10 Job Search Mistakes

By: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent Inc.

If you do any of the following you might not get considered for the job.

1. Sending an e-mail to the hiring manager with a summary of why you qualify for a job without attaching a resume. 
2. Sending a LinkedIn message to the hiring manager asking them to check out your LinkedIn Profile to see if your qualifications would be a fit for the job and if they are you will send a resume.  Not sending your resume when initially contacting the hiring manager is sending the signal that you are not really interested in the job.  
3. Being rude to the Hiring Manager or anyone working with the hiring manager, including their personal assistant or phone operator will prevent you from getting any current or future jobs.  This includes rude e-mails or rude calls.  It is important to keep in mind that a company may not consider you the optimal candidate for the current opening but may like you enough to call you for future opportunities.  Don’t burn bridges.
4. Including unprofessional e-mail addresses on your resume.  The e-mail address was probably funny to you when you picked it, but “Fratboy” or “SexyChic” will probably not seem funny to the hiring manager.  There are plenty of free e-mail services to set up a professional e-mail address.
5. Lying on your resume.  What might not have been an issue if revealed from the start, can become an issue if discovered after the fact.
6. Telling the hiring manager where to go to find your resume instead of providing the information.  “You can find my full resume and cover letter on XYZ Board.”  Posting your resume on a job board is great if the person pays to get resumes off of that particular job board.  If the hiring manager is not buying resumes, they are not going to make an exception and buy yours to see if you are qualified for the job.
7. Not paying attention to detail when including a cover letter.  Attaching a letter talking about another company and another position is not a good first impression.
8. Applying for jobs based on job title and not on skill set.
9. Not including an e-mail address or a phone number on your resume.  Only putting your name and address on a resume means you do not really want to be contacted about the job.  If you have applied for a job through a job board, the hiring manager that eventually gets your resume is not receiving a direct e-mail from you.  It is not safe to assume somehow, the hiring manager is going to go back and try to find your e-mail address.
10. Playing games!  For example, saying you have a job offer in hand from another company when you do not can be a dangerous game.  Playing this bluff to try to get the hiring manager to speed up the process or make it seem like you are in demand is not without risk.  The hiring manager may call your bluff.  I have seen candidates dropped from the hiring process because the hiring manager feels like the candidate is on a different timeline–One the company cannot meet.

Standing Out: Getting Noticed by Executive Recruiters

Originally posted by FINS Propel Your Career- Written by: Alina Dizik (http://www.fins.com/Finance/Articles/SB124707835231913137/Standing-Out-Getting-Noticed-by-Executive-Recruiters) 

Getting past the competition at the recruiter’s office could be the first step to securing your next finance position. With so many talented applicants, top recruiters are busier than ever and can be tough to impress. Getting noticed by recruiters is all about standing out: with both your skills and finance credentials. There are several approaches that can help you get noticed and get ahead of the recruiting pack.

Use Your Network to Connect
Asking for introductions from others in your field is often the best way to connect with a very busy recruiter. Without using your network for an introduction, it can be tough to develop a new recruiter relationship, says Michael Levine, Principal of Advantage Talent, an Atlanta-based recruiting firm. “My first calls are to the financial executives with whom I have developed personal relationships, and to members of my trusted networks,” he says.

Time it Right
You should pay attention to logistics. For one, contact recruiters early in the day when they are less tied up with potential clients, suggests Mitchell Feldman, president of A.E. Feldman Associates Inc., a Great Neck, N.Y.-based executive placement firm. “Try to be the first person they speak with,” says Feldman.

Provide a Standard Resume
When working with recruiters, don’t use resume services that reconfigure your resume to keep employment gaps or other information out of sight. Use a standard resume format that highlights your successes but avoid vague marketing sheets. “Keep the resume simple with no gimmicks,” says Levine.

Meet Face to Face
To leave a lasting impression, work around the recruiter’s busy schedule to set up a face-to-face meeting (instead of a phone conversation), says Nick D’Ambrosio, president of FirstHire, an Irvine, Calif.-based career development firm. “Having a face matched to a name will enhance your chances of being remembered should a job opening call for” your skills, he says.

Don’t Share Personal Information
While a recruiting interview is more conversational than interviews with your future boss, it’s important to keep these exchanges completely professional. For example, when describing the ideal job, never mention spousal concerns as a reason that you wouldn’t be interested in a specific position or relocating to a certain city, says Levine. “Answer questions as business executives, and keep the conversation on a professional level,” he says.

