Resume Tips For Overcoming Recession-Related Challenges
Give employers the real scoop, not just your work history.
Recessions tend to push hardworking people into two groups. On the one hand is the layoff survivor handling the load of multiple former employees. On the other is the hyper qualified job seeker who nevertheless remains overlooked. Both types of people often need to write a new resume, and neither can afford to do it the same way they might have in the previous millennium. Here are some tips:
Laid off? Tell the truth. Otherwise you risk the job-hopper label. And in fact, there’s no shame in being laid off. During downturns in the economy, organizations shrink, morph, or disappear. So include a one-liner that details the company’s cutbacks. That will keep the “blame” for your departure on your employer, not you. Give the percentage of people that were let go along with you; mention that your boss was laid off, too; brag about surviving previous rounds of downsizing. If appropriate, divulge that the company may have made a poor strategic decision.
Acquired? Clarify the gobbling order. It’s common nowadays for a company to have changed hands (and names) several times. For a single acquisition, state the current name of the organization with the name of the acquired firm in parentheses. This way, a potential employer can research your company without hitting dead-ends. For multiple acquisitions, lead in with a short paragraph that describes the evolution of the organization and how your position has fluctuated as a result. Remember, being retained through a series of restructurings implies that you’re deeply valued.
Overextended? Categorize your achievements. Hanging on after layoffs usually means that your workload has doubled or tripled—great for your career but often difficult to present on a resume, because too many bullet points is the kiss of death. So include only the information that’s relevant to your career objective. Then, if necessary, use bold subheads under your official position title to delineate the different genres of your accomplishments. Consider alluding to increases in responsibility, noting when and why you were selected to handle mission-critical projects.
Cliff Flamer, MS, NCC, NCRW, CPRW
Résumé Writer & Career Counselor
Voted 2009 World's Best Resume Writer
What would hiring managers say about you
if they had the time to respond?
info@brightsideresumes.com
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Rebecca •This is in response to Kristine posting. Why do you assume that they assume that you got laid off because you're no good? Being laid off is not the same as being fired. And even if you were fired it does not necessarily mean that you were fired because you did something criminal.Sometimes especially when people are new in the workforce they may be asked to leave a job or two when they are first learning the ropes of working for a living. It's called life.If that is your experience and you were told to leave a job in the past and you did not do anything like divulge company secrets to the competitor, harassed another employee, sassed back to your boss or got caught stealing from your employer then just say something like, "Yes, I was told to leave XYZ not because I did anything wrong, but I did not have the skills to do my job. I was not the right fit so they had to let me go.". Employers should know that people mature and their skills improve over the years so if you have been told to leave a job or two in the past it should not be held against you. If you have a positive and honest attitude a would be employer should not hold the past against you. If they do it's their loss not yours! -
Rebecca •This is in response to Darrel B rantings. Why should anyone hire you with your bad attitude?! Companies do not owe you a job! You were given an opportunity-you at least had an interview which hundreds of people did not get the chance and you blew it!! I am sick and tired of all you whiny entitlement cry babies!!!! So the economy is not that great. There have been times in the past when the economy was not that great either-heard of The Great Depression?The HR "lady" as you called her asked what you've been doing in the past 6 months and your itty-bitty feelings got hurt -boo hoo hoo!! F.Y.I. You're not the only one who has been asked that question. You assume that it was meant to be an insult!! The interviewer has a list of questions that he/she must follow in order to see if a candidate has not only the knowledge but the drive to be successful. They are looking to see if you took some classes or if you did some volunteer community service type of work instead of sitting around all day watching CNN expecting a job to magically fall on your lap all neatly gift-wrapped.When the pickings are slim you take what you can get. You can always get another job after the economy picks up or when your skills and especially your attitude improves!
