Episode Transcript

Chris Villanueva 0:00
So this is another way to really bring your accomplishments to life and things that you can reference in that interview as you go in strong and ready to beat out the other applicants here.

Chris Villanueva 0:15
And welcome to the Let’s Eat, Grandma career warrior podcast. My name is Chris Villanueva. I am the host of this podcast. I’m also the CEO and Founder of Let’s Eat, Grandma, a resume service focused on helping professionals land their dream job, I want to address some specific questions here that came from our blog.

Chris Villanueva 0:33
This is kind of like a two part series, because last episode, it did the same thing. But we have some really heavy hitters here, should you use the LinkedIn career break feature? And do I need to re enter all of the information on my resume and translate that to all of these application form fields, it’s like we’re double entering the same information.

Chris Villanueva 0:53
And I want to address this concept that one of our past partners talked about called the sample portfolio. This is a secret weapon, as she puts it in a way for you to stand out and beat the other people out when you are looking to land that dream job.

Chris Villanueva 1:13
So I’m going to kick things off here and talk about the LinkedIn career break feature, should you use the LinkedIn career break feature, I’m going to bring in some storytelling into this podcast and quote, Reem, Abu Mara, she’s the person who wrote this article for us and rim says, it was all going well, you had landed your dream job, had finally started climbing the career ladder and finally felt like you were on track to achieve your professional goals.

Chris Villanueva 1:40
For the first time you weren’t job hunting in your spare time, you were feeling more competent than ever than one day the pandemic hit wreaking havoc on your businesses and the economy. Suddenly, you found yourself laid off from your job facing an uncertain future with a blemish on your otherwise spotless work history.

Chris Villanueva 1:58
Against this backdrop, you come across the career break feature on LinkedIn, and it feels like finally, you’re not alone. If LinkedIn is using this feature than it must be. Okay. So you may be wondering if you have faced some sort of adversity in your career, or you took some time off to say travel or you haven’t had a job in a long time, like, do you automatically use this feature, I would caution you to think very carefully about your specific situation before you just say yes, I’m going to include the LinkedIn career break feature, think very carefully on whether this is something that is going to be your advantage.

Chris Villanueva 2:36
So the purpose, at least in LinkedIn is eyes when it comes to the career break is to show that you can bring a fresh perspective, new skills or new energy. And if that doesn’t resonate with you, then this is something that probably caution you not to include on your LinkedIn profile.

Chris Villanueva 2:57
I want to quote a study here.So it says, to understand more about career breaks. We recently surveyed nearly 23,000 workers and more than 7000 hiring managers and found that two thirds of employees had taken a break at some point in their professional career. And just over a third, this is mostly women would like to take a career break in the future.

Chris Villanueva 2:59
Yet, with career breaks becoming more popular, some hiring managers are still hesitant to pursue those who had taken a break. One in five hiring managers say that they would outright reject such a candidate. I’ll make sure to include that quote in that study in the description of this episode. But to me that says that there is no easy answer, and that folks still might look to a career break with some level of skepticism here.

Chris Villanueva 3:45
So what I would say is yes, if you feel like you can demonstrate that new energy, that new perspective, you could sell that in an interview, absolutely go for it and include that. But I wouldn’t necessarily call that out in your LinkedIn profile. And it could work against you. If you don’t feel like this is something that you could strongly talk about in a cover letter or an interview.

Chris Villanueva 4:05
The next question is, do I need to reenter all the resume information on an applicant tracking system form field? Do I need to like fill out the application and put the resume it’s the same exact thing? The answer is yes, you do. And I will explain why in just one second.

Chris Villanueva 4:23
So to quote an author from the article, many large companies use applicant tracking systems to read your resume before a person does the ATS will parse information from your resume and organize it into a uniform searchable candidate profile for the recruiter. While it’s not a perfect solution. That applicant form is designed to make sure your application gets a fair shot at coming up in a recruiter search results.

Chris Villanueva 4:49
So if your resume isn’t ATS compliant or doesn’t include all the keywords that the ATS is looking for, the ATS could completely skip over your proudest achievements. If you haven’t filled out out the application form seriously, you risk at not appearing among other qualified applicants.

Chris Villanueva 5:07
So you definitely want to take the time to flesh out that application form. Otherwise, you may be getting knocked out or may be getting basically skipped over because you’re not including all the right types of information. So my recommendation to you would be get organized. With an ATS document with questions you’ll probably get asked the questions you may be asked. And they range anywhere from your desired salary to reasons for leaving prior jobs, your educational background, or specific skills related to the job.

