Community Chat

[sgraham30]

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@JobGirl wrote:

Well one thing -as no one will be standing in your driveway they may want to know if you live in a certain mile radius of the position-depending on where you live many factors inclduing changing seasons and traffic patterns can greatly affect commutes

And no it doesn't matter how old an applicant is-

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Location most definitely does matter. I once applied for a job where there were 2 of us who were top contenders for the job, myself & another applicant. For me, it would have been a 45 minute commute if I remember correctly, while the other person lived only a few miles away.

I was notified that the other person had been hired. Since I'd been told I was the more qualified of the 2 of us, I asked why they got the job instead of me. I was told that they needed someone they could depend on to be there, no matter how bad the weather got. The other person lived much closer than I did so they got the job. (at least that's what I was told, if that's true or not, I'll never know)

[151949]

Back in the day when I was in the job market - in my profession they wanted experience, experience , experience and your pay reflected what you brought to the table, experience wise. So you had to really emphasize that on a resume. Usually I would write a summary at the top of my resume detailing what I knew that made me unique and more desirable than every other Tom , ****** & Harry who may be going to apply. Once I got a job I tended to stay for a long time - 25 years at one employer, though I moved around to various jobs during that time and 12 years at my last job. My 25 year job I was laid off when they closed down and my 12 year job I retired from.

[makeup addict]

I'll add the link to the article in the post; it's easier to read online instead of the format I pasted it with. 

@LilacTree Hi,  actually some of the errors you pointed out are now the norm.  For example, if you stated on a resume you saved the company 50,000 within three months it would be written as: Project saived company 50k within a 3 month period.  All of the jobs I've applied for are online and they used a system that sorts applicants before they are seen by a human being.  The transistion person said if 1,000 people applied for a job, 100 would end up making it to an actual human.  After that 25 would be interviewed and one job offer.  

Those systems are looking for specific info that the hiring manager has provided.  For example if an posting states they are looking for 7-10 years of experience and you have 15, you should type in 10+ years of experience.  The system is looking for years of experience to be 7,8,9,or 10.  It's not looking for other numbers.  

@151949 Experience is still important, but you have to set yourself apart.  Job Summaries are out; now it's a personal branding sttement.  You telling the future employer what you can do and what you can bring to the company. Resumes are no longer historical job histories; it's a work history plus personal branding. Trust me, it was weird when she sent back my resume! Then I did some researci and hiring authorties are saying this is what they are looking for now.  People are creating their own personal websites for LinkedIn and Workfolio.com.  I'm not that creative.  lol 

@Laura14 high five fellow Gen X'er!!!  

Some stuff I learned asbout LinkedIn.  

You can change your background picture. Go to linkedinbackground.com. It's free and the size is automatically the right size for LinkedIn and no issues with copyright pics. 

If you are on LinkedIn (if looking for a job, you should be), go to privacy settings. It's at the top of your homepage, near your picture or photo icon and go to privacy, and change "sharing profile edits" to no.  This way you will not blast all your contacts while you are working on your profile. Recruiters can still view your profile, but you are not sending out an email to all of your contacts each time you update your profile. The exception: whenever you update your current position, a blast does go out; this button will not stop that.  I haven't changed my current position.  Once I have a new job, I will.  This is an acceptable per hiring HR folks. 

 Also under privacy settings, change "Viewers of this profile also viewed" to no.  If you are looking for a job, and this setting is on yes, the recruiter will see other people with similar skills as you. You are showing the competition so to speak so change that to no. 

tagcrowd.com  Free site.  So find 5-10 job postings that you are interested in and go to this site. Remove company names and headers and paste the job description on this site. It will identify 5-7 words that are repeated in each of the postings.  Review . your profile and try to use those words.  The example they used was an IT job.  The words that came back were security, systems enterprise analysis. Use them in your info. 

Use a picture in your profie.  Your profile is 7 times more likely to be click on with a photo.  Keep it simple and professional. Neutral background; head and shoulders pic business dress.   I'll admit, when I looked at my connections, my eyes went to the profiles thtat had picutres than to the ones that didn't.  I don' like the idea, but I'm doing the photo. 

Wanted to share since I know a few of us are looking for jobs.  Hope this helps!!!  

[Kalli]

This is interesting.  I recently retired so I'm glad that I do not have to worry about all this stuff.  ('Course, now I have to worry about losing health insurance but that's a discussion for a different board.) haha

Anyway, I did all those things listed in the Boomerslang post.  Kinda laughed my way through reading it.  

Good luck to all who are out there looking for a job!

[SydneyH]

How's the search going @makeup addict?  I think I will tweak my resume a little even though I'm not looking right now........

