Never fear. It is possible to wow a potential employer without getting indigestion. Here’s a quickie list of guidelines, roughly in the order in which you’ll need them.

1. If you know the name of the restaurant, go to its Web site and double check the location. While there, take a look at the menu and decide in advance what to order (more on that later).

2. The morning of the interview, be sure you read the newspaper or wherever it is you get your news. This is recommended for all interviews, but lunchtime interviews often involve more chitchat.

3. Dress as you would for a normal interview.

4. Make an effort to arrive first. Wait in the lobby, not at the bar.

5. No matter what time you arrive, check to see if your party is already there. You never know.

6. Wait for everyone to be seated before you put your napkin on your lap or open your menu.

7. First hurdle: Beverages. Your interviewer is likely to let you order first. Avoid the booze. Consider sparkling water. It’s both grown up and non-alcoholic. Depending on where you live, iced tea is also a good choice.

8. Do not drink straight from a bottle or through a straw, especially if you are a woman.

9. Second hurdle: Entrées. Don’t order the most expensive thing. Don’t order the cheapest thing. Don’t order anything that is ostentatiously huge or smelly or crunchy.

10. Instead, order a smallish dish that you can easily and gracefully eat with a knife and fork. (Avoid spaghetti, spareribs, fried chicken, tacos, lobster, and big fat sloppy sandwiches.)

11. Order quickly and with no fuss or interrogation of the server. Do not make an issue of your food allergies, your weight, or your likes and dislikes.

12. If you’ve brought a portfolio or other papers, mention that you have them and let the interviewer choose when to bring them out. After the plates have been cleared is usually a good time.

13. Be polite to the servers. The way you treat them says a lot about your character.

14. If something is a little wrong with your order, let it slide. This is one meal that is really not about the food.

15. Eat your dinner roll by breaking off a small piece at a time.

16. Don’t eat too fast, or as if you’re ravenous. Don’t wipe your plate with your bread.

17. Don’t eat extremely slowly either, though you will probably be eating less quickly than your interviewer (a good reason to order something small).

18. Do eat something. If you don’t, you’ll look nervous. Try to finish at least half.

19. Do not ask for a doggie bag.

20. Here’s an advantage of the lunch interview: You can ponder your answer to a difficult answer while chewing! Do take small bites, though, so there’s not an awkwardly long lag time while your interviewer is waiting for you to swallow.

21. Only order dessert if the interviewer does.

22. In case Mom failed to mention it: Don’t talk with your mouth full. Don’t put your elbows on the table. Sit up straight. Use a napkin.

23. At the end, don’t wad up your napkin. Fold it loosely and lay it on the table next to your plate.

24. Be graceful about letting the interviewer pick up the tab. You were invited!

25. Don’t forget to mention the meal in your thank-you note.

People hate to answer this last question because they fear:  1.) being automatically knocked out of the process if their number is too high, or 2.) “leaving too much money on the table” if their number is too low.  Damned if you do.  I get it.

The “How much money do you make?” question is the most blunt instrument in your interviewer’s grab bag of interview questions.  It’s one of the only questions in the entire hiring process to which the answer isn’t subjective.  It is a terrible question to ask, but recruiters and headhunters really have no choice.  It helps them determine the financial dimensions of your strike zone.

The alternative is not disclosing this information.  Some career advisers warn candidates not to answer this question.  But beware: In such instances, some HR-types will knock you out of the process for ‘being difficult.”

So please, just answer the question.  Honestly

1. Be super professional throughout (your integrity and reputation are more important than scoring points)

2. Don’t burn any bridges (you never know when you may need their help)

3. Don’t get personal (“you did abc” “you said xyz” – just don’t go there)

4. Offer to recruit / train replacements whilst working your notice period (your clients and colleagues will remember you)

5. Show gratitude for what your boss and employers have done for you (even if it’s not a great deal)

6. Don’t give into the temptation to take some parting shots (they often back fire)

7. Don’t rise to the bait if your boss becomes difficult (it’s never worth it)

8. Don’t take it personally if your manager reacts negatively or unprofessionally (when they get angry it’s usually about them, not you)

9. Don’t go into too much detail about why you’re leaving them (make it much more about the new challenge and opportunity)

10. Be gracious, polite…..and then go celebrate (you’ll enjoy the celebratory drink much more)

Your boss could one day be your new boss, new client or new stakeholder – or indeed the friend or partner of one of these individuals.

