Interests, Hobbies and Community Involvement

In college I remember writing my first resume. The career center gave out an employment guide, and it had several samples of resumes that would be appropriate for a recent graduate. One of the last items on several of them was Interests and Hobbies. While I don't encourage people to put this down on a professional resume, many of the resumes I receive do list this. It is interesting to see some of the pastimes people list. I didn't know what a luthier was until someone listed it as a hobby. Making stringed instruments does sound like fun.

Something I encourage you to list however is community involvement activities. Being active in non-profit and other community organizations can be very rewarding, as I wrote about in a past blog post. Everyone moans about the lack of time they have. Charitable organizations and community programs often need talented individuals to oversee their operations and help promote them. Not everyone wants to participate in volunteer activities, and this is a way you can differentiate yourself from them. By getting involved and participating in your community you are helping others and showing your willingness to share your talents and time.

If you are volunteering, put that information on your resume. List how long you have been active with each organization, and any positions you held on boards, committees or projects. These items are very telling to future employers about you and create a robust profile of your skills, interests and commitments. I think many companies would like to have an active contributor who can interact with people in various ways and is working to improve things for others.

Nor sure where you could help out? Start by looking at organizations in your industry and within your field of expertise. If you are a seasoned business owner, the Small Business Association has many programs you can help out with. If you are a college alumni, contact the alumni association to find out where they might need your assistance. Looking for something local? Many city and counties have volunteer needs and list them on their websites. When you are out in your community and see a volunteer project, ask them what they are doing and how you can join. Charitable organizations have lots of volunteer opportunities, and list them on their websites. Meetup.com also lists lots of opportunities on their website, and has been very helpful for finding projects here in Sacramento. For all you parents of school-age children, those schools can use your help. Contact your child's teacher and find out how you can help.

And participation leads to other opportunities too. I started out planning a school garden project and quickly got involved with the UC Davis school garden group. Then I was enlisted in another garden project, and now am starting an urban farm project with the local food bank. It is very rewarding to get involved with like minded people. And your community involvement can be helpful in your career as well.

Try it, you might like it. And then make sure you put it on your resume.

Less Cranky Recruiter: Must Have Wine Experience

Back to my usual self, and have gotten through my inbox now. For anyone who is looking to make the change into the wine industry, please continue to make your plans, and send me those resumes. I am happy to help with feedback, and hope my last post simply shines light on your need to make your resume relevant to the reader. I think I'll keep that last post up, FYI.

Cranky Recruiter: What you can do to make your resume stand out

Been looking at lots of resumes for days and days now. Yes, I give resume advice all the time on this blog--but there may be a reason. A good resume can make a recruiter or employer take notice, and a bad resume makes us unhappy.

So, while I may be a Cranky Recruiter today, I thought I'd share with my readers what makes me happy when I'm pouring over resumes. Here goes:

I love color. I know, too much of a good thing could turn your resume into a day-glo mess, but a little touch of color on the header, or for different sections perks it up. I noted on Facebook recently that I seem to like orange. This is true both for resumes and art work--so I'm not sure if it is a good color for everyone--but always makes me energized when I see a resume.

Ease of reading: This may go along with the color topic--but easy to read typeface, a good size font, and some bare spots along with bullet points goes a long way. Don't cram too much on the page, but keep it flowing nicely. Also, cute typefaces are fun to work with, but can be a killer on a resume. This also is true when converting from Mac to MS and other programs, so sometimes less frills are better. I also don't like handwriting script used in the body of an email--good old generic typefaces are so nice to read.

Tell me about your roles: Yes, I do know a little about the wine industry, but there is a lot to know. Tell me about the wineries you worked at. Things likes production size, types of wine made, budget, sales figures, etc. all give me an idea of the type of companies you are familiar with. If you are working at a small yet very well regarded winery, put those notes on your resume. I may not know those wines or the following a winery has. And if you were instrumental in that following, that is very important.

Put links on your resume. I am reading all of these resumes on my computer, so if I see a website link to the place you are working now, I can quickly pull it up and find out a lot about the winery. This helps me decide suitable matches for you.

