Resume Design Tips II: Using fonts

Your resume is one of the most important professional documents you will ever produce. Your resume needs to state that you are reliable, professional, honest and so on. How do you do that? Using type properly is a big, big step.

Choosing fonts

You'll probably want to stick to one font for your resume; if you're feeling creative (and this is a relative term when it comes to resumes), you can use two, but no more than two. Ever.

There are two kinds of fonts you can use: "serif" or "sans-serif". Serifs are the little lines at the ends of letters, like the little line at the top of the "h":

h

Good serif fonts to use that you will be able to find on your computer: Times (or Times New Roman), Georgia, Minion, Palatino or Bell.

Sans-serif fonts do not have the little lines ("without serifs"). Use sans-serif fonts like Arial, Myriad, Tahoma or Verdana.

Most other fonts are not professional enough to use on your resume.

Font size

The default size for a font is 12 points (12pt - a point is 1/72 of an inch). This is an acceptable size, although most graphic designers would choose 10pt for a starting size. This depends on the font, and you want the resume to be readable - going too small is worse then too big, but don't go out of the 10pt - 12pt range.

Mixing fonts

If you are feeling adventurous, you can use a serif font and a sans-serif font (don't mix 2 serif fonts or 2 sans-serif fonts). Use the serif font for the main resume text, and the sans-serif font for the section titles (like "Objectives", "Employment History" and "References").

You probably have dozens of fonts on your computer, but most are inappropriate for a professional document like a resume. Stick to a conservative presentation; this will prevent your resume from being discarded or discredited immediately.

If you want something a little more interesting, have your resume designed by a professional graphic designer (the investment should be worth it), or take your resume to a career adviser for a second opinion.

5 things you MUST do when starting a new assignment or job

Another excellent post from another great career & employment blogger, Recruitnik at Through the Eyes of a Recruiter:

5 ways to make an impact as a new employee (without being seen as a brownnoser, bulldozer or brat)

(click through to the post to see the full explanations)

1. Listen more than you talk
2. Network up and down the organization
3. Be a problem solver
4. Seek feedback
5. Don't curb your enthusiasm

Starting a new job, especially doing this frequently as a temp, is a difficult transition, and it takes time to become a part of the company culture.

Temps have a particularly difficult time - often you aren't a person, but "the temp". Using these 5 points can help you become much more valuable to the organization, and maybe even lead to full-time employment.

Illegal, offensive and just plain weird interview questions

Chris Russell at Secrets of the Job Hunt has posted a list of illegal, bizarre and offensive questions asked in job interviews. Here are some lowlights:

Illegal:
"Why are you not yet married?"

Offensive:
"Would you be willing to stay overnight with a client if they request it?"

Bizarre
"What would you do if I gave you an elephant?"

Check out more of these questions, and also some odd comments made in interviews by candidates, here.

Candidates have more power in interviews than they realize. Any questions that probe into your personal life do not have to be answered - although the response needs to be handled tactfully.

There are interviewers that ask on offbeat or strange question simply to see how a candidate reacts - the answer doesn't matter but you need to show how you can think on your feet.

What's the strangest question you've been asked in an interview?

It's a cold Monday in January. GO FOR IT!

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

~ Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

If you're looking for a job, Mondays, especially cold Mondays in January, seem better suited for crawling back under the covers and waiting for Tuesday.

There are so many setbacks and delays in the job hunting process. Waiting for calls, waiting for decisions, hearing 'no' over and over again. And sitting down to write another cover letter? That's a Tuesday kind of job.

Goal setting is critical when you are looking for a job. Even really small ones like writing one section of your resume, making a follow-up call or sending a thank-you note. It's not the size of the goal, it's the completion of the goal that brings satisfaction.

So, set some small goals over the next 10 minutes. Spend the next half-hour, two hours or whatever accomplishing those goals. And then crawl back under the covers. You've earned it.

What job interviewers are REALLY looking for

The job interview is incredibly intimidating. There's a job you really want, or need, and getting the job or not will affect your career, your financial future, your emotional well-being...

You dress up in your best clothes (please... dress up in your best clothes), practice all of the potential questions you may be asked, so on and so on.

And there's an interviewer looking to find all of the worst parts about you: your inexperience, your poor work habits, the brother-in-law in jail (well, no, I'm making that up) - anything they can find so that they won't hire you. This evil nasty person is standing in your way.

Actually, most interviewers aren't looking for excuses not to hire you - if you made it to the interview, they're looking for reasons to hire you. They aren't going to waste their time in an interview if you don't have something they're looking for.

So, what are interviewers looking for? Here are a few things:

• Your personality. Having an employee fit into the organization is very important. Each company has it's own in-office personality, and they want to see how you would fit that personality. Since you can't know this before, just be yourself. You can also pick up clues to this office vibe by watching and listening to the interviewers.
• Your experience. Each job has its own requirements, and you can say only so much on your resume. The interviewer needs a more complete picture of your experience, and this is a big aspect of the interview.
• Your own needs. Salary and work type are a part of this, but good companies that care about their employees (there are more of these than you think) also need to know if the work will fit your life. For example, if the hours are incompatible (often not your fault), the job might not be a good match.

For both the employer and the potential employee, a job interview is like a blind date; you getting to know each other. Go in with a positive attitude, and show them what you can do!

US recession fears loom - what does that mean for Alberta?

The US and international media is full of dire news of an upcoming recession in the US.

