The thought of actively looking for another job can be daunting. So often people wait until a redundancy before they make a change, because it’s been forced upon them. While it may be easier to stay where you are, if you are in an organisation that’s making structural changes or it’s difficult to progress your career with your current employer, then this article is for you.

When you are actively in ‘job search’ mode, there are many factors that can influence your success. Here are 7 steps to achieve success in your job search:

1. Cover Letter

Your cover letter is the number one tool that will help you get invited to an interview. Many people often overlook crafting a cover letter, yet it is the first piece of information a potential employer or recruiter will look at. It will assist the employer or recruiter to evaluate your suitability for the advertised role. When I work with clients on writing their cover letters for their job applications, we can spend as much time on the cover letter as the resume to ensure we get it right!

In this article I explore how to write a cover letter that gets you to the job interview.

2. Killer Resume

Recruiters and hiring managers see LOTS of resumes. What can you do to develop a killer resume? You must focus on developing a resume that powerfully demonstrates your suitability for the advertised position. This means tailoring the resume to every new opportunity you apply for. There are some protocols to follow when writing your resume, one of which is what to cover in the Professional Experience section.

For each role you must provide the following key points:

• Role title
• Name of organisation you worked for
• Dates of employment
• Key Responsibilities
• Key Achievements
• Scope / breadth of role (e.g. how many people reported to you, what geographic area did you cover, etc)
• Value of Budget or P&L you managed (if relevant)

3. LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn Profile is how you will get found by recruiters on LinkedIn.  Make sure you have updated your career interests on your profile’s private dashboard, letting recruiters know you are open to being contacted. Your LinkedIn profile must contain information that is consistent with your job search goals. Provide readers with a sense of your areas of expertise, experience and professional approach.

When in active job search, the key area to focus on with your LinkedIn Profile include:

• Photo
• Summary
• Headline
• Experience
• Recommendations
• Skills
• Career Interests

Importantly, writing your LinkedIn profile is not as simple as cutting and pasting the professional summary, experience and education sections of your resume.

In this article you can learn more about the difference between a LinkedIn profile and your resume.

4. Interview

You should expect to be invited to a variety of different interview types as part of the job application process. This may include group settings, with a hiring panel, online, face to face, informal or formal interviews. The STAR interview method helps you answer interview questions by providing concrete examples or proof that you possess the experience and skills required for the job you are applying for.

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. This method is particularly helpful in response to competency-focused questions, which typically start out with phrases such as “Tell us about a time when…” and “Share an example of a situation where…”

For many of my clients the interview is the part of the job search they fear the most. I support them with Interview Coaching which includes practice interviews where we develop the types of questions they may be asked for a particular job they’ve applied for, and we prepare and practice their answers.

In this article I share some tips on how you can stand out at your next job interview.

5. Networking

Networking has also changed considerably in the last few years. We have become more accustomed to online networking through a variety of platforms and more recently have returned to face-to-face networking. No matter which form of networking you are participating in, always follow up with connections you meet to form stronger relationships. Some ways you can do this include connecting via LinkedIn, sending an email or following up with a phone call to make a memorable impression.

With online tools such as LinkedIn and offline tools such as professional networking events, there are many ways to leverage your networks to help you during your job search.  It’s essential you develop a networking plan, and have practised how you describe where you are at and the types of roles you are looking for. You also need to be brave enough to seek the advice of other professionals who can assist you in achieving your career goals.

6. Recruiters

Recruiters are an important gatekeeper for some of the roles you will apply for during your job search. Importantly, most recruiters are not your career advisor (that’s what I am here for) and so you need to be sure that you meet with recruiters that are aligned to your values and have roles in the sector you wish to work in.  Ask trusted friends and colleagues in your industry (who may have recently changed jobs) which recruiters they would recommend you speak with.

In this article I explore what you need to know about a Career Coach vs a Recruiter.

7. Mindset

A positive mindset is essential when you are in active job search. The reason many people stay where they are, despite being unhappy and wanting to make a change in jobs, is because the job search process can be difficult. You are likely to receive some rejection emails or phone calls and sometimes absolutely no response at all. These can affect your confidence and mindset. You need to be mentally strong to overcome the negatives. Analyse the negative experiences and learn from them – what went wrong, what responses could you have used, what were you not prepared for, how could you have better prepared yourself?

