Network of Executive Women

If you are in the middle of a job search, recruiters can be either your friend—or your foe. They make the choice to keep you out of the hiring process or to introduce you to corporate hiring decision makers. The quality of your resume is a key factor in determining how recruiters will treat you in the job market.

There are three things every recruiter looks for in a resume: Focus, core competencies or transferable skills; and accomplishments.
If your resume lacks any of these crucial elements, then you are probably not capturing the attention you deserve, and you are missing out on important interview opportunities.

Focus

Since recruiters’ time is at a premium, they must know your career focus within seconds of opening your resume. If your career focus isn’t clearly stated, you can’t assume the reader will take the time to search through your resume for clues. Most recruiters consider “Career Objective” statements worthless if they contain no real information about the specific position you are looking for and the industry expertise you offer. The best objective statements are concise and to the point.

Core competencies or transferable skills

Once a recruiter understands your focus, he/she will want to know if you have the required core competencies or transferable skills to accomplish the job. A thorough research of employer job descriptions will help you identify the core competencies your resume must feature.

You’ll capture and hold recruiter attention by including only those core competencies relating specifically to your focus. Be careful not to muddy up your personal marketing message by including extraneous skills. If you remember the all-important rule of relevancy, you’ll go a long way toward keeping the reader’s attention on your key skills.

Accomplishments

Once your resume has made it through the initial screening for focus and skills, the recruiter will want to know how you stack up against other candidates. Remember, with record-high resume response to job openings, recruiters need good, solid reasons to recommend you for consideration over the mountain of other candidates. Clear, concisely stated accomplishments are the best way to distinguish yourself from your competition.
Whether the recruiter works for one corporation or represents many corporate clients as a third-party recruiting consultant, he or she must be able to give valid reasons for promoting you as a viable candidate. You can make their job infinitely easier by including the information they need—and bring your resume to the top of the candidate pile. When your resume sells itself, you gain advantage points, and make the recruiter look good as well.

For optimum impact, write accomplishments that illustrate the strength of your core competencies, transferable skills and focus. An accomplishment is only valuable to your resume if it promotes the skills your target employers are looking for. Remember the rule of relevancy as you craft each of your accomplishment statements.

In today’s extremely competitive job market, employers rely heavily on recruiter to screen out the crowd of applicants. Allow them to present you as one of their best candidates by letting your resume present your best abilities.

Deborah Walker, CCMC, is a resume writer and career coach at AlphaAdvantage. For resume and job-search information, visit their website at http://www.alphaadvantage.com or e-mail deb@alphaadvantage.com

Managing Workplace Conflict

by Trudy Bourgeois

How much time is spent on managing conflict in the work environment? More than most organizations would like to admit. The truth of the matter is that hidden agendas, miscommunication, selfish desires to win at all costs, customer fires, and the need to constantly prove yourself are causes of daily conflict in the workplace.

According to the latest StressPulse from Compsych Corporation, stress has jumped to counterproductive levels in the last six months; nearly two-thirds of employees now say it is out of control.

According to the Leadership Quarterly Magazine, 1996, 42% of a manager's time is spent reaching agreement with others when conflicts occur.
If this is the case and the average manager makes $100,000 year, conflicts are expensive. In fact, the cost of these conflicts is too costly for attention not to be placed on this area.

Leaders spend more time on managing people and conflicts that anything else. This is particularly true in the 21st century work environment where the workforce is made up of five generations, from baby boomers to generation Y, and they see work in completely different ways.

Not to mention the fact that as the economy becomes more global in nature, cultural differences become more prominent. So there is a real need to develop conflict management skills that enhance your ability to connect with people and foster an environment where the team can collaborate so that success can be experienced by all.In the Stresspulse survey of employers from more than 700 companies, 63% consider themselves in the “high stress” category, up from 15% six months prior. Employees are being asked to do more with less, and with that comes stress, conflict, and opportunity.

Examples of situations that cause conflicts are getting products to market more quickly, introducing price increases without customer rejection, marketing and sales not being on the same page, internal silos, and on and on.

The good news is that analysts are now reporting that because workers are reaching the breaking point, employers will once again begin to hire in order to grow the business. So, hang on!So what’s a leader supposed to do to successfully manage workplace conflicts? Read on to find out.Creating lasting personal change

Consider the following action steps to support lasting behavioral change to successfully manage conflict. The objectives in applying these steps are to make conflict work for you instead of against you. Good luck!

Recognize that disagreements are a part of human relationships. In fact, differing perspectives in business are often the root of innovation. Stays focused on the business at hand avoid making it personal.
Seek to understand by listening in the moment to truly understand the source of the conflict.
Always take the highroad, give the person that you are in conflict with a graceful way out even if both of you know that you are right!
Draw on your emotional intelligence skills to communicate in a non-threatening manner.
Respond to all conflict in a true spirit of finding a solution that works for both parties.
Keep the conflict in perspective. Unless it affects your health, your family, or your future, it’s probably not as serious of a conflict as you think.
Once the situation is resolved, let it go forever!

Trudy Bourgeois is CEO of The Center for Workforce Excellence and a member of the Network of Executive Women. A former senior corporate executive who broke the glass ceiling while working for a Fortune 100 Company. she is living her passion by helping others achieve greatness. If your organization planning a team meeting, leadership conference or convention, visit http://www.TrudyPresents.com to learn about securing Trudy Bourgeois as one of your featured speakers.

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