4 Ways to Successfully Recruit Tech Talent

4 Ways to Successfully Recruit Tech Talent The world of recruitment and HR often moves a little slow, but this isn’t the case for tech recruitment. Technology is one of the hottest sectors in the economy, with thousands of developer jobs up for grabs, and demand once again far outstripping supply. As a result, the tech recruitment sector will have to face up to some important changes and challenges over the coming twelve months to keep pace with demand. The problem is identifying which trends are fads, and which are here for real. Stack Overflow is the world’s largest most trusted developer resource, and with that being said, I like to think I know a thing or two about what this community care about when it comes to job search. Here are the top four ways that I believe tech recruitment will change in 2018. 1. Shorter interviews Anyone who recruits developers for a living will know first hand that they don’t take much of an interest in the job-searching process. According to a recent study by Robert Half, two-thirds of developers will lose interest in a job opportunity if they haven’t heard back within two weeks of applying, which really goes to show how impatient developers are to get the process moving. This viewpoint is backed up by those at the top: CIO.com found that 41% of CIOs agree that their interview processes were too long. It’s therefore highly important for recruiters and HR managers to open dialogue with those in charge of setting the interview process. Go armed with the evidence you need to showcase that shorter interview processes are the way that the market is heading. Long, drawn-out interview stages will put businesses at a competitive disadvantage in an environment that is very much tilted in favor of job seekers. 2. Salary negotiations: so last season? We’re used to thinking of the salary negotiation as an essential part of closing the deal, but what if that’s changing? It certainly is in the developer world. It’s becoming increasingly common to publish expected salary ranges alongside job ads, and this practice is encouraged by companies such as Stack Overflow, which has seen job ads which include salary get 60-75% more clicks. Salary calculators and companies like Glassdoor are becoming increasingly widespread, and this all means that companies and the recruiters they employ will have to adapt to this new way of working. With salary estimates commonly available, there will be much less wiggle-room to negotiate salary, potentially making new hires more expensive, but also making it easier to estimate the cost of hiring in advance. Ultimately disclosing salary estimates is a great way of building up good faith among applicants, and is recommended. 3. Treating ‘financial anxiety’ This one may be surprising: developers and technical hires such as data scientists are very well paid indeed, thanks to their high demand and relative scarcity on the job market. But that doesn’t make them immune to the same worries that the rest of us face when it comes to money. MarketWatch recently reported that more than a quarter of millennials say that financial stress affects their job performance. In addition to paying employees fairly for their work, businesses in 2018 will increasingly look to offering other financial incentives unlinked to salary to help make themselves stand out from the crowd. This could be anything from subsidized gym membership to an annual bonus. The important thing is that whatever is on offer, it’s prominently placed in the job ad. 4. Remote working Remote working is hardly new, but it’s become incredibly popular over the past few years, particularly in the tech sector. According to the  Stack Overflow 2017 Developer Survey, up to 25% of developers in Russia work remotely, while in the UK and US that figure is around 10-15%. With video conferencing and tools like Trello and JIRA, it’s easier than ever for teams of remote workers to come together and work on projects effectively. But what does this mean for recruiters and HR managers? It’s really important to be aware of the general ins and outs of remote working positions, and how that can affect what companies look for in candidates. Remote workers need to have more sophisticated communication skills to counteract not being in the office full time. It’s also easy to get demotivated when you’re not surrounded by colleagues all working on the same project, so look for healthy levels of energy and enthusiasm in candidates for remote working positions. Successful recruiters and HR managers establish meaningful relationships with their clients. Really think about your offering in these four areas remote working, salary expectation, financial anxiety and shorter interviews and you’ll be well prepared for whatever this year has to offer you. About the author: Sean Bave  is the General Manager Vice President of  Stack Overflow Talent, helping employers engage with the worlds developers and developers find the right job.  

