Ha! I thought forgot about the last one, huh? Nope.

On Friday, I posted the 5th step to a great resume, writing a “final” draft.

Step 6: Lay it out as you go through it again (and again [and again])

blueprint by dog on wheels on flickr

This is the final step and possibly the most important one. This is called “checking your work” or “avoiding the if-only-I-had’s.”

If you haven’t formatted the document, now is the time. You’ll probably want to check out my guide on simple typography in any document to give you an idea on how to keep it simple and effective. Remember to style for the position. If you’re applying to a law firm, keep it tight, simple, and classy. If you’re applying to a graphic design company, spice it up a bit, use some color, and show them you know a thing or two about alignment.

I like to style as I read - as long as it is the first re-read of many. Reading concurrently keeps the flow of the document in mind as I put it together. It also breaks things up because reading, re-reading, and editing can wear a little thin, especially if it’s your writing.

Read it through normally once or twice, then mix it up a little bit:

• Read it out loud to yourself or someone else. If it sounds awkward, it’s probably wrong. If it’s awkward to you, the person who wrote it, imagine how it will be to someone else. Toss the sentence out and re-write it or consider breaking it up. Sometimes, the only problem is a missing period and another capital letter.
• Read it “backwards.” Start at the end and read each sentence in opposite order. This is annoying and a bit frustrating but it does work. Since you wrote this masterpiece, your brain knows what is coming next. If you read it in the wrong order, it forces you to think about each sentence individually. This is a good thing.
• Give it to someone else to read. This is a critical step, especially for resumes. It’s improbable that a second set of eyes WON’T catch something that you missed. Bite the bullet and hand it off to a spouse, friend, or parent.

If you’ve read it more than 3 times, tried all three tips above, and feel good about it, then it’s time to get it ready to print.

Final steps to get ready to send these out

I said six steps but here’s a few bonus ones that bring this process home…

Save a copy of each document with some kind of indication in the file name telling you the position to which it corresponds and the date it was finalized. Obviously keep an editable copy but also make sure you’re making PDF versions and sending those out. A PDF will look the same on every computer in every program without exception and that’s a good thing. Get yourself a free PDF maker (CutePDF works great if you don’t have the Word plugin or Adobe Abrobat) and make yourself some PDFs.   Make sure to review the PDF before you send it to make sure nothing changed during the translation (rare but it happens).

Keep a copy on a USB drive if you have one with you, in online storage if you use it, or email it to yourself so it is always accessible. There’s nothing worse than needing your fresh, amazing resume and not having it. Plus, keeping it in your email makes it easy to forward out at any time. Google Documents now allows PDFs so you have no excuse to have this important document handy.

Finally, make sure you have some printed copies around. Go to Kinko or FedExko’s or whatever and have them print it out on nice paper. Don’t go crazy with the marble-finish, 98% cotton paper, just get something nice, relatively thick, and nice to touch.

Following this process to a “T” will make sure that your resume puts your best attributes forward. If you need helping writing or deigning your resume or want to put together an online presence to promote yourself, please get a hold of me!

Yesterday, I went through the fourth step in my resume-writing process, creating a rough draft. We’re in the home stretch!

Step 5: “Final” draft time… buckle down

Greyhound Racing: Home Stretch by sombraala on flickr

OK, you have a resume, you’re about 80% there. Now it’s time to bring it all together.

First, lay it all out. Personal statement is first, then what? Education? What is the most important thing about the job you’re applying to? If you’re applying to be a web developer, your skill set is probably more important than your BA degree from a few years ago. If, however, you’re applying to be a college professor, your education is probably pretty darn important. Don’t stress too much about the order, however, because there’s plenty more to do.

Once you’ve got everything in place, it’s time to start collecting, cutting, and collating. In your skills list, group similar skills together and cut out parts that are non-essential or just distracting. Use commas, connectors, and creative words to cut down on length and content.

