While you can’t control the world around you, you can control what thoughts you choose to entertain and what words you allow to come out of your mouth (which are often a reflection of what’s in your heart).

Take Action!

As 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we are to ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.’ So if you’re confused, frustrated, anxious, or maybe feeling hopeless, it’s time to take a stand.

Don’t wait for someone somewhere to create a new job. Take control of yourself. Don’t wait for anyone else anymore. You got the power – use it!

Start with Prayer.

The One Who made you, and the work prepared for you, wants to hear from you. If you have not called Him in a while, do it now. It is not better later. Tell Him how you really feel. If you want a job … maybe even THE job … tell Him! Ask Him what steps to take. Pray for others, and ask them to pray for you.

Connect with People.

You cannot do this thing alone. Join a team or start a team job creation team. Help each other figure out what you can offer to people who will pay. Teammates can provide each other encouragement, counsel, contacts and accountability.

Do the Plan.

I can count over 21,500 people on our website who signed up for our workbook and resources. We have hundreds of volunteers across the country helping people do the plan. The plan is a simple 6-step process. Notice, I did not say easy. It takes hard work to get work. The secrets to making the plan work is our new 2012 Workbook – Maximize Your Career and:

• Praying to hear and follow God’s calling.
• People helping people every step of the way.

This Christmas – Create Your Own Job.

Start with prayer. Connect with people. Follow the plan. All I want for Christmas is job creation for you and me. Write me with your comments, questions and critiques.

Merry Christmas! May Jesus’ love grant you peace as you remember who controls our tomorrows.

Validating Your Online Identity

You see, over the last several years, it has become common for recruiters and hiring managers to “look at you” online before they hire you. In fact, a recent survey indicated that almost 90% (yes, 9 out of 10) U.S. companies will use social networking for recruiting in 2011. So what does this mean for the average job seeker? And will this make an impact on the average person’s job search?

First … let’s do a simple test. Using both Google and Bing, search for yourself. Try both your legal name and your common name – for example, if your first name is William, also look for Bill. By looking carefully at every entry returned on the first two pages (probably 40 lines total) of results from Bing and Google, answer these questions:

1. Of the 40 or so results returned by both searches, how many of them were definitely you and not just advertisements with your name displayed? If the result is 20 or more, you have a strong start on a digital identity, if it’s less than 5, then you are not well identified. Anything in the middle is a minor digital identity.
2. Looking just at the results that are definitely related to you from step 1, are they presenting you as a strong professional, are they showing you in an un-professional light, or is it something in-between? If over 25% of your results are showing the “professional you”, then you’re on the right track.
3. And of these professional results from step 2, is there at least one result that was provided by another professional that is referencing your professional work or your professional skills? If yes, then you have a modestly strong peer-relevance…a good thing.

If you can say that you are easily located and identified using both Bing and Google and that the findings are professional and others recognize your skills, then you are on the way to having a decent digital career identity!

However, if the results are mostly photos of you dancing on the table at a keg party, or text from online discussions where you are ranting about Obama-care or the Bush Tax Cuts, or your name didn’t show up much at all, then you have a potential digital career identity problem. You see, most companies that might want to hire you will want you to effectively represent them to their clients. And if the first (or most dominant) things that they find of you online are un-professional or undesirable, then they will pass over hiring you … they have plenty of other candidates to choose from.

OK, so let’s assume for the moment that the results from the above test were inconclusive (or you want a 2nd opinion regarding the diagnosis), try out some of these sites:

• Here’s a decent online identity calculator that uses a similar approach to my steps above, but they drill down a little deeper in the analysis.
• If you’ve had any “public records” that are of a concern, the 123people or peekyou websites probably knows about it. Again, make sure to try out variations of your name (e.g., Bill, Willie, William)
• Of course there’s LinkedIn … how complete and engaging is your profile? You need a solid summary, at least a 90% profile completion, and 3 or more recommendations to be taken seriously.
• If you are active with Twitter or Facebook, then check out Klout or Branchout to see how you compare with others (shows interaction with others of significance).

Improving Your Digital Career Identity

Now that you have a sense of your current digital identity, what do you do to make it better?

