As I think about the interviewing successes of our candidates over the last two decades, there are many reasons that some people excel at interviewing. For some it has to do with their track record of achievements, for others it may be due to the diversity of experiences they have, and for others it may […]
military resume
Prepare to Copy
The idea for this tip came to me recently when I was doing a practice interview with a candidate. She asked a good question I hadn’t had to address in a long time. The question was simply: “Is it okay to take notes during an interview?” My answer was “Yes, but ….” Obviously, the ‘but’ […]
The Most Amazing Resume Tip That Broke the Internet
Now that we have your attention, we need to come clean and admit that we might have exaggerated a tiny bit. Perhaps this tip won’t be that amazing, but it’s still pretty good. We gave it the snazzy title to illustrate our real lesson for the day. No doubt, you have surfed the web and had your attention […]
Focus on the Job at Hand
There is a chance that one day you will find yourself interviewing for a very large company – the type of company whose website overwhelms you with the number and diversity of its various business units. Perhaps the classic example of such a company is Johnson & Johnson which has over 200 separate operating companies. […]
From Oops to Offer: Avoiding the Little Things
Over the years we have entertained many questions from candidates about how to improve their chances in a job interview. The funny thing is that when competing at a high level against other well-qualified candidates, sometimes it’s the little things that keep candidates from coming out on top. It’s almost like competing in gymnastics at […]
Our 10 Favorite Resume Words
Not long ago, we posted a list of problematic words that are often misused on resumes. We thought it would be a good idea to follow it up with a list of those words that we love to see used on resumes. To make our list more focused, we decided to only consider action verbs. […]
Eyes Right!
Today our topic is about the importance of eye contact. Think about a time when you were having a serious conversation with another person, perhaps a junior member of your team, and that person had difficulty making eye contact with you. Do you remember what you were thinking at the time? Could it be that […]
White Space
Today our topic covers a simple yet important point related to resumes: White Space. Your resume serves a pretty simple purpose: to convince a hiring authority that you are worth interviewing. Generally, that means your resume needs to provide a hiring manager a clear sense of your education, work experience, and accomplishments. But just because someone sees your […]
Dealing With a Low GPA
If you performed very well academically in college, naturally that’s something you should bring attention to on your resume by including your GPA or academic honors. But if your GPA wasn’t stellar, say less than 3.0 (on a 4-point scale), then it’s not so advisable to include it. But rest assured that if your academic record […]
Why You Lost the Interview You Thought You Won
Perhaps the worst part of competing for a job is to come out of an interview believing that you nailed it, only to find out that you didn’t make the cut. If this should ever happen to you, you might think “How could they not have liked me? I had a great answer to all of their […]