So act and behave professionally so that you maintain relationships and protect your reputation – regardless of how others react your decision.

“If the hiring manager monopolizes the discussion and talks 90% of the time, that’s ok.  Don’t freak out.  That means he’s going to leave the interview believing you’re an awesome candidate (because the conversation went really, really well in his eyes…)

Of course, that doesn’t always happen.  So my friends want to know how to prepare for an interview.  They show me the list of 300 questions.  They want to prepare for it all.  They’ve heard about the stress of a behavioral interview – all the examples, the different areas recruiters and managers can delve into, and they’re freaked.

It’s doesn’t have to be that way.  Here’s the cheat sheet to prepare for any behavioral interview, kids:

1.  Get your storytelling hat on. Get ready to tell the initial story in 2-3 minute chunks.

2.  Create four stories that have the following elements:

–A tough performance situation you were in (the Situation),

–The key things that you did (stuff that you specifically did) to deal with that situation, the action you took, all the details…

–What happened as a result for you and your company (positive outcomes preferred, but not always necessary)

3. Rehearse these 5 stories, get your answers down to no more 2 to 3 minutes. Be natural and conversational.  Don’t sound like a robot or overly rehearsed.

4. Be prepared to provide details about what the situation was, and especially what you did, why you did it, and how the skills for the position you’re applying for were used in that situation.

5. Take the high road and stay classy.   Never bash people in your stories. Talk about challenges when you’re setting up the situation, but don’t bash bosses, co-workers or your HR clients. Just talk about how you worked through the challenges.

6. Once you have your five stories down cold, research the dimensions/areas usually probed by interviewers in a behavioral interview. Create a grid for the stories that you think best matches the dimensions you’ll see.  Teamwork, Communication, Drive, Leadership, Project Management, etc.  What you’ll find is that even though you’ve only prepared five stories, you’ve got at least two stories to tell for each dimension.

7. Go to the interview, stay loose and tell the story, then dig into the details if the interviewing wants to dive it.

That’s it.  That’s all you need.  Tell a good story and keep your story list short, but the details strong and vivid.

Good luck out there.  You’ll ace the interview like crazy if you follow this simple road map.

It’s been called “Facebook for grownups” and “the world’s largest networking group for professionals.”

It’s clearly all that and more.

But, creating first impressions is the key to leveraging the power of LinkedIn in your job search.

If someone searching LinkedIn and you pop up, they quickly see three things: your name, your picture, and your headline.  Your name, photo, and headline should be compelling enough to cause someone to click through and view your profile. Otherwise, people like headhunters, hiring managers and even your next boss will move on to someone else.

How can you make these three items stand out effectively?

1.  First of all your name can repel more people than it attracts, so play it safe there.

Some people include an e-mail address as part of their name, or something goofy like numbers or special characters, in the hopes of being different. Yes, they stand out, but in an annoying and irritating way. LinkedIn is a professional network, so make sure your name looks professional.

2.  Make sure your photo is professional.  The more professional looking it is, the better.

It does not have to be taken at a studio. It should a headshot of you dressed up in  professionally and in business attire.  Not a body shot, not wearing sunglasses, not at the beach.  Not a picture of you in a hammock with a beer in your hand.  Put yourself in the role of the hiring manager and ask yourself:  “If I am looking to hire someone, do I really want him working for me, based on the picture in my Linkedin profile?”

3.  In the headline section of your profile, make the boldest, most compelling claim or promise you can about yourself.

If I search LinkedIn for a senior manager in HR, for example, I can find hundreds of them.  The results will include headlines like, ‘hr manager, senior hr manager, , hr executive,’ etc.  Then, one profile has this headline:  “I’ve helped improve the retention of high-potential talent by 25% with innovative HR programs.”  that person just got my attention.

Attention is everything online. No employer will click through and read your profile unless you first grab their eyeballs.