Why Mobile is Important in Social Recruitment

Why Mobile is Important in Social Recruitment This is part 2 of our series examining the major trends that are shaping the future of successful hiring practice. In our last post we looked at the importance of sales and marketing tools to recruiters. Here we focus on the popularised concept of ‘social recruitment’ and its impact on companies’ hiring strategy. Social recruitment, occurring at the intersection of recruitment and the embryonic field of social media, appears under different guises. It has 2 central functions: Increasing a company’s reach by spreading jobs and relying on the social currency of others to disperse them further Actively searching for candidates via publicly available information on social networks It fits within the changing framework of recruitment successful employers are ‘pulling’ information, no longer simply ‘pushing’ jobs. Today’s candidate is keenly aware of how they should be treated, and companies are focusing more on interaction and valuable content. The sheer number of social networks and the time that candidates spend in these channels gives employers a golden opportunity to effectively spread content. What are the best ways to use social media? There are 3,318,641 ‘Social Media Managers’ listed on LinkedIn, but it’s interesting to see the rising scepticism towards the position. Every department is now expected to be proficient online, and there’s less reliance on self-professed ‘gurus’. Recruiters, for example, are looking to leverage social data for candidate insights. The most successful sourcers approach this field with care though, currently there is over 2.7 zettabytes of social data on the web so a targeted approach is important. Today’s candidates want recruiters to have a better understanding of job opportunities and how their skills match up as Acas’ recent research paper shows, they’re less receptive to classic ‘spray and pray’ tactics. Passive candidates’ LinkedIn and Twitter profiles can help companies effectively engage at the pre-application stage. ‘Engagement’ is key here blasting job tweets is ineffectual and irritating. The most effective employers gain candidate trust and interest by joining popular discussions and looking to provide value prior to engagement. This does impact the recruitment cycle a little, more time needs to be set aside to build relationships. The investment is often worth it though 34% of companies have gathered candidate information from Facebook, and 14% have used Twitter to make a successful hire. How to establish a connection: Social media is all about establishing an employee-candidate connection and getting potential applicants to buy into a company’s culture, the specific platform matters less. Deloitte uses bloggers to write about what they love about the company, and share content that interests them. By producing great content and harnessing their social reach across different platforms, they were able to produce 234% more traffic from Social Media than other sources, with 63% of their visitors directly from the blog. Only 2% of actual hires came directly from social media, but the indirect benefits are clear. Social platforms let companies quickly relate to candidates on a personal level, handle feedback and ensure that they’re happy with the application experience. Maintaining a positive recruitment brand is increasingly important in the modern era with companies like Glassdoor providing an inside look at the interview process social media can send bad reputations viral. Social platforms can have a critical effect on the speed of employer-candidate interactions, with the average response to a ‘push’ notification on Twitter 3 minutes, compared to 3 days with email. How important are mobiles? Mobile devices and social media are inextricably linked. Almost 90% of job seekers are now looking to use their smart phones to search for jobs, and a mobile-optimized experience is proving even more important than in marketing 2/3 of workers searching for jobs via mobile devices will walk away if careers sites are not mobile-optimized, and 40% walk away with a more negative opinion of the company. Its not surprising that the mobile experience has become one of the most important topics in the recruitment sphere, and yet as few as 1 in 10 companies have made steps to enable a mobile experience for candidates. Convenience dictates that this trend will only increase, ours is very much a quick fix culture and, although it might sound melodramatic, companies who don’t take heed may have no candidates in 10 years time! RELATED: Mobile Recruiting: It’s Here to Stay!

