Job hunting and careful hiring seem to be front and center as the economy continues to wobble. Here are a few letters.

Dear Joan:

How would I set up a chronological resume if I've been unemployed for up to eight months? Should I use month and year or just years. My last job ended June 2008 so what would I actually put in a resume to fill the gap? If I do occasional volunteer work do I write that in or specify searching for full-time position to justify the blank space?


Answer:

Eight months will require an explanation no matter what kind of resume you write, so the key is to use the resume to get in the door. You can go several ways: chronological, functional and marketing letter.

The chronological resume highlights the spaces, so include volunteer work (don’t call it that) and any work-related experience you did during that gap. You don’t have to get paid to call it “work.” List accomplishments and results, just as you would for a full-time job.

An alternative that may work better is a functional resume. You create headings that describe the larger chunks of work experience you’ve had and then group all experiences under each heading. For instance, computer skills, leadership, project management are all potential headings. Then at the bottom you can list company names and years (if you want), or leave it off. The more information you list the more chance you have of getting a call. Use results and accomplishments language.

Marketing letters work well if you have several significant accomplishments that are tied closely with the job posting. It’s even better if you can use someone’s name as a referral in the opening line. You can use whatever information you wish—company names, dates, education—whatever sells you most strongly. It is a tool to get a phone call, which may lead to an interview, which is the whole point of a resume in the first place.


Dear Joan:

I need to hire a new staff member. I have had numerous applications but not necessary a whole lot with experience. I feel two of the candidates could do the job (with in-house training) but I have concerns. One candidate has only been in management positions. This is not a management position. She doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy in the interview but comes across as harsh or cold. I am wondering if she will get along with the others and whether she will in fact be happy at the office or whether I will be spending a whole lot of time training only to have her leave for another job.

The other candidate wants to leave a job to come to my office. She wants to move to this area to be with her boyfriend, who is currently working here. She also mentioned that she may have an interest in accounting and may want to eventually further her education in this direction. I am not an accounting firm. Here again I am thinking she will possible leave the area to go back to where her boyfriend is from and secondly she may stay only for a short term. I am looking for someone long-term. How do I know if I am hiring the right person? Go with gut instinct?


Answer:

Neither sound right for the job and here’s why. If the first is cold and harsh in an interview, why would she suddenly change behavior once she is hired? She should be on her best behavior during the interview and she can’t even pull that off. The first person is also overqualified. If it is clearly a non-management job and she is a manager, why is she applying? The experience simply isn’t matching the job requirements. She has had multiple management jobs so she can’t even say she tried management and didn’t like it.

The second person has never said she wanted the job because it matched her skills and experience. That’s a bad sign. She has only told you it will get her here for her boyfriend and that she has an interest in an entirely different field. She is pretty na ve and self-absorbed if she thinks those are selling points.

Why not ask some staffing firms to send you some fresh candidates and re-post the job on more Internet sites? Backing yourself into a decision between two inappropriate candidates is a move that will surely backfire.

Be careful about choosing a candidate based on future decisions they may or may not make. Instead, look at experience fit first. Next, weigh their potential corporate fit with the rest of the team. Then check out their references and ask questions that will test and validate your findings.

Looking for a long-term employee is simply not a practical criterion to use in the hiring process. There is no way to know if they will stay or go after three months or thirty years. In the case of these two candidates, they probably are short timers—but that’s not a good reason to screen them out. In their cases, you have plenty of other reasons they aren’t a good fit for the job.

Joan Lloyd is an executive coach, management consultant, facilitator and professional trainer/speaker.  Email your question to Joan at info@joanlloyd.com.  Joan Lloyd & Associates, (800) 348-1944, Visit www.JoanLloyd.com © Joan Lloyd & Associates, Inc.