employers | Robin's Resumes (r)

Resume Q&A: A Lower Salary for a Dream Job–Is it Worth It?

May 15 2022

Q. I was offered a dream job, but the salary is lower than I am making now. Is salary always important? If this is such a good fit for me and I love it, should I take it anyway? I know I will prove myself there and get raises—I have always received raises wherever I work. Do you think I should take the job or keep looking?

A. Is a lower salary important when it gets you a dream job? No one but you can really tell you if you should take a job when the salary is lower, but it could be the right move.

If you are out of work, need a better work-life balance, gain other compensation in the form of benefits or a less costly commute, have reached the highest level available at your current company, are burned out at your current job, are transitioning to a new career, or are eager for the challenges and experiences of your dream job, then accepting a lower salary may make sense.

You do not mention your gender, but women often feel that income is less important to a career choice or job search than other considerations, according to BestColleges. In fact, 34 percent of men consider the income potential of a job compared to 20 percent of women. Do a search for comparable salaries to make sure you are not underselling yourself.

You might also want to consider whether:

You are able to meet your needs on a lower salary. If you have not yet considered the impact on your budget, savings, or live style, now is the time to perform those calculations.
Your next raise will bring you to the salary you should have. If it will take years to make up the difference, you are sacrificing thousands of dollars of income and savings over the long term and never catch up to where you should be.
The company cares about its employees in other ways. Does the lower salary mean that the company is also stingy about training and development, benefits, work-life balance, time off—and pay raises?
The company expected you to negotiate a higher salary or other compensation and you simply took their first low-ball offer. Have you explained why you deserve a higher salary? If the company is offering below the common market salary for that position or for your experience, you have a good argument for higher pay.
Your next employer will recognize your true value. Will your lower salary make future employers feel that you paid less because you are worth less or because you value yourself less? Will they lower their offer as a result?

Should you decide to keep turn down this offer and keep looking, you should review your resume and LinkedIn profile to determine if they are consistent with and support the salary you want. Contact Robin’s Resumes® for professional advice on a resume and profile that will help point you toward your dream job at the salary you deserve.

5 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Working

Jul 09 2017

You haven’t sent your resume out. Your resume can only start working for you when you actually send it to prospective employers. If you are trying to please multiple reviewers, anxious about every comma and period, or worried about presenting yourself correctly, you need the objective help of a professional resume writer.
You don’t know what employers are looking for. Research the companies and positions you are applying for. Read job postings and advertisements. You must know what companies want when they advertise for a specific job opening so that your resume covers those basics or bridges any gap between what you offer and the job demands.
Your resume is too vague. The jargon of the moment—proactive, results oriented—is very tempting but it doesn’t reveal who you are and what you have accomplished. Give specific results first and then explain how you achieved them: “Cut overhead in half by moving payroll function to outside vendor and eliminating 2 internal positions.”
Your resume is too confusing. What type of position are you looking for? What skills, experience, and education do you have for that position? Which of your past achievements are most predictive of your future success? If you don’t know, and simply throw everything into the resume in hopes that employers will sort it out, you are wasting everyone’s time.
You send your resume out only in response to job postings or advertisements. Your resume is an important tool for your job search. You should email it to friends and family, make sure that your LinkedIn or other online profile supports it, carry it with you to networking events, and use it as the basis for your elevator speech. Your research into companies (see #2 above) may reveal that they have a problem you can fix: Don’t wait for them to post a job, but contact them now about your ability to solve their problem.

When your resume isn’t working, you need the help of a professional resume writer. Contact Robin’s Resumes®. We’re here to help.

Short-Term Jobs on Your Resume

May 05 2013

Many job seekers have periods when they have worked at a company or a series of companies for a short time. On a resume, those short-term jobs can come across as job hopping or worse. Here are three approaches to handling those situations on your resume.

First, keep in mind that the standard for length of employment has changed. Employers now expect their employees to change jobs frequently over the course of a career, and some employers in some industries may be leery about hiring someone who has spent 20 or 30 years at the same company.

Second, if you have worked on multiple jobs that are in the same field and that naturally have a time limit (for example, as a freelancer, consultant or temporary hire), group all those jobs under one Freelance or Consultant title. The individual jobs become bullets under the main title, rather than separate positions. A long period of short-term freelance, contract or temporary work in one field (for example, construction, sales, software development, or substitute teaching) is very acceptable.

Third, if you alternated between employment in your field and employment outside your field, create a section called Career Highlights for your most relevant experience. Then list all your other experience briefly at the end of your resume under Other Experience. That way the gaps are filled but the jobs that matter are given the emphasis they deserve on your resume.

Finally, if none of those approaches seems appropriate, please contact me. The help of a professional resume writer can make all the difference.

Resumes and Keywords

Mar 20 2011

More and more often, employers and recruiters use computer programs to look through resumes for keywords and then discard the resumes that do not contain those words.

What are keywords? A keyword is a single word or a phrase describing a specific skill or achievement that the employer considers to be critical for the job. It could be the name of a software program (Excel, MySQL), a specific license or college degree (MBA), a job title (Manager, CEO) or an industry-specific term (profit and loss statement, fractionation). Sometimes the computer program searches for one set of words but the resume uses another set to describe the same thing. For example, the program searches for “profit and loss” but the resume refers to “P&L.” When that happens, a resume might be discarded even though the applicant has the required skill.

How do you know which keywords to use? Keywords can be found in the job description in a company’s advertisement or online posting. If a word or phrase appears frequently in similar job postings by other companies, it is probably a critical keyword for that industry.

How many keywords should you put in your resume? One estimate says that for federal jobs a resume must contain 95% of the keywords for that job. Estimates for keywords in corporate resumes vary widely (I’ve seen recommendations for from 4 to 25 or more keywords). As important as keywords are, you must be honest in using them. If you don’t have the skill, degree or license that a keyword describes, you don’t have it.

How can you create a keyword-rich resume? As a professional resume writer, I know how to work important keywords into your resume and still create a readable document. I can also advise you on which keywords are likely to become the focus of a search. If you fear that your resume is being unfairly discarded because it lacks the right keywords, give me a call today at Robin’s Resumes®.

Organizing Your Resume

Mar 13 2011

Sometimes the hardest part of writing your own resume is knowing where to begin—and end. How do you know which of your many achievements should be highlighted? How much detail do recruiters expect? Will you lose a job opportunity if you leave something out or if you reveal too much? How much space should you give to past jobs compared to your current position? How far back should you go in your career?

Organization is one of my greatest skills. I’ve developed proprietary questionnaires that help you detail all of your skills, background and accomplishments. Then I take that information and create a powerful, focused resume that targets the job you want. As a former engineer and project manager, I know how to marshal facts and describe them accurately, briefly and with conviction.

Once you receive my draft, you have three weeks to review it, making any changes you like. My clients often find that the draft and final resume give them a renewed sense of purpose and boost their confidence, as they realize exactly how much value they bring to future employers.