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Know What Job You Want

Read Job Applications Carefully

An interesting response to the preference question on job applications has been “Brenda Brown” or “Fred Smith.” Some job seekers misread the word preference and think it is asking for references, i.e., people who know you and will say nice things about you. Unfortunately, this is a common error that tells the employer “I am careless” or “I can’t read.”

A worse error in filling out an employment application is answering the “position applying for” question with “anything” or “doesn’t matter.”

This gives the employer or the placement agency the impression you do not know what you want, that you want the employer or the placement agency to decide for you, or that you do not know what kind of work is available at this place of employment.

Job seekers tell me that they do not want to appear picky or to limit themselves to one job. Thus, they write “anything.” There are better ways to do that.

That better way is networking. If you want a job at Feel Better Pharmacy, ask someone who works there, “What are the entry-level jobs? What should I write on the application?” Even a person who works at another pharmacy could give you an idea.

In 1960, after I graduated from high school, I decided the way to get a job was going to Altoona, Pa., and applying at every business downtown. One businessman asked me what kind of job I wanted. I told him: “Anything!” He then asked me what I thought was done in his business, and I didn’t know.

While I didn’t get a job there, I learned a valuable lesson. Business owners consider their establishment extremely important and feel insulted when job seekers do not know what is done there and what types of jobs are available.

Lankard’s rules regarding job preference: Know what you want and never say “anything.”

Contacting Current Employer
Applications commonly ask permission to contact your current employer. Job seekers see this as a threat. I have known of employees being terminated if it is learned that they are looking for another job. I suggest networking during break about your company’s attitude toward contacts from potential employers. I believe no company will hold it against an applicant for not wanting their current employer contacted.

Lankard’s rule: Unless you are sure it is OK, avoid permitting potential employers to contact your current employer.

Application Trends - Kiosks
When is an application not an application? Answer: when it is a kiosk.

Recently, I went to a local grocery store to buy my favorite scones from the bakery. Just inside the door was a device that looked like the computer I use to order sandwiches at a convenience store. Instead of asking if you wanted lettuce, tomato or onion on your sandwich, this machine asked for your job preference, school or phone number.

At this store, and many other retail businesses, job seekers no longer have to find the manager, complete a paper application, or have the secretary watch you while you fill out the application. You don’t even have to worry about penmanship.

For the applicant, kiosks are quick and easy, will alert you to mistakes, and lead you through a step-by-step application process. Kiosks benefit the employer because applicants are local and know the product since they are customers. This tends to reduce turnover. The computer saves the manger work by screening the applicant based on how they completed the application. One particular brand of kiosk gives each applicant a green, yellow or red light giving the manager an instant evaluation. Another kiosk alerts the manager if a particularly good applicant is at the machine so he or she can interview them before they leave the building.

One piece of advice that works for both kiosks and traditional paper applications is that the applicant should bring a sample application or fact sheet with them to help with question details.

The job seeker should allow enough time to complete an application in its entirety. Many employers will not let you take a paper application home and you sure can’t take the kiosk home.

Ten Tips to Successful Interviewing

1. Have three succinct, well developed, dart to the bull’s-eye bullet point answers for each of these major questions:

a. Why this industry?

b. Why our firm?

c. Why you?

These three questions will make or break you, as simple as that. If you sound iffy about any of them, see ya! To prepare good answers, ‘Why the industry’ involves soul searching for those passions that draw you to whatever industry you are recruiting for. ‘Why our firm’ is probably the easiest to prepare for and should be a well cultivated blend of different aspects of the firm, its people, culture and general momentum in the marketplace and which makes it the attractive vehicle for you to drive your career with, at least for the Associate years. Like a Burberry scarf, this answer should nicely accent the ‘Why You’ which is a blend of soul-searching attributes and firm specific draws that personally relate to you.