4.  Use effective job titles on your profile.

I have talked to many recruiters and they say it is perfectly fine to change your official job title on your LinkedIn profile if it better helps clarify what you did.  For example, a colleague of mine was once a “Senior SAP Organization Capability & Sustainability Manager.”   When people looked at that title, it didn’t stand out and they didn’t know have a clue what this job was all about.  More importantly she was losing potential job opportunities because of this confusion.  However, when she changed it to what she really did:  “Senior Training & Development Manager – SAP Project,” now those searching for T&D types better understood her role.

Now, go out and make it happen on LinkedIn, remembering that your objective is to turn online connections into offline meetings — and job interviews.

The questions you ask at the end of the interview is critical.  You need to think ahead and prepare for this part of the interview because you will be judged by the quality of questions you ask.

So you want to put your best foot forward.

Here are four questions you could ask hiring managers to show how smart you are…without coming across as an arrogant jerk. :

1) “Ms/Mr. Hiring Manager, what are some major short- and long-range objectives that the company REALLY has?”

As you’re saying that, emphasize with your voice the word really.

Do this because it makes them really think.  I mean, everybody’s read the
annual report, corporate website or recruiting brochure. Everybody knows what the CEO wants to do this year.

Probe to find out what are the real objectives are and hiring managers will tell you. And when they do, they’re telling you what’s key to their success as your boss, which is vitally important. Because, no matter what job you seek, everyone
gets hired for the same job: To make your boss look good.

2) Ms./Mr. Hiring Manager, what are two or three characteristics you feel make your company unique?

The employer will pause, and then they’ll start to sell you on the company
and the position. Also, they will very likely think: ‘Oh, my gosh! This
person has another job offer!

You don’t even have to say anything.  If tey think you have another offer, they’ll start to take you even more seriously. And they start to sell to you. It’s a
beautiful moment in the interview.

3) In what areas does this company excel? And where does the company have limitations?

This is important because the answer will tell you what’s important to the
company, and it’s probably going to tell you what’s important to them as a
hiring manager.

This lets you dig into your collection of accomplishments and say, ‘We had
that same issue once, and here’s what we did about it.’

4) The last question you want to ask, and it is always the last question,
is this: “What would you add or subtract to increase efficiency at this
company?’

This question will tell you what you need to do to make that job work for
you in the company.

Once again, dig into your collection of HR success stories and pull out
something relevant.

When you ask questions, you’re going to be judged by how well you listen to the interviewer’s responses.  Make it a point to listen actively and attentively.

If you just sit there nodding like a bobble-head doll, looking like you
want to move on to the next question, you could be toast. Listen with your
whole body because your body language speaks volumes.

Up to that point, 27 weeks of frustrating job hunting had produced zero job interviews.  ‘Nada.

Just 7 weeks later, she accepted a job on Thursday, November 12, as an HR manager.  The same tactics she used will work also for those looking for their next HR job.

How did she use Guerrilla job hunting tactics to find work 65% faster?

“I saw a job advertised online and applied by mail. I sent a box with a paper Starbucks coffee cup, my cover letter, and resume inside. On the side of the cup, where it has boxes for the type of coffee, I made my own box that said, ‘Hire Mary’ and checked it with a black marker. I heard back a couple days later to get my first interview,” says Berman.

After her first job interview, which went well, Dillon followed up with panache.

“It was Halloween time, so I decided to send them a chocolate covered apple with my hand-written thank-you note in a bag. I had a friend of mine, who was off work that day, take it over and deliver it to [the employer]. That was a big hit — they were thrilled — and I got the second interview out of it.”

Dillon’s second job interview was with the executive vice president. Afterwards, she followed up diligently. “When I came home, I wrote a 30-60-90 day plan.

I had taken copious notes during the interview and used that information to create suggestions for what I would do in my first 30, 60, and 90 days. I sent that to them via FedEx with another thank-you note. And I got a job offer.”

Now. Let’s break this successful Guerrilla Job Search down …

1. Start smart

The Coffee Cup Caper — a paper Starbucks cup, full-color Guerrilla Resume, and a cover letter (asking to meet for coffee), shipped in a box — gets extraordinary results. By contrast, ordinary resumes and cover letters, sent by email, get ordinary results.

2. Follow up with style

Delivering a Halloween treat with her thank-you note was correct seasonally, if not politically. Use good judgment before sending items that might be perceived as bribes by employers sensitive to such things, such as universities or public-sector organizations.

