things like: ‘I don’t know the job description.’” says Jason Kreuser, corporate technical recruiter for Information Builders Inc., a software development company. “You have to be on your toes. That type of thing can put off a corporate recruiter because it says you’re not prepared.”
Review You
Candidates often forget to review what they know best: themselves. Before an interview, go over your work history and your technical skill set. “If you’re a design engineer in circuit design, you should be prepared for theoretical questions to be asked of you. Brush up on your theory,” suggests Dawn Dryer, contract recruiter for L3 Photonics. Don’t forget to inventory your “soft skills” including communication, teamwork, and leadership, and be ready to share examples that illustrate your talents. “The main weakness I see is the candidate’s inability – or unwillingness to explain what they’ve done,” says Tricia Bielinski, resource manager at K2 Partners, an IT recruiting company. “Some consultants are very much of the mindset that it’s on their resume and you should be able to read it…Obviously, what’s on a resume and what a person can tell you about it are two very different things.”
Dress to Impress
The workplace may be more casual these days, but interviews aren’t. First impressions count, so dress professionally and be on time. And don’t forget to turn off your cell phone during the interview.
Ask Questions
A good interview should be a give and take. Shailesh Bokil, director of recruiting and partner at CEI, an IT contracting and solutions business, encourages candidates to ask questions during interviews. “It shouldn’t be a one-way interview. When they interview, they should be able to ask questions, ask what the environment is, what their day-to-day responsibilities are going to be, and what their challenges are going to be. They should be able to strike up a conversation.”
Communicate and Relate
When asked about their perfect candidate, employers said the candidate must have technical skills, but the ability to communicate well is crucial. In describing their ideal candidate, they used phrases like “a can-do person,” “someone who can articulate,” and “someone with good communication skills.” How well do you communicate? And how do you relate to new people? Ask trusted friends and colleagues for honest input on your communication skills. Some questions to consider include: Do you speak clearly? Do you project enthusiasm and confidence? Do you answer questions directly? Can you think on your feet? Work on areas that need improvement. Remember that communication is a two-way street. “It’s the ability to communicate and the ability to listen, too,” points out Dani Woolwine, a recruiter at Columbia IS Consulting Group.
Follow Up
A formal thank you letter isn’t expected, but a follow-up email is a smart, professional – and easy – gesture that can set you apart.
Covert Job Hunters Need Dress-Code Discretion
LIKE CLARK KENT, who ducked into a phone booth to transform into Superman, Stephane Lopez is a quick-change artist. Last summer, Mr. Lopez was covertly interviewing for another job while still working at a New York investment bank. The investment firm had adopted a casual dress code, which usually meant khakis and a polo shirt. But a suit and a tie were more appropriate for his job interviews.
Choosing the right clothes for an interview has always been daunting, but it’s even more so today, when so many rules have been broken -- then reinstated. And then there’s the issue of trying to fit into you regular workday.
Dressing well for interviews without arousing the suspicion of his co-workers became a headache for Mr. Lopez, now 27 years old. “If everyone is very dressed-down and you are not, someone will raise their eyebrows,”
he says. “It was stressful. I always had to plan ahead.”
Online career sites are filled with postings about interview dress strategies when candidates are currently employed. Postings on Vault.com, for instance, suggest leaving interview-ready clothes in the car or in health-club lockers near the office, where workers can quickly change.
MR. LOPEZ DEVISED his own creative gambits. He scheduled one interview with a consulting firm at 7 a.m. That way, he could wear a suit to the interview, then go home and change again to be casual for the investment bank. The day of an afternoon interview, he “medium-dressed.” To work, he wore a suit jacket and pants, and a polo shirt. But carefully packed inside his bag were a dress shirt and tie. Before the interview, Mr. Lopez allotted an extra 20 minutes to stop in a public bathroom and change into the dressier attire. While a suit and tie might be appropriate for New York banking and consulting interviews -- which have grown even more formal after the dot-com crash -- jobs in other industries or regions can have more lax interview dress codes.
“You need to dress the part of where you want to be,” says Paul Capelli, a former public relations executive at Amazon.com. The Seattle online retailer had an extremely casual environment, says Mr. Capelli, now the vice president of public relations at CNBC. (Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com, is co-owner with General Electric of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe, and provides news content to CNBC.)
“However they present themselves to me is how they will present themselves to the firm’s clients,” says
Maury Hanigan, CEO of Hanigan Consulting Group, a New York human-resources strategy firm. “If they are too casual or too flip or too laid back for an initial meeting that can come across as indifferent or arrogant.”
Women generally have it easier than men, adds Ms. Hanigan. “Women can straddle dress standards more easily,” she says. “With men it’s much harder. Either they are in a suit or not.”
There is a fine line between looking respectful and looking ridiculous, career counselors say. “Nobody wears three-piece suits anymore,” says Kate Wendleton, president of the Five O’Clock Club, a national careercounseling organization based in New York. “And women can wear too much jewelry or too much of a hairstyle. You can look overly dressed for an interview.” If a candidate has no idea what the company’s dress is like, it’s OK to ask the recruiter or hiring manager before the interview, counselors add.