Next, take a hard look at your positions and do the same. You want to reduce the length of your resume as much as possible but include the most important things. This is a delicate balance and it might take a few iterations to get it right.

You also want to be telling an interesting story about your employment. Stop laughing, I mean it. It’s all connected and you had the jobs you had for a reason. For each position, you want to show your progression and why you were important at each step of the way. Just because you did the same thing everyday for 3 years doesn’t mean you weren’t an integral part of the process. Make sure that the progress and the story you’re telling ALWAYS relates back to the job for which you’re applying.

A few tips:

• Watch your tense. If it was a previous job, then use the past tense (you “were responsible” for this and “facilitated” that). If it is a current position, then use the present tense (you “are responsible” and “facilitate” this and that).
• Go easy on the stock “jobby” words (like the two I used above). You can only say that you were responsible for so much before it gets a bit repetitive. Be creative in your speech and color it up a bit. Say what you need to say but inject your personality in there.
• There is no absolutely correct way to write a resume. One place might look down on a super-corporate, dry, humorless resume while another might expect it. The only thing you need to be sure of is the grammar and the punctuation. If you suck at either or both of these, there are services out there that can help you for cheap. It’s worth it to spend a few bucks to make sure it’s right instead of ending up in the “no” pile just for a mis-key.

Get it written, make sure it’s not over a page (unless it really needs to be [show-off]), then give it a rest. The more you work on something so boring and important, the more you’re going to hate it. Crank it out and put it down for a day.

Yesterday, I wrote about the 3rd step in the Josh Can Help resume process, writing personal statements. Check it out!

Step 4: Put it all together (rough draft)

Writing Tools by this is your brain on lithium on flickr

Now, we’re going to take those personal statements, skill lists, and positions, and start building the different resumes. Don’t worry too much about formatting right now, just build the information (baby steps).

Create a new document for each resume and paste the completed personal statement at the top. Next, give your skills list a heading and copy and paste each relevant skill from the major list. Don’t be too concerned about the length or how specific/general you’re being. Writing a resume is better as an iterative process (step by step, doing and correcting). What you want to concentrate on is relevancy to the position you’re going after. The more targeted your resume is, the better you’re going to look.

Now, list your positions from newest to oldest, grouped by company. Under each of the positions, paste the experience that is relevant (see a pattern with that word?). If you think it qualifies you, put it down. If you think it doesn’t really relate, leave it out. For now, do these as bullet points and you can convert it to a paragraph later.

By the end, you should have a “completed” resume: statement, skills, and experience. The quote marks around completed means that you aren’t actually complete but this is  the meat of the task. You still need to list relevant education, awards, certifications, and experience. These can be all together in one section or separated depending on what you’re going for.

• Are you a medicinal chemist going for a senior scientist position? You’ll want a section for education (very important in the chemical industry) and another section for publications (also important).
• Are you a furniture maker going for a lead construction position? You’ll want to include any awards, mentions, published work, and education, possibly in one general section.
• Are you an experienced manager going for a VP position? List your education prominently if it relates to the industry but make sure your great ability with people shines through (soccer coach for your kids? Volunteer somewhere?).

This “misc” section really depends on what you’ve done and what you’re looking to do. Remember that you want to highlight the most important things kin your past based on the job. For some jobs, your education is paramount. For others, it’s your knowledge. For others, it might be your unpaid work. Think about what makes you unique, what makes you stand out, what gives you an edge, and lean into that.

Check out yesterday’s post, the second step towards writing a great resume, listing all of your experience.

Step 3:  Write a personal statement for each of the resumes you need to create.

write by the trial on fickr

This is the worst part of writing a resume (well, next to the cover letter). Some people will tell you that these are unnecessary and I rarely see a company that requires one but better safe than sorry. Also, it’s a good exercise and won’t look BAD on there.