References. If you are comfortable putting references, either put them on the last page, or as I sometimes see, put them within the job summary section. If I know Jane Doe over at ABC Winery is saying good things about you, I may be quicker to call you up for an interview. You don't need to do this if you are confidentially searching, and I think guarding your references is very important--both for you and for them--but I have seen some resumes do this and I thought it was very effective.

Explain Gaps. If you have a gap on your resume due to personal time off, you can put it on your resume. Going back to school, taking care of a newborn baby are all real life events that need your time. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball where you need to move back to take care of a family member, or deal with a business concern. These types of issues can be addressed on a resume, and helps explain gaps in employment.

Contact. Put your email and cell phone number on your resume. Simple, yes, but very important.

Ok, that's all for now. Back to resume review.

Job Front: Make your résumé stand out

Recent Sacramento Bee article about formatting your resume. Good advice about keeping your key words and skills visible to potential employers.

Job Front: Make your résumé stand out - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Resumes

Now that you are looking for a job, you of course have to prepare a resume. People hate writing resumes, and put it off whenever possible. If that rings true with you, take the plunge and start writing about yourself.

Just like with many of my blog posts, marketing pieces, social networking posts, etc., I tend to start writing and see what happens. I don't publish it yet though. I noodle around and put down things that might be interesting, very important information, potential layouts and see where it goes. Only after I get a lot of stuff down in writing do I tighten things up. Do I really need to have my hobbies listed? Do I have my important contact info on there? Am I writing to my audience, or am I writing from my own bubble? After recently helping spiff up a friend's resume, I'm offering some suggestions to make your resume more presentable.

Layout: You don't need to start off without any formatting of your resume. Microsoft Word and other word processing programs have a myriad of templates you can use. In Word, open a new document and choose templates. When I last went in there, there were resumes for different professions, levels of experience and so forth. There are also a lot of online resources, including http://www.resumetemplates.org/, and http://www.instantresumetemplates.com/. I personally hate resumes that have a lot of unnecessary graphics--pink bars along the top, goofy swooshes along the margins, etc. But I'm old and jaded when it comes to resume review, so do what you want with your resume. Here are some things you should do: Make your contact information prominent. Have sections for Experience, Education and other relevant information. Some ideas for those sections are, Technical Skills, Computer Knowledge, Certifications, and truly relevant Community Activities

Length: I do like a one page resume. If you are an entry-level candidate don't stretch your non-industry job experience for two pages and add a lot of personal interests. A hiring manager can quickly figure out if you are experienced or not, and aren't fooled by a longer resume. On the flip side, if you have a lot of experience, don't cram everything onto one page. Two carefully edited pages is perfectly acceptable, so don't sweat it. My resume is two pages, and I'm proud of it.

Work Experience: I advise to list your current and past employers in reverse chronological order, with your most recent job being on top. Put in there a short description of the company or the department you worked for. If you worked outside of the wine industry for a time, this descriptor will help potential employers understand what you did there and how applicable it is to their need. Make sure you put your job title and dates of employment. Then put down what you did there, your responsibilities and achievements. If you worked in many different positions with the same employer, list the company and length of time there, then break it down into subsections with your job title and dates in that position. Getting into the minutia, if you have worked at the same employer in different roles, try to make it as clear as possible--possibly having the employer and dates in regular formatting and then the individual roles indented to make them "housed" under the umbrella of that employer.

Education: List your education in reverse chronological order as well. If you have a Ph.D. and a M.S. and a B.S., I don't need to know where you went to high school. Rarely do I need to know where you went to high school. But if your high school degree is your highest degree achieved, list it. I encourage you to list research work that you did while at college, especially if it is very pertinent for your job hunting targets.

