Ella's Expert Corner: Review Your Job-Search Techniques
My objective? To assist you in your job search by bringing you timely and tactical information about job-search techniques that work. To this end, I have decided to conduct occasional interviews with industry leaders in both the private and public sectors of commerce, industry and education. 
I sat down with Michael Gage, the director of the Toppel Career Center at the University of Miami. Like many career center directors throughout the United States' academic institutions, Michael is in a terrific position to discuss the "dos & don'ts" of a job search campaign -- from the writing of a resume to the interview preparation process and beyond.
ELLA KALLISH: Michael, thank you for meeting with me to share your knowledge on the job-seeking process with our viewers. First, tell our readers what the Toppel Career Center at the University of Miami offers its students and alumni.
MICHAEL GAGE: The Toppel Career Center is the central office at the University of Miami and is responsible for providing career development and job assistance to undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni. The center offers a variety of services designed to give companies/organizations the most visibility and provide the best-qualified candidates for full-time jobs and internships.
EK: I've come here to meet with you because you see the process of job hunting and finding resources every day. You're in one of the best positions to provide tips on how to conduct a winning job search. So Michael, without further ado, my first question: What do you see as the primary mistakes people make when embarking on a job search?
MG: They don't know the kind of job that they are looking for. They haven't done enough self-research to understand what and where the best fit for them is.
EK: And how does one do that?
MG: There are a variety of ways. Meet with a career specialist who can administer an assessment test. Today, many of these assessment tests are also available online. And, really, what they do for you, is point you in right directions. Based on the information you have given us, based on the assessment test you have taken, this is where you will be happiest.
EK: And where you show the most ability?
MG: Right.
EK: Give us another area where we fall down.
MG: Well, once a path is decided upon and they are clear on the kind of job they want, they don't market themselves well enough on their resume in order to motivate an employer to interview them.
EK: And why is that? You have resume templates set up in your database that assist students and alumni in resume outline and construction, don't you?
MG: True. But it's not the outline or template that's important here; it's the content. People are under the impression that resumes need to be on fancy paper, use a particular font, but technology has made the formatting and construction of a resume moot. It's the information that they put on the resume that motivates me to interview them.
For example: Recounting only your job description on a resume tells me very little about you. If I know anything about job titles, I can probably tell you with some degree of certainly what your job description is -- you haven't told me anything new. What I am looking for are the skills.
I have a formula that will ensure you don't forget to put your skills down on your resume, and it's this: what I did + the skills I used = the results I got. Apply this formula to content construction and you will always tell a complete story.
EK: Yes! I call it the Who, What, Why, Where and How of YOU.
MG: That' s right. Yes -- answer all those question if you can. Too many people only give the "what I did." Again, because this is so important, if I understand your industry and I understand your job title, I can probably tell you what you did. But why you were good at what you did? This is what I need to know. This is what you need to tell me.
EK: Let's talk about the interview process. Where are our weaknesses most likely to show up?
MG: Once a resume has been constructed that succeeds in getting a job interview, the candidate meets with them without having thoroughly researched the company first. This fact will reveal itself to the employer during the course of the interview process. If a prospective employer perceives that not enough care and thoughtfulness was put into preparation for the interview, the company is going to think this lazy approach to preparation is a characteristic of your work ethic in general. And it probably is.
EK: How can a candidate, initially, demonstrate that they have done their research?
MG: I suggest that resumes be customized to fit the job you are applying for. Look. Here is a resume I recently received in the mail. Now, keeping in mind what we do here at the Toppel Career Center at the University of Miami, her objective reads: Looking for a challenging, dynamic opportunity where I can apply my skills toward advancement. Now, she hasn't told me anything in that statement, other than she is looking for something. What she is telling me (as a prospective employer), is that she really dosen't care if she works for my company or not. This is a resume so middle of the road that it says nothing and was probably written so generically because, in her misguided intention, she thinks this generic format will fit more positions and therefore can be sent blindly into hundreds of companies rather than just one.
It's important to customize your resume through thoughtful company research. This may mean writing several resumes for several different opportunities. Do your homework! The reality is that there are elements of a resume that are common throughout industry.
EK: What are these elements?
MG: Does this person have the skills that I need to fill this position? It's all about skills.
Skills. Skills. Skills. Skills. Skills. And I better to be able to find them quickly. Look Ella, (as he picks up a stack of resumes), I'm sure these people are qualified for something, and they may be qualified for the jobs I have, but they didn't articulate it clearly, so I won't be meeting with any of them. When you see an announcement -- when you read a job announcement -- pay attention to the way it is written! I'm convinced that companies write job descriptions based on importance.
EK: Right! I advise that they always read a company's Web site thoroughly before contacting them. It is here that you will get a feel for company culture -- through the vocabulary and images on their company Web site (also called corporate branding and identity). Pay attention to these messages and integrate them into your resume.
