Featured in an article on Oprah.com – “Money / Career” section Job search hints for Baby Boomers...  Résumé and Cover Letter Tips to Stand Out From The Crowd By Bradford Dworak   Christine Dennison, a job search coach and owner of Dennison Career Services has been helping job seekers for more than 20 years. With the national unemployment rate above 9 percent, Christine says she's busier than ever. Many of the calls she's receiving are from baby boomers ready to start their first job searches in decades. So, boomers, it's time to get that résumé and cover letter updated. Learn how you can get ready to face the "new media" market. Amp Up Your Résumé "A résumé is an important tool for your job search, serving as a concise presentation of your experience, skills, knowledge, credentials, education and attitude," Christine says. These tips have helped her clients land new jobs: Get Rid of the Pitch You know what this is: the opening line on your resume. For example, "Seeking accounting manager position with a progressive, dynamic organization which will use my CPA credentials and offer rapid career advancement." It's all clichéd, meaningless and overdone. Instead, try filling that space with your target position title or area of expertise. "Include a brief bullet-point presentation of your skills, expertise, credentials and accomplishments," Christine says. "Your objective is conveyed by what you choose to include in the summary, which can be changed to fit different targets." Bottom line: Tailor your résumé to each industry you are applying for, be different and really highlight your skills. Make Your Case Through Examples Don't tell employers what to think about you. Instead, lead them to make the right conclusions by explaining how you get things done. It's important to demonstrate that you can adapt to any work environment. "Show you can handle change and that you're not set in your ways," Christine says. Prove You Never Stop Learning Christine recommends putting an emphasis in your continuing education—whether that's through seminars, workshops, courses or self-study. Sure, advanced degrees help, but you don't necessarily have to have every degree under the sun to prove you're capable of learning. Put those weekend work seminars you attended on your résumé…you were there and you probably learned something that can help you. Or, include a class you took at a community college. Even if it's that once-a-week cooking class, it shows you have the drive and motivation to learn something new.    Don't Include Everything One of the biggest résumé trends Christine has seen with baby boomers is that they list every piece of experience they have. Instead of trying to fit everything on your résumé, focus on your past 10 years or so of experience. "[Add] a very short reference to [your] early career path," Christine says. "[These] are ways to make yourself look current." Be Prepared Instead of putting the old phrase, "References provided upon request," on your résumé, Christine says it's assumed you'll come in for an interview armed with this information. Create a business card version of your résumé and keep it with you. Include your contact information and a brief description of your qualifications. You never know who you will run into, and you don't want to miss the golden opportunity. Reconsider Regular Mail If you're trying to send your résumé to someone you don't know, Christine says to forget e-mail and try regular mail. "Unsolicited e-mail doesn't get read," she says. "At least an employee is going to open up the mail, so there is a better chance that it's going to land on somebody's desk." Christine also advises spending less time on the job boards. She says that less than 5 percent of job seekers find employment through them. Instead, she emphasizes the importance of networking and meeting people. Although she says it's hard and can be very intimidating, people need to get past these barricades if they want to have a chance at finding employment. Write Stronger Cover Letters Cover letters are another great self-marketing tool. When there are vast numbers of people applying for a single job, a good cover letter can take you from lowly applicant to potential candidate. "The résumé certainly shows your qualification and track record, but the cover letter gives you a chance to speak to the company a little more," Christine says. "Most people miss an opportunity with the cover letter." Do I Even Need One? Yes…the answer is yes! You need a cover letter to tell a company who you are and why you're interested in working there. It's important to keep them short and concise, but don't skimp on your research. "Find out what's going on with [the company] and connect your qualifications to that." Christine says. "If you show that you've done a little extra digging, you'll definitely stand out from the crowd." Tell a Personal Story Since a cover letter showcases your writing skills and personality, make it a reflection of you. Christine says to keep it balanced between the formal and informal because while you don't want to sound stuffy or old-fashioned, you certainly don't want to come across as eccentric and weird. At the same time, figure out how to intertwine a personal story or two to illustrate your qualifications. Show, don't tell.  