• As I said in my previous post, start a blog that shares your professional and technical talents (not what you had for lunch today, or political rantings, or your beliefs in alien abductions).
• Spend some time in LinkedIn and post some well-considered questions or answers in the Answers area. Focus on answering questions to show your skill and knowledge in your profession or to refer to an expert in your network, thus showing your industry knowledge or connections.
• Find a few profession-oriented blogs and discussions on the Internet and engage in debate or opinion that shows you’ve studied — offering references to well-respected professionals shows you are well read and capable of research.
• Locate the job/career related social sites that are less well known and post your profile there – places like Spoke, Plaxo, Visible.Me, and others.

Also, I should mention a few things you should avoid doing online that will not help your online career reputation:

• Don’t engage in the “banter” of responding to online news articles. There are inevitably people that will disagree with you and belittle you — and trying to defend yourself in these arenas is a useless effort that only serves to tarnish your reputation.
• Unless you are pursuing a life in politics, don’t ever discuss a political issue online. If you do, try to stay “center” and “neutral” — a strong liberal or conservative stance can hurt your opportunities with some firms. Also, avoid other “boundary” topics like religion, race, immigration, bigfoot, etc.
• Set your “visibility” on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social sites to only show your “public” face to people who are not in your group/circle/network. For example, in LinkedIn you can choose to have your photo or your education only available to your network and not the entire world.
• Go back onto Facebook and un-tag all the photos that are un-professional. No, on Facebook you don’t have to be someone you aren’t, just don’t let everyone see whom you happened to be when you weren’t thinking about whom you would want to be.

Let me leave you with a digital identity warning…the Web seldom forgets. It is almost impossible to clean-up or remove your “blemishes” from the Web. Some companies, like Reputation Defender, charge big bucks to help clean up your mess (or clear your name), but even these can’t resolve all your identity challenges. Be proactive and manage your identity by posting things you want your future employers to see. This way, when the recruiter or hiring manager is looking at you online, you can be all they want you to be!

Bottom Line: Building a career-oriented online reputation is key in today’s job search. Be aware of what the Internet knows about you. Make sure that you can be found easily via a web search and that it displays a modest amount of your professional talents, not just your social interactions. Take some time to clean up any items than might be a detractor for a potential employer and then spend time to propagate your “professional self” to key professional websites.

Thanksgiving is a great day to announce our 2012 Crossroads Career Workbook “Maximize Your Career.”

Thanks be to God for the thousands of volunteers who have served tens of thousands of career explorers – from whom we have learned much about the latest and greatest tips and tools to find jobs, careers and calling.

Much has changed since we published our first Crossroads Career Explorer’s Guide in year 2000.

Update or Be Out-of-Date.

The world of work is dramatically different since we started, so now we update and upgrade our career resources throughout every year. To survive and thrive, your job search and career transition tactics and techniques must be up-to-date…

• It was not that long ago that LinkedIn was a fence, and Twitter was a bird.
• Today, social media are keys to open doors of opportunities.
• Once upon a time, only a full-time employed position led to job security.
• Now, you can string together a variety of contract jobs and build a new career.
• It used to be that you had to relocate to find a better job.
• Currently people can work around the world via web and never leave home.

If you have job search or career book that is even one year old, you are behind before you even get started. Get our 2012 Workbook for free and see!

God’s Calling Never Changes.

Jesus was clear when He was on earth. We are best when we love God with all heart, soul and mind, followed by our loving others as we love ourselves. Therefore, when you come to a crossroads in your career, hear and follow His calling to “stand and look. Ask for the ancient paths. Ask for the good way, and walk in it.”

Why?

Because you “are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God created beforehand that you walk in them.” He knows who you are, how He made you, and what He has planned for you … a future and hope. After all, the secret to a long successful career is simply to serve others as you are gifted, faithfully administering the grace of God. It gets even better when we team UP with others, each of us giving our best for each other.

Pass It Forward.

Luck is when opportunity meets someone who is prepared.

Give your family and friends a head start on the new year. Like a skipping stone on water, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year will slip through this month and next, and 2012 will be here!

The workbook not only has a job and career search guide, but also practical exercises, write and write devotionals and more than 200+ online resources to help people find jobs, careers and God’s calling.