2. Be Ready for what you know you will be asked: Walking into the interview, you should be able to answer the following questions in your sleep:

a. Why do you want a career in XYZ?

b. What made you return to graduate school to get your MBA?

c. Why did you pick Chicago GSB?

d. Why are you interested in our company?

e. What group in particular you are interested in?

f. Who you have spoken to from that group and from the company as a whole? (First name, last name, group)

g. What other closed lists you are on and what other companies you are speaking with?

h. Why you would pick our company over those?

i. What classes are you currently taking and what has been your favorite class / professor at the GSB?

j. What motivates you?

k. What are your three greatest strengths and weaknesses?

l. What makes you different from your classmates?

m. Why a particular location, i.e. New York, London, etc.?

n. What do you do for fun?

3. Get the interviewer speaking about themselves: GENERAL RULE, THE MORE THE INTERVIEWER IS SPEAKING ABOUT THEMSELVES, THE BETTER Don’t just sit there shaking your head up and down thinking about what technical / case you’re going to get asked — instead use this opportunity to your advantage. Get this person romancing in their own career - make them seem a legend in your mind and theirs. “Wow! 10 years at XYZ is a long time! So many of your colleagues I have met through the processes have long tenures at your firm as well. What is it that XYZ is doing so right to retain their employees?” � “How have you seen the firm change?” “How has your expectations of Associates changed?”, and on and on and on. Before you know it, there is no time left for that creepy “what would be the deferred tax effect of �.” or “how many pennies would it take to fill the Hancock Tower�” landmine questions.

4. Know the company you are speaking to: To really win over the interviewer, “I like the people I met”, “I like your strong international focus / global platform / etc.”, “I agree with your culture”, etc. will NOT make you any different from anyone else. BTW - take the word culture and step on it like a smoked-out cigarette. Unless you are Professor Rayo, you probably could not define ‘culture’ anyway, especially for most companies you are interviewing at which are in essence a blend of 20 cultures of since acquired firms that actually cultivated a culture back in the ’80’s (think Drexel). Focus attention on avoiding the cliche and instead, show off your knowledge of the specific company. Bring up assignments / deals they are currently working on, major positive events that have happened to the company recently, specific areas of industry expertise, etc. Even better, dig deep within yourself and put your finger on why exactly you tortured yourself for the last three months of your life having to market yourself to the specific company - what it is exactly that fuels your hunger to work at the specific firm (besides insane pay). Once you identify this underlying passion, package it in a genuine manner. i.e., “The first time I passed by your building on 5th Avenue, I looked up at it and got a shiver down my spine. Already back then, I told myself that XYZ is where I want to work one day. Since then, I have capitalized on every professional and academic opportunity to get here. In speaking to Mr._____ and Mrs._____ along with the numerous other people I have met over the past few months, deals I have watched you doing in the market such as your work on _____, and the acceleration of your firm as best represented by the upward surge in league table positioning in both the debt and equity markets over the past five years, I can confidently reiterate my initial instinct that XYZ is where I want my career! It’s an incredibly exciting opportunity for me.”

5. The Power of Examples: What would your group members say is your greatest strength and weakness? “My group members would say my proficiency in financial modeling is my strongest strength. I ran the valuation and supplied the underlying analytics used in the competition. As a weakness, my group would probably say that often I act a skeptic with the suggestions brought up, a devil’s advocate of sorts.” -or- “My group members would say my proficiency in financial modeling is my strongest strength, as it was while I was a consulting. During my previous work experience at Major XYZ Consulting Firm, I was trusted with modeled out $100+ million healthcare strategic expansion projects for the third largest health system in the Midwest. I was able to integrate this past experience into my role on this group project which happened to be focused on the same industry. Because of this past experience, I have discovered the value of testing alternative scenarios for feasibility. For my group members unaccustomed to this type of analytical review, they may have found my devil’s advocate approach a bit skeptical. However, at the end of the project, they realized its value. One member even remarked “we would never have found that solution without reevaluating the initial proposed solutions”. A lot more memorable plus it lets you highlight the finer points of your resume.

