Regular old resumes appear to be for the birds these days. According to Colorado Tech University, the resume you choose needs to include your social networking savvy as well as your standard experience. Their own infographic walks a resume writer through the necessary steps:

I’ve often heard that interviews are won or lost in the first five minutes. In the last week I have conducted a slew of interviews for an entry-level communications specialist. The position requires excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, organizational skills, a strong “get it done” attitude, and a journalism or public relations background. I can honestly confirm that, while the job may not be given, the job is often lost in the first five minutes.

You already know that you need to arrive on time, dress professionally and give a firm handshake, but did you know that the way you present your resume matters? I recently watched as one candidate spent several minutes looking through a stack of papers for what was a dog-eared copy of her resume and list of references. Note that organizational skills were integral for this job.

Another thing that will lose an interview is showing a lack of confidence, so act confident, even if you’re not.*
How?
Watch your body language. Sit up straight, don’t fidget and maintain eye contact.
Don’t be afraid of silence. This is difficult, but it’s the easiest way to trip someone up; just ask lawyers or journalists!

One that some people may not think about is showing that you take direction well. You may think that you need to prove you can take control, but there is a level of respect that should be adhered to within an interview.  Let the interviewer lead the interview. I once interviewed a graphic designer that brought his laptop to show some of his sites. What transpired next was twenty minutes of him leading me around the Internet. I didn’t want to be rude as he was clearly excited about his work, but it was unnecessary and I felt he lacked focus as a result.

Do your research. I’ll never forget asking a candidate, “What do you know about StormStaff?” and the response was, “Well, I was hoping you could tell me more about StormStaff. What is it that you guys do?”  Clearly the journalism skills haven’t led her to research us! Plus, how passionate could she possibly be if she doesn’t know what we do?

If you need further interview help, download our Interviewing Tips Whitepaper

* When acting confident, don’t act cocky. It’s ok to admit if you haven’t done something that may be expected of you, but are a fast learner and excited to take on new challenges.

By Andrew C. Abraham

I was always very ambivalent to the advantages of entering into a sales position upon graduation, but I soon realised how these skills are applicable to all aspects of my life. I remember shortly after being promoted to sales manager, I was training a group of newbies on the sales methodology of our company, citing different non-professional life situations where sales acumen was advantageous to succeed – picking up the opposite sex in a bar, meeting your in-laws for the first time, negotiating a pay rise, pitching to investors…the list is endless. Job hunting is no different, and job-seekers can learn many qualities that successful salespeople possess.

1.   Salespeople create value: If you were to ask many people what they believe to be the most important characteristic of a salesperson, they might say “persuasion” or the “gift of the gab” or “persistence”. While these are important, the fundamental ingredient is creating value for the client. A great salesperson creates a perceived value that justifies purchasing their product or service. Job-seekers need to do the same and demonstrate they can add value to a company that outweighs the cost of purchasing their labor. After all, a position is available so the company can solve a problem, not because they want to increase their headcount.

2.   Salespeople focus on benefits, not features: Creating value therefore switches the focus from yourself to the employer. The product that I used to sell was a media monitoring service that helped companies track press mentions online. The software came with some fancy analysis and distribution tools that were useful also. One of my colleagues was a master salesman. He consistently exceeded his monthly targets and appeared in the top ten list of salespeople within the company globally. If you ever listened to him on the phone, you’d understand why so many clients had bought from him. He never focused on the myriad of great features, but rather the benefits that one or two of them would add to the client’s operation. As a job-seeker it’s important you don’t just list your achievements to future employers, but focus on a specialized skill-set that will unequivocally benefit them.

3.   Salespeople handle objections: I don’t recall one sale I ever made where everything ran completely smoothly and the customer didn’t require any convincing whatsoever – “Yes Sir, your product is great, don’t bother about telling me the rest, I’m sold”. If only life was so simple. The truth is that in every sale and every interview, you’ll face objections. The customer is always looking for reasons not to purchase something and the best salespeople overcome these objections resoundingly. Objections should not be viewed as a negative sign though! Oh no, on the contrary, objections are a “buying signal.” It usually means that the customer is considering your offer but needs to be assured before proceeding. Therefore, if your interviewer ever confronts you about your lack of experience, or apparent job hopping, be ready to smash the objection back over the net!