A personal statement, also known as an objective, is, in your own words, why the job you’re trying to get is good for you. It’s really the only time during the resume process that you get to be selfish. Why, in your grand plan, in your overall scheme, does this job help you? Why are you applying? Why do you care whether you get it or not?

What you DON’T want to do is to make this one of “those” statements. You know what I mean, the two-sentence mush-fests that, at the end, say nothing about you except that you read 20 personal statement examples on the internet and “came up with your own.” There’s no need to say that you’re looking to “develop professionally” or “improve your career skills” or “practice your expertise.” If you say something in your personal statement, ask yourself “does everyone else in the world want this as well?” If so, what you said is painfully obvious and should probably be trashed.

Examples of what you might want to say:

• …that you want to work with people because you’re an extrovert and like to connect, hence applying to be an outside sales rep.
• …that you love children and try to spend as much time with them as possible, hence applying to be a neo-natal nurse.
• …that you get a kick out of writing creative code and want to learn from people who do the same, hence applying to be a software engineer at a start-up.

Write the statement for the job you want and tell the interviewer why you want that job. Be honest, let your personality come out, and keep your mind open. When you’re done with this step, you should have one personal statement for each resume in a “final draft” form.

Oh, and if you’re finding it impossible to write a personal statement for the job you’re applying for, maybe you should re-think applying for that job.

I’m helping a colleague of mine put together her resume for the first time in many years and I thought I’d share the process with you . I’m not convinced that there is a totally right way or wrong way to do this but I DO know that there is a right (read: beneficial) outcome and a wrong (read: detrimental) one.

What a job! by roarpett on flickr

What Should a Good Resume Do for You?

I think a lot of people approach the resume process like they would approach, say, their biography. All stories should be told, all skills described, all experience disclosed. While it’s definitely good to be honest and thorough with a company you want to work for, by putting everything in your resume, you’re taking away a lot from the other big part of getting a job: the interview.

Your resume should be a complete summary of what you have to offer but it doesn’t need to describe every position in detail. In fact, it shouldn’t, it should lead your potential employers to questions about the positions.

Your resume should, essentially, qualify you exactly for the position you’re applying for and create a bit of interest in what you have to offer. Pertinent education should be there, relevant experience should be there, specific skills should be there and they should all be tuned towards the position you’re trying to get.

Your resume should also be FLAWLESS. There are enough jokes floating around out there about misspellings, bad grammar, incorrect references, and embarrassing mistakes, don’t become one of them. Reserve at least a quarter of your resume-writing time to correcting mistakes, checking for errors, and formatting as best as you can.

day 132 'resume writing' by honeyrider at flickr

Step 1: Write down the job positions you want

Your first step is having a clear picture of what you want. If you don’t know where you want to apply or what you want to do then you’re going to be at a specific disadvantage compared to the other people applying for the position. I’m not saying you need to come to brass tacks about your career and your life and your direction (well, you probably should at some point) but you need to at least know what jobs you want, what you’re qualified for, and why you’re applying for them. Think about it: you might be saving yourself a lot of pain down the road if you decide against a job you would have mindlessly applied to in the first place.

So, get a list going and write it all down. Make sure that your list contains positions you want and positions you’re qualified to do. Just do a brain dump of everything first, get it all down on paper, then take a look at what you’ve created. In the end, you’re looking for groups of positions that are similar in one way or another. What you want at the end of this is an idea of how many resumes you’re going to need on file in order to be prepared.

Now, you have your list of industries and positions, now, take a look at them in terms of their hierarchy and where you want to be in 2, 5, or 10 years. Do you just need a job for right now or are looking to find a place to stay for a while? Think about your career path with respect to the jobs you’re applying for and what the next step will require. Do you want to be a bartender but could see yourself as a restaurant manager? Then you’ll write the resume like an aspiring restaurant manager with the skills to be a bartender. Do you have marketing experience but really see yourself as a marketing director? You should write your resume like a director who knows how to do basic marketing tasks. By writing with the next level in mind, you’re going to connect better with the person you’re interviewing with and make yourself a much more attractive candidate.