Choosing the right clothes for an interview has always been daunting, but it’s even more so today, when so many rules have been broken -- then reinstated. And then there’s the issue of trying to fit into you regular workday.
Dressing well for interviews without arousing the suspicion of his co-workers became a headache for Mr. Lopez, now 27 years old. “If everyone is very dressed-down and you are not, someone will raise their eyebrows,”
he says. “It was stressful. I always had to plan ahead.”
Online career sites are filled with postings about interview dress strategies when candidates are currently employed. Postings on Vault.com, for instance, suggest leaving interview-ready clothes in the car or in health-club lockers near the office, where workers can quickly change.
MR. LOPEZ DEVISED his own creative gambits. He scheduled one interview with a consulting firm at 7 a.m. That way, he could wear a suit to the interview, then go home and change again to be casual for the investment bank. The day of an afternoon interview, he “medium-dressed.” To work, he wore a suit jacket and pants, and a polo shirt. But carefully packed inside his bag were a dress shirt and tie. Before the interview, Mr. Lopez allotted an extra 20 minutes to stop in a public bathroom and change into the dressier attire. While a suit and tie might be appropriate for New York banking and consulting interviews -- which have grown even more formal after the dot-com crash -- jobs in other industries or regions can have more lax interview dress codes.
“You need to dress the part of where you want to be,” says Paul Capelli, a former public relations executive at Amazon.com. The Seattle online retailer had an extremely casual environment, says Mr. Capelli, now the vice president of public relations at CNBC. (Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and WSJ.com, is co-owner with General Electric of the CNBC television operations in Asia and Europe, and provides news content to CNBC.)
“However they present themselves to me is how they will present themselves to the firm’s clients,” says
Maury Hanigan, CEO of Hanigan Consulting Group, a New York human-resources strategy firm. “If they are too casual or too flip or too laid back for an initial meeting that can come across as indifferent or arrogant.”
Women generally have it easier than men, adds Ms. Hanigan. “Women can straddle dress standards more easily,” she says. “With men it’s much harder. Either they are in a suit or not.”
There is a fine line between looking respectful and looking ridiculous, career counselors say. “Nobody wears three-piece suits anymore,” says Kate Wendleton, president of the Five O’Clock Club, a national careercounseling organization based in New York. “And women can wear too much jewelry or too much of a hairstyle. You can look overly dressed for an interview.” If a candidate has no idea what the company’s dress is like, it’s OK to ask the recruiter or hiring manager before the interview, counselors add.
10 Reasons Not to Take a Counter Offer
Let’s face it, with the pace and demands of today’s employment marketplace, counteroffers are now more common than in the past. A counteroffer is an inducement from your current employer to get you to stay after you’ve announced your intention to take another job. Counteroffers are not those instances when you receive an offer and don’t tell your boss. Nor are they the offers that you never intend to take, but mention them to your boss as a “they want me but I’m staying with you” ploy. The latter two can be shrewd positioning tactics. Used with caution, they can be effective in reinforcing your value with your current employer or understanding the present monetary value of your position. True counteroffers carry an actual threat to quit.
Personal experience as an Executive Recruiter and studies indicate that counteroffers don’t hold executives; they still quit or are fired. When faced with what appears to be a sincere form of flattery, consider the following list of ten reasons for not accepting a counteroffer.
1. What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?
2. Where is the money for the counteroffer coming from? Is it your next raise early? All companies have strict wage and salary guidelines which must be followed.
3. Your company will immediately start looking for a new person at a cheaper price.
4. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.
5. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal, and who wasn’t.
6. When times get tough, your employer will begin the cutbacks with you.
7. The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the
future; even if you accept a counteroffer.
8. Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months
or being
9. Let go within one year is extremely high.
10. Accepting a counteroffer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride; knowing that you were bought.
Once the word gets out, the relationship that you now enjoy with your co-workers will never be the same. You will lose the personal satisfaction of peer group acceptance
Personal experience as an Executive Recruiter and studies indicate that counteroffers don’t hold executives; they still quit or are fired. When faced with what appears to be a sincere form of flattery, consider the following list of ten reasons for not accepting a counteroffer.
1. What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?
2. Where is the money for the counteroffer coming from? Is it your next raise early? All companies have strict wage and salary guidelines which must be followed.
3. Your company will immediately start looking for a new person at a cheaper price.
4. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.
5. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal, and who wasn’t.
6. When times get tough, your employer will begin the cutbacks with you.
7. The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the
future; even if you accept a counteroffer.
8. Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months
or being
9. Let go within one year is extremely high.
10. Accepting a counteroffer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride; knowing that you were bought.
Once the word gets out, the relationship that you now enjoy with your co-workers will never be the same. You will lose the personal satisfaction of peer group acceptance
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