Tag Archives: Career Advice

How to Read a Resume for Culture Fit

Have you ever wondered how to read a resume to get the best understanding of the candidate’s fit for the job? What’s the most important part to focus on?

Is it the objective? Is it where you went to school? Maybe it’s your last employer?

Google’s staffing director discusses how to read a resume

It’s not any of those things. Well, not according to Todd Carlisle, Director of Staffing at Google. He believes the most important part of the resume is the bottom portion, where people normally list things like hobbies, activities, volunteer experience, etc.

Candidates\’ early work experience, hobbies, extracurricular activities or nonprofit involvement—such as painting houses to pay for college or touring with a punk rock band through Europe—often provide insight into how well an applicant would fit into the company culture.” source

I think that’s a great idea, and I’d have to agree that it could be valuable for ascertaining a person’s culture fit. Many professionals drop those kinds of information from their resume in order to fit in the valuable experience gleaned at other positions, so you could be missing plenty of them with a great history of volunteering and social activities if you’re only scanning resumes.

That’s where the next point comes in…

Stop reading resumes altogether

In the video below Jerome Ternynck, CEO of SmartRecruiters, brings an even more radical approach to the one above: get rid of resumes and use “profiles” instead. I like the idea, but I don’t know how feasible it is. Frankly, it’s easier for any company to sort through ten resumes than it is to sort through ten profiles for candidates.

And despite there being hundreds of great career resources on the web, some job seekers still have ugly resumes, poor interviewing skills, and no real career plan. Then again, that does weed the technically ignorant folks from the hiring pool (at least until they catch on). Check out the video below for more ideas on how we can get rid of resumes once and for all.

Corporate Culture-Values, Beliefs, and… Job Applications?

stack of job applicationsWhen you’re trying to learn about an organization’s corporate culture, values, and  beliefs, you need to pay attention to the available information to get a good feel for it. One of my friends is looking at applying to a local private Christian school, and I went to their website to print the application for him to complete.

While the application starts off like any other (job history, availability, work preferences, etc.), it gets into some very meaty questions near the end. If I was looking for a job with this organization, I would be reading those questions very closely Continue reading →

Five years ago (HR Carnival)

This week’s HR carnival is going to be going up at EvilHRLady on Wednesday. The theme is “What were you doing five years ago?”, so I thought I would throw in a post to that effect. Nothing enlightening or exciting today, just a chance for me (and you) to reflect back on the amount of changes that five years can bring…

Five years ago, my life was radically different. I was still busy, but my focus was totally different from what it is today.

  • I was thinking about running my first ultramarathon.
  • I was helping to plan my wedding.
  • I was doing manual labor during the day and going to school at night.
  • I was a junior in college.
  • I had only the vaguest sense of what this “HR” thing was.
  • I had to turn down an unpaid HR internship because I needed the $$$ when I got married.
  • I was living in my first house all by lonesome.
  • I had never even read or thought about writing an HR blog.

At any point in the middle of the hustle and bustle of 2007 I could have made one or more decisions that totally changed the course of my life. And despite all of that, here I am today. Married. Kids. HR degree. Job in the HR/recruiting field. And blogging to my heart’s content.

So how did I make the leap? What was the secret ingredient?

I studied pretty hard in college, but I also did all the research I could on the people who were already working in HR. I surfed websites looking for an HR point of contact. Once I had that I would email them and ask a few questions about what it was really like working in the HR field. Some of that information helped me to write papers in my junior/senior years, but it also helped to 1) confirm my choice in professions and 2) give me as much of a realistic job preview as I possibly could get.

I’d have killed for some job shadowing opportunity, but between working 40-50 hours a week, going to school full time at night, and the rest of that list of daily tasks, I was just holding on by my fingernails.

In the latter half of 2007 I got a job for a company that ended up paying for my senior year of college in return for my indentured servitude for a year after I graduated. Working for that company was a so-so experience. Not bad, but not really great, either. I learned  a few things about good managers, poor planning/consideration for remote employees, and how team dynamics can influence the amount of work that gets accomplished.

The big takeaway

If I can give a piece of advice… Even if you’re in a position you don’t enjoy, you are learning something valuable. That might be how not to treat people or do business, but it’s still a learning opportunity. Looking back now I can see that every job I’ve held has taught me something about the right things to do. More importantly, it’s helped to teach me how to stay away from the wrong things.

All in all it is definitely tough to think about what life was like five years ago, but I can say with certainty that I am thankful for the experiences that I had leading up to this point. Each step (and misstep) has formed me into the person I am, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Enough about me! How about you? Where were you five years ago? Did you love/hate your job? Were you in college? Was there something interesting going on in your personal life? I’d love to hear about it! 

Do Resumes Go Into a Black Hole? 3 Ways to Get Noticed

The Top 3 Ways to Get Your Resume Noticed in an Applicant Tracking System

In today\’s competitive marketplace, applying for a job can be an exercise in frustration.  The endless resume submission process can feel like a black hole when you don\’t receive a response. What can you do to get your resume past the gatekeeper and increase your chances of getting an interview?