If you haven’t already, group all of this information together. Put the positions you want into groups based on the industry and in order based on rank and file. Cap each one of these ranking lists with the position you’d like to attain by getting better at the jobs before it. Where do these jobs lead for you? What do you want to be doing later? How will these jobs help? How can you orient yourself towards your goals? Big stuff, I know, but critical in general and important for your job search.

Next step coming tomorrow so stay tuned!

I have a friend who works as a recruiter for Microsoft and, though I’ve never actually worked side-by-side with him, I know his work ethic, his commitment, and his intelligence well enough to respect anything he has to say about all things employment related.

I’m at a crossroads between several different career paths and, though I know, for the most part, what I want to do and what I don’t want to do, the state of the job market and the industries themselves have to play a part in my decision. On my own, I can only know about career opportunities by what I read in blogs and what I experience myself so, at time like these, it’s good to have someone to talk to that can put it all into perspective.

Microsoft’s perfect developer job description

I asked my friend to tell me what kind of trends he is seeing in online design/development (if any). Where does he think things are moving? More importantly, where is the money? Is it worth it to learn a language or use your people skills?

Here’s what he had to say (verbatim but broken down):

I think that the online design/development world is currently going through some major changes.  This is both product wise as well as company/business wise.  Over the past year there have been a lot of changes around Adobe, Corel, Apple and even here at MS.  Check out Expression, if you haven’t, to see some of the things that we are starting to do.  I think a large trend is moving from overall design to building experience that are truly media rich (video, interactive, etc).

I just started working with Expression Blend 2 to design a Windows user interface for a developing piece of software. This software allows you to draw things in completely scalable format and then see the XAML code that was created. I liken this to being able to draw vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator and then seeing the equations that are needed to make the artwork.

The application also lets you manage the “code behind” files (created in a language that I don’t understand like C# ["see-sharp"]) which creates an interesting “generalist” situation where I can have a hand in both the aesthetic design and the application code itself.

The implications behind this situation is that versatility is poised to become a skill in and of itself. There will always be a need for a specicalist but the Henry Ford style production line scenario, in software design at least, is going the way of the dinosaurs. If you’re taking computer science classes, it might behoove you to also pick up a few art classes or a digital design minor if it is available.

Taking this idea a step further, picking up two (or more) different disciplines at the same time means that you’re going to sacrifice something: sleep, your life, or absolute mastery of either. In order to be the best at something, it takes lots of practice which stems from complete commitment. It would be impossible (or, at least, undesirable) to put in the work to become the best, say, formula one driver AND the best short story writer; one of the two must suffer. But, if your intention was to simply blend the two as best you could and become really good in both, this is possible. You could probably become a world-ranked driver and someone who wrote great short stories (about racing, likely).

How do you build skills that are needed? Branch out.

To become a great designer and a great software developer, you would need to bring the two together. I would say that web development does this very easily. As a rule, if you’re writing usable, good-looking web pages on your own then you’re going to need a solid sense of layout and style as well as a good eye for syntax and, if you’re using Javascript or PHP, some idea of functions, variables, and good programming practices. Bringing it all together successfully means that you’ve learned all of this and practice it on a regular basis. There is just no way to be the top technology blogger with an award-winning blog that you designed and built yourself along with custom sidebar widgets implemented by you. Show me this guy or gal and I’ll show you my resignation from the field. You can, however, understand search engines, have a polished writing style, know how to construct themes, know enough PHP to not ruin anything, have a sense of design, and put it all together on-line. Understanding each of these skills and also knowing your resources well enough not to memorize everything is key.

This idea of versatility was echoed by another person at Microsoft I talked to recently. He works for the MSN team and has a background in journalism. He said (paraphrased):

There are amazing developers out there. These people can write code that works well all day long. There are also great graphic designers out there. But the person with great development skill and a strong sense of aesthetics is the one I’m hiring on the spot.

