It is All in Your Attitude!
Have you ever heard the phrase “it is easier to get a job when you have one?” If I remember correctly the principle applied to the dating world, too (but that’s another story). Have you wondered why? Attitude. It comes through everything that you do. When you are accomplished and comfortable within your world other things open up to you more easily. Positive attracts positive. When you are stressed about finding employment, it can come across too.
Two tips I give at my workshops: when you have a phone interview do it in front of a mirror to make sure you are smiling and positive because it comes across the phone. Second: whatever your thoughts or mood when writing your resume or cover letter they will come across. If you do not feel confident, it will show.
It does not matter what my mood is before I speak in front of a group, whether it be anxious or lethargic, you will not see it when I speak. I get in the frame of mind that I am a damn good speaker, present with an abundance of energy and I will help or inspire someone in that room! Period. With that mindset I can go out and do what I do best. You won’t hear me whine that I do not feel good or that I am nervous, I save that for my wonderful fiancé at home. Poor guy!
When you are speaking to someone about a position whether that be in an interview, networking or casual conversation you need to be in that positive frame of mind. You are the best candidate, you are interviewing them for the job, they want you – there is not a challenge that you cannot answer! If you do not really believe that you can accomplish a task then guess what, it is going to come across. I love to study body language and intonation, they are so telling. Think back to when your kids were young and you knew when they weren’t quite telling you everything. You could tell even though they swore up and down they gave you the whole story. Others can pick this up on you, too.
Fake it until you feel it. Practice it in front of the mirror, with friends, with your dog – I do not care who your audience is, just practice, practice, practice that confidence! Soon it becomes second nature. You can’t sell it until you feel it, and let’s face it, you are selling your skills, your talents or abilities right now.
I love the quote from Henry Ford, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” So simple but so true.
Lisa K McDonald
Make the Most of Your One Play
My son plays football. The first game he played offense and defense all game. Two touchdowns, an interception for 40 plus yards and was named Offensive Player of the Game. The next game they brought in a couple of receivers to give them some time, he was not pleased, but he was going to play defense all game. Before the game I told him he might get a play or two on offense so make the most of it. He went in for one offensive play. He was a receiver, caught a 35ish yard pass. He also was a maniac on defense and was named Defensive Player of the game. I would say he made the most of it.
Your resume has one chance and maybe 10 seconds to make the most of you. Someone reviewing your resume will scan the top quarter of your resume and decide in those 10 seconds or so if they are going to continue. You need to make the leap for that catch – put yourself out their early to let them know you are here to play the game.
So often I read through resumes and they include really good information. Information about accomplishment, money saved, increased clients, improved client satisfaction employee retention or money made. But these things are hidden further along in the resume – many times on page two. You are making yourself second string.
Once you have your strong Objective or Mission Statement follow that up with your accomplishments. Put the proof behind the words. Not only can you state that you are successful in increasing client base and sales, follow that up with your statistic of doubling sales boosting bottom line over $2 million in less than a five year period. If you state that you implement time and cost savings strategies, follow that up with how you implemented a new project management tracking system that linked all contributors and averaged a time savings of over 20% per job equating to cost savings for company and clients. Pretty good numbers to throw out there, huh?
Putting good solid accomplishments front and center allows you to make the most of your sales pitch (your resume) and gets you noticed more quickly. It also confirms that you have the talent and ability to back up your Objective or Mission Statement. Just like catching that one pass when is most needed. You increase your chances of being put in the game.
Lisa K McDonald
KISS – Keep It Simple Silly
Okay, so that is not the original acronym, but hey, I am trying to be family friendly and not insult anyone with the first line of my blog! I stress over and over again to make sure your resume is written clearly so those that are not in the position to hire you but are reviewing your resume can understand your amazing qualities, and spot them quickly. The reason – most people have a tendency to skim read. They begin reading and think they know what you are saying so they fill in the blanks if it is too rambling.