Don't Rewrite Your Résumé A résumé and cover letter are two separate documents—please keep them that way. While it is okay to put the most relevant points of your résumé, don't rehash it. Christine says you have to have hope that they will actually read your résumé. "Emphasize your availability for interviews, flexibility on relocation, if appropriate, and indicate if you plan to call to follow up," she says. Forget the Hype "Many people write what I call the 'leaps tall buildings in a single bound' letter," Christine says. "That's when you tell the company all the wonderful things you will do when they hire you." Enthusiasm is great, but let's not overdo it. You need to allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about you based on your track record. Also, don't throw all your wonderful personality traits into a long list. Look for ways to present them indirectly…again show, don't tell. Christine says that while you could have the perfect background and everything an employer is looking for, you might not get an acknowledgment from every application you fill out. "People get frustrated and can't figure out how to get past that," she says. Just remember to keep thinking positively. You can do this. You will get back on your feet again.                                - Oprah.com – Copyright 2009 - *************************************************************************  Quoted in an article from Crain’s Chicago Business By Shia Kapos and Rita Pyrillis QUITTING A JOB YOU JUST STARTED New hires weigh sinking feeling that it's all wrong against sense of obligation, dread of failure Justin Ahrens knew as soon as the elevator doors opened at his new job that he had made a mistake in leaving his own business to work for someone else. "I thought I was going to vomit. Nothing felt right. People were saying, 'How are you? How's it going?' and 'Glad to see you.' What do you say to that? 'Hate to see you?' " recalls the graphic designer, who had landed at a design firm after facing financial troubles running his own company. To make matters worse, Mr. Ahrens was guest of honor at a welcome reception with co-workers that first day. "I had a doughnut, went to my office and closed the door. I put my head on the desk and thought, 'What have I done?' " Mr. Ahrens, who prides himself on keeping commitments, felt he owed it to his wife and four children and the friend who recommended him to stick it out on the job. But after 30 days, he knew it would never be right. "I realized I was beyond the position and that I needed to slug it out to make things work in my own company," says Mr. Ahrens, 35. It took two more weeks to get up the nerve to tell the company's vice-president. As he expected, it didn't go well. "It was a horrible experience," he says. "They thought I was a flake." Mr. Ahrens is among the legions of "quick quits," employees who decide to leave a job soon after beginning it. For the employee, the quick quit has ramifications beyond the short time spent on the job. In the long term, it can be a catalyst for finding a career that brings happiness. Mr. Ahrens went on to buck up his struggling company, Geneva-based design firm Rule 29. "Looking back, I think it was one of the greatest things that could have happened," he says. "I re-did the way I run my own company. . . . We're doing better work and are more stable than we've ever been." In the short term, though, it can wreak havoc on a psyche. Employees are often distraught over making the wrong decision and stressed out about searching for the "right" job — again. The experience is seldom discussed with friends or family because there's a sense of failure. And it's almost never revealed on a résumé or in a future job interview. "It happens more than you'd think," says Anna Marie Buchmann, a consultant with RHR International Co., a Wood Dale-based management psychology firm that works with companies in improving people skills. But it's difficult to say how often, because people usually don't talk about it. "It's embarrassing," she says, "because you thought you were making an intelligent decision." CUTTING LOSSES It's not unusual for someone to quit quickly once in their career, Ms. Buchmann and other career counselors say. If it's a pattern, however, then there are likely other issues. "You can make one mistake, but if it happens again, you have to examine your sources of satisfaction and feelings of confidence. It also means you have to do your homework on a company and get a better sense of its culture" before accepting a job, she says. Sometimes, you simply can't see the whole picture during the interview, says Christine Dennison, a Chicago job-search coach. "Companies put their best face on, but not until you're there do you realize your boss is psychotic or something else is wrong. You can look for other opportunities in the company, but usually that doesn't happen. "People feel trapped because it was most likely a tough job search to begin with, and now they feel they have no choice but to stay." Career counselors recommend that job candidates talk to would-be peers, or to direct reports if it's a management job, to get a better sense of the culture. And they recommend candidates take a lesson from interviewers and come prepared with a list of their own questions, such as "Why is the position available?" "What are the short-term expectations