KMEL has partnered with Peninsula Works (a one-stop career center in San Francisco) to give job-seekers in the radio station’s listening area the chance to get their skills and experience in front of potential employers.

To get your resume on air you must complete a brief entry form explaining why you want your resume on air (350 words or less).  If you are selected as one of the winners, radio personality Chuy Gomez will talk about your resume on air and your hardcopy resume will be available to view and download on the radio station’s website.

Thus far, the resumes of about 350 brave job-seeking souls are available on the station’s website.

Are you ready to go public with your job search?  Are you ready for radio resumes?  Why?  Why not?

Are You Ready For Radio Resumes? is a post from: Careersthatdontsuck.com

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The results were interesting, not surprising, and…a little sad.  In our secret places, I think we all know that those “averages” are pretty little distractions from the naked truth that most of us are piling on mountains of debt for molehills of earnings.  The Businessweek-Payscale survey found:

• MBA grads entered a variety of high- and low- paying career fields, including nonprofit administration and teaching.
• MBA grads from top schools earned nearly TWICE AS MUCH as the average MBA grad (67.4% of MBAs from top schools earned more than $100,000, 21% earned more than $150,000).
• The MBA pay advantage dropped sharply after the Top 10 schools.  Bad news for grads of lower-tier programs.
• Only 17.6% of MBA grads will earn a salary of more than $100,000.  The vast majority of MBA grads from all schools will earn $75,000 or less.
• Only 4% of all MBA grads will exceed $150,000 in earnings.
• Pay varied widely among grads from the same school too.  At Harvard Business School, the top 10% of earners earned 7X as much as the bottom 10%.

Does this mean you should scrap your b-school plans?  No.  Hopefully, your MBA dreams were filled with more than visions of zeros and commas.  If so, go learn, go grow, go change careers.  But, don’t forget to plan for the debt that comes with the dream.  Wouldn’t want your MBA dream to turn into a nightmare.

MBA Does Not Equal Big Pay is a post from: Careersthatdontsuck.com

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Enter the Indie Game Challenge

Not ready for the contest? Find a job in the gaming industry.

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So, what’s the story with these things? What are these companies getting out of gobbling up resumes without ever seeming to get your info in front of folks who might hire you?

In the Beginning

Resume black holes were originally created by well-meaning folks who intended to allow companies and job applicants to save a step and a stamp in the recruiting/job-hunting process. It was a great idea! A company that wants to hire you posts an ad. You shoot them your resume. They call you for an interview. You get the job. They get the ideal employee (that’s you). Everyone’s happy.

But, the deluge of resumes (both useful and ridiculous) that everyone thought might be a boon turned out to be a bust. Companies would post a VP, Sales position and cashier’s from the local Piggly-Wiggly and youth pastors from the Church of I-Wanna-Football-Stadium-Like-Joel-Osteen would apply–from 8 states away.

Sorting resumes became a full-time job–one that even the most committed recruiters grew to hate. So, they just stopped sorting. They stopped sending out those merciful “thanks but no thanks” notes. They reviewed the first or last 10 resumes, called 5-7 applicants from that pile and left the other 900 to wait, wilt and wonder.

Act Two

The situation improved slightly when smart entrepreneurs began offering to sort the resumes on behalf of clients. The problem then became that if you were not selected, you’d still just have to assume that’s what happened since most clients weren’t paying resume screening companies to put unwanted candidates out of their misery. Nope, they were much more concerned with relieving their own misery.

The model thrived, so more resume black holes formed.

Act Three

So, they tried technology. Tech companies created snappy apps to suck in, sort and screen resumes, automate the “thanks but no thanks” notes and all seemed right with the world. Until…

Act Four

A new breed of entrepreneurs and scammers figured out there was gold in them thar’ black holes. They began creating black holes disguised as real job ads. You’d send in your resume and they’d try to sell it to a company or individual who was looking for someone like you.