You need to put yourself out there and be willing to experience setbacks. DO NOT GIVE UP! There is some work required to keep you in a positive state of mind, which I welcome the opportunity to explore further with you. Book a 15 minute Career Chat if you need some guidance in your job search.

If you are feeling stuck, here’s an article to help you get moving and take action!

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post 7 Steps to Achieve Job Search Success appeared first on Letz Create.

Your Cover Letter is the Key to Job Interview Success

How is your cover letter looking? Have you spent hours on updating your resume / CV, but no time on your cover letter? This is very common, and when I first meet most of my clients, and review their cover letter (the ones who have actually prepared one), I find they have written the following.

“I am loyal, energetic and wonderful and think I’d be really good for the job.”

Unfortunately, this is not going to get you to the interview and is perhaps the faster way to get you on to the ‘reject’ pile.

Your cover letter can be your secret weapon versus other candidates. How well you share your experience on the first page is critical to whether you are invited to interview. If your cover letter is thorough, the hiring manager or recruiter will use this as a handy guide to mark you against their check list, and then briefly glance over your CV or resume to ensure you’ve provided the more detailed evidence you referenced so clearly in your cover letter. Their mind will process you as tick, tick, tick and you will be placed on the ‘let’s meet this person for an interview’ pile.

My clients, hiring managers and recruiters love my cover letter format because it makes everyone’s life really easy! When the employer is having to process hundreds of applications for roles, and they are on a tight schedule to recruit, a well written cover letter is your secret weapon.

How to Approach Responding to the Key Selection Criteria

When I work with my clients I am always intrigued by how men and women approach applying for jobs differently.

Please let me explain.

When you are job hunting and actively applying for jobs and, assuming you have set up relevant search filters via the LinkedIn and SEEK search functions, for role, geographic location and salary range, one of the first steps when deciding if you will apply for the job is whether you meet the key selection criteria.

In my experience, men apply for roles when they only meet 75% of the key selection criteria, whereas many women will not apply for the role if they do not meet 100% of the key selection criteria. The key selection criteria is the list of either mandatory / required or desirable, but non mandatory, requirements included in a job advertisement in relation to the type of candidate the organisation is looking for.

As long as you meet the main 3 requirements, or at least three quarters of the listed mandatory requirements, I would encourage you to apply for the role.

How to Write a Cover Letter that Gets You to the Job Interview

I understand that you may find a cover letter difficult to write, because you do not know what to put in it and do not know how to capture your experience in a summary format.

I normally draw this information from your CV or resume and then ask you to tell me the story of each role and your experience. I will ask you to give me bullet points, which I use to write your cover letter for you. I will then train you on how to do it, because I generally find you will have 3 cover letters that tell different versions of your experience and story dependent on the role you are applying for. As you actively apply for roles using this format, you write the cover letter and send it back to me for review.

Let’s look at a real life example of one of my clients who was applying for a role in finance. The key requirements for the role were:

1. Financial Analysis
2. Financial Reporting
3. Corporate Governance
4. Risk Mitigation

In this case, my client did have proven experience in the top 3 areas and the necessary qualifications to do the job. So our focus was on providing evidence of how many years my client had worked for financial organisations (in this case NAB and ANZ) and finding a story about how they have managed risk in some capacity.

Many of my clients do not look at the key selection criteria properly and are too ‘black and white’ in their thinking. When it comes to tackling qualifications, which you may or may not have, it is essential to tell your story as it relates to the number of years’ experience in similar roles and achievements delivered in those roles.

What is important here is building a story with enough evidence and experience to achieve the tick, tick, tick action that gets my clients to interview! Once you do get invited to a job interview, be sure to read my article How to Stand Out at Your Job Interview and learn my 5 key success factors to help you stand out.

How I Help

To encourage you to use your cover letter more effectively as a tool to help you get invited to more job interviews, I am available for Career Coaching. These sessions are designed to help you be prepared for your job search and I will work alongside you until you land your dream job.

To learn more about the secret weapon I have shared with you today, book a 15 minute Career Chat with me. You may also like to access my Career Success Podcasts to hear inspiring stories from clients I have worked with who have found their career success.

