Yes, the economy is bad. Yes, jobs can be hard to find. But, what can you do about that, you are telling yourself. You can’t help the economy, but you can help yourself out by marketing yourself in the best possible light so that you will be standing above the rest when it comes to the job you are really passionate about getting.
Because jobs can be few and far between, it is important to search for the jobs that mean something to you, that fit your skills. It will actually make your job search easier when you try for something you already have experience in. Plus, you will have a lot of information to put on your executive resume.
The following are some handy tips that will guide you to success:
- Job Search – Focus only on jobs that you really want. If you mass-post your resume to a lot of sites, chances are you will get interviews but maybe not the ones you really like. Then you will psyche yourself out and take a job you may not like at all while missing the one you really wanted.
- Your Own Blog – In addition to an executive resume, build your online presence with a blog. This is an excellent way to showcase your skills. Start a blog at and write on your experience, the work you have done in the past and jobs you would like to have. You can then link that blog to your social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. This will bring recruiters to your door. Just make sure you are pulling in the right jobs for you.
- Workplace skills – Not only is it important to have the expertise that your resume reflects, you also need to make sure that your personality skills and experience shine as well. Because the job market is tough right now, it is more important than ever that your office demeanor skills are pristine. Make sure you can showcase problem solving skills, conflict resolution skills, a positive attitude and an engaging personality. And dress well for your job, too.
Dust off your resume and clean it up. Highlight the most important aspect of you and your skills. You will be surprised at how many job offers you will start receiving.
Resumes have been used for many years now. Some businesses want a resume in addition to a completed application. And, if you have been in the job market a long time, chances are your resume could easily become 10-12 pages. And that, my friends is too long.
Several years ago, when resumes first began, potential interviewers wanted to see what was on a job application but in paragraph form. So, it came to pass that resumes ended up with a lot of personal information that employers today could care less about. In addition to that, the identity theft issue has raised many concerns about personal information that is freely given.
In today’s world of resumes, less is more. It will depend on the type of job you are seeking. College graduates and entry level positions are not going to have much to put on a resume so one page usually suffices.
For executive level positions, resumes could be as long as four pages. The information on executive resumes needs to encompass all the past years’ experience in a management position. Some individuals in this capacity still may not need more than two pages as they might have been with one or two companies for several years. But it will be debatable if even this will work.
For those seeking an executive position, it is important to not only list experience, but employers are going to want to know other things such as problem solving skills, hiring/firing skills, management style and education.
Since the job market is so tough today, it’s very important to fatten your resume so you will stand out from the rest. At the same time, some information does not need to be included. Things like hobbies, interests and family do not need to be on an executive resume. If the employer wants to know these things, it will be asked during a face-to-face interview. Additionally, it is acceptable to put your phone number and city and state. You no longer have to put your address or website on a resume because of the increase in identity theft.
It is also important to use a cover letter. Cover letters are only one page detailing the job position you are applying for and a quick synopsis of why you would be the ideal candidate. Remember, this cover letter is the first visual someone will have about you and you want it to capture their attention.
I get asked this question all the time. I just read this article on Mashable. Thought you might find it and the very cool/detailed infographic interesting and helpful.
“In answer to the question above, approximately 18,400,000 Americans say yes, they got their current job through Facebook. Though Zuck’s platform ranks #1, Twitter and LinkedIn don’t have shabby numbers either — 8 million and 10.2 million Americans, respectively, have gotten their jobs through social platforms….”
read the rest here.
The days of having a generic, all-purpose resume has been replaced by the need for highly developed, targeted resumes. Now you must tailor make your resume to fit into the job description offered by the employer. Targeted resumes aren’t just a necessity, they are critical to you finding long term employment. Targeted resumes put forth your best face and allow HR Managers to see exactly what you bring to the company.
Targeted resumes enable a job seeker to market their skills by addressing a specific concern for the company. It allows them to see how your skills and past experiences will fit in closely with what they require. They also use targeted keywords that closely fit and attract attention to the needed qualifications for the position. You should play up your strengths and focus your attention there, but do not dismiss your past failures, embrace them and take responsibilities in them. But you don’t have to make them the focal point.
Chances are your resume is an all-purpose resume. What everyone likes about the all-purpose resume is that its broad and captures the wide appeal of employers. But saving time is not important, if you really want that job you have to have a complete targeted resume for each position you apply for. But don’t toss that original resume just yet, you still can use it as your base for completing your targeted resume.
Steps to creating a targeted resume
Use your all-purpose resume to build off of, this will save you some time in creating a brand new resume every time you apply for a job. It’s actually fairly easy to take your existing resume and tweak it to fit your needs. So here’s how you proceed:
Create your all-purpose resume
Think of everything that you’ve done in past jobs, experiences, education, clubs, sports teams, anything that you could use as a basis for who you are. Your all-purpose resume is the heart of your resume, employers will never see it but it will allow you to paint a lush picture of your overall capabilities.
