There is a lot of talk these days about going ‘Green’.  Schools, businesses, and entire communities have adopted the phrase in order to make the Earth a better place to live.  This got me thinking about E-Resumes- no paper, no postage, no icky envelopes to lick.  Just a quick cut and paste and you are on your way to applying for a job online.  However, with E-Resumes there are some things to be aware of, as they do not always read the same to the recipient as they did to the sender.  With a lot of help from Career Builder, I will tackle the issue of E-Resumes in this entry.  To view the entire article click: 'Five Steps to an E-Friendly Resume'.

First, let’s discuss why you need an E-Resume.  It’s simple really- employers are going online, so you need to as well.  In some cases businesses are utilizing automated applicant-tracking systems to ‘pre-screen’ your resume.  These tracking systems do not like your fancy fonts and bullet points; they only want the nuts and bolts of your resume.  These systems essentially scan your resume for key words on your resume that an employer wants to read- sales representative, account coordinator or marketing director just to name a few.  This scanning will often confuse your fun fonts for designs or pictures and will make your resume virtually impossible to read.

So let’s get to the basics of taking your current (font filled) resume and changing it to a (plain text)
E-Resume suitable for applying to those online jobs.

1.       Remove all formatting from your original resume.  To do this, open your current document and choose the “SAVE AS” option under the “FILE” tab.  Save your document as Plain Text or Text Only.  You will then see another dialog box- choose the option to insert line breaks.

2.       Use Notepad, WordPad or SimpleText to reformat.  Close your original resume (with all the pretty fonts and bullet points) and reopen the text (plain) version using software such as Notepad, WordPad or SimpleText.  Your text version should be free of your pretty fonts, fun lines and bullet points.  Your text should also be lined up with the left side of the document.

3.       Keep it simple silly!  Use regular ‘ol fonts such as Arial, Courier, or Times New Roman.  The computerized tracking systems will be less likely to view a word as a design with these fonts as opposed to your fancy-pants fonts used before. 

A 12-point font is best, anything smaller could get missed.  Stay away from italics or underlining.  Rather using bold, try using CAPITAL LETTERS for your headings.

Instead of using bullet points, try regular key symbols like * asterisk, or – dash, or ~ squiggly line thingy.  Instead of using the TAB key, use the SPACE BAR to indent your lines.

Avoid abbreviations when possible- spell out Associates of Applied Science, instead of using AAS.

4.       Put it to the test.  After you have your plain, text only resume all set to go practice emailing it to a friend or to yourself.  Try emailing it to someone who uses a different email server than you (if you have Hotmail, send it to someone with AOL).  Have your friend keep track of any symbols or words that come across wrong or out of place and make adjustments when needed.  You can also try to cut and paste your resume into the body of an email for the test, instead of sending it as an attachment.   Do NOT cut/paste into email body when sending to an employer, always submit as an attachment.  For emailing as an attachment- you can use your regular, pretty resume.

Taaaa Daaaa!  You are now helping to save the Earth as well as apply to more jobs in the course of a day.  Be sure to KEEP A COPY OF YOUR PRETTY RESUME!  Print it out on resume paper and take it with you to an interview, or email it ahead of time, so an employer can see your computer skills.

Now, answer that phone- it could be your career calling!!!

This week, I take a deeper look at the Millennials, a name given to those people born anywhere between 1977 and 1998.  I fall into this category and I enjoyed doing a little research on myself for a change.  I hope you find this post entertaining and interesting - who knows, maybe you’ll even learn something too!!

As I read through Harvey Mackay’s Column this week, I couldn’t help but wonder - am I a ‘New Generation’ of worker that ‘doesn’t play by the old rules’?? Did my parents, family, teachers, coaches and yes, even Mister Rogers - tell me I’m special?  Special enough to ask for what I want, and expect that I get it?  Are my parents to blame for me being a determined, driven, ‘no- isn’t -an –answer’ woman?  Are these bad qualities to have?? 