Blessings for a Happy Thanks Giving,
Brian

Brian Ray
Founder and President
Crossroads Career Network

Lean on God

As Philippians 4:6 reminds us “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” This scripture serves as a powerful reminder that we serve a big God who is in TOTAL control.

I am often reminded that His ways and His thoughts are much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8 paraphrased). He sees the ‘big’ picture while we usually only see the
here and now. He knows what’s best for you long before you ever do.

Prayer:  The Essential Foundation

By establishing prayer as your foundation with the Lord, you will experience an incredible relationship with your Heavenly Father. Be prepared to see God answer you in different ways and to show up in amazing ways in your life.

Part of that foundation should include regular, dedicated quiet time each and every day where you sit at God’s feet. This is your time to talk with your Heavenly Father, just like you talk with your spouse and/or best friend. Talk to Him directly about whatever’s on your mind – good, bad, ugly or indifferent. He loves you unconditionally – and He already knows before you ever say something to Him. Sometimes it’s journaling your thoughts and what He puts on your heart. Either way, this is one of the richest times you will have with Him.

In addition to sharing with God what’s on your heart about things going on in your life, it’s a time to lift others up in prayer. Regardless of who they are, or what their need is, God wants you to bring prayer requests for others to Him.

With prayer as your foundation, your quiet time will take on a whole new meaning.

Give God Praise

We serve an amazing, amazing God! There are so many blessings that He extends to us each and every day – from the very air that we breathe into our lungs and sights that we see with our eyes, to the miracles that transform our viewpoint on who God is in our minds.

Start your quiet time, or your prayer requests, with giving God praise for five things in your life and be astonished. Your mountains are now molehills; your worries are now a passing thought; your fears are now your motivation. Read Exodus 15:2, Deuteronomy 8:10 and 1 Chronicles 16:25 as some initial verses about giving God praise.

Connect via Wall of Prayer & Praise

We are all in this together, as Galatians 6:2 states, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” At Crossroads Career Network, we have taken this to a whole new level with our Praise & Prayer Wall.

You can post your praise reports and prayer requests on our wall – and receive personal email responses back to remind you that you’re NOT in this alone! God is always there, as well as the entire online community at Crossroads Career Network.

How to Create Your Personal Brand?

How Do I Identify My Personal Brand?

The basic concept of personal branding is that your entire job search has a consistent message, look and feel. Think of it as your ad campaign.

Other than Geico, which has multiple ad campaigns going at one time, the gecko, the talking money and the Rod Sterling character, most companies only have one ad campaign running during a particular time frame. You should be like most companies and only have one campaign going at a time.

Being Consistent with Your Personal Brand

Here is a list of things to check to be sure you are being consistent with your marketing materials:

• Name: Do you use the same name on all of your marketing materials or do you have your formal name in some places and not others? Do you use a middle initial in one place but not everywhere?
• Job Title: When you state what you are looking for, are you consistent with the job title? If you list various titles for the same job, do you list them in the same order?
• Document Header: Is the header (content and format for your name and contact information) on your resume the same as on your networking guide and cover letter? This is like your stationery. If you laid out all of the pieces of your marketing material together on a table, would you instantly know they are for the same person without having to read the name?
• Color and Font: If you have a website, is it the same color scheme as your business card? Do you have a logo or graphic that you consistently use for your marketing materials?
• Consistent with the Product: Is your brand consistent with the product – you? Are you looking for a position based on its title or pay but is not consistent with what you can do or want? If you are looking for an upper management position, do you dress and groom like upper management? For instance I dress conservatively (suits) so my appearance would not be consistent with someone in fashion or a creative field.

Implementing Your Personal Brand Statement

Having a branding statement isn’t enough, you need to implement it throughout your marketing materials.

Resume

• Tagline: If you developed a tagline and want to use it on your resume, it should go immediately under the header and is considered part of your header. If you have a horizontal line under your contact information, then the tag line can go under the graphic line. Consider typing the tagline in italics and in title case (first letter of each primary word is capitalized). Decide if you want the tagline in color so it stands out when viewed or printed on a color printer. Realize however that if the recipient prints on a black and white printer it will show in a shade of gray so you may want to test printing it in black and white to see how it looks.
• Personal Brand Statement: You do not need to use both a tagline and branding statement on the resume. If you use both, do not use the exact same set of words. Example: my tagline is “The Affordable and Successful Job Search Coach.” If I use that on my resume and want to use my personal brand statement as well, I will want to use other words for “affordable” and “successful.” If you use your personal brand statement in your resume it should go where you have a career summary. It can be used in place of your existing career summary or blended in.
• Accomplishments: Be sure to list your accomplishments in the section “above the fold” and under the job history that support your branding statement. If you don’t, it will ring hollow.