4.   Salespeople are succinct: They don’t ramble, they articulate value in the fewest words possible. Do I really need to say much more about this one?

5.   Sales people are persuasive: Yes, the power of persuasion works! A great salesperson is able to clinch a deal, just when the customer is about to walk away. Through solid arguments or sound reasoning, they can coax a customer into a purchase at the very last minute or when doubt tops confidence. We used to have job-seekers undertake a little exercise when they were interviewing for our International Management Trainee program. At the end of the personal interview we’d ask candidates to stand up and convince us in thirty seconds why they were the best person for the job. Often, if the candidate was persuasive enough, we would overlook other indiscretions that occurred beforehand.

6.   Salespeople are good story-tellers: Nothing beats anecdotal advice when it comes to convincing others of your argument. If you’re selling skincare products for example, you can praise the effects of clearer, moister skin, or you can tell buyers the story about how one of your regular customers is often confused as her daughter’s older sister. As a job-seeker, telling a hiring manager that you’re a team-player might help your cause, but telling them about the time you worked 28 hours straight with a team to meet a deadline has so much more impact. People don’t just want to hear about what you can do but rather how you’ve done it before. Stories are the best way to communicate your message.

7.   Salespeople are good conversationalists: You might have heard the saying, “People buy People first”, well it’s true when you consider consumer psychology. It doesn’t matter how great your product is, if people don’t like you, they won’t buy from you. Salespeople have a knack for building a rapport with people by getting to know them. There were so many times where I was demonstrating our website on the phone to people and the pages would take ages to load. In these times I needed to be equipped with enough conversational material to get me through to the continuation of the demonstration. A good conversation illustrates that you care about bonding with the person on more than just a business level. Job-seekers should be able to make smalltalk with hiring managers in the same regard, such as immediately prior to and after the interview. Once you leave, the interviewer should be left with a feeling of “Hey I liked that guy!”

8.   Salespeople can take rejection: Let’s face it, you’re probably not going to get the first job that you applied for. I remember I was rejected from McDonalds when I was 15 (I still don’t know why, but that’s besides the point anyway) and there have been many other instances where I wasn’t the lucky candidate. Salespeople understand that it’s a numbers game, and success will elude us unless we persevere. For every sale you make, you’ll face at least 9 rejections. The odds are just as bad for job-seekers. Staying motivated when every employer so far has declined your candidature is difficult, but necessary. Conveying a sense of desperation comes across as too strong, so it’s important to be resilient and understand rejection is a part of the game.

Overall, sales skills aren’t just useful for job hunting but they transcend to other areas also. Perhaps I should recommend job-seekers to pursue sales positions initially to be armed with these skills for subsequent career moves?

What other skills can we learn from salespeople that also aid job-seekers? Interested to hear your thoughts too. Cheers.

About the author: Andrew is Founder of Gradkin, a Branding and Networking platform to connect Candidates with Employers. Please share your thoughts on his careers blog at http://blog.gradkin.com. He offers a unique perspective on Gen-Y, being one himself and having recruited and managed this generation. His previous positions in Sales, Communications and Human Resources have given him an insight into understanding what truly motivates this new generation of Millennials.

By Phil Rosenberg

Most job seekers leave their recommendations up to chance when careful planning can help you tell the most important parts of your story to a potential employer.

The extent of most candidates’ reference planning stops at asking prior bosses, peers and clients to give a reference. While it’s polite to ask your reference first, it’s just not enough.

Do you know exactly what the reference is going to say to a potential employer? Since this is something you can control, why leave it up to chance?

Why Manage References?

Most candidates leave the content of their references up to chance because they don’t know what their references are saying… placing their faith that it will be something “positive.”

Just because a reference is positive, doesn’t mean it provides the help (or the right type of help) that you may need.