Grammar: Think back to your days in English class. Are you using the right verb tense? Do your sentences need helping verbs? Are you writing in the same first person or third person narrative. I recommend third person. I think resume grammar is tricky. You are trying to write action oriented sentences about yourself, while putting it in third person. Resumes are full of incomplete sentences--and it is okay. Grammar checking software will make you go crazy trying to fix everything. So read it to yourself, read it out loud, have a friend read it. Make sure it makes sense. And please check for typos. Not paying careful attention to your resume and letting typos slip sends a bad message to a potential hirer. How is that supposed attention to detail?

Be boastful but truthful. You have to paint a positive picture of yourself so that next employer realizes they have to hire you. You also have to be truthful on your resume. Your resume is a marketing tool to get you in front of someone. But when you are putting your info down, make sure you are telling the truth about yourself. Don't add education you don't have, make up jobs for gaps in your work experience or portray your role as bigger than it was. You may be saying, "Of course Amy", but believe me, many people lie on their resumes. Don't be one of them and be able to stand behind anything you put on there.

Okay, so go play around with your resume a bit. You can write it better than anyone else. You lived it and understand it. Put on your hiring manager eyes and read it as if you don't know your background. Now fix any problems and get that thing in front of people that need to hire you.

Cranky Recruiter: Resume.doc

Been reviewing a lot of resumes today. Late in the day....and the cranky recruiter rears her ugly advice again. When writing your resume, save it as you. What I mean is, put your name on the file when you save it. I often get several candidates whom I am talking to, and when I go to pull up their resume from my files, I can't find it based on the title. 50% of the resumes I review are titled resume.doc. Ah, fun. I save them in my database by name, but I'm thinking about your well being here. If you send your resume to a hiring manager, do they take the time to put your resume in their database--or do they have a whole file full of resume.doc files?

I'm keeping it short and sweet. Save your resume as First Name Last Name. AmyGardner.doc is much easier to find than Resume2recruiter.doc, etc.

Have a great weekend. I should be less cranky come Monday.

Resumes and Wine Labels

I've been helping a few of my readers with their resumes recently, and have been pondering the relationship between wine labels and resumes. To the average recruiter, these would be two completely different things, but when someone is often working with job seekers who also have a small wine label on the side, it makes a bit more sense.

I am an average consumer with a taste for wine. I, like the vast majority of wine drinkers, peruse the wine aisles and pick up interesting bottles here and there. What draws me to the wine? Yes, some of my wines choices are to show loyalty to clients and placements. It is fun to drink a bottle of wine when you know the history behind the team there, and I feel a connection to the product. But there are plenty of times I just pick up a wine that looks interesting. Marketing groups spend hours trying to figure out what a shopper will find intriguing--and often I am their guinea pig. Cute labels, something a little different, and occasionally a really "rich" looking bottle will be my choice.

Knowing the time and money that people put into wine labels, I am always surprised when they don't put the same attention into their resume. Many of the same ideas apply between the two mediums. Here are a few examples:

• Required Information: A wine label is required to have certain things on it by law. So should a resume. Examples of required information are; name, phone number, contact information, experience and education. Without these basics, you aren't telling the reader much about you.
• Theme: While I don't want cute little Australian critters on your resume, I do like to have a well presented resume. The theme so to speak can be bold headings with bulleted sections. Another example of a theme would be to consistently run your wine and food knowledge throughout the resume. Think about your experience and interests and weave it into the text of your resume.
• Consistency: This is such a simple item, but one that over half of the resumes I read lack. Whether it is verb tense, sentence structure or typeface, having a consistent look and style to your resume presents you in a positive light. All too often I will get a decent looking resume with one portion "tacked on" at the top or bottom. This tells me that the author had an old resume that they put new information on. It isn't hard to make everything look and read the same. Review your resume, including your text, and edit, edit, edit. Another function I do all the time in MS Word is to hit Ctrl-A, and then put the entire document in the same typeface and font size. This little quick trick saves figuring out formating changes in the body of the resume.
  
