Job application tips when coming from a diverse background

[SparknMike]

Since this forum appears to have a number of professionals from several different fields I was curious to share a professional frustration of mine and see what experiences and advice others here have to offer.

Going back to the beginning; my overall situation dictated that I work to support myself while I went to college. Sure, financial aid always gave me a little bit of money after paying for my tuition and books, but not nearly enough to cover my living expenses. While earning two engineering degrees, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering, I worked as an Electronics Technician. During my time as a technician I worked on a wide variety of circuits and had made contacts, via friends, with a couple of local electronics manufacturers. This lead to me taking on a second job, paid under the table for complete solutions resolving design defects. In many ways I felt a bit like a bounty hunter, going at night to pick up samples with schematics and problem descriptions and dropping off solutions for cash. These defects were often not addressed by their own engineering staff simply because they were overwhelmed with new projects deemed as the top priority in an effort to improve sales, which was fine with me since it put money in my pocket and was very challenging work.

When I graduated I had gained just under six years of experience working on a variety of electronics, which included a good bit of experience identifying and resolving design flaws. However, when I graduated everything was spiraling downward with every newspaper posting headlines that the tech bubble had burst. The companies I had worked with locally were all very interested in hiring me as an Electrical Engineer but were struggling and already contemplating layoffs. I was able to find a good job fairly quickly, but working for an IT based company that was growing and needed Software Engineers. In my case, they found extra value because I could maintain a few moderately complex pieces of hardware they needed for their software. Prior to my employment all of their hardware was handled by a contract engineer.

Since moving to an IT company I have become proficient as a Software Engineer and a Software Architect. Over that time I still remained the sole person responsible for designing new hardware products and supporting their existing products, which are manufactured by a local vendor under my direction. After enjoying success in these positions I was ushered into a management position running the department, where my performance has continued to exceed expectations.

For a few reasons I have looked for other jobs over the years. While these searches did often result in reasonable offers, I have also found difficulty in my searches no matter what type of position I applied for. When I present my entire work history (minus the under-the-table jobs) and education I am typically eliminated early in the hiring process. The times I have been fortunate enough to get an explanation the explanation has generally been that they couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do with my life or that they felt the experience was probably falsified or exaggerated. Generally I have had the best success by either making contact with the hiring manager through someone whom I had worked with in the past or by eliminating any parts of my experience or education that did not directly apply to the position.

This is particularly frustrating since I am considering moving to a new area to be closer to parts of my wife’s family. I don’t really have contacts there to get me past the initial resume screening process, which forces me to submit a cover letter and resume and hope for the best. I am also recently finding people to be somewhat prejudice against managers that grew out of a technical background.

What experiences have people had with trying to pass through the early parts of the hiring process when they have a diverse but successful background? Has anyone with similar problems found a solid technique for writing their resume or cover letter to help? I don’t like hiding things just to make people feel my resume is legitimate (ironic), although, it has proven to my satisfaction that many times my entire work history is cause for eliminating me from a position.

 

[kawh1]

Do you have a work objective listed in your resume? That would help with interviewers accusing you of being flaky.

Use your cover letter to indirectly explain what others have perceived as discrepancies in your work history.

What's wrong with removing jobs listed in your resume that, as you mentioned, were detrimental in the hiring process? List them in the job application. If they ask why you left it out of your resume, tell them that you tailored the resume to the job listed. The jobs you didn't list were extraneous. You aren't lying or telling half truths. That might work as long there isn't large time gaps to explain.

Also look into the wording of you resume. How you describe things also have a large impact. You could also state that work references are available upon request if your past employers are around.

Side note: SparknMike, how or why do the interviewers tell you the reason you were rejected? They usually don't want to say anything specific other than that they found a better suited candidate.

 

[IRstuff]

Obviously, you've had some difficulty connecting. However, it's completely unclear whether you are applying for jobs that fit your education and experience.

One thing you might consider is to find someone to critique your resume. Perhaps the format, the wording, the style... Likewise, your cover letters.

