The 10 Worst Things to Put on Your Resume

by Kelly Eggers

According to a 2010 Accountemps survey, 28% of executives say the resume is where most job seekers make mistakes in the application process. But what exactly constitutes a mistake?

We talked with career coaches and resume writers to find ten gaffes that will guarantee that your resume never makes it past round one.

1. Unnecessary Details About Your Life

There are a few personal details you should include on a resume: full name and contact information, including email, phone number and address. But beyond that, personal details should be kept to a minimum. If the prospective employer wants to know more than the minimum, they will ask you or figure it out for themselves.

"Your age, race, political affiliation, anything about your family members, and home ownership status should all be left off your resume," says Ann Baehr, a certified professional resume writer and president of New York-based Best Resumes. "What's confusing is that [a lot of personal information is] included on international CVs. In the U.S., including [personal data] is a no-no because it leaves the job-seeker open to discrimination."

The exception to the rule: If you're looking to work for an organization closely tied to a cause, you may consider including your race, political party, or religious beliefs.

"Personal data may suggest a bias, unless what you want to do next is directly tied to one of those categories, because it shows aligned interest," says Roy Cohen, a New York City career coach and author of "The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide." So, unless you're looking to work for a religious, political, or social organization, you're better off keeping personal philosophies to yourself.

2. Your Work Responsibilities as a Lifeguard When You Were 16 ...

"Don't include information that will not advance you in your work goals," says Rena Nisonoff, president of The Last Word, a resume-writing and job-coaching company in Boston. "Anything extraneous should be left off your resume." That includes hobbies and irrelevant jobs you held many years ago.

Unless you're an undergraduate student or a freshly minted professional, limit your work history to professional experience you've had in the past 10 to 15 years (or greater, if it was a C-level position).

3. A Headshot

In some industries, being asked for and including a headshot is commonplace, but unless you're a model, actor, or Miss America, the general rule of thumb is that photos should be left out.

"To many [hiring managers], including a headshot feels hokey," says Cohen. It can give off the wrong impression, and isn't a job-seeking tactic that's customarily received well.

Furthermore, it's illegal for employers to discriminate against job candidates based on appearance, so attaching a headshot can put employers in an awkward position, says Nisonoff. Unless it's specifically requested, and it's relevant to the job at hand, keep your appearance out of it.

4. Salary Expectations

Most job candidates feel uneasy discussing salary requirements. For good reason: Giving a number that's too high or too low can cost you the job. You should keep it out of your application materials entirely, unless the hiring manager asks for it.

"If they specifically ask for it, you should give them a range," says Nisonoff, but even still, that information should be reserved for the cover letter and not put on the resume. If you have the option, save that discussion for a later stage of the interviewing process, ideally once the interviewer brings it up.

5. Lies

This should really go without saying, but career coaches and resume writers alike report that the line between embellishment and fabrication is often crossed by job applicants -- and that they've seen it cost their clients jobs.

One of the most common areas in which people fudge the facts is the timeline of their work history.

"A client of mine who worked for a Wall Street firm had moved around quite a bit," says Cohen. The client, who was a registered representative, intentionally excluded a former employer from his resume, and covered it up by altering the dates of employment at other firms. "Registered representatives leave a FINRA trail, and when his resume was checked against his FINRA trail, [the company] saw he had left off a firm and they pulled the offer," Cohen explains.

Whether it's using false information to cover a blemish or exaggerate success, there's no room to lie on your resume. No matter how miniscule the chance is that you'll be caught, you should always represent yourself as accurately as possible.

6. Things That Were Once Labeled "Confidential"

In many jobs, you will handle proprietary information. Having inside information from your positions at previous employers might make you feel important -- but if you use that information to pad your resume, chances are it will raise a red flag.

"Confidential information should never be shared, it shows poor judgment," says Cohen.

If you're sharing the names of your clients, in-house financial dealings, or anything else that might be for your eyes only, it can backfire in two ways. The prospective employer will know that you can't be trusted with sensitive information; and your current (or former) employer might find out what you have been sharing and it could be grounds for dismissal or even a lawsuit.

7. If You Were Fired From a Job -- and What You Were Fired for

Your resume should put you in a positive light. Including that you were let go for poor performance, stealing from the company, or any other fault of your own will have the exact opposite effect.

"Leave out information about a situation that positions you negatively, such as 'I got fired' or 'I mishandled funds,'" says Cohen. "Anything that suggests you used poor judgment in your current or former job."

