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On writing and sending resumes via email

4/11/2006 By

Courtesy of Mike Lorelli, President and CEO of Latex Foam International, the only U.S.-based Talalay latex foam producer, and largest supplier of latex mattress components and pillows in North America. (Full disclosure: I edited the first two bullets.)

13 Little Things About Resumes and Emails

  1. Cover Letter File Names: recruiters prefer: Lastname-Firstname-2006-cover-letter.doc
  2. Your resume file name: recruiters prefer: Lastname-Firstname-2006-resume.doc
  3. NEVER send your resume as ‘resume.doc’ If a recruiter downloads ten emails, and half the people use ‘Resume.doc’. . . you’re dead (and should be!)
  4. Your ‘Subject Line’ must signal that this is not a spam message.

    Use ‘CEO-NJ Fragrance Co- Mike Lorelli’ to concisely signal your purpose.

  5. Don’t use “PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE,” unless you plan to list prostitution or other “NON-PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE.”
  6. Don’t complicate things with the name of the parent corporation, or division name, or whether or not the firm is incorporated. List the parent only if it’s a recognized Fortune company and thereby enhances the Division name.
  7. Don’t waste space explaining that PepsiCo is “A leading food and beverage conglomerate with operations in 97 countries.” If the company is recognized, save the space.
  8. Omit the STATE, if 99% of the readers will know in what state cities like Boston or Atlanta, Indianapolis, Chicago, etc. are. Ditto for Foreign Cities. Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Montreal.
  9. Avoid grid-type fill-in-the-box styles. When viewed electronically, you look like a college senior.
  10. Resumes are two pages in length. Anything longer signals that you have poor summarization skills. Alexander Haig’s resume is one page, and he accomplished more than I have.
  11. Over 50? Don’t make the mistake of leaving off your year of college graduation. You look pretty silly when (100%) of the people figure it out. In fact, do the opposite! On my cover letters I add a ps that says:

    ps: I am 52, have an MBA from NYU, 1973, and am an active outside director and trustee

    It’s my way of signaling “52 and proud of it!”

  12. Have a ‘PERSONAL’ section at the end of your resume. Show some personality and some color. People prefer to work with humans, not machines. Below is my section.

    PERSONAL

    Married. Two precious daughters. Author of childrens’ best-seller, “Traveling Again, Dad“ with profits donated to childrens’ charities. Have traveled to 44 countries. Avid runner. Active private pilot. Excel at no sport. Member Business Executives for National Security. WPO.

    I get a lot of comments on the “Two precious daughters” and “Excel at no sport” lines.

Filed Under: Chapter 14: Manage the E-mail Deluge, Chapter 25: Finding a Job

Choosing the Right Tool for Selling and Building Relationships Online

4/11/2006 By

One of the questions David and I are frequently asked, and that comes up as a recurring topic of debate, is, “Which online tool is best for me to meet and sell to the right people?” In our latest Fast Company column, Of Hammers, Wrenches, and Screwdrivers, we take a side-by-side look at online networking communities, blogging, and LinkedIn, and compare and contrast them based upon the Seven Keys framework we introduced in The Virtual Handshake.

While the boundaries between the application of these tools is somewhat fuzzy and they tend to cross over each other, this is a handy, concise overview of the predominant models and how they relate to each other and to your activities.

David Teten notes that Professor Constance Porter wrote more on this topic at Centrality Journal. See Blogs, Social Networking Sites or Virtual Communities: Alternative Paths to Building Relational Equity with Customers (Part 2)

Filed Under: Chapter 08: Social Network Sites / Virtual Communities, Chapter 09: Blogging, Chapter 10: Relationship Capital Management Software, FastCompany.com Column, Tips

The Mourning Began By E-mail

4/9/2006 By

Boston Globe senior business editor Mark Pothier share his experience of e-grieving. If you’re one of those holdouts who still thinks that e-mail is cold and unemotional, read this:

It occurred to me that a means of communication often derided for being impersonal and casual to the point of carelessness somehow suited this sorrowful occasion. For me, e-mailed sympathy had become acceptable. These electronic notes conveyed genuine emotions. Consoling by computer was fast and effective – perfectly normal. The thoughts people tapped out on keyboards did not strike me as a way for them to avoid the process of composing a handwritten note, addressing an envelope, and affixing a stamp to it. They responded electronically because they cared. E-mail offered an immediacy not possible through the US mail and a level of intimacy that can be difficult to achieve by phone, especially when one or both parties is in a workplace.