Sad to say, but job hunting is a marketing exercise, you are SELLING you. There are usually tons of qualified applicants for any given job. Unless there's a clear-cut winner, the winnowing process involves looking for anything that might justify a rejection.

Your resume and cover letter need to give the reader no reason to reject you and every reason to let you through the wickets.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[SparknMike]

I have had an objective on most of my resumes. It didn't seem to make a difference so more recently I eliminated it to help keep my resume closer to a page in length.

My best responses have come from resumes where I did more or less what you described; I omitted any jobs and job responsibilities that were not directly related. These details are later filled in during an interview and always appear to be welcomed and valued by the interviewer.

Eliminating things from my resume gets to be much harder when applying for a job with a non-IT company. All of my post-graduation titles have run in line with the other job titles at the company, and having multiple titles is forbidden by HR. This makes it really hard to apply to companies that are dominated by EE's. While I have successfully landed a job from such a company the reason they talked to me in the first place was that all of their best engineers graduated from the same university. The job offer was good but I ended up turning it down since I received a promotion the next day.

How things are described in a resume is certainly important. Since they appear to have an impact on the hiring manager I would not be quick to say they should be described differently.

Getting real information about why you were eliminated is not an easy trick and is typically unsuccessful. Basically you have to figure out who would have screened your resume and then call them directly. You have to be lucky and talk them into giving an honest answer, not just a legally sound answer. This MUST be done by phone; it is too easy to ignore an e-mail and anyone who understands the game will not give you something you can take to court.

A few times I have had companies provide a real reason as a part of their response. These companies typically had poor HR practices and nobody in their company specifically dedicated to HR. While informative, I am not sure this is a positive sign about their company.

It is good to question as to whether or not I was qualified for the jobs I applied for. It is a common problem that people tend to apply for jobs that would effectively be a promotion. Every job I have applied for I have either been properly qualified for or a little overqualified.

I have had my resume critiqued. I started that process about five years ago because I was getting no responses, ever, to my resume. The market was still tough but what I found was that I was sticking to the formalized one page resume taught in school and it just made my resume look anemic. This became obvious later on in my career when I had to fill positions I had held in the past.

After the initial critique I ended up with a slightly longer resume that listed applicable skills and then tried to sell them on how I had been successful using these skills in my work history. This format change made a difference even though it violated almost every rule I was taught about the format of resumes.

And...

I think we really have hit the point. I have to provide the reader with no reason to reject me. The diversity in my experience tends to provide the reader with that reason. There are limits as to what can be eliminated from my resume without creating additional, and more reasonable, reasons for rejection.

 

[ScottyUK]

I've never had a single-page C.V. (resume). In the UK a single page would be quite unusual, except maybe for someone just out of college and with almost no interests. Two pages, well structured and with enough formatting to aid the reader without overwhelming them would be about right. Unstructured and unformatted documents make life harder for the reader which can subconsciously turn a 'maybe' into a 'no'. Ten-page epics go in the circular file. I'm not sure how much difference there is between expectations on this side of the water and in the US, but I agree that getting the format right is important.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[SparknMike]

In my job I have reviewed about 600 resumes, all US based, and the only single page resumes I have seen come from people with no experience relating to the position. Anyone who has worked more than a year in a related position is over one page.

The resumes from Monster.com are just unbelievable. I have received many five to eight page resumes from this site. This appears to be the way this web site works so I try to not dump their resumes before reviewing them for content. After an initial phone interview if I am still interested I will ask them to submit a REAL resume.

One person I had critique my resume was successful in finding good jobs but his resume was literally two full pages of text. If you read his resume you got a good picture of who he was but it was almost impossible to glance at and get any details. I took his advice on the content but stayed clear of his formatting advice.

One thing that I figured helped this guy is that he had a solid career in basically the same position for over 15 years. Anyone that took the time to read his resume would be sure to discuss a similar position with him.

While my resume fluctuates from position to position, it averages 1.5 pages in length and never exceeds two pages. The format is such that at a glance the first page will communicate core skills related to the position.

 

[ScottyUK]

One thought on the format: can you make your existing content fill the two pages? You're sending two sheets of paper, make all the space work for you.