1. ”Positive” references come in many flavors: Will your reference give you just an OK ref, a good ref, or a truly great reference? The difference between these types of “positive” references can be communicated by tone, pacing, enthusiasm, and word choice. Do you know how “positive” of a reference you are being given (may not correlate to the positive reviews you got)?
2. References each tell a part of your story: A “positive” reference may naturally talk about the same aspect of your performance as the rest of your references. On one hand, it’s nice that everyone says the same thing, but it limits the outside corroboration that references provide your personal story. You’re typically better represented if each reference focuses on a different skill that you bring to an employer. Often the references you choose truly want to help, but don’t know what to say that will help you.
3. Reference doesn’t know what’s important to the company: Will your reference choose to talk about what a great team player you were, not realizing you are interviewing for a role where individual contribution is more important than collaboration? Will your well-meaning reference talk about the great job you did as a generalist, when your prospective employer is looking for specific subject matter expertise?

Most candidates leave these types of issues with references up to chance. Since there is so much out of your control in job search, isn’t it in a candidate’s best interest to actively manage the things they can control?

Now that you realize some of the risks of unmanaged references, let’s talk about how to manage your references.

How to manage references:

Managing references can be uncomfortable for many candidates. After all, many of your references are people you used to work for, and who are doing you a favor.

How can you manage your references, without feeling like (or appearing like) you’re telling your former boss what to do?

1. When you ask for the reference: Ask on the phone or in person, not through email. Have a conversation, explain your situation, ask for their advice. Chances are the people you are asking to serve as a reference were at one time mentoring you and taking an active interest in your career. Towards the end of the conversation, after they have agreed to serve as your reference, also ask your reference if they would be so kind as to focus on specific accomplishments or skills you exhibited when you worked for them. This not only serves as a reminder (it may have been a while since you were a direct report), you can also let them know that you have other references covering different areas of your experience.
2. Follow up before each anticipated hiring manager call: When you expect that a specific company will call for a reference, make a call to your reference (an email is acceptable here) reminding them that they agreed to be a reference. Make sure they are available (not out of town), and give them a heads up (so they will know the employer call isn’t a sales call). Take the opportunity here to suggest the reference can help you by fine tuning the message – mention that the company is looking for ways to cut costs, so mentioning some of the process improvement projects that you led and the savings you generated would be a big help.
3. Don’t try to put words into your ref’s mouth: Suggesting topics and areas of hiring manager interest is OK, scripting words for the reference is not. Telling your reference exactly what you want them to say can have unfortunate results – if it comes across as scripted or unnatural to the employer, recruiter, or HR staff, the reference (and therefore you) can lose credibility. Worse, a reference may resent this or may feel it’s unethical, potentially alienating an ally.
4. Make sure you know how they answer the most important question: “If you had a need for someone with X’s skills, would you hire them again?”

By the time an employer or recruiter calls your references, you are being seriously considered for a position, often a finalist… or THE finalist. References that unknowingly change the employer’s perception of you can kill your chances for the job – even if your reference had the best of intentions.

By knowing what your references are likely to say and offering hints of what an employer is seeking can help you guarantee that you’re getting the maximum help from your references.

Do you know exactly what your references are saying about you?

About the author: Phil Rosenberg is President of reCareered, a career coaching service and website.  Phil runs the Career Change Central group, one of Linkedins largest groups for job seekers.  An active blogger about social media and career change, Phil’s articles have been republished by Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, AOL, FastCompany, CIO, ZDnet, The Examiner and the leading job/career/recruiting sites.  Phil can be contacted at phil.reCareered@gmail.com.

I’ll admit it: I’m probably somewhere in the running to becoming LinkedIn’s #1 Fan. I’ve even been known to call LinkedIn “my new best friend” from time to time. Why? In the professional world, LinkedIn can open up a wide range of opportunities. Whether you want to make new connections or just get your name out there, LinkedIn seems to be the best place to do it.

Let me start by saying that there are over 65 MILLION people on LinkedIn. That number includes job seekers, recruiters, hiring managers, executives and regular ol’ joe schmoe’s like me and you. There are tons, and tons, AND TONS of amazing professional opportunities and resources available on LinkedIn.

