Do you need a resume makeover? - Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

Do you need a resume makeover?

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CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19 / WMC-TV) - Nearly 45% of all people looking for a job can be classified as long term unemployed, meaning they've been looking for a job for nearly 8 months or longer. FOX19 spoke to one woman in the tri-state who's a part of that group, and we are trying to help her by giving her job search a makeover.

Patty Koss has been looking for job since April, but now she has the help of career expert Julie Bauke, who says many job seekers think it's all about the resume. Although it has to be perfect, Bauke says it's not the only important part of a job search.

"It's not the end all be all of a search.  It is simply one tool.  The purpose of a resume is to get you in the door to talk with someone, either on the phone or in person.  Where you can really tell your story and start to make more of a human connection versus a paper connection," Bauke says.

After you get your resume right, there are still plenty of mistakes you can make, like mistakes with your image and etiquette. Patty is dressed professionally and appropriately, but Julie says it goes beyond what you wear.

"Little things like how we shake hands, do you wear too much perfume, does your cell phone keep buzzing in the middle of the interview...all those things go into the organization's assessment of you."

More than two-thirds of all jobs are landed through networking but Julie says most people don't do it right.      She says it's not about going to a place with a bunch of strangers and meeting them, nor is it about getting as many businesses cards as you can. Julie says it's about building mutually beneficial relationships.

And if networking is what many job seekers get wrong, the interviewing process is probably what scares them the most. Julie says interviewers are trying to learn things about you that your resume can't answer.

Now, FOX19 is going to follow along as Julie helps Patty come up with a more concrete plan.

"I thought with an MBA and 14 plus years of experience that it would be easier finding a job and as I started networking and looking around there are a lot of intelligent people with really good experience who are out of work through no fault of their own.  It's just a really rough economy," says Julie

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