6. Don’t Contradict Yourself: This is a quite simple point but one that can prove deadly. Don’t talk about how you returned to grad school to sharpen your technical business skills because you have no former exposure and then talk about how your strong background in finance and accounting helped the group win a case competition. Mixed signals will make recruiters challenge your logic and integrity. Keep a consistent message throughout, even if it exposes a weakness.

7. Be Yourself: As cliche as this sounds - it can make the ultimate difference. Many brand name companies have interview processes that have been refined and developed continuously for many years. As I’m sure you have heard in class, at investment management firms’, investment banks’ and consulting firms’ major asset walks out the door everyday. For these type service companies, picking the right people is a huge priority. These companies put a lot of effort into the recruiting selection process and will have techniques to trip you up if you are trying to be their “model” candidate instead of yourself. Goldman Sachs and McKinsey are especially good at this as any second year who has made it through their rounds can attest to. The way to attack these interviews - by being yourself. I’m not saying to bring up your 4 night a week drinking habit or your fetish for glow sticks but don’t try to force the fact that you are someone you are not. Be true to yourself and humble and you will maximize your odds of advancement. As you learned from Shady Campbell at Winterview, have fun in the interview. Just think, outside of psychologist sessions, when is the next time will people want to sit patiently for an hour and just listen to you speak about yourself?
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Be snotty: Confident specialists usually successful

Published January 25, 2007 in issue 0604 of the HooK.

Linda Chernoff has the conversational skills of a socialite and team-building talents of a top executive. Her résumé could start with her prized “people skills,” but instead she focuses herself more narrowly: event planner.

Good move. The best way to ensure you’ll always be in demand is to become a specialist.

This means you should typecast yourself: action hero, funny guy, tough girl. Ezra Zuckerman, associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, studied actors’ careers and concluded that even though they see typecasting as deadly, it’s actually a ticket to a solid career. Actors who get typecast early on get more work, more consistently.

The typecasting rule applies to other careers; specializing is a way to differentiate yourself in a crowd. Many people describe themselves as generalists so as not to eliminate job prospects. However, specializing makes you more likely to be hired and hunted.

“Headhunters,” Zuckerman explains, “are specialized, and they look for something they can package and sell. Since a candidate search is specialized, the headhunter is not set up to process people who don’t fit into a specialty.”

As with almost all career advice, solid execution requires knowing where your gifts lie. And, like most people, Chernoff was not initially sure. She started out as a law firm administrator, then worked in publicity at Temple University.

Her favorite part of that job was planning events like golf outings and tailgate parties. Now she’s development associate for special events at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Specialization is the goal, but be wary of too much or too early. Even a reasonable specialty can go awry if you limit yourself before you know enough.

“We think it’s more and more important as a business person to develop one or more areas of deep expertise over time,” says Liz Ramos, a partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. In the beginning, she continues, the focus is on “learning communication techniques and skills for the job.” After two years at the company, Bain emphasizes learning to “manage one’s job and develop as business leaders.”
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Changing careers is a matter of passion

When the time is right to change your career path, you’ll know it.

A nagging feeling will grab you from the inside, one that seems like boredom or frustration with your current job, but runs much deeper. This is not your average drag-your-feet-in-the-morning type of feeling. It has to do with big choices, life-long dreams and the routines of daily life. This is about happiness.

Change isn’t easy. In fact, it can be downright terrifying. That’s why I’ll never tell you to drop everything and dive head-first into a new career. I will say, however, that today is the perfect day to imagine your way out of a bad job situation, and into something that makes you smile.

Here are some of the important steps:

Let passion change your life. Maybe you are a teacher at heart, but have been working in health care for many years. Or perhaps you have a passion for sports but never practiced it as a career; instead you took up finance, sales or another admirable trade that just doesn’t motivate you on a daily basis.

What excites you? What is that nagging feeling trying to tell you? This is your life we’re talking about, your time and your potential. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself questions that can lead to change.