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post Your Secret Weapon to Getting a Job Interview appeared first on Letz Create.

It is my hope that this article helps set you up for greater success in your job search. I have made a list of the 7 most common errors you can avoid on your resume (and provided some tips on what to do instead), so you can achieve the results you deserve in your job search.

1. Resume Career Summary is Not Included

A resume career summary may also be referred to as a resume summary, professional summary or summary statement and appears on the first page of your resume. Indeed defines it as a “one to two sentence description at the start of your resume that describes you, your level of experience and your key skills” and suggests thinking about a resume summary as an answer to the question, “How would you describe your work experience in one or two sentences?”.

Not including a resume career summary is a common error and, if missed, can mean you’ve under-represented yourself relative to other candidates applying for the same role. If you don’t take the time to include a Career Summary at the start of your resume, you are not showcasing your strongest assets upfront or providing an easy snapshot for the recruiter or hiring manager to assess if you are suitable for the job.

Here’s an example of how to add a resume career summary and avoid this error…

If you have 10 years of experience working in IT you’re likely to have developed a long list of accomplishments for your resume. Creating a summary that showcases the most relevant, key points for a specific position and employer can be helpful by allowing the audience to get a solid picture of your qualifications immediately.

2. Laundry List of Skills Don’t Match the Role’s Key Selection Criteria

Hopefully you do not need me to tell you that you’ll need to adapt your resume for each new role you apply for. Providing a long laundry list of skills that don’t match the role’s key selection criteria is not recommended.

While I do encourage my clients to develop a master resume with all details, it must be tailored to the requirements of each role you apply for.

Here’s what you need to do in order to avoid this common resume error…

Take the time to review and highlight the requirements of a specific role and ensure the skills you’ve listed on your resume match these. If there are any skills you have that aren’t relevant to the role, omit them from the resume for that particular job application.

3. Role Responsibilities Don’t Show Metrics

This refers to a lack of specific details in terms of the sales volume, geographic areas your role/s covered, the number of people who report to you, the number of clients/customers you were responsible for and the specific growth rates or savings you may have achieved.

It’s not enough to cut and paste your bullet point responsibilities. Just like the summary, each role explanation needs to give an overall snapshot of the breadth and depth of the role to help the recruiter or hiring manager understand the scope of what you were responsible for.

This error is a little harder to address and many of my clients need help in drawing this out. Often they’ve been so busy doing their jobs that they forget to keep their resume current and populated with the details of their roles and responsibilities.

If you’re struggling with this one, I recommend you book in a time to chat with me.

4. Key Achievements Are Not Highlighted in Resume

If you don’t have achievements highlighted in your resume, this could be the reason why you are not getting invited to interview. The impact of this error is best understood by thinking about the experience of the recruiter or hiring manager when reviewing applications for a role. If they have your resume, with no achievements highlighted and someone else’s resume, with similar experience, AND their achievements highlighted, who do you think is more likely to be invited to the next interview stage?

This error can be easily fixed by reflecting on and then listing all of the achievements in your current and past roles and ensuring this is included in your master resume.

Here’s how you can include key achievements in your resume…

For each new role you apply for, include the relevant achievements for each role, ensuring it’s tailored to the role’s requirements. Include at least 3 key achievements in your more recent roles and less in past roles.

5. Incorrect Titles

A common error is to use a title that is not well understood by the recruiter or hiring manager. Different organisations have different roles to reflect the same jobs. An example of this is a client who worked in Trade Marketing. She was given the title Channel Planner, which did not make much sense outside of her organisation.

To address this error, consider if your title is easily understood by others.

If it’s not easy to understand here’s what you can do…

Change your title in your resume to the most similar term or title that is understood as the industry term to represent this role. If you are not sure what this is, do your research on LinkedIn and check the titles of people in similar roles, or check what the advertised titles of these roles are. I am not suggesting you lie, however be sure that the role titles on your resume are accurate and clearly understood.

6. Referees Are Added on the Resume

A common error is listing your professional referees on your resume. There are a number of reasons I do not recommend you do this. The main one being that if you are applying for lots of roles at one time, you may want to tailor your referees to each role and you’ll also want to give your referees ample warning if they are likely to be called.