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Kristine •Okay, so you tell them you were laid off etc..., but they then look at why? and then they assume you were not that great....and then they look at how long you've been unemployed and rate you by that. This is ridiculous and extremely frustrating! I'm not whining, I'm venting because this is just a vicious circle of assumptions and games and I'm sick of it! I like Darrel B.'s post, after a year and a half of this stuff you just gotta put it back in their faces with the ridiculous treatment. I had a phone interview/screener for a job and the lady was so rude, it was like she had called just to get through a pile, but really wasn't serious about the call by her lazy questions and voice. Ugh!!
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SharL •Articles on resume writing were all very helpful indeed esp. when one has not sent out any resume for around last 8 years and none as demanding as those required nowadays! Demanding as in key words, match the job requirement and so forth.... Then there is telephone interview, personality test, then face to face interview and believe it or not, 2nd face to face interview.... Still do not know what was missing, lacking or interviewer just simply did not know what to ask in some cases or asked something totally generic !!! As to courses, have taken relevant course on top of experience, but still did not cut it. Think will just wait for that miracle call one day, if it ever comes. Can fully relate to what Frank and Darrel B. posted and also what Marg S. expressed regarding job banks, hiring process, restructuring badly needed or all experienced and qualified people who could otherwise contribute to economy and GDP are wasted and flushed while some sectors are screaming not enough human resource in certain fields!!!
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Hank •I have incorporated these suggestions into my resume before. I have explained the gap due to a layoff in the profile some sites ask for. I have been asked about the gap in employment and when I told the truth, I never heard from some companies and recruiters again. They do not return phone calls or e-mails.When one recruiter found out my age, 61, he quit calling me and will not return my calls.I have a Master's and great executive experience and cannot find anything and have been told I don't qualify because I have too much education and experience for some jobs. What do you do then?Frustrated in Florida.
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Frank R •Hr folks do not have a clue when it comes to hiring people. They are simply screeners who pull out resumes that do not look good to them. Hiring managers in many cases do not have a clue what they are looking for either. I am always amazed that companies will hire from the outside for higher level positions rather than consider internal candidates. Decisions are made based on a 2 or three hour interview and people who have proven track records are ignored because HR or the hiring manager knows some of their negative as well as positive points. How stupid corporate America is.
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eric m. •These are good tips. If you are in IT, you probably have notice two trends: 1. Job Compression: Employers are squeezing anywhere from 2 to 4 roles into 1 job. Of course, they want to pay 1/2 to 2/3 of one job...lol.2. I do a lot of MS Sql work. Seems every job now wants Oracle. I've worked in 5 shops now, only one shop was using Oracle. I'm trying to figure out if people writing these jobs know what they want. Often when I talk to a recruiter, there is no Oracle implementation in the business. Some of them can't explain why it is even on the job requirement. 3. Have you looked at an IT ad. Starts with about 10-30 skills, specific software(s) for that company, etc. It's no wonder I see the same job(s) running for 6 months go through about every recruiting agency in town. 4. I really don't care anymore if I don't have every skill. Who's kidding who? Are there that many uber-programmers who eat, breath, and sweat technology 24x7. I'm sure there are some; however, you probably don't want to see them in a staff meeting. 5. No offense, but 20 something recruiters just tick me off. I really have a hard time dealing with someone who has never coded and has worked all of 6 months in the recruiting field. I'm often sitting there thinking, that's nice, can I talk to Mommy or Daddy now?
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Mimi T •I partially agree with Darrel above. It is definitely the employers market. They can lay you off simply by making changes to your work load, tasks or responsibilities to something that is so extreme that indirectly tell you " if you are not happy you can leave". Also everyone has different views on how the resume should look for example some say list you employers separate from your skills and use bullet points and then another says put a small paragraph at the bottom of each employer.Then again I heard from some hiring manager that I know says that all resumes go through the computer screening first and it's best to copy words from the job description so that it has a higher percentage if matches. This also means that more and more resumes are getting overlooked mainly by how you present the resume to the employer plus how the employers screen them so it's leaning towards luck and chances versus real qualification.To me, in this market hitting the jackpot probably has a higher chance of winning then your resume making a computer screening process and getting it to the recruiter then the hiring manager.