• Appearance: Look at your resume and see what it says about you. If a wine label had a pretty flower on the label, you might think the wine was floral and light. If you put your resume in the comic sans typeface, I might think you are silly and overused. Just kidding! But really, how your resume looks reflects on you. Put your resume in an easy-to-read typeface such as Arial or Calibri. Also, show some mercy on the reader and put it in a font of 11 points or higher. I'm getting older and my eyes are weary--help me out. Bolding important sections is also a good idea, letting the reader know what you think is important about yourself.
• Length: Maybe it is lucky that wine labels are only so big. Unfortunately, resumes can be as long as you want them to be. I recommend keeping them to 1-2 pages in length. If you have a longer resume, take a look at some of the information you have on there and see if you could reformat it to fit better on fewer pages.

Thinking about the design and overall look of your resume will help make you look professional on paper. Just like that bottle of wine I picked up, now it's time to see what the true character of the resume's subject by talking to you in person.

Beware the True Black Hole, the Spam Folder

I am getting to the end of a recruitment, and luckily I searched through my spam folder to make sure nothing got caught in there. To my surprise, there were several resumes of highly qualified candidates in there. After reclassifying them as "not spam" I have been talking to several of them, with promising interest by my winery client.

Job seekers always complain about not getting any feedback after submitting a resume to a general delivery mailbox. While contacting people directly is often recommended, even if you email it directly to the hiring manager it can be received as a suspicious email. Hiring managers are busy, and most likely don't check their spam folder unless specifically searching for a missing email.

So how can you prevent the blackhole of the spam folder? It can be tough. Some companies have pretty stringent filters on their email accounts. Also, if you are sending your email from another country, the country code in the email can signal spam filters. I know this because often non-US emails get caught in mine. I am sure I too have sent plenty of brilliant communiques to clients who would have used my services in a heartbeat--but my solicitation was caught in the filter.

My recommendation is the same as for any serious job search. First, find out who is hiring for a position. Then send your resume directly to that person. Then follow-up with them to make sure they received your email. I frequently get these calls, and do check to make sure the message came through. It doesn't always, and that call allows the message to be resent and successfully received by me. I don't mind calls--I do have trouble getting back to all calls during a busy recruitment, but strive to as best I can.

I know that it isn't always possible to find out who is the hiring manager on a position. If you can't get that information, follow up after you send your resume to a general delivery mailbox with another email in 1-2 weeks. Persistance has a way of paying off. Be courteous and professional.

Good Luck

Cranky Recruiter: Resume Template

Okay, everyone always wants advice on how to write a resume. After recently seeing some awful ones, I'm putting a template out here for everyone to look at. This is a general, all-purpose resume outline that I think is fairly standard.

Name (the name you are known as--if you use an appropriate nickname, put it down.)
Street Address City, State, Zip code.
Phone Numbers--put the numbers you can be reached at. Cell, Home. Put your work number down only if you can get calls there without risking your current position.Email--again, only use personal emails unless it is perfectly acceptable with your current employer to use your work email when looking for a different job.

Professional Summary: List your experience, skills and relevant information for the types of positions you are seeking. If you are a recent graduate, this area may list some work you did in school, or skills such as lab work, computer software, etc. For an experienced professional, this area should highlight the experience and knowledge you bring to a future employer.

Work Experience: In Chronological Order, listing your most recent position first:
Company, Location, Position Title and Dates of Employment. If you have worked for the same company but in many different positions, put a top line listing of the company and entire tenure, then break it down after that into position and tenure.
Job Responsibilities in that position. List what you had to do at that company, what your responsibilities were, and any special projects that you were involved in. If you are looking to enter into the wine industry, I encourage you to describe what the company did, and what you did within the company. An example of this would be if you worked at a paper company. If you were a sales person, list the company, location, position title and dates of employment. Then put a small description of the company, such as, Dunder Miflin is a paper and office supply company based out of New York City that works with large corporations and small business owners to provide office products and solutions. As Sales Manager, I was responsible for overseeing the office staff as well as work with key accounts to attract and retain business. This allows a hiring manager to understand what you did there, and then think of ways you could help at their company. If you were doing specific tasks or using specific technologies, list them.

Education:Degree Received, Name of School, Location
You can put the graduation year, and I encourage you to if you recently graduated. If it has been several years, you may want to keep it off the resume. You do not need to list high school or every community college you attended. List where you received your degree from.