Show Off Stellar Communication Skills
The duties of many finance professionals are interwoven within the company, so communicating effectively is a key aspect of the job. To quickly single out the best candidates, many recruiters look for top-notch communication skills, which can be difficult to find among finance professionals, says Levine. “Many financial executives believe that having the right hard skills is enough — this couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

Be Patient
Thinking you’re always the ‘right’ person for a certain position can hurt your relationship with a recruiter, says Robert Lee, president of Gibson Martin Careergoals LLC, a New Jersey-based recruiting firm which focuses on both finance and accounting. “If you have been in equity sales, and have a desire to do equity research with no actual experience in that area, you will be disappointed in the lack of interest in your resume,” says Lee. Instead, understand that your qualifications may only be a fit for a specific finance role and demonstrate to the recruiter that you can wait for the right fit.

Show that You’re Reliable
For many recruiters, finding trustworthy candidate is one of the most important aspects of insuring he or she is a fit for the job, says Feldman. To build a trusting relationship, make sure to never bypass the recruiter when applying for a position that the recruiter originally brought to your attention. Also, it’s important be diligent about promptly returning phone calls or emails. “The recruiter has to feel confident that candidate will play it fair and play it straight, too many times candidates are very flakey,” says Feldman.

Stay in Touch During Times of Employment
For many job seekers, accepting a job means the end of a relationship with a recruiter. But instead of losing touch, experts recommend that you make time to check in every three to six months. By keeping in touch you’ll be able to build on previous relationships instead of starting from square one with a new recruiter once you begin another search, says Levine. “It’s a lot easier to get the attention of a recruiter when you need them if you have developed a long-standing rapport,” he says.

In finance roles, many top recruiters work with clients two or three times throughout their careers. Building on a previous relationship also helps a recruiter to better understand your career path and provide you with positions that are a better fit.

—

Since getting past the recruiter is often the first hurdle in landing a top-notch finance position, it’s important to stand out among the competition. But there’s not just one correct approach; you should try several of the strategies outlined above. Make sure to highlight your valuable experience, build a trusting relationship and communicate how your skills will meet the needs of a potential employer.

– Alina Dizik

If you are a Board Member, CEO, CFO, Finance or Accounting Professional, or a turnaround CEO or CFO visit Advantage Talent, Inc. Executive Search Firm’s website at www.AdvantageTalentInc.com to see what opportunities we have available.  Or you can contact Michael Levine via e-mail at MLevine@AdvantageTalentInc.com .

Will IFRS Make CPAs a Requirement for SOX Compliant Boards?

By: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent, Inc.  Originally posted on TaLevine’s Blog.

Most articles about IFRS have been technical in nature. The focus has been on what items will be accounted for differently under IFRS versus GAAP. Little attention has been given to how the switch to IFRS will affect corporate governance. While the SEC supports the switch to IFRS, they have expressed concern that the switch will cause a short term SOX compliance issue as it relates to financial experts on the audit committee. Under SOX at least one member of the Audit Committee must be defined as an Audit Committee Expert. The SEC defines an Audit Committee Financial expert as a person who has the following attributes:

An understanding of generally accepted accounting principles and financial statements;………………..Under the final rules, a person must have acquired such attributes through any one or more of the following:

(1) Education and experience as a principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, controller, public accountant or auditor or experience in one or more positions that involve the performance of similar functions;

(2) Experience actively supervising a principal financial officer, principal accounting officer, controller, public accountant, auditor or person performing similar functions;

(3) Experience overseeing or assessing the performance of companies or public accountants with respect to the preparation, auditing or evaluation of financial statements; or

(4) Other relevant experience.

Under the final rules the SEC makes it clear that just because someone was already serving on an Audit Committee did not mean they could automatically be grandfathered in as the Audit Committee Financial Expert. It further states that the fact that a person has experience as a public accountant or auditor, a principal financial officer, controller or principal accounting officer or experience in a similar position would not, by itself, justify the board of directors in deeming the person to be an Audit Committee Financial expert.