Another way to look at it is to understand when references are actually checked. Your referees are commonly called after your interviews have gone well and the employer is in the final stages of deciding whether or not to offer you the job. For this reason you also want the opportunity to brief the referee on what to expect and what you think they’ll be asked when they receive a call!

Here’s how to avoid this error…

List ‘Professional Referees available on request’ in the final section of your resume.

7. Resume Includes a Photo or Address

This is a common error because it is unnecessary information that doesn’t relate to your skills, experience and suitability for the role and can create unconscious bias. Please allow me to explain. Knowing what you look like and where you live will contribute little to a hiring manager or recruiter assessing your ability to deliver on the core requirements of the role, manage projects and people or deal with challenges in the workplace.

Your resume is a tool to help you secure a job interview. Don’t give a potential employer any reason to ignore your skills and experience by focusing on your appearance or where you live.

I hope you are now in a much better position to avoid these errors on your resume. Did you know that your resume is just one of the five essential job search tools that will help you land your dream job faster? The other four are your Cover Letter, LinkedIn Profile, You and your Job Search Coach (that’s me!). Clients come to me for help for a variety of reasons including:

• They’ve been made redundant and need to create a resume and prepare for the job application and job interview process
• They’re preparing their job search tools to escape a job they hate
• They haven’t had the success they expected with their job search and aren’t sure why.

You may also be interested in reading my recent post, 7 Steps to Achieve Success in Your Job Search, where I share the elements of a successful job search.

If you still feel stuck or don’t know what to do next, I invite you to book a 15 minute Career Chat to discuss how you can move forward in your job search. Click here to book a time with me.

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post 7 Errors People Make on Their Professional Resumes appeared first on Letz Create.

To help you make your job application process less exhausting and more rewarding I’ve developed this comprehensive list of questions, and my answers, to set you up for success. Please share this with anyone you know who’s looking for a job and would benefit from these tips.

1. What are the rules for beginning a new resume?

Starting a resume can be overwhelming, so I recommend you start from where you can remember and begin to fill in the blanks. Most Word software provides a resume template, which is a good starting point for capturing your information in the right format.

SEEK provides a free resume template. Download it now.

It is essential when writing your resume that you understand who you are writing for.  While you can have a master resume that you use as a template, it will need to be adapted for each new role you apply for. Expect to develop many versions of this resume when you are in active job search applying for multiple roles.

2. As a general rule, how many pages should a resume be?

Your resume should be 2-4 pages and must showcase all the relevant information.

3. Should you include a biography at the top of your resume?

A biography is important because it can grasp the reader immediately.

As a general guide, it should be no longer than 3-4 sentences encompassing:

• Years of service & industry
• Synopsis of types of responsibilities pertaining to the job
• What do you like to be known for – highlighting key attributes

4. How much detail should you go into when describing your past job experience?

The best way to answer this is to provide some essential do’s and a don’t.

Do:

• Highlight achievements wherever possible
• Include responsibilities written with metrics
• Provide the scope of the role (geographic, client/ industry type, no. direct reports, etc)
• Include the improvements / contributions / achievements in each role
• Highlight what is pertinent
• Adapt the job titles if they are not well understood industry terms

Don’t:

• Have unexplained gaps – create a career timeline to overcome gaps.

5. How many references should you list? Is it appropriate to list a reference’s email and not phone number – or do you need to include both?

Do not detail your professional referees in your resume at this stage of the job application process. These can be provided once you are successful in the interview process.

6. Are there other categories to put onto a resume?

This is a hotly contested topic and you will receive varying opinions across industries, and it will depend on whether you are speaking to recruiters or career coaches.

I’m often asked what is the best way to order each category. For example, should work experience come before education? If so, why is that important?

Categories can vary slightly by industry and seniority of role. As a general rule, I recommend you list them in the following order:

• Name and contact details
• Bio / Professional Summary
• Competencies relevant to role / job application
• Professional experience summary relevant to role / job application
• Career timeline
• Education

7. Is screening software used widely in Australia?

Yes, screening software is widely and increasingly used in Australia by recruiters and hiring managers.  Screening software is also referred to as Applicant Tracking Software (ATS). This is a commonly overlooked element of the job application process for those who have not recently applied for work or are new to the job application process.