Gain experience and credentials. Knowledge is power, as they say, so learn as much as you can about an industry or job that intrigues you.

Some fields are open to everyone, while others require special training or experience. If you want to change your career, take steps in the new direction. Find out what you need to do, and do it.

Position yourself for success. Your resume and cover letter will help make an impact in your new vocation, so use them to your advantage.

Highlight your most relevant qualifications and give examples of your transferable skills. As a career changer, enthusiasm is one of your primary selling points. Passion can breathe new life into an organization, so don’t hesitate to come right out and say it in your letter.

Don’t let fear scare you. If you aren’t ready to start from scratch, see if you can integrate the things you love into your daily routine. Find projects that stimulate you. Learn a new skill. Take on a volunteer job. The more you follow your dreams, the happier you will be.

Take the risk. Many people are insecure about their lack of experience when they enter a new field. Don’t be!

If the time is right for you to switch to a new profession, know what your strengths are, and present them with confidence.

Whether you are transferring from finance to advertising, starting a consulting business, or returning to the work force after several years of retirement, your background and personal attributes are absolutely unique. Keep this in mind as you begin job hunting, and use it to increase your enthusiasm and fuel your passion as you move forward on your career path.

Remember that change takes courage, and job searching takes determination. Prepare yourself for the adventure, position yourself for success and get ready to launch your new career.

Eve Nicholas has written resume materials and offered no-nonsense advice to thousands of job seekers. She can be reached at Eve.GetAJob@gmail.com.

JOB HUNTING COSTS: WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DEDUCT

Did you know you may be able to deduct certain costs associated with looking for a new job? It’s a fact, says the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. What’s more, even if you don’t find a job or if you get terrific offers but decide to stay with your current employer, the deduction rules still apply. Of course, you must meet certain eligibility guidelines, and you’ll need to itemize your deductions.

LEARN HOW TO QUALIFY FOR THE DEDUCTION

To be eligible, you must be seeking a job in your current line of work. That means if you’re a nurse and you’re looking for a new nursing position, you qualify. Should you decide you’d like to become a librarian, you won’t be able to write off the cost of finding your new position.

Job search expenses are not deductible when there has been a substantial break between your prior employment and your search for a new job. For example, a spouse who leaves the work force for several years to raise a child cannot deduct costs associated with a job search. You’re also barred from deducting expenses related to your job search if you’re looking for your first job, as might be the case for college graduates.

KNOW WHAT IS DEDUCTIBLE

You can deduct fees you pay to an employment agency or outplacement firm. The cost of resume preparation, printing, and mailing are deductible, as is the cost of stationery, such as paper and envelopes. Long distance phone calls, publications that aid your job search, and job-wanted ads, the classifieds or trade journals are also deductible.

For some job hunters, the cost of travel is the biggest expense. Air or train fares, hotel and meal expenses, cab fares, and other incidentals may be deductible when you travel a distance for an interview. CPAs caution that this holds true only if your primary reason for the travel was related to your job search. The amount of time you spend on personal activities compared to the amount of time you spend looking for work determines whether your expenses are deductible. Bear in mind that you may not deduct expenses for which a prospective employer reimburses you.

UNDERSTAND HOW TO FILE

You must be able to itemize deductions on Schedule A of your tax return in order to claim a deduction for job search expenses. These expenses fall under the heading of miscellaneous itemized deductions, which also includes tax preparation fees, unreimbursed employee business expenditures, education that furthers your profession, investment fees, and work uniforms.

Even if you itemize, you may not get the full benefit of this deduction. That’s because these expenses are deductible only to the extent that in the aggregate they exceed 2 percent of your adjusted gross income. If your adjustable gross income is $100,000, you can deduct only those miscellaneous itemized deductions that exceed $2,000 (2 percent of $100,000).

