Job Search Skills with Idealist.org

1 08 2008

This video stars my friend and colleague at Idealist, Douglas

I’ve been working at Idealist for the summer, blogging and podcasting with the fine folks there. It’s been a blast! You can also see this video (and some of my other posts) on their NYC blog.


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Enter job search panic; Gain new resource

14 07 2008

In the midst of a hectic summer, I’ve been thinking about employment a lot. I’ve also realized that in less than a year, it’s more than likely that I will be moving back to Minnesota after completing my Master’s. I think that’s a good thing, but in the meantime, my career consulting brain has immediately jumped to: what will *my* job search be like?!

<< Enter Panic. >>

It has been a long time since I actually had to look for a job. Granted, I’m working two jobs this summer on top of this little resume shindig I have going, and they were the only two jobs I applied for… so I have a good track record. But the question at hand is: what do I want to do?! The problem is, there are too many options for me to feel happy with accepting just one position. Sheesh.

This post is not the post to answer that question. Instead, I’m going to make a plug for a job search site that quelled my fears a little today: Idealist.org.

Idealist is not for everybody, but it is for people who want to help others in creative, exciting ways, and to connect with others in doing so. It’s most useful function is acting as a massive holding space for job postings, but also has a nice blog, a place to put your profile, and, I think, an especially decent podcast.

Check it out and quell those anxieties. If that doesn’t work… go get a margarita and a hammock. Cheers.


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The things we will do…

29 05 2008

…to get the job.

Today’s New York Times features a conversation amongst readers, “It’s No Act, I Need A Job.”  The comments highlight the really smart things people do in the job search, as well as some of the denser things.  Below, some excerpts:

  • “Do all the basics of job hunting: design a spell checked/proofed resume and cover letter that speak to the job requirements; dress more conservatively than your interviewers; execute a firm handshake (many don’t) and look the interviewer in the eyes for a half second; ask questions; follow up with a thank you; be persistent; take care of yourself; seek help if you’re floundering.” – Andris Grunde, PA
  • “When I go to an interview, I suck up. I laugh at all the right places, I pretend the interviewer — no matter how stupid he or she appears — is the most interesting person I’ve ever met. I make subtle hints that I’m willing to put out to get the job.” – Alex, N
  • “When applying for a television production job I included flowers and signed the cover letter ‘not just another cable puller.’ I got the job. When applying for a senior creative position I included a key to a Mercedes-Benz automobile and a note saying ‘Your new car’ was parked outside but this was unrelated to my application. I got the job.” – Gary Milgrom, Atlanta
  • “Sent my resume on pink stationary. This only works if the hiring manager is open-minded enough to actually not dismiss you as a nut and actually read your resume after getting beyond the pink stationary. Fortunately some one did and I got the job.” – LY, Boston

My personal favorite?

  • “I incorporate the requirements of the job stated in the ad into my resume. It never fails to get me an interview.” – Paul, NJ


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Resume lessons from Phoebe

6 05 2008

Let’s all follow Phoebe’s example: Friends don’t let friends lie on their resumes!

(One more week of finals… and then I’m back, full-force! I know you can’t wait.)


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Your resume: jump the hoop of empowerment

29 04 2008

Being not only a blogger, resume writer, and career commentator, I am also a full-time graduate student — and an eager, excited one at that. I study ethics — in particular, I study Christian ethics, and I choose to do it in a way that is relevant to the world that we live in. I (very righteously, it sounds like today) comment on women’s rights, I think about racism as it intersects with American religion, I care about the ethics of war, torture, end-of-life experiences, and I try to connect what this fellow named Jesus living and dying in the period of the Roman Empire might have to say about all of us who live and die in this period of the American Empire. I really care about this. I think it matters.

What I do not care about, however, is being bombarded with meaningless papers during finals week that prevent me from thinking, caring, and doing the important things that I love. Today, I’m writing two insignificant papers, and as I do it, I realize that I am just jumping through yet another hoop to get the degree I need to do what I want to do.

This, though is why I love resumes so much. Resumes, my friends, are certainly a hoop, but they are useful, empowering, strong documents that serve a real-world purpose. Resumes are the hoop that will get you somewhere, which teach you something about yourself, and enable you to say, Obama-like, “Yes, I can.” With a resume, you’re responding to something real, and putting yourself in a position of power: you decide who you are on your resume. You take your skills, your passions, your experiences, your work, your education, and arrange it in a way that optimizes YOU.

Ah, the passion and fear emerging from a graduate student at the end of the semester. Nevertheless — I am so thankful for the things in this world we can do out of integrity, self-representation, and excitement. I’m thankful for my education. And weirdly enough? I’m thankful for resumes.


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Video Resumes = Preposterous

22 04 2008

Video resumes are preposterous. Why?

1) There’s a reason we don’t put our pictures on a resume — it makes people focus on your appearance rather than your qualifications. It also unfortunately opens the door for people to discriminate against you based on age, color, gender, attractiveness quotient… whatever. And, it’s just downright tacky. A video resume is all these things and more.

2) I’d venture a guess to say that few of us have the skills to develop an interesting, attractive, and short video resume that actually communicates the information about ourselves we want to get across. Heck — not many of us can write a good traditional resume.

3) Video resumes are BORING! It takes longer to watch a video resume than it does to skim a traditional one. I hardly made it through one of the many I’ve perused on YouTube–the employers are not going to hear the information you want them to know about you. All they’re going to know is that you made a crappy, self-indulgent video.