My son proved this point to me again this weekend. My son is not a patient person – I take full responsibility on that trait! He definitely did not get my short gene, but he did get my impatient gene. I was on the phone with his grandmother when he walked in my office and started mouthing a question to me. I pulled out a pad of paper and pen and we had a conversation this way. To make a long story short, he got snippy and walked out. After I finished my conversation I called him back into my office and asked in that oh-so-gentle-motherly way what his problem might be today. Turns out he skimmed something I wrote and completely misunderstood what I said. So, again, in that supportive, kind motherly way I sweetly showed him exactly what I wrote and asked him to read it slowly out loud word for word. Hmmm, error found.
When you are writing your resume, you do not have to be flowery and go on and on because quite frankly the reader is going to lose interest and mentally fill in the blanks. I will repeat what I frequently say: teenagers are the best audiences because their attention span is that of a Nat. If they can understand what you are trying to get across or at least read the whole sentence, you are on to something!
Make your works impactful, your thoughts clear and your abilities stand out. For the company for which you are submitting your resume highlight how you can make money, save money or improve their customer satisfaction/retention. Know your audience, what is important to them and communicate that clearly through your resume. And always, always keep written communication between you and your teenager – you never know when it will come in handy!
Resumes – Break it Down to Get Rid of Dust Bunnies
I hate cleaning my house. With a passion I hate cleaning my house. It just seems overwhelming to me. I start with one thing – “Today I do all the laundry”. In sorting the laundry I go into the bathroom to gather anything that did not make it into the hamper and I notice that I have not put away the girly things in the bathroom, so I straighten that. Then back I go to the hamper in the closet and notice that I haven’t put my shoes away and there is one in there without a match – so off I go to search for its match, which I find by the bed. But then notice the bed isn’t made so I have to make the bed, then I notice there is stuff on my nightstand that needs to be put away. So I start putting that away and notice there is a glass that needs to go down to the kitchen, so off I go to the kitchen. Do you see where I am going here? One thing leads to another and another and another – I meander from one room to another stopping and doing little things here and there but never really cleaning. Things on the surface look okay, but please do not look closely, there are dust bunnies hiding everywhere. But I am a grown up with teenage boys, dogs and a fiancé – so I have to suck it up and clean. No matter how hard I hope and wish those damn cleaning fairies just never show up in the middle of the night!
My best friend Jackie on the other hand – total Betty Crocker Super Mom! She is awesome and amazing and I want to be her when I grow up. She is focused, organized and an amazing housekeeper – with pre-teen kids, dogs and a husband. How does she do it? She determines what part she is going to do and sticks to it, she goes into the closet, sorts the cloths, gathers them takes them down to the laundry room and gets it done. Does she see the other stuff, yes, but she stays focused on one task at a time. She breaks her house down to little components, makes a list and is able to check things off one by one.
How does this relate to your resume? Take Jackie’s approach. We tend to get so overwhelmed by the entire process that we spend little time on each section but then it reminds us of something else in another section so we start working on that and we end up with a product that is may look good at a quick glance, but then when we begin to look at it closer we see dust bunnies. (And as a side note – why on earth are those called dust bunnies? I think Dust Tumbleweeds is more appropriate, but I digress…)
Remember when you are writing your resume, you know what you are trying to say, but to another person there is vital information missing. I recently sat down with a woman who was a purchasing goddess. She saved over $350k in less than six months just in evaluating a department and the internal system. This was one of her highlights and she stated it as she manages purchasing departments to run more smoothly and effectively. I asked her what does that mean, how does she contribute to making it more efficient? She explained that she would evaluate the people working in the department and their responsibilities making sure that their strengths matched up with the tasks at hand, she was also responsible for training individuals on the internal processes, recruit people, perform internal testing to make sure there were no duplicate procedures – she did a lot more than just “manage”. We talked about how to incorporate the key factors that she did to highlight those in her bullet point.
Instead of “Manage Purchasing Departments to run more smoothly and effectively” we stated with “Manage Purchasing Department systems, controls and personnel by effectively evaluating processes, procedures and individual responsibilities to incorporate time management, system efficiency and development of individuals resulting in a cost savings of over $350,000 in six months.” Now that is something you can work with! You can take that into two different strengths – the development of the individuals incorporating the evaluation, hiring, training and development and the management of the systems and processes.
