Call #17: Questions…So Many Questions

It is our hope that in the last few months we have provided you with plenty of information to help you in your job search.   If you listen to all the recordings and don’t find the answer you need, feel free to post your question here on the blog.  I will get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

In the meantime, please have a safe and enjoyable summer!

Terry

Last night, Rick and I talked about the issue of time gaps in your resume – and how to handle them effectively.  The biggest takeaway from the discussion was that you don’t have to be too specific about such breaks.  There are several ways to minimize their effect, including using the resume format that we encourage because it puts the focus on your skills and the value you bring to a company.  This should more than compensate for any periods that you weren’t employed. 

We also revisited the age discrimination subject because we continue to get questions about it.  I hope that the additional "ammo" we provided will help those of you who are facing this challenge (I was going to say "problem" but we want to keep this discussion positive;-)).

Anyway, here is the link to the recording so you can catch up on what you might have missed.

Call #16:Resume Time Gaps + More on Age Discrimination

 As for the "News Flash", we wanted to let you know that we have decided to do next week’s call and then break it off for the rest of the summer.  However, we won’t be leaving you high and dry.  The blog will remain active so job seekers will still have access to all the materials we’ve been covering over the last few months.  So please continue to use and tell your friends about this resource.

Given that it will be our last one for awhile, Rick and I have decided to devote the entire hour next week to Q&A.  Therefore, be sure to take this opportunity to register and ask about the issue(s) that are most important to you.

Terry

Call #15: Staying Encouraged During a Prolonged Job Search  

We welcome any comments or questions you might have on tonight’s topic.  Just type them into the box provided below.  Thanks.

Terry

Now, rather than reinvent the wheel, I am copying here a document prepared by our good friend Jim Sandham.  For those of you who don’t know him yet, Jim is the leader of the ZIP Lunch Bunch, a wonderful networking group that meets every Friday at 11:30am at Strack Farms on Louetta.  If you’ve never been, I highly recommend that all job seekers join this group.  You will learn so much as well as have the opportunity to meet and support others who, like you, are in the middle of a job search.

Anyway, here are the details of creating a .txt resume, straight from Jim:

You’ll need to have an MS Word version already completed in order to change into a .TXT version.  Here’s what you do:
 
1.  Open both MS Word and MS Notepad to full size.  Mark (copy) ALL of the resume text from the .DOC version of your resume.
 
2.  Toggle from Word to Notepad (press Alt/Tab once with your left hand).  Now paste ALL of the text from the .DOC version into the blank Notepad screen.
 
3.  Fix everything in Notepad that looks wrong (columns, bullets, breaks, etc.).  This will take a while, sorry about that!
 
4.  Try to have each line of text not exceed 70 characters.  Count 70 characters to the right for the first full-page-width line of text you have, then hit Enter.  Scroll this line of text up to the very top of your screen.  Put a pencil mark on the frame of your monitor/LCD to show you just how wide 70 characters really is.  Now you won’t have to count characters for each line, and you’ll have a visual reminder for all subsequent .TXT versions!
 
5.  Hit Enter at the end of EVERY 70 characters in order to force each line to NOT word wrap.
 
6.  If your bullets went away, try substituting the asterisk symbol (*, Shift 8).  Put 1 or 2 spaces after each asterisk before the text begins.  Things like bolding, underlining, Italics, and such are gone in Notepad, sorry about that.
 
7.  Notepad doesn’t have a Spell Checker either, so when you’re all done fixing the document, mark all of your newly fixed .TXT text and paste it all into a new blank MS Word page where you can run Word’s Spell Checker.  Once it’s all spell-checked mark all of the text a second time and paste it back into Notepad.  I know, I know, just do it!
 
8.  Save the new .TXT version in Notepad using the same filename as your Word version, except leave off the .DOC extension. 
 
9.  Print copies of BOTH the .DOC and .TXT versions of your resume.  The new .TXT version will be very tall, and will likely exceed two pages, but don’t worry about that, it’s OK.  Compare them side by side, making sure everything survived the transfer process.  Do any final tweaking to make sure they both contain the exact same text.  If you made any final changes, save the document a second time. 
 
10.  You now have a .TXT version of your resume that you can paste into a ‘Paste you resume here’ field on a Web site.
 
Terry here again.  That’s all there is to it.  This process really only takes a few minutes but will have a big impact on the appearance of your resume when it’s not feasible to upload your “official” Word version.

If you have any questions about this procedure, please post them here on the blog so everyone can learn and benefit.  And should you want to contact Jim to get more information on the ZIP lunches, drop him a note at 
jsandham77@hotmail.com.

On this Tuesday’s call, Rick and I are going to devote the entire hour to answering as many of your questions as possible.  We will be focusing on the questions submitted when you registered for the calls.  If you’d like to be sure yours is included, jump on over to www.artofthejobsearch.com/ts1 right now and sign up!

See you on Tuesday!

Terry

the-pre-resume-handout-notes1

Feel free to send us your comments or questions on this format.