resume writing Archives | Rebecca Henninger

July 22, 2020by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How to Ask for Informational Interviews – What to Say and How to Say It!

If you’re a job seeker in today’s market, you’ve probably heard of informational interviews, but may be wondering why they are useful, who to ask, and how to ask for them. I’ll cover the basics here and give you language for your requests to customize based on your audience.

When you’re job searching, you know you need to get to a hiring manager. You also probably know how important getting that inside referral is to getting your application past the ATS to an actual human being decision-maker.

So how do you accomplish that? The informational interview is a great tool to have in your arsenal! It can help you build connections, learn about a company’s hiring process, and better understand what positions, departments, and companies are the best fit for your skills, experience level, and career goals.

Who to Ask

I like to break it down into two primary groups.

One would be your contemporaries, counterparts in similar roles who can shed light on the application process, do’s and don’ts, position hierarchies, and what the actual job is like. These would be professionals in lateral roles to the one you are currently in or applying to and can help you understand what titles you should keep on your radar, how the hiring process works, and what to expect during an interview process.

The other is potential hiring managers. These contacts can give you a broader, more strategic understanding of the company and the industry. Believe it or not, these people are often most open to informational interviews, because they understand and respect your initiative. They have likely had to network and navigate to get where they are today.

How to Ask

This is often the hardest part! I’ve included a bunch of prompts to help you get started below. Send out a few today and see what happens. If you get a positive response, use that as your base for future requests. If you’re not getting anything back, tweak your request and your strategy.

Informational Interview Request (Referral)

Hi Name!

{Name} suggested I reach out to you as a potential contact with expertise in (field). I hope you don’t mind me contacting you out of the blue!

A {title/function} with {# of years} of {industry} experience, I am really interested in learning about {something you know about contact or company} and would love to hear more about your journey.

Are you open to a quick call?

Happy to help with anything at all on my end. I look forward to connecting.

Thanks,

Rebecca

Informational Interview Request (Cold)

Hi Name!

My name is [Your Name] and I came across your info on X while researching X. I hope you don’t mind me contacting you out of the blue. I am reaching out because

Possible next lines:

your work in X really intrigued me! I have been working on similar projects {include details} at {current company} and love to connect with other pros.
your transition from financial services really impressed me! I’m sure that transition wasn’t easy.
Company Name is on my radar and I’d love to learn more about what you’re doing in the X space and learn more about the culture.
I saw you have extensive experience {in function}, which is an area I’m also passionate about.
I saw you have extensive experience {at Company}, which is a company I’m interested in learning more about.

I know your time is valuable and don’t expect you to know of any open positions. I’d really just love to hear more about your journey and have the opportunity to learn more about the company!

If you do have a few minutes to chat, I’d be really grateful. If not, no worries! Either way, have a great day and stay well!

Thank you!

{Your Name}

What to Ask

Once you’ve secured the interview, do your homework! Study their profile, google the contact, and make a (long!) list of possible questions. You won’t necessarily get to ask all of them, but you definitely don’t want to waste their time or appear unprepared. Great starters include:

How did you get to where you are?
What do you do every day?
What do you like about your job?
What’s the culture like?
What’s the best career advice you have ever been given?

Why Informational Interviews are Helpful

Beyond the value of building new connections, informational interviews help you to cultivate a deeper understanding of the role you want, the companies you admire, and the skills and attributes hiring managers value the most. With this renewed understanding, you can more effectively evaluate your own candidacy. What are opportunities to upskill? What kind of feedback can you integrate to improve your resume or LinkedIn profile? What can you volunteer for at work to bolster your candidacy for the jobs you really want?

Reach out with any questions at all – 973.270.1777 or rebecca@thejobgirl.com. Happy hunting!

December 4, 2019by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

How to Write an IT Resume that Recruiters Want to Read

As a technology professional with strong technical skills, you know how to virtualize a complex environment, manage cloud governance, and optimize code, but do you know how to write an IT resume?

The challenge with technology resumes is the subject matter. It’s complex and gets muddy when you get too far into the weeds. An HR manager or a recruiter is likely not an expert on client-server technology or open source databases so it’s best not to bore them with allllll the gory details.

When attempting to convey your technical cred, focus on the business benefit! As always, the same advice applies. Don’t bury the lead, quantify, and use strong, action verbs. Here are a few of my favorite tips:

Avoid buzzwords and cliches. To a certain extent, this is tricky because sometimes the buzzwords are part of your job. In that case, they are keywords and should be used. Avoid, at any cost, overused, ineffective words such as results-oriented, goal-driven, and achievement-oriented.

Start with a Headline: The biggest compliant I hear from recruiters is that they get too many resumes that are not focused. The best way to quickly target your resume and showcase for a hiring manager what you are looking for is a headline. Use the job you are targeting, even if it is not the one you have. If you are not comfortable using Director of IT when you are a Manager, an add-in such as Career Target: Director of IT can help to bridge that gap.

Organize Information. Nothing is worse than a “laundry list” resume where the recruiter simply doesn’t know where to look. Use keywords to indicate what the bullet is about or try adding subject headers above a grouping of bullets. This helps your ATS and also tells the reader what you do.