How Can Recruiters Avoid Being Replaced by AI

How Can Recruiters Avoid Being Replaced by AI Love it or hate it, there are many advantages to using AI in recruitment, like using an algorithm to find the best candidate or eliminating unconscious bias in the recruitment process. But could its rise mean the end of the need for human recruiters? Weve teamed up with 10 recruiting experts who will be sharing their insights in our new expert panel.  Read on  to find out whether they think AI will replace human recruiters in the future. Craig Fisher Any job that will require an element of empathy is not easily replaced by AI. The jobs that require finesse, and feeling  and subtlety will still be needed long after the robots take over. Someone still has to wind the clock. Craig Fisher is  Head of Employer Brand, CA Technologies, and Allegis Global Solutions Leela Srinivasan Rather than fretting about being replaced by AI, recruiters should rejoice about the role AI will play in reducing the administrative burden on their shoulders. AI will save recruiters a ton of time by automating simple tasks, stack-ranking resumes and more. Recruiters should then re-invest that time in the very things that AI can’t replicate, like building real human rapport and relationships with current and future candidates, as well as developing strategic and mutually respectful business partnerships with hiring managers. The bots won’t be taking over those aspects of their jobs any time soon. Leela Srinivasan, Chief Marketing Officer at Lever Amy Volas A good recruiter will never be replaced and has an integral part of the hiring process.   Technology is our friend and is here to create efficiencies to allow recruiters to concentrate on the important elements that will always require personal interaction.   Remember, we’re talking about making meaningful connections between humans â€" until that goes away, A+ recruiters are here to stay. Amy Volas is  Chieftain of Avenue Talent Partners Lars Schmidt This idea that AI will replace recruiters is a bit naive in my view. AI certainly has a place. In time will augment some of the sourcing, matching, application, and talent community elements of recruiting that are now done by humans. However, good recruiters who can manage expectations, build relations, and provide strategic counsel will always be needed. Lars Schmidt  is the Founder of Amplify Chad MacRae Until AI develops emotional intelligence, I wouldn’t worry about it. People are emotional creatures and make emotional decisions. Part of my job as a recruiter is to match a candidate to a manager or a team based on their ability to connect: to laugh together, to intuit what each other are thinking, to work together in sync. Show me an algorithm that can figure that out. Chad MacRae is the Founder of Recruiting Social Stacy Zapar While AI is a great advent in our industry and is capable of doing remarkable things, I think there are aspects of recruiting that should never be automated No matter how advanced technology and automation becomes, that personal, human interaction is key and the relationships we build with candidates and hiring managers are more important than ever. Stacy is the Founder of Tenfold The Talent Agency John Feldmann Despite the recent news about a Japanese insurance company replacing a portion of its staff with IBM software, recruitment is ultimately about hiring people, so it’s unlikely the human element can ever be completely removed from the hiring process. As automation continues to play a more prominent role in talent acquisition, recruiters should learn to be more and more adaptable. AI will continue to replace certain functions of the recruiting process, but not all. Those recruiters who are unable to integrate automation into their daily process may eventually see themselves being replaced by more tech-savvy workers. John Feldmann  is a writer for Insperity Recruiting Services Maren Hogan Recruiters don’t have to avoid being replaced by AI because AI is being created to aid recruiters and boost their performance. Chatbots like Karen.ai work with candidates and recruiters during the sourcing process like recruiters have longed for for years, but never had the time to do so. These cognitive assistants are able to chat with candidates on skill sets, interests, goals and more and align them to other job positions available once other opportunities they applied for have closed. This is simply filling gaps while recruiters take care of the HUMAN side of things. AI cannot replace soothing a nervous candidates’ nerves or talking a hiring manager down from unreasonable requirements. Maren Hogan is CEO and Founder of Red Branch Media Erin Wilson Continue to learn about business. The more you understand business models, product roadmaps, user segmentation, etc. The more you can learn and share in a dynamic way that AI cannot. Also, embrace the AI. Products like Teamable are designed to help recruiters, not replace them. Erin Wilson  is Founder and Talent Engineer at Hirepool.io Will Staney Recruiters will never entirely be replaced by AI because there will always be a need for human touch when it comes to recruiting new employees. Technology will never be able to get to know someone and make recommendations they way a recruiter is able to. By working with candidates recruiters are able to provide real feedback and find roles that are ideal based on skills and personalities. AI replaces tasks not people. If anything, it will helps recruiters once again focus on less transactional, high-value activities that make them a true consultative partner to the business. Will Staney  is the  Founder Principal Consultant at Proactive Talent Strategies

How to Create Your First Sales Funnel - Classy Career Girl

