Help for Senior Job Seekers - Refining Your Resume

Are you a senior looking for work? In today's economy, many older people are finding themselves in need of a job. 

Do you feel out of the loop?  It helps to have some idea how to go about job hunting as a senior, because it is different from job searches as a young adult and very different from the job search techniques you might have been taught just a few short years ago. 
Here are some tips, and inspiration, to get you back into the world of work and hopefully increase your chances of success in getting that elusive job. 

Update Your Resume

Oh yes, I went there. Look carefully and objectively at your resume. You may find that it is extremely long after many years of experience. Perhaps several pages, in fact. What to leave and what to cull out? Consider going over your resume with someone who is an expert or experienced. (www.MyA1BestStaffing.com ) 
The experts can help you pare it down to include only relevant information and highlight pertinent skills and experience. Even if you don't go with an expert, do your research to find out what modern resumes look like and what employers want. The perfect resume five years ago is a dinosaur today. 

Some DO NOT’s:

• Don’t list your whole entire work history, this draws attention to your age and can actually make you seem overqualified to a recruiter (if they even read that far into it).  Fifteen to possibly 20 years max should be listed, chronologically, or your most recent three to four jobs. You can include those older jobs,  that you are proud of and which seem relevant to the position you are applying for, in a separate category possibly labeled ‘Additional  Experience’, but do not include those dates of employment.

• Ask yourself if those long-past skills and experiences are even still relevant in a modern workplace. I have seen  skills like ‘electric typewriter’, ‘key punch machine’, ’office intercom system’ and even ‘Teletype machine’ on resumes. I am not kidding. Hint: if there is a picture of an office machine on this site that you specialize in, then don’t list that skill on your resume.
( www.officemuseum.com/communications_equipment.htm )

• Don’t list your dates of graduation, neither High school nor college. It is a dead giveaway of your age and could cost you an interview. HR personnel are very good at counting back the years and eliminating otherwise excellent candidates based on their perceived age.

• Don’t leave huge gaps of unemployed years on the resume. List what you did during that time and word the responsibilities as they would apply to the job you are seeking. Be prepared to talk about it in the interview.

• Don’t include your references on/with the resume. Wait until the face to face interview and present a neatly printed short list of business and personal references. You can also have copies of your best reference letters ready to hand over with a confident smile.

Ok, you knew all that? So here are some important DO’s:

• Do pick a modern look for your resume and err on the side of plain, simple formatting. (unless you are applying for graphic designer leave the flowers and fancy fonts alone) And print on good medium heavy stock, plain white paper. Believe me, it will stand out.

• Do emphasize your transferable skills, even those you gained outside previous work. If they relate to the job you are applying for, put them on the resume. Ex: volunteer work titles and duties, self study foreign language classes, self taught computer skills, etc.

• Do describe how you used specific skills at your previous jobs and include examples of how you benefited the company. Ex: “Increased sales Leads by 35%”.

• Do downplay former executive job titles if you have retired and are seeking less stressful or even part time employment. Over qualification is a very real concern to HR personnel. Ex: “Finance Manager” instead of “CFO”

• Do get up to speed on the latest computer and social media jargon. If you have been left at the computer-age train station by choice, please reconsider. It is never too late to do some training. Most local colleges have technical classes for seniors that are short (6 wks or less) and to the purpose. And the purpose here is to make you the most desirable employee candidate. You'll have fun and be networking with others at the same time. In every skill set, self-improvement is never wasted.

This is week one of a six week article series by Cathy Townley-McGaughey, Recruiter and managing partner at A1 Best Staffing.

Free Job Seeker Webinars from A1 Best Staffing!

Tips for finding a new job. These and other tips are available in the A1 Best Staffing career portal at www.myA1BestStaffing.com If you are looking for work and haven't registered, what are you waiting for?

UPCOMING FREE JOB SEEKER TRAINING WEBINARS:
Cover and Thank You Letters
October 15th @ 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST, 1:00 pm MST, 2:00 pm CST)
What type of cover letter is most effective? Do you email a thank you, send a card or type a formal thank you letter? These are just a couple of questions we will answer during this Webinar. Topics will include:

• The pros and cons of cover letters 
• Cover Letter that get the best results
• When, How and Why to say Thank you
• How long is too long for either a cover letter or thank you?

I will also share some samples of cover letters and thank you notes.

Finding Your Passion, Purpose, and Power in Your Career Transition
October 23rd @ 3:00 pm EST (12:00 pm PST, 1:00 pm MST, 2:00 pm CST)
One of the great discoveries you make in life is the answer to the question, “Who am I?” One of the deepest needs of human existence is to know that our lives count for something; that our gifts and talents are being used to make a difference. Since work is so much a part of our lives, we want it to be meaningful.

Are you eager to live the life you deserve yet just don't know where to start? Do you want to feel passion for life and use it towards your life purpose?

It's time to stop yearning for an extraordinary life, and start living your passion, purpose and power. Stop trying to survive your day to day life and learn to direct your steps with new energy and optimism as you head into the future “you” get to choose. Being in a career transition is a perfect time to explore what’s possible for you.

See if any of these sound familiar to you:

• Have you ever had the feeling that your life is wasting away?
• Are you worried about your future stability?
• Is it too late to choose what you want to be when you grow up?
• Do you have a definite direction, or do you feel like you are drifting through life?

Come learn how I found my purpose and how you can find yours. You will get inspired to powerfully move forward.