Following this advice does not violate the rule about lying (No. 5). If you're asked to explain why you left a job, you need to bite the bullet and be straightforward, but until then, make sure you're putting your best foot forward.

8. Overly Verbose Statements

There is a pretty fine line between selling yourself and overselling yourself. Too many resumes overstate the importance of job responsibilities.

"Job seekers with limited experience [try] to put themselves in a 'management' light," says Baehr, using phrases like "'Spearheaded high-profile projects through supervision of others, leading by example.'" Keep your flair for the dramatic to a minimum, so resume readers can get a picture of what your real responsibilities were with your past or current company.

9. "References Available Upon Request" and Your Objective

The age-old "references available upon request" has become archaic. You should have solid references lined up from the get-go, so when the hiring manager asks for them, you're ready to share them.

"It's not really an option," says Baehr. "If they want your references, they're going to get them."

Also nix the objective statement. It's not really necessary to explain your career goals unless you are a recent graduate or are switching careers. If necessary, work your objective into a summary of your qualifications, says Cohen.

"It explains what you want, which may not be readily apparent from the resume," he says, "and it also tells a story to explain why you want to make the career change."

10. TMI

Too much information is almost never a good idea. It's particularly bad when it's put in front of hiring managers who are busy, tired, and quite frankly, probably not going to read your resume word-for-word. If you put too much information in your resume, recruiters will likely not read it at all or just scan it quickly.

"Far too much detail is damaging because it won't get read," says Cohen. "It suggests that you get lost in seeing the forest for the trees and also suggests an attachment to information. It's a burden to the reader, and these days, readers of resumes don't want to be burdened."

5 Ways to Make Your Recruiter’s Job Easier

Tactics job seekers can use to work more effectively with recruiters.

By Elizabeth Bennett

Here’s a short list of tactics to make the recruiter’s life easier — and increase your chances of landing that job.

1. Don't try to be a square peg in a round hole. If the hiring company is looking for a candidate with 10 years of experience in small companies, don’t act as if your 20 years at large companies isn’t right there on paper. “Candidates need to know that nothing would make us happier than saying, ‘Yes, this is a good fit,’ “said Marian Rich of Bonell Ryan. “But our clients pay us to bring candidates who most closely align with their ideal profile.”
2. Don’t be cagey about compensation. The first question that hiring managers tend to ask recruiters is how much the job seeker is earning, Rich said. So when candidates hesitate to disclose their compensation or instead inquire about what the prospective job would pay, Rich takes pause, wondering why the candidate is not forthcoming. “It is always better to give us the information that we need to represent anyone to our clients and to be as honest as possible around issues concerning compensation,” Rich explained.
3. Establish an understanding about phone calls and e-mails. If your every phone call is not promptly returned, it could be that the recruiter is extremely busy or that your background won’t help him fill an immediate position. While you may disagree, sending frequent or belligerent e-mails won’t change his mind and may make him not want to work with you on future positions. “Every now and then I get a nasty e-mail that will say, ‘This is the third time I’ve sent you my resume and you’re not even bothering to respond,’ ” said Frank Laux, president of Strategic Search Partners in Keller, Texas. “ But they didn’t understand that they weren’t qualified for anything I had.” 
4. After your interview with the hiring company, contact your recruiter right away. You may be busy or feel like the interview was lousy, but it’s still your responsibility to let the recruiter know how it went. It could be that the hiring company wants quickly to schedule another interview. “The lack of follow-up may show a level of disinterest, which isn’t always the case,” noted Harold Laslo of the Aldan Troy Group in New York.
5. Refer talented friends and colleagues to your recruiter. It could only work to your advantage to recommend talented people to your recruiter(s), even for a role that you wanted but weren’t qualified to perform. Your recruiter will appreciate the help and he may return the favor in the future.

How to Answer the ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Interview Question

Don’t be afraid of this question; instead use it as an opportunity to position yourself for success.

By Lee E. Miller

When I was a human resources executive doing hiring interviews, I almost always began my interviews with candidates by requesting, “Tell me about yourself.” I did that for a number of reasons, the most important of which was to see how the candidates handled themselves in an unstructured situation.

I wanted to see how articulate they were, how confident they were and generally what type of impression they would make on the people with whom they came into contact on the job.

I also wanted to get a sense of what they thought was important.