How to Create Your First Sales Funnel What you are about to learn is going to make business fun and easy. That’s what happened when I started implementing a sales funnel in my business. Before I had a sales funnel, I was constantly working on my marketing. I would go to networking events and speaking events each week. I was constantly emailing people, messaging people on LinkedIn, calling people and trying to get people to sign up to talk to me to learn about my coaching programs. It was very time consuming! But, when I learned that I was going to be a mom and a business owner, I knew I needed to start setting up some automatic systems so that potential clients could come to me. Let’s start with an example. Tweak my model and make it work for you! How to Create Your First  Sales Funnel 1. Attract Fans to Your Business Facebook Page No, not your personal page. Its important that you start treating your dream like a real business! Set up a Facebook page so that you can do step 2 and advertise too. You cant do that with your personal profile. Your options are limited. Then start inviting friends and people you know who would like the content of your page. A couple of things that will help are an engaging profile and cover photo and a great about section. Also, make sure you also have some photos and engaging articles so they see that you are actively maintaining your page and they know what to expect. 2. Offer Your Free Lead Magnet in a Facebook Ad A lead magnet is something free that you give away in  your sales funnel. Its your best stuff! It could be an ebook, cheat sheet, video, PDF, webinar, toolkit, etc. My suggestion is to just find something you already have if you have been blogging for awhile. You can also turn a blog post into a simple PDF or create a resource guide of the tools you use in your business. What is your market asking you for repeatedly? What are the needs of your market and how can you answer them? Then, post it on Facebook and see what gets the most engagement. Then, take that post and turn it into a Facebook ad. All you need is $5 per day to get started with Facebook ads and it gives you SO MUCH information about what works and what doesnt and where your market is hiding out. Using Facebook ads is like a little mini-MBA because youll quickly figure out the images and copy that makes your market take action and that is GOLD. The reason I love Facebook marketing ads (and Instagram ads) is that once we find an ad that works, we can scale it and put more money in without me actually having to put in more hours of work. Win, win! [RELATED: Facebook Ads Strategies to Attract More Clients] 3. Send People  To Your Optin Page An optin page is a simple page that provides more information about what they would be getting if they put in their email and name. Theres a lot of testing that goes into this page but this page shouldnt be your homepage with a million things for them to click on it. This should be a page dedicated to only your optin and include only an option to sign-up for your list. My recommendation for setting up your optin page is Leadpages. This is my affiliate link, but I only recommend products and services that I use myself and I have used Leadpages for over 2 years now and will continue! (Note: I also have my menu bar available for people to check our site out in case they arent ready to sign-up.  Its not recommended but sometimes I dont even follow my own advice.  Takeaway: Do you own thing! Dont follow any mentor or coach exactly!) 4. Get Their Email Address Now, youll need to get your email list  system set up so that you can start capturing emails from people who want to know more about what you offer and how you can help them. If you take one thing away from this article it is START YOUR EMAIL LIST TODAY!! This is one of the best things my mentor told me after a year of blogging. I wish I would have started it one year earlier but the important thing is that I started it and I still have people on my email list from 5 years ago! 5. Follow-up Autoresponder Series Email is still the most powerful way to communicate online especially inside of your sales funnel. Every day, people check their inboxes multiple times per day. Don’t you? People sit in front of a screen refreshing until they get that gratification of knowing someone else in the world cares about them. Youll want to implement an autoresponder next in your email system. (If you need help figuring out what email system to start with, read this article). This is a sequence of email marketing messages that gets sent to subscribers in the order and  frequency that you decide. In my Corporate Rescue Plan course, I share Annas Awesome Autoresponders!  Anna’s Awesome Autoresponder Series is a simple nurture and follow-up sequence, which includes 5-7 emails spread out through 2-3 weeks. At the end you are going to ask your prospect to open their wallet. Before your start drafting your autoresponder series, think about what you want them to do at the end of the nurture sequence. You want to be sure you are leading them down the path into the action you want them to make. When people are just 1-2 weeks new to your list, they are most engaged and most interested in what you have to offer. On average it takes seven interactions for someone to fully buy into you and your brand. So tell your story over the course of this nurture sequence leading them to your action. 6. Offer Your Product, Program or Service Why do you need a signature program or product? It allows you to leverage your time and impact WAY more people than you ever could do individually. Youll also have a lower priced offer that people can  get comfortable with you with and its repeatable. You do the hard work up front! The big thing here is that did you notice we didnt just offer our product on step 1? We went through a very simple formula to help your future clients get to know you better. Its so important that they know, like and trust you and it just feels better as a business owner when you dont have to be salesy. Good luck building your sales funnel! Questions? Leave them in the comments below!

