Pop Quiz, Hotshot: Is anyone even looking past your résumé headline?

If you only had three seconds to grab someone’s attention on the street, how would you do it? Would you shout “Hey!” and risk having her ignore you or not realize you’re speaking to her? Would you ramble about needing to speak to him sometime soon about a great opportunity and risk having him immediately lose interest?

In the case of résumé headlines posted online to the major job boards, you’re lucky if you get that full three seconds of attention before the hiring manager or job recruiter has moved on to the next candidate’s résumé. It doesn’t take a ton of time to read 4 – 8 words and reject them for many varied reasons. This makes it vital that your headline expresses everything you need it to with just a few carefully chosen words.

Think about which articles you most want to read when you see a magazine in the grocery store checkout line. What is it that usually draws you in? Are they talking about the mysteries of the universe or have they just made an average topic seem must-read with a brief but exciting blurb? No, but you still flip to find that article while you’re in line behind a woman with two carts of groceries who’s writing a check to pay for it all.

We’ll start with what not to do. The following headlines are real. They’re also really bad. If you want to find any job at all, you will do your best to make sure your headline doesn’t even remotely resemble any of the following:

• "Accomplished Professional in the Business Field" (Really? Can you vague it up a little more for me?)

• "Administrative Specialist with six years of experience" (What is an administrative specialist?)

• "Design Professional" (Design in which field?)

• "Theatrical Set Painter" (Is that your only skill? The only position you’ve ever held? Seems like it.)

• "Scanning and Copying specialist" (You’re saying you posses mastery of common office equipment. Anything else you can do? Real work maybe?)

• "20+ Years of Experience" (Doing what exactly? Raising kids? Being a student? Playing Tetris?)

• "Professional Entertainer" (Nothing says “stripper” more than this headline.)

• "Recent graduate with consultant background" (Graduate of dog grooming school? High school? Hogwarts? Need the info!)

• "Team Player with two years experience in transportation" (Transporting mail across the country or being a drug mule for Columbian drug lords? Can’t tell with this headline.)

• "Hard Worker who Needs a Job" (Actual headline, remember. Who would read further than this, honestly?)

• "Legal counselor for two years (was fired)" (::click:: That’s the sound of me deleting this résumé from my in-box.)

Here are a few tips to get you started writing the right type of headline:

1. Keep it between 4 – 8 words. Anything longer than that won’t be read, and anything shorter than that won’t be taken seriously.

2. Avoid all CAPS. This should be self-explanatory, but you’d be surprised. Using all capital letters is the online equivalent of shouting. Shouting is rude. Therefore, using all caps is rude. It’s also juvenile and unprofessional. On that same note, be sure that every word in your headline is spelled correctly (just as you would double-check your résumé, you need to spell check your headline, too).

3. Avoid clichés. The goal is to come up with something as unique as possible that is still very descriptive. You want to differentiate yourself from all of the other candidates.

4. Cover all your bases. Your headline should tell anyone reading it exactly what they’d need to know about who you are as a job candidate.

According to a blog by Harry Joiner, Marketing Headhunter, it should look a little something like this:

Function / Company / Industry / Salary / Relocation preference.

For example: Email Marketing / Land's End / Multichannel Retail / $85K / Will Relo

Trackback for Marketing Headhunter: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/5057368

You can make a “Professional Entertainer” sound like someone people will want to hire, it just takes a little creativity and work. Try several different headlines on your résumés to track which ones get the best results!

10 Inspiring Movies to Watch during Your Job Search

Is the hunt for your new career getting you down? Watch these movies and get back in the job seeking saddle with renewed confidence and the can-do attitude it takes to get the position you deserve!

“Pursuit of Happyness” (2006) – Chris Gardner (Will Smith) has big dreams for him and his family. Chris earns an opportunity to be a stock broker, but first he has to go through a grueling internship which means no pay. Chris decides to do it but when his wife leaves and he is evicted, he has to take care of his son on his own. So they find themselves sometimes living on the street and struggling to get by, but Chris is adamant that they’ll make it.

“Rudy” (1993) – Rudy (Sean Astin) has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.

“Working Girl” (1988) – Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is an ambitious secretary with a unique approach for climbing the ladder to success. When her classy, but villainess boss (Sigourney Weaver) breaks a leg skiing, Tess takes over her office, her apartment, even her wardrobe. She then creates a deal with a handsome investment banker (Harrison Ford) that will either take her straight to the top – or finish off her career for good.

“A League of their Own” (1992) – Dottie Henson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) are sisters who work on the family farm. Kit wants to play baseball in the new All American Pro Girls League, but Dottie is drafted instead. Dottie refuses to play unless Kit can come along. The team manager is a drunk, has been baseball player named Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), but after a lot of emotional ups and downs, the team makes it to the playoffs.