So, I’ve written this blog post and I dedicate it to all of you out there who may not know, or understand, the power behind a LinkedIn account in your job search. Whether you’re new to the site or a self-proclaimed LinkedIn aficionado, this post is for you.

I’ve compiled a list of my favorite features on LinkedIn that will immediately ease your job search by leaps and bounds, and how you can use them in your job hunt right away:

1. Answers: This is a forum where you can ask questions about any industry or subject and browse questions and answers that others have submitted. You can browse business-related questions from both your network and the greater LinkedIn network. If you want to try posting a question, start off by asking one related to your job search and see what answers you get!
2. Search: Want to be found by recruiters and hiring managers who are searching for people with the required skills, experience and qualifications listed for the jobs they need to fill? Then make sure you’ve created a keyword rich, well-developed profile! Take a moment to look over your resume and pick out keywords that will make your LinkedIn POP out to recruiters and hiring managers. Do you have any certifications? Include those as well. You can also look at other LinkedIn profiles of individuals in your industry for some ideas. What skills, talents and qualifications do they have listed?
3. Status Updates: Status updates go directly to each of your connections’ homepages. If you’re looking for a job, make it your status update! If you’ve done something great in your professional career, write a status update about it too! That way, your connections will have a clear understanding of what you’re looking for and what you’ve been doing lately in your professional career. You can also increase the impact of your status updates by syncing your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.
4. Connections: On LinkedIn, anytime is a good time to build your network and the opportunities are endless. Try connecting with recruiters and hiring managers immediately after you speak with them so they’ll have you in their network. Stay in touch with former, valued and trusted colleagues for potential future employment relationships. Connecting with other members and building your network can help you increase your visibility, which could lead to several business and job opportunities down the line.
5. Groups: Joining groups on LinkedIn gives you access to view job postings, ask questions, form a dialogue with other group members, etc. Groups can be a powerful medium to find peers in your respective industries that you’d like to network with. Why is this helpful? Not only is it free, but also effective – you’ll get responses from members of the group who already share a similar interest or background element with you. Keep in mind, your messages on these groups can lead to hundreds and thousands of potential opportunities! Find relevant groups to network, including industry-related, local, job seeking/career-related, alumni and recruiting/staffing groups.
6. Inbox/Messaging: I work in the marketing department at my company and I’ll tell you, I get at least a few messages a week from job seekers who ask about positions with our company. What do I do next? I point them in the best direction possible and I let our recruiters know they reached out to me. How is this helpful to the job seeker? If I tell a recruiter someone has contacted me about a job opening, I’ve planted the seed. A recruiter would much rather offer a position to someone who is genuinely interested in the job and shows a little extra initiative. And in today’s economy, you SHOULD be showing some sort of initiative. Getting a job isn’t easy, and if you’re not willing to put in the extra effort, there are thousands of job seekers out there who are.
7. People You May Know: “People you may know” helps you discover potential professional relationships that may be right under your nose! LinkedIn makes it really easy to do this. According to the LinkedIn blog, staying in touch with your current contacts and reconnecting with old or lost ones is a critical part of establishing your professional identity and “People you may know” is a powerful way to find those connections. You can even break down the connections further into a list of people you may know by companies and schools. Make it a habit to page through all of your suggestions on the landing page, and quickly filter them by company or school. If you decide to connect, you may want to add a personal note referencing your history with the contact.
8. Follow companies: LinkedIn recently launched a “follow companies” option, which allows you to keep track of key developments at companies that interest you. This feature allows you to stay in the loop on the latest updates, potential business opportunities and job opportunities by following companies you like. You can even personalize the volume of updates you receive and determine the type, frequency and format of updates for the companies you are following.

So now that you’ve got this list of great LinkedIn features that can make a world of a difference in your job search – use them! The truth is, if you ain’t using LinkedIn for all it’s worth, you ain’t making the most of that job hunt of yours, my friend.

If you want to learn more about what you can do with your LinkedIn profile, you can also check out a nice little one page LinkedIn tutorial we’ve included in our online Job Seeker’s Guide. It’s free and you can get a copy of it here.