Workplace Life

Your Resume: Telling It Like It Is

administrator — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:23:06 +0000

No matter how many resumes I look at, there is always one constant problem that almost nobody can seem to get away from: Making something out of nothing. Wait a minute, isn’t that the point of a resume? To pull every last ounce of impressiveness (patent pending) out of your accomplishments? The answer is that both points are valid. Before your head explodes, let me explain.

There is a big difference between describing your accomplishments in glowing detail and attributing successes or skills where they don’t belong. Here’s an example:

Job Experience

Domino’s Pizza delivery driver

Basic Information

Only late two times out of 100 - Does not remember exact reason
Employee of the Month Feb. 2007
No customer complaints
Employed one year

Pretty basic job, sounds like the person above really maximized their time there. With that being said, there is the right way to maximize the description for it on your resume, and the wrong way. Here’s one way you could present this in the correct way using the basic information that was provided above:

Good Example

Excellent delivery on-time percentage, completed 98% of all deliveries made on time.
Earned the Employee of the Month Award for February of 2007.
Received zero customer complaints during the entire tenure of employment.

You’ll notice that the information above is pretty similar to the basic information provided. This is because the accomplishments really stand on their own, all you need to do is add the extra word smithing here and there to spice it up a bit. Now, let’s take a look at a bad example:

Bad Example

Excellent delivery on-time rate, only late two times due to vehicle difficulties during entire year of employment.
Earned the Employee of the Month Award in February of 2007, which showcases my ability to excel at any position given to me.
No customer complaints were received for deliveries made during my tenure at Dominos. During my time, I gained invaluable knowledge about client relationships and feel that I am ready to sell future work.

Clearly, there are a number of things wrong with the above statements. For example, in the first bullet, there is mention of vehicle difficulties. However, the basic information states that the applicant couldn’t remember why those two deliveries were late. Maybe it was vehicle problems, maybe it was something else. The best way to go is to not speculate and possibly get yourself in trouble (maybe the potential employer calls Dominos and finds out it wasn’t vehicle problems).

Also, the second bullet reads way too much into getting that award. Yes, it’s a good award to have and you definitely want to document it. However, does that really mean you can excel at any position? This is too much of a stretch and just makes you look arrogant and/or foolish.

As for the third bullet, this is a clear overstatement of the amount of knowledge gained from the two minutes you talk to someone when you deliver a pizza. Once again, it’s great that there were no complaints. However, it doesn’t make you the expert at client relationships, let it speak for itself. Selling future work? This is not even remotely related to the experience point.

Believe it or not, these examples are based on real life examples that I’ve seen come my way. There is nothing that puts a potential employer off more than this kind of exaggeration. Remember: You need to be able to back up all of your statements on your resume with concrete reasoning and examples. A good check is to read each statement and make sure you have talking points for it before you submit it.

How To Use The Microsoft Word Thesaurus

administrator — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:05:43 +0000

Here’s the situation: You’re working on a document for work, and suddenly you realize that you’re using the same terms over and over again. However, you can’t think of a different way to describe what you’re writing about. What can you do? You can either whip out the dead weight that is a standard printed thesaurus, or you can simply use the one that is included in Microsoft Word.

It seems obvious. However, you would be surprised how many people don’t know about this useful tool. Part of that is probably because it is slightly hidden. To invoke the thesaurus, go to Tools -> Language -> Thesaurus. Not the most obvious of paths (at least to me). Once the Thesaurus Dialog is opened, simply type the word that you want to find alternate words for into the Insert text box. Then, click Look Up.

This will populate the Meanings text box with possibly several different contexts in which the word can be used. Making a selection in this dialog will bring up the list of corresponding synonyms in the Replace with Synonym text box. Finally, select the synonym that you want to use and click Insert. This will insert that word into your document. Just like that, no more repetitive terms!

This is a good way to avoid comments such as “Cut down on the use of the word xxx.”, or “Can we word this a different way?”. As we all know, the less comments you have to deal with, the better.

