According to the dictionary, a resume is "a summary, as of one's employment, education, etc., used in applying for a new position." Conversely, a curriculum vitae (C.V.) is noted as "a regular or particular course of study of or pertaining to education and life."

In other words, a RESUME is a career and educational summary meant to highlight your skills and experience and a C.V. is a list meant to document every job and degree you've ever received in your life.

When professionals working abroad decide that they want to seek out job opportunities in the U.S. and send out their C.V.s to American companies, they have no idea what Human Resource and Personnel Directors are looking for when reviewing these documents. In a typical C.V., the first category is Education, listing preparatory/college/university information and dates right up front. If the mechanical engineer or CEO sending this document graduated from university in 1974, that is not the most important piece of information that a headhunter or HR Director needs to know about this person.

The C.V. continues with Work Experience, often listing jobs going back to college days, and often listing them in chronological order (starting with 1976 for example, and ending with the 1997-Present position somewhere down on page 2 or 3). The C.V. is quite simply a listing of company names, job titles, dates of employment, and job responsibilities. Just the potatoes, without the meat and gravy, so to speak. A professional resume, on the other hand, does not require that you include every job you've ever held since being a counselor at Camp Thanks lot.

The C.V. is written in a paragraph style, not broken up with bulleted or italicized information to highlight any skills, accomplishments, or achievements for each specific position like a resume. Each paragraph lists the responsibilities from a first person perspective "I" and "my" - which is just not done in a professional resume. On this side of the Atlantic, a resume is written in the third person so as to appear more objective and factual.

The next faux pas of the C.V. is to include personal information in the document. The applicant lists marital status, nationality, height and weight, date of birth, and other information which is just not necessary or warranted when applying for a job in the U.S. Hobbies and Personal Interests are also often listed on C.V.s. But whether you play acoustic guitar or spin wool for cardigan sweaters, it does not belong on a resume.

A strong, professionally written resume, however, starts out with a brief Summary of Qualifications, next is a key word section listing your Areas of Strength or Industry Expertise, then Professional Experience where your career experience for the past ten to fifteen years is focused on and any experience prior to that may be summarized. The information listed under Professional Experience is written in reverse chronological order (most recent or present job first and going back from there) and includes a balance of responsibilities and accomplishments for each position.
After the work experience, Professional Affiliations, Computer Skills, and Education sections should appear. The best strong, to-the-point resumes should be one to two pages. Conversely, oftentimes C.V.s go on for three or four pages.

Keep in mind that resumes are intended to present a summary of highlights to allow the prospective employer to scan through the document visually or electronically and see if your skills match their available positions. A good resume can do that very effectively -- a C.V. cannot.

Question:
I was fired from my last position and I am sure that the question of why I left my former employer will come up. What should I say?
Martin

Answer:
Martin,
You never said why you were fired so it depends upon how you might handle the situation. First off, NEVER badmouth your former employer. One of the easiest and quickest reasons candidates get into trouble during the interview process is badmouthing their former employer and coming across as someone that is highly negative.

My advice is to be open and honest about the situation. Try your best to minimize the reason for your termination. For instance, if you were in sales and were not able to meet your sales quotas, you were "let-go." Perhaps the reason you were let go was because of "market changes that affected your territory and customer base," meaning there was no longer a market or a large enough market for the product you were selling. One recruiter I spoke with suggested, "Try to portray the incident as 'one of those unlucky things that happens to the best of us.'"

If it was for something illegal or something like sexual harassment, this is going to be a tough situation to deal with no matter how you dice it. I will assume that this was not the case, so we will save this for another column. However, most people are fired for either personality differences between you and your boss or co-workers, or lack of production. You can address this by simply explaining that you and your former boss had difficulty seeing eye to eye on a number of issues. In terms of lack of production, perhaps you were placed into a role that you were not qualified for. This translates to not being so much your fault, but also the fault of the employer without coming across negatively.
In a nutshell, try and quickly explain how you've learned from the experience and that you have taken steps to avoid such happening again. The objective is to put the interviewer at ease in the hope that they won't place too much importance on a reference check. One last closing note, if at all possible, try and reconcile with your former employers and ask them to at least give you a fair reference.