For those who have become aware of screening software, a common question is whether keyword optimisation is something that people should be considering when crafting their resumes.  The bigger the recruitment firm or job search organisation, the more likely they are to use software screening. This means your resume must be either job key word rich or skills job search rich.

8. What are the main points of difference between a written resume and LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is not your resume.  What you are addressing on LinkedIn is a higher level or more general version of what you want to be known for and who you wish to attract during your job search. LinkedIn is where you showcase your professional brand and includes key elements such as the About / Summary section that provides an overview of your experience, skills and personal attributes.

LinkedIn is search engine optimised, so it’s very important to use this online space wisely!  You have 120 characters in the headline and 2000 characters in the About / summary section of your LinkedIn Profile.

9. In an age where resumes are commonly submitted digitally, is it important to format the file in any way?

The most common file format is MS Word. You may also be asked to submit your cover letter and resume is PDF format.

10. What do I need to know about the cover letter?

You should always write a cover letter to support your application, even when the job application does not ask for one.

11. Once you’ve perfected your resume, what strategies do you employ to keep it up to date?

Your resume is an ever evolving document that I recommend you keep up to date whilst you are in the job and not just when you are in active job search!

12. What are things to avoid at all costs when writing a resume?

I recommend you avoid:

• inaccuracy
• lack of detail
• spelling mistakes
• repetition
• inappropriate email address

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post Job Seeker’s 12 Must Know Answers to Writing Your Resume for Jobs in Australia appeared first on Letz Create.

On the blog this month I’ve asked Karen Hollenbach, the Founding Director of Think Bespoke and one of Melbourne’s leading LinkedIn specialists, to share a piece we developed together for our CAREER Grow Community. We explore the difference between your LinkedIn Profile and your Resume and why it’s important to know how to maximise these two essential career tools for your career success.

Over to Karen . . . . .

In Australia 4 out of 5 people have a LinkedIn profile and searching LinkedIn is increasingly the first step for professionals, recruiters and hiring managers who are seeking people with particular skills and experience for potential projects, collaborations and vacant roles.

Writing your LinkedIn profile is not as simple as cutting and pasting the professional summary, experience and education sections of your resume, although I do see many LinkedIn profiles written this way. It’s hard to write about yourself, and so today’s article will help you understand the differences between your LinkedIn profile and resume and how you should approach writing each.

Marina and I often discuss the fundamental differences between a LinkedIn Profile and a Resume. We agree these are both essential career tools, but play different roles in your career planning and job hunting journey. In fact, we think there are 8 differences that you should be aware of when updating your LinkedIn Profile or resume, including:

1. Photo
2. Variations
3. User Experience
4. Length
5. Focus & Format
6. Tone
7. Role of Keywords
8. Audience

Let’s explore some of these in more detail.

Photo

A photo is expected for your LinkedIn profile and is not needed for your resume. LinkedIn reports that members who include a profile photo receive 21x more profile views and up to 36x more messages.

When deciding which photo to upload, choose one that aligns with your role as a professional, but that makes you approachable. You can upload directly from your phone, but make sure it’s good quality and includes you only, not your pet or significant other.

If you can, have a photo taken by a professional photographer. Your goal is to come across as likeable, professional, influential, and competent.

Variations

Marina recommends that each resume is specifically tailored to the job offer and designed in a way suitable to your industry. You should always have more than variation of your resume, and write as many resumes as jobs you plan to apply for, because the purpose of your resume is to respond specifically to an advertised or vacant role and to get you an interview with the recruiter or hiring manager.

You have just one version of your LinkedIn profile and need to keep it updated as you change roles, gain qualifications or certifications and are involved with new projects. It is worth searching your name on LinkedIn to check if you have not accidentally created duplicate profiles. I see this often, due to members accepting invitations to connect from different email addresses. I f you discover you do have a duplicate profile, here’s instructions from LinkedIn for how to merge your details into one LinkedIn profile.

User Experience

For the reader, LinkedIn offers a much richer experience than a resume. Your resume is static and contains only limited information that’s related to the requirements of the job in question, whereas your LinkedIn Profile is dynamic and ever-changing, especially if you are active on LinkedIn and post updates, publish LinkedIn articles, like or comment on your colleague’s posts.  I recommend being active on LinkedIn as it helps develop your reputation, keep you top of mind with your connections and position you as a knowledgeable professional.

