Category Archives: Resume

Second Jobs – Are They Worth It?

In this economy, a lot of young professionals (and older professionals) are taking on side jobs – these jobs help to pay off loans and make living a post-student lifestyle easier. In my own workplace I know a few women, of varying career levels, who go to work after work; it’s hard!

For two years now I have been a part of an organization that works with exchange students. I even talked about how hard it can be over here. The extra money isn’t much, but I have to admit that it was very helpful during the unemployed times. But I recently realized that with the new job, the new commute, and the new marriage, the extra money is just not worth the time sink that this side job has become. For my own sanity I have to let it go. 
I think it’s important to evaluate how important free time is to you when considering whether or not to take on a second job (this is assuming that a second job isn’t a necessity for you). I hate to quit mid-year but my priorities are 1) staying sane 2) staying fit and 3) staying happy and right now the second job doesn’t help me to achieve any of those things.

There are definitely young professionals out there who disagree with my stance on this, seeing a second job as a necessity for getting ahead. I understand their points too:

  • A second job can help bridge your experience gap, allowing you to jump to your next, more desirable position, more easily
  • More $$$$
  • You may be more appealing to hiring managers because you’ve shown you take you can juggle many responsibilities. 
But it’s all about priorities and if you can handle a second job and want to handle a second job, more power to you. 

Infographic Resume

On the interwebs there are myriad suggestions for improving your resume and staying current. I even wrote about it over here. But I remember a few years ago at work I was talking to a friend and colleague who had come across someone’s resume that was in the form of a map. This person had worked all over the world and had a “pin” in each location with a blurb about what he did there and for how long. Obviously that’s not your standard design.

I think doing a unique/out of the box resume is a big risk – you never know who is on the receiving end. Maybe it’s a very old-school executive who finds your creative style unprofessional or maybe even offensive. But in the right circumstances, I think the risk can pay off.

I recently joined Brazen Careerist which is yet another networking site (similar to LinkedIn) but BC promotes the idea of a social resume and is a very fun site to play with. They recently launched an app (it’s free!) that connects your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account to create an infographic resume for you. I love how it made my look at resume in a new light – it really pulls out the important bits and doesn’t bog you down with boring language. Go make yours!!

Something else I like about BC is that they give you badges based on your accomplishments. Here are mine:

While trying to do a bit of research for this post, I came across people who had turned their facebook page into a resume, had used prezi to create an interactive resume, and who made their resume look a LIFE game board.

I think your profession really determines whether or not infographic or unique resume structures are appropriate but one day, I’d like to send off an infographic and see if it would get any positive responses.

Improving Your Resume

Taking advice on your resume, once you have one made and “perfected”, is difficult. I’ve invested a lot of time in putting my experiences down on paper and making it look pretty so when people tell me to change it up, I may be likely to shut down. Resume format is pretty subjective and obviously I think my way is the best way.

But here are some tips that make me willing to rethink how I’ve done my resume thanks to Penelope Trunk.

Focus on achievements v. responsibilities. 
A resume is not your life story. No one cares. If your life story were so interesting, you’d have a book deal. The only things that should be on your resume are achievements. 
I think this is true for cover letters too; you want to focus on achievements and try to give corresponding numbers. Everything else is space filler. This one is hard for me to buy into because quantifying achievements is so hard…but possible.

Your resume is a marketing document not a moral statement
The best marketing documents show the product in the very best light, which means using whatever most outrageous tactics possible to make you look good. As long as you are not lying, you will be fine.


Don’t give everything away

The idea of a resume is to get someone to call you. Talk with you on the phone. Offer you an interview. So a resume is like a first date. You only show your best stuff and you don’t show it all.Some people dump everything they can think of onto their resume, but a resume is not the only chance you’ll have to sell yourself. In fact the interview is where the hard-core selling takes place. So you only put your very best achievements on the resume. Sure, there will be other questions people will want answers to, but that will make them call you. And that’s good, right?

I like these tips because they aren’t completely obvious to me. The usual, make it look nice, don’t have spelling mistakes, be relevant, tips are SO OLD! But I think job seekers, new and experienced, could use these to rethink how they are selling themselves. I think selling results versus tasks is very appealing.

How willing are you to change up your resume format? If you actually make your resume results-oriented only, by how much do you shorten it?