Review the job requirements
If you find a job you are interested in, look over the job requirements in the ad. Review the requirements and see how your education and experience stack up with what they are looking for. You want the job to be a good fit and this is an important step of the process. Use the job requirements as your basis for altering your all-purpose resume. Highlight what the job requirements highlight. Tailor make your resume to fit what the company is looking for. Be careful not to overindulge.
Develop your targeted resume
When finished with researching requirements, you need to actually alter your resume. Look over your existing resume to see how you can alter it into the final product you will send to HR Managers. Add secondary keywords, accomplishments, training and skills to round out the resume. Your all set, now you just need to ace that interview.
Yes, it’s that time of year again. In just a few weeks, many corporate professionals will be attending holiday parties with their coworkers. Time to kick-off your heels and celebrate another year towards retirement, right? Wrong.
Even though you are attending a “party” there is still etiquette you need to follow to ensure that your reputation and job are intact on Monday morning.
Make sure your spouse or significant other is actually invited to the event before you show up with him or her on your arm. As many companies are scaling back their celebrations due to tough economic times, some are only having parties for their employees – no guests.
- If your party is at a colleague’s home, take a small gift with you for the host/hostess. A holiday bouquet or goody that can be shared at the party would be sufficient. Only take a bottle of wine or other alcoholic beverage if you know your host is serving alcohol during the party.
- Know the dress code for the evening…and then abide by it. Even at the office party, what you wear can affect your coworkers’ and bosses’ perception of you. Wearing clothes that are too low cut or revealing is a no-no at a business function.
- If there is a meal, whether sit-down or buffet, remember your table manners. If there is more food available at the buffet, make sure every table has already had their first trip to the food line before you make a second. Always take the time to thank the wait staff and others who are serving you during the party.
- While there may be alcohol served at the party, this is not the time to see how much “holiday cheer” you can consume in one evening. As you are happily mingling with others, be conscious of how much you are drinking. Too much drinking, leads to too much talking which leads to nothing good on Monday morning.
- If there is mistletoe at the party, steer clear. Although this is a holiday tradition that has been around for years, stealing a kiss from the wrong person under the mistletoe can lead to an awkward situation or even worse, a possible reprimand for sexual harassment (yes, we’ve heard of this!).
- Network, network, network! Very rarely is there a time where all levels of an organization are together at once and there may be many new faces to greet. Try to meet colleagues in other departments and if you have the chance to rub elbows with the CEO, simply introduce yourself, thank him/her for the party and move on. While networking is okay, cornering the CEO to give him a 5-minute version of your resume is not.
- Lastly, in today’s world of social media and smart phones, you can almost bet there will be a few pictures taken during the party. If you are asked to be in a picture, smile and keep it professional. Even though some of your coworkers may be your “friends” on social media sites, you don’t want inappropriate pictures of you being fed to others throughout the company.
While the annual holiday party can be a great time to socialize with your colleagues, the bottom line is that you need to remember that an office party of any type is still about business. Don’t overindulge in alcohol, put lampshades on your head and pose for pictures, or stalk the CEO the entire evening – you don’t want to be the one with the red face at the water cooler on Monday morning.
We had a recent blog post that asked the question, “What type of resume gets a better response – a chronological resume (that lists out accomplishments from each position) or a hybrid resume (that places accomplishments in one place and list positions under a separate headline–or a mix of that)?” There were a lot of questions about which one we thought was the best, but with so many responses we began to wonder what type of resume is best.
What do you think? What’s your opinion on the matter and do you have any tips for maximizing your resume?
We can look at statistics to see that the average HR manager looks over a resume in about 10-15 seconds. So, a hybrid resume where your accomplishments are listed in one area and job listings in another may work to draw attention since the reader can skim your highlights and skills right upfront. If they like what they see, then your chances of them reading further increase. But, if they have to browse to find your qualifications, they will move on to the next resume. Your choice of resume could change depending on what you type of position you’re applying for. Does your field deal heavily in accomplishments or with experience? Look and see what type of requirements are involved before sending your resume.
Of course there are pros and cons to both. One person responded that they found chronological resumes to be the most requested type by companies hiring, and basing their decision off of that, they believe that it’s the most effective form (this is what I hear often as well). If it’s what the company wants, then that’s what you should give them. Also, they believe that a capabilities resume does not do enough to showcase, specifically, what type of work (or the experience level) you had with your past jobs. Some point to chronological resumes being a little to heavy on text, making it hard to get a clear picture of your past. You want to showcase what you’re qualified to do, so find a way that works with your skills. It’s not a bad thing to combine resume types as well.
The important thing is finding a job. That’s the bottom line. Whatever resume type you choose to use, recruiters will see that you are the most complete choice for the position. A great resume can make it easier to find a job.
