Alliance Enterprises Blog

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“So you gotta let me know
Should I stay or should I go?”
— The Clash

You’re comfortable in your current position. You make decent money. The company is relatively healthy. The people you work with are nice enough.

For the past couple of years, this scenario was often more than people could hope for, as millions of jobs were slashed and entire industries were walking wounded. Now, with the economy starting to show signs of growth, many people are taking a fresh look at their situations and deciding there is something better out there.

Or is there? How do you determine when it’s time to go from a passive job search (where you casually peruse job listings) to an active job search (where the process of looking for a new job becomes a job in itself)? The decision is not an easy one, especially for high-level professionals who’ve invested time and political capital in their organizations.

As the Clash so eloquently asked: “Should I stay or should I go?”

There are several factors to consider when making that decision, according to career experts.

Satisfaction

Tom Gimbel, CEO of The LaSalle Network, a professional staffing and recruiting company in Chicago, said personal satisfaction is a major consideration. “Before you make the jump to a new job, you must first ask yourself a few questions: Are you fulfilled? Are you challenged? Are you continually learning? If the answer is no to these questions, then it might be time for a job change.”

With the job climate improving but still nowhere near healthy, personal and professional fulfillment may seem like a bit of a luxury if it means climbing out on a limb. However, future growth may depend on it. “Some believe if they are content with salary, hours, co-workers, etc., then they should stay with their jobs,” Gimbel said. “But without personal satisfaction and constant learning, it is impossible to grow professionally.”

Company checkup

While your own mental health is certainly a consideration, so is the health of your company — and your industry.

“Where is your organization going? Growing or shrinking? A shrinking company provides less opportunity to their employees. That’s a fact,” said Rich Gee, an executive coach.

Industry checkup

In some cases, the health of entire industries has suffered, causing people to consider not just a job switch but a career change. Changing what you do – tantamount to changing who you are – is no small feat, nor does it come without a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety. But, experts said, the recession has opened some unexpected doors.

“The thing that I think is most striking is the opportunity to go into different types of jobs and growing types of industries that are emerging from this poor economy,” said Dr. Robert Prescott, associate professor of Human Resource Management at Rollins MBA Crummer Graduate School in Winter Park, Fla. “[These include] green-related industries, public sector, technology, networking, these are the expanding types of industries, and that will probably be true in the next five to 10 years.”

Just don’t forget that if you do decide to switch careers, you’re now the newbie, competing against all the unemployed people in that particular sector.

Manager maintenance

You also need to consider the health of the relationship between you and your manager. If your manager is standing in the way of your success rather than supporting it and you’ve done everything in your power to manage the situation to no avail, it might be time to look for a position outside your company (or at least outside the reach of your manager). Conversely, perhaps a manager who has shepherded your career is leaving the organization and you think it might be time to do the same.

Ian C. Pilarczyk, director of International Business Law at Boston University School of Law, has been on both sides of the fence – counseling employees in toxic environments and, in the past, working to get out of such environments himself. Scenarios that should spur an active job search, said Pilarczyk, “include situations where a manager sets one up to fail rather than succeed, where the work environment is not safe, and where a manager stifles rather than encourages personal and professional growth.”

Act fast

People who do decide actively to seek a new job may find that there’s no better time than the present. When hiring picks up after an economic downturn, Prescott said, the first wave of people to seek greener pastures is typically the best and brightest – something that hiring managers know and expect.

“I think there are some advantages for people who look to leave in today’s market,” Prescott said. “We find that the employees who leave our companies first are the good ones. Why? Because they are very opportunistic in their mindset, and they’re always looking for those opportunities to grow, to enhance, to make more money, to improve quality of life. The perception is, to the hiring company, that the people who are coming to them now are not necessarily those who were laid off but those who are the best employees.”

But hold your horses as long as you can, said Bruce A. Hurwitz, president and CEO of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing. Don’t forget that it’s much easier to find a job when you have a job. No matter how bad your job gets and/or how good the market gets, don’t quit your job until you have a concrete offer.

There’s no place like home

That job change could very well be at the company where you currently work. Bettina Seidman, of SEIDBET Associates Career Counseling, said, all too often, people who are dissatisfied with their jobs neglect to meet with their managers to discuss the possibility of an internal change.

Gimbel agreed: “Before you make this job switch, make your voice heard. Have you talked to your boss about your boredom or asked your superior for more stimulating work? Have you brought up new ideas or taken it upon yourself to find more challenging work?”

Only after you have tried to improve your lot at your current employer should you start looking outside, Gimbel said.

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We are representing a local firm who is looking for someone with very distinctive skills and experience.  If you technically and scientifically savvy, with strong Project Management skills, ideally in a manufacturing setting – please keep reading. Our client is looking for someone to be involved in the early stages of their product launch.   