Best of luck in your job search.

Think that headhunter calls aren't serious business? Think again. Whether you are looking for a job or not, it is always wise to be prepared to take a call from an executive recruiter. Some graduate schools even offer workshops on the topic.

While you don't necessarily need to enroll in university courses before you answer the phone, there are some things you should know to make the most of an inquiry from a recruiter.

1. Answer the call. Don't treat a recruiter like a telemarketer. With so many layoffs, restructurings and downsizings, it's critical to stay tuned in to possible job opportunities by taking a headhunter's call and listening to what he or she has to say. If it is not convenient for you to talk with the recruiter when he or she calls, offer a more convenient time when you would be available to talk.

2. You're on the most-wanted list. Most search firms develop extensive databases of potential candidates using well-developed networks, referrals, professional association membership lists, the media, etc. If you receive a call from a recruiting firm, you've been targeted or are at least visible enough to make someone's initial referral list. Handle it properly and you could receive additional calls as opportunities arise.

3. Listen and learn. It never hurts to listen, even if you are happy in your current job. You may be surprised to learn that despite the rising number of layoffs, good companies are always looking for good people. Find out as much about the position as possible. The recruiter should be able to answer some basic questions about the position, such as the key responsibilities of the job, its title, an approximate salary range, why the job became available, the type of company, the corporate culture, the financial and strategic situation of the company, etc. By listening and asking questions, you will find out what you need to know to decide if the position is worth considering.

4. See it in writing. Ask the recruiter for a written or electronic copy of the job summary or description. If this is a legitimate opportunity, the recruiter should be happy to send you the requested information. While the company name may not immediately be revealed, the description should include information about job, scope and span of responsibility, the required experience level and skills needed to perform the job, as well as information about the company including its location, size, industry and products or services.

5. Don't give them your resume, yet. Before you email or fax over your resume, you need to learn more about the position, the recruiter, and the arrangement with the prospective employer. If this is a retained search, the employer will pay the recruiter's fee. If this is a contingency search, someone is going to have to pay the recruiter's fee and it may be you! Ask the recruiter a simple question such as “Is this a retained or contingency search that you are working on?” to know what arrangements have been made.

6. Customize your resume to match the position. Once you have reviewed the job specifications, you can emphasize the experience and skills the potential employer is looking for; if you don't have an up-to-date resume, use this call as reason to have a current resume ready. You can normally tell the recruiter that you want to review the position first to buy yourself a day or two to pull together a proper resume.

7. You've got to give a little. If you are not interested in the position, be timely in your response back to the recruiter. But don't end the conversation there. You'll go a long way in establishing rapport and creating opportunities for future calls if you take a few minutes to direct the recruiter to someone within your company or network who might be qualified and interested in the position.

8. Never lead on a headhunter. Don't pretend to be interested in a position just to get face time with a recruiter. It's much better to be honest and state that you are not interested in the particular position, but would like to share your background and experience with the recruiter. They'll appreciate your honesty and will likely be interested in hearing more about you as a possible candidate for other searches they are conducting.

9. This is not a dress rehearsal. Treat the headhunter as you would any other corporate recruiter or potential employer. Always remain professional and never let your guard down. Recruiters will assume that how you interact with them is how you will interact with their client. Their reputation is at stake each time they send a client a candidate. If you don't impress the recruiter, you're not likely to ever meet their clients.

10. Stay in touch. Don't be a nuisance, but don't be a stranger either. If you have a change in job status, be it a promotion, transfer, new job, or job loss, let the recruiter know about your situation. This information may put you back on their active radar screen.

Brainteasers are logic puzzles. Some interviewers use them to test your analytical and problem-solving ability.

Remember those little logic puzzles your crazy uncle used to throw your way after Thanksgiving dinner to see if he could stump you? Well, they have been given new life and function in consulting, investment banking, and high-tech industry job interviews.

Brainteaser cases can take many forms. Some are straightforward logic puzzles (for example, "If you have a drawer filled with eight white socks and 13 black socks, what is the smallest number you would have to pull out without looking in order to be sure that you had a matching pair?").

