During April, May and early June I am usually preparing our sailboat for our annual two week trip.I take pretty good care of my boats, but still, there is always a maintenance list. This year, as is my practice, I went through each and every locker, removed everything and went through it i...

The resume format is sure constraining. If only the world was willing to listen to us rattle on.Unfortunately, they aren’t.The “standard” acceptable resume format is either two or three pages. Anything more tells the reader that you don’t know how to communicate. Perhaps I should also ment...

The urban legend out in the world is that the most recent 10 years of your career are all that anyone is interested in. True, but I think this idea is more correctly stated as “really” interested in.The primary rationale I hear for leaving off your early work history is to appear younger. ...

Every once in a while, things get quiet. There is no email (except for our newsletter), and there are no phone calls or Zoom meetings to attend.If you are actively looking for work, it can be a maddening experience.Instead of sitting with your hands folded on your desk, this is a good time...

Based on the resumes I see on a daily basis, I am not sure there is full appreciation for the amount of time any reviewer gives to your carefully crafted opus.The sad truth is that unless the information presented has a clarity greater than the other documents in that stack of 100-500, it ...

I’m not sure why people go their own way, but the standard resume framework is very much the “gold” standard. If you accept the idea that most resumes only get 10 seconds, I think you can begin to appreciate why straying from the traditional structure can get you into trouble.Of course, yo...

Earlier this week I processed this week’s batch of new members. It was actually a two week batch as I was on vacation for two weeks.I realize that new members are not totally indicative of how everyone is doing their resume, but I have to tell you that their resumes aren’t all that differe...

In my continuing “joys of sailing” series, I thought I would talk about docks around Long Island Sound. Although one can drag anchor, one rarely drags dock. (A little sailing joke for you.)Sure, it is a rather arcane topic, but hopefully it is one that you can use to amaze and astound your...

There is no more powerful tool than a sharp pencil. (The only equally powerful tool is The FENG’s Member Directory Search feature.)I long ago declared war on unnecessary words. Why? Because they are unnecessary. Duh!The normal space allotment for a resume is two pages. Okay, if you have to...

I am at all times amazed and astounded at the lack of attention to detail by the many members who write to me. There are so many things that are easy to do, that no one seems to do.Let me start with my primary concern (and one I write about constantly), the lack of outgoing signatures. Inc...

I have often wondered how actors polish their performances before the first show. With only the director and the producer in the audience it just can't be the same. Sure, you are up there on stage and perhaps even in full costume, but there is no audience clapping or talking to each other ...

The resume has a long and established history in our country, and while from time to time I see “variations on the theme,” the standard resume format is the one I always recommend.I would hope that all of us have lamented as Chief Financial Officers about our crazy vendors. Why can’t every...

It sure is difficult to be focused. As each of us over the age of 40 looks at our career prospects for the rest of our working lives, it is all very easy to believe that we need to expand the market for our services to ensure that we can find another job. (After all, how many buggy whips a...

While from time to time I silently wish to myself that many of our members would take the time to read a good book about how to write a resume, I find that other members have read a book or an article, but they have either read the wrong book or have misunderstood what the author was tryin...

Yes, I am talking to you.The purpose of my evening editorial is to make all of you better at managing your careers, and in particular to educate you on what I believe are the key issues in appearing more professional and technology savvy in the digital world we all live in.Let me start as ...

When I was growing up, my father was a plumbing contractor and I had the great experience of working with him weekends and summers from my early teens until I graduated from college.The test we used to determine whether or not we had correctly completed a complicated installation was wheth...

I hope that over the past few days everyone has gotten a few ideas for the framework of their resume. In order to “get into the game,” you need to have a clean looking resume with the major points discussed in the past few days “looking good.” Now that your resume has been selected for ...

The 80/20 rule I have always been a keen observer of managers. One of my favorites was a gentleman who worked at the Thomson Corporation in a senior financial role. He was one of those tall wiry types who always seemed to be in motion even when he was standing still. Sort of like you...

You would think that with all the books and materials written about how to write a resume, that each and every one that came across my desk would be close to perfect. Well, you would be wrong if you thought so. Under the heading of “explaining the meaning and purpose of life,” I thought...

Over the years that I have been writing editorials, I have devoted a lot of time to discussing the basics of job search. Why? Because I often can’t believe what folks send in for opportunities in which they have interest. In a world of more candidates than there are jobs, people who scr...

I hope you all don’t mind, but I am going to ramble a bit tonight about some very important job search issues. The most important issue I am going to cover is outgoing signatures. If you don’t know what one is, you are already in a lot of trouble. I am considering hitting the delete key...