Mackay dives into the world of “Millennials” who were born between 1980 and 1995 (or 1977-1998 depending on where you look) who are entering the workforce at a rapid pace.  He relates facts and stories from both 60 Minutes and the Wall Street Journal about this group who are ‘tech-savvy’, but not ‘necessarily prepared for a demanding workplace’.  I find myself asking - “Am I really tech-savvy?”  Sure, I guess.  “Am I ‘unprepared for a demanding job’ such as the one I have now?”  I don’t think so…so I do more research. 

I Goggled “Millennials” and found out we are 75 million strong.  This site also gave me a fascinating look into the ‘generational differences and similarities’ between Gen X and Millennials.  This is interesting to me, considering most of the people I interact with on a daily basis fall into the ‘Generation X’ category. 

The abanet.org article also stated “Perhaps it’s because of the showers of attention and high expectations from parents that they display a great deal of self-confidence to the point of appearing cocky.  As you might expect, this groups is technically literate like no one else.  Technology has always been a part of their lives, whether it’s computers and the Internet or cell phones and text pagers.”  So now I’m even MORE curious.  I have a 16-year-old brother is who far more advanced than me when it comes to the Internet, texting, i-pods, Wii, and anything else ‘technical’.  What does that make him?  Someday I’ll be their boss - will I think of them what some bosses think of people my age?  My brother is a hard worker, does well in school, plays basketball, stays out of trouble.  But I can’t picture him working.  Maybe that’s because I still view him as a 5-year-old that I had to take to Kindergarten everyday, but I think it has more to do with what I see on his Facebook page.  I see a group of kids who are fun, free, lively, happy - almost reverting back to the ‘Peace, Love, Freedom’ era of the 1960’s and ‘70’s.  

The article goes on to state that Millennials are ‘team-oriented’, ‘work well in groups’, and are ‘good multitaskers’.  It does bring up a great point that I have pondered now that I am far removed from High School.  I have ‘juggled sports, school, and social interests as children so expect them to work hard’.  It’s amazing how much I accomplished in High School- with seemingly LESS time in the day then I have now.  I have noticed my brother and his friends are no where NEAR as involved in school activities as I was at his age.  How did I do it then?  Does this innate drive to do more make me a better, harder, faster worker?  I do know this- I absolutely cannot stand being bored.  Unlike some people from my life, I cannot stand to sit on the computer and ‘surf the net’ for 8 hours a day.  I enjoy being productive, reaching goals, setting new standards, going home at the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment.  I could not, and would not, settle for a job that left me with mass amounts of time to ‘do whatever’. 

I do enjoy having a mentor - as the article goes on to explain.  I do want someone to guide me, provide me with challenges, let me have new information to work with.  I also enjoy the ‘personal attention’ discussed in the article.  I want someone to tell me I’m on the right track, or I need to move on, or try something new, or just take a break.  I actually keep a ‘Kudos’ folder in my email inbox which contains every ‘Great work’, ‘Nice presentation’, ‘You’re the Best’ email I’ve received while working here.  Not only is it good for my ego, it’s great to look at when I’m having a bad day.  I suggest you start one as well- it’s great to use in a portfolio also.

I clicked on the article titled “Managing Millennials: Eleven Tips for Managing Millennials” and literally LOL.  It seems to describe me perfectly!!  I have a ‘can-do attitude’, I ‘seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom’, I need ‘flexibility in scheduling’ to balance my work and home life - in fact, I expect it!  I ‘need to see where their career is going and want to know exactly what I need to do to get there.’  These things make me smile and shake my head…it’s like they are describing me!  

And then it says something that makes me a bit sad "Computer experts, Millennials are connected all over the world by email, instant messages, text messages, and the Internet."  Sadly, it’s true.  What used to be hour long phone conversations with friends who have moved to Seattle, LA, Dallas, Chicago- has now turned into emails, Facebook Walls, MySpace comments and late night text messages.  I announced my engagement via text message to most, and displayed it on my MySpace for the rest.  Sure, I called a few people, but I figured it was easier and faster to virtually announce it.  Does this make me unconnected or more connected?  Does that fact that I only talk on the phone to friends and family a few times a month make me rude, or does the fact that I send daily or weekly emails to them make me loving?  I ONLY talk to my brother through text or email- does that hinder our relationship? 

