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."

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.

10 Questions to Ask a Recruiter (And 1 to Avoid)

Are you so flattered when a recruiter rings you that you forget to ask them critical questions? Take this quiz to see if you’re covering your bases.

By Andrea Sobel

Every once in awhile, the phone rings, and it’s a recruiter on the other end. While you might not be interested in what he is offering, you have to admit that it’s flattering to get the call. (“Someone thinks I might be right for a job!”)

Once you get past the initial compliment, though, you have to get down to the serious business of determining if you are interested. The recruiter wants to know about you, but before you turn over your resume, there are things you should know about him.

Here are 10 questions to ask a recruiter and one question to avoid. See if you can figure out which is which. (Answer at bottom.)

1. “What are the three main qualifications the recruiter’s client (the employer) is looking for?”

The recruiter probably has a one-page laundry list of what the perfect person looks like. The truth is, however, the client/employer most likely has only a few ( three to four) key requirements that are the deal-breakers. Get those on the table first to see if you’re even in the ball park. You probably don’t need all the requirements. If you don’t have the basics, you might as well say thanks and cut the conversation short. Especially in a tough economy, managers are not generally willing to massage the basic requirements because they believe they will find someone who has them. Here’s when you tell the recruiter to call you if she finds another job that matches your skills and desires.

2. “What’s the job description?”

Hearing what the client/employer expects you to do is important. While the job may entail more money or a higher title, you have to show up and do that job every day. Is it something you want to do? Will it stretch your skill set? Will it represent more of the same at a moment in your career when you’re ready to do more? (Don’t give up yet. This might be a company with rapid promotions, and a lateral job is just what you need to get you leverage to climb the ladder. See #6.)

3. “Are you working with this employer exclusively?”

Here’s where you find out what has gone into the search so far and maybe what your chances are. If the recruiter has the job exclusively or is sharing it with only one other recruiter, you have a better chance to get your resume reviewed by the hiring manager. If it’s out to a zillion agents, your chances just dropped, but it doesn’t make it impossible. It just requires you to stay in closer touch with the recruiter to find out where things stand. The process will probably go more slowly because the employer will be wading through more resumes. Make sure your recruiter believes in you for the position and is doing everything she can to get you noticed. Also, make sure the resume you present really highlights the experience the employer is looking for. Here’s where you need to really stand out from the pack.

4. “How long has the job been open?”

This is bit like Goldilocks: The right answer is not too long and not too short. If you are the first candidate interviewed and you are really great, the employer may conclude the search will be easy and want to see more for comparison. That’s not to say everyone else won’t pale by comparison, but it is a waiting game for you.

5. “Why has the job been open a long time?”

If the recruiter says the job has been open a long time (and especially if he then sighs ), you need to get him to get more info. It would make lots of sense if the recruiter would go back to the client/employer and find out what has been wrong with the people they’ve interviewed. When you hear the answer, you can begin to determine if you’ll be another in a series of misses or a better fit than the candidates who have come before.

6. “What is the reason for the open position ?”

You’re going to have to do a little digging here. People turn over, but it is only meaningful if you can see a pattern. Do a lot of people turn over? Was it a promotion? (A good thing!) What is the longevity of the rest of the team? You might not get all the facts from the recruiter, but if it brings up a red flag, keep your eyes open doing the interview (and be sure all your questions are answered before you accept ).

7. “What is the compensation package?”

Here’s where you ask about starting salary range. But also ask about bonuses (and more importantly, the last few years of achieving them) and any other perks that might be included. Half-day Fridays always sounded good to me, but someone else might care about child care, gym membership, stock options, a car allowance or the health-insurance co-pay.

8. “What is the interview process?”

How many steps till the decision? I had one client who required candidates undergo nine interviews! Will you get to meet the senior management in the process? It’s just good to know what you’re getting yourself into, and it’s also a good way to gauge how you are doing. (Are you almost to the finish line?)

9. “What information do you have about the company?”

You can check out the financials on the Internet, but is there any insider info you should know that may not be as public? For example, I am working with a company right now that is bringing its SEC work in-house and is planning on going public within two years. This info is very valuable to someone looking at an open position. This is also where you can learn about company culture. Do they wear jeans? Is there flexibility to work from home sometimes?

10. “Where is the job located?”

For example: Los Angeles jobs that are eight miles from your home can mean an hour longer on the road. If it’s a crazy commute, is there any possibility to work remotely a couple times a week? If it means relocation, what does that include?

11. “How did you get my name?”

It’s always great to think one of your colleagues thinks enough of you to refer you for this job. In some ways, you don’t feel like you need to investigate quite so much, since someone who knows you thinks you’re a match.