In Dillon’s case, however, it worked like a (chocolate-covered) charm.

And, leaving out the gift, think of the impact a hand-delivered thank-you note can have on an employer, versus standard U.S. Mail or email. Could you arrange to have your thank-you note delivered by a courier, or a friend acting as one? Of course.

3. Give employers another reason to hire you

Sheila did this in spades after her second interview, when she sent a written plan of action that outlined her first three months on the job.

A 30-60-90 day plan is a way of proving you can do the work — before you’re even on the payroll — by describing how you would learn the job, build rapport with employees/customers, and contribute to the bottom line.

Sheila’s plan was 8 pages long and took the better part of a Friday night to prepare. (Before you balk at spending an entire evening at home researching and writing a 30-60-90 day plan, ask yourself if you wouldn’t trade a night out for getting a steady paycheck again.)

4. Score style points with your delivery

Sheila’s first follow-up, the chocolate-apple-thank-you note, was delivered by a courier, not by email. Her 30-60-90 day plan was delivered by FedEx, not by email.

Do you not see a pattern? Email should NOT be the delivery method for your career documents. Because you can’t delete a courier, and a FedEx envelope can’t get caught in a spam filter.

Bottom line: This smart Guerrilla had failed to get even one job interview in 20 weeks of job hunting with conventional tactics.

After adopting unconventional Guerrilla tactics, she found work in only 7 weeks.

If Guerrilla job search methods can work in Detroit, where the unemployment rate tops 15%, they can work where you live. The only thing stopping you from thinking and acting like a Guerrilla is you.

To learn more about how Guerrilla Resumes and tactics can accelerate your job search success, CLICK HERE.

Thousands of HR folks have lost their jobs in the last year. Even though you’re in HR, if you’re getting downsized or fired from your HR job, chances are you won’t know about it until happens. It’s just a fact of life. But you can pick up little clues. If you don’t know what clues to look for, you can find them HERE.

If, after looking at these clues, you still feel vulnerable, it’s time to stop worrying, get proactive and take action before the ax falls.

Step 1: Accept the fact that your job may not be safe.

Fact the facts. No matter what your position is in the company, nobody is indispensable. But don’t space out. If management has not yet selected who will be let go, you want to improve your odds of being the one retained. So stay calm, keep your head down and continue to focus on your job.

However, also prepare for the worst. If you’re not selected to be let go, that’s great. But if you are, you’ll minimize the bad feelings and gain greater control over your destiny if you start preparing in advance.

Step 2: Start discreetly reaching out to your network.

Outplacement counselors rightfully preach that networking is the best way to find another job. So get a head start. Use the time wisely while you still have a job. Start very discreetly checking in with your colleagues, vendors, clients, co-workers who are now at other companies. Set up breakfast and lunch meetings with as many of these folks as possible. Your only objective at this point is to re-connect and line up these relationships so that you’ll feel more comfortable calling on these people for assistance later on should the ax fall on you.

Step 3: Prepare your spouse or significant other.

As tough as it may be to discuss your fears, you need to lay it on the line with your partner about your current job situation. Trying to protect her him/her from possible bad news, while admirable, may well backfire if your partner feels that you have intentionally kept him/her in the dark.

Step 4: Investigate your company’s severance policy.

Being in HR, you know that most companies don’t disclose or publish any printed information on severance policies. But most use a formula based on rank and years of service. Others just wing it as they go along. So, finding out what you will be paid upon termination can require some digging. Your best source of information will be other employees who have been recently laid off. As you gather information, it’s important to not only find out the amount of severance you can reasonably expect, but also:

• Does the company make lump-sum severance payments or continue employees on payroll? Will your severance payments stop if you find another job?
• Will they extend your insurance benefits?
• Do they provide outplacement assistance?
• Do they offer alternatives to severance? Some companies have recently started to offer employees leave of absence packages as an alternative to termination.

Step 5: Begin taking possession of your personal belongings, personal files and e-mail addresses.

If you are let go, you could be escorted out on the spot and denied the opportunity to go back to your office and clean out your personal stuff. Since there may be a question as to what belongs to you and what belongs to the company, now is the time to sort through your personal files and take them home. Just be careful not to remove anything that could be deemed to be company property or proprietary in nature.

