Ask John
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John Henning is Director of Business Development for Granite Solutions Groupe, a leading financial services and technology recruitment firm. John brings over two decades of management experience in the technology and financial services industry to the firm and oversees all client relations, strategic business development, marketing, and technology initiatives. Previously, John was Chief Information Officer at Group One Trading, where he implemented trading applications and global infrastructure projects. John also spent 7 years in various management positions at investment management firm Barclays Global Investors, where he developed strong relationships in the financial services sector. Prior to that, John held senior technology management positions at The Walt Disney Company and Health Net in Southern California, where he employed his expertise in infrastructure architecture, data center management, and systems administration. Throughout his career, John has brought a blend of technical expertise and a strong customer service skills to the organizations in which he served. John holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Granite Solutions Groupe's client focus is on the Financial Services and high-tech industries. We have two practices: (1) A High-End Consulting and Professional Services practice where we place contractors and consultants as well as various IT professionals with specific industry domain expertise; and (2) an Executive Search practice where we place full-time, direct-hire candidates in senior level professional and managerial roles on a either a retained or contingent basis.
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Monday, July 23, 2007
Hello Carnegie Mellon Students
As an executive recruiter, I am fortunate to be able to meet some incredibly talented and interesting individuals. I recently met a Carnegie Mellon West alum with whom I was very impressed. And having been a part-time student myself, I decided to volunteer some of my time and expertise to share what I’ve learned in the executive recruiting business about successful career development strategies.
Over the next ten months, I’ll be covering the following topics as I believe they are the most critical issues in developing a successful career path.
- Resume Writing Tips and Techniques
- Career Management Insights – Creating that Perfect “Arc” of experience!
- Developing Productive Relationships with Recruiters
- How to Get the Most out of Social Networking Tools (LinkedIn, etc.)
- How to Get the Most out of Networking
- Strategies for Using Job Boards
- How to Sell Yourself
- Successful Interviewing Techniques
- Offer Negotiation
- Contract or Full-time? What Makes Sense for You?
Each month, I’ll cover one topic, and I hope that you will feel free to post questions and concerns that may arise from my comments. I also encourage you to post ideas for other topics that you have interest in and make this a dynamic, interactive forum for all. While I do have extensive experience myself, I know that I only get better at what I do by listening and learning, so I want to learn from you too!
So here’s the first topic:
Resume Writing Tips and Techniques
If you’re new to the job market or you've evaluated your current employment situation and decided that it’s time to look for something new, keep a few simple things in mind that resume readers look for BEFORE you start sending out those resumes …
- Keep it short – No one wants to read a 14 page resume, regardless of how true it all is. Work with a friend or mentor to get your resume down to 2 pages or less.
- Make sure the formatting is consistent and that you use a “normal” font like Times New Roman or Arial. Save the flash for the interview.
- Correct all spelling mistakes. It’s 2007 and if you don’t have access to spell-check, you’ve got bigger problems than finding a job!
- Don’t EVER cut-and-paste a previous job description into a section of your resume. It’s obvious when this is done, and it makes you look lazy and uninvolved.
- Make sure all your contact information is available and current – It’s hard to follow-up with a wrong number or a bounced email.
- Resumes with a brief summary of skills and a chronological listing of work experience work best – don’t make the reader have to figure out what you did where with a functional resume!
posted by Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley @ 11:20 AM
10 Comments:
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Recently I took on many summer interns. Their resume's are mostly stunning - far better than mine. They are good students, but many resumes are overstated. I suspect that some used professional writing services. Other students who I interviewed, but did not hire, also had excellent resume's but fell short when probed. So how is one to a) sort the good from the bad when so many resume's are outstanding and b) inspire confidence in the reader of your resume that you really do have the capabilities advertised?
Speaking of professional writing services for resumes... what is your take on that? Good idea or bad? Is it obvious when candidates have done that or not?
Hi Liam - This is a great question. When it comes to sorting through resumes, the first thing we do is look for the ones that stand out visually, meaning the information is easy to find, the chronology flows logically and the basic degree qualifications are there. As to sorting out the good and bad when all resumes are outstanding, unfortunately there's no substitute for a quick phone screen. I usually ask candidates to take 2-3 minutes to tell me about their professional background and experience and within this timeframe I can tell if what the person is saying lines up with their resume. But some inexperienced candidates just "paraphrase" their resume, which is also a sign that they're not thinking on their feet.