Don’t shy away from asking these solid questions that help you decide whether to move forward. Watch out for #11. (Did you guess?) While you can certainly ask, you may not get a solid answer. Recruiters often get referrals with the promise of not revealing their source. (Very Deep Throat.) So, let the recruiter slide on that one, and make him work to give you great answers to all the rest.

How Tough Times Open Doors

At current rates of unemployment, being without a job bears less stigma. It’s called "candidate forgiveness," and companies are in the mood to practice it.

By Andrea Sobel

Where do you find the silver lining in the darkest economic cloud since the Great Depression?

It’s hard to think of positives. Supposedly, the roads are less crowded as fewer commuters make their way to and from work. (Although that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case here in Los Angeles!) Those of us who are employed might have a better selection of office furniture and supplies to choose from now that the competition is diminished. But all in all, there is very little to celebrate when more than 15 million Americans are unemployed.

There is one upside for current job seekers: Being unemployed has become so common that recruiters and hiring managers are less likely to consider it a negative. We call it “candidate forgiveness”; while it’s traditionally easier to find a job when you have one already recruiters today are more willing to overlook the fact that a candidate is unemployed when he applies for a position.

As a recruiter, I can attest to the difficulty I have had selling an unemployed candidate to a top-notch company when employment numbers are more robust. In a strong economy, recruiters prefer “passive” candidates — those who were employed and not looking. I’ve drawn a lot of analogies to dating in my articles about the job search; this scenario would resemble the guy who already has a girlfriend and seems like the perfect boyfriend. If you missed last year’s dance, you need not apply for prom king.

But circumstances have changed, and so have the sentiments of recruiters. With so much great talent on the streets, finding the right candidate is more about finding the right skill set and less about whether the candidate employed or unemployed. In fact, it’s harder than ever to poach an employed candidate away from seemingly stable employment.

But this period of candidate forgiveness won’t last forever, and some of the circumstances of unemployment are more forgivable than others. Take advantage of candidate forgiveness while you can by framing your employment in the best possible way for the recruiter.

Some key points:

§   It is important to clarify that it was a company-wide layoff. It’s even better to know the numbers — “50 percent of the staff” or “over 1,500 people.”

§   Have strong references lined up (preferably supervisors) who can back up your story. Obtain their personal e-mail addresses before you part ways so you can stay in touch down the road.

§   Contact your references so that they know who might be calling and the position you are considering. Get their permission to use them as references. (If you are hired, be sure to follow up with a thank-you note.)

§   Be prepared to compromise. Decide what benefits or working conditions are important to you and which are superfluous. Set standards where you think they’re important, but be realistic, too. It’s not 2007 anymore.

§   While it is most important to get back to work, if you have a choice, pick the job that will continue to enhance your skills. This will be of value in your next job search or if you are ever laid off again.

Yes, this recession has leveled the playing field for unemployed candidates, but you should use this to your advantage while you can – before the economy recovers. Let’s hope that’s soon.

Why Employers Use Executive Recruiters

One employer explains why he retains recruiters to find job candidates.

March 12, 2009

By Elizabeth Bennett

 

“Recruiters are the first line of attack — almost a gatekeeper,” said Arthur Mandell, who has worked with executive recruiters to fill hundreds of positions during his 25-plus years in the commercial lending and equipment-leasing industry.

Mandell said he tends to play a very active role in the recruiting process. He also leans on recruiters when evaluating job candidates. “I would ask them to find out more about certain points [in their job history], how they would benefit the business, or about things in their background I don’t understand,” explained Mandell, whose most recent post was as executive vice president and managing director of Equilease, a privately held equipment leasing and financing company.

Like many employers, Mandell’s main concern when hiring is that the candidate be able to execute ideas and bring results. To that end, he has frequently called on his recruiting partners to plumb the depths of a candidate’s work history. “I would say, ‘Do you know this guy? Were they successful or not at their last position?’ You try to get as much information as you can.”

Having also spent time as a job seeker, Mandell is sympathetic to candidates who resent recruiters who seem unwilling to espouse their application when their background isn’t an obvious fit. “Most recruiters are advocates for employers, so if an employer has said they want someone with 15 years of experience and someone comes along with the right experience over a different number of years, they’re not necessarily going to fight that battle.” And these days, he observed, with so many people in the applicant pool, companies are in the position to be even more choosy than in the past.

Mandell is currently working with recruiters on his own employment search, and his years of experience on the other end of the process have provided some useful insights. “Job seekers can blame recruiters for not being able to communicate the position requirements, but the burden is with the employer’s senior hiring manager and the degree to which he has shared his vision with the recruiter,” Mandell told TheLadders. “Sometimes the recruiter is just the messenger.”