Dusting off your LinkedIn profile as a covert job seeker

(Photo credit @nathanareboucas)

#careertip

Some of my current clients are looking for a new job while they are still working at the current one. It’s a common occurrence for many of us - but the challenge arises when you are trying to network, but don’t want the current employer to know your plans. How do you update your LinkedIn profile without spooking your manager? Here are 4 steps to take: 

1. Turn off the feature that broadcasts your profile updates to your network! 

While it can be a useful feature when you want everyone to know about your promotion or job change, it’s not helpful at this stage of your job search. Here are directions on how to find & turn off that feature. 

2.  Turn on the ‘Open to Work’ feature - but *only* for Recruiters. 

LinkedIn added a feature called ‘Open to Work’ - you’ve likely seen some profile pictures with this hashtag surrounding the picture. That is visible if you have indicated you want ALL of LinkedIn to view your job-seeking status. If you only want Recruiters to know you’re seeking, make sure to select that option. Here are directions on how to turn on/off the Open To Work feature. 

3. Consider what skills your new roles(s) will find relevant

If you are pivoting to a new industry or new type of role, you need to update the content & messaging of your LinkedIn profile for both humans AND algorithms. Browse a few job descriptions for the role(s) you want to pivot into. Then write down the keywords & skills they emphasize to give you a solid list of words you should be including somewhere on your profile. 

4. Change these 3 items now: Headline, About Me/Summary, and Skills. 

• Your headline should reflect what you want to do (not just what you currently do). It may also reflect your personality or the way you interact on a team. Here are a couple of sample headlines to help guide you: Product Manager, Data | Musical Prodigy in my mind | Extroverted Introvert OR Product Marketing Manager | ECommerce Nerd | Marathon Runner

• Your ‘About Me’ section should at a minimum include a 3-line summary of your bio. Make sure to include the keywords for the role(s) you want to pivot into (as they are searchable too). 

• Think of your Skills section as the keywords that recruiters will be searching for to find candidates like you! Make sure to select the Skills you want to appear at the top of your profile. 

Tips to move your resume forward from review to interview

(Photo credit @sctgrhm)

Here are three important resume tips to help your resume tell the right story to a recruiter, so you move forward from review to interview. 

(1) Make a recruiter’s job easier by telling a coherent story with your resume, supported by relevant experiences.

• Your goal with a resume is to get an interview. Full stop. It is NOT to have the recruiter spend more time on it. You want them to scan it, have no questions, and move you forward to an interview. 

• Also, a good tech resume has to tell a story vis-a-vis your experiences because many tech companies are doing away with cover letters. Ask yourself: can someone tell what I want to do by scanning just my resume? 

• Rule of thumb for resume length

  • If you have less than 10 years experience = one page

  • If you have more than 10 years experience = two pages 

  • Never use 1.5 pages! It looks like you forgot to add something - and it’s a strategic misuse of space when you could have explained additional projects!)

• Struggling to fit everything in a one-page resume version? Try thinking about your experience cumulatively. 

  • If you have managed a budget of $25K at job 1, $50K at job 2, and $100K at job 3, only list it for the job with the best example of that experience - or for the most recent job. Recruiters will assume that if you manage a $100K budget now, you’ve either had prior budget experience at other roles or that you are already at the budget management level they require. The only caveat to this advice is that sometimes, it’s useful to show the progression from job 1 to 3 -- but that’s when you ask me (your tech career strategist) for advice! 

(2) Do you have a Master Resume?

• We have all had the experience of working on a resume for days and developing the ‘perfect’ bullet(s). We hit save, and never change that bullet ever again. Not the best move though. 

• I have to tell you: your resume is a living document and needs to be continually updated for new roles/audiences/industries. 

• A Master Resume is a document that contains ALL the bullets and experiences you’ve had over your entire career and can often extend to 10+ pages. Think of it as a repository for everything (classes, certifications, skills, degrees, work and volunteer experiences/projects, awards, failed startups, hackathons, publications, etc). 