Professional Development/Certifications:
This is a good area to list any management courses taken, technological workshops attended or certifications received that are relavent to the position you are submitting your resume for.

References: List 3-5 if you want, but most every hiring manager understands that you will provide references if asked. By leaving it off, you have a bit more page to use for putting career information on.

How Long: 1-2 pages is best. I often see people with 20-30 years of experience that have distilled it down to one page. The 4-page recent-graduate resume is cumbersome and often irrelevant. Sometimes less is more.

Some things you can list, but only if you have a burning desire to or it is relevant to the position:
hobbies, community involvement, relevant coursework. I would encourage you to keep off birthdates, marital status and number of children and/or pets.

It is your resume, so read my advice, and then write what you want. It should be a reflection of your personality and experience, and that can come across in a well-written resume.

Good Luck.

What to put on your resume.

One of my readers recently wrote to me about writing a resume for the wine industry. With permission, here's the email followed by my suggestions.



Hi Amy,I have recently come across your wine talent blog and I am hoping to get some advice from you on how to develop an effective resume. I am not currently in the wine industry but, I am hoping to enter into it. I am currently a product manager and have a lot of transferable skills. I'm not sure how to create a new career change resume. Do you have any tips that you can share? or sites to direct me to?Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much.



My suggestions:

• Having transferable skills is the most important element, and the part I would promote on your resume.


• Chronological resumes with your most recent position listed first are the best format.


• Put an experience section first on your resume. This is where you can highlight what you have done, and what is easily transferred into the wine biz.


• Use bullet points. Recruiters, HR managers and hiring managers get resume fatigue. We like to have your abilities pointed out to us--easily found and easily understood.

After the format of the resume, I would encourage you to highlight the areas which are easily transferred. Program management is a discipline that can be used within sales organizations, marketing departments, management and administration. Think about what areas could use your skills, and then write your resume addressing those areas. For other disciplines, look at them from a new perspective, and figure out new areas where you can capitalize on them.

Get involved. I say this from a wine perspective. I often see that people who successfully have made a transition steeped themselves in wine knowledge, news and started making contacts. This commitment shows potential employers that you are serious about your change. I recommend taking classes online, going to wine education courses and reading everything you can get your hands on.

Good Luck!

Cover Letters and Communications

This last week I attended Back to School night, and met my children's teachers. As always it was informative and great to connect with the new stewards of my family's education. Then today I received an email from the teacher that was full of grammatical errors and obviously had not been re-read prior to sending out. While I know all too well how important it is to get communications out, I also know that this teacher is in charge of teaching kids proper writing skills. How can I stand behind my son's report card comments that he had poor grammar and spelling, when the same teacher had similar problems in her communications to me.

So what the heck does this have to do with you, job seeker? Think about your communications and what they say about you. Make sure your emails are concise and free of errors prior to sending them. I always proofread my messages prior to sending--even if it is just a quick note. It makes communication easier, and prevents any misunderstandings.

As a recruiter, a resume is a snapshot of your experience and skills. I don't really pay attention to cover letters. I do however like an email that gives me the nitty gritty on what a candidate is looking for, what their living situation is (are they looking to relocate, anchored to a remote locale, or are completely flexible), and related information. In my resume database I input these notes, along with any notes from conversations and interviews. I do advise you to prepare a cover letter to include with your resume. I am only one recruiter, and convention dictates a cover letter. Make sure it is clear, represents you well, and free of typos and errors. This will show your presentation skills and thoroughness.

This of course is true of any communications you send. Make sure you don't send a email riddled with problems. If you claim in your resume that you have stellar business communication skills, it better be reflected in all your communications.

Okay, so how many grammatical errors did I miss?

Career Journal Articles to Read

Today's Wall Street Journal's Career Journal section had two insightful articles for job hunters.

