Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?: A Crash Course in Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job (14 page)

HOW
NOT
TO DEAL WITH TYPOS …

Some people are better proofreaders than others—but no matter how good you are, you should always have a second and even third reader take a look at your résumé. (See pages 64–65 for more on proofreading.)

Occasionally, you’ll need to make a last-minute change to your résumé and won’t have time to proofread carefully. In the event that you do make a mistake, apologize and do what you can to redress the situation.

Q. I worked as an assistant brand-manager for a product whose name looks like a typo—Dr Pepper. I know perfectly well that there’s a period after “Dr” but in the brand name they don’t use the period. I can’t change the name of the product, but I don’t want it to look as if I have a typo on my résumé. What do I do?

A.
Here’s where Latin comes in handy. Insert the italicized word “sic” (meaning “thus”) in parentheses after the offending word. This convention indicates that the phrasing or spelling is intentional and not a mistake on your
part. Another option is to punctuate “Dr.” correctly for jobs outside the soft-drink world, and spell it “Dr Pepper” for positions within the industry.

T
HE LAST ELEMENT OF THE FIRST CUT
isn’t something you can control, at least at this stage: Where you have worked, and for how long. The reader will choose candidates with what he considers the best and most relevant experience. The only way you can protect yourself from being tossed on the basis of lack of experience is by doing as much research as possible before you apply.

One of the top mistakes job-seekers make is applying for jobs for which they are unqualified. Make sure you’re in the right bracket for the job; don’t waste your valuable time applying for positions well beyond your experience level. Of course, you don’t have to play by the book. If you express serious interest and show how your skills pertain, perhaps you’ll be considered for a position you don’t even know exists. You certainly won’t get a job you don’t apply for.

But be realistic. If you’re a recent grad or haven’t worked in a given field, you are not going to be hired as CEO. If the ad says MBA and you don’t have one but you ran your own business, apply. If it says PhD and you’re ABD (All But Dissertation), you might apply, but you have to figure out why they’re asking. To teach in some universities, a PhD is simply the minimum requirement. Outside of academia, though, the request for a PhD may simply indicate that the organization is looking for someone with a certain level of knowledge.

Many ads state a minimum number of years of experience. You can still apply if you’re shy of the stated mark, but not if you have no experience whatsoever. Here’s a guideline: If an ad says “two to three years experience required” and you have one year, apply. If it says “three to five years” and you have two, okay—the ads are trying to weed out people with no experience in the field.

Sometimes the ad is designed to recruit candidates of a certain age and maturity. If you can prove that you have enough experience and you present yourself professionally, you may be considered. If your family is in the business or industry, find a way to slip that in. Even though you had only summer internships in the business, you may have more concrete and practical knowledge than someone with two years of low-level experience.

For many people, a major stumbling block to résumé writing is a fear of skeletons in the closet. First of all, don’t obsess about gaps in chronology and jobs that didn’t work out. Those happen to everyone. What matters is how you deal with your skeletons. A skillfully organized résumé can minimize them. Inevitably, though, someone will ask a question you don’t want to answer: why you left a job you were fired from, how you spent that unaccounted-for year between college and grad school.

The only solution is to practice answering questions about gaps and skeletons out loud. Try rehearsing in front of a mirror, and then practice with a friend. Though you’ll see a list of probable interview questions in
chapter 6
, here’s a preliminary look at three skeletons that typically create a great deal of anxiety for résumé writers.

D
O YOU LIST THE JOB OR NOT?

If the job was short-term or not relevant to the position you’re applying for, you may simply be able to leave it off your résumé and list other activities—such as volunteer work or community service—you were engaged in during that time. A long-term job should appear on your résumé, though.

In an interview, you don’t need to advertise the fact that you were fired, but if asked, you should be direct. Were you fired as part of a general layoff or downsizing? If so, try to offer a plausible explanation for why you were let go—you were the most recently hired, most junior person, and so on. A personality conflict? Be careful not to criticize your previous employer, sound like you carry a grudge, or appear vindictive—even if these things are all true.

Focus on the transferable skills you acquired, and discuss the issue of your firing calmly, matter-of-factly, and practically. While it was a difficult situation for you, you quickly picked yourself back up, polished your résumé, and began a new job search. You consider yourself stronger for the experience, and you realize firing someone can be as unpleasant as being fired.

