Questionable practices or problems involving recruiters and career services practitioners will be resolved between the parties as quickly as possible. We recommend the following:
Discuss the incident with all parties involved in the situation. Determine the specifics of the problem.
Attempt to resolve the incident among the affected parties.
Refer unresolved concerns to the supervisors of the involved individuals or to other appropriate officials. Continue reading »
Career services and employment professionals are involved in an important process-helping students choose and attain personally rewarding careers, and helping employers develop effective college relations programs which contribute to effective candidate selections for their organizations. The impact of this process upon individuals and organizations requires commitment by practitioners to principles for professional conduct. Continue reading »
The keys to great interviews consist of the following points:
Preparation,
Structured Interview,
In-depth probing of applicant answers and
Consistent evaluation of applicants.
If you are experiencing less than desirable applicant selection, or high turnover, you problem most likely resides in a poor selection program. Many managers have said, “well, it must be the pay, we’re just not paying them enough, or “we don’t have the best benefits.” The truth is that there are people who work for your company who do a great job with the current salary and benefits, so the answer lies in your selection program.
You need to find out what these successful incumbents do, why they like doing the work, then find more individuals like them. Let’s start by discussing preparation. Continue reading »
Question: I’m a recent college graduate in Biological Sciences who has been searching for a research position in the biotechnology field. By far the largest biotech employer in my state is Amgen. They list about 5-10 new entry level Research Associate positions every fifteen days or so.
How to make a huge company like Amgen pay attention to resume?
Answer:
Your resume can’t get screened out if you don’t send one. Contact the company by phone and ask for the Public Relations department. Ask for any recent press releases and the names of publications where they appeared. Read the article and write down the names of individuals who appear in it. Continue reading »
What to do:
Use industry-specific language and keywords
Leave lots of white space (easier for scanners)
Place your most important accomplishments near the beginning
What not to do:
Don’t use italics or large fonts
Don’t underline words
Don’t boldface text
Don’t use unique fonts (stick to the common fonts)
Don’t abbreviate Continue reading »
An Internet resume requires you to follow certain rules. In traditional resumes, adjectives (created, designed, organized, etc.) prevail. An Internet resume will focus more on nouns and keywords since your resume will most likely end up in a resume database.
Prospective employers will type in 20 to 100 keywords and do a key word search and pull up resumes that match the keywords. This approach isn’t very effective since many highly qualified applicants don’t know how to write a “keyword” resume. Just think back to the last time you used an Internet search engine. The concept is very similar and about as effective. Continue reading »
Question: I am considering changing careers. I’ve reached the burnout stage in my career and am not sure what type of work I’d like to do in my next career. Do you have any suggestions?
Answer:
Career changes are becoming more frequent due to downsizing and the fact that many people are assessing what they want from life and from work. A good starting point is Career Planning Process I think you’ll find some very useful tips here.
Another suggestion is to contact your state’s department of workforce development or One Stop career center and complete a few tests that can help guide you toward the types of jobs you would “enjoy” doing. Most of these services are free and usually very good. Continue reading »
Managers hate being presented with a “stack” of resumes. One of any manager’s worst nightmares is when a recruiter drops off a “stack” of resumes to be read “right away.” No matter how well intentioned managers may be, the reality is that they will postpone looking through the stack for days or even weeks.
Why Do Managers Hate Stacks of Resumes?
The answer is simple! Everyone hates “stacks” of resumes! Recruiters don’t like to sort through them any more than managers do. Some other reasons that managers hate piles of resumes include:
They are rarely sorted or ranked by their level of qualifications Continue reading »
Question:
I am working on updating my resume and wanted to know which type of resumes employers prefer the most.
Answer:
Most employers prefer the chronological over the functional resume. The chronological resume typically shows a steady increase in job titles and responsibilities, that’s why employers prefer this type of resume. Here are a few suggestions for choosing a specific resume format.
When TO use a chronological resume
When you intend to stay in the same field
When you have excellent marketable skills
When your skills are easily transferable Continue reading »
Question: I recently entered the job market. I have been pretty successful getting responses to my resumes. The only thing that I’m having trouble with is that over the phone they want to know my salary requirements before I even get a personal interview. How do I answer this question without damaging my chances for employment?
Answer:
The salary question is a screening question. Employers look for certain things to screen you out. One good way to answer this question is to say, “Salary is only one of my concerns. I am more interested in the opportunities and challenges this position represents.” Continue reading »