KEEP GOOD RECORDS

Be sure to keep good records to document your job hunting expenses. An effective way to track your expenses is to keep a log in your PDA or in a notebook. On a daily basis, record your job search activities and the expenses associated with them. Also, be sure to save related credit card receipts and cancelled checks. If your job hunt includes travel, a log showing what you did while out of town will help you substantiate that the trip was primarily for job seeking purposes.

CONSULT WITH A CPA

A CPA can help you understand the requirements for deducting job search expenses and answer your questions concerning how to qualify for this deduction.

How to impress, in 45 seconds

Think of a resume as a personal advertisement in which you’re trying to sell yourself to a prospective match. A resume should stand out to a hiring manager who’s looking for the right person for a company.

This is especially important in a competitive job market. Recruiting experts say hiring managers have at most 45 seconds to scan one of countless resumes they receive.

In fact, 27 percent of human resources managers say they get on average more than 50 resumes for each open position, according to a survey released recently by Careerbuilder.com, an online job search site partly owned by Tribune Co., parent of Newsday and The Baltimore Sun. And more than 13 percent of human resources managers receive more than 100 resumes per job opening. (The study, which surveyed 360 hiring managers, has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.)

“You want to think about your resume as a marketing or sales tool, almost like advertising for yourself,” says Susan D. Strayer, a Washington-based career coach and recruiting consultant.

Among the biggest mistakes job candidates make, according to Strayer, are sending out mass resumes without regard to qualification and not customizing the document to the job description.

“It’s really important to make yourself relevant to that particular company or position,” says Jennifer Sullivan, a spokeswoman at Careerbuilder.

The Careerbuilder survey also found that 63 percent of human resources managers cited spelling errors as the most annoying resume mistake. Other errors included not tailoring resumes (30 percent), lying (23 percent), including too many insignificant details on job duties (21 percent) and having resumes that are more than two pages long (21 percent). (Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer.)

Here are some other quick tips to write a top-notch resume:

Emphasize examples of problem-solving, leadership, team-building and performance improvement. They were cited by Careerbuilder as top keywords searched by recruiters.

Include a short profile or objective at the top of the resume that summarizes your experience and skills. Strayer says a profile gives recruiters a way to quickly determine whether “I want to continue reading or not.”

Keep your resume visually simple. Don’t use fancy fonts.

Her job hunters’ website is full-time job

Getting laid off in 1994 was the best thing that could have happened to Susan Joyce.

But losing their jobs had tragic consequences for some of her colleagues.

“I knew one man who killed his wife, then committed suicide, when we were let go,” said Joyce, who lives in Marlborough. “People think that the world comes to an end when they lose their job.”

She was among the tens of thousands of employees cut loose by Maynard-based Digital Equipment Corp., which was at one time the world’s second-largest computer manufacturer.

In the years since, Joyce has gone from helping co-workers find new jobs to providing a career clearinghouse for people across the world. Her website, job-hunt.org, was named one of the top three for finding work by US News and World Report last year, and has regularly been included among the “best in the Web” for job hunting by Forbes since 2002. Last month, she said, it had a half-million visitors.

From a small office above an antique s shop in Marlborough, Joyce hopscotches around the globe helping jobseekers make virtual connections, like the man in Hawaii who landed his dream job in Manhattan.

The free site has over 7,000 links to employers in Canada, Europe, and Asia. It also offers career resources, with advice for online job hunting and local networking. But it wasn’t until Dow Jones called Joyce in 2005 to buy ad space that she said she realized her website had become much more than a hobby.

What makes Joyce and her site so special?

Forbes singles it out for “advice on cyber-job searching — like converting your resume from Word to plain text; adding keywords for searchability, and protecting your privacy online.”

But there’s also a more personal touch: having witnessed the emotional toll of layoffs, Joyce includes support groups, organized by state, that aim to bolster confidence along with job-hunting skills.

Companies that distribute resumes and “work at home/make big bucks” outfits often ask Joyce about advertising on her site, but she said she always turns them down.

“There are bogus sites out there that just collect information for marketing,” Joyce said. “Someone registers their resume, then suddenly they get offers to sign up for credit cards and to buy insurance.”