Most candidates find this question to be a particularly difficult one to answer. That is a misplaced view. This question offers an opportunity to describe yourself positively and focus the interview on your strengths. Be prepared to deal with it. These days, it’s unavoidable. Like me, most interviewers start off their interviews with this question. A lot of interviewers open with it as an icebreaker or because they're still getting organized, but they all use it to get a sense of whom you are.

The Wrong Response

There are many ways to respond to this question correctly and just one wrong way: by asking, “What do you want to know?” That tells me you have not prepared properly for the interview and are likely to be equally unprepared on the job. You need to develop a good answer to this question, practice it and be able to deliver it with poise and confidence.

The Right Response

To help you prepare, I spoke to a number of career coaches on how best to respond when faced with this question. Heed the career advice that follows to ace this opener:

The consensus of the coaches with whom I spoke:

§  Focus on what most interests the interviewer

§  Highlight your most important accomplishments

Focus on What Interests the Interviewer

According to Jane Cranston, a career coach from New York, “The biggest mistake people being interviewed make is thinking the interviewer really wants to know about them as a person.

They start saying things like, 'Well, I was born in Hoboken, and when I was three we moved …’ Wrong. The interviewer wants to know that you can do the job, that you fit into the team, what you have accomplished in your prior positions and how can you help the organization.”

Nancy Fox, of Fox Coaching Associates, agrees. She notes that “many candidates, unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by rambling, recapping their life story, delving into ancient work history or personal matters.” She recommends starting with your most recent employment and explaining why you are well qualified for the position. According to Fox, the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for. “In other words, you want to be selling what the buyer is buying.”

Think of your response as a movie preview, says Melanie Szlucha, a coach with Red Inc. “The movie preview always relates to the movie you're about to see. You never see a movie preview for an animated flick when you're there to see a slasher movie. So the ‘tell me about yourself” answer needs to directly fit the concerns of your prospective employer.”

Previews are also short but show clips of the movie that people would want to see more of later. They provide enough information about the movie so that you could ask intelligent questions about what the movie is about. Hiring managers don't want to look unprepared by reading your resume in front of you, so Szlucha advises that you “provide them some topics to ask you more questions about.”

Highlight Your Most Important Accomplishments

Greg Maka, managing director at 24/7 Marketing, advises job seekers to "tell a memorable story about your attributes.” For example, if you tell an interviewer that people describe you as tenacious, provide a brief story that shows how you have been tenacious in achieving your goals. “Stories are powerful and are what people remember most,” he said.

One great example is that of Fran Capo, a comedienne who bills herself as “the world’s fastest-talking female.” She offers the following advice: “Whenever I go on auditions or interviews, I have a "set" opening I use. ... I tell the interviewer what I do in one sentence and then say, ‘And I also happen to be the Guinness Book of World Records’ fastest-talking female.’ Then I elaborate.” According to Capo, the main thing in anything you do is to be memorable, in a good way. Your goal when you answer the ‘tell me about yourself’ question is to find a way stand out from everyone else.

And, Be Brief

Maureen Anderson, host of "The Career Clinic" radio show, stresses the importance of keeping your answer short: “The employer wants to know a little bit about you to begin with — not your life story. Just offer up two or three things that are interesting — and useful. You should take about a minute to answer this question.”

To make sure it is succinct and covers what you want it to cover, she suggests that you “write your answer out before the interview, practice it, time it and rehearse it until it sounds natural. Then practice it some more. The goal is to tell the employer enough to pique their interest, not so much that they wonder if they’d ever be able to shut you up during a coffee break at the office.”

Rather than dread this question, a well-prepared candidate should welcome this inquiry. Properly answered, this question puts the candidate in the driver's seat. It gives her an opportunity to sell herself. It allows her to set the tone and direction for the rest of the interview, setting her up to answer the questions she most wants to answer.

Self-Defeating Job-Search Moves to Avoid

by Liz Ryan

The desperate post-interview phone call, the proclamation of self-doubt, and more blundering ways to negate your chances of winning the job

Despite the healing economy, employers are often slow to post openings and make hiring decisions. It's a frustrating situation that can cause eager job candidates to act in counterproductive ways, scotching promising opportunities. Here's our list of 10 real-life job-search misfires we hope will serve as cautionary tales for job-hunters. Don't replicate these counterproductive deeds.