Y
OU WORKED IN A FAMILY BUSINESS OR FOR A RELATIVE
?
So do thousands of people. Some job-seekers feel that listing a family job on a résumé
smacks of nepotism. Don’t worry about it. Nepotism rules! If you’re lucky enough to have a family business to go into or a relative to hire you, great! Acknowledge the uniqueness of the situation in a way that reflects positively on you. Prepare some anecdotes about the pleasures and perils of working with and for relatives. If your direct boss was a relative, list a coworker or client as a reference. I don’t want to call a reference you’ve listed with a different last name than yours and find out I’m actually talking to your dad—I’ll feel you tried to dupe me.

Y
OU HAD A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
.
You were depressed. You were sick, or someone in your family was sick or died. You were recovering from an addiction. You were hanging out with a boyfriend. You were bumming around Europe or surfing in Hawaii.

You are not alone. All of these scenarios—and many others—are more common than you think. The key is in how you present them. Some résumé readers are highly focused on chronology, so you must be able to matter-of-factly explain gaps; others won’t even notice, but you should be prepared.

If you were dealing with a chronic illness or death in the family and chose to make this a priority, people generally understand. If you were dealing with something like substance abuse or a nervous breakdown, be discreet—you don’t want to raise red flags: “I took time off from an unsatisfying job to rethink my options.” “I spent time with my family, reconsidering my priorities and researching career options.” (More on these situations in
chapter 6
, Getting Through the Interview.)

Once you’ve got your résumé drafted, proofread it. Use spell-check, then read it through again. Then, have it read and proofread by someone meticulous; if possible, get someone in a hiring position to look at it as well—it doesn’t have to be someone in your field.

Do not trust spell-check alone. The program doesn’t truly understand grammar, and it sometimes creates errors—a reference to the book
Madame Ovary
was one memorable example. Don’t take this risk. You
can’t afford to have a single typo, spelling, grammatical, or punctuation mistake on your résumé.

Proofread every time you make a change, no matter how minor. Cutting and pasting often leads to formatting errors.

If you must proofread your résumé on your own, read it through at least three times, with a night of sleep in between readings for good measure—you’ll be better able to look at things with a fresh eye after a certain amount of time has passed. Techniques used by professional proofreaders include reading each word aloud, and sliding an index card or ruler along in order to focus on each letter individually.

Once you’ve polished your résumé to within an inch of its life, don’t just hit Send or Print quite yet. If you’re e-mailing, open and print your document to make sure there aren’t any formatting issues. (One way to get around that is to save your Word file as a PDF.) If you’re sending a hard copy, make sure it’s clean; no stains or ink smears. If you do not have a letter-quality or laser printer, have it printed at a service bureau.

If you’re applying for a job online, you may encounter Web-based forms requiring you to fill in résumé information in specific fields. Be just as careful about typos when you’re filling these out, and save and print a version for your files. Be selective: If space is a consideration, make sure you are listing the most important information possible.

Q. What’s the best way to send my résumé?

A.
If the job posting indicates a specific way in which the employer would like to receive your résumé—fax, mail, or e-mail—send it as directed.

Title your résumé document file clearly, with your first and last names and the word “résumé.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen job-seekers sabotage their applications by titling their documents “ProfessionalResume.doc” or “GoodVersionWithDan’sEdits.” It’s all in the details. The subject line of your e-mail should read, “YourLastName Résumé for X Position.” If someone specific has recommended you send the résumé, add that information: “per Professor Y.”

Attach your résumé and your cover letter (see
chapter 4
), and also paste the cover letter into the body of the e-mail, replacing paragraph tabs with line spaces and correcting any formatting problems. In the closing paragraph of the e-mail, add: “My résumé and a copy of this letter are attached.”

Q. My résumé is posted on my website. I have writing samples posted there, too. Can’t I just send a cover letter that directs employers to my site?

A.
Are you kidding me? You think employers have the time to go to people’s websites to read their résumés? Think again.

Q. What about professional résumé services?

A.
What about them? You’ve read this chapter, so you don’t need them. Better to set up an informational interview with someone in a hiring position in a field you’re interested in. During the session, ask if he’d be willing to review your résumé and make suggestions. Free, and more effective!

The résumé samples on the following pages represent the best—and the worst—of what I’ve seen over the course of my career. Good résumés are marked by a check mark; undesirables by an X. On right-hand pages, résumés are “decoded” for quick and easy reference.