According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), close to 1.9 million students in the United States will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 2016. Unfortunately, many of you who are graduates will apply for jobs using résumés with the types of mistakes that can severely hurt your chances to obtain the job of your choice. Why? Because most recruiters and hiring managers spend fewer than 15 seconds visually scanning a résumé, and are on the lookout for ways to screen out the ones who won’t make the first cut. Here are 5 things that can “kill” your résumé: The e-mail address creates the wrong impression. While “KegKing.com” may seem cool to your college buddies, it does not convey the best image, nor does it send the right message to potential employers. Solution: Evaluate your e-mail address through the perspective of a potential employer. Using a respected e-mail provider, such as Gmail, create an e-mail address that uses your full name: e.g., chris.taylor@gmail.com. You can’t tell what s/he wants to do. As a recent college graduate, you are at somewhat of a disadvantage: you may not have a great deal of relevant work experience, and your college major may not indicate a career direction. The challenge – and what’s most important – is for you to lead the reader’s thinking in a particular direction. For example, if your major was Finance and Accounting, it would be fairly easy to assume that you want a job in Finance or Accounting. If, however, your major was in Sociology or English, the career path or identity may not be as obvious....
As someone who has lived through multiple career transitions, I know and understand that it can be a frustrating process. As someone who has survived – and also thrived – following career transitions, I also know and understand that there is hope and that, amid the many questions, there are answers. I’ve put together my personal “recipe for success” during this time, one that is founded on my personal career journey. I call it the S-M-A-R-T path to career success, and I’m pleased to share it with you. S = Support. It’s not possible to navigate successfully through the waters of transition without a support team. Whether it is family, friends, a colleague, a former college roommate, or a group of like-minded individuals who meet weekly (such as our Monday morning LINKS), you will better be able to ride the waves of uncertainty, fear, concern, joy, and hope with a network of people who unconditionally support you (the operative word here being unconditional). Let others hold you up, as you will hold them. It is a noble effort on anybody’s part. M = Motivation. There are times, and moments, when you may feel that it’s difficult to keep moving forward. You didn’t get the interview you wanted, or the job went to an internal candidate. Or you didn’t have the energy to get up and out. I subscribe to the 10-minute whining rule: you can whine for 10 minutes, and then it’s time to move on. You can move on to anything, but it must be something. Someone knowledgeable once said that you must do the most productive thing at any...