Over Sixty and Out of Work - Options [Updated] - Career Pivot

Over Sixty and Out of Work - Options [Updated] - Career Pivot Over Sixty and Out of Work Being over sixty and out of work can be a very daunting experience. I want to expose some issues and then offer options. Your Home is Your Castle Home ownership has been a tenant of being middle class. Unfortunately, we have traditionally recovered from recessions by moving to where the jobs exist. That has not happened in this recovery. The house is a giant boat anchor! Note: I originally wrote this post in April 2013. It was updated in December of 2017 We have the lowest level of mobility since this has been measured. The collapse of the housing industry has frozen many in their homes. On the other hand, I live in Austin, Texas. We did not experience the housing bubble to the extent the rest of the country did. I was talking with an over sixty and out of work woman whose profession can no longer be found in Austin, but she is bound and determined to stay here. She loves her house and lifestyle. There are times when it is time to throw in the towel and move. Yeah, yeah, I know you love the big house, yard, garage to store all of your stuff! Is your home a boat anchor? I Need a Job that Will Last 10 Years Until I Retire! I hear this over and over. It ain’t happening! A little over ten years ago Facebook did not exist! What skills will be required in ten years? I do not have a clue? Listen to the most recent episode I just read the Intuit 2020 report that stated that 40 percent of the workforce will be freelancers or contractors by 2020. Note: The Intuit 2020 report was written in 2010. It is almost spot on with most of its predictions. We have seen creative destruction accelerate at an amazing rate. I wrote about creative destruction in my post,Surviving Creative Destruction in the 2nd Half of Life. Your next job will not last 10 years because there is a high probability that it will be SMACed.Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud. Are you ready to freelance or work contracts? Are you a Knowledge or a Service Worker? The Great Reset as described in Richard Florida’s book The Great Reset: How the Post-Crash Economy Will Change the Way We Live and Work states that we are rapidly moving to two-tier employment scheme: Knowledge workers Service workers The middle tier skill jobs are being replaced by automation. I just saw an article that stated that manufacturing is returning to America but just not the manufacturing jobs. If you are over sixty and out of work you really need to assess whether you are a knowledge or service worker. If you want to be a knowledge worker you may very well need to beef up your skills! There is nothing wrong with being a service worker. It just does not pay as well! You cannot buy happiness! Options Downsize everything! We sold the big house and bought a condo. Greatly reduced our living expenses. I traded in my 2003 Honda Element last year for a two-year-old Subaru Outback and my wife drives a Honda hybrid. I drive 3-4000 miles a year. We spend half of what we used to spend. By the way, we are happy! Expand your geographic boundaries. Like I stated earlier, I live in Austin Texas. Austin is still a government/university town. The metro area is over a million people, but we have little manufacturing or distribution, few major company headquarters, and lots and lots of small businesses. In the last few years, Dell, which is headquartered in Round Rock just North of Austin, has cut back on their manufacturing, and therefore, they have let go some very talented logistics people. There are not a plethora of logistics jobs in Austin. I tell them to look to relocate. They do not want to relocate! Relocate Abroad Part of my business plans is to move abroad and take my business with me. You can read about the process in the following posts: How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You â€" Part II I created Career Pivot to be a virtual business where I could serve my clients from anywhere. I am now creating an online community where those of us in the 2nd half of life can gather together to support one another and I can provide training and group coaching. Would You Want to Participate? I have created a waitlist you can join if you would like to participate in the group. This is not a commitment to join but I will choose the next beta group from the waitlist. People in the beta groups will have a lot of influence on the content and structure of the community. Join the Waitlist You can also go tohttps://careerpivot.com/communityto join the waitlist. We Are Moving! Yes, my wife and I have decided to move to Ajijic Mexico