vs. the long-term expectations?" and "What are the priorities of the job?" But once a mistake has been made, career coaches and hiring executives say life is too short to stress yourself out and try to slog through. Ms. Dennison recalls a co-worker from her days in the financial services industry. "She took a position that seemed fabulous — great company and great pay. But the month she started, a (company) scandal hit the media and she had to decide whether to ride it out. She tiptoed away and never put it on her résumé," Ms. Dennison says. "In my book, there's an unofficial grace period of a couple of months where you can pretend it didn't happen." But the experience doesn't always disappear from an employee's track record. "In a lot of fields, it's a small world — everyone knows everyone else. In Chicago, it's one degree of separation," Ms. Buchmann says. If questions arise about the short job experience, it may be best to face it head on. "Say it wasn't a good match," she says. "But it's critical not to cast aspersions. People are more understanding than you'd think." Sometimes companies share the blame, especially if they drop the ball as soon as new employees walk through the door. After the initial round of handshakes and welcomes, they may forget to stay engaged with the new hire, says Keith Swenson, managing partner of Capital H Group in Chicago, a consulting firm that helps companies figure out how to avoid employee turnover. "It can be discouraging for a new employee," he says. "When you bring people in, do you 'onboard' them in a way that makes them feel comfortable? Or do you plop them in a desk and say, 'Hey, figure it out'?" Ms. Buchmann recalls a company that hired a college graduate into a program that offered experience in three areas of the company before sending them on to graduate school. The company sent the new candidate overseas, but then he quit within weeks. "The company didn't know that when this man was in school, he went home every weekend," she says. "He had a strong support system and couldn't work in an environment where he didn't have that support. So he quit." CHANGING NEEDS Sarah Wortman, marketing vice-president at VOA Associates Inc., a Chicago architecture firm, quit a job fast after a confluence of personal events. About 12 years ago, she took a producer job at a radio production company, doing media tours and setting up client interviews with radio personalities. The position paid straight commission and offered no insurance, but that didn't matter to Ms. Wortman. She was excited to land the job, and her husband already had insurance that covered them both. But two weeks after she started, her husband learned he would have to quit his full-time job to finish his psychotherapy degree. And Ms. Wortman was offered a position by a company she had interviewed with earlier — and this job had insurance. "I went to the employer who hired me and said, 'I'm very sorry, but this unusual chain of events happened and I wanted to tell you as soon as I could so you could look at other candidates,' " says Ms. Wortman, 49. "They were obviously a little irritated and disappointed," and she felt she had put the friend who recommended her in a bad position. "I had led them to believe I wanted to work there, and it was true at the time," she says. "But my priorities had changed." Fast forward to 2007, and it was Ms. Wortman on the other side of the desk hearing her new marketing communications assistant say the job wasn't right for her. Ms. Wortman was surprised and "a bit put out." But she also found herself reliving the stress she had felt when she had to quit suddenly. "It was interesting talking to her when she was telling me she was leaving. She was surprised that I understood," Ms. Wortman says. "But I knew how hard it was for her to tell me because I'd had to do it, too." ©2007 by Crain Communications Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chicago Tribune, Business Section Dennison Career Services featured in the "My Biggest Mistake" series "I failed to tell them what they would be receiving" Fifteen years ago I decided to take my corporate experience and apply it to a resume-writing and job-search coaching business. Having spent the previous eight years working with corporate clients as a headhunter (and reading thousands of resumes), I knew the ins and outs of career-path choices and the hiring process. Before being a headhunter, I had worked in business operations, training, marketing and promotions. I've always been interested in organizational dynamics and structure, and I was confident that I would be very successful. When I decided to set up my own business, my strategy was to have resume-writing as the core service that would lead to selling other services. Although people could use my services for just the resume, my hope was they would like those services so much that they would hire me to help coach them through the rest of the job-search process. A big mistake early on in my business was to assume that my clients would automatically understand (and love) the results that I produced. Instead, although my clients liked my writing, they were concerned that their resumes didn't look like all the other long-winded, detailed ones they had seen. The reason I started my business was that I knew how much everyone struggles