The first article deals with how to search for a job without your boss finding out. As I have posted previously this article touches on things you need to keep under wraps while job hunting. Especially helpful is the information about confidential posting to job boards. The article notes that on sites such as Monster.com, hotjobs.com and theladders.com you can block the viewing of your resume by certain companies. So if you are working for ABCXYZ winery, you can block anyone from that winery viewing your resume on these services. View the whole article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118764719494903387.html.

The second article talks about getting your resume noticed. Similar to my notes in Black and White and Never Read this article advises you to make your resume stand out from the competition. Interesting ideas include a free-lance writer who structures her resume as a press release and a resume packaged as a slick marketing brochure. Keep editing those resumes, and take a look at the article at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118764668396403385.html.

A subscription may be required.

How to Make Your Recruiter Happy

I am currently wading through about 50 resumes a day, and being a diligent recruiter am inputting them all into my database for tracking. A word of advice to job hunters: Put your resume in a Word document format. Too often I get beautiful resumes in Adobe or in an unknown format that are difficult to navigate around or to input into my database. When I'm recruiting on a new position, I go to my database first. If your resume is in a different format, I might not see it right away. I know that Adobe is a nice program, but a simple, to-the-point resume in a .doc format is always preferred.

Yes, dealing with lots of resumes can make me cranky--but getting that perfect candidate is totally worth it. So keep those resumes coming--even if they are in Adobe Acrobat.

What's in a Name?

I once made a sales appointment at a large company in Napa. When my contact was repeating my name she said, "Amy Gardner, you can't get much more white bread than that!" That was the first time I had heard that expression--and it has always made me wonder. Would I do better in business if I had a more unique name? Recently I read an article about how parents are going to great lengths to pick the perfect, unique name for their children. Many of the parents said the reason they wanted a unique name was to help the child later on when she is looking for work. How come?

Nowadays, it is par for the course for potential employers to "google" an employment candidate before making any hiring decisions. Some people believe that being easily searchable on the internet gives you an edge in the job search. If you have a fairly common name, your information or profile may be hundreds of pages behind some of your moniker's more famous owners. If you have a distinctive name, you may pop up immediately in a google search, allowing a potential employer to quickly gain information on you.

So, doing my due diligence, I Googled my white bread name. Luckily, I have a famous TV character name twin--Amy Gardner from the West Wing. Mary Louise Parker's character's information fills hundreds of pages on Google. Back at my old corporate job several of the guys even said I had a lot of similiarities to her. Watching it years ago, I just wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Along with other Amy Gardners there is a math wiz and there is also a famous producer who is linked to some movie hunks named Amy Gardner, sadly she too is not me.

Having a disctinctive name also leads to some trouble. Although you might be easily searchable, any indiscretions you may have had could quickly be found. As this article mentioned, the name Zoe Rose could perfect for a cute baby girl. It's also happens to be a porn star's handle. So looking up Zoe Rose one day could pull up some embarrassing although completely unrelated information on Zoe. Luckily, the name Amy Gardner is pretty common, and although I'm sure there are some notorious Amy's out there, I don't think they'll likely be linked to me.

So how do you deal with getting the right attention for your name in case a future employer is googling you? On your resume note some current research, marketing or press that has been attributed to you. If you've written anything, list your publication. If you were interviewed and know it's online, mention it in your accomplishments section. If you have some racy stuff on the web, my advice is to bury it. If you have a MySpace page with incriminating information--button up and get rid of it. Although you might not get as many online friends, you'll most likely get a job quicker. Then you can make friends at your new place of employment.

I think worrying that your name isn't unique enough is a waste of time. Even plain Jane names can be a bonus for you. You don't have to spell your name to new people a million times, and you can either hide in internet space or reveal professional items about yourself to highlight you and your name.

Yes, I too can get a job.

On Tuesday, June 5th I was reviewing the recruiting blog Secrets of the Job Hunt where Chris Russel was talking about his resume that never dies. Then today I received this message from the same woman who contacted Chris:

"Hi Amy

I recently received your resume for a position our firm had been looking to fill. This position was filled, however your resume appears to be a good match for some of the employers who frequently use our recruiting services in Sacramento. If you are still actively looking for a job in your field, click this link. If you are looking for a site specific to Sacramento, try here. Remember that it is important to keep your online resume up to date.