This is all too much to ponder right now.  I think I will get back to the task at hand- placing students and Alumni in careers for which they went to school for.  This job is never boring, and provides me with lots of interaction with humans.  As we move forward with 2008, and a brand new Quarter here at Rasmussen, I think I will attempt to call home at least once a week, chat with my girlfriends on the phone and not online, and work on talking rather than typing.

Yes, you caught me red-handed.  I have a MySpace account.  I’ll give you a minute while you log on and attempt to find me…sorry…I don’t accept Alumni as ‘Friends’…nothing personal…just don’t like to ‘mix business with pleasure’.

OK, now that you’ve had time to read my headline and see another photo of me - let’s move on with it.  If you are unsure of our subject of conversation today, “...MySpace is a social-networking site where people form extended networks of friends who communicate on home pages loaded with text, photos, and music. It has become hugely popular as a venue for independent music, filling a void created by MTV's shift to reality shows and hip hop. Its pages let the freewheeling nature of its members come through.”    You will likely be able to find someone who knows MySpace or has MySpace that would be happy to give you a tour of the networking phenomenon if you have never had the chance to view it yourself.

MySpace had over 24.2 million users daily last November, receiving 11.6 billion page views in October of 2006 making it the fourth most viewed site on the web - with over two times as many views as Google.   

So with all these users, and all these views…do you ever ask yourself…is my MySpace really private??  Well, if you have your privacy settings correctly set- yes, your site is private - remember when you looked at mine?  But, if your space is NOT set to ‘Private’ you could be seen by as many as 26 percent of employers who responded that they have searched applicants through online networking sites, or Google.    Employers are logging into MySpace to see what you have to say, or do, or show the public.  Some have even gone as far as to hire interns to do their searching for them…cool gig if you ask me.

But what does this mean for you?  It could spell disaster when it comes to job searching, especially as markets become tighter and more competitive.  Employers often wonder what kind of judgment a person has who posts photos, blogs or other items for the entire world to view.  Let’s just say, for the sake of argument of course, that you celebrated your last birthday singing Karaoke, eating tacos, sporting a less than flattering wig, and partaking in a celebratory drink or two.  Now, let’s say the following Monday you really want to share those photos with your pals in Florida.  You log into MySpace and post them for your ‘friends’ (and 24.2 million viewers) to see.  Whalla - you have no successfully made your way into birthday party history.  But wait, there’s more!!  You interview for the job of your dreams a few weeks later, you make it to the final round…only to find out you were not their final choice.  WHAT?!  You wrack your brain, trying to come up with WHY in the world you didn’t get the job.  You were qualified, you had the experience, you dressed up, you smelled great, and you even sent a Thank You letter!  Then it hits you…that Blog…your MySpace…your birthday photos…they could very well be the cause of your new job demise.

Now, I’m not saying every single thing you post online will be found, or that if it is it will cost you a job.  I’m just saying - be cautious, remember that “YourSpace” is MySpace too.  Set your profile to private, watch what your pals post in your Comments section, be mindful of what photos you use.  You just never know- it’s better safe than sorry.

Along with this topic I feel compelled to share my fear of ‘ring backs’.  These catchy little tunes sing in the ear of the person calling you (maybe for a job interview) so they can hum a tune instead of listening to the normal ‘ring…ring…ring…ring…’ until you, or your voicemail, pick up.  PLEASE be mindful of what your song is- if you are actively job searching you may want to consider NOT using a ring back at all.  (I know, how lame, but it will pay off)!

And while we are on the subject…you may also want to consider changing your spoken voicemail to ‘Hello, you’ve reached the voicemail of _________  ___________.  I am unable to come to the phone at this time, please leave your name and number and I will get back with you as soon as I can.  Thank you and have a great day.  I promise you, an employer would much rather listen to that then ‘I’m not answering ‘cause I don’t care who you are or what you have to say’.  Something tells me they may hang up without saying a word.

So there, for now I will jump down off my soap box and let you return to work…or to your MySpace page…

Answer that phone...