Responsibilities:

• Product Management
• Client and staff management
• P&L oversight
• Manufacturing installation 
• Creative project management 

Qualifications:

•   B.S. in Engineering, Micro-biology, or Food Science
•   5+ years experience in Project Management
•   Experience in launching new manufacturing technology and installation
•   Strong communication skills
•   Flexibility and willingness to travel
•   Exceptional management skills
•   Food Safety/Sanitation experience preferred

If you or anyone you know may be interested in this position, please forward an updated resume in Word format to kgast@allianceomaha.com.

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How to Ensure that Recruiting Software Can Read Your Resume

Your resume will not be read by a human until after it is read, parsed, and classified by a computer – and even then it will only be read by a human if it is a good search match.  It won’t matter at all how pretty your painted Easter egg looks to a human, if it looks like scrambled eggs to a computer.  And if it looks like scrambled eggs, it’s not likely to get any search “hits”

Computers do not appreciate style or cleverness.  Quirky, clever resumes will not be processed correctly by resume software and they will therefore end up in a cold dark place where no one will ever see it. The rules for computers are really simple when you remember that computers are not clever.  They are like the really smart nerd in your high school History class – big on facts, clueless on how they all fit together and what they all mean.  So, let’s make it easy for the computer to like you, ok?

Here are THE RULES:

We are going on with Rules #8-12 today – stay tuned for more coming soon!

RULE #8 | Always end company names with common company name words.
You know that J.M. Huber is an employer company name.  Unfortunately, the computer probably does not know that.  The solution is to always end a company name with a company word like “Inc.” or “Co.” or “Company” or “LLC” or “LLP” or “GmbH”.  So, write J.M. Huber as J.M. Huber, Inc. or J.M. Huber Co.  You are not applying for a job at J.M. Huber, so they will not care.

And yes, this rule applies to big companies as well as little companies.  If you worked for IBM, write IBM, Inc.  “Procter & Gamble” should be written as Procter & Gamble, Inc.  “Enron” should be written as Enron, Inc. (or better yet, as “Major Energy Trading Company” J).

 

RULE #9 | Use blank lines between sections/paragraphs, but do not use blank lines within paragraphs.
It is very important that you separate each Work History job and each Education school record with a blank line, and that there are no blank lines within logical paragraphs.  “Blank line” means an actual blank line placed there by your word processor program, not just visual spacing that looks like a blank line but really is not.
 

RULE #10 | Do not save your resume as HTML, PDF, WordPerfect or RTF.
Recruiters want resumes in Microsoft Word.  Many resume systems cannot convert PDF, HTML or WordPerfect resumes and will discard them.  If you do not want to use Microsoft Word, do NOT use RTF, use “Text” instead.  Save your resume as a plain text file, with a .txt extension.
Here is how some resume systems “see” RTF files:
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\uc1 \deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe1033{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 02020603050405020304}Times New Roman;}{\f1\fswiss\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 020b0604020202020204}Arial;}{\f2\fmodern\fcharset0\fprq1{\*\panose 02070309020205020404}Courier New;}{\f3\froman\fcharset2\fprq2{\*\panose 05050102010706020507}Symbol;}{\f42\froman\fcharset238\fprq2 Times New Roman CE;}{\f43\froman\fcharset204\fprq2 Times New Roman Cyr;}{\f45\froman\fcharset161\fprq2 Times New Roman Greek;}{\f46\froman\fcharset162\fprq2 Times New Roman Tur;}{\f47\froman\fcharset186\fprq2 Times New Roman Baltic;}{\f48\fswiss\fchars

 

            
RULE #11 | Save your resume as plain text, and see if it still “reads” correctly.
Resume systems do NOT read resumes directly.  They first convert the resumes into plain text, and then they read and process that plain text.  So, ALWAYS make sure that you save a copy of your resume as plain text and then open that plain text and make sure that it still reads like it should, with no funky formatting problems.  You may be surprised….

RULE #12 | Omit page numbers.
Page numbers will probably show up as garbage in your resume.  The computer does not need page numbers.  Your resume does not need page numbers, either.

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Ok – I saw an awesome article from TEC Magazine entitled “Ending the Spare Parts Nightmare” and had to copy it – or at least it made my brain jump a few feet with an awesome idea.

Too often, staffing companies or recruiters have the reputation of being on the same level as ambulance chasing lawyers – searching the want ads for the latest job posting – but here at AE we want to do something different.

Our goal is to be a resource for your and your hiring team – whether you need our full direct hiring services, or that certain piece of the hiring puzzle that always causes you and your team problems.  If you are a hiring manager who keeps your hiring in house, but are struggling with a certain piece of that process (such as testing, profiling, or weeding out, for example) then I encourage you to check out our “ala carte” page and see how we can be a support to you instead of competition.