(http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8177.htm)

The rules of the game are changing. An understanding of GAAP is no longer going to be the starting benchmark. IFRS knowledge is going to be the starting benchmark. Audit Committee Financial Experts familiar with IFRS are going to be in short supply. Very few financial experts have the prerequisite experience to qualify as the expert under SOX. One of the groups actively preparing for and educating their members about the switch to IFRS is Certified Public Accountants (CPA). Starting in 2011, the CPA Exam will include testing on IFRS. A CPA is required to finish a predetermined amount of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) each year to keep their licenses current. For the last couple of years they have been able to take numerous CPE Classes on IFRS. Putting a CPA with IFRS training on the Audit Committee may be one of the steps companies may have to take to protect themselves from litigation.

Shareholders have become very litigious. Many feel the gatekeepers have failed miserably and left the shareholders with diminished assets. The Security Police and Fire Professionals of America are suing Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley over large bonuses and losses sustained by investors. The Atlanta Firefighters’ Pension Fund is suing their custodian, Chicago-based Northern Trust, over risky investments. Corporate Boards run the risk of finding themselves the next group of gatekeepers subject to shareholder litigation. If the company loses money or fraud is discovered, shareholders might put forth litigation challenging the competence of the Audit Committee Expert, the Audit Committee members and of corporate decisions approved by audit committees who are alleged to have lacked the necessary competence.

SEC States Succession Planning a Key Board Responsibility

Originally posted on TaLevine Blog

By: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent Inc.

In 2009, corporations saw executives exiting as their corporations’ economic health were failing and corporate sustainability questionable. These abrupt departures during a critical time in the corporations’ fight for survival magnified the adverse affect of minimal or no succession planning. Corporate Boards found themselves in the position of focusing on finding a leader rather than focusing on the immediate financial problems at hand. If any company should be the poster child of poor succession planning in 2009, it would be the Bank of America Corporation. CEO Kenneth Lewis resigned at a time when the company was in the process of paying back TARP money which ultimately resulted in a 2009 fourth quarter loss of $5.2 billion. It took the Board three months to find a successor. Time that would have been better spent focusing on improving corporate performance.

In the past the SEC has supported the exclusion of shareholder proposals calling for succession planning transparency. Corporate Boards have been able to Rely on Rule 14a-8(i)(7) to exclude this type of information in the proxy. Rule 14a-8(i)(7) allows corporations to exclude information relating to the day to day management of the workforce.

Shareholder proposals for strategic succession planning are now getting support from the SEC. The SEC has changed its stance of classifying succession planning as part of the day to day operations. Succession Planning is now considered a risk item that needs to be addressed. See SEC Staff Legal Bulletin No. 14E (CF)

“One of the board’s key functions is to provide for succession planning so that the company is not adversely affected due to a vacancy in leadership. Recent events have underscored the importance of this board function to the governance of the corporation. We now recognize that CEO succession planning raises a significant policy issue regarding the governance of the corporation that transcends the day to-day business matter of managing the workforce. […] Going forward, we will take the view that a company generally may not rely on Rule 14a-8(i)(7) to exclude a proposal that focuses on CEO succession planning.”  (http://www.sec.gov/interps/legal/cfslb14e.htm)

Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) a long time proponent of succession disclosure had tried unsuccessfully in the past to have their CEO succession disclosure proposals included in the proxy of numerous companies for shareholder vote. In 2010, corporations such as Whole Foods, Bank of America and Verizon were forced to include LiUNA’s proposals for shareholder vote. Approximately 30% of the Whole Foods shareholders, 40% of the Bank of America shareholders, and 33% of the Verizon shareholders voted for the proposal. Even though the proposals were defeated the first time around, Corporate Boards can expect shareholder support for the proposals to grow if the issue is not voluntarily addressed.

20 Questions for determining whether a Contractor is a W-2 vs. 1099 Independent Contractor

By: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent, Inc.

Becoming an Independent Contractor is a great way for Executives in transition to earn money in this tight economy. For Corporations that have downsized and need help, Executive Consultants can be the answer. However, it is important that Companies engage these Consultants correctly. The IRS and DOJ are cracking down on employers who claim contractors as 1099 contractors when they are not. There is much more to a contract than negotiating the hourly rate. When negotiating a contract, it is important to consult the appropriate professionals, such as, an attorney and/or a tax accountant or go through a Executive Staffing firm. In fact, under the IRS Code most Financial Executive Consultants do not qualify as 1099 Contractors!