Focus on the Last 10 Years. I am not a proponent of excluding any experience prior to the last 10 years if it is relevant. Ageism is alive and well and you don’t want to date yourself, but you also don’t want to appear 30 when you are 45. It’s confusing and can do you a disservice. In technology, however, even more than in other fields, the older experience is simply not relevant. Technology moves at lightning speed. Your experience implementing Windows NT technology is not going to impress anyone. While we’re at it, neither is your @yahoo or @aol email address, so change these please.

Highlight Business Benefit: Technologists of today are business enablers, business partners, and conduits for efficiency. Use language and quantifiable achievements to demonstrate not just the technical elegance of your solutions, but the bottom-line results to the business. This will give a hiring manager confidence that you understand the big picture and will add value to their organization.

Include Git Hub and Personal Development Projects. Technologists, more than almost any other profession, are expected to truly walk the walk. Demonstrate your geek status and love of all things IT by including personal projects, Git Hub links, and involvement in the thriving tech community.

When writing your IT resume, the most important thing to remember is that you need to focus on the reader. Think like a recruiter! Using job descriptions and profiles of other people currently in your role, compile a list of keywords—both technical and soft skills—and address these, quantifying mastery whenever possible, throughout your resume.

Typically, an E or F pattern works best for structuring information, as the eye naturally skims down the left side of the page. There is nothing wrong with adding color or well-placed graphics for emphasis, but always best not to go too far out of the box, particularly when you are in a conservative industry. The content, the words on the page, are the most important part of your resume.

Struggling to find the words to express your achievements? Reach out to me today or schedule an intro call to find out how my professional IT resume writing service can help you bring your career to the next level.

June 6, 2017by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

5 Things to Stop Doing in Your Job Search if You Want to Find a Job

Job Search Tips Most of my advice is around “how to’s”. How to write a resume. How to optimize LinkedIn. How to demonstrate your value to an employer. While all of this is very important, like anything else, the “how not to’s” can be equally as critical.

Don’t copy and paste your resume into your LinkedIn. Are they very similar? Absolutely! Are they exactly the same. Not really. LinkedIn is not as formal, hard hitting, or as private as your resume. By doing a blanket copy-paste you are exposing yourself to various issues. Your resume, by design, should be quantified like crazy – numbers used as much as possible to demonstrate your effectiveness. LinkedIn is not the place for these kinds of numbers. It feels different – show-ier and boastful – and can offend a current or potential employer who feels you are not discrete with proprietary data.
Don’t just rely on job boards. Sure, there is a place for job boards. Fill out a profile and post your resume to LinkedIn and Indeed. Career Builder if you must, and niche job boards if you are in an industry that warrants it. But please, if you are going to invest time and/or money in your resume, don’t just send it out using job boards. It’s a waste of time. You absolutely need to be networking, using LinkedIn, thinking and acting outside of the job board box if you want to stand out.
Don’t send standard form letters as thank yous. While you absolutely need to send a thank you letter. I don’t even offer thank you letters as a service to my clients! I feel so strongly that they should be written after the job interview and targeted around the actual content of my interview that I will not craft them before my clients as part of the resume writing process.
Don’t rely on the opinion of one person when writing your resume. Whether that person is a professional resume expert like myself or an HR director like your favorite aunt, it’s one person’s opinion. The effectiveness of the resume in many ways parallels the housing market. If your house is priced effectively and the market is efficient, the house will move. Our job market is currently relatively efficient. There are great opportunities out there and companies are hiring. If you are realistic in your expectations and have a resume that effectively showcases your value, anchored by quantifiable or demonstrable achievements, and you are working your network, it is very likely that doors will open.
Don’t forget to do your homework. If you have made it to the interview stage, it is up to you to close the deal. At the very least, Google the company, find the company page on LinkedIn, locate the person who is interviewing you on LinkedIn, read the website, and come up with a few conversation starter questions. Who are their competitors? What are the primary challenges faced by the person in this role? Is this a new position? You get the idea.

Wondering what I can do for your resume and your job search? I help my clients refine, quantify, and clearly communicate their value to potential employers. The modern resume needs to be eye-catching, concise, and powerful. There is no risk to reaching out and if you’re reading this post, you are probably struggling with an aspect of your search. Mention code 5DONTS to receive a free cover letter with your resume project. Let’s get started today!

May 20, 2014by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger No Comments

4 Ways to Transform Your Duties Into Accomplishments

Are you in a support role or one that does not easily lend itself to quantification? Do you find yourself scratching your head when working on a resume because you’re struggling to quantify what you’ve done when there is seemingly no direct result? You’re not alone! Really, unless you’re a senior leader or in a sales or project role, it can be really challenging to come up with language that “sells” what you do.

Here are four tried and true hints from a professional resume writer to position your role for maximum impact. Read more

December 6, 2012by Rebecca Henninger Rebecca Henninger 1 Comment

Should I include dates on my resume?

A lot of my clients come to me with this question. They’ve been advised to obscure or leave off dates by friends, the unemployment office, and various other professionals. Typically, my female clients are more concerned, although I have several male clients with the same issue. The “I’m forced to reinvent myself at 50” is a common thread. While I can’t claim to understand this stage of life, I do know a few things about job searching, recruiting, and even the cold hard facts of the corporate world. Read more

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