Other questions might not have a single correct answer. Instead, they may serve as a platform for you to demonstrate your creativity and ability to think "out-of-the-box." For example, your interviewer might ask you to list all the ways you could find a needle in a haystack.

It's always a good idea to let your interviewer know what you are thinking as you attack the question. Even if you don't end up with the right answer, your analytical ability will be on display. Also, if you do start down the wrong track, your interviewer may be kind enough to nudge you down another path.

Even if an idea seems really outlandish, you should probably offer it up. Brainteasers are often designed to showcase an individual's creativity. The only sure way not to get any points on such a question is to sit there like a rabbit in the headlights. Thump!
Sample Brainteaser
This is a little logic puzzle that could be given to undergrads, MBAs, or advanced-degree candidates.

You have eight balls, one of which is heavier than the others. All the balls appear identical. You have a balance-type scale, and you can perform trials on the balls. What is the minimum number of trials required to determine which is the heaviest ball?

Solution
Two. You start by putting three balls on each side of the scale. There are two basic outcomes: one set of three is heavier, or both sets are in balance. If one set is heavier, you choose two balls from that set and weigh one on each side of the balance. If the balls balance, you know that the remaining one from the set is the heavy one.

In the second outcome from the first measurement, the two sets of three balls are in balance. That means the heavy ball is among the remaining two. Weigh them, and you'll have your answer.

Not everyone marches to the same drummer. This includes interviewers. While many who interview job applicants ask some predictable questions and have a certain sense of decorum, not all follow the same style or fit the typical mold. The truth is that if you participate in more than a few interviews, you are likely to run into many kinds of personalities.

What do you do if you end up seated across the desk from an eccentric person? You may feel a bit uncomfortable with his or her unorthodox approach.

While your first instinct is to think that you don't want the job if this person is representative of the company, give the firm the benefit of the doubt and focus on yourself, not the interviewer. Just be yourself and say what you came to say.

If you have core messages prepared and rehearsed in advance you should be able to cope with any of the following interview types:

The mute.
This is the person who doesn't seem to know what to ask you. He or she looks at your resume and can't formulate any questions or reach any conclusions. You get very short responses to any questions you ask. It's clear that you are going to have to help this person through the interview. Break the silence by saying "Why don't I start by giving you an overview of my experience?" Then head into your core messages.

The chatterbox.
This person runs on and on, busily talking about what she does, what the company does, the corporate climate, his life history, blah, blah, blah. The good news is that you are learning some things about the company and the work environment; the bad news is that the person is learning nothing about you. While it's best to let this person blab on, when he or she takes a breath, be prepared to inject your key messages. You might say, "This is great information, I see where my experience as a brand manager at XYZ can help the company reposition its product. For instance…" Now, you can become the chatterbox.

The quirky questioner.
This person goes beyond the expected questions such as: tell me about yourself, what are your strengths and weaknesses, where do you see yourself in five years. He or she may ask something out of left field - "Did you buy that suit just for this interview?" "Do you like clowns?" "What do you think about Bush's chances in '04?" "Do you think women make good managers?" "If you were a cloud, what kind would you be?" If you think the recruiter is just odd but harmless, dodge the question with a laugh and bridge to a point you want to make about yourself. You could say, "That's an interesting question, when I think of clouds it reminds me of dealing with corporate change. In my previous position I spearheaded a task force to …" If the question is simply inappropriate, it's OK to say so.

The close talker.
Straight out of Seinfeld, this person has a different idea of how much space to leave between the two of you. If it's making you crazy, fake a cough and back up your chair. Try to find an excuse to adjust your seat by dropping your pencil or getting up for a minute to look for something in your briefcase. When you return, re-adjust your chair. If this isn't possible, try leaning into the interviewer's space. Sometimes this will cause the person to back away. If you can't create a buffer zone, don't let it bother you, consider the closeness as intense interest in you and stay focused on your key messages.



Whatever screwball behavior you encounter, take charge of the interview. Put the question you want to answer on the table then answer it. You came to talk about yourself. If you can relate at least one interesting example of how you solved a problem, achieved a goal or contributed to a team, you may actually engage the interviewer in a dialog about you. After the interview, follow up with a brief thank-you letter that re-states the key messages your intergalactic interviewer may or may not have heard.