“Employee status under common law.
Generally, a worker who performs services for your Company is your employee if you have the right to control what will be done and how it will be done. This is so, even when you give the employee freedom of action. What matters is that you have the right to control the details of how the services are performed. If an employer-employee relationship exists, it does not matter what it is called. The employee may be called an agent or independent contractor. It also does not matter how payments are measured or paid, what they are called, or if the employee works full or part time. (IRS Publication 15, Circular E, 2008 Pg. 8)” The IRS has provided examples of what is and is not a W-2 Employee vs. a 1099 Independent Contractor.

The corporation that classifies a W-2 employee as a 1099 Contractor faces the following fines:

*A breakdown of back tax penalties(http://tinyurl.com/5u0d):

15.30 % Social Security Tax (on income up to the cap, plus 2.9 % of income above that cap),

20.00 % Federal Income Tax, +6.20 %

Unemployment Insurance, 41.50 % of the contractor’s pay (IRS 3509).

If it is determined to be intentional, there can be jail time involved.

The Federal Government is not the only one cracking down on employers who misclassify W-2 Employees as 1099 Independent Contractors. Many states have become aggressive on preventing what they see as Corporations not paying taxes that are duly owed. In this economy where budgets are short at the Federal and State Levels, the agencies are demanding stricter adherence to employee tax laws.

Some of the red flags for the IRS include a former employee hired back as a 1099 Contractor. A contract-to-hire where the employee starts off as a 1099 employee then converts to a W-2 Employee. If someone is acting as a Contract Interim CEO, CFO or Controller for a company while the company looks for a permanent solution, or while someone is out on sick leave or maternity leave, under the IRS 20 Questions (see below) these situations would probably fail as a 1099 Contract Position.

According to information published by the IRS, around $64 million in taxes and penalties were collected from over 800 companies that misclassified workers in the most recent year reported. These numbers are only going to continue to go up as the IRS has promised to randomly audit several thousand companies. The Federal Government Accountability Office estimated that employee misclassification resulted in the underpayment of an estimated $2.72 billion in Social Security taxes, unemployment insurance taxes and income taxes in 2006, the last year for which figures are available.

It is important for both Companies and Interim Executives to set up the appropriate relationship in the beginning for the protection of everyone involved. In the current environment, now is not the time to be a do-it-yourself contract negotiator and leave out the experts. A full summary can be found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15a.pdf .  If you fill out a Form SS-8  (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf), the IRS will help you determine whether the contract employee should be classified as  a W-2 Employee or a 1099 Contractor.

The following is a list of 20 questions the IRS uses to determine if a worker is an independent contractor or employee. The answer of yes to any one of the questions (except #16) may mean the worker is an employee.

1. Is the worker required to comply with instructions about when, where and how the work is done?
2. Is the worker provided training that would enable him/her to perform a job in a particular method or manner?
3. Are the services provided by the worker an integral part of the business’ operations?
4. Must the services be rendered personally?
5. Does the business hire, supervise, or pay assistants to help the worker on the job?
6. Is there a continuing relationship between the worker and the person for whom the services are performed?
7. Does the recipient of the services set the work schedule?
8. Is the worker required to devote his/her full time to the person he/she performs services for?
9. Is the work performed at the place of business of the company or at specific places set by the company?
10. Does the recipient of the services direct the sequence in which the work must be done?
11. Are regular oral or written reports required to be submitted by the worker?
12. Is the method of payment hourly, weekly, monthly (as opposed to commission or by the job?)
13. Are business and/or traveling expenses reimbursed?
14. Does the company furnish tools and materials used by the worker?
15. Has the worker failed to invest in equipment or facilities used to provide the services?
16. Does the arrangement put the person in a position or realizing either a profit or loss on the work?
17. Does the worker perform services exclusively for the company rather than working for a number of companies at the same time?
18. Does the worker in fact make his/her services regularly available to the general public?
19. Is the worker subject to dismissal for reasons other than non-performance of the contract specifications?
20. Can the worker terminate his/her relationship without incurring a liability for failure to complete the job?

www.AdvantageTalentInc.com

Why Do Senior Financial Professionals Change Jobs?

Although issues of business volatility and unemployment continue to garner a large share of the headlines in business journals today, the trend of rapid business change has been accelerating for several years. This tendency toward change impacts companies of all sizes, whether public or private. The combination of a dynamic business environment and the recent economic downturn has caused many Financial Executives and their employers to rethink their stance on employment stability. Financial Executive change in employment every two or three years is no longer unusual, and many employers are beginning to consider a break in employment to be the norm.