Chris Villanueva 5:39
So maybe this is something that you can even glue to your master resume. So you can copy and paste in these application forms here. So find a way to convert what you have on your resume to do that homework. So you’re already prepared going into the process here, that’s gonna save you so much time. And heck, even find a way to use AI or chat GPT to do that.

Chris Villanueva 6:03
You can copy the lovely resume that you’ve worked on and paste it into chat GPT and say something like, you know, I’m trying to make my job search more efficient. Can you go ahead and give me you know, some sample responses for a job application here. And so you’d be surprised at what the AI can come up with. And this is a very efficient way for you to end up going about your job search, I think that could really help you.

Chris Villanueva 6:31
The next question is about career portfolios. So this one actually stemmed from a podcast we did with Marin Roberts Huntley. She’s the founder of made to hire a wonderful company that we’ve partnered with before in the past, and Maron talks about this concept of an interview portfolio.

Chris Villanueva 6:52
A career portfolio, or interview portfolio quote is a set of documents that you have prepared to bring to a job interview, it goes beyond your resume, including supplemental documents to further show your suitability for the job, it’s important to note, your portfolio is filled with supplemental information you would not submit with your application.

Chris Villanueva 7:12
So don’t think you need to email this to anyone with your application. It’s way too much information for that part of the process. Rather, when you hand your interviewer your portfolio, you’re handing them a tangible visual reference to the specific Relevant Stories you will then give as answers to their questions.

Chris Villanueva 7:30
So there’s so much genius here. And the biggest thing that I will call out about this is that no one else is doing this, if you end up coming up with a shiny portfolio that’s polished, it’s visual, it’s different than I promise you, you will stand out and you will make an impression that no one else is making in their job search here.

Chris Villanueva 7:52
When you leave the interview, the employer will have a dynamic reference document that they can refer to when making their decision. So think about how that is going to stand out and how that’s going to differentiate among all of the other applicants who are just getting stacked on the hiring managers desk here.

Chris Villanueva 8:10
So this is something really powerful get, I’ll make sure to link that article within the description of this podcast episode if you want to see more of what I’m talking about. But that can be so powerful.

Chris Villanueva 8:20
So what can you include in this interview portfolio is comes from there and here, a cover page, which is something that gives a first impression. This can include your name, job title, and phrase such as packet prepared for blank, include your resume as well, this is something that never hurts to include, you can include a recommendation letter as well.

Chris Villanueva 8:43
So I typically recommend removing the recommendations or references on your resume, but you can include this separately in this packet. And I also recommend including something that Maron calls a suitability map. So this one is a game changer.

Chris Villanueva 9:00
This can be basically like a diagram that matches your qualifications to the demands of the job. So with exact phrases from the job description paired with your applicable experience, it’s going to be a visual checklist of why you’re qualified. So these are five the seven things five, the seven qualifications that you want to draw your attention to that highlight your best experiences here.

Chris Villanueva 9:23
The other two things that your portfolio can include are a 3060 90 day plan. Marin talks about this plan as something that shows you have your future in mind. So you can lay out your transition into the role and ensure your long term success as well as your work samples. You can most certainly include work samples within your portfolio here.

Chris Villanueva 9:46
So these are going to be tangible examples of your most notable projects or publications. This can be two to three things that will supplement your resume achievements and your cover letter stories as well. So this is another one way to really bring your accomplishments to life and things that you can reference in that interview as you go in strong and ready to beat out the other applicants here.

Chris Villanueva 10:09
So I’ll offer you a few more resources here. Of course, I will include the articles as I’ve said already in this episode, but also an article from the balance money with the most commonly asked questions that you can find in an applicant tracking system. As you’re filling out an application. I hope those resources are valuable to you as a job seeker and can really help you move your job search forward in an efficient way here.

Chris Villanueva 10:33
So again, I’m Chris Villanueva, the founder and CEO of Let’s Eat, Grandma, we’re focused on helping mid to senior level professionals with their job searches. So if you need a fresh new resume, certainly head on over to letseatgrandma.com and submit your resume for a free review. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. And I can’t wait to see you next time to let her rear warrior podcast

Chris Villanueva 10:56
And before you go. Remember, if you’re not seeing the results you want in your job search our highly trained team of professional resume writers here at Let’s Eat, Grandma can help head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast/ to get a free resume critique and $70 off any one of our resume writing packages. We talk all the time on the show about the importance of being targeted in your job search and with our unique writing process and focus on individual attention. You’ll get a resume cover letter and LinkedIn profile that are highly customized and tailored to your goals to help you get hired faster. Again, head on over to letseatgrandma.com/podcast/ Thanks and I’ll see you next time.