As many of you know, one of my weekly occupations is reviewing new member applications.I try to keep in mind that for the most part I am seeing resumes that have just been completed out of whole cloth. In effect, these are the first result of days of writing and rewriting. Unfortunately, m...

My dear friend Norm Weinstock passed away a little over 10 years ago. Norm agreed to Co-Chair of The FENG when I began my Chairmanship back in 1996 and he also acted as our Treasurer and raised money for us to buy our first computers and to hire our first Administrative Assistant, Ann Mari...

Not unlike your 90-second announcement, the space at the top of your resume is vitally important to getting folks to “listen” to the rest of your story.Try to visualize if you will, 200 resumes piled up on some poor screener’s desk. With any luck, they have been printed and collated correc...

Some time ago a member wrote to me lamenting that although he was responding to a great number of opportunities, no one was contacting him about his credentials.It is a sad fact of life that the way job search works with regard to posted jobs is that it is atypical if anyone even acknowled...

Since 1997 when I first became Chairman of The FENG, I have probably reviewed well over 250,000 resumes. (Gosh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it.)I would tell you that the biggest problem I see in resumes is the incredible clutter. Although some of the resumes I get are 3 or 4 pages, m...

One of my favorite “sayings from the Chairman” is: I try to make things so easy that anyone can do it. That way if I try hard, I can too!KISS or “keep it simple stupid” is one of the most often violated principles of job search and part of the reason that we fail to communicate our true va...

There is this great place right at the top of each resume that I find is not generally very well used.Right after your name, address, telephone numbers and email address, there is nothing more appropriate to appear than a summary.A summary, précis, or synopsis appearing in this location ca...

I always find it interesting what people say about themselves.Those who deal in hiring decisions have so many hidden tools in their arsenal. I suppose the obvious manifestations of who you are come across in the body of your resume and, of course, in your 90-second announcement. What those...

I am always amazed and astounded how frequently the resumes I see are missing vital information. What I am not clear about is WHY the individual in question thinks that leaving off important data will benefit him or her.Let me start at the top of the list and mention missing home addresses...

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...

Over the course of any given week I have the great honor of reviewing sometimes as many as 100 resumes. Honestly, no one should be allowed to have this much fun.As I page through the many approaches to presenting one’s credentials, I am frequently dismayed by the way that some of the most ...

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...

It isn’t often that I get a great resume, but I got one recently.I guess I wasn’t surprised given who sent it to me. Although it was three pages, it was still crisp and concise. Perhaps it could have been shaved down to two pages, but it really didn’t bother me that it was a little longer ...

At one time many years ago I had a lot of time for reading. I picked up an Agatha Christy novel and I was hooked. Over the next several months I believe I read just about everything she had written up to that point. I know that when we moved, I had quite a box of books. Trying to pick up t...

I know we don’t mean to do it, but as financial types who come to our decisions the hard way (usually the long scenic route), we often react to information being presented to us by others in a dismissive, “oh, I knew that” manner.I suppose there was a time in my life when I actually though...

As many of you know, I have a variety of backgrounds. I was not only in the publishing business for 10 years, I was also in the advertising business for 9 years.Communication, or the assumption that it has taken place, is at the core of most of the problems in this world. (Okay, there are ...

There is no greater challenge in this world than summing yourself up in 90 seconds or writing a proper summary for your resume.As many of you know, I was CFO of an advertising agency in the 1980’s. Initially, I used to wonder why the creative folks got paid so well. As I got more and more ...

I have written on many occasions about how to structure your resume. I have also written about bringing your resume through stages of development. Like any selling document it is essential that you keep it growing and fresh.Going through the birth pangs of building your resume can often fe...

Every once in a while I get an assignment for The FECG that draws more than its fair share of attention.I think our all time high several years ago was an assignment that drew 225 responses. However, even when you get an assignment that draws more than say 40 responses, it can get a little...

I suppose I could be wrong about all of this, but I find the use of “, MBA” as part of your name to be a bad idea. Yes, I know that not everyone has an MBA, but in my opinion unless you are a CPA or a Ph.D., you need to exercise a little caution in the initials you place after your name. M...

The story I hear more often than not is how perfect someone was for a particular posting and their amazement that they didn’t get a call.Of course, there are a lot of possible reasons why someone doesn’t get a response. It could be they applied too late. It could be that there were require...