As far as inspiring confidence in the reader of your resume that you really do have the capabilities, I look for active verbs, describing what they actually did, vs. what the responsibilities of the job were. Someone who can clearly and succinctly describe what they did, and how they did it get to the top of my queue.
Hi Sandra - Professional resume writing services can be useful when the candidate works with someone to help them write their own resume. This way the candidate gets the benefit of an experienced resume writer, yet still takes ownership of the actual words and phrasing - so they can speak to their experience with the conviction that comes with having personally done the things being written about. When a resume is completely written by someone other than the candidate, it usually comes out in the interview if the language style doesn't line up. I don't perceive the use of these services as a positive or negative either way, just as long as the presentation of information is accurate, accessible and succinct.
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am happy to respond to individual questions via email as well as through the blog. My email address is johnhenning@granitesolutionsgroupe.com.
Look for my next posting just after Labor Day, where I'll be covering the topic of overall career trajectory and planning.
Have a great Labor Day and I'll see you on the blog!
J
The first set of interviews I had to take were candidates with more experience than mine (in terms of years at the job) a lot more!!
It is another matter, as I realized after the first couple of candidates, that stated experience level and knowledge level are not always at par with each other.
However I had butterflies in my stomach before taking the interviews.
Any hints on how to ensure that you are selecting the right person and how to deal with more experienced candidates?
Hi Rajat - Love this topic. As a manager, when I'm interviewing candidates that have more experience in an area (or in general) than I do I try to remember that the most important thing you can do as a manager is to surround yourself with smart people, and if they're smarter than you or more experienced all the better. They will perform well and you'll learn something from them. But don't sell yourself short either and remember that the one with the most knowledge about the topic at hand is in the best position to lead. That being said, it's also important to not hire someone that is "over-qualified" for the position as they may become restless and leave sooner than you want. As for selecting the right person, it's a combination of skills, experience, personality fit and compensation. Be wary of a candidate that seems too good to be true - they usually are. If their previous compensation was much higher than what they're currently willing to accept, it may mean that they're just looking for a "place-holder" job while they continue their job search. Hope that helps!
Hi John
I really enjoyed your talk at CM West last Tuesday. Thanks for doing that!
I'm really interested in how to get the most from networking, and networking sites (such as linkedin).
Is there an order in which you'll be blogging about topics, or can I request that this be a priority?
Thanks
Martin
Hi Martin - I'll put networking up on the priority list and cover that in a blog entry this month.
Meaningful Networking – Focus on Marketable Skills and Leaving an Impression
Networking is by far one of the most powerful tools you can use to further your career and extend the reach of your job search. The trick with successful networking is to keep doing it, whether you’re currently seeking a new opportunity or not. After all, It’s often the seeds you plant today that will yield fruit in the future, so start networking now and don’t ever stop.
Now this doesn’t mean that you have to be psycho about it and attend every single mixer, seminar, user group and conference in the world and spend copious amounts of time online maintaining your social networking profiles. Just find things that you’re interested in and be consistent with your involvement in them.
Once you’re actively networking the most important thing to remember is how to leave a lasting impression. What you want to do when networking is leave people with a clear picture of what your marketable skills are. Many job candidates get hung-up describing what they used to do in the context of their current or previous employment situation and forget to simply communicate what their marketable skills are. You want to leave people with a memory of you that they can easily communicate to others. That’s the real beauty of networking – many times it’s contacts 2 or 3 degrees of separation away where you will find your next opportunity, so giving people a “take away” that they can easily convey to other people they know is key. Something like “Hey, I was at ABC User Group the other day and I met this guy named Joe who’s really great with quantitative analysis, understands how to communicate business ideas to technical people and is super articulate – he really knows his stuff”. This is a lot easier to remember than what their title was, what group they worked in, and what their responsibilities were.
It’s a lot more likely you’re going to get what I call “multi-level contact penetration” when you stick to marketable skills when describing what you bring to the table and what you’re interested in. People can really get their head around what you do and what you can offer rather than thinking of you as a position with a set of responsibilities.
JH