Filed Under: Chapter 17: Your Character, Chapter 20: Strength of Your Ties

LinkedIn for Recruiting Now Available in Print

4/8/2006 By

Happy About Linkin For RecruitingWhile it serves a broad audience for a broad range of needs, LinkedIn has managed to also become one of the top job sites on the web, winning awards and making the short list along with traditional megasites like CareerBuilder and Monster. It particularly appeals to recruiters because it provides access to top people who may not be active job-seekers, and because the referral and endorsement system provides richer information about a candidate than just a resume.

LinkedIn for Recruiting is based on over 40 interviews from top recruiters and other LinkedIn experts on how recruiters can best use LinkedIn to connect with top candidates and clients (David and I were both interviewed for the book). This is not a basic how-to book, nor is it theory and conjecture. This is real-world strategy and best practices from people who are making it work.

The book was written by Bill Vick, a top recruiter who has had great personal success with LinkedIn, and business coach / blogger Des Walsh. Both of them are very active on many of the LinkedIn-related Yahoo Groups (Des moderates the LinkedIn Bloggers Yahoo Group).

The book is available in PDF ($49.95) or paperback ($69.95, includes the PDF). Buyers of the book also receive over $500 in free bonuses, including a job listing on LinkedIn and a one-month membership at Hireability.com, plus password-controlled access to MP3 files of all the interviews for the book. This is a great resource for both internal hiring managers and professional recruiters.

On a related note, I’ve been selected by the publisher to be Executive Editor for a series of additional LinkedIn books. The next two titles will be LinkedIn for Enterprise Sales and LinkedIn for Professional Services Marketing. I’m starting to look for interview subjects now, so if you’re a LinkedIn user in either of these fields, please contact me and let’s set up an interview.

Filed Under: Web 2.0 Sites

Check to see if you are email blacklisted

4/6/2006 By

Do your clients and colleagues constantly say your email went into their spam filter? So much that you’re worried your domain might be blacklisted? There’s a quick, easy way to check. Go to http://www.completewhois.com/rbl_search.htm and enter your mail server address. For example, mine is 207.174.139.198 (you can get this from your ISP if you’re unsure). After you press GO, the tool will query ALL the 25 major RBLs (real time blacklists).
Once you confirm you aren’t on any of them, you will feel much better. Better yet, you’ll know it’s actually the receivers of your email who aren’t training their spam-blocking software correctly, and you can ask them to add you to their “safe senders” list.

via Laura Stack, via Speakernetnews

Filed Under: Chapter 14: Manage the E-mail Deluge

MyMistake – MySpace Does the Right Thing for the Wrong Reason

4/5/2006 By

E-Commerce Times reports that:

In response to advertising industry concerns over security, MySpace.com has removed 200,000 “objectionable” profiles from its social network. The site erased profiles containing risque or hate speech content.

I’m quoted in the article, and I won’t repeat it all here, but let me expand on it…

This action by MySpace is a reaction to comments like this one (from Major Marketers Avoid MySpace):

Of six panelists representing major advertisers and ad agencies, not a single one advertised with MySpace or other social networking sites. Reasons for avoiding MySpace include concern about its potential for criminal use, especially given recent well-publicized reports about sexual predators searching for victims on the site, as well as fears that user-generated content–including pictures and text with sexual overtones–will be offensive.

“I wouldn’t be caught dead in that kind of environment,” said David Cohen, executive vice president for Universal McCann Interactive, with a client roster including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Wendy’s International, and Sony Electronics. “You only have to look around for five or 10 minutes to find something offensive.”

