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Published in The Daily Muse, May 16 2012

As any job hunter knows all too well, there’s a lot of competition out there. In today’s job market, employers are inundated with dozens—even hundreds—of resumes for almost any position they post.

And as a result, job seekers have started getting creative, ditching the traditional white linen paper and trying trends like artistically designed resumes or video submissions  to help their applications stand out from the pack.

But before you jump on the bandwagon, consider this: Not all these resume fads will make the impression you want them to. “I don’t like gimmicks,” says Beth Sightler, the assistant director of a Vermont-based non-profit organization. And her sentiment was one shared by several recruiters and hiring managers I spoke with. Here’s a closer look at some of the current resume trends—and what to think about before giving them a try.
 
The Functional Resume

Job seekers are told to focus on their skills and accomplishments  in their application, and the increasingly popular functional (or skills-based) resume takes this advice to the extreme. This format differs from a traditional resume  in that the information is organized to focus on your skill set and abilities, rather than your work history or education.

A functional resume can be a good option if you don’t have a lot of experience or if you have gaps in employment, as it directs the hiring manager’s attention to your skills. The problem, though, is that it doesn’t provide any context to the information you’re sharing. Because your work experience is listed separately (and generally limited to your title and dates of employment), potential employers don’t get a sense of how your skills relate to your work experience. What’s more, recruiters will usually view functional resumes with a skeptical eye, because they know that applicants often use the format to hide flaws.


Read the full article in The Daily Muse

Published in Forbes, May 16 2012

Something extraordinary is happening in Sweden.

At lunchtime in Stockholm last month, more than 600 workers walked out of their offices and into a large conference hall in the city center.

They gave an entrance fee to someone at the door, grabbed a sandwich and bottle of water off some tables on the side, and entered darkness. White disco lights began to swirl. Then the beat. At 1pm on the dot, DJ Johannes Drakenberg started pumping something akin to Dubstep through the hall’s speakers. The workers, some still nicely dressed in suits and carrying laptop bags, looked around and started swaying and bopping – tentatively. This was midday after all. But soon the music got faster, and inhibitions slowly melted away. By the time the music stopped an hour later and it was time to get back to work, they had danced as enthusiastically as a weekend night out, their faces beaming.

This is Lunch Beat, the new craze followed by thousands of people in Sweden that easily trumps having a lonely sandwich at your desk, and which is now winding its way around other parts of Europe. On May 31, some 15 countries will join up for the first, big simultaneous Lunch Beat, including an as-yet-unknown city in the United States. The sessions are held once a month in around half a dozen Swedish cities, lasting 60 minutes at a time, the venues often vacant night clubs. The music is full on, with alcohol and drugs prohibited. Such vices are not only a liability, says Lunch Beat founder Molly Range, 28. “We want to set a clear focus on dancing.”

(...)

Partly she hoped a high-energy club experience would make people feel energized in the afternoon, instead of soporific from lunch. Partly she was irritated by the buzzwords proliferating her industry like “playfulness” and “community.” Why couldn’t someone put that jargon into practice?


Read the full article in Forbes

Published in Brazen Life, May 16 2012

When I first starting dreaming about working from home full time, visions of a clean house, on-demand gourmet lunches, and selling my car clouded most of my reasoning. So, my first draft of my request looked something like this:

Me want home work. Now me want work in no pants. Yes.

I ran this request by a few friends and fortunately they got me back on track. Because while the benefits of going virtual  are obvious, how to get your boss to see those benefits can often be less-obvious.

But the truth is, this move does have to benefit your company or boss in some way for them to agree to let you work remotely. So before you ask for a meeting with your superior, sit down and compose a request by answering the following questions:

1. First and most importantly, will working from home actually help you do your job?

Unless you’ve done something to personally insult yours, bosses make decisions based on job performance and productivity.

If your job description involves the physical supervision of employees in their cubes or work spaces, you probably need to consider a career change rather than going virtual. If, however, your position requires a high level of creativity and focus and you spend most of your day alone, bring that up.

Working in a loud, booming office environment can make it hard to concentrate, and sometimes even to get things done. Emphasize that working virtually will allow you more control over your environment and allow you to focus on providing high quality work. What’s not to like about that?


Read the full article in Brazen Life