• As you get further along in your career, you will struggle to remember pieces of your background or which version of your resume had that perfect set of bullets. Creating a master resume will allow you to have it all in one place and serve as a reference guide when you have to create new versions. It’s especially useful for those pivoting to new industries as you may be able to resurrect now-relevant projects to put on your resume. 

(3) Use a ‘Projects’ section on your resume to help you when pivoting into tech. 

• Tech values informal experiences and a Projects section is a great place to capture and collect these experiences. It can be easily modified to add/subtract new experiences depending on the role you are applying for. 

• This section is also a visual representation of the pivot you are making, so a recruiter or hiring manager doesn’t have to guess about your tech-related skills - they will see it in black and white. Many of my clients only want to put paid experiences in the main Experience section, so this offers them a way to add all the informal experiences. 

• Maybe you and a friend created an app one weekend? Maybe you took a Coursera class to learn SQL? Maybe you did a tech-focused project in a class or for one of your volunteer groups? 

• The Projects section is likely to appear towards the bottom of your resume (right next to Skills or Personal). For some clients, we have put it at the top of the resume (above Experiences) in order to highlight these new skills ‘above the fold.’ 

• Don’t have many informal experiences to add? Consider starting a side hustle/project.

  • Benefits include: builds confidence in your skills; provides a creative outlet; serves as a mini safety net if something happens to your job; helps you when pivoting to a new role as you have evidence to point to of your ability to tackle a new skill set.

  • Reinventing your career in the time of Coronavirus

  • The Passion Economy & the Future of Work

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Is your resume AI proof?

(Photo credit @skabrera)

Make sure your resume is optimized both for a human reader AND an ATS. 

1. Tech companies haven’t developed a perfect AI solution to the tricky process of hiring, so during the resume review process, you’ll likely have humans AND applicant tracking systems reviewing your documents. You have to ensure it will work for BOTH of them. 

2. Here are 5 tips to help you optimize for both types of readers:

   1. Structure: I apologize to the more creative types, but your resume should be in a traditional formatted structure. It’s easier for both computers and humans to scan quickly when your resume is in a consistent format, with headings, company names, and titles organized chronologically. (Save your creativity for your portfolio, where you can really shine!) 

   2. Keywords: ATS systems love to extract all the keywords you feed it, but if you put too many jargon-y words on your resume, the human will get annoyed - or worse, distracted from the story you are trying to tell them about your qualifications for the role. Use the company’s job description to lift the best keywords for the skills they find valuable. Recruiters love it when you use their words! You can also use tools like Jobscan or VMock to help you identify additional keywords to add to your resume - or book some time with me to help you! 

   3. File type: I always recommend that applicants use a pdf. It helps you maintain the formatting you want, and the human reviewer doesn’t need to worry if there are any weird Word macro viruses that hitch a ride on your resume. The only caveat here: when applying to Microsoft, you may want to use a Word doc!

   4. No typos: This should be mega-obvious already, but spelling mistakes or other typos are a big no-no. If your resume is the only way a company is able to get to know you as a candidate, and you are unable to show attention to detail in this one document, it’s an easy way for them to screen you out. You could have many other amazing and relevant skills, but they might not see them if an ATS screens you out because of typos. 

   5. The Resume Secret: You actually want a recruiter to spend less time on your resume. Controversial, I know - but it’s true! The reason you put so much work into your resume is to make the resume screener’s job easy, whether it’s an ATS or a person. You want a recruiter to scan quickly, say Yes to themselves. This will move you forward to an interview -- because they can see instantly you have the right/enough qualifications for the role! 

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WANT A CAREER IN TECH BUT AREN’T SURE WHERE TO START? TAKE A LOOK AT MY COURSE, ‘TECH SEARCH COMPASS’ FOR STEP-BY-STEP SUPPORT