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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Tony Lee

Aired July 13, 2003 - 07:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If you are one of nearly 9.5 million people in the core of the unemployed, looking for a job these days can be a job in itself. However, a new survey says the best opportunities may actually be in industries that have had big layoffs.
According to the international outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, job openings can be found in the computer and automotive industries, in retail electronics, and financial services. The survey says that many job seekers stay away from these sectors.

Well, if you are sending out resumes, you may have noticed a new trend in higher. Many companies do their recruiting online. You're asked to apply for a job on the corporate web site and e-mail your resume. Well if what you want apparently matches the requirements, then you just might get a call.

Well, how do you make your resume impressive enough? Joining us now to share some tips is Tony Lee, editor-in-chief of CareerJournal.com.

Good to see you, Tony.

TONY LEE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CAREERJOURNAL.COM: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: All right, so how do you even begin, because so many people still just have their paper resumes and now they have to somehow transition into an electronic resume. Where do you really begin? How do you get the help?

LEE: Well, the best thing to do is to start by creating multiple versions of you resume. You know, you don't have to be locked into doing the same thing and sending it to everybody. Create one version for one type of employer, and something different for someone different. You don't have to be locked in.

WHITFIELD: Yes, but how do you even start? I mean, do you get -- I mean are there like packages out there at some of these computer stores, that will give you some guidance on the format. Do you try to make it look like your paper resume?

LEE: You can. Except what's great about online is that a lot of the formats, a lot of the help you're looking for is available for free and it's already there. If you go to an employer web site for example, they're going to give you a form to use to fill out the resume. What you have to decide is do I want to create a functional resume, which is taking the title, the position that you have now and saying I want to find the same thing somewhere else. Or do you take a chronological approach? And say here's what I've done over the years and I want to continue to try and do that same thing. So, you can go to a web site like CareerJournal.com, others, most of them have samples of resumes, lots of guidance, and typically all for free.

WHITFIELD: And are you finding a good majority of employers now are looking to cut down on the paperwork and are hoping that these people send these electronic e-mails?

LEE: That's the goal. A lot of companies have created back-end systems, so that when you send in your application online, they can then search all the key words in your resume, in your application and find you quickly.

So, it's wonderful because there is no reason for you to have to follow up and keep calling and say, gee, did you get it? Didn't you? Most of them have automated responses. They get right back to you and say thank you very much for this and we'll have it here and do a match. As soon as we know that we've got an opportunity that is a good fit with your skills.

WHITFIELD: Wait a minute, but if you don't follow up and call, isn't there some fear that you may just end in some virtual pile of resumes, just like, you know, you would on a desk.

LEE: Well, there is a matter of faith, a matter of trust. You can call. If you're talking about a smaller company, 100 people or less, absolutely, give them a call. See if you can follow up.

But if you're calling big companies and saying, hey, was I one of the 1,000 resumes that you go today online? They're going to have no clue. So, if they have a good system, and most of them do, so that when an opportunity comes up and they can match it against the skills that you sent in, you'll hear from them. I guarantee it, because they're looking for low-cost ways to hire people. And this is among the lowest cost they can possibly find.

WHITFIELD: Well, what if you're changing industries and because people are having to be a lot less selective about the types of jobs they're looking for, given that there are so many people unemployed, how do you kind of craft your resume so that it may be applicable to just about any kind of job you may want to apply for.

LEE: Right, well, the key is to focus on your transferable skills. If you're in finance and you have terrific financial management skills, you can apply that at any kind of company, in any kind of industry. If you're a public relations pro, you can do marketing, you can do sales, for pretty much any product, any service. The key is just showing that you're good at sales or good at marketing, explaining why. And spending less time focusing on the type of company you worked at, or perhaps even the title that you've had in the past. WHITFIELD: Do you see some real advantages to applying online? Say, there's an employer who doesn't mind getting paper resumes, as well as some e-mailed resumes. Who has the advantage?

LEE: Well, the advantage to online is the immediacy. I mean, you send something through, the company has it absolutely immediately. If someone 10 minutes later wants to do a search of the database of all the resumes they have, they'll find you. Obviously, a paper resume takes much longer. And I'll tell you there are a number of companies now that are no longer accepting paper resumes. It's very expensive to process them.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, with an up, there's also a downside though. Quickly, what might the disadvantages be?

LEE: Well, the disadvantages are, anyone can apply for anything. A janitor can apply for a vice president's job. So, it's very hard for companies in some cases to decide who's really good and who's really not. And it is up to the company to be good at figuring that out. There's nothing you can do about it.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tony Lee, CareerJournal.com, thanks very much.