As more and more recruiters are leveraging technology in their recruitment processes, here are 3 noteworthy tips to help get your resume reviewed faster!

  1. Tweak Your Resume

In the old days, that gatekeeper was often a secretary or maybe an HR hiring manager. However, many companies are now using applicant tracking systems (ATS) to find the best candidates and eliminate manual processes like sorting through a pile of resumes. Before your application reaches someone in HR, it will first be reviewed through this ATS software.

Luckily, once you understand a few key elements of applicant tracking software, it\’s not as daunting as it might sound. The truth is, if you include all of your accomplishments and relevant past experience in your resume, the applicant tracking system can pick up on your skills and show you as an excellent fit for the position.

  1. Show Your Results

Every resume is stronger when it is results based.  Showing that you raised your department’s sales by 12% over your tenure shows sales and marketing skill—important for a sales and marketing position, which the ATS software will likely notice.  If you are applying for an entry level position and may not have past results to include, perhaps mention results from a significant club event you organized.

  1. Make Sure You Fit the Requirements

If the position calls for someone with 5-7 years of experience and you have 3, the software will pass you over.  For that matter, so will the HR manager; therefore, make sure you fit the requirements as closely as possible and remain realistic in your job hunt.

The use of applicant tracking systems to help with the hiring process is continuing to grow in today’s corporate world. ATS software is designed to help both the recruiter/hiring manager and the candidate by streamlining the hiring process to allow for open positions to be filled more quickly. By applying a few of the key tactics outlined above to your resume before you hit the “submit” button, you\’ll help ensure that your application will make it past the initial screening process and onto the desk of a hiring manager.

This guest post comes from iCIMS, which offers web-based applicant tracking system (ATS) solutions  for business of all sizes. iCIMS provides employee onboarding software to help streamline the hiring process in order to save time and reduce cost-per-hire. iCIMS’ talent management system can be tailored to fit your HR or recruiting needs. To learn more, visit their website or follow iCIMS on Twitter @iCIMS.

Getting a job in HR (Q&A)

I love getting questions about what it’s like getting a job in HR. Today I’m giving C a hand with her questions (answering a little late, but better than never!).

As a generalist, what exactly is your job like? What kind of projects do you work on, etc?

Every day is fairly different in my role, though a generalist at a larger company might not be able to say that. For instance, in recent weeks I’ve worked on collecting and analyzing company-wide performance reviews, drafted open enrollment communications describing our changes to benefits and premiums, worked with one of our admins to develop an activity for our executive retreat, and worked with our managers to develop goals for their employees for the coming year. In the coming weeks I’m working to create our affirmative action plan, develop job descriptions for our employees, and evaluate a new benefits vendor. It truly is a little bit of everything!

The thing that intrigues me most about HR is the potential to help people and help turn the work environment and experience in general into something more enjoyable for and considerate of today’s workers. After seeing how HR seems to be transforming due to web-workers and companies like Zappos, it almost seems like HR is the frontline for effecting change in labor relations. 

How much of this is actually true? How much of your job (or any HR position for that matter) actually deals with actual employees or things that directly affect them and in what ways? How much influence do you have on your employees and their work environment as an HR person? 

Great question! Just like Zappos, we do a lot of culture building and sharing, and it’s really helped us to develop a strong, unified workforce. One of the barriers is the level of respect that HR gets in the business, though. In previous employers HR was expected to be a quiet, back corner admin function. And that’s all it was. At my current employer the HR function is involved in planning and strategy meetings at all levels.

In my job, I deal with employees on a daily basis. However, that’s not the norm. As a small company I have the opportunity to have a high-touch relationship with our employees. That means they get more individual value out of me, but it also means that it doesn’t scale. In other words, as we add employees, we’ll have to add more to the HR team or reduce the hands on interaction.

I have a bachelor’s in business administration and most of my experience is in customer service, product support, and some IT roles (about 8 years of customer service experience). In your opinion, how are these skills relevant to the career?

The degree is a good one. It might not give you the deep background an HR degree would, but it does give you better awareness of the other business functions and how HR ties into those.

I would say that customer service experience translates well to an entry t0 mid level HR role. The higher you go the less interaction you have with people directly, but at those lower levels you do more face-to-face interaction with managers and staff. One of the interesting things about the HR profession is that we have people from every conceivable type of background.

If you are working in a company that specializes in IT services, to use your example, being an HR person there would mean you understand what the employees’ jobs are like and how you can best help them to be successful. At my current employer, I had very little experience in the industry, but I obviously like writing, so I was given the Communications hat as well as the HR/recruiting one. It’s a great way they have decided to utilize my skills and interests to make the organization better.

Working off of the last question, should I be focused on completing a certification asap? If so, how should I prepare for the exam considering I don’t have experience in HR?

In order to get certified (PHR/SPHR), you now have to have several years of exempt level HR experience to take the exam. It’s not a huge bump up in terms of marketability as a candidate, even if you could get it, since you don’t really have experience. I’d focus instead on using your general business education to increase the value of the HR function.

