Test Your Job Search Know-How
By — — Posted in Job Search Tips
No need for test anxiety, it’ll be short, sweet, and sorta fun little quiz! Or at least painless, I promise . . .
AND –
At the end, you WIN a nice, useful prize 😀
Pencils ready? You may begin: TEST YOUR JOB SEARCH KNOW-HOW:
For the Video version of the QUIZ:
1) What is an “ATS”?
A) “All The Stuff” – almost like a garbage style pizza or one of those ‘everything’ bagels with all the seeds, it’s a CV (curriculum vitae) resume version that includes it ALL, back to your high school activities and middle school GPA
B) An “Applicant Tracking System”– though I don’t know what that means and I wonder if it’s stalking me, and all job seekers…
C) An acronym for graphic design style resumes that means you want your resume to Attract only employers with a sense of Taste & Style (and humor!)
2) How much can a 30 second commercial cost you?
A) Millions, if you’re vying for a spot during the Superbowl
B) I’m too shy to make a COMMERCIAL of myself for broadcast, so nothing
C) A great job – or at least a great networking opportunity
3) Can I apply the environmental motto “reduce, reuse, recycle” to writing cover letters?
A) Mostly
B) Never
C) I have to write cover letters? I thought my resume was enough!
4) THE MOST IMPORTANT job search tip is:
A) Write – and send – a thank you letter
B) Be polite and professional with any and everyone you meet on the interview
C) Bring paper copies of your resume to an interview, even though you sent one already
Ready for the answers? Okay, here we go:
1) B) “Applicant Tracking System”, aka resume scanning software. Many companies use software to sort through – and make selections from – their online applications and those resumes. They use them to manage the 100’s, if not 1000’s of applications they receive for EACH JOB posted online (!).
Bonus tip: make sure your resume integrates the right key words for each job to increase your chances of the ATS scanning your resume and selecting you as a top match for the job requirements!
Bonus tip: Have an “e-resume” (also known as a text or ASCII resume) to copy/paste into online job applications to make it fast, easy, and safest for ATS/resume scanning systems to read. It’s the formatting such as italics, underlines, tables, etc. that COULD get skewed & garble your resume’s content during transmission of your online job application.
2) C) Since statistically, networking is the best way to find work, both in person and online so it’s really important that you know what to say comfortably and casually when you meet people & they ask “So, what do you do?” or “What type of work are you looking for?” so you don’t miss an opportunity! Have both a 10 and a 30 second “commercial” to explain to anyone you meet (as appropriate) I wrote two past blogs about both of these “short and sweet introductions to what you do” for your reference.
3) A) Mostly . . . “reduce” is a good motto – keep letters short, sweet, and to the point – sharing a bit of your personality that’s not included in the more factual resume, and any special add-ins that are specific to that job – so no, you can’t/shouldn’t reuse the EXACT cover letters for different jobs.
BUT – you can ‘reuse’ some key lines that may fit, as well as ‘recycle’ formats that I teach you that catch attention and make your letter ‘quick scan’ friendly for the reader to get the main points easily. Also check out Writing an Attention Getting Cover Letter for more in depth tips!
4) Trick question! ALL of those tips are important – and a few of my favs to share that many people don’t think of.
You did SUCH a good job on the quiz, here’s your PRIZE!
GOLD STAR! SMILEY FACE STICKER!