Cover Letter

• If you added your tagline to your resume header, you should add it to the header on your cover letter. You should always use the same on all of the job search documents you create.
• Using the T cover letter format, you should be sure the qualifications you list support your branding statement.

Business Card / Contact Card

• Side note: Every job seeker should have a business / contact card. In fact it has surprised me how many job seekers don’t have or use one. My next article will be on the importance to job seekers of having a contact card.
• It is essential that you add your tagline to your contact card. You may also want to add a few points from your Personal Brand Statement onto the card, maybe in bulleted format. Do not add your entire branding statement t to the card; it’s too much text.

Email Signature Block

• If you use an email system that has the feature to add a signature block to the email (name, contact information), you want to preformat the signature to include your tagline.
• If your e-mail system doesn’t have that feature, open a Word document and develop an email signature block yourself that you can use to copy and paste into your emails. That will also help make your correspondences more professional looking.

LinkedIn and Other Social Networking Sites

• In your LinkedIn profile, you can include your tagline in the free-form field under your name. Your entire profile, including your photo, should support your brand as well. Be sure to request recommendations from people who can attest to your brand. Your photo should be consistent with your branding statement.
• Hiring authorities will search online for your name to see what is out there about you. Before they do, you should do a search on your name to discover what’s out there about you. Take the time to clean up your blogs and Facebook and YouTube accounts from anything that could eliminate you as a candidate.
  • By doing an Internet search on your name now you will know what is out there currently.
  • What about new entries? There is a tool you can use to alert you to future mentions. Google Alert can be used to identify any mention of your name online that the search engine encounters. Note however, it will give you alerts for anyone and everyone with the same name. It is easy though to quickly review all alerts and delete the ones that are not relevant.

Elevator Pitch

• The basic elevator pitch includes your name, title, what you are looking for, and ends with a closing question in the form of a question.
• Your elevator pitch should also include your tagline whether you use the one you developed or a conversational version of it.

Networking Guide

• The networking guide is the one-page document you should give to people in your network so they have something specific and actionable to do to help you in your job search.
• Just like with your resume and cover letter, the networking guide should include your tagline or brand statement.

Job Interview

• When I worked in IT, I was known for taking over teams that were struggling and turning them around. I improved productivity and quality and increased customer satisfaction and employee engagement. That is what I want to communicate during an interview with an IT company.
• During the job interview, you want to be sure to communicate your brand, what you are known for, the value you bring and how this company will benefit by hiring you.

Learning More

Now that you’ve learned how to position your branding statement in your marketing materials, it’s important to continue sharing it whenever applicable. Other tips:

• Maintain your brand. Be sure other people know about you and the value you bring by participating in in-person networking and LinkedIn groups.
• Develop new skills, increase self-awareness, expand your network, and evolve your brand as you evolve.

There are some fabulous books on the market about personal branding. They include but are not limited to the ones listed here. If you have recommendations about other books on personal branding, please share them in the ‘Comments’ field below.

• Me 2.0, Revised Edition by Dan Schawbel
• Career Smart: Five Steps to a Powerful Personal Brand by Sherri Thomas
• Managing Brand You by Jerry S. Wilson / Ira Blumenthal

We talked a bit over the phone about many things … resumes, finances, interviews, etc. He wanted me to write-up a few notes to help him stay focused. So I dug up an old list I made for another person that asked that same question, I added a few extra items and sent him the following tips.

12 Strategies to Start Your Job Search

1. Get a computer. If you don’t have a home computer, buy a modest one (under $500) along with a minimal DSL/cable connection and a good anti-virus package. The job search, resume preparation, recruiter communications and job applications (especially government jobs) all require you to have easy access to a computer. No, don’t rely on a friend’s, your neighbor’s, the Labor Department’s, or the local library’s computer unless you absolutely have to. There are too many aspects of the job search today that demand you have relatively instant access to a computer during the job search so make those arrangements now.