[makeup addict]

@SydneyH Hi Sydney!  I have a phone interview Friday afternoon.  

fingers crossed. 

[JobGirl]

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@sgraham30 wrote:

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@JobGirl wrote:

Well one thing -as no one will be standing in your driveway they may want to know if you live in a certain mile radius of the position-depending on where you live many factors inclduing changing seasons and traffic patterns can greatly affect commutes

And no it doesn't matter how old an applicant is-

---

Location most definitely does matter. I once applied for a job where there were 2 of us who were top contenders for the job, myself & another applicant. For me, it would have been a 45 minute commute if I remember correctly, while the other person lived only a few miles away.

I was notified that the other person had been hired. Since I'd been told I was the more qualified of the 2 of us, I asked why they got the job instead of me. I was told that they needed someone they could depend on to be there, no matter how bad the weather got. The other person lived much closer than I did so they got the job. (at least that's what I was told, if that's true or not, I'll never know)

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Yes it does matter to many employers

[Tinkrbl44]

A friend of mine has had a long career in sales, and was looking for a part time job in retirement.  He is 62 and very active.    Not needing or wanting benefits led him to believe he'd be a good choice.

He got an interview and was told that the 24 year old young man interviewing him would also be his supervisor.   This guy was young enough to be his grandson!

[LilacTree]

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@makeup addict wrote:

I'll add the link to the article in the post; it's easier to read online instead of the format I pasted it with. 

@LilacTree Hi,  actually some of the errors you pointed out are now the norm.  For example, if you stated on a resume you saved the company 50,000 within three months it would be written as: Project saived company 50k within a 3 month period.  All of the jobs I've applied for are online and they used a system that sorts applicants before they are seen by a human being.  The transistion person said if 1,000 people applied for a job, 100 would end up making it to an actual human.  After that 25 would be interviewed and one job offer.  

Those systems are looking for specific info that the hiring manager has provided.  For example if an posting states they are looking for 7-10 years of experience and you have 15, you should type in 10+ years of experience.  The system is looking for years of experience to be 7,8,9,or 10.  It's not looking for other numbers.  

@151949 Experience is still important, but you have to set yourself apart.  Job Summaries are out; now it's a personal branding sttement.  You telling the future employer what you can do and what you can bring to the company. Resumes are no longer historical job histories; it's a work history plus personal branding. Trust me, it was weird when she sent back my resume! Then I did some researci and hiring authorties are saying this is what they are looking for now.  People are creating their own personal websites for LinkedIn and Workfolio.com.  I'm not that creative.  lol 

@Laura14 high five fellow Gen X'er!!!  

Some stuff I learned asbout LinkedIn.  

You can change your background picture. Go to linkedinbackground.com. It's free and the size is automatically the right size for LinkedIn and no issues with copyright pics. 

If you are on LinkedIn (if looking for a job, you should be), go to privacy settings. It's at the top of your homepage, near your picture or photo icon and go to privacy, and change "sharing profile edits" to no.  This way you will not blast all your contacts while you are working on your profile. Recruiters can still view your profile, but you are not sending out an email to all of your contacts each time you update your profile. The exception: whenever you update your current position, a blast does go out; this button will not stop that.  I haven't changed my current position.  Once I have a new job, I will.  This is an acceptable per hiring HR folks. 

 Also under privacy settings, change "Viewers of this profile also viewed" to no.  If you are looking for a job, and this setting is on yes, the recruiter will see other people with similar skills as you. You are showing the competition so to speak so change that to no. 

tagcrowd.com  Free site.  So find 5-10 job postings that you are interested in and go to this site. Remove company names and headers and paste the job description on this site. It will identify 5-7 words that are repeated in each of the postings.  Review . your profile and try to use those words.  The example they used was an IT job.  The words that came back were security, systems enterprise analysis. Use them in your info. 

Use a picture in your profie.  Your profile is 7 times more likely to be click on with a photo.  Keep it simple and professional. Neutral background; head and shoulders pic business dress.   I'll admit, when I looked at my connections, my eyes went to the profiles thtat had picutres than to the ones that didn't.  I don' like the idea, but I'm doing the photo. 

Wanted to share since I know a few of us are looking for jobs.  Hope this helps!!!  

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@makeup addict

I can see that using numerics instead of spelling out numbers would make sense in paragraphs that are specifically referencing finances, statistics, etc.  Thanks for pointing that out.  I was thinking mostly of prose, e.g., "Although I live 50 miles away, I have two methods of commuting to Philadelphia."  I can't see using a "2" in the second part of that sentence.  Then again, it's been a long time since I was involved in formatting resumes, or any other kind of formatting, and a lot of our language, grammar, etc., has changed from that world to one far less formal.

[Of course that was your point!]