Inflicting Gratuitous Interrogation

I was reviewing résumés and found one that stood out in a positive way. I e-mailed the sender and asked whether he had a minute to talk by phone. "I might," he wrote back. "Where is the company located, what is the starting salary, who is the CEO, and how long have you been in business?" That was the end of the correspondence; our street address was on our home page, the salary was listed in the job ad, and the company story (including inception date and leadership bios) was in the About Us section of our site. In his haste to make sure his time wasn't wasted—a reasonable goal, in my opinion—the gentleman asked me to answer four questions he'd have already had answers to if he'd done a bit of homework. Lesson: It's perfectly fine to guard against time-sucking or even bogus job ads, but do it in such a way that you don't shoot yourself in the foot.

Forgetting Who You're Interviewing With

The executive director of a small not-for-profit shared this tale with me. "I miraculously got enough money from my board to hire a marketing director last year," she said. "I was over the moon. I had one precious job opening to fill. I interviewed five people, three of them from industry and two from the not-for-profit world. One of the industry folks was super-smart and insightful. Sadly, she knocked herself out of the running about halfway through the interview." "How?" I wanted to know. "I asked her to tell me one story that illustrated how she rolls. I told her to think about our five-person agency and what we need in marketing, and tell me a story from her career that would make it clear she belongs here. She told me a story about a 24-month intranet development project involving 60 people across functions and six or seven levels of organizational sign-offs. I was nearly asleep by the time she finished. I think this lady really needs a big company atmosphere." The job-seeker's intranet story screamed "I don't understand scrappy not-for-profits at all." Lesson: In your written job-search communications and especially on an interview, keep your stories and questions relevant to the hiring manager's issues.

Selling Yourself Short

A friend at a placement agency told me this story. Last summer she had a candidate on the short list of two finalists for a plum sales management job. She'd just gotten off the phone with the hiring manager, who said, "I have to sleep on it, but I think your guy Frank is getting the job tomorrow," when Frank himself called her. "Don't be mad at me," Frank said. "Oh, no," said the agent. "What did you do, Frank?" Frank had gotten fearful and had called the hiring manager to say, "If you don't want me in the sales manager spot, I'll take a sales territory assignment." The manager hired him into the territory job and hired the other finalist for the sales management job. The placement agency lady never told Frank how close he'd come to the higher-paying, bigger job. Lesson: Stay the course. You'll never show an employer what you're worth, or persuade them they need you, by groveling.

Letting Minor Adversity Vanquish You

"I am so frustrated with my job search," said a man I met at the library. "I had an interview last week, and when I got there at 20 after 5, the front door was locked," he said. "Did you go around to the back?" I asked. "Did you call or text HR or the hiring manager?" "No, I went home," said the gentleman. "When I got home, there was a message telling me the front door would be locked and I should go around, but I had left home before that message arrived." "Did you reschedule?" I asked him. "No, I figured the opportunity was lost." "Call them!" I said. He did, but they'd filled the job already. Lesson: Corporate hiring types are no different from anyone else; they make mistakes. On one job interview back in my 20s, I walked around the whole building looking for an open door for a 5:30 interview, and I finally walked across the loading dock to get in. Show your resourcefulness by rolling with the interview punches.

Sending a Generic Thank-You

I interviewed a brilliant young man for a business development role. "Look, Barry," I said. "I want to make sure we're on the same page. Over the next couple of days, send me an e-mail message and tell me what you heard today. It doesn't need to be long. Just write a couple of paragraphs about what you see as our competitive situation and how you'd approach the assignment so that I know we'd be in sync." Barry happily agreed. An hour later, I got the generic post-interview thank-you e-mail from Barry, saying, "Dear Ms. Ryan, Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I'm excited about working for your company and know I'll do a great job." Today we would call that an epic fail in the showing-comprehension department. Lesson: Whether the hiring manager asks you to, or not, make sure your post-interview thank-you recaps the conversation in an intelligent way, pointing out what the company is up against and how you're equipped to tackle those challenges.