Skill endorsements and recommendations on your LinkedIn profile will also change,  with colleagues endorsing your skills or providing you with recommendations that you can then choose to add to your profile. For more information on how to add recommendations to your profile please read this article.

Length

Since your resume should contain only details related to the job position you’re applying for, Marina recommends you keep your resume to a maximum of 2-3 pages in length.

With your LinkedIn profile, there is no limit on how long your it should be, and you can include extra material such as links, videos, presentations or your publications. Importantly, I recommend you only add information to your profile that is relevant to your goals for LinkedIn. If you are actively job hunting, consistency with your resume is essential, and it is worth reviewing your LinkedIn profile to ensure there are no ‘red herrings’ or distracting details in your profile that you included when you first signed up to be a LinkedIn member.

Focus & Format

While your LinkedIn profile positions you as a professional with overall skills, experience,  and perhaps also a point of view, the focus of your resume is on your skills and previous work experiences, how they make you an ideal candidate for a specific role, and how the organisation will benefit from hiring you.

In a resume format, you need a “Professional Summary” or “Profile” at the beginning of your resume. This replaces the traditional “Career Objective”. It is the cornerstone of the resume because it will influence whether people read on. This needs to be three to four short sentences or phrases to present a compelling snapshot of your professional expertise and key personal attributes that represent your personal brand.

LinkedIn allows you to do the same in the “Summary” section of your profile. However, you have more space (up to 2,000 characters). There are some limits on formatting text in your LinkedIn Profile, with the insertion of symbols (which I suggest you use sparingly) and capitals, the main options. You can also add links to showcase an online portfolio, videos and online publications.

While the core chronology and facts will be very similar in your LinkedIn profile and resume, they way you describe your transition from one role to the other and the amount of previous and current career information will differ.

The LinkedIn profile will provide an overall sense of achievements, and perhaps also an element of storytelling for each role, while the resume should contain only the information relevant to the job offer you’re applying for and stick to key metrics and provide evidence of performance based results.

Tone

I encourage my clients to take a more relaxed tone on LinkedIn, but am mindful that their industry and role type will strongly influence the appropriateness of this. If you view LinkedIn like a virtual room, then your LinkedIn profile is you,! It’s an invaluable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online ambassador.

Your LinkedIn profile should tell a bigger story. It’s a place to showcase your personal branding, demonstrate your expertise and share relevant information that adds value to your professional community.

Both need to strategically address what’s in it for the reader, but your resume will be more formal in tone and is perhaps one of the most formal documents you will ever write. The strength of your resume is in the structure and word choices. They must respond to key selection criteria and use words and language that are consistent with the words used in the job advertisement or those used by the organisation generally in their website copy. The real estate on the page of a resume is more limited so you must choose your words very carefully!

A professionally written resume and an impactful LinkedIn profile should demonstrate the value you can add to an organisation.  It is essential to articulate the impact you’ve had in your current and previous relevant roles. However, the level of detail will vary due to the public nature of LinkedIn and the private and specific focus for your resume.

Role of Keywords

While your primary goal with your LinkedIn profile and resume is to connect with the reader, ignoring the technology used by recruiters and hiring managers can put you at a disadvantage. Scanning software may be used to filter resume applications, and LinkedIn’s algorithms look at keyword density to rank your profile in a search. To read more about how LinkedIn does this please read this article from LinkedIn about LinkedIn Search Relevance – People Search. The headline, summary, experience and skills sections of your LinkedIn profile must be written in a way that help you get found.

If you are actively job hunting, consider the role titles and skills required for these roles. Review your LinkedIn profile and ensure that any skills or experience you have are written in a way that is consistent with the industry terminology.

Choosing the right keywords is much easier in resumes, since every advertised role contains plenty of keywords and phrases you can use. Marina advises that some companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) that search for the keywords the right candidate should have in his or her resume. Without these keywords you will not be very successful with an ATS. This is particularly important if you are putting your resumes up on SEEK or job boards. Tread carefully!