LEE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 13, 2003 - 07:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If you are one of nearly 9.5 million people in the core of the unemployed, looking for a job these days can be a job in itself. However, a new survey says the best opportunities may actually be in industries that have had big layoffs.
According to the international outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, job openings can be found in the computer and automotive industries, in retail electronics, and financial services. The survey says that many job seekers stay away from these sectors.

Well, if you are sending out resumes, you may have noticed a new trend in higher. Many companies do their recruiting online. You're asked to apply for a job on the corporate web site and e-mail your resume. Well if what you want apparently matches the requirements, then you just might get a call.

Well, how do you make your resume impressive enough? Joining us now to share some tips is Tony Lee, editor-in-chief of CareerJournal.com.

Good to see you, Tony.

TONY LEE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CAREERJOURNAL.COM: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: All right, so how do you even begin, because so many people still just have their paper resumes and now they have to somehow transition into an electronic resume. Where do you really begin? How do you get the help?

LEE: Well, the best thing to do is to start by creating multiple versions of you resume. You know, you don't have to be locked into doing the same thing and sending it to everybody. Create one version for one type of employer, and something different for someone different. You don't have to be locked in.

WHITFIELD: Yes, but how do you even start? I mean, do you get -- I mean are there like packages out there at some of these computer stores, that will give you some guidance on the format. Do you try to make it look like your paper resume?

LEE: You can. Except what's great about online is that a lot of the formats, a lot of the help you're looking for is available for free and it's already there. If you go to an employer web site for example, they're going to give you a form to use to fill out the resume. What you have to decide is do I want to create a functional resume, which is taking the title, the position that you have now and saying I want to find the same thing somewhere else. Or do you take a chronological approach? And say here's what I've done over the years and I want to continue to try and do that same thing. So, you can go to a web site like CareerJournal.com, others, most of them have samples of resumes, lots of guidance, and typically all for free.

WHITFIELD: And are you finding a good majority of employers now are looking to cut down on the paperwork and are hoping that these people send these electronic e-mails?

LEE: That's the goal. A lot of companies have created back-end systems, so that when you send in your application online, they can then search all the key words in your resume, in your application and find you quickly.

So, it's wonderful because there is no reason for you to have to follow up and keep calling and say, gee, did you get it? Didn't you? Most of them have automated responses. They get right back to you and say thank you very much for this and we'll have it here and do a match. As soon as we know that we've got an opportunity that is a good fit with your skills.

WHITFIELD: Wait a minute, but if you don't follow up and call, isn't there some fear that you may just end in some virtual pile of resumes, just like, you know, you would on a desk.

LEE: Well, there is a matter of faith, a matter of trust. You can call. If you're talking about a smaller company, 100 people or less, absolutely, give them a call. See if you can follow up.

But if you're calling big companies and saying, hey, was I one of the 1,000 resumes that you go today online? They're going to have no clue. So, if they have a good system, and most of them do, so that when an opportunity comes up and they can match it against the skills that you sent in, you'll hear from them. I guarantee it, because they're looking for low-cost ways to hire people. And this is among the lowest cost they can possibly find.

WHITFIELD: Well, what if you're changing industries and because people are having to be a lot less selective about the types of jobs they're looking for, given that there are so many people unemployed, how do you kind of craft your resume so that it may be applicable to just about any kind of job you may want to apply for.

LEE: Right, well, the key is to focus on your transferable skills. If you're in finance and you have terrific financial management skills, you can apply that at any kind of company, in any kind of industry. If you're a public relations pro, you can do marketing, you can do sales, for pretty much any product, any service. The key is just showing that you're good at sales or good at marketing, explaining why. And spending less time focusing on the type of company you worked at, or perhaps even the title that you've had in the past. WHITFIELD: Do you see some real advantages to applying online? Say, there's an employer who doesn't mind getting paper resumes, as well as some e-mailed resumes. Who has the advantage?

LEE: Well, the advantage to online is the immediacy. I mean, you send something through, the company has it absolutely immediately. If someone 10 minutes later wants to do a search of the database of all the resumes they have, they'll find you. Obviously, a paper resume takes much longer. And I'll tell you there are a number of companies now that are no longer accepting paper resumes. It's very expensive to process them.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, with an up, there's also a downside though. Quickly, what might the disadvantages be?

LEE: Well, the disadvantages are, anyone can apply for anything. A janitor can apply for a vice president's job. So, it's very hard for companies in some cases to decide who's really good and who's really not. And it is up to the company to be good at figuring that out. There's nothing you can do about it.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tony Lee, CareerJournal.com, thanks very much.

LEE: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com