Offering a (Doubly) Misguided Information Packet

A reader called me for advice, saying, "I'm targeting a product manager opening at Company X. I'm going to a trade show where they'll be exhibiting." We talked about visiting the company's booth and chatting up employees. A week later she called again. "I visited the booth but everyone was busy, so I left a packet for the sales manager." "Hmm, for the sales manager?" I asked. I thought about a sales manager's likely level of interest in a non-sales employee's job-search packet dropped off during a chaotic trade show. What was in the packet? "I left him a note with an article I wrote for an industry journal several years ago," she said. "Was the article about Company X?" I asked. "No," she said, "it was a story about software documentation." Unfortunately, Company X is not a software company. Busy working people are deluged with information. Job-search overtures need to be specific. My caller could have gotten her hiring manager's name via a short conversation if she'd stuck around that booth until the trade show crew had a minute to chat. The unrelated article didn't help her case and was likely tossed in the recycling bin. Lesson: Your target person is the hiring manager. Other, random people in the organization typically don't make great conduits unless they're friends of yours. And whatever materials you send must make it clear what you want and why anyone should care.

Frantically Self-Doubting 

The CEO of a tech startup called me. "What about this?" he said. "I ran an ad, and a lady wrote right back to me with a great e-mail message. I replied to say, 'I'd love to talk when you have time.' She wrote back to tell me that she's not all that technical, and I replied to her saying that we need more than just technical people. She wrote again to make sure I knew that she's really not all that technical. By this time I was trying to figure out why she responded to the ad at all, but her résumé was great, so I said, 'Let's just get together and take it from there.' Then she wrote back to ask me if there were going to be technical tests during the interview. We don't use anything like that, but I had lost faith at that point and gave up. Please tell your readers to go with the flow. There's no point in acing yourself out of job opportunities because you fear you might get tossed out at some later point in the process." Lesson: Work the process. At a minimum, you'll make valuable contacts, learn some new things, practice your interviewing skills, and give yourself a reason to get dressed up.

Surrendering to Salary Worries

"I got a call for a job interview, but I didn't go," said Samantha, a woman I chatted with at a networking event. "Oh, why's that?" I asked. "They told me not to come in if I need to earn more than $75K, and I'm really focusing on jobs that pay $80K and up," she said. "Seriously?" I asked. "You skipped the interview over that $5K gap? Are you being overwhelmed with interest from employers?" "Heck no," she said. "I haven't had an interview in months, but I figured I'd hold out for the number." If Samantha had gone to the interview and started a conversation, she could have learned enough about the organization and its issues to talk them into another $5K in base or bonus or some other valuable exchange medium. Lesson: When you're invited to a reasonable job interview, go! If it doesn't sound perfect at first hearing, that's O.K. Life is long, and priorities and investment levels turn on a dime. You'll never know if you don't show up.

Saying Yes to an Illogical Request

A client of mine, Maurice, wrote to me, dejected. "I should have taken a stronger stance," he said. "What happened, Mo?" I asked him. "This corporate recruiter called and talked to me for an hour, and I guess I passed through that gate O.K.," he said. "She called me back and asked me to write a marketing plan for the company. I haven't even met those people yet. I went crazy and wrote a 20-page marketing plan and sent it to her. Then, radio silence for three weeks." Maurice fell into the trap called Give Them Exactly What They Ask For, No Questions Asked. You'll never show your value that way. A generic marketing plan is almost useless, and a thoughtful, customized one requires collaboration with the client. Trying so hard to please, especially in the early stages of the selection pipeline, is a bad strategy. Lesson: When you're asked to deliver X, Y, or Z during a job search, remember that you're an important part of the equation. Maurice could have said, "It would be irresponsible of me to write a marketing plan with so little information about the business, and apart from that it wouldn't be fair to the people who have paid me for marketing plans in the past. Let's set up a time for me to talk with the marketing VP and discuss her marketing-plan needs then."

Utterly Failing to Prepare

I interviewed an editor candidate who said, "I think I could really help you." "Marvelous!" I said. "How? Where could our publication improve?" "You mean your publication specifically?" she said. "You got me there. I didn't actually look at it. I'm not a reader." Lesson: Don't apply for jobs that don't interest you.

4 Essential Job Interview Questions to Ask

By Jeff Haden

Most job candidates feel interview questions can be decoded and hacked, letting them respond to those questions with “perfect” answers.

Guess what:  They’re right, especially if you insist on asking terrible job interview questions. 

(Quick aside: Is there really a perfect answer to a silly question like, “What do you feel is your biggest weakness?”  I think there is:  “If that’s the kind of question you typically ask… I don’t want to work for you.”)

I’ve interviewed over a thousand people for positions ranging from part-time to skilled to executive.  While I’ve actively repressed a lot of my experiences, I have learned two things:

Candidates I think are the most likely to succeed almost always turn out to be the worst performers, and

Asking opinion-based questions is a complete waste of time. Every candidate comes prepared to answer general questions about teamwork, initiative, interpersonal skills, leadership, etc.