2. Go on a financial diet. It’s time to trim your expenses to focus on the long-haul search. Get rid of the movie/HD channels on cable, insulate your attic, buy a small home gym and give up your LA Fitness membership, start buying clothes at Target or Wal-Mart instead of Belks or Neiman Marcus, skip dinners at Outback and Olive Garden and find your inner chef. Even if you have modest emergency funds, you still need to do these things … the average job search is now over 6 months and few people have that much money set aside. So get your financial house in order.

3. Sell your TV. Well, you get the idea … nothing should distract you from your full-time job as a job seeker. You should plan to put 6 hours during the day into the job search as well as 2 hours each weekday evening (enjoy the weekends). This economy demands your full attention to the job search, so plan on an 8-hour a day, 5-days-a-week job search plan. You don’t have to give up all distractions or family time, just manage them so they don’t relegate your job search schedule to 2nd place.

4. Start (improve) your professional networking. Begin attending a professional group related to your industry (for me, it’s PMI or ASTD) the very first day you begin your job search, if not sooner. As soon as you have a good attendance track record and have developed some contacts in the group, volunteer with them. Take pro-active steps to assume any leadership role (anything from meeting coordinator to greeter to president) that you can. As a hiring manager, I want to see you active in your professional area, preferably as a leader, even if you aren’t currently employed.

5. Connect with 2-3 support groups. Pick a couple of local groups that address different aspects of the job search. Some focus on networking, some on enhancing your Internet presence, some on social/financial support, some might be emotional or spiritual support, etc. (Check out your local Crossroads Career Network group to see how we can help you.) Stay connected with these groups, as they are important to helping you stay focused on the job search and they give you a peer network with which to share your job search challenges.

6. Sign up for more education. The longer you’re “sitting on the bench” the more likely your industry skills can become rusty. An evening, weekend or online “accredited” degree program is a real plus when the recruiter asks what you’ve been doing in your downtime. If a degree isn’t right for you, consider obtaining certifications, licenses or other industry-related skills. Even continuing-education classes relevant to your industry or profession are fine. Just have a documented way to show you are improving your skills or broader education.

7. Don’t be just “unemployed” for more than 8 weeks. Employers are definitely looking at your job “gaps” to assess how you deal with these. Find a part-time job in a related (not necessarily your target) field to show your willingness to work and desire to stay off social funds. Look for short-term consulting opportunities (there are lots of these) in your field. While you might not get a job within 8 weeks, you should have SOMETHING worth listing on your resume to help fill any gaps that are 8 weeks or longer.

8. Write a 10-page resume. Put everything you’ve ever done into what I like to call a “resume of your life” (or a “resume wardrobe“) and make sure you indicate which skills and talents are current and which are applicable to your target career. This is something you can start on early, but don’t feel pressured to produce a poor resume quickly. Take a couple of weeks to gather your thoughts (and passions and callings) and write out this excessively long resume with only a modest focus on formatting. Then get a professional resume writer to take that 10-page resume and work it into a professional 2-page resume that can be both printed and used online. Yes, I think it’s worth the time/money to get a (modestly priced) professional resume done that you can tweak later. In addition, make sure you having EVERYTHING from your all your former jobs written down in your 10-page resume – this helps the professional resume writer find the “gems” in your past that you sometimes can’t see. (Note: nobody gets to see the 10-page resume except you and your resume professional.)

9. Use the Web to job hunt. There are numerous jobs boards on the Internet, many of which might be ideal for you. However, there are jobs out there that will be found only with other methods in other places (networking, volunteering, direct mail, etc.), so don’t spend too much time in front of the computer. Put your resume on Monster and CareerBuilder for recruiters to find, but I’d suggest you start with Indeed or SimplyHired as your primary online search tools since they find all the Monster and CareerBuilder stuff as well as lots of job postings from private boards and corporate websites. Don’t overdo the Web job search, no more than 20% of your job search time should be online.

10. Develop a robust LinkedIn profile. Once you get the resume written, use it to develop a solid LinkedIn profile and a short job history. LinkedIn is becoming an essential element in today’s job search – a large portion of recruiters now use LinkedIn to understand a bit more about candidates before making contact with them. Yes, while you’re at it, clean up your Facebook account to be a bit more professional … recruiters look there too!