in 2018. The decision centers around cost of living, health insurance and taxes in the United States. You can learn more by listening to the podcast Why The Millers are Moving to Mexico and How They Will Do It! [Podcast] You Do Have Options Jobs are changing and moving around the world.You may have to move to the job! If you are over sixty and out of work, are you willing to relocate? At your own expense? Are you willing to have a sense of adventure and relocate abroad? Be prepared to freelance. With the right skills, many employers will hire you for 6-12 month contract positions. I have two former clients who have their project manager certification, PMP, and are happily working 6-12 month contracts. I know of many people doing this today! Build an Online Business â€"In 2017, I joined the Flipped Lifestyle communityto assist me in creating the Career Pivot Community.This is two former Kentucky school teachers who help people build online businesses, primarily membership websites, to assist their members inflipping their lifestyles. In Conclusion I know this is the message you want to hear! The world is changing, and it is not going to stop for you. I am now over 60 and this is not what I expected when I wrote this post in 2013. I am drinking my own Koolaid and moving where it make the most sense. Have I missed something? You tell me by leaving a comment…. please. Particularly, if you are over sixty and out of work! Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Your Career Game Plan

Your Career Game Plan What comes to mind when somebody asks you the question, How’s it going? If you’re like most people, this question makes you think about something in your personal life, maybe your health or the project you're working on, or your work overall. But very few of us think of this question in terms of our career. As in, “How is my career going?” So, let me ask you that. How is your career going? Our careers take up a lot of our time, energy and mind space. And our careers are always putting us somewhere between fulfilment and frustration. So the question is, where are you right now on that spectrum? Which end are you closer to? And then more importantly, if we roll the clock forward three to five years, what will the answer be if you don't do anything differently? How is Your Career Going? I wish somebody had asked me this question earlier on in my career. I didn’t fully consider it until someone finally said to me, You know looking at your career, May, you are having an amiable career. And it wasn't a compliment. I took it to mean that up to that point I’d been meandering around and basically doing whatever I was asked to do. In fact, I used to say to my managers, Just put me where you need me. I want to make sure that I'm serving the firm. While I definitely served the firm and learned a lot up to that point, my career wasn’t necessarily heading where I wanted it to. I needed to come up with a career game plan. My Career Game Plan I went to work creating a career game plan, one that helped me to find my footing. Once I did that, everything started to click for me at work. I started to find myself in situations where I was using my best strengths, which is important in order to be super successful and to fulfil your potential. That's also generally when we're in flow and feeling good about ourselves. Not only was I delivering value, I also felt valued by the firm. Your Career Game Plan The exact way you create your career game plan can vary but the most important thing is that you have one. And it doesn't have to be complicated. Here are 5 characteristics of an effective career game plan: 1. Time Frame You want your game plan to encompass a short enough time frame that you have some actionable steps to take in the near term. It also needs to be long term enough that you can make sure you get where you ultimately want to go. 2. Scope of Your Career Game Plan For me, I wanted to incorporate my entire life in to my game plan and not just my work. Our careers take up a lot of our lives, so we want to make sure that our entire lives are in sync with our careers and vice versa. Within that scope I like to focus particularly on my professional aspirations. 3. Flexibility Your career game plan needs to be able to morph and change as you learn and grow. That means giving yourself permission to make adjustments as you revisit your game plan. It also means embedding some milestones or signals that let you know when you’re going off track so you can “flex” the plan or adjust what you’re doing. 