Take a look at your resume – copy and paste one section, one job or one highlight and paste it into another document. Underneath that statement or section start making notes on what exactly that means. How did you add value, save money, save time or increase client satisfaction? Really break it down. Do not try to put it into pretty resume language, just make notes. Again, just talk plain English as though you are explaining it to someone who knows nothing about what you do. Do not worry about proper grammar or sentence structure, just write. Once you have done this then you have a lot of material that you can work with.
Ask a friend to read your original statement and ask them what that means to them. Is it coming through loud and clear what your strength is in that statement? If not, start to read your notes to them then ask them if it defines what you were attempting to say. More often than not they will tell you that it is much clearer picture.
It is a long and difficult process, but staying focused and breaking down each section bit by bit will create a much stronger resume, one that communicates more clearly what your strengths are and leaves room for an interviewer to ask you follow up questions. And there will be no dust bunnies!
Lisa K McDonald
I Want the Life of a Dog!
I want the life of a dog, I really do. I have three dogs. On the surface you 
would think that all they do is sleep all day, sun their bellies in the sun and beg for food, which is what I want to do – except the beg for food thing. At least this is what my fiancé thinks they do all day (and I won’t tell him, but ninety percent of the time, that pretty much sums it up!). He’s not a really big dog person, so quite frankly to keep the peace and show him the way of the dog, I had to convince him of their strengths and value to our little pack. Explain their different personalities, traits and well , reasons for not kicking them out of the house when they have an accident or make a sneak attack on his food. How on earth does this relate to resumes, interviewing or job searching? Wait for it….Know your strengths and be able to communicate them.
Your resume should give a good strong picture of who you are, what you want and what you bring to a company. When you are granted the interview, you might look similar to many other candidates. So you need to know your strengths and how to communicate them to a potential employer – what you can do for them.
For example, with my dogs. Micki is the guard dog (and main beggar/thief). She is fiercely protective and very intuitive. You would not think so by looking at her, but I have seen her go from pushover to monsterous guard dog on a dime just by a change in someone’s tone when speaking to me. Her strength is recognizing trends and patterns, good or bad, and acting swiftly and appropriately to increase opportunities or diffuse situations that could be difficult.
Misfit, well, she’s the comic relief and reminds us that everything can be exciting and brand new. She runs in the backyard like it is the first time every time and bounces with so much energy and enthusiasm that you cannot help but smile. Her strengths are being able to look at situations that are commonplace with a keen eye and fresh perspective.
Charlie, well, my poor old Charlie. He was diagnosed with brain lesions so he has some issues. He mainly walks in circles (cannot do a straight line more than three steps) and tramples over the other dogs because he just can’t help it. He has learned to cope by taking new paths so the next circle he does is a little wider and he can make it in the kitchen instead of doing another lap around the front room. He’s also learned to duck his head to turn around in tight right circles because he, for some reason, can no longer turn left. Charlie’s strengths are his longevity and commitment to the “company”, continually learning new skills to adapt and improve performance.
So you see, no matter who you are, your talents and strengths are there – you just have to let people know what they are and what they can do for them. I hope this helps you, if nothing else, it has kept all three dogs in my house safe and now adopted by my fiancé.
Lisa K McDonald
Career Polish
Your Resume – Your Mission Statement
Your Mission Statement – the very first paragraph of your resume. It is the first glance a prospective employer is going to look at and determine if they want to continue reading your resume. In the past it has been called a “career objective” but now it is more a career summary, a statement of what you have to offer – a mission statement if you will.
I use the term mission statement because it gives it weight and importance in your mind. Think about it, when you research a company and you see their Mission Statement listed boldly, it makes you take note. This statement is important. That is the exact feeling I want you to have about your summary, your mission statement.