Funny Test Answers

administrator — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:15:28 +0000

If you need a good laugh, check out the test answers shown in the link below. You’ve probably seen it before, but I came across it the other day it gave me a chuckle:

Funny Test Answers

Maybe we should adapt this for the office?

Don’t Know? No Problem

administrator — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:08:44 +0000

With the title of this post in mind, I’d like to address one of the largest myths that surround the act of being a “manager”: Managers have to know everything. How do we fix the server? Can I expense this? What day does that obscure holiday fall on in 2047? Pretty much any question is fair game for a manager or supervisor, and rightfully so. As the person in charge, your people are going to look to you when they have such questions. However, the important point to remember is this: Just because you’re the focal point for these questions, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to know the answer.

It sounds contradictory, but not when you consider that there are two ways to answer a question. The first way is to answer it right off the bat from your own knowledge base. This option is what many new managers and supervisors think is the only option. However, the second way is just as viable. It consists of putting the person asking the question in contact with someone who knows the answer, or actively finding the person with the answer and then relaying it back. From my experience, you’ll use option two much more than you think.

Not convinced? Answer this question: What is the end goal of answering a question? Clearly, it’s getting the person who asked the question the answer. It sounds simple, but too many people get caught up in the whole “the person in charge needs to know everything” syndrome to remember this fact. Regardless if you know the answer off the top of your head, or you had to ask the guy in the HR department, it doesn’t matter as long as the question is answered.

Keep this in mind the next time you’re tempted to make an “educated” guess at an answer, and not only will you get the right answer but you’ll save yourself a lot of time and problems in the long run.

These Mistakes Drive Me Nuts!!!

administrator — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:19:19 +0000

If you haven’t yet experienced the sublime joy of reviewing other peoples documents, you don’t know what you’re missing (and you should probably keep it that way). However, it’s pretty much unavoidable that in some point in your career you’ll have to do this. Once you go through this process a few times, you’ll realize that there are a few things that you keep seeing over and over again. No matter how many times you make a comment about it, these issues just won’t go away. With that in mind, I’ve listed two of the most common mistakes that I’ve come across below. Despite my best efforts, I see them in almost every document I review.

1.) Not updating the table of contents - This is a gut shot, as this has to happen in 99% of the documents I review. Bottom line: This should be the last thing you do before you a submit a document for review. Even if you don’t think that any page references have changed, just do it anyway. The only thing worse than when page numbers are wrong are when there are a bunch of “Bookmark undefined errors”. In summary, update and visually check your table of contents before submission.

2.) Wrong page numbers - This most commonly happens when the footer gets screwed up between sections, i.e. it’s set to follow the previous section when it should start again. Conversely, this can also happen when a section is removed. Overall, just spot check your page numbers when you’re done with a document. An easy way to see if a page number is off is….wait for it….update the table of contents! When you update your table of contents, you’ll know right away with just a quick visual inspection if something is amiss.

The point? Simply put, keep the above two items in mind whenever you’re creating a document. Every time that you don’t make one of these errors, it’s one less comment that a reviewer has to make and you have to incorporate.

Interesting Microsoft Excel 2007 Calculation Bug

administrator — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 02:35:08 +0000

If you use Excel 2007 (Currently my company has not upgraded yet), you might be interested in reading the thread below from the google user groups:

Microsoft Excel 2007 Calculation Bug

It looks like a problem with the floating point representation of certain numbers. Fortunately, from what I can see this specific problem is unique to 2007, so if you haven’t upgraded yet you should be ok. Otherwise, if you use 2007 I’d read up on it to see if this affects you in any way.

Wednesday Morning Humor

administrator — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:21:17 +0000

Ah Wednesday. Possibly the worst day of the week, as I’ve previously documented in this article: Think Mondays are Bad? Wednesdays are Worse. In keeping with this train of thought, here’s a little something to brighten up your day:

Creepy bathroom hand soap

Let’s just say if I saw this in the bathroom, I might just take my chances with the water.

Happy Wednesday!