Since your network is the key to a successful job search, you’ll want to be sure that you’ve got all the telephone numbers, e-mail, and address information of your valued contacts for future reference

If this information is maintained on company-owned equipment (such as a PC or PDA) copy those files on a CD and take it home. Or copy all pertinent data to your home e-mail account.

TIP: Be subtle in your packing activities – you don’t want to create the impression that you’re expecting to be laid off. Although the company may not allow you back in your office after being dismissed, they will return your personal belongings so don’t feel the need to take down personal photos quite yet. But, consider removing anything you consider personal or valuable in a non-obvious manner.

Step 6: Update your resume.

In today’s workplace, you should always have an up-to-date resume on your hard drive. You never know when a perfect job opportunity might surface. So don’t let an outdated resume prevent you from reacting to new opportunities in a timely manner. if you need to update your resume in minutes and print it in thousands of different custom professional formats and templates the best resource I’ve ever seen is RAPID RESUME BUILDER. You can find it HERE.

Step 7: Re-establish ties with executive recruiters.

If you’ve successfully worked with recruiters in the past, give them a call to touch base. Send them your updated resume and a brief cover letter.

Step 8: Use websites to help you explore HR job opportunities and produce job leads.

There are a growing number of websites that can produce job leads for you. You input the specifications of your desired job – the job search agent will check all the jobs posted in its database and then periodically send you e-mails with postings that match your profile. Here is a list of job search websites you can use.

Step 9: Investigate job opportunities elsewhere within your company.

In some large companies, one division can be laying people off, while another division thrives and is hiring. If you have skills that might be attractive to other departments or divisions, look into options for transfer.

Step 10: Hold off on long-term financial commitments.

If you have financial concerns, for now, it goes without saying that you should put off buying that new home, undertaking a major remodeling or purchasing that new car. The last thing you need right now is to be hampered with new monthly payment obligations.

Step 11: Pay off credit card debt.

With credit card interest rates, the cost of maintaining a monthly credit balance can be staggering. If it’s not possible to totally eliminate the debt quickly, investigate ways to consolidate the payments on a card with a lower interest rate.

Creatively increase your savings account. Certain bills such as auto insurance, health clubs, etc. can often be paid in either a lump sum or installment payments. If you normally pay them on an annual basis, this may be a good time to look into monthly or quarterly payments instead. Surprisingly, the borrowing cost on these installment plans can be quite low, providing you with the option of maintaining a higher cushion in your savings account during this critical time period.

Step 12: Use your employee benefits, before you lose them.

In the event of a job loss, your job benefits will most likely be eliminated. While you will be given the opportunity to extend your health coverage through COBRA, now is the time to maximize your other benefits.

Personal Days: If you need to take time away from the job, save your vacation days by depleting your personal days first. After termination, you’re normally entitled to receive pay for accrued vacation time, while payment for unused personal days or holidays is rare.

Vision Benefits: If you’re entitled to a vision care plan, schedule your family’s eye exams and purchase of glasses/contact lenses immediately.

Max out your Medical Flexible Spending Account: If you are fortunate enough to participate in a section 125-reimbursement account, you can claim all eligible expenses (prescription drug costs, eye care, unreimbursed medical deductibles, etc.) incurred through your date of termination, even if you have not yet fully contributed to the plan. So, do what you can now to maximize those reimbursable expenses – schedule check-ups, order all needed meds, and get your family in tip-top medical shape at an unbeatable price!

Dependent Care: If your child is enrolled in a company-sponsored childcare program, you should investigate the company’s policy regarding your right to continue participating in that program following your termination. If that is not an option, begin to collect data on suitable childcare services in your area.

Other benefits: Is your company affiliated with a work-life service that provides helpful information about eldercare, referrals to summer camps, or daycare providers? How about the little perks – like membership at Sam’s Club? Take advantage of these services while you are still eligible.

You may want to bookmark this site for the future. Layoffs are a fact of life. Even though you should always stay positive and focus on the best, you should also get your head out of the sand and prepare for the worse. You don’t want to get caught flat-footed.

Hopefully, these steps will help prepare you greatly if you think you are about to get let go. Stay strong.