Good luck.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[KENAT]

While it can be a pain when applying to lots of places I've seen the idea of customizing resumes suggested a lot lately.

I hate trying to work out if my resume is any good. I've got input from various sources at various times and none of them fully agree. For example, my resume starts of with an objective type section. One of the first things I used to say in it was 'hard working'. This is what caught my current managers eye and so a least partially got me this position. I had my sister in law who prepares resumes professionally go over mine recently. The phrase 'hard working' was one of the first things she eliminated!

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that coming up with a resume that pleases both technical/direct manager types and HR types seems almost impossible.

Good luck.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[MechEng2005]

I am definately an advocate for customizing your resume. Determine what a reasonable length is based on what you definately want to include. Check the formatting to ensure that it is as easy to read as possible. If it looks like you have just over 2 pages, maybe try to squeeze things down a little. If you have about 1 1/2 pages, see if you can expand things a little to make it easier to read. If you try to cram to much in, it becomes harder to read and things may miss. If you expand it too much, it looks like you stretched everything to try and it looks like you are just trying to fill space (i.e. This guy thinks because he has a four page resume that he must be awesome, but everything could fit on two pages).

Customizing the resume is (hopefully!) not omitting information because it will make you look bad. It's helping the hiring individual to be able to clearly see the skills/experience you have that make you a good canidate. Why include information that the hiring person would disregard anyways? By leaving it out, you make their job easier (hopefully putting them in a better mood) and highlight the most important aspects.

If I had a non-relevant position for a number of years, I might list the company and dates, and nothing more. This explains the time period so you don't have one of those mysterious gaps in employment, but doesn't waste time/space on irrelevant material.

Remember, your resume is what you WANT to tell them (within ethical limits of course). The interview is their chance ask about anything that they want to know that you didn't tell them.

-- MechEng2005

 

[PLCMentor]

Mike,
There is lots of good advice on tuning up your resume. I tend to agree with customizing a resume to a specific employer or industry if applicable. You may have several resumes, but you may need them with your diverse background. If nothing else than not to confuse the HR people.

You mention that you have no contacts, but also that you are moving to an area where you wife's family is located. You might want to sit down with them and see if you can work out some type of connection between her family and a potential employer. Knowing someone is always your best bet. Even if it is someone that seems unrelated to what you intend to do. It makes a connection.

good luck!

Russell

Russell White, P.E.
Automation Technologies, Inc.

http://www.AutomationNC.com

Automation Help

http://www.PLCMentor.com

 

[csd72]

SparknMike,

I have a similar issue with my cv but I dont think I have encountered as many issues as you.

I always take time to explain that each role has taught me different lessons all of which can be brought to bear on the new role.

Sound to me like you have to focus your applications more to the specific job that you are applying for.

1. do your research and find out what sort of work they do in addition to what it says in the advertisement.

2. Use your cover letter to specifically point out the skills and experience that is of specific relevance to the role.

3. adjust your resume so that it highlights relevant experience and only skims over irrelevant items. If this is done properly it will make your experience seem more like what they are looking for.

4. Alternatively to 3, you could highlight the relevant lessons that you have learnt in each role.

 

[HDS]

Maybe you need a more skills based resume that describe what you can do and what you want to do. Then has a brief employment history. Don't get hung up on titles.

If you don't like tailoring the resume at least tailor the cover letter. If i am replying to an add i copy it into the cover letter and directly answer ever requirement in it. However, be aware that cover letter rarely get past HR. They usually only pass on resumes.

Try and make some contact in the other place. There are professional associations, trade groups, church groups chambers of commerce.

If you are doing software coding trying remotely working for your current employer. They will probably expect regular trips back to the office but it is likely you can code from home and you sound like a self motivated worker.

 

[KENAT]

I think that's one of the issues, these days cover letters don't seem to be of much worth. I was taught in the late 90's to basicaly have a fairly generic Resume and tailor your cover letter.

However, now with so many resumes being submittee electronically one way or another, and with the actions of HR etc. I'm nor sure how much worth the cover letter even has.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484