Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Should you put your Facebook or Linkedin profile Link on your Resume?

OrlandoJobs.com's "The Juice" answers this question as well as many more. Please submit your career questions to Roger Lear. (roger@orlandojobs.com)

The Readers Always Have GREAT Career QuestionsBy: Roger Lear

I have been gathering your questions for the last couple months and thought I would share some of the more common career questions. If you ever have question, please make sure you submit it and we will answer it!

Q: When a company has more than one job posted that I am qualified for, should I apply to all of them even though they are with the same company?

A: This all depends on a couple factors. First, if the application process for the job takes you directly to the hiring company's own application technology, this will prevent you from applying more than once. However, it is critical that in your cover letter, you let the hiring managers know you are qualified for xyz position as well. Secondly, only submit your resume more than once if the jobs that you are interested in go to completely different departments with different email addresses.

Q: Should I put my salary requirements in my cover letter?

A: I get this question every week. In most cases I would suggest never putting in your salary requirements. If you do, you run the chance of pigeonholing yourself into that amount should you get the job. Most people don’t negotiate salary well anyway, and if you show your hand early, you are usually dead in the water. Hopefully, you are not applying to ANY job that you don’t at least know the salary range for the position.

Q: Should I put my LinkedIn or Facebook profile link on my resume?

A: Another very good question. I would say yes for a LinkedIn Profile and no for a Facebook profile. LinkedIn allows you to virtually put your resume online with the ability to add pictures, blogs, links to news stories about you and references. Just make sure that your LinkedIn profile matches your resume. Facebook is your social network. Keep it that way.

Q: What should I put as my objective on a resume?

A: No matter what job you are applying to, you must build your resume for the “eyes” of the person who will review it. Most job postings are getting at least 50 resumes. The easier you make it for the person who gets your resume to identify you as a potential fit for a position, the more interviews you will get. To do this, at the top of resume state your objective clearly and make sure it matches the position. Here are a couple of examples:

Objective: Property Claims Specialist (Tie is to the job you are applying)
Objective: Executive Administrative Assistant (keep it simple)
Objective: Insurance Compliance Specialist (Catch the eye of the hiring company)
Just make sure that your career experience matches your objective. I have seen too many long winded objectives that are canned and meaningless. Get noticed by being simple and direct.

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