They make a big deal of the fact that they found six people representing major brands that don’t advertise on MySpace. So what?!? I bet you could easily find six that don’t advertise in Playboy. or even Maxim for that matter. Or Sports Illustrated. Or, or or…

How about all the major brands that DO advertise there? Ironically, some of the companies mentioned above do advertise on MySpace as a result of syndicated ad networks.
- Microsoft (should’ve grabbed a screenshot – can’t seem to get it now, but I did before)
- Sony (Sony/BMG/Columbia artists are all over MySpace)
- Nike
- Panasonic
- Radio Shack
- Sprint
- AT&T
- E-Trade
- Verizon
- Cingular
- Nextel
- Energizer batteries
- Practically every pop/rock music label on the planet

It doesn’t seem that MySpace is having a hard time filling their ad inventory with major brands!

I agree that it’s pretty astounding that all six panelists don’t advertise there. But I think it’s astounding because they actually managed to find six advertising “experts” who feel that way. They’re obviously (see above) not representative of what major brands are actually doing. You want to see what’s really going on, “follow the money”. Just how “wholesome” do you need your cell phone provider to be, anyway?

I have no doubt that there were 200,000+ profiles on MySpace that violated their Terms of Use, which among other things, prohibit any content that:

1. is patently offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
…
4. contains nudity, violence, or offensive subject matter;

MySpace is well within their rights to delete these profiles. In fact, they should have been deleted a long time ago. It should have been no big deal – part of their ongoing business practices – rather than a reaction to advertiser concerns. Then they could have just quietly told advertisers that they were being more aggressive about enforcing their existing policies. Instead, by making a big deal of it, they have prompted negative reaction from users and even from industry analysts.

I don’t expect to see MySpace users leaving in droves (yet), but it just adds to the us-vs.-them mentality that has been growing ever since MySpace was bought by News Corp. And it was totally unnecessary. This shouldn’t have been a big deal – making it one was a big mistake.

Filed Under: Chapter 04: Social Software Industry, Web 2.0 Industry, Web 2.0 Sites

The Secret Cause of Flame Wars

4/5/2006 By

“Don’t work too hard,” wrote a colleague in an e-mail today. Was she sincere or sarcastic? I think I know (sarcastic), but I’m probably wrong.

According to recent research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, I’ve only a 50-50 chance of ascertaining the tone of any e-mail message. The study also shows that people think they’ve correctly interpreted the tone of e-mails they receive 90 percent of the time.

More at Wired News

Filed Under: Chapter 06: E-mail Lists, Chapter 13: Netiquette

When to Follow Up on a Job Application

4/4/2006 By

Are you being pushy if you contact an employer after submitting a resume? The opposite may be true, suggests a new survey from Robert Half International.

Eighty-two percent of executives polled said job seekers should contact hiring managers within two weeks of submitting application materials. Only five percent said professionals should refrain from communicating once a resume has been sent.

More

Filed Under: Chapter 25: Finding a Job, Tips

Research Finds That Success Might Be Related Not Just to Whom You Know but to How You Communicate with Them

4/3/2006 By

Research Finds That Success Might Be Related Not Just to Whom You Know but to How You Communicate with Them

Nathaniel Bulkley, a doctoral student working with assistant professor Marshall Van Alstyne at the University of Michigan School of Information, won the first annual Visible Path Graduate Student Award for new research on social networks and professional performance, the International Network for Social Network Analysis announced (INSNA) today.

Bulkley analyzed how white collar workers use social networks to improve professional performance. The hypothesis that success is related not just to whom you know but how you communicate with them was supported by key findings including:

– Professionals’ use of social networks evolves over the course of their career from accumulating relationship capital to exercising it

– Frequent, short communication outperforms lengthy, infrequent communication in efficiently moving information through a social network

– A central position in an organizational social network is consistent with higher individual performance

For his research, Bulkley conducted surveys and studied six months of email data and accounting records from an executive recruiting firm representative of professional services firms organized around client practices.

An unexpected finding was a lack of relationship between a recruiter’s private rolodex and network size or job performance.

…

More information on this year’s winning paper, “An Empirical Analysis of Strategies and Efficiencies in Social Networks,” is available at www.centralityjournal.com.

Filed Under: Chapter 01: Who Do You Know?, Web 2.0 Industry
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