Resume Best Practices (at a glance)
Hybrid Resume
• Make sure to mention which company you achieve great results – “Reduced overhead by $X for McDonalds Worldwide, LLC.” It frustrates readers if they don’t know where you did what.
• When you make mention of past companies, include information so that they can get a sense of the company’s size and scale, including how your position affected the company, assuring that your involvement was really meaningful.
Chronological Resume
• If you’ve had a lot of jobs, you may want to summarize your earlier info. You don’t need to put work history from the 1980’s and early 90’s on it. Too many jobs looks like you can’t sit still, plus summarizing some of your earlier stuff adds interest and breaks the monotony of job after job after job.
• Add key accomplishments to grab HR manager’s interest.
There’s a fine line between over using keywords in your resume and having just the right touch. It’s trickier than you think to create a effective and dynamic resume, so what do you have to do in order to get the right about of keywords that balance out the resume?
A lot goes into finding the right way to encode your resume. You need to be able to entice HR managers into reading your resume without rehashing the same old thing. Over the past few years, more and more software programs have been designed in order to minimize the time it takes hiring managers to read through the mountain of resumes they receive. Employers’ are dependent on keywords to find candidates that they want to interview. The key is having the right amount of keywords on your resume. Most companies, including Fortune 1000 companies and smaller companies, know how to use these technologies to assist in finding new hires, so you have to know how to take advantage of the same processes that they do. According to the National Resume Writers’ Association, more than 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords.
How do you determine the right keywords?
In most cases, job-specific keywords are nouns. Resume writers have long used action verbs in their resume creation, and that same model is still used. But, what are the action nouns that you need? They depend on the type of position you’re applying for, your field and the type of career you seek. Still, there are many words that will work for a standard, first draft resume.
Say for instance that you’re applying for a customer service job. Some keywords for that job could be “customer database” or “upgrading software”. Review the job description in order to find keywords that match potential employers searches. The typical keywords are often related to the skills and experience each employer will be seeking in new candidates. Other times keywords are precise keywords that HR managers are looking for in order to eliminate a wide swath of candidates. If you do not have “IT Administrative Privileges” as part of your keywords, you will be overlooked for that specific position.
Narrowing down your keyword choices.
You do not want to load up your resume too much with keywords. Instead, sprinkle the right keywords throughout your resume.
One idea to add more keywords is by creating a “Areas of Expertise” or “Core Competencies” section. This way you can add in keywords that represent the bulk of your qualifications in a space that is acceptable to the majority of HR managers. This does not penalize you, but instead enhances what you’ve accomplished.
Because you do not know all of the keywords HR managers will use, it’s a good idea to make use of synonyms or jargon words that will appeal to more specific searches. There are a lot of options available so get some help from a professional resume writer.
Have you wanted to sign up with LinkedIn but thought it sounded too complicated to begin? Just another profile to maintain? Oh, no. I’m here to tell ya–LinkedIn is a wonderful job search tool and (hopefully) here to stay.
You need to get around your hesitations in order to get your resume to the right people. One way to do that is to register with LinkedIn and develop a well crafted online business profile. If you’re not registered on LinkedIn yet, you are missing an excellent opportunity to get your name out. After you’ve registered, invite all of your friends and colleagues. The more connections you have there, your chances of forming an extended business network of your closest friends and associates rises – including their first and secondary connections.
Once you have your LinkedIn account set up and established some connections, use the search feature to try and learn as much about the different HR managers or corporate recruiters information. You can use the drop down menu to search for people and then type in the company name. Go through the results in order to find the people located in HR or people in leadership roles that you can befriend.
Start contacting these people through the following methods:
- If you see someone that’s a secondary connection (one of your friends is friends with them through a first degree LinkedIn connection), click “Get introduced through a connection” and add this person as a connection. This allows your personal friend to send a message to that person. Also, you can send your resume to your friend and have them forward it on to their first degree connections. Make sure you ask them to put in a good word for you.
- One option is to upgrade your LinkedIn subscription in order to send HR managers or recruiters a LinkedIn “Inmessage”. The cost is relative compared to the insider level it provides.
- See if you can find the HR manager’s email address through Google by searching their name and the company name through Google’s robust search features. If their contact information comes up in the search findings, you can contact them that way. Their information may be listed in a directory so it may take some time.
- If you can not find a valid email address, and the job requires that you apply by emailing a certain name, such as John Smith at jsmith@bigbiz.com, then you all ready know what the email address will look like. So if you’re trying to email Kate Clayton at the same company, then the email address is likely kclayton@bigbiz.com. Use this and send them a personal email with your resume attached.
Another option is to call the company and ask to speak with the HR manager by getting their name and information from LinkedIn. If the information is not available on LinkedIn, then the switchboard operator at the company may provide the email address and phone number.