Audience

The purpose of a resume is to get an interview and get hired. Marina recommends that you keep your resume updated as an ongoing record as you change jobs or roles.  In this article she writes “Life runs at a rapid pace, and the older we get, the harder it is to remember the specific details of each role.  It is the key achievements and examples of what you’ve done in each role that become your compelling selling points . . . when you are looking for a new job or making a change in your career direction.”

Though headhunters often use LinkedIn to hire people, it’s main goal is to keep you connected with other people from your industry and to help you stay in the loop about what’s going on in your area of expertise.

After the hiring manager reads your resume, they will go and check how you look on Linkedin before doing a general online search, and perhaps also a specific search on social media. As a side note – if you are actively applying for roles, please review your privacy settings on platforms like Facebook and Instagram if you have activities or comments you’ve shared that you would prefer not to be public knowledge.

It is important to mention that your LinkedIn profile has the potential to reach a broader audience than your resume. It’s therefore important to strike a balance between creating the opportunity for making more connections with tailoring the LinkedIn profile for your ideal job or client base. Consistency is the key!

How Can We Help?

If you’d like a fresh set of eyes to look over your LinkedIn profile, please read more here about Think Bespoke’s LinkedIn Profile Audit .

If it’s your resume that needs some attention, please read more here about Letz Create’s Resume Review.

If you are thinking about your next career move, please join our Career Grow Facebook group here. Our aim is to provide you with helpful resources and thought starters to assist your professional development. This is a comfortable and safe place to access useful resources, learn, reflect, ask questions, seek professional development guidance and understand how to achieve greater job satisfaction.

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

The post The Differences Between Your LinkedIn Profile & Resume appeared first on Letz Create.

How The Scout Motto Applies to Your Career

In the third part of Scouting for Boys, Robert Baden-Powell explains the meaning of the famous Scout Motto, ‘Be Prepared’, which means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.

As a professional, my question to you today is “Are you ready, willing, and able to do what is necessary in any situation that comes along’, especially if it means looking for a new job? Too often I see people decide they want to look for another role outside of their organisation, but they have not done the very simple work required to prepare themselves and be ready! They have not realised the importance of their CV or resume as a record of achievements to prepare them for when they decide to make a career move. Instead, they think it is something they will do when they need it.

Am I describing you?

It is essential that you keep an ongoing record of your CV as you change jobs or roles. Life runs at a rapid pace, and the older we get, the harder it is to remember the specific details of each role. It is the key achievements and examples of what you’ve done in each role that become your compelling selling points in your CV when you are looking for a new job or making a change in your career direction.

Examples of resumes I see where people haven’t taken the time to record each role is when there are no details of the duties completed in each role and no details of the achievements in each role. Having these gaps in your CV when actively applying for work will mean your application will not land on the ‘to be interviewed pile’.

And it’s my job to make sure you do get to interview!

So let’s explore how to take a leaf out of the Scout’s handbook and be more prepared for when you do decide to apply for new roles.

What You Need To Capture For Each Role

It is very easy to capture the following key points for each role:

• Role title
• Name of organisation you worked for
• Scope / breadth of role (e.g. how many people reported to you, what geographic area did you cover, etc)
• Value of Budget or P&L you managed
• Key Responsibilities

Ideally I would also like you to include your key achievements, although this is often an area that my clients find difficult to write down and something I can talk through with you to tease out the relevant information for each role.

5 Benefits of Being Prepared & Keeping a Record of Each Role

There are many benefits of taking the time to record these details for each role. It does not take long and only requires 30 minutes of reflection, even less, per role. Here are some of the key benefits of capturing this information on an ongoing basis (rather than in a scramble when you wish to apply for a new role).

1. Provides clarity of the skills you have
2. Reflection is powerful and helps you close one door and open another
3. Helps you determine your next steps
4. Is a reminder that you are doing well
5. When you do apply for a job, you are ready!

To encourage you to take the time to be prepared for your next role I have a special offer on my CV Health Check. If you have been applying for jobs and not getting anywhere take advantage of our complimentary CV Health Checks so that you can apply for your next role with confidence. Register here to have your CV reviewed: http://eepurl.com/crjRGr

Marina Pitisano

I am a passionate Career Coach who works with individuals in the explore and search phase of their career journey, helping you realise your strengths through my career coaching and training programs. I enjoy showing people the path to greater career satisfaction and providing insight and tools to help you make your next career move.

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