I am in the process of starting a family. I have read salary surveys and such but what is the income potential really like in HR?

Honestly, it’s different everywhere. Here in Huntsville (which is one tiny market among thousands in the US and worldwide) an HR assistant can make from $20-30k, HR generalists 30-70k, HR directors/managers from 50-100k+, depending on experience level and industry. It varies wildly and depends on the value you are bringing the business.

A good company will look at how you are increasing their profitability or reducing costs and work hard to compensate you accordingly. Someone who files papers 8 hours a day is going to be less valuable than someone developing and rolling out a new pay for performance compensation strategy.

Are there any resources out there about LGBT representation within the career? I looked around but was pretty unsuccessful in finding anything substantial.

I am actually good friends with a few individuals who fall into that category. I am not sure if they are comfortable with me shouting it from this platform, but they certainly do exist. I would say HR people in general are more tolerant of other beliefs (we see too many not to be!). If you want more information on this specifically I can put you in touch with one of them since I have no personal experience with this issue.

And there you have it, C! I hope that helps and that you are still interested after that exposure. :-) Good luck!
If anyone else has questions they’d like to ask, feel free to email me at ben@upstarthr.com. Thanks!

Job shadowing questions

I\’ve been working with my local SHRM chapter to set a student program for job shadowing. Questions and ideas are bouncing around in my head, and it\’s going to be a great experience for both the students and the people who volunteer to help. I can still remember what it was like when I was trying to get my first job in HR (link), and I\’d have killed for a chance to follow around a local HR pro for a day to see what it was like. I\’m looking forward to helping them get their job shadowing questions answered!

What I plan to do

I\’m going to take some time first thing to share some of my own tips and ideas for someone getting started in the field. That will set the stage for the rest of the day as a learning experience.

Next I\’ll make sure I have a variety of tasks planned so they get a look at the facets of HR that I deal with-benefits, recruiting, employee relations, communication, etc. Some of those things are pretty routine for me, but for someone who is job shadowing, it would be pretty interesting. A few routine activities I might go with:

  • Answering benefits questions, looking up our summary plan descriptions for details, and making changes to someone\’s insurance/401(k)/compensation
  • Call a candidate to schedule an interview or to do a culture-based interview, work on an offer letter and salary package, or sit in on an interview (phone interview would be easier with this one)
  • Show how our performance management system works and what each person\’s responsibilities are
  • Give them a glimpse into the vendor selection process and how it works
  • Develop an employee communication with a specific management characteristic in mind (how to have tough conversations, for example)

One thing I will definitely not do is plan a party, talk about being a “people person,” or do anything else that HR gets stuck with that isn\’t really our responsibility. We aren\’t party planners, darn it.

Finally I\’ll wrap up the day with another short discussion on what they originally perceived and how it ended up being different. Interesting side note on this—I have someone in my office who is interested in getting into the HR field eventually. I could actually take that person through these exercises as well as a practice run and to give them the insights into the profession that they might not otherwise get. Fun stuff!

I\’ve also kicked around the idea of creating a short document to give them that allows the job shadowing student the opportunity to give feedback and take notes. I\’d personally like to see what they found interesting, because I plan to do it more than once and want to make it better for each person that visits.

Anyone else ever do a similar activity and have ideas to share? Does anyone have any job shadowing questions they\’d like answered? 

2%-What\’s it to you?

I wrote this piece for our company newsletter recently. I’m a big believer in educating our employees on the importance of saving for retirement, and when I heard about a new tax change this year, I just knew I had to write on it. If you are interested in using it for your own company, feel free to copy/paste this post for your people. Enjoy!

2%-What\’s it to you?

If you hang around the financial news section, then you might have heard something about a change in your withholding taxes for 2011. Why does this concern you? Well, according to CNN Money, only 16% of people are confident in their ability to save for retirement. It\’s frightening to hear news like that, but there is a positive side to this situation.

To adequately prepare their finances for the golden years, Americans need to be saving 6-10% of their salaries throughout their working lives. If you are investing in your 401(k) account to the full match (average company matches 3%), then you are barely reaching the bottom end of the spectrum.

So, what does this have to do with the change in taxes this year? Well, as a result of one of the new laws by Congress, 2% of your normal social security payroll taxes will not come out of your check this year. If you\’ve been holding off on participating in the 401(k) program, now\’s the time to make the leap! If you already contribute, this is a great way to bump up your contribution to make sure you are adequately covered in your retirement savings.

Here\’s a quick example of the power of 2%. If an employee makes $50,000 per year and puts this 2% ($1000) into an average mutual fund in their 401k account for 25 years without adding anything else in that time, that would total more than $17,000. If you\’re not currently participating in the 401k program and that 2% election is eligible for matching, that could double the amount to $34,000. Not enough to retire on, but not something to sneer at, either.

If you\’re interested in learning more, joining the 401(k) program, or just figuring out what is right for you, feel free to contact your plan administrator for assistance.

What do you think? Good? Bad? Ugly? :-)