4) You look a fool. Plain and simple.

Don’t believe me? Then watch this video:

Did YOUR mind wander halfway through this boring video? Mine sure did. And this one was better than half of the others floating around on YouTube! So please, folks: if your voice makes you sound like a pre-teen who would rather be watching Hannah Montana, do yourself a favor and OPT OUT. (Sheesh!)

So, then. My suggestions surrounding a video resume:

  • Don’t do one unless you would use those same skills on your job, i.e., you’re into computers, video editing, the web, that kind of stuff.
  • Know. How. To. Do. A. Good. Job.
  • Wait a few years! There will be better tools and more knowledge in a few years on how to make a GOOD video resume, and how to use it.

Still stuck on it? Then for crying out loud — keep it short, look presentable, be confident, and include a link to your online resume!


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I have a new header!

15 04 2008

It’s pretty great, huh? Many thanks to Zoe Pappenheimer for her hard work.  And for her brilliance.

See more of Zoe’s stuff out at Zoe Design Works.


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So you think the job search’s a drag?

14 04 2008

You’ve been unemployed for a while now, and are starting to feel the burn. Tired of revising the resume, of putting yourself on the line, and of checking f*ing careerbuilder.com one more time, you’re beginning to entertain thoughts of self-sustainable farming, or perhaps nannying other people’s children… anything to get a buck. And more specifically, anything to get out of this hellhole we call… the Job Search.

Luckily, you have me, your friendly blogging friend, to help you out with this latest bout of ennui. And know what I’ve got? Another list for you. Sweet!

This one’s called the “Keeping-Up-Your-Momentum-and-Having-Fun-When-the-Job-Search-Really-Blows” List:

1) Check your attitude. Nothing is more of a downer in an interview than an applicant who is sincerely self-deprecating. Revise the way you look at your situation from having “no” opportunities to having any opportunity you want! It might be hard to remember, but being unemployed is actually a chance to start fresh, to do whatever you want to do, to try something new.

2) Bond. Find a community of other unemployed folks in your area! There actually tend to be a variety of places where you can meet others who are looking for employment, from online at LinkedIn to your local Job Club to Resume or Interviewing Skills Seminars. From there, you can network, share resources, compare skills, or just hang out and blow off some steam.

3) Surf. Reading Job Mob, Laurie Ruettimann, One Louder, or Not Hired, job search/HR blogs that are funny, fresh, and creative, is a great way to improve your job search knowledge, gain some skills, and not feel like you’re working so hard. Hey, maybe you’ll even laugh a little!

4) Get help. The job search is a full-time career, requiring a vast array of skills and knowledge that you may or may not not have in vast quantities. Don’t assume you should be able to do everything! Get a professional to coach you on how best to interview, to advise you on which strategies will get you where you want to go, or to make a simple revision of your resume.

Onwards and upwards!


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Interview strategies from the heart of the beast (…me)

9 04 2008

Yesterday I had an interview for a part time summer job to supplement my income as I try to launch resumakers! ( remember, I’m also a full time grad student, so I’ll take what I can get!).  I was kind of nervous about it since I do tend to call myself… that’s right… a Career Consultant, and therefore should know how to interview.  I am trying to build a career, after all, out of telling other people how to do it!

Here were my tactics:

1) Treat the interviewer like a friend.  Anyone who’s ever hired anyone knows this: we hire people we like.  So do yourself a favor, and be likable.  (And this is key: SMILE!)

2) Tell stories, not pitches.  Sell yourself, not your personality traits.  Forget about listing off all the wonderful qualities you have–instead of talking about how motivated you are, tell a story about what happened on your last job as a result of your self-motivation.  It’s more interesting, and it’s more persuasive.

3) Answer the question. Yeah.  Answer it.  Don’t be a politician, be a person.  You understood the question, so treat the interviewer like a human being and acknowledge the question the asked by actually answering it–even the tough ones.

4) Take notes. Do it both before and during the interview.  Know what you want to say, and have it written in front of you in case you have a mind freeze.  Take notes during the interview, too–it helps later when you write your thank you note.  (Just make sure you’re maintaining eye contact!)

5) Research. If you don’t know about the organization before the interview, you don’t deserve the job.  Period.


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Your resume and your intelligence

7 04 2008

JacobyA new book by Susan Jacoby, called The Age of American Unreason, talks about the growing trend of ignorance among Americans. Nicholas Kristof, writing for the New York Times, said of the book on March 30,

“’America is now ill with a powerful mutant strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism, and anti-intellectualism,’… [but Jacoby's] broader point is that we as a nation will have difficulty making crucial decisions if we don’t have an intellectual climate that fosters an informed and reasoned debate.”

Kristof’s article, “With a Few More Brains…”, goes on to lament the effect that such ignorance may have had on American policies, politics, and international relations. Whether or not his claim on the political repercussions of Americans’ purported ignorance is true, Jacoby’s book does make a striking argument on the state of our brains and our intelligence. Sure, one could argue about the intellectual progress of Americans either way: “Look how far we’ve come!” or “Oh my gosh, we’ve regressed so far…”, but what may be even more important are the lessons we can take away from Jacoby’s position: 1) we must always learn from our history, and 2) revise, revise, revise!

Read the rest of this entry »


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