Versatility is key and there is nothing better to convey versatility than to actually SHOW versatility. Learn Blend and create something in it. Create something in Illustrator, modify it in Photoshop, then start a blog and post it on the web. It’s one thing to read the books and it’s a whole other to use the skills, hone them, practice them, and put yourself out there.

Answering my money question, the Microsoft recruiter said:

The money is in all of these areas, especially if you are using the latest products and are well versed in the product offerings that are out there.  If you already have some language knowledge, or know how to work with managed code such as Java or C#, etc. and have people skills, then you are in a good position.  If you look at the .NET Developer Platform and Visual Studio as well as other developer tools, more time is spent on creating a rich experience (application, UI or whatever) and less on overall coding.  That is why companies like MS make these tools for developers.  So, basically, if you can master the use of these and code ad hoc, then, IMO you are set up fairly well.

I’m the type of picky person who wants a career doing things I enjoy AND I want to get paid well doing it. Am I asking for too much? I don’t think so.

Should you learn a new programming language? The answer is yes.

There are hundreds of programming languages currently in use around the world so knowing one language perfectly is probably to your detriment. If, however, you understand the concepts of syntax, systems architecture, and variables very well and are able to use several different languages, you are set up well for progressing in the future. When you start a new job or gain a new client, there is a variable learning curve based on information related to that job. If, for example, you learned Adobe Flash and Actionscript perfectly, you might have a hard time picking up the Javascript that is necessary for one job. Being knowledgeable and able in several different disciplines shows that you are flexible and able to pick up new skills. It also becomes more likely that you’ll find a job that requires one of your existing skills.

The other part in that paragraph that it’s easy to breeze over is the comment about having people skills. I’ve worked in several different industries and, let me tell you, there is no substitute for a positive attitude and an open mind. In my own experience, there are more people that think that their skills excuse them from getting along with others than those who put their people skills first and their productive skills, robust as they may be, second. Especially in the sciences, being personable and likable goes a long way.

Last but not least, my recruiter friend makes a very astute observation about the tools available to people these days. While I choose to write HTML in a notepad, there are tools out there like Dreamweaver that are making it easier and easier to create great content without being a ten year veteran of a certain piece of software or coding language. This speaks directly to my mission statement, helping people do more with the technology available to them. You might want to get into design or upholstery or personal training but don’t know where to start or how to manage everything that needs to be done. Through Google, blogs, free software, and a plan, you can do a lot more with your time than you ever thought possible.

The relics of the past clinging to old processes, dusty and stagnant tradition, and archaic methods are finally beginning to see some competition from people who know how to manage their time and are smart enough and brave enough to see past the status quo and blaze a new path. The people clinging on to the “same old same old” are getting surpassed, naturally, by those who have an open mind. Maybe the old way to do things is a way that’s going to be around for a while (think about books and the Amazon Kindle) but if you’re not at least looking at other options then you’re going to be blindsided when change happens.

Just think of all the industries, products, and companies that seemed like they would be around forever - newspapers, fax machines, radio, any of the number of collapsed financial institutions. When you assume nothing is going to change and when you take it for granted that the way things are is the way  they will continue (and the way they should be without question), you put on the figurative blinders. Learning new tools, new techniques, new pieces of software, meeting new people, trying new things… these all either lead to great new innovations and change they way everything is done for the better OR they reinforce what is already in place which is just as good. Nothing has replaced HTML as a web presentation language (unless you count XHTML which I guess you could) because there isn’t anything better right now. What did affect HTML was CSS and now that’s the standard. Sadly, there are still people coding exclusively in HTML but this won’t go on forever.

So, there’s a bit of job advice from a guy in the know and a little analysis from the guy who breaks it all down. If you think you match what they’re looking for up there in Redmond, feel free to send me your resume and I’ll pass it on!