A recession in the US has worldwide consequences, but would it cool off Alberta's red hot economy? Would less demand for oil and other natural resources put a crimp in our exports?

The Edmonton Sun thinks Alberta can weather a US recession:

[University of Alberta economist Mike Percy] said Alberta will fare better because there will always be a demand for oil - whether it's in the U.S. or in Asian markets.

"By and large, the demand for energy is pretty inelastic," Percy said.

[Paul McElhone, with the School of Retailing at the University of Alberta] said consumer confidence remains sky-high in Wild Rose Country.

"Everyone is so busy in Alberta, people just don't have a lot of time to head south."

Good news for now, but keep that resume buffed up and register with Officejobs.com if you live in Calgary, Toronto or anywhere else in Canada - we've got a ton of jobs waiting for good people.

Cool resume layout

Cool resume layout at Secrets of the Job Hunt.

Innovative doesn't always work, but when it does it stands out. Just be careful of your audience - innovative works best in a creative environment, not so much a large corporate one (but don't let that stop you from trying).

Resume Design Tips I: Using bold type properly

Here at Officejobs.com, we've seen every kind of resume come through, both physically and in print. This is the first in a series on resume graphic design and what you can do to have the best looking resume in the stack.

Bold type

There is only one reason to make something bold on your resume - to draw attention to an item. We've seen entire resumes in bold type; in an attempt to be, well, bold, nothing stands out - it just becomes difficult to read.

Generally, bold type is only used for the most important things on a resume: job title is the best place to use bold type. When a recruiter or HR person gets your resume, they'll scan it quickly (5 to 10 seconds is a long time to look at a resume for the first time). Choose the one (1) most important thing on the resume - job titles, accomplishment keywords, etc. - to draw the viewer's attention quickly.

Remember to use this sparingly - 1-3 words is most effective. When everything is bold, nothing is bold.

Didn't get the job? Check your email nickname.

You have a beautifully formatted resume on nice paper. You dress professionally for the interview. And the email address on your resume is pornstar69@(whatever).com.

Email nicknames that do not project a professional image:

• sexxxygirl
• sacktiger
• devotedtoChrist (it says too much about your personal beliefs - inappropriate for many workplaces)
• goody2shoes
• johnnybravo (if your name isn't Johnny Bravo. A great cartoon, but not appropriate for the workplace)
  

It's small details like this that can place you second or third in the job competition.

A cute, corny or, in some people's minds, offensive email address can take away from the professional image you are trying to create in the hiring manager's mind. Your email nickname can reveal quite a lot about you, and too much personal information is never a good thing when you are trying to get hired.

Advice: get a second email address based on your name. Email addresses and accounts are free; use a second account for professional correspondence. Check out Hotmail, gmail or Yahoo Mail for free accounts.

Use a variation on your name like:

• sarahsmith
• sarah.smith
• s.smith
• ssmith

and so on. It may be difficult to find a variation on a popular name, so try mixing a number in with it. Please avoid the number 69.

• sarahsmith23
• ssmith42

When you are job hunting, professionalism is very, very important. Make sure every element of your presentation, including your email address, lives up to the image.

How to keep the job hunt optimism alive

Beautiful post from Heather Mundell at Career Hub: Optimism is Your Career Ally

Everyone gets down on their career searches. Job hunting is one of the most frustrating things you will every do. When you get the job, there are days when the most optimistic people just want to crawl under a blanket and eat chocolate.

Here's what sets apart the pessimists from the optimists, according to Dr. Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life,

"The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of the world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case...Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder."

Heather outlines the "ABCD" skills model:

A. Notice when you're experiencing adversity, even just a tiny example.
"I can't get a meeting with my boss this week."

B. Notice your beliefs (i.e., your interpretation) about this adversity.
"My boss is always ducking me. Why doesn't she care about what I'm doing?"

C. Notice how you feel and/or what you do (i.e., the consequences).
"I'm worried that I'm not going to be considered for the promotion I'm wanting, that I'm no longer a "player". I'm angry that I'm disregarded."

D. Distract yourself or dispute your beliefs.
Immediately shift your attention to stop ruminating. Or use evidence, alternative views, or decatastrophize. (These are very powerful skills that I just can't do justice here. Get the book!)

Read the post and check out the book she mentions, and keep your spirits up!

Second unofficial post - a few words about Officejobs.com

This is where I can point if my bosses find out about this.

Officejobs.com is a staffing firm in Calgary and Toronto, Canada. We specialize in office support staff, and we do a really good job at it. I'm serious. The recruiters here are awesome. We're small, but the people we deal with are great.

We've been trying to figure out how to do staffing online, and it isn't easy to sort out all the little details, but we're almost there; I'll let you know in a month or two how it's going.

I really like working here; the people are awesome, and just a little bit wacky. The bosses are cool and really approachable; the best part for me is that they are personally and professionally ethical. But they need to get off their duffs on the whole official blogging thing.

First unofficial post

There comes a time in every corporate flunky's life when they have to take matters into their own hands (and put their necks on the chopping block - here's hoping for a Nerf axe).

I am the "digital provocateur" at Officejobs.com, which means, um, well, I don't know what that means. Usually that means taking care of stuff like the web site, some marketing and so on, but mostly it means sitting around trying to convince the bosses why we should be doing innovative and cool stuff.

Since there has been a certain amount of heel-dragging on the blog thing, here's the unofficial and unauthorized blog for Officejobs.com. If this lasts three posts, it'll have been a good run. Nice to know ya, and see you in my next job.