Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Razume Relaunches with New Tools for Job Seekers

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I’m excited to share some news from a cyber friend, Sam Blum, one of the founders of Razume. Razume aims to provide job seekers “with all the tools, resources and guidance…to find and land your perfect job.”

This week, TechCrunch announced Razume’s relaunch after completing a 12-week program with incubator LaunchBoxDigital…

While there are lots of businesses out there to help the employer (Job boards, etc.), there is a huge under-served opportunity to focus on the needs of the job seeker, especially ones without the power of a robust LinkedIn network to help them in their job seeking journey.

The opportunity: There are over 20 million job change events happening this year, and the average 18-year old today is expected to make over 10 job changes before they hit 38 years of age.

Razume helps the job seeker along three dimensions. First, it helps a person develop a professional resume, starting with powerful authoring tools and online tips, and then making it simple for a person to reach out and get tips on fine-tuning their resume from friends, associates and, just as importantly, the Razume community itself. Simple annotation and commenting tools allow people to give very specific feedback to turn someone’s resume into a better, more effective marketing tool.

After that, Razume helps get the resume into the market. That’s done through two means: a free one-click posting of the resume to the major job boards (a service that costs $59+ at other sites), and use of the Razume Job Finder to browse and bookmark jobs of interest from over 7 million job listings on the web.

Once a user has a call-back, Razume helps them prepare for that interview with useful tips and techniques, plus tools to help research prospective employers that, ultimately, helps a person get the job and make the right decision.

Want to learn more? Take a look at this video explaining Razume.

As a featured Razume Expert Reviewer, I’m particularly excited to see the new features launched this week. When I spoke to Sam, I was thrilled to learn that his passion for helping job seekers fueled his interest in focusing full-time on creating and growing Razume into an indispensable tool for job seekers.

Are you interested in getting feedback on your resume? Are you an expert in your field who would enjoy sharing your skills with others seeking work in your industry? Want to check out an up-and-coming platform that focuses on helping job seekers – for free? I hope you’ll take a look at Razume and join the community.

I’m happy to offer your my expert resume advice! Need a great resume? Some help to write the perfect cover letter? I’m here to help! Write to me.

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Thinking of Looking for Your Second Job?

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In a recent piece for the online Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Garone raised some key points for those who are considering making the move to their second job.  Of note:

Update your resume and interview style. It sounds like a given, but a first-timer’s resume is likely to list internships and college leadership roles. Now you’ve got experience and you’ll need to make sure it shows. “The resume definitely needs to change to emphasize your accomplishments,” says [career and life coach] Mr. Steve Piazzale. …Your resume bullet points should demonstrate how you used your skills to solve problems and produce value at that first job. “With a first job under your belt, you can also use them as stories of value during interviews,” offers Mr. Piazzale.

This advice is key.  So many people forget that the resume they used right out of school isn’t going to be the right choice now that they have actual “work experience.” 

I’ve been asked to be a featured expert reviewer on the resume review site razume.com.  This site offers job seekers the opportunity to post their resume and request advice from the Razume community.  Anyone can offer a critique or post a resume for free.  Resume posters delete their personal information and select a user name so resumes are anonymous.  This is a great service for those who want to request feedback from trusted friends or relatives around the country; job seekers can post resumes and advisers can use a series of useful online tools to make comments and suggestions.

Many users of this site are seeking their second jobs.  A significant number of these job seekers fail to move their “Education” section to the bottom of their resume once they have a position and enough experience under their belt (and no specific reason to keep Education on top).  Many also still list their high school diploma, even when they have a bachelor’s degree. 

School activities and awards also play a prominent role in razume’s unrevised resumes.   For a first job out of school, these may be valuable and important.  After that point, some very prominent awards may remain on the resume, but college awards should not be a main focus of the resume beyond the first job.

There is no fail safe “one size fits all” advice for resume writers, but most job seekers will want to make these changes and more to their job seeking documents before seeking their next job.  Otherwise, they will appear less experienced than they may be and jeopardize their chances for an interview.

Keppie Careers will help you update your resume.  We also offer mock interviews to help you get market ready!  www.keppiecareers.com