Monday, July 24, 2023

CNBC Make It Work helps you get ahead in your career.
By Ashton Jackson

The No. 1 resume red flag, according to a former Google recruiter

There are many standard guidelines for writing a powerful resume: Don’t misspell words. Don’t go over two pages. Don’t compose a vague list of skills without proving you’ve actually accrued them.

For Nolan Church, who’s worked in talent acquisition at companies like Google and is currently the CEO of talent marketplace Continuum, there’s one major red flag. “The No. 1 thing I don’t want to see on a resume is probably text bricks,” he says, which is to say, “endless streams of text that have a lot of words but not a lot of content.”

When Church sees one of those, “there’s zero chance you’re going to move forward.” Here’s his advice on making sure your resume passes the test.

Don’t ramble: “When people describe what they’ve been doing, they often have a hard time being concise,” he says. Below each job title, limit yourself to a few one-line bullet points.

Leverage Artificial Intelligence tools: “It’s just too easy to use tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly to actually clean that up, to help you not only with punctuation, grammar, but also brevity,” says Church. Both tools are free and ChatGPT offers an app version in which you can input sentences and give prompts like “make this sentence shorter.”

Have real people edit your resume: “I fundamentally believe that at least five to 10 people should be giving you feedback on your resume,” says Church. Reach out to people in your network who’ve done well in their careers and ask if they’ll take a look.

Get Ahead: Here's how to tell if a company is offering ‘fake flexibility,’ says CEO

To lure talent in a tight labor market, some companies are “catfishing” job candidates with false promises of remote work and easy hours.

Since these perks remain a top priority among job seekers, certain employers resort to overstating their policies to seem more appealing, says Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder and CEO of Flexa Careers, a global directory of flexible work companies. She calls it “fake flexibility.”

Here’s what you should look out for:

Vague language in the job description: “If a company you’re looking at boasts of a ‘flexible working environment’ or says ‘open to flexible working,’ with no other color or explanation to support what that looks like in practice, it’s likely that they don’t truly offer it,” she says.

Workers have to request flexibility: “If a workplace is really about the well-being of their employees and believes in the benefits of flexible working, they won’t make you jump through hoops before you’re ‘allowed’ to access this benefit,” says Johnson-Jones.

Flexibility isn’t brought up during the interview: If an interviewer looks uncomfortable talking about flexibility, or doesn’t mention it altogether, she says, chances are high the company doesn’t actually offer much balance.

On the other hand, if the hiring manager mentions trust, autonomy, asynchronous working or the benefits of online collaboration, “those are all green flags that this is a supportive, flexible workplace,” Johnson-Jones adds.

I Left Apple And Now I Bring In $9 Million Selling BBQ In Mexico

Dan Defossey, originally from Long Island, New York, moved to Mexico more than a decade ago as an employee for Apple. Today, he is the CEO of a group of barbecue restaurants that brought in over $9 million in 2022.

Work It Out: I’m so tired of doing my team’s busy work

Senior Work editor Hanna Howard answers all your pressing career questions.

Q: Help! I’m tired of doing my team’s busy work. A while ago, I took on some regular tasks like meeting notes and a daily report, but now I’m stuck with the thankless day-to-day tasks my colleague should be taking on. How do I talk to my boss?

A: It can be super frustrating to get caught up in tedious tasks because someone has to get them done and you’re who’s available. Yes, you’re capable, but that doesn’t mean you should have to deal with the annoyance for the foreseeable future.

When you talk to your boss, go with that in mind. So instead of saying something like, “When will Bowen take over meeting notes like he’s supposed to?” bring a fully thought-out plan that includes the following elements:

1. An explanation of how the busy work is affecting your team’s goals: Show the real impact of the time you’re spending on the annoying day-to-day stuff and use that as an example of why your energy would be better devoted elsewhere.

2. A timeline for making the transition: Ask your boss about the specific items you’ve volunteered for and when your new colleague will be taking over. If they don’t have a date in mind, suggest your own: “I think Sept. 30 seems like a reasonable deadline for Bowen to take over the expense reports.”

3. A plan to make the transition as seamless as possible: Use the magic words, “I’d be happy to help Bowen get up to speed.” Yes, it would be another responsibility to add to your pile, but an upfront investment now could end up saving you time, and resentment, in the future.

Want your work question featured in a future column? Send an email to askmakeit@cnbc.com.