ADDITIONAL ADVICE: If you want additional guidance if you think you’re about to lose your HR job, then you must check out my book: UNWRITTEN HR RULES: 21 Secrets For Attaining Awesome Career Success in Human Resources.”

You can download a couple of FREE CHAPTERS by CLICKING HERE. You can find great value for your HR career in just these two chapters alone. Then you can decide if the rest of the book is for you.

This book isn’t for everyone in HR. It contains straight talk that is No BS, unsugarcoated and uncensored. Much of this is stuff no one discusses out in the open in HR. And frankly, there are not many that many “tell-it-like-is” HR books out there – especially written by a former PepsiCo HR VP who’s toiled in the human resources trenches for twenty-five years.

See what other HR professionals have to say and grab your free sample chapters by CLICKING HERE.

About The Author: Alan Collins was formerly Vice President – Human Resources at PepsiCo where he led HR initiatives for their Quaker Oats, Gatorade and Tropicana businesses. He is now President of Success in HR, Inc. and the author of “Unwritten HR Rules.” CLICK HERE to comment on this article.

© SuccessinHR.com

]]> http://yournexthrjob.com/hr-job-02/feed 0 http://yournexthrjob.com/hr-job-search-000005 http://yournexthrjob.com/hr-job-search-000005#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:18:06 +0000 admin http://hrdreamjob.com/?p=279 Continue reading →]]> by Alan Collins

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are getting a lot of press these days as job search tools.

However, as an HR professional, have you considered adding Craigslist to that list of online employment destinations?

You should..

Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) is a vast network of online classified ads that includes job listings. Founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, Craigslist now serves all U.S. states and major cities, as well as countries from Argentina to Vietnam.

And it just might help you find your next job. If you use it right. Here’s how:

Start by visiting Craigslist.org to find your city or state. Then click on Jobs, where you’ll find listings for Human Resources.

“You can browse job postings by headlines, but searching is more effective, especially in the busier communities. And it’s best to search for skills rather than job titles,” according to Jenna Lloyd author of the forthcoming book, “Craiglist 4 Everyone” (Que Publishing).

Example: If you want an human resources manager position, you could search for HR Manager, Human Resources, Talent Manager, etc., and still miss out on listings. But almost all HR job postings mention recruitment or staffing, so searching for core skills like these can uncover a large number of relevant results, according to Lloyd.

Mark Chatham, from Ridgefield, NJ, found his current job on Craigslist in October 2006, when he was hired for online retailer Big Joys Distribution.

“I found their job posting on newjersey.craigslist.org, emailed my resume and was asked to interview a few days later,” says Chatham.

Chatham must be doing something right — he’s landed four jobs on Craigslist. His advice is to position yourself as both qualified and memorable. His resume included the facts that he held a patent at age 18 and once appeared on the TV show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? “Employers remembered me,” he says.

Because employers receive an average of 51 replies for each job ad, according to Craigslist’s own data (www.craigslist.org/about/job.boards.html) you must work hard to stand out.

Do this by writing a resume that connects with hiring managers, one that proves you understand their business and that you have the skills they want. “I tweaked my resume each time to make it relevant to the job I was applying for,” says Chatham.

One thing to keep in mind when using Craigslist is time management. You only have about 960 minutes per day to spend on a job search. So make sure you limit your time using online tools like Craigslist. Otherwise, you may find yourself wondering where another day went, and why you’re no closer to finding a job.

Another issue is trust. A quick look through the job postings will turn up dozens of potential work-at-home scams and get-rich-quick schemes. “In larger cities, there’s a fee to post jobs on Craigslist, which weeds out most scammers, but this is not the case in smaller cities. So listen to your instincts — if a job sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Lloyd.

If you’re unsure about submitting personal information to an employer on Craigslist, don’t. Simply send them a resume that masks your home address, names of your employers and other identifying data.

Also, it’s important follow directions when replying to a job posting on Craigslist (or anywhere). “Pay close attention to what the employer asks for — do they want you to email your resume as an attachment or paste it into the body of the email, for example,” says Lloyd. Because companies can afford to be picky, they may drop you from consideration if you botch instructions.

And don’t forget the cover letter, even if it is only emailed. “Take the time to write a message in your email that tells employers which ad on Craiglist you’re responding to and where you saw it. Don’t skip this last part!” advises Lloyd.