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Peter P. •This information is useful. However, a lot of laid off people like me are in our late 50s and although it is illegal to discriminate against older workers, it is almost a given that we will not be considered for the jobs that are available. Too much emphasis is put on knowing a certain computer program. Practical knowledge, previous success and the myriad of people skills that one develops over the course of a lifetime are not valued at all. What can a person do to overcome this prejudice against the older worker in preparing a resume?
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Toni A. •If you have jobs list over ten years old do you need to date them and just date the present job. How far back should the resume go? Is it ok for it to be a page and 3/4 or do i need to cut it down to one page.
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Darrel B. •I think all of this how to get a job stuff is a bunch of crap. It's an employers' market right now, and they are just taking full advantage of it. The HR departments are well aware of what's going on, they watch CNN etc. In the present times we are in, if a person has a gap in employment, it's most likely due to being laid off through no fault of their own. I recently had an interview where the stupid HR lady asked me "what have you been doing over the last 6 months?" at that point I got pissed, and didn't care if I got the stupid job (which would have paid me far less than what I'm worth anyway), and said "I sure you're well aware of what how the job market is right now". The present state of the economy is another excuse for HR people to be even bigger butt wholes than they already usually are.
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Frank •That's useful. During my career and interviewing I learned few things. The headhunters have absolutely no clue how to find and select the right person. (they sent me sales guys, instead of designers). Generic change from the hiring process will come. The companies hire people using only program FRT1.3. Hands-on version FRT1.1 doesn't count. People doing the same thing for 30 years are useless for the changing environment.
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John G. •Good suggestions to incorporate. Tough part being compared in work skill attitudes & abilities against a younger generation versus older generation.
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Cornelius •The article was helpful it allowed me to see some areas on my resume that need adjusting. I have too many bullets and not enough detail to explain why I am unemployed. I can explain without being critical to my previous employer.Thanks for the tips!
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Dennis L •Very valuable insight! As a veteran of The Incredible Shrinking Company (employment dropped from 600 to 32 during my career there... my work group from six to... me!), plus multiple buyouts, a bankruptcy, and finally one last takeover that led to a systems shutdown/migration... I can surely relate!! I'll be thinking of how to incorporate these sorts of things into my resume shortly...
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What about if you have a felony that happened 20 years ago. It is keeping from getting a Job. What do I do about that
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Carol •Found it very helpfully, with the exception I keep getting involved with companies that have filed bankruptcy, laid-off, or just went away it is very difficult to explain that history, it just happened again to me. Any suggestions?Bankrupt/Laid-off due to new management/Laid-off due to restructure/Laid off due restructuring/Now job had repo company in and I learned job gone.
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Marg S. •The article offered good tips for job searching/resume presentation during a recession. I believe that there are not enough jobs available and many interviewers do not know how to hire qualified applicants no matter what is presented on the resume.
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Marg S. •Realistically speaking: Our country's system of job banks, hiring process and higher education needs restructuring. Starting with our college's programs of study in some fields. When a person attends college for 4 years, you would expect that they would graduate with adequate knowledge and experience to land the job in their field and then continue with additional education (CEU's/MA/PHD). Some 2 year programs in health care & technology (ITT) offer programs of study to equip the graduate with adequate knowledge and information to land a job that pays well. I believe our higher educational system is lacking in many ways and is inferior to other countries. When colleges wash their hands and are unwilling to share blame when a student graduates and can't find work or is considered unqualified or over qualified for a position, something is amiss.
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Dennis G. •I really thought the resume tips for overcoming recession related challenges were interesting and helpful to me. I will try to incorporate some of the suggestions into my own resume. Thanks!!
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Youlanda •This article was very helpful. I have rececntly been laid off. During the time of downsizing I was one of those suviors. Responsibilities and work load increased often without compensation. Now I know how to capture on my resume. Thanks.................... Kudos
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Kay T. •I think the article offers good advice...I would be careful not to be negative about a previous employer.
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