It is vital, it is direct, it is selling yourself. It is not what you want, rather it is what you can do for that company! (Yes, there are a lot of italics and a bold in that last sentance – which means it is important!) It was most common to list directly what you want in that very first line of your resume, for example, “Objective: Obtain Accounts Payable Manager Position”. It has also been stated as your strengths, for example, “Detailed, organized, professional Administrative Assistant looking for right-hand position in a progressive company”.
Well, employers are receiving hundreds of resumes for just one job opening. Honestly, they just do not care what you want. Nor do they care about your strengths in that manner. Sorry kid, it’s just not all about you anymore. Nope, now it is all about them. So, what can YOU do for THEM is what they want to know. Think about the last time you went to a store to purchase, let’s say a cell phone. When the salesperson walked up, did you want to know what he wanted? No! You did not want to hear all the chit chat and fluff, you wanted to get to the point of what can you do for me? What kind of plan, phone, features and really, money can you save me. Same mentality for employers.
So, in this one to two sentence structure you must gather the most important selling elements about yourself in an impactful way to grab your reader’s attention. You can direct it to a specific company or a general market. It is important to know your audience if you will be targeting a specific company. What is it that will set you apart from everyone else – your achievements, knowledge base or licenses and credentials?
Three very important things to remember when writing your mission statement: 1. be HONEST 2. sell yourself and 3. be able to follow it up in the resume. If you are going to tell a prospective employer that you are “able to identify challenges and opportunities in the department”, you must follow that up in the resume stating how you have done this in the past. If I read that statement the first question I am going to have is “how?” I will be looking for this. If you then tell me that one of your accomplishments in your previous position was creating a new system saving the company over $350,000 in one quarter – I will take note. It will build your credibility and show you are what you say.
Remember, those that read the resumes are a skeptical bunch – full of “prove it” and “yeah, rights” when reading resumes. Unfortunately people do exaggerate their abilities and it is not known until the interview – a huge time waster! So be able to bring those great qualities to light and show you are backing up what you say. And if you state it, you darn well had better done it! Lying and exaggerating are absolutely forbidden. Keep in mind you never know who is going to see your resume and who they might know. If it is discovered you lied – well, quite frankly, you are toast.
That covers points one and three, now for point two – sell yourself. Oh, do we hate (for the most part) talking about ourselves. We are taught not to brag, but you must. If you do not toot your own horn on your resume then who on earth will? This is where the buddy system comes into play. If you are not working with someone to help you write your resume, then ask a friend to listen. Read them what you have and ask them what that says to them. Be your own critic then your own agent. Now, look at it as if you are an agent in charge of helping sell this person and pick it apart mercilessly, hold nothing back. Does it sound too meek? Are the strengths coming through loud and clear? Check the verbiage – a thesaurus is your best friend! Please do not used tired words – “experienced”, “able”, “good communicator” – you get the idea. Yes, you can use some very common words as long as you have high impact words worked into the Mission Statement. Be careful, do not go so overboard that your points are missed due to all the big words. Just remember, you do not want to sound like anyone else, because quite frankly, you are not like anyone else! You are the best candidate, you are the one that they need to interview – you are THE candidate!
Lisa K McDonald – Career Polish
Lisa K. McDonald, CPRW
I assist those looking for the right job look right for the job! I am a Career Coach-Strategist and Certified Professional Resume Writer. I am also the Owner/Principal of Career Polish, Inc.
I work with clients on the entire strategy of job searching/career advancement including resumes, business communication, interviewing, networking, social media personal branding and presentation.
I ensure my clients have all the tools for their job search or career advancement and know how to utilize them.
After a comprehensive personal information gathering session, I develop a resume that serves as a personal sales brochure, and then the process of learning how to market oneself and their resume begins.
For groups I serve as a speaker, as well as facilitate workshops on resumes, networking, personal branding, computer usage and personal business presentation.
I also partner with companies who are downsizing to provide in-house services, and partner with various organizations to provide community outreach programs.
The intent of my blogs – to offer tips and helpful bits, with a touch of humor or sarcasm now and then – okay, more now than then…..
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