11. Hone your tech skills. While you might have been able to avoid some technologies in your prior jobs, everyone needs to have a mastery of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) as well as Internet browsing, e-mail (Web-based as well as server-based), and modest smart-phone skills (texting, checking e-mails, etc.). It would also be good to be at least familiar with a wide variety of technologies — texting, Skype, cloud computing, instant messaging, Twitter, online bill paying, e-readers, etc. Don’t be a technology dinosaur … you must embrace the 21st century!

12. Read current job search books. Resumes have changed over the years, interviews are focusing on behavioral questions, job networking is a key strategy, and social media is becoming a strong force in the career search. Read about them, any job search book published in the last 5 years is probably safe … avoid the books that are more than 10 years old as they are most likely written for the job search of the 90s and not the 21st century.

These are my top 12 job search strategies – but there are many others. Let me know what strategies have worked for you, I await your comments and ideas!

Bottom Line: The job search has changed over the last 10 years. It is now technology and communications centric, so you must embrace technologies that can help during the search. The job market is tough, so prepare yourself for a long job search. Find ways to better yourself so when the recruiter asks what you have been doing since your last job to keep your skills current, you’ll have a good answer!

If you have ever seen Keyword Summary listed on a resume but are not sure what the purpose of it is or how to write this section properly, you’re not alone. The Keyword Summary is a new addition and was added when electronic resume submissions became commonplace.

Phone Interview Checklist

As Soon as You Apply

1. When you apply for a job or send your resume to a company, research the company and go beyond just what is on their website. Google their name and click on all of the links on at least the first two pages of results to discover all of the information about the company that you can. Take notes or print the most important pages.

2. Go into LinkedIn and see who in your network has contacts in the company. Contact them and see what they have to say about the company. A client told me that they were dissuaded by a current employee from pursuing a position within the company (“it’s awful here”).

3. Develop a list of questions you want answered about the company, the department, and the position to be sure YOU want to move on to an in-person interview.

When You Get the Call

1. If you receive an unexpected call requesting a phone interview, do not take the interview then; propose an alternate time. You want time to prepare. No one expects you to be available without prior notice. Deferring the call to a scheduled time will not ruin your chances; in fact, being prepared before the interview will increase your chances.

2. Review your list of accomplishments (STARs).

3. Lay out your resume, cover letter (if applicable), company research, the list of questions you want to ask, paper and pen in order to take notes, and your calendar.

4. Be sure you are in an absolutely quiet location. You may be surprised how much noise can be picked up over the phone.

5. Stand up while talking. When we sit with no one else in the room, we are not as conscience about our posture and can slump, collapsing the diaphragm and sounding like we have no energy.

6. Stand in front of a mirror to reflect your body language. This might help you remember to smile and a smile is heard over the phone.

7. Keep your answers a tad shorter than you normally would. You are without the benefit of seeing the interviewer’s body language to know that your answer was sufficient (nodding of a head) or that she is ready to move on to the next question (she looks down at her list of questions).

8. If you need to think about an answer, say so; don’t just go silent. Silence may cause the interviewer to think the phone connection has dropped.

9. If asked about your salary requirements, reply that it is early in the interview process and that you need to understand more about the position before you could answer that question.

10. Express interest, if indeed you are interested. If this is not a fit for you, there are two options:

a. Continue with the interviewing process to get the experience. Don’t take this too far though; if they understand you were not interested from the start, you could get your name on the “never call again” list.

b. Say it is not a fit. The hiring personnel will appreciate your honesty.

11. Ask for and understand the next steps and approximate timeframes.

After the Phone Interview

1. Unless they immediately schedule an in-person interview, handwrite and send a thank you note in the mail.

2. As is the case in all areas of the job search, follow-up is your responsibility.

Know what to do to prepare for and pass the phone interview and begin your preparation now.

Your Turn

What phone interview tips have worked for you? Any different tips that you care to share?

