Almost everyone that asks my career advice comes to me with the comment, ” I send out lots of résumés but I never hear anything. It’s frustrating. What am I doing wrong?” Never hearing back from employers can be frustrating and it’s a common complaint for job seekers who are relying solely on job boards. Here’s how online job hunting ranks among other job search strategies: Continue reading The Résumé Rider: Increase Your Résumé Return
Category Archives: The Résumé Rider
The Résumé Rider: AMPING UP YOUR CAREER “WHAT-AGE”
There are two kinds of motorcycle buyers: those who are experienced riders, have done their homework and know exactly what bike they want to buy and those who are new to two-wheels and have little to no knowledge of all of the options and intricacies available to them. There are similarities with career choices: there are those who have had a firm idea of what they wanted to do since they were in school, many of whom pursued professional paths, and those who have worked jobs without ever knowing what they really want to do in life. Continue reading The Résumé Rider: AMPING UP YOUR CAREER “WHAT-AGE”
The Résumé Rider: Job Search Lessons from the Challenged Motorcycle Industry
The motorcycle industry is in crisis. “The call of the pipes,” like a high-frequency dog whistle, was selectively heard by the Easy Rider generation whose declining numbers are reflected in motorcycle sales numbers. 54% of those hard-ass $64k+ earners in the professional ranks of doctors, lawyers, dentists and judges have been killed in motorcycle crashes that have doubled since 1995 with the number of retirement-age motorcyclists involved in bad accidents growing at an alarming rate. And, although those big trikes have appealed to a growing segment of the aging motorcycle market, it’s nowhere near a panacea for the motorcycle industry overall. Evidence of the generational time bomb is reflected in the numbers: Continue reading The Résumé Rider: Job Search Lessons from the Challenged Motorcycle Industry
SlideShare on How-To Write A Résumé That Gets Results
I put my slides from a recent presentation on How-To Write a Résumé that Gets Results on SlideShare. I hope you find them helpful in your career campaign.
Continue reading SlideShare on How-To Write A Résumé That Gets Results
The Résumé Rider: Customize Your Own Job Description
As writer Ashley Jude Collie so aptly put it, “The growing impulse to customize motorcycles undoubtedly taps into a deep human desire to express personal tastes, individuality and self-expression.” Even Burger King scrapped its 40-year-old ‘‘Have It Your Way’’ slogan in favor of the more personal ‘‘Be Your Way.’’ And, it’s not just the boutique bike builders that are both driving and benefiting from the customization movement. Major motorcycle manufacturers like Yamaha tout, “We build it, you make it your own.” Continue reading The Résumé Rider: Customize Your Own Job Description
The Résumé Rider: Résumé Black Holes and Potholes
The reason I most often hear regarding why people seek me out as a Certified Résumé Writer is that they’ve sent out loads of résumés for posted positions but “I never hear anything back. It’s like my résumé goes into a black hole.” Similar to those black hole regions of spacetime that are so intense that no matter or radiation can escape them, submitting résumés to job board postings can feel like an application abyss; just as frustrating as those nasty potholes that motorcyclists dread because the steep edge of a hole can push the tire sideways and bend or fracture a wheel rim…or worse.
Whether it’s a résumé black hole or a pavement pothole, the underlying issue is the same: the experience of feeling out of control. To complicate career control matters, 98.2% of Fortune 500 companies are using Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to eliminate candidates who don’t have strong résumé keyword matches to the job posting. Continue reading The Résumé Rider: Résumé Black Holes and Potholes
The Résumé Rider: Career GPS on Twitter
It’s safe to say that every motorcyclist has a smartphone (even us baby boomer bikers). It’s even safer to say that it would be hard to find a responsible rider who would use it for navigation while riding. More likely than not, you’d opt for a sophisticated GPS unit that not only makes navigation easy – while you focus on the road – but also offers added features and stays strong in all sorts of conditions. I have a personal preference for Garmin GPS since they continually improve their products to give you the best possible ride and you can switch devices between your car and your bike. Taking navigation devices to a new level, Garmin’s partnership with BMW has set the standard for top ride GPS devices creating a routing device plus personal digital assistant that can assist you in navigating a range of terrains and conditions.
A solid GPS system makes navigation easy and traveling to new places a fun adventure. There are a lot of product options to choose from and riders are well-served to do their pre-purchase homework and then learn how to use every feature to get the best ROI (ride on investment). The same goes for job searching. New job boards seem to appear on the online horizon continuously while certain ones continue to attract job seekers, like Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, and loads of niche job sites. Besides LinkedIn, which has evolved and dominated as a cornerstone for professional networking, many job seekers overlook what other social media sites have to offer. Take Twitter, for example, which is establishing itself as a major recruiting resource. Continue reading The Résumé Rider: Career GPS on Twitter