Even though tolerance of job change is increasing, there is still a large contingent of employers who believe that executives who have not been working in their current job for at least the last 5 years are somehow ‘tainted.’ The common perception is that job change can only be the result of deficient job performance or poor decision making skills related to choice of employer. This is an out of date belief that does not correlate with the reality of the business environment during the last 10 years. The volatility in the US economy has created a new host of reasons why senior Financial Executives change jobs. The following are examples of these causes of job change and the impact on Senior Financial Executives and their employers.

• Change in control, the new guard wants a new CFO. Often a CFO will find that he or she is in a position where the senior management team and / or members of the board are replaced (partially or completely) by new leadership team members. New teams often bring with them new perceptions of the skills required by the senior financial executive, or they have a person in mind who they have worked with in the past and trust to execute their new agenda. When this happens, the sitting CFO often loses out to the goals of the new team. The company suffers the loss of institutional knowledge in exchange for their perception of a brighter future.
  

 

• Change in strategy, new skills needed. Because of the velocity of change in the economy, often the only reason that an employee is hired by a company is that a problem exists in the company, and the hiring authorities believe that the candidate for the position can solve the problem. These problems can be very specific and tactical, or more general and strategic. A person who is hired to ‘clean up’ finance and accounting departments may find themselves with a clean and fully functioning department, but the CFO’s boss may have acquired a new vision, i.e. an Initial Public Offering, or a strategy of Merger and Acquisition that the CFO is not experienced in. If the CFO is not able to sell the remaining members of the leadership team that he or she can handle the new strategy, the CFO will be looking for new employment.
  

 

• Major problem is solved, overhead mentality of CEO. If a CFO is hired to solve a specific major problem and handles that problem, there is an inherent risk that there may not be another major problem to solve. Once everything is running smoothly, the CFO is at risk of being considered ‘overhead’ by the remaining members of the leadership team. Some management teams do not recognize a distinction between a controller and a CFO. They feel that once the problem is solved, only the controller’s services are required. Because management is under continuous pressure to eliminate components of overhead, a CFO who is perceived as being overhead is usually terminated quickly.
  

 

• Company is acquired, replication of CFO. Successful companies are often acquired. After the acquisition, there is often a period of post-acquisition integration of the acquirer and the target company. Depending on the complexity of the combined entities and the philosophy of the surviving board of directors and the CEO, that period may fall within a range of as little as a few days or as much as several years. Unless the CFO of the company being acquired has a significantly stronger skill set than the CFO of the company doing the acquiring, the CFO of the target company will often be eliminated by the end of the post-acquisition integration period.
  

 

• Company fails. CFO’s occasionally join companies that ultimately go out of business. Obviously the lack of a paycheck from a company will cause this CFO to search for another opportunity.
  

 

• Politics. Although most company executives claim that politics are not a factor in their organization, many companies continue to be subject to the political agenda of members of the executive leadership team. If a CFO does not see eye to eye with the initiatives of other executive team members, the company may search for a new CFO.
  

 

• Fraud is identified by the CFO, and CFO leaves. In cases where fraud of others is identified by the CFO, the results are mixed. In some situations, the executive team will do the ‘right thing’ and terminate the offending party and fix the problem. At other times, executives will try to sweep the issue ‘under the rug’ in an attempt to put some time and distance between them and the perpetrator, with the hope that the issue will not be exposed again later. If the CFO fights to clean up the fraud in this situation, the reaction of the remaining members of the leadership team often leads to dismissal of the CFO. In other situations, the CFO leaves the company in frustration.
  

 

• Not truly a CFO position. Often a CFO will work for a company that does not differentiate between a CFO and a ‘Head Accountant’. This CFO often comes to the conclusion that they would rather hold CFO responsibilities. If an opportunity comes to them to work at a company that provides acceptable challenge in a true CFO role and enhanced compensation, the CFO may leave to take the better opportunity.
  

 

Experience shows that in many cases, the only difference between employed and unemployed people looking for a new opportunity for employment is the timing and impact of forces outside of the Financial Executive’s control. Some Financial Executives are able to identify opportunities to move to a new employer before they find themselves in a state of transition, and others are unable to avoid unemployment. No matter how much importance a Financial Executive places on continuous employment, there are in fact some environments where the risk of being employed is much higher than any reward that may come from working there. When an Executive joins a company, he or she receives 3 proverbial keys; the key to their office, the key to the bathroom, and the key to the closet where the skeletons are kept. Sometimes the skeletons in the closet are scarier than being in job transition.