Job Gaps

In the world of resume writing, the phrase “Mind the Gap” is applicable to the job seeker that has an extended gap or several gaps between jobs. There are various reasons for the gaps — time off for family issues, unexpected business failures, layoffs, education and even incarceration. While a short gap (up to 60 days) is often completely ignored by recruiters, the larger gaps can become a problem for the job seeker. The challenge is for you to eliminate the gaps, minimize the gaps, provide for a simple explanation of the gaps, or get the recruiter to ignore or accept the gaps enough so you can get to the interview.

1. Try hiding the job gaps or making them less obvious

The first strategy is to look at the dates and decide if you can hide the gaps by merely adjusting the way the dates are presented. If removing the month from the dates results in no year gaps, then this might be the quick-n-easy approach. For example, if you have a job that ended April 2007 and the next job started in October 2007, then just listing the year for the two jobs would show no gaps.

Before:
10/2007 – Present, Brain Surgeon, Federated Hospitals, Salinas, CA
02/2003 – 04/2007, Ditch Digger, Acme Construction, Armonk, NY

– vs –

After:
2007 – Present, Brain Surgeon, Federated Hospitals, Salinas, CA
2003 – 2007, Ditch Digger, Acme Construction, Armonk, NY

Notice how the gap in the second example is not as evident. This works because the first job terminated in the same year that the second job started. The recruiter probably won’t give this a second look. However, it’s really only effective if jobs on each side of the gap were held for at least 3 years each. If you have very short employment durations (where the job starts and ends in the same year), or you have multiple gaps, or you still have a gap even when you use just the years, then avoid this method, as it actually piques the interest of the recruiter as they wonder if you have an employment challenge they need to know about.

If the gaps were a while ago (10 or more years), then it probably isn’t a real worry. You can do several things to smooth these out if you really want to. Consider limiting your resume to less than 10 years. If you’ve held 3 or more jobs over the 10+ years, this is a good strategy. If you’ve only held 2 jobs in 10 years and have gaps on either end of your most current job, this can be a detractor.

2. Try filling the job gaps with other career activities

The filling approach is when you realize that your job hunt will be longer than 2-3 months, so you take proactive steps to fill the gap with something relevant to your career. For example, if you don’t have any viable opportunities or at least one interview per week, then you need to start looking at doing short-term consulting work – either independent or for an agency – in your career field. You might also find opportunities to speak or write about your career.

TIP: Register your consulting business with your state — recruiters give more credence to a consultant who has a registered company or a consultant that can at least provide solid business-client references during the gap.

Another strong idea is to sign up for a degree program relevant to your career. Beginning a Bachelors, Masters or a Professional degree (even if you are just starting in the program) is a great way to fill the gap. Consider both online and local colleges, but make sure they are fully accredited. (And yes, college loans can be considered, but be cautious you don’t get too far in debt.)

In certain fields, you can also pursue professional certifications (PMP, MCSE, Six Sigma, etc.) that can strengthen your hiring potential. Many firms value these certifications, but some are difficult to achieve in mere months. Still, just listing them as being in-progress on the resume often succeeds in piquing a recruiter’s interest since this shows signs of self-motivation and professional growth.

3. Try plugging the job gaps with any worthy activities

If you can’t find the right career-related activity, at least focus on doing something that the recruiter will consider worthwhile:

• It might be time to do the “stay-at-home-parent” bit or take care of an aging parent and let your spouse work for a while. In many cases, a short family-related absence (under a year) is easy to explain. It’s probably not appropriate for your resume, but could be something you allude to in your cover letter.
• Volunteer work (at least 32 hours a week so it can be considered “full-time”) with a reputable agency or organization. Avoid roles that might be considered “off limits” to putting on your resume – church work, political campaigning, race-specific groups – unless these are significantly related to your job search.
• Start a small business. It doesn’t have to be related to your current profession. Many people have that “itch” to start their own business — and recruiters respect this, even if the business doesn’t succeed.
• See the world. Sometimes a long vacation (multi-week or multi-month European tour, etc.) is something that people sometimes do right in the middle of their career. This is fine and recruiters usually see this as better than being idle. But if you do decide to travel, blog while you are on your trip or create a website with highlights of the trip when you return. This does two things — shows you are detail oriented and provides evidence of the actual trip that you can point to if needed.
• Keep a daily journal/blog of everything you do while you are between jobs — most people have done “job worthy” activities over the gap, but can’t recollect what they were when writing or updating their resume. Having the job gap filled with even a few “assorted” activities is better than an empty gap.