Interviewing is an imprecise process, but you can improve your ability to evaluate candidates by asking interview questions that elicit facts instead of opinions.

Why?  I can never rely on what you claim you will do, but I can learn a lot from what you have already done.  The past is a fairly reliable indication of the future where employee behavior and attitude is concerned.

How do you get to the facts?  You have to ask.  Ask an initial question, then put on your 60 Minutes investigative hat and follow up:  Fully understand the situation described, determine exactly what the candidate did (and did not do), and find out how things turned out.

Follow-up questions don’t need to be complicated:  “Really?”  “Wow - what did he do?”  “What did she say?”  “What happened next?”  “How did that go over?”  All you have to do is keep the conversation going.  Remember, an interview is really just a conversation.

With that in mind, here are four of my favorite behavioral interview questions:

1.  “Tell me about the last time a customer or coworker got mad at you.”

Intent: Evaluate the candidate’s interpersonal skills and ability to deal with conflict.

Remember, make sure you find out why the customer or coworker was mad, what the interviewee did in response, and how the situation turned out both in the short- and long-term.

Red flag: The interviewee pushes all the blame — and responsibility for rectifying the situation — on the other person.

Good: The interviewee focuses on how they addressed and fixed the problem, not on who was to blame.

Great: The interviewee admits they caused the other person to be upset, took responsibility, and worked to make a bad situation better.  That’s the trifecta of answers:  You are willing to admit when you are wrong, you take responsibility for fixing your mistakes, and you learn from experience.  (Remember, every mistake is just training in disguise as long as the same mistake isn’t repeated over and over again, of course.)

2.  “Tell me about the toughest decision you had to make in the last six months.”

Intent: Evaluate the candidate’s ability to reason, problem solving skills, judgment, and sometimes even willingness to take intelligent risks.

Red flag: No answer.  Everyone makes tough decisions regardless of their position.  My daughter works part-time as a server at a local restaurant and makes difficult decisions every night, like the best way to deal with a regular customer whose behavior constitutes borderline harassment.

Good: Made a difficult analytical or reasoning-based decision.  For example, wading through reams of data to determine the best solution to a problem.

Great: Made a difficult interpersonal decision, or better yet a difficult data-driven decision that included interpersonal considerations and ramifications.  Making decisions based on data is essential, but almost every decision has an impact on people as well. The best candidates naturally weigh all sides of an issue, not just the business or human side exclusively.

3.  “Tell me about a time you knew you were right… but you still had to follow directions or guidelines.”

Intent: Evaluate the candidate’s ability to follow… and possibly to lead.

Red flag: Found a way to circumvent guidelines “… because I know I was right,” or followed the rules but allowed their performance to suffer.  (Believe it or not, if you ask enough questions, some people will tell you they were angry or felt stifled and didn’t work hard as a result, especially when they think you empathize with their “plight.”)

Good: Did what needed to be done, especially in a time-critical situation, then found an appropriate time and place to raise issues and work to improve the status quo.

Great: Not only did what needed to be done, but stayed motivated and helped motivate others as well.  In a peer setting, an employee who is able to say, “Hey, I’m not sure this makes sense either, but for now let’s just do our best and get it done…” is priceless.  In a supervisory setting, good leaders are able to debate and argue behind closed doors and then fully support a decision in public even if they privately disagree with that decision.

4.  “Tell me about the last time your workday ended before you were able to get everything done.”

Intent: Evaluate commitment, ability to prioritize, ability to communicate effectively.

Red flag: “I just do what I can and get the heck out of there.  I keep telling my boss I can only do so much but he won’t listen…. “

Good: Stayed a few minutes late to finish a critical task, or prioritized before the end of the workday to ensure critical tasks were completed.  You shouldn’t expect heroic efforts every day, but some level of dedication is certainly nice.

Great: Stayed late and/or prioritized… but most importantly communicated early on that deadlines were in jeopardy.  Good employees take care of things; great employees take care of things and make sure others are aware of potential problems ahead of time just in case other proactive decisions make sense.

Note: Keep in mind there are a number of good and great answers to this question.  “I stayed until midnight to get it done” can sometimes be a great answer, but doing so night after night indicates there are other organizational or productivity issues the employee should raise.  (I may sometimes be glad you stayed late, but I will always be glad when help me spot chronic problems or bottlenecks.)  Evaluate a candidate’s answers to this question based on your company’s culture and organizational needs.