to translate their experience into a winning resume. Resume technique, like everything else in business, has changed over the years. What many people learned early in their career about what you should and shouldn't have in a resume no longer applies. When clients came to me for that first meeting, I was focused on their history -- finding out what I needed to know about their background to help craft a resume that would effectively tell their career story. I would probe their career history and their current situation, digging for accomplishments and how they made a difference. What I failed to do was to tell them the details about the product they would be receiving. Instead of explaining that a good resume is a snapshot, not a detailed report, I assumed they knew. It was a huge error. My clients thought they were buying one product, and I was selling them something else. When the clients returned to go over their resume, instead of being thrilled, their reaction was, "This is great, but ... uh, it's so short." These new resumes showed their skills, career progression and results but almost no job description information. I then had the challenge of educating them in the new techniques of resume writing -- changing their assumptions -- instead of talking to an eager client about using more of my services. When I changed my process and took the time to explain what their resume would look like and what information it would contain, I found that I was getting almost 100 percent acceptance of the work. It became much easier for us to put our heads together to finalize the resume. My original business plan now worked. Within a year, I tripled the number of resume clients who stayed with me for job search coaching services. I've learned that assuming people understand your service can be a costly error. Getting a client to "buy into" what you're doing is critical to building any business relationship -- an important lesson learned. ---Copyright 2004 Chicago Tribune--- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Newsletter Article Splendid Torch When you’re ready to start your job search . . .   Where's the Greener Grass? Guest Writer & Career Coach, Christine Dennison Ideas can come from anywhere – your industry journals, general interest magazines, the newspapers (don’t overlook the small local papers), Crain’s Chicago Business, friends, clubs. Keep your mind open to identifying interesting people and companies to target. Don't limit yourself to what's "hot" at the moment. There are always people and companies that are running counter to the trends. Great careers can still be found in traditional departments and mature industries. Also, companies that are basically strong but having some current turmoil can be a good place to make your mark. There's no such thing as job security anymore. Nowadays, all you can do is be ready to make your moves on your terms. If you keep looking for the "perfect company" to spend the rest of your working life in, you'll find yourself unemployed. Instead, look for a company that's a good match for your style and speed, and make the most of your time there. Scan the classifieds and the Internet. Yes, I know it's boring and frustrating, but it will also give you ideas. Don't feel it's a complete waste of time to respond to ads -- some people do actually get jobs that way. Don't spend a lot of time on it, but also look at the ads beyond just your category. Look for company information that sounds intriguing. The important point is to make this a part of your search, not all of it. Use the Internet as a great source of information, but remember that your search isn't going to be successful until you're talking to human beings -- if you just post your résumé and wait for the phone to ring, you're not going to get very far. Networking. Amazingly enough, our greatest success is achieved through relationships with others, and networking is the path to creating the relationships that will help most in your job search. Networking is a scary, misunderstood concept, but if you realize that it’s nothing more than the exchange of information or services between individuals, groups or institutions, you can make it work for you. Most people think of networking as asking for help or favors or business from others. If, instead, you put your focus on offering information or help to others, you will find your network to be incredibly productive for you as well. Get names. It's worth the time to dig so you can direct your résumé to specific people and proper titles whenever possible. Get names from articles, from company information, from directories, from everywhere, and then check them by calling the company. Send multiple copies of your résumé to the same company, hitting the Human Resource Department and other departments and levels. Isn't HR a waste of time? No more or less than any other department. Take it from someone who's worked both sides -- there are HR people who are helpful, and there are those who get in the way, but don't ever treat them like they're something to get around. One point to keep in mind is that most HR departments are busy trying to fill current openings. If you get your résumé in front of other managers, too, you might inspire them to create a position or replace someone. ---Copyright 2003 Splendid Torch, Inc.---