Some companies are weak and/or on the edge of insolvency, and others create a CFO position that is not worthy of a credible CFO. A CFO may take a calculated risk to take on one of these new positions with the knowledge that they will grow professionally if they take the ‘special’ role. Jobs in this category may have limited duration. Also, transparency of public companies is questionable at best, and is often close to nonexistent for private companies. As a result, even the best due diligence by a CFO candidate will often not uncover some of the risks identified above. Most people with an understanding of the reasons why CFOs frequently change jobs will also understand that finding stability in a job is often more a matter of luck than skill.

It is obviously much less expensive for an employer to maintain a stable work force. Employers may have valid reasons for demanding stable employees, but if these employers maintain their absolute requirement for longevity, they will miss out on a huge pool of candidates who are capable of doing an effective job for them.

Just because a Financial Executive has worked for the same employer for the last twelve years, doesn’t guarantee that they will be successful in maintaining longevity in a new work environment. Proven flexibility can be very valuable to a Financial Executive as they enter a new employment assignment. People who have a variety of employer experiences have proven that they have most likely exercised their ‘employment flexibility muscle’ and can most likely adapt to new environments easily.

10 Rules of LinkedIn Group Etiquette

By: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent, Inc. – Originally post on TaLevine Blog

1. Do not ask to join groups you are not qualified to join.  For example, if you do not qualify for the XYZ professional organization in the ‘real world’ then you don’t qualify in the LinkedIn world either.  Asking to join groups you are not qualified to join makes you appear to be a spammer.

2. Do not post job orders in the discussion section of the LinkedIn Group.  There is a job posting section…..Use it.  It may seem like everyone is looking for a job these days but many are not.

3.  Make sure to be relevant with your postings.  Don’t post just to post or to have your name everywhere. Make sure that the topics you chose are relevant to the group’s interests.   For example, if you are part of a LinkedIn wine group don’t post about your car collection. 

4.  Do not post inflammatory comments.  Most users of LinkedIn are established professionals.  They did not join the group to argue with you.  Also, posting inflammatory comments is a quick way to burn bridges in the professional community.

5.  Do not sell to members.  People do not join LinkedIn Groups just so you can have access to spam them with personal e-mails through LinkedIn.

6.  Do not, not, not post sale pitches for products in the Discussion Thread of a LinkedIn Group.  This is the quickest way to achieve negative brand recognition.

7. Do be a mentor.  Sharing your expertise with others and helping them reach their goals is appreciated by all.

8.  If you are the administrator of a group, check the requests to join often and frequently.

9.  Do not write anything that you do not want out in the public.  It may be a LinkedIn Group but it is not a confidential group.

10. DO NOT use the LinkedIn Groups as your personal blog.  This is my personal pet peeve and seems to be a growing trend in a couple of the LinkedIn Groups that I am a member.  Get your own blog, it’s cheap and it is free. (WordPress.com).  If members of a group find you interesting they can sign up to follow your blog.

10 Reasons NOT to use a Functional Resume

Originally Posted on: http://talevine.wordpress.com/  Written by: Tracy Levine, President, Advantage Talent, Inc.

1.  It makes hiring managers believe the candidate is trying to hide something.

2.  Candidates only have one chance to make a first impression and functional resumes do not give a good first impression.

3.  It frustrates the hiring manager because they cannot determine how much experience the candidate really has in the solution they are looking for the candidate to solve as a future employee.

4.  When applying to a job online, the functional resume confuses the computer data base and the computer will document that the candidate has zero (0) years of experience.

5.  It will cost the candidate referrals from their networking group because they will not have a clear picture of who they should share the candidate’s resume with.

6.  The typical hiring manager looks at a candidate’s resume for 10 to 15 seconds and will not take the time to figure out if the candidate is a fit with the company.

7.  Functional resumes do not communicate the candidate’s true value.

8.  The functional resume will cost the candidate interviews and lengthen their transition time.

9.  Functional Resumes are not respected in the marketplace.

10. THEY DON’T GET READ!!!!!

There are No Hidden Jobs…Only Hidden Candidates: Writing the Winning Resume……At Advantage Talent, Inc. Executive Placement Firm, we are the insiders. It is our business to know which resumes work and which ones do not.  We know which ones get through the gatekeepers and which ones do not.  Check out the Advantage Talent, Inc. Website to learn more on how to write an effective resume.

http://www.advantagetalentinc.com/Candidate_Resources.html