There are plenty of others questions you can use; these are just my favorites.

Stick to facts-based questions and you quickly get past a candidate’s “interview armor” since few candidates can bluff their way through more than one or two questions.  Plus you’ll easily identify potential disconnects between a candidate’s resume and their actual experience, qualifications, and accomplishments.

Best of all you’ll have a much better chance of identifying potentially great employees.  An awesome candidates will shine in a fact-based interview

Business Etiquette You Should Know

By Susan Bryant, Monster Contributing Writer

What's the difference between the rising star whose career is picking up speed and his counterpart who can't seem to get the engine to turn over? Often, the star has mastered the nuances of business etiquette -- the subtle but critical behaviors that can make or break an important meeting, influence a first impression or impress a potential client.

According to Hilka Klinkenberg, director of Etiquette International, a business etiquette firm, the basics of professional etiquette are really quite simple. First, understand the difference between business etiquette and social etiquette. Business etiquette is genderless. For example, the traditional chivalrous etiquette of holding the door open for a woman is not necessary in the workplace and can even have the unintended effect of offending her. In the work environment, men and women are peers.

Second, your guiding principle should always be to treat people with consideration and respect. Although this may seem obvious, Klinkenberg cites this basic decency as a frequent casualty in today's workplace.

Here are a few of the specific dos and don'ts of business etiquette you are likely to encounter during your workday.

Introductions

The proper way to make an introduction is to introduce a lower-ranking person to a higher-ranking person. For example, if your CEO is Mrs. Jones and you are introducing administrative assistant Jane Smith to her, the correct introduction would be "Mrs. Jones, I'd like you to meet Jane Smith." If you forget a person's name while making an introduction, don't panic. Proceed with the introduction with a statement such as, "I'm sorry, your name has just slipped my mind." Omitting an introduction is a bigger faux pas than salvaging a botched introduction.

Handshakes

The physical connection you make when shaking hands with someone can leave a powerful impression. When someone's handshake is unpleasant in any way, we often associate negative character traits with that person. A firm handshake made with direct eye contact sets the stage for a positive encounter.

Women take note: To avoid any confusion during an introduction, always extend your hand when greeting someone. Remember, men and women are equals in the workplace.

Electronic Etiquette

Email, faxes, conference calls and cell phones can create a veritable landmine of professional etiquette. Just because you have the capability to reach someone 24/7, it doesn't mean you should.

Email is so prevalent in many of today's companies that the transmission of jokes, spam and personal notes often constitute more of the messages employees receive than actual work-related material. Remember that your email messages are an example of your professional correspondence. Professional correspondence does not include smiley faces or similar emoticons.

Faxes should always include your contact information, date and number of pages included. They should not be sent unsolicited -- they waste the other person's paper and tie up the lines.

Conference-call etiquette entails introducing all the participants at the beginning of the call so everyone knows who is in attendance. Since you're not able to see other participants' body language and nonverbal clues, you will have to compensate for this disadvantage by communicating very clearly. Be aware of unintentionally interrupting someone or failing to address or include attendees because you can't see them. And finally, don't put anyone on speakerphone until you have asked permission to do so.

Cellphones can be a lifesaver for many professionals. Unfortunately, if you are using a cell, you are most likely outside your office and may be preoccupied with driving, catching a flight or some other activity. Be sensitive to the fact that your listener may not be interested in a play-by-play of traffic or the other events you are experiencing during your call.

Even if you have impeccable social graces, you will inevitably have a professional blunder at some point. When this happens, Klinkenberg offers this advice: Apologize sincerely without gushing or being too effusive. State your apology like you mean it, and then move on. Making too big an issue of your mistake only magnifies the damage and makes the recipient more uncomfortable.

13 Ways Your Resume Can Say 'I'm Unprofessional'

Hiring pros share the faux pas they find in real resumes, including wacky e-mail addresses, defunct phone numbers and cookie-cutter templates.

By Lisa Vaas

No offense, thebigcheese@domain.com, but if nobody has told you yet, we’re telling you now: That e-mail address is not making you look particularly professional.

Unprofessional e-mail addresses are just one way of sending hiring managers the wrong message. If you want to be taken seriously when you apply for jobs, you need to put some polish on your resume, your cover letter and everything contained therein. Hiring professionals repeatedly run across these red flags that scream “unprofessional.” A number of recruiters and HR managers shared with TheLadders common errors from their own professional experiences.