• Learn how to be captain of your own ship
• Learn how to instantly build your self-confidence
• Learn the essentials needed shift your emotions empowering you toward your future
• Learn how to accelerate your success and how to stay on your path
• Learn how to eliminate unwanted habits and behaviors that are holding you back
• Learn what relationships are necessary to drive you forward

When people establish a connection between what they do and a larger effort to change the world for the better, their work becomes an act of passion. The ultimate value you bring to the world.  Join us to discover your unique contribution and gain access to all the resources within you to fulfill your passion, purpose, and power. It will be powerful, energizing, inspiring, and fun! 

Login to your career portal at www.myA1BestStaffing.com (registration is free and is for everyone, anywhere) and click on EVENTS on the Main Menu. Register for the upcoming webinars by clicking on the event and then clicking the webinar registration link for each event listed. FREE.

Note from Cathy:  These webinars are useful for any job seeker and we offer our career portal site as a tool for EVERYONE, ANYWHERE.  A1 Best Staffing places temporary, temp to perm and direct hire candidates in the Galveston County area. 
I would love some feedback from you; that you found the career portal useful, if you were truly motivated and inspired by any particular webinar, that we have made your job search easier, that you found your dream job through our company or our career portal,  or if you have any comments about ways we can improve. 

You might not ace the job interview because of your red hair?!

Job hunting tips.

Are redheads less desirable as job candidates than dark or fair hair applicants? We all know that first impressions are important in every job interview. That's why we polish our resume until it shines like the beckoning bright star we are, and put on our best bib and tucker to impress HR.
I am a carrot top myself and subconsciously always credited my "room presence" to stature, red hair and confidence. There is absolutely no way I go unnoticed anywhere, ever. That's a good thing, right?
It has always worked for me, but here are a few quoted sources that seem to say differently:

• "Its latest report shows that, per head of population, redheads suffer more discrimination than ethnic minorities. Only disabled people suffer more." http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1006495.ece
• "...Sadly redheads also receive a great deal of abuse. The Centre for Equality Policy Research think tank recently claimed that redheads suffer more discrimination per head of population than ethnic minorities. Having carried out an experiment they said, “A job applicant with ginger hair is seven times more likely to be rejected than a dark-haired applicant, and eight times more likely than a fair-haired applicant.”
  http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Could-Irelands-cloudy-weather-be-the-reason-for-the-stereotypical-red-hair-178077221.html#axzz2BkJgG0pd#3

Let's step back and look at this. The first quote is from a British source and the second from an Irish website, last year, where it appears to describe an ongoing form of discrimination. Is the situation different here in the USA? In fact 2-6% of our population has red hair, which gives the US the largest population of redheads in the world!
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair)

An interviewer at a traditional type business in the US is more likely to reject an applicant because of  dramatic false hair color more than any color of a natural appearing shade. So, is your hair color holding you back if you are a redhead? Probably not.

If you can't honestly blame the failed job interviews on your red hair, or black/brown/blonde hair then take another look at your resume, or have a friend look over it for you. Pick your interview clothes carefully, be sure they are business-like and make the desired impression. Know more about the company you are interviewing with so you can visualize yourself fitting into its corporate culture.

We seldom get the first job we interview for, or sometimes not even the 12th. Consider having a quiet time of introspection after each interview to critique what you might do better, or differently , in the next interview. And don't be too hard on yourself. A job interview is always a mix of both interviewee and interviewer. 

More tips, inspirations and webinars at our career portal. Registration is free. www.myA1BestStaffing.com 

But I have to lie on my resume, just a little bit, to fluff it out!

NO. Do. Not. Lie.  Why? Because the staffing agency WILL find out and you WILL not be considered a placeable candidate.

I will explain why - and how - we catch those lies and what the most common lies on resumes are.

(Yahoo News posted an excellent article on this subject at  http://news.yahoo.com/top-10-lies-people-put-r-sum-133032231.html)

Most reputable staffing firms use third party vendors and software to ferret out dishonest applicants long before the process gets to client contact. After all, our client trust us to provide top candidates, so it is very important that we find and promote the best candidate for the job.

The costs for standard criminal country-wide background checks and standard skills tests are included in our basic rates and we run these on all final candidates (signed agreement form) selected as good skills matchup for an open job posting .

A1 Best Staffing uses Kenexa Prove It!, an IBM company, for our skills testing. We can test on over 1,500 assessments. No room for false skills claims here.

We partner with Intellicorp, a Verisk Analytics Company, for risk-assessment solutions and decision analytics. We personally phone and/or fax previous employers; verifying dates of past employment. The state of Texas prohibits former employers from stating false or defamatory information about your employment at their company.

Honesty really is the best policy when you fill out an employment application. A new employer can even fire you for lying on your application, after you have been hired!

If you are tempted to do any of the following, think again.

• Stretching dates of previous employment. 
• Inflating accomplishments and skills. 
• Enhancing titles and responsibilities. 
• Exaggerating education and claiming to have earned degrees you don't have. 
• Unexplained gaps in employment history. 
• Fake credentials. 
• Falsifying reasons for leaving prior employers. 
• Providing fraudulent references. 
• Misrepresenting military records. 

If you really can't land a job with your honest resume then do something about it, honestly. Need more training or skills? Do it now, there has never been a better time. Online classes and community college extended education classes are available and affordable for everyone. Check with your local TWC (Texas Workforce Commission) to see if you might be eligible for tuition reimbursement or for open programs that cover tuition costs. Some companies offer on the job training. 

Don't lie - just fix the problem.