“Legally Blonde” (2001) – Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is president of her California sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic girl, Miss June in her campus calendar, and, above all, a natural blonde. She dates the big man on campus and wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But Warner (Matthew Davis) needs someone to fit into his East-Coast blue blood family to help him become a senator someday. So, when Warner heads off to Harvard Law and reunites with an old brunette sweetheart from prep school, Elle does the impossible and is accepted to Harvard Law, determined to win him back. Elle begins to use her strengths to her advantage and teaches everyone that there is a really smart girl under all that blonde.

“Jerry Maguire” (1996) – When a sports agent (Tom Cruise) has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent with only one client, a difficult and egotistical football player (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who refuses to sign a contract until he gets the big coin – jeopardizing both of their livelihoods.

“The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) –Simple, naive recent journalism grad Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired to work as the second assistant of Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the ruthless and merciless editor of a famous fashion magazine in New York City. Andrea dreams of being a journalist and tries to treat the job as a temporary professional challenge. To please her picky boss, Andrea changes her attitude and behavior, affecting her private life, but eventually making her successful in her position.

“Any Given Sunday” (1999) – An aging football coach finds himself struggling with his personal and professional life while trying to hold his team together. A star quarterback has been knocked out of the game and a naive football player replaces him only to become a danger to himself and to his teammates. Meanwhile, the coach finds himself constantly at battle with the team owner's money and power hungry daughter intent on moving the team out.

“The Rainmaker” (1997) – Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon) is a young attorney who is the only hope of an elderly couple whose insurance company will not pay for an operation that could save their son's life. Rudy learns to hate corporate America as he fights injustice and the insurance company, all while falling in love with a battered young married woman (Claire Danes) during the process.

“The Cutting Edge” (1992) – NHL prospect Doug (D.B. Sweeney) is injured which leaves him unable to play professionally. Pairs ice-skater Kate (Moira Kelly) is a talented, but spoiled and ill–tempered figure skater who no one will pair up with. As a last result, Kate's coach brings in Doug as a potential partner. Kate tries to antagonize Doug into leaving, but he stays and actually begins to like figure skating. The pair undergoes grueling, rigorous training to get to the Olympics and a possible gold medal...

Let Go of Your Anger

I’ve left a job or two in my life under the not-so-happiest of circumstances. I’ve had bosses who could try the patience of Job. There’s been a co-worker or two who’ve tried to cause premature balding. And who hasn’t plotted the murder of one of their clients/customers at one time or another? Ok, maybe that’s just me...

But, none of this ever reaches the ears of my new employer.

The myth that you should list the reasons you left you last job probably comes from those three-dollar-a-pad, generic job applications that small business owners pick up from the local office supply store. In the previous employer section there’s a block labeled, “Reason for Leaving.”

If ever confronted with this block, do not commit to paper that your last boss made Napoleon Bonaparte seem sweet. That is what we generally refer to as a faux pas – or “big dumb mistake” in layman’s terms.

The last thing you want to do when approaching a new job is start by badmouthing your old one. All you’ll accomplish is to convince the employer of your negativity, your inability to work as a team member or several other aspects of your personality that won’t get you the job.

Simply don’t put this on your résumé, don’t explain it in your cover letter and if you have to fill in that box on an application, don’t be negative. If you’re asked what you didn’t like about your last job, whether on the application or during the interview, keep it positive, i.e. you weren’t being challenged enough.

You need to let go of all that anger and frustration from your last job. The moment you decided to find a new one all of that stuff doesn’t matter anymore so you can detach yourself from it. Not to mention, it gives you more positive chi.

Researching: now and then

Remember the joys of the Dewey Decimal System and card catalogues? Researching used to be a lengthy chore, which involved finding books from all over the library—usually different floors of the library—and then sitting at a wooden table with a highlighter and index cards. But all that has changed thanks to the little wonder known as the Internet. Now, it’s an issue of typing in the subject and, poof, related articles are snatched and displayed in a neat list for your convenience. How marvelous.

The World Wide Web has made things a bit easier; in particular, it’s made preparation on the part of the job applicant a bit easier. It’s a common held notion that researching before an interview is a good idea, but few people understand how high the payoff actually is. Well-researched job seekers are more than just informed, they are confident, prepared, and inquisitive—qualities that will help highlight you in the mind of a potential employer.

It’s a good idea to start your research by visiting the company’s official Web site. This will give you general background information, certain corporate policies, and an overall vision. Next, see if the website links to any blogs maintained by the company. This is a popular trend, as it allows the company a personal level of communication between corporate and clients. Also, check out industry blogs to see what the company’s persona is in their respective field. For example, if you're interviewing for a managing position at a fine dining restaurant, go to Google and type in "fine dining blog." When the list of sites come up, click on a few and see what the restaurant's general reputation in its respective industry.

These simple steps will help you achieve a broader view before interviewing, and it’s a bit quicker than thumbing through the card catalogue.