Resume reminder

You all already know this but here are a few reminders:

• Your resume needs to have dates associated with your previous experience.
• Your dates and your experience need to be sequential or chronological. HR people seize up if there are gaps of time or non-sequential dates.
• Your experience needs to be presented as a FAB (feature-accomplishment-benefit).
• Feature=job title, duties and responsibilities (facts or features of the position, very brief and to the point).
• Accomplishments=what you achieved, performance based i.e. "increased sales by 25% in 6 months." These accomplishments need to stand out, this is where you separate yourself from the competition. (think team leadership, committees, customer service, peer or customer training, program development, research projects/papers, etc.)
• Benefit="How my experience/skills/competencies will benefit you-the prospective employer." Approach: "my experience and accomplishments mean that I will do this and this for your company."

Insider pointer when filling out psychological assessments written or oral: Know the position! Which means, if you are applying for a sales or training position with a mfg answer "works independently, time management or self initiative questions" with a confident yes. If you're applying for a team position make sure your answers reflect "works well in a team environment." If you're applying for a private practice position, know the owner, the office manager, and as best as possible the culture of the practice (history, dynamics, past performance, units per month, sales vs clinical, turnover, promotion, ownership/equity, independent vs affiliated, owned or heavily leveraged by unit contracts). If you're not comfortable asking for this information, call us. Our services never cost you a dime.

Tom Northey/www.bridgeline.org

The New Secret for Career Advancement

Dear Audiologist,

This is the inaugural blog for Audiology Careers the Crystal Ball. Our objective is to bring to light new and innovative ways to secure your dream job in the industry of Audiology. We will reveal and review various strategies, tactics and procedures in a very candid and specific (step by step) manner to prepare you for securing that life changing career opportunity. We will also keep an eye on emerging trends within the industry such as Oticon's new foray into the implant-bone anchored system. Who's buying who. Who's in trouble. What disruptive innovator is threatening to enter the market place. Should audiologist's worry about the new move towards mfg direct to patient programming (i.e. AmericaHears or the new telephone tone programmable hearing aid by Starkey), etc.

But through it all we will remain tethered to our core purpose: How to prepare you (the audiologist) to position yourself to take advantage of all the change in the industry to further your career. This is the hub of the wheel. So let's begin.

The greatest complaint and consistent source of frustration we hear from our candidates (you) is the application process. Submitting a resume to and through the typical HR gatekeeper process is the best way to hear...well absolutely nothing beyond the cursory "your application has been received" email notification, which of course is automatically generated, no live human being took the time to write you a note.

The tactic we have found the most effective to bypass this "wall of frustration" is to cold call directly into the Regional Manager level (sales or training or customer service) for mfgs. For private practice clinics call the owner directly. Pose as a colleague with a question in order to get a call back. If calling into a mfg where you have to leave a message, present a business plan, initiative or business model you would like to run by them. The plan or initiative of course is you and how you through the course of a brief conversation can solve an immediate or emerging problem/need that individual or organization is facing. This of course involves you getting hired.

We'll take more about these details in the next blog. For now, welcome aboard!

Tom
bridgeline.org