Hoarding your resumes became big business. Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com and every other job board and it’s mama.com was in a race to build the biggest resume black hole. He who amassed the most resumes could induce the most recruiters and hiring managers to pay more for the opportunity to dig through the pile.

If you were lucky, someone might conduct just the right search, using just the right terms to bring your resume out of the rack and into the recruiters’ hot little hands. And, if you were unlucky, your resume never made the search parameters, or made it so many times for so many jobs that you appeared cheap and desperate and not worth hiring.

Eventually, everyone tired of this model and many black holes simply collapsed.

Act Five

Local job boards began to spring up everywhere. Companies wanted to find candidates in their own backyards. That reduced the number of job applicants (and resumes to be screened) to a somewhat manageable number and helped the cream to rise to the top (though it didn’t weed out all of the wishful and deluded applicants).

For many moons after, we were all somewhat contented. Then, the bottom fell out of our universe.

Act Six

The economy went belly up and the job market tanked. But, the black holes, like roaches, wouldn’t die. Even though, most companies ceased to hire–a situation that should have collapsed a lot more resume black holes–the gaping voids continue to beckon you to submit. This time, your resume is likely making it to your desired destination–the company of your dreams. But, there’s a twist! Now, whether your resume makes it to the top of the pile or not, it may never make it out of the resume black hole…at least not for a while.

The Real-Life Story of Resume Black Holes is a post from: Careersthatdontsuck.com

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So I asked a few career professionals from the education, finance, HR and marketing fields. Here’s what they told me when I asked them to complete the sentence “Buidling your resume means…”

Education Pro: Showing a history of skilled acquired and experiences gained through both work and higher education in order to advance in your career

Finance Pro: Being able to show that you have work experience that is relevant to the new job you are trying to get. If you are trying to get promoted, you want to show that you’ve mastered all of the skills in the lower level job and are ready to take on more–a larger scope of responsibilities, a greater budget, etc.
HR Pro: Demonstrating a history of doing a certain kind of work and specialized skills, holding recognized certifications, being associated with professional organizations and/or with top employers
Marketing Pro: Creating a resume that is filled with examples of top-quality work with top-tier firms, if possible; getting on boards or being involved in organizations within your chosen field; having impressive references; taking on projects or outside activities that will impress prospective employers

I think all of these are correct. I personally would describe “resume-building” in the same way that my marketing friend did. I’ve spent a lot of time building my own resume in this way–taking only jobs with Fortune 500 firms, taking only jobs with a title of Director or above, taking jobs that give me a profile within the company, taking on unpaid speaking engagements, joining professional associations, trying to get myself onto the boards of nonprofit organizations.

What’s the point? The point of resume-building is that it should be a part of any career planning effort. If it is your goal to get to the top of your chosen field, or even to break into your chosen field, you should focus on building your resume.

Take the advice of my friends above, and use these tips:

1. Pinpoint your career goal(s)

2. Figure out how far you want to go (Manager, VP or CFO?)

3. Identify the companies that hire folks in your chosen field

4. Search current job openings, reading the job descriptions and noting the education, certifications skills, experience required

5. Update your resume as a way of reviewing your work history and inventorying your work experience, skills, etc.–Do you already have what’s required to get your dream job? If not, what are you missing?

6. Build-A-Resume:

If you are missing experience, skills, education or certifications, set your sites on opportunities to get gain those skills, experiences, etc.–

• Target a lower-level position
• Take on a new responsibility in your current job (gain experience via on-the-job-training)
• Take a few classes or get a degree
• Get certified by whatever certifying body is most recognized in your field)
• Volunteer to take on a certain role in a nonprofit, a startup or small business
• Join professional associations and take on an active role (Board member, committee chair, project lead)

Once you’ve built this amazing resume, don’t make the mistake of submitting a poorly written resume. You want to write a resume that highlights and emphasizes what you’ve built. Get help with your resume if you need it.

Building Your Resume is a post from: Careersthatdontsuck.com

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