4. Honesty This is about how you fill in your career game plan. It needs to be about your life, your future, your professional aspirations, and not what your family members, your boss, or society tells you is the “right” thing. Your career game plan needs to be about you want, and not what your family members, your boss, or society tells you is the “right” thing. 5. Living Document Your career game plan needs to be a living document. By this I mean that you need to be able to print it out and keep it somewhere where you can see it. This makes it more likely that you’ll use it, refer to it, work with it and update it regularly. It should be one or at most two pages long. Career Game Plan Workshop If you're interested in having an effective career game plan that works for you, and shortcut all the learning I had to do, then join me for a special Career Game Plan workshop in February. On this exclusive online workshop, I'll be sharing my template of an effective Career Game Plan and helping you put yours together. You’ll come away from this workshop with a clear and focused game plan to take your career to the next level, including: Greater clarity on your aspirations for your career (and life) Interim milestones you need to hit to stay on track The 3 practical steps that will most move the needle for your career in the next 90 days In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to get questions about your career answered by me during the workshop. To join me on the workshop, simply register for Career Mastery™ Kickstart and then upgrade to VIP. When you upgrade, you also get a whole host of resources that you'll get to keep forever, including actionable Career Mastery™ Tips from 50 experts plus their deeper dive interviews with me, and more goodies to set you up for a great year ahead. If having a clear and focused game plan for your career is important to you, then join me for the Career Game Plan workshop in February. This will be the only time this year I’ll be sharing my Career Game Plan template and helping you put yours together. I guarantee it will be time well spent. Register for Career Mastery™ Kickstart and then upgrade to VIP to reserve your spot on the workshop

Should You Use a Resume Template

Should You Use a Resume Template The best executive resume format isnt a template. Putting together resumes that get you hired can be a time-consuming process so why wouldn’t you use any help you could get? A template may seem like the best executive resume format, but is it really? While a template may make the process of creating a resume faster and easier, hiring an  executive resume service  to help you stand out is the best option. You Must Stand Out When you consider how many people apply for every job listing, you’ll quickly realize the importance of making your resume stand out in the crowd. When your only way to make a great first impression is through your resume, you need to make sure it tells who you are and what you can offer a company. If your resume looks just like everyone else’s, your chances of landing the job you want are drastically reduced. Sub-Standard Format If you truly want the  best executive resume format, a template isn’t going to get the results you want. When you search for resume templates online, you will uncover thousands of results. However, do you know how put those templates together? Many of them were created by individuals who don’t have experience writing resumes that get you hired. They may have experienced success getting a job with the format and feel they could help others out. Perhaps they haven’t even submitted a resume in that format but think they have all the answers. You shouldn’t trust your future career to just anyone. Use Them as a Starting Point While resume templates aren’t the best way to create your resume, you can still use them as a launching pad for creating a resume that will get results. Look at several options and determine what you like best in each of them. You can compile components from multiple resume templates and arrange them into your own personal resume that showcases what you have to offer. Using templates to create a custom layout will produce the best results. Using a resume template doesnt mean you wont have any chance of landing the job, but it will make the process more difficult. If you aren’t using the best executive resume format, you can expect fewer call backs because you won’t stand out from the hundreds or thousands of other resumes received. This is why many people hire an executive resume service to help them create an outstanding resume that highlights their assets and makes them more appealing to prospective employers. When you move away from template resumes and venture into custom  resumes that get you hired, you will see better results in your job search.