If we can lift you up in any way to bring more profitability to your organization, then Alliance Enterprises has been a success – that is our goal and commitment to you.

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How to Ensure that Recruiting Software Can Read Your Resume

Your resume will not be read by a human until after it is read, parsed, and classified by a computer – and even then it will only be read by a human if it is a good search match.  It won’t matter at all how pretty your painted Easter egg looks to a human, if it looks like scrambled eggs to a computer.  And if it looks like scrambled eggs, it’s not likely to get any search “hits”.

Computers do not appreciate style or cleverness.  Quirky, clever resumes will not be processed correctly by resume software and they will therefore end up in a cold dark place where no one will ever see it. The rules for computers are really simple when you remember that computers are not clever.  They are like the really smart nerd in your high school History class – big on facts, clueless on how they all fit together and what they all mean.  So, let’s make it easy for the computer to like you, ok?

Here are THE RULES:

We are going on with Rules #4-7 today – stay tuned for more coming soon!

 

RULE #4 | Do not use “columns” or “tables” formatting for anything.  
NEVER use columns or tables to format your education or work history or any other important piece of data on your resume.  (And by the way, if it’s not important, it should not be on your resume.)

WRONG:
Jan. 2003 – Present Superb Products, Inc.   Parts Manager.
Reduced parts inventory by 10% while eliminating most out-of-stocks.
Mar. 2000 – Dec. 2002 Doug’s Truck Sales, Inc.   Repairman.
Fixed trucks and managed the parts inventory.
Here’s how the computer may read that:
Jan. 2003 – Present
Mar. 2000 – Dec. 2002
Superb Products, Inc.   Parts Manager.
Reduced parts inventory by 10% while eliminating most out-of-stocks.
Dougs Truck Sales, Inc.   Repairman.
Fixed trucks and managed the parts inventory.

RIGHT: (uses tabs instead of tables):
Jan. 2003 – Present
Superb Products, Inc.   Parts Manager.
Reduced parts inventory by 10% while eliminating most out-of-stocks.
Mar. 2000 – Dec. 2002
Dougs Truck Sales, Inc.   Repairman.
Fixed trucks and managed the parts inventory.

RULE #5 | Keep like data in like order.
Each job that you list should be described in the same order.  If one job is described as
[Dates] [Company] [Position title] [Description] then all of the other jobs should be written in the same style.

RULE #6 | Capitalization does matter.
Do not use all caps unless there is a good reason to do so.  A good reason to do so is when writing the section headers.  A bad reason to do so is when writing a job title. 

RULE #7 | Do not combine sections.
Never combine several topics or sections into a single section.  This is really important!

WRONG: 
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS, COMMUNITY SERVICE, AWARDS, TRAINING

RIGHT: 
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
I was involved with ….
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Chairman, United Way Campaign for Greater Okowekofobee County
AWARDS
President’s Quarterly Salesmanship Award, 2004
TRAINING
YMCA CPR Training, Level I, 2002

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According to Staffing Industry Analysts, the GDP growth is expected to slow again, with the best gains of the year already behind us. “Second-quarter growth in U.S. gross domestic product may be the highest for the year, according to The Conference Board. However, there are no signs of a double-dip recession” (SIA Website).

This is showing to have an effect on companies and their hiring practices, which has in turn led to a slow down in the start-up of staffing firms – though those that are able to get started are showing a better chance of success after two years.

We here at Alliance Enterprises have seen numerous staffing companies close their doors in the last few years, and most of the survivors have had to significantly reduce their overhead in order to stay alive.  It is definitely a time to tighten the belts and refine the process, but what it shows most aggressively is the importance of having the best people on your team. The right person at your company can make all the difference during this tough economic battle.

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How to Ensure that Recruiting Software Can Read Your Resume

Your resume will not be read by a human until after it is read, parsed, and classified by a computer – and even then it will only be read by a human if it is a good search match.  It won’t matter at all how pretty your painted Easter egg looks to a human, if it looks like scrambled eggs to a computer.  And if it looks like scrambled eggs, it’s not likely to get any search “hits”.
Computers do not appreciate style or cleverness.  Quirky, clever resumes will not be processed correctly by resume software and they will therefore end up in a cold dark place where no one will ever see it. The rules for computers are really simple when you remember that computers are not clever.  They are like the really smart nerd in your high school History class – big on facts, clueless on how they all fit together and what they all mean.  So, let’s make it easy for the computer to like you, ok?

Here are THE RULES:

We are going on with Rules #2-3 today – stay tuned for more coming soon!

RULE #2 | Contact info comes first.

If you want a job, put your contact info FIRST.  That’s “first” as in “first”, not “first” as in “right after the pretty logo”.
Contact info should never be placed on just one or two lines.