Best of luck,

Jennifer M,HR Manager"

Now, I haven't sent my resume out to a regular posting board in close to 10 years, so either this is a solicitation for my resume--which you should beware of--or a blanket response to a marketing email I sent to a client that was doing a confidential search. It makes me think that that confidential job search was only a company fishing for resumes.

Recruiters often post blind ads to pull in a lot of resumes for future opportunities. These resumes can be used to find out who is looking, what companies are going through changes, or to find contact names that are included on resumes. Unless you know the company that is searching, keep your references off the resume, and if and when you are contacted by the recruiting company, make sure they are up front with you about why they are contacting you.

Hmmm, now how do I keep that resume up to date!

Embellishing Your Resume

On Friday, April 27th the MIT Admissions Dean, Marilee Jones, was forced to resign due to lying on her resume. She didn't just bend the truth, or change dates. While she did attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1974 as a part-time student, she did not receive a bachelor's or master's degree as she claimed. She also never received the degree from Albany Medical College that was on her resume.

Back in 1979 she first embellished her resume when she was hired in MIT's admissions office. From her fudged resume, she went on to be a leader in her profession, and sat on many higher-education boards. Ms. Jones was a well respected advocate for easing the college admission process. Being the Dean of Admissions, Ms. Jones was in charge of standardizing the college's application process and maintaining the integrity of the admissions system.

Did lying pay off for Ms. Jones. Since 1979 she has worked at MIT and moved up through the ranks, becoming the dean of the department. She also earned national recognition for her work to ease the college application system. She even co-authored a book for parents of college applicants. Most of this would not have been possible for her if she hadn't of created her credentials.

But where is she today? She has been publicly humiliated and outed for lying on her resume. Her reputation is tarnished, affecting her future career opportunities. Could she have gotten into a similar position through her intelligence and hard-work? Probably not one in academia at least. Hard work and intelligence go far in the school of hard knocks--but it takes longer to get to the top rung.

I have found out that trusted employees were embellishing their resumes. One government expert said he had an MBA from Harvard, and a Master's in Computer Science from Florida Tech. When I had to do an educational background check for a government contract that he was on, all of his school information came back blank. When I asked him what was up, he claimed he was put in the US Government's Witness Protection Plan for Top Secret military knowledge he had. His whole previous life had been "erased". While this may have been true, I could not vouch for his education level or his expertise. I asked a private investigator who I had worked with on background checks how plausible his answer was. The PI flatly dismissed this "expert's" story.

Once you lie on a resume, it's hard to rectify it later on. I have had Ph.D's hide their education level to avoid being seen as over-qualified. I can understand their idea, but always counsel them that it's a big decision. Any college degree is a milestone in a person's life. Hard work went into obtaining that degree. Will it be easy to swallow your pride and continually downplay your education. What if you are hoping for a promotion, and your competitor has a higher degree? Will you be able to hold your tongue? Keep that in mind.

For more advice on what to do if you've lied on a resume, check out the Wall Street Journal article that accompanied their MIT Admissions Dean story on Friday.

Top 12 Resume Blunders

Just caught this press release, and thought you might find it funny. Surprisingly, many of these types of resumes do show up on my desk--so edit your resume before submitting it to a recruiter or a potential employer. (For complete press release click here)

Hiring Managers Share Top 12 Wackiest Resume Blunders in New CareerBuilder.com Survey
CHICAGO, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- You've used all your creative juices
to build a resume that stands out in the crowd -- but have you gone
overboard? Hiring managers and human resource professionals nationwide
shared the most unusual resume blunders they came across in a recent
CareerBuilder.com survey:
1. Candidate included that he spent summers on his family's yacht in
Grand Cayman.
2. Candidate attached a letter from her mother.
3. Candidate used pale blue paper with teddy bears around the border.
4. Candidate explained a gap in employment by saying it was because he
was getting over the death of his cat for three months.
5. Candidate specified that his availability was limited because Friday,
Saturday and Sunday was "drinking time."
6. Candidate included a picture of herself in a cheerleading uniform.
7. Candidate drew a picture of a car on the outside of the envelope and
said it was the hiring manager's gift.
8. Candidate's hobbies included sitting on the levee at night watching
alligators.
9. Candidate included the fact that her sister once won a strawberry
eating contest.
10. Candidate explained that he works well nude.
11. Candidate explained an arrest by stating, "We stole a pig, but it was
a really small pig."
12. Candidate included family medical history.