1. Random/cute/shared e-mail accounts

E-mail accounts are free. There’s no reason not to sign up for your own. Yet many mid-career professionals share an e-mail account with a significant other or the entire family, generating addresses such as dickandjane@domain.com or thesmiths@domain.com. Also stay away from cutesy addresses. After all, butterfliesaremyfriend2010@domain.com, you can always share your admiration of Lepidoptera with colleagues after you’ve been hired. Ditto for offensive, flirtatious or sexual e-mail addresses.

Think we’re exaggerating? These are actual e-mail accounts cited by Jillian Zavitz, who’s responsible for hiring as the programs manager for TalktoCanada.com, an online English language-training course based in Canada. (We’ve changed the domain names to protect the innocent.)

Instead, adopt an address that incorporates the name you use professionally on your resume and cover letter.

2. Failure to proofread

Deidre Pannazzo, executive director at Inspired Resumes, said it’s “amazing” how many people submit resumes that contain “numerous typos and misspellings.” Even better than spell check, she said, is to have a friend review the document for you.

“Make sure your dates are consistent, and that you don't confuse your story with overlapping time lines,” she said. (For an in-depth look at how to tackle proofreading your resume, click here.)

3. Bikini pictures

Resume experts advise against attaching pictures or any image files to a resume. They can “choke” an applicant tracking system (ATS), the software that automatically scans and parses resumes. (Click here for an in-depth look at how your resume is handled by technology after you press submit.) In addition, hiring professionals warn against giving anyone a reason to prejudge and form a negative opinion based on your appearance. Indeed, some HR departments will immediately discard resumes with photos to avoid any possible accusations of discrimination on this basis.

But still applicants send photos. Most troublesome of all, said Zavitz, are the beach shots. “(No) pictures where you are in a bikini at the beach (real story, and it wasn't a flattering picture either) or at a New Year’s party with your friends (obviously drunk). Not cool.”

4. Unprofessional voicemail

If your resume is strong enough to convince the recruiter or hiring manager to reach for the telephone, be sure what he finds at the other end of the line represents you in the best light – that means your voicemail or whoever might answer the phone.

Marlane Perry, managing director of the Executive Search Division of Magill Associates, said she is unimpressed when a phone number on a resume leads her to an unprofessional recorded voicemail or a conversation with a third party who can’t be trusted to take a message. “If you don't trust your roommates to answer the phone and take a decent message, then only list your cell phone,” she said.

5. Lazy words, ‛etc.’

Perry said that use of “etc.” on a resume is a sign of laziness: The job seeker obviously “can't even take the time to list out all of [his] duties.” She has seen the error on both junior- and executive-level resumes. Another no-no is saying "same as above" anywhere on a resume. “If you had similar job functions at your last two jobs, summarize the responsibilities and then bullet out some of your accomplishments,” she suggested.

6. Cookie-cutter resumes

Samantha Goldberg is a celebrity event designer and TV personality who’s always looking for employees for administrative duties or to help plan an event. She said she often reviews resumes and cover letters that aren’t even vaguely customized for her business.

“It’s more like ‛Mad Libs’ — they just fill in our name as they send them off!” she said. “Just once, I would love to have them describe me on the cover letter instead of saying that they respect my career status and have been following my career.”

On many occasions, Goldberg said, she specifically lists a prerequisite of at least three years’ experience with planning events that does not include friends, family or applicants’ own weddings. “They obviously don’t read my prerequisites and send an e-mail stating that even though they haven’t orchestrated events for anyone they have always been told they should be in the industry if I would just give them a chance.”

7. Everything but the kitchen sink

“I don't care, nor have time, to read about your life story,” Zavitz said. “If you can't whittle your resume down to a page or two at max, I will not read it. If it's not related [to the job or your work history], don't include it.”

8-13 ad infinitum...

Larry Lambeth, president of Employment Screening Services Inc., which helps companies review job applicants, offered a laundry list of professional gaffes he’s seen on resumes and job applications:

• Listing a spouse as a reference
• Not spelling out the name of an employer or school (“LSU” instead of “Louisiana State University” or “ZDE” instead of “Ziff Davis Enterprise”)
• Not providing a city or state for an employer or school
• Omitting the area code from a phone number for a reference or employer
• Providing only a first name for a supervisor or reference
• Including phone numbers that are no longer in service for references or employers