MG: Yes! Because after they determine that you are qualified -- it's about fit.
EK: Cultural fit?
MG: Right. Do you fit into my organization -- do you use my language, can I start picturing you in the organization -- can I see you interacting with other people in my group? That's where the payback from company research is cashed in -- in the interview process.
Learn the jargon of the industry.
EK: Right. Read the job section of a company Web site thoroughly. It is here that you will see the jargon and vocabulary of these groups more clearly.
MG: Review their information and use it "back out."
EK: Job-seeking is a big task, and the devil is in the details. Research is a lot of work -- that's where the commitment to the task begins. If done well, it provides the foundation for a successful search. Many people think that they will just give their resume to a recruiter and let the recruiter do the work. But what the candidate does not understand is the recruiter's dilemma.
The recruiter is working on a contingent fee agreement with the company they are recruiting for. They must find the talent before the other recruiting firms who are working on the same position do in order to get paid. Consequently the pace of their job is so fast that they cannot possibly give individual attention to all the resumes they receive -- not unless you are a perfect fit on paper. And sometimes we even become a casualty of this fast-pace channel -- we are the round peg this recruiter tried to stick into the company's square hole. And once you're eliminated, even if it is because your agent has misrepresented you, your resume is usually reassigned to their "database bin" for good.
MG: Well said. We had a student in here yesterday whose objective was to turn over her research and search responsibilities to several recruiting agencies. She said she wanted three names of three agencies because she didn't have enough time to do the research herself. I let her know that this attitude reveals a flaw in her work ethic. "If you don't have time to take care of yourself, then why would I ever believe as a company you are hoping to work for, that you will have time to take care of the things I need you to take care of?"
EK: Right! Contingent recruiting agencies or firms are doing business at an extremely fast pace. Typically they don't work extensively with a candidate in the tweaking of their resume -- even though the resume is the most important marketing tool a job seeker has! As a marketer of talent for the past 17 years, I know this fact to be true. You only have one chance through the door. I want to make sure that the resume I am marketing looks like the tool it should look like in order to obtain the interview. And I will tell you, that's where almost everyone usually falls down -- in the resume writing, the biggest stumbling block by far.
MG: Absolutely! And they listen to too many people. They listen to faculty, they listen to friends, they listen to their family members. All this input can take the clarity out of the process. I actually heard one person tell another that they "should spray their resume with a certain cologne because that's what 'they' like and it will make your resume stand out."
You can put whatever it is you want on your resume, but I'm here to tell you that the first thing your telling them once they pick up your resume is "smell this." You don't want them to smell your resume; you want them to read it! These so-called tricks have nothing to do with their skills, but they get into these false perceptions of what works -- like pictures or colored paper.
EK: Is an objective important on a resume?
MG: If they send a cover letter, there should be no objective on the resume.
EK: I occasionally hand-write, on the top of the resume, the position I am submitting a candidate for. I like objectives if they are clear and informative, but I have a great concern about cover letters. The truth is, most people can't write an objective, let alone a letter-length description of themselves and their goals. We do business electronically now and most correspondence is transferred in this manner -- but this medium requires the writer to "get to the point" quickly -- it propagates poor formal writing, and yet it challenges us to find new ways to dialogue with words -- I call it "e-talk."
MG: Full, formal articulation is not an easy medium. I fall out of it, too, when I'm sending e-mails -- you have to -- I just cut to the chase.
EK: What mistakes do job seekers, who are just beginning a career, most often make?
MG: Money. The money is their first quest when qualifying an employer. And I think when you're looking for money first, you're limiting yourself. Think of the job search as a funnel. And as you go through this funnel, you throw out limiters such as salary, geographical location, benefits, paid continuing education etc. Your criteria put limitations on the number of opportunities that will be available to you. So as you go through the funnel, the dimensions of your opportunity space become narrower and narrower and you will find fewer and fewer opportunities available to you.
So I tell people when they are just starting out to be as open to as many things as possible. Don't worry about salary considerations. Don't worry about where you have to live. Ella, here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Michael Graves and Associates are coming to U of M to recruit from our School of Architecture. Michael Graves will be here in a few days, and to date, we have only received two resumes! Michael Graves is the Frank Lloyd Wright of our time in terms of architecture and design. I mean, you get his company experience on your resume and that alone will open doors for you for years to come. You would think that we would have to turn people away, but students say they don't want to live in Princeton, N.J.!
EK: Then why is he coming here to recruit?
MG: Well, we're afraid that he won't come back.
EK: It's difficult to get young professionals to think long-term. That's goal setting.
MG: Yes, that's a good point. People need to set goals. No matter where you are in your career process. Map out your short-, mid- and long-term goals on a piece of paper. This will help you navigate your next career move.
EK: Michael, this has been a conversation filled with some terrific informative tips for our viewers! Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me and share all this wonderful information.
MG: Thank you.
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Written By Ella Kallish
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