Joyce is not competing with online classified-type sites like BostonWorks and monster.com, where companies advertise positions and job-seekers post their resumes. Rather, job-hunt is an employment “portal” — a directory of resources organized by industry and location.
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Losing Your Job Without Losing Your Shirt

Nobody is immune from sudden job loss anymore, and everyone should be prepared for the possibility. If your finances are in order, you’ll be better able to avoid being plunged into unmanageable debt caused by job loss and will be less likely to accept a job you’ll end up hating. You can be prepared without being paranoid.

Determine Where You Stand Financially

Assess your financial situation BEFORE the need arises. Many people avoid making a list of their assets and debts because they’re afraid they won’t like what they find, or they believe they have a good “gut feel” for their overall financial picture. But ignorance is not bliss, and will only hurt you in a time of financial crisis. So, the first step in preparing for a possible loss of income is to prepare a snapshot of your financial situation, or net worth statement.

Get a Feel for the Stability of Your Job

How are your employer’s competitors doing? Are they experiencing lay-offs? This can be a good indication of the stability of your job. If job lay-offs have already occurred where you work, you should have your resume updated and be looking around for possible opportunities that fit your skills. About.com’s Job Search Guide, Alison Doyle, has tremendous resources to help you write a winning resume, find a new job, and ace the interview.

Know Your Employer’s Job Severance Policy and Other Benefits

Acquaint yourself with your employer’s severance policy now. Do laid-off employees receive severance pay? If so, is it based on years of service or some other criteria? Knowing how much you could expect if you’re laid off helps you calculate how much you need in your emergency living expense fund. Also educate yourself about whether you’ll be allowed to continue your health insurance benefits under COBRA if you lose your job.

Establish an Emergency Fund

More than ever, in these uncertain times, everyone should have an emergency fund equal to six to eight months of expenses. How will you know how much your fund should be unless you know what your monthly expenses are? Here’s where a budget comes in handy.

If the Worst Happens

Job loss will be much easier to deal with financially and emotionally if you’ve prepared for the worst by following the advice above. If the worst does happen, here are additional tips for getting through a period of job loss:

* If you’re fortunate enough to receive severance pay, use it as a bridge to get you through your period of unemployment. Spend it carefully, paying the most important things first: rent or mortgage, car payment, electricity, groceries, etc.

* Apply for Unemployment Insurance immediately. By waiting, you may reduce your benefits.

* Resist the urge to use your credit cards unless absolutely necessary for critically important expenses.

* Contact your creditors (credit card companies, etc.), tell them you’ve lost your job but are actively seeking employment, and request an arrangement that allows you to make token or reduced payments for a limited time.

* Organize your job search. About.com’s Job Search Guide has an excellent “Job Search Toolkit” that summarizes what you need to do.

Besides the financial aspects of losing a job, there are usually emotional aspects. You’ll find good advice about thriving during job loss and job search at ThriveNet.com.

ASCII Resumes: Learn How to Convert Your File

ASCIITextDigital Inspiration points us to ASCII-o-Matic, a cool tool that lets you convert a 60×50 pixel JPEG image into ASCII art. I wish there was a similar tool for converting a Word-formatted resume into a nice-looking ASCII file. ASCII resumes are necessary if you need to email your resume or copy and paste to online forms, but properly converting the file is time-consuming. The “save as” text option in Word is handy, but there is always a lot of cleanup necessary to make the file look as attractive as possible in plain-text format.

Any developers out there able to automate this process? While we wait for the magic tool, here is an article that provides more detail on converting a resume to ASCII format:

Why You Need Two ASCII Resumes & How to Create Them

by Kim Isaacs, Resume Expert and Director of ResumePower.com

Many job seekers don’t realize that it’s necessary to have two ASCII (plain-text) resumes — one for emailing, and the other for posting to online forms. The emailable version should have forced line breaks at 65 characters or less, and the webforms version should not have forced line breaks.

