Resume Red Flags

The Hospitalist. 2012 January;2012(01):

January 26, 2012 | The Hospitalist

“What people are really looking for is what did you do and what was the result,” Norz says. “Things that one accomplished as a volunteer or on a committee count, too, because that’s where people gain a lot of leadership skills.”

Resumes should not be recitations of job descriptions, she advises. They should be lists of achievements described with action verbs that give the applicant a clear identity and brand. “When you read a resume, you should walk away from it knowing who this person is,” says Dr. Kaplan. “If you don’t see that on their resume, then you’ve got to question it.”

The best applicants network. The more you can develop a relationship and rapport with peers and potential employers, the more likely you will be given a greater chance to sell your strengths and explain weaknesses, says career strategist Ellen Dunagan, president of Traverse Management Solutions in Arlington, Va. “You really want to step it up and be much more active with your own pitch,” she says.

Attitude Matters

But before a hospitalist or any applicant with a resume shortcoming begins to look for a job, they must resolve the issue internally, Dr. Kaplan notes. Taking responsibility will allow you to speak clearly and comfortably about what happened, without negativity or blame.

“If you don’t, you will fumble,” he says. “The prospective employer will start seeing those red flags and they will ask you about it, and you thought you had your pitch ready. Then they ask you two more questions, and before you know it, they’re not going to feel a sense of transparency with you.”

More and more, what employers are looking for is positivity, Dunagan says. It’s a trait applicants won’t have if they still harbor negative feelings toward a previous employer. “It’s just very important to be not only a team player, but to have a really good attitude,” she says. “So present yourself in the best possible light.”

Lisa Ryan is a freelance writer based in New Jersey.

Help! My Employer Has A Bad Reputation

Your resume is free of red flags, but what do you do if your current employer isn’t well regarded in the profession? Will your employer’s reputation affect your job prospects?

“There’s no masking or disguising who you work for,” Dunagan says. “What’s most important is putting down in the most powerful way possible your achievements and your skills, using words that are as powerful as possible.”

Prospective employers might want to know what the hospitalist has learned from their experience of working for a practice that doesn’t have a good reputation, Dr. Bell says. “It doesn’t necessarily rule them out,” she says. “The question is, Do they have insight into what are the challenges in the practice?”

If a recruiter or employer directly asks an applicant why they’re working in a certain hospital or practice, it’s helpful for the applicant to have an explanation that promotes their skills and positive qualities, Dr. Thorsheim says. For example, a physician can make the case, for example, that it’s an underserved area where there’s a need for talented people who aren’t intimidated by challenges, he says.

Applicants also should avoid speaking negatively of their current employer, Dunagan cautions. “That’s a very bad thing to do, even if everybody else thinks the employer is terrible,” she says. “Throwing your employer under the bus does not show a very good trait.”