Current Reading (or listening to books on tape)

I just found in my local library the book Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream by Barbara Ehrenreich. While it doesn't give the most flattering view of the white collar job world, it does give some interesting insight into the job search process, interviewing and the work world.

There are discussions about career coaches, counselors, networking and other related topics that you might find interesting, or even better, helpful.

Get a job: How to accomplish your New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year from WineTalent!

I am one of those strange people who puts together a list of resolutions and sticks with them throughout the year. The key to my success is picking good resolutions that make a difference to me. Here's a list of some of my more meaningful resolutions:

• Start my own company
• Make new friends
• Read more
• Use the library and not get in debt with fines (happy to have now done this for two years and only accumulated $4.25 in fines so far!)
• Teach my children good manners
• Never buy clothes without trying them on first

So, they are not always huge resolutions--but maybe that's why I can look back and realize I've done it. Right about now, many of us look at making a career move. Instead of just writing down on your list, Get a New Job, take some time to figure out why and how you're going to do it. Here's some things to consider:

• Figure out why you want it (If you're looking for a new job, why--are you unappreciated, underpaid, have a miserable commute?)
• If those factors were different, would you still have that goal (contributions recognized, pay raise, ability to telecommute)?
• If you still want to make a change, what would your dream job be? Would you switch industries, increase your responsibilities, have more creative input, or look to have more personal freedom?
• Do a Ben Franklin--a list of Pros and Cons written down to figure out the good and the bad of your current job, and the good and bad about an unknown future career step.

Once you've looked at it, and still wish to make a change--set to work managing your own career. No one is going to have as vested an interest as yourself, so you've got to do some work.

• Blow the dust off that resume. Have someone you know and can confide in take a look at it. Resume advice is great--but always take it with a grain of salt. If you put your resume in front of 10 different people, you'll get 100 different ideas of what absolutely has to be changed. Consult some resume writing books, or look at those of friends. Make the changes and always use the most current copy of your resume.
• Research your future position. Google is a great first step to see if industry associations exist, salary surveys are available, and what trends are coming up. (and although I'm a blogger.com user, I'm not a flogger for google!)
• Look at job postings. Good resources are your local newspaper's Sunday Help Wanted ads, CareerBuilder, Monster.com as well as niche listings, such as winerysite.com and winejobs.com. College career centers are great resources for alumni--so don't forget to reach out to your alma mater. And if there's a specific company you're looking at, don't stop--head straight for their website job postings.
• Go do research on this fateful next step at the library or bookstore. There is too much information to readily digest, so get as much information as you can use.
• Talk to friends and contacts. People at other companies may know of a position that is just right for you, or have a good friend who might be a good person to network with. This is also when you may want to look at recruiters who handle placements in your chosen field.
• But remember--if you are currently employed, don't do anything to jeopardize your job. Only talk to people who will keep your search confidential. Don't send your information to someone unless you feel comfortable with the level of confidentiality you will receive. As a recruiter, I never want to see any of my actions adversely affect my client's career or family. A job today is worth far more than three job offers tomorrow.

So, now go out there and get that Dream Job. I look forward to hearing about it.

Stay tuned dear reader--future blogs will be about resume writing, interview tips, follow-up tricks, and career slip-ups. And maybe a few juicy or silly anecdotes about the glamorous life of a wine industry recruiter.

Here's to 2007! Resolution: 1. Have better Posture and Take over the world and stop watching Pinky and the Brain!

Cheers,

Amy