RE: Resume Monster: “Buzzwords That Can Damage Your Resume.” resume-monster.blogspot/2012/06/buzzwords-that-can-damage-your-resume.html?goback=.gde_2881314_member_254696710#.UdvljaysLHt Typical of most career counseling articles, this one concentrates on window dressing issues that don’t mean much. Your resume reflects your career path unless you outright lie. Lying is always a bad idea as you WILL be found out. Anyway, your resume reflects your career path and, in the ongoing Bush-Obama Depression, if your career path does not fit employer expectations, you are toast. I don’t care what fonts, spacing, and keywords you put in or avoid on your resume. Here are the real buzzwords that land your resume in the ash can. “Bachelor of Arts:” Employers want Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. Any “arts” degree labels you as an idiot who wasn’t good enough at crunching numbers to get a B.S. degree. An Associates in a technical field carries more weight than a Bachelors or a Masters in a liberal arts field. “Master of Arts,” “Master of Science,” “Ph.D”. In many fields the guy who is doing the hiring has either a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration or, at most a Master of Science in Business Administration. Anyone with a graduate degree in a substantive area is viewed as a threat. As C. Northcote Parkinson (Parkinson’s Law) observed, people with a bureaucratic mentality—even when working in the private sector--want to hire subordinates not rivals. You need a lesser degree than the guy hiring you. Besides, if you have an advanced degree you will cost too much. See below: “Eight, 10, 15 years experience” “Seeking entry-level position.” Or experience in fields other than the one in which you are applying. In the world of Obamanomics, firms cannot afford long training and apprenticeship periods. They want people who can “hit the decks running” and assume only those who currently have exactly the same job at another firm can do that. So if you lack at least two years experience doing the same thing, apply for Food Stamps and move back in with your parents. “Eight, 10, 15 years experience”. Employers want three to five years experience nowadays. If you have more, they figure your salary demands will be too high. With the money available to hire anyone being eaten up by Obamacare, maternity leave, and other government mandates, if you have more than five years experience you are going to have a hard time getting anything and if you get something, expect MacWages. “Twenty years experience.” If you have more than 15 years experience, you are obviously an old fogey who is not up to date with the latest technology. Besides, you cost too much. Especially in health care premiums (mandated by Obamacare) and lost time as anyone over 50 is much more statistically likely to have health problems. “Acme Instant Tornado Company, June 1, 2010 to August 1, 2011” Anything less than two years on average at prior employers and you are considered a dreaded “job hopper.” This applies even if you took on temp work, contract work, or short-term assignments. Most hiring managers simply can’t deal with the concepts of temp work and contract work. If you are not a full-time direct hire and stay at least two years, it is assumed you were laying on your couch drunk and watching television for the whole period—or sacked for embezzling from the company payroll fund. “Proprietor,” “Principal,” “Owner,” “Free Lance.” “Contract,” “Overall Project Responsibility,” “1099,” “Sabbatical” If there is one common attitude among hiring managers that has me totally baffled, it is the extreme reluctance to hire anyone who has previously owned a business or who took on an entire project on his own--even if the business or project was successful and profitable. You would think such a person would be a great catch for any firm because he would have a global understanding of the whole productive process that cannot be obtained by working as an employee where you only gain experience in a tiny narrowly-focused aspect of the work. Also, as a business owner you gain valuable customer service skills that can be gained no other way. You come with an understanding of and empathy with the problems faced by the firm’s managers. Since most new businesses crash and burn in the first year, if you can keep a business profitable for even two or three years, you are an extraordinary person. But on the contrary, prior business ownership or taking on a free lance or contract project is usually the kiss of death when it comes to being hired as an employee. They insist on people whose entire work record is as an employee. I guess they figure anyone who has had his own business will be dissatisfied as an employee. If you have not already done a career self-destruct (like I have), you have to focus on the resume effects of every career decision. “How is this going to look on my resume if I ever have to get another job?”
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 12:19:22 +0000
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