Why should the webforms version not have forced line breaks? Because if you copy and paste a plain-text resume to a webform (say, on a company website or job board) and it has line breaks manually inserted, the end result will be a jagged-looking resume. Each webmaster has a different default setting for how many characters an online form will break text, so if your resume exceeds this limit, your resume will look terrible. If you create an ASCII resume without line breaks, the text should wrap around the webform’s box, eliminating the need for you to go in and reformat the text.

Why do you need a plain-text resume that has line breaks at 65 characters or less when emailing your resume? Because there is no standard email program used by everybody, so you need to accommodate email systems that don’t automatically wrap line breaks. Your resume might end up as one long horizontal line of text — this is a “pet peeve” of recruiters who state that they would rather the line breaks are pre-inserted before receiving the resume via email.

Here’s the main difference between the two formats:

ASCII for Emailing - Has forced line breaks at 65 characters or less
ASCII for Webforms - Has no forced line breaks; instead, the text wraps naturally

It’s best to create the webforms version first, and then convert the webform file into an emailable version. The following instructions are meant to be a basic guide to preparing your ASCII resumes. There’s a lot you can do with ASCII, so feel free to play around with keyboard symbols to see what works for you. Your resume should be easy to skim through, consistent, and attractive given the limitations of plain text.

To create an ASCII resume for webforms using MS Word XP:

*
Open your Word document, go to Save As, and under “Save as Type,” select “Plain Text.” Give the file a new name like YourName_ASCIIforWebforms. Important - check the box “Allow Character Substitution.” Click “Save” to save the new file.
*
Exit Word and open Notepad (Notepad can be found on most Windows systems by going to Start> All Programs> Accessories> Notepad).
* Change bullets to asterisks or dashes if they didn’t convert properly after you saved as text.
*
Make sure the text is coherent, especially if columns or tables were used in the original document.
*
Review the heading to ensure that the address, phone number(s), and e-mail addresses are placed in a logical sequence.
* Add stylistic elements to the header sections so that they stand out. A horizontal line may be created by using a series of dashes or asterisks. Example:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Professional Experience
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*
If you have a cover letter (which you should!), paste the letter on page one (before the resume). Remove extra line breaks by the sig line and add the word “RESUME” where the resume is about to start. Example:

Sincerely,
John Doe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
R E S U M E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*
Remove contact information and page data from the secondary pages if your resume is longer than one page. So information such as “John Doe Resume - Page Two” and “ABC Company, accomplishments, continued” should be removed. The ASCII resume is meant to be read on a computer screen, so there is no distinction between pages.
* Add a line break before and after job titles to help them stand out.
*
Place “Key Accomplishments” (or whatever the Accomplishments section is called) on its own line preceded by a couple of dashes.
*
Add an extra line between bullets if you have text-intensive bullets. Large paragraphs of plain text can be cumbersome to read.
*
Add two spaces between sections and between jobs.
*
Look for and remove special characters that might have crept in, such as accents over the “e” in “resume” or “San Jose”). Look for special characters that might have morphed into something like the letter “n” or “?” or “1″ - this could happen by the address header if symbols were used to separate phone, city, etc. Symbols may also appear in the Education section if symbols were used to separate courses, schools, etc.
*
Look for bullets that have sub-bullets (it’s necessary to refer to the original resume), and use a dash to indicate sub-bullets.
*
Carefully review the document to make sure the resume is perfect and nothing strange is left in the file.

When the ASCIIforWebforms file looks good, it’s time to create the second file - ASCII for emailing:

*
Open the ASCIIforWebforms file in Word. Select all text, change the font size to 13.5, and scroll to the end of each line to see how many characters are on the longest lines. If it’s in the range of 55-65, you’re good to go. If it’s running past 70 characters, that’s not good and you should try changing the font size to 13 or smaller.
*
Go to File> Save As > choose “Plain Text,” but this time check the “Insert line breaks” box and rename to “YourName_ASCIIforEmailing.”
*
Close the file and reopen in Notepad. Look for “orphans” - short lines that can be moved up to the line above (as long as it doesn’t exceed 65 characters). Orphans often appear if a series of slashes are used in the resume - Word considers the string of words separated by slashes as one word and may move the whole string to the next line.