A final note on Craigslist: To me, it’s a throwback to the days of Usenet bulletin boards in the 1990s. You won’t find any fancy graphics, audio or video here. But you will find the sort of DIY community spirit that helped build the Internet into what it’s become. And that makes Craigslist worth a look if you’re looking for that HR dream job.

If you’d like additional information that will help you avoid overlooking needed resources for landing your dream job quickly, check out Kevin Donlin’s Instant Job Search System, which you can learn more about by CLICKING HERE!.

by Alan Collins

(Note: Since this is a lengthy article, don’t neglect to play the video at the end of this article.)

Let’s be blunt – if your resume is like most in HR…there are probably lots of opportunities to improve it.

Here are four suggested improvements that will make your resume stand out from the rest of the bunch.

Improvement #1:  Give your resume focus by including an “Objective” at the top, with the specific job title you’re seeking.

If you can’t focus on one job, describe the three skills you want to use in your next job (not 5 or 11). You must do the thinking for the reader and make it clear exactly what type of job you’re seeking.

For free resume-writing help, send your resume to 5 people and ask them if they can figure out what job you want. If they can’t, employers and hiring managers won’t be able to either.

Improvement #2:   Focus on quantifiable results and dollars that you MADE, SAVE, and ACHIEVED in every position you’ve held in HR.  Then, include those totals in your resume and put them up front, where they can’t be missed.

This should include:

(a) Dollars, dollars, dollars  (this is the language of business) – example:   Saved company $50,000 in recruiting manufacturing supervisors.

(b) Improvements, reductions and enhancements – example:  Reduced turnover in IT positions by 11%.

Let say you looking for a Labor Relations position, you should look at metrics for the labor relations initiatives you’ve accomplished that fall into either of the categories above.  Below are 10 examples of metrics for a labor relations manager that may stimulate additional thought…

(1)   Reduced by 14% the number of complaints filed per employee which resulted in $30,000 savings.

(2)  9% of cases were resolved with NO monetary settlements which saved the organization $45,000 in legal and litigation costs.

(3)  Reduced 7% in turnover attributed to ER conflicts.

(4)  Did ER training with managers in-house saving $125,000 in outside consulting fees.

(5)  Reduced the cost of an average complaint by 14 hours/days, valued at $76,000 in management time.

(6)  Reduced cost of attorney’s fees in ER cases by $78,000.

(7)  Led actions which improved by 6.5% of the employees ratings on our organization health survey.

(8)  Collaborated on an action plan which improved turnover rate by18% of the top performers.

(9)  Led the task force which improved the performance 5% of the lowest performers and turned them into top performers.

(10)  Won 2 union organizing campaigns saving the organization potentially $1.5MM in increased costs if the group had successfully unionized.

These are examples of the types of direct results that organizations are interested getting from labor relations professionals.

Using this as a model, think about your area of focus within HR and work hard at MONETIZING THE IMPACT OF YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. as in the above examples.

This is clearly easier said than done.  If you have difficult using dollars, focus on QUANTIFYING IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCENTAGE TERMS (time saved, turnover reduced, absenteeism prevented, etc.).   By doing this, you will still differentiate yourself from 95% of your human resources competitors.

Improvement #3:  Borrow from “best practice” resumes.

Ask three or five of the most-successful people you know to send you their resumes and cover letters.  Then determine what parts can you adapt and use in your own documents?   Your friends will be flattered that you asked.  Plus, you’ll be doing some “accidental networking” which is a nice secondary benefit.

Another approach is to go through your LinkedIn contacts list and look at the profile descriptions of some of your most successful  contacts.   How are they describing their accomplishments?  What parts can you adapt and use in your own documents?

Improvement #4:   Use a guerilla resume.

The video below describes what a guerilla resume is.  After playing the video, if you want more step-by-step information on how to put together a guerilla resume, CLICK HERE.

To obtain Kevin Donlin’s system for building your own guerilla resume that can quickly differentiate you from the rest of the HR pact, CLICK HERE.

About the author: Kevin Donlin is co-author of Guerrilla Resumes. Since 1996, he has provided job-search help to more than 10,000 people. Kevin has been interviewed by The New York Times, Fox News, ABC TV, CBS Radio and others.