Let’s close with a very important point — be truthful. Don’t make up stuff to hide the gaps and don’t stretch your dates to meet one-another, as those lies or stretched truths may haunt you in the future.

Bottom Line: Job gaps happen. You need to be proactive as soon as possible. Try consulting, take college courses, start a business, volunteer or pursue professional certifications. For shorter career gaps you might be able to hide the gap by dropping the month on the job dates, but be aware that it only works for some cases. When asked, be prepared to explain how you used the work gaps effectively by focusing on how you bettered yourself or served others, not just wasting time spinning your wheels in the job search.

Still, a resume writing checklist is always beneficial as a final review before you begin to distribute your resume, thus the purpose of the following list. If something in the list is relevant to an article, I linked to that posting.

Review Your Format.

• Does your resume look clean, use a standard (not fancy) font with a with a modest font size, and have clearly labeled sections? Hold it at arm’s length — does it look attractive or does it look confusing or plain?
• If your resume takes two pages, do you have your name and contact information on the second page (usually the last line of the page or in the footer)? Also, are the page breaks in logical locations, minimizing confusion when the recruiter turns the page?
• Does your resume have an outdated look? Don’t underline anything. Don’t put colons after headers. Don’t use the words “duties” or “responsibilities” or “assigned tasks.” Don’t say “references available upon request.” Don’t list the dates of jobs down the left margin – put them on the right edge. Don’t list the day (“dd”) on dates, use just “mm/yyyy.”
• Is there too much or too little white-space on your resume? Keep margins about 1 inch (no less than 0.75 inch) all around. Leave a blank line between resume sections.
• Degrees generally go at the end of your job history unless you don’t have a job history (new college grad) or you are changing your career to match your new degree.

Focus Your Content.

• Is your resume targeted to a single career, industry or job? You don’t want an historical reflection document or a one-size-fits-all that doesn’t fit anything well. Remember that recruiters are not looking for a jack-of-all-trades for their very specific positions.
• Do you provide evidence of your skills using a STAR statement? Don’t say “An experienced leader.”, instead allow an example to support your statement, such as: “Applying leadership skills by…”
• Is everything in your resume carrying a positive tone? There is NO need to have anything negative in a resume.
• Does your career summary highlight only the roles you have performed in the past 8-10 (no more than 15) years? Make sure that 70% of your career summary highlights are drawn from your most recent jobs and the text in your career history section supports the statements in your summary. (When writing the summary, remember the simple concept that nothing existed before cell phones and web browsers … so don’t mention it!)
• Don’t put personal information on your resume — no hobbies, no bank accounts, no children, no spouse, no certification or permit numbers, no religions, no politics, no age, no health, no home-ownership, no sports, etc. Stick with business details and only list other activities if they relate directly to your career or job search (i.e. Toastmasters, professional organizations, civic-minded groups or advanced studies).

Verify Your Readability,

• Do you have enough (but not too many) industry terms and buzzwords sprinkled throughout your resume? There are lists everywhere, but here’s a good set from TheLadders.com.
• Is it absolutely clear to the average reader what your career objective is? This might be in the job titles you’ve held, in the objective line or in your professional summary at the top of your resume. (No “generic” or “old-style” objectives should be used.)
• Read the job description — read your summary — everything in your summary should point to something in the job description. If it doesn’t match, consider removing it. It should be as close to a 100% match as possible.
• Action verbs! Use a wide variety of action verbs … and it’s usually best to start the sentence with them (while avoiding the use of the pronoun “I”). Grab a list from Boston College’s career site.
• Make your resume easy to read. Use the Readability Statistics setting in your word processor (under the Grammar options in Word) as a way of determining if your text “grade level” can be brought down to 12th grade readability or less.

Bottom Line: Develop the best resume you can. Then using this check list and the prior basic resume writing checklist, refine your resume. Remember that any checklist is only a way to “tweak” an already well-written resume. If you’re having problems developing a real solid resume,  consider using Pongo Resume’s online resume builder. As a Pongo subscriber, you can quickly and easily create top-quality resumes and cover letters, email or fax them to employers, download and print as many copies as you need,  track where and when you’ve applied, schedule follow-up tasks and more!