When you’re ready to email your resume or post to an online form, just open the appropriate file, select all, copy, and paste the text to the message box or form. Remember to customize the cover letter to suit the opportunity.

Best wishes for success with your ASCII documents, and let me know how your job search is going!

The challenge of changing careers

If you inherited $5 million, what job would you choose to do?”

That’s what Marlena Lechner, director of the Job Search Network at Jewish Family Service of Bergen County, in Teaneck, often asks clients.

In Lechner’s experience, most people are “in search of meaning and in search of being more compassionate and more altruistic. [If they had the means], they would choose to do something to contribute to the greater good. Lots of people who come to me have that issue; they want to make a difference and feel that their work has made a positive difference.”

Part of Lechner’s responsibility is to help them figure out how to find more meaning in their work — or at the very least, to feel motivated to get up in the morning. “If you have no job satisfaction, then you know you’re not in the right job. Everyone is entitled to be happy in his or her job,” she contends.

And, according to Lechner, “It’s never too late to change your career and actualize your potential,” using her own experience as the best example. She said, “I succeeded at doing it, going from a stay-at-home mom to an administrative support person to returning to school and getting graduate and undergraduate degrees in my late 40s and early 50s.”

Just how widespread is the phenomenon of changing careers?

First Pic. Mark Foner, who networked his way to a new career, is no longer “pigeon-holed”; Stuart Himmelfarb was “in the right place at the right time,” he said of his crossing the fence from volunteer to professional staff at UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey. Dr. Ronald White will soon add J.D. to his M.D.; Alix Wall with the tools of her new trade in her Oakland, Calif., kitchen. Alix Wall photo by Paul bosky, All other photos by Jerry Szubin

In the latest Executive Quiz of 1,700 global executives, conducted by Korn/Ferry International, the premier executive search firm, “more than half — 51 percent — reported they would choose a different field if they could start their careers over.” Asked if they anticipate making a major career change prior to retirement, 62 percent said it was “highly likely,” with an additional 26 percent saying it was “likely.” (The survey was conducted by the firm’s online Executive Center, ekornferry.com, between July and September 2005. Respondents came from 96 countries, representing a wide spectrum of industries and occupations.)

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, said Lechner, the average person makes more than three career changes in their working life. Richard Bolles, author of “What Color is My Parachute?” observed, “Many people wake up one day and ask, ‘Is this what I was put on earth to do?’ It’s not enough to keep busy. People want to have meaning in their lives, and they want work to give them that meaning.”

“Going to school and staying in one job and or with the same employer is [now] very rare and will continue to be. We see that with younger generation already,” said Dr. Bill Kahnweiler, associate professor of human resources at Georgia State University and a member of the National Career Development Association. Kahnweiler pointed to several workplace trends — companies are bought and sold, they merge with competitors — that impact the individual. “Change is just part of the landscape and [as a result] people are more comfortable moving around. It’s much more common than ever before, and people can expect to have three to four different, although not necessarily unrelated, careers.”

In Lechner’s 10 years at JFS, she estimates, 30 percent of her clients each year are career-changers. “Of these,” she noted, “only about 20 percent reach their goal, and that is because they have such a burning desire. It becomes a calling. Mid-lifers especially have a hard time. People hit their 40s and take another look at their lives. It’s developmental.”

Identity certainly evolves over time, agreed Dr. Sylvia Flescher, a psychiatrist with a practice in Ridgewood. In their 20s, people may be influenced by the expectations of parents, grandparents, teachers, or mentors. However, as they age and achieve financial success, they may no longer feel that these careers are necessarily a good fit. “I may feel, ‘This isn’t authentically me,’” she said.
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