WRONG:
Robert H. Ruff / 13403 Myrtlea Lane / Houston, Texas 77079 / 713.562.7112

RIGHT:
Robert H. Ruff
13403 Myrtlea Lane
Houston, Texas 77079
713-562-7112
rruff@sovren.com

RULE #3 | Use common header terms to start resume sections, and put them on separate lines.

There is one exception to this rule: contact info.  Contact info does NOT get a header.  Everything else gets a header.

Your job objective section should start with a header that says
JOB OBJECTIVE

Your Work History section should start with a header that says
WORK EXPERIENCE

Your education section should start with a header that says
EDUCATION

Oh, and by the way, if you went to college, we do not care to hear about your High School, and regardless of your education level, telling us about your Junior High experience is just going to make sure both humans and computers file your resume into a place labeled “Laugh at, but do not hire.”

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This is an amazing story about the recruiter industry and the importance of why we perform this service. The video is a little long, but tells a powerful story about a renowned recruiter Tiffany Crenshaw and what she did to provide an awesome opportunity for a Clarksville, TN family.

Top Recruiter | Full Episode from Chris LaVoie on Vimeo.

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How to Ensure that Recruiting Software Can Read Your Resume

Your resume will not be read by a human until after it is read, parsed, and classified by a computer – and even then it will only be read by a human if it is a good search match.  It won’t matter at all how pretty your painted Easter egg looks to a human, if it looks like scrambled eggs to a computer.  And if it looks like scrambled eggs, it’s not likely to get any search “hits”.
Computers do not appreciate style or cleverness.  Quirky, clever resumes will not be processed correctly by resume software and they will therefore end up in a cold dark place where no one will ever see it. The rules for computers are really simple when you remember that computers are not clever.  They are like the really smart nerd in your high school History class – big on facts, clueless on how they all fit together and what they all mean.  So, let’s make it easy for the computer to like you, ok?

Here are THE RULES:

We are going to start with Rule #1 today – so stay tuned for more coming soon!

RULE #1 | Looks are deceiving.  

Plain is good.  Fancy is bad.  Therefore:

A.       Do not put anything into Headers or Footers.
Many resume software programs cannot read information in headers.  If you put your contact information into a header, it may never get read by the software, and your resume will not contain information about who you are and how you can be reached.  And that’s a bad thing.
Footers are a different problem.  The problem with footers is that when the computer reads your resume, the footer data gets inserted into the middle of whatever text spans the two pages.  That means that the footer text may be inserted as garbage into critical parts of your resume.

b.       Do not use Graphics.
At best, graphics (clip art, photos, logos, anything that is a .bmp or .gif or .jpg or .png, etc.) will be ignored. 
At worst, the graphics will be turned into a huge mass of garbage characters, like this:
shppict{\pict\picscalex81\picscaley81\piccropl0\piccropr0\piccropt0\piccropb0\picw7407\pich2408\picwgoal4199
\pichgoal1365\wmetafile8\bliptag159028895\blipupi96{\*\blipuid 097a969f0002499996eb8b27309a3c5c}\
bin12896  33333333333333 3333333333333333333331 #! 3  333333! #3332   33331 #3331 #! 3  33333333333! 3! 3333! 1 #332  2  3332  ! 3333! 2  3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333331  ! “  3332  ! #3331   33331 #3331 “! “  33333333333! “  3333! ! #332  2  3332  ! 3333! “  3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333331       3332    #333! 1  3331 #3331       333333333331    3333!   #332     3332  ! 3333!    3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333331       3332    3332  3  3331 #3331       333333333333    3333!   #333!   #3332  ! 3333!    333333333333333333333333333333

More likely, the graphics will cause some garbage characters to appear, and will mess up the line spacing, paragraphing, etc.  So, your contact information may get distorted or your name may get lost.

c.       Do not use “tables” in Microsoft WordTM.
Tables are neat and pretty.  To humans.  Unfortunately, some resume conversion software cannot handle tables and will either scramble the text into an undecipherable mess, or it will space the data with extra lines that may confuse the software.

d.       Do not use “fields” in Microsoft Word.
Most resume conversion software cannot read anything contained in “fields”.  So we don’t want to use “fields”, do we?  If you do not know what a “field” is in Microsoft Word, don’t worry, you are safe.

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According to the Staffing Industry Analysts, Canada is really the hot place to be right now.  National numbers show that in June they added 93,000 jobs, jumping their total employment numbers. This is only supposed to continue, as expectations are that 58% of Canadian hiring managers are planning to hire in the second half of 2010, as said by another article.

I find this interesting juxtaposed against numbers from last week saying that 41% of companies plan to hire in the U.S. in the second half.  Maybe we should all move to Canada! No, really, this is a good thing for our northern friends, and we should focus on catching up to their recession-ending speed.