Furthering Your Education, Furthering Your Career

administrator — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:53:22 +0000

Furthering your education can be one of the best ways to advance your career. However, many people write it off as impossible for a number of reasons. Here is the one I hear the most often: I can’t go to classes, go to my job, and take care of the rest of my life at the same time. While this is a valid concern, the advent of the internet has provided a potent cure to this ill: online degree programs.

Many schools now offer entire degrees that are available online. This is incredibly convenient for your average working adult because:

1. They provide a flexible schedule - Many of these courses allow you to go at your own pace as opposed to having to be at a class on a certain date at a certain time.

2. They allow you to address other needs - Because you can complete these courses at home, you can easily accomplish other tasks that need to get done without having to worry about if you’ll make it home on time.

3. They can cost significantly less than conventional classes - Because you aren’t paying for some of the costs that are associated with a conventional education, you can save some serious money. Obviously, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. However, this doesn’t mean if you see a good discount it’s necessarily a bad deal.

If this peaks your interest, there are a number of places to go where you can peruse available online degrees. One of these places is Earn My Degree. They have cataloged a wide selection of available online degrees in multiple disciplines and levels. These degrees are offered through many different universities and colleges, which are listed along with the degree that is being offered online.

The really nice thing about this site is that they provide you direct access to the relevant information about the online degree that you are interested in. You don’t have to sift through hundreds of course catalog web pages on a school website just to find out that none of them are offered online. This is great as it can save you a lot of frustration time.

Also, the site is really easy to navigate. Just by using the sidebar you can search by degree level or discipline. A search by location and a free text search are also readily available from the home page.

Another nice feature is the learning center that provides multiple articles on online education, career management, and educational tools and resources. Great for a reference even if you don’t end up getting your degree right away.

Overall, with all of the technology available today, the excuse of not having enough time to further your education is getting harder and harder to use. Even if you are only slightly interested, you should check out online degrees now. It never hurts to research a topic, as you never know when that information might come in handy.

*This is a sponsored post.

The Painful Truth

administrator — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:45:39 +0000

I came across this humorous resume on Reddit, and I thought it was a good Friday laugh for everybody. I especially like the reference to the Excel spreadsheets, as that is so damn true sometimes.

Happy Friday!

3 Ways to Keep Cool in Your Office

administrator — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:02:21 +0000

Unfortunately for many of us, this summer is shaping up to be tremendously hot and uncomfortable. Even worse, many offices don’t offer much better protection from the heat than just being outside. Maybe the air conditioner is on the fritz, or maybe you have a ton of glass windows with little shading. Whatever it is, working in an 80 degree office is nobody’s idea of a good time. To alleviate some of these problems, here are three tactics you can try to keep comfortable:

1.) Take off your shoes - Obviously, you can’t walk around your office in socks (unless you can get away with it). However, when you’re at your desk, take off your shoes and let some of your natural body heat escape. Not only will it feel great but you’ll also be more relaxed as you get more comfortable. One word of warning: Be cognizant of the people around you. For instance, if you work in close quarters and your feet…how to put it…SMELL…pass on this tip (please).

2.) Clean up - If you’re sitting at your desk and sweating all over your laptop, chances are not much work is getting done. That’s why it’s crucial that you take a break every once and awhile and wash up in the restroom. While a full shower is not required, just washing your face and hands will make you feel 100 times better. While you’re at it, you mind as well grab a fresh glass of water. This tactic has the added benefit of giving you a small break from your work as well. Overall, you’ll go back to your desk refreshed and ready to work (at least until you’re next break).

3.) Relocate - When all else fails, you might have to relocate. This can come in the form of temporarily moving to a different part of the office or maybe working at home. Most employers are pretty receptive to this as long as it’s a legitimate concern. Let’s face it, what kind of value are they getting out of an employee who’s half awake because of 80 degree heat? Are they thinking about their work or about escaping their office prison sentence? It doesn’t hurt to try this if the heat is really getting to you.

As I stated in point three above, it’s in your employer’s best interest to keep you working at the maximum level that you’re capable of. Your work environment is a huge part of this equation, so don’t be shy to tell them if you are having real problems staying on top of things because of it.