One of the most important sections of your resume is your employment history. This is also one of the most interesting areas for potential employers. It will give them an idea of a few things: how long you have been working, if the work you have been doing is similar to what they do, and what you may have achieved in each position. A well-written employment history will give potential employers an idea of how you would fit in working for their company.
Employers are looking for quick, impressive information in a resume. Each entry in your work experience should look something like this:
Job Title/Dates of Employment (years)
Company Name, City State
Brief Narrative
- Achievement
- Achievement
- Achievement
This is merely an example. There are many other formats out there to document your employment history, and they should all have the same basic information: dates of employment, the name of the company you worked for, where the company is located, job title, and your duties and achievements. You should include your most impressive on-the-job functions, as well as the ones that are the most like what you would be doing at the new company.
Including the right information in your employment history may be the key to landing an interview, and then, hopefully an offer.
Personal branding is, in the simplest definition, the way you market yourself. It is the way the world, and potential employers, view you. And if used correctly, your personal brand can land you that job.
Since your personal brand is the first impression that employers can get from you, you need to ensure that it is creating the impression that will represent you in a way that gets you a job. This means it needs to be professional. Whatever you say, write, or do, that is linked to your professional brand needs to be professional so that you can avoid embarrassment and avoid losing those important job opportunities. Think about what you want to present and make sure that everything you put out reflects that.
Be careful that when you are making a professional brand you don’t make it boring or impersonal. It is still your brand. Let potential employers know who you are. They are not looking to hire a robot. They are looking to hire a person with whom they can work every single day. Let them know you can be that person.
In order to ensure that your brand is seen and recognized by employers you need to spread it far and wide. Put your name out there. Put it on Facebook, put it on Twitter, put it on Tumblr, put it on LinkedIn, start a blog. Do all these things and advertise them on all the other sites you are a part of. Make it easy for potential employers to find you.
These are fairly simple things to do, but they do take some time and careful planning. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, then you will be able to create a personal brand that will land you that job you want.
Searching and applying for jobs is not enough to ensure land the job. You must make a good first impression in order to get the job, and in most cases you are going to have two opportunities to make a first impression to a potential employer.
The first, your cover letter.
Your cover letter is essentially your “on paper” first impression. While your resume gives information of your skills, experience, and accomplishments in the work force, a cover letter is more personal. It will still give information on your skills, experience, and accomplishments, but it will be written as a letter, which means it can also give your potential employers a glimpse into your personality. Of course, it must remain professional in order for you to be considered a serious candidate for the position, but feel free to let your personality seep into your cover letter, and finally, be sure to let the employer know the value you can offer the company.
The second, your interview.
If your cover letter and resume have done their job, then you may be asked for an interview. This is your real, in person, first impression. If you want the job, then the impression you make at the is the so important. You must look professional, smile and be cordial with everyone-from the receptionist who greets you to each individual member of the hiring committee. Your potential employers are not looking to hire a robot. They want to hire a person who they can work with and who they can see working well with the rest of the company. Be personable and be yourself.
Making a good first impression in your cover letter and your interview will help you land the job and start on the path to a successful career.
It can seem overwhelming to distribute your resume and get your name out there, but it doesn’t have to be. If you can slow down, think things through, and be confident in your search and distribution, then it will be much easier. Here are some things you should remember and be aware of when choosing where and how to distribute your resume.
- Send your resume to more than one place: You will have a better chance at actually getting a job if you have your eggs in more than one basket.
- Don’t give your resume to places you wouldn’t commute to: This seems like common sense, but it is something you should keep in mind the whole time you are distributing your resume. If you are not willing to commute daily to a company, then don’t bother wasting your time or theirs by giving them your resume.
- Follow up: After spending hours giving your resume to dozens of companies, you want to be able to know what is happening and if your hard work is paying off. But be careful not to become annoying. Follow up after a week or two and be very polite and to the point.
- Don’t become discouraged: Know right now that it will take a lot of time for you to get called in for an interview or get the job. You cannot let the long amount of time discourage you from distributing and re-distributing. You need to keep going and you will eventually get the job that you are looking for.
Salary can be a very touchy subject when it comes to negotiating a job offer. It’s an issue that can cause candidates to walk away, force employers to spurn one candidate in favor of another who will work for less, and make for tense dialogue between an employer and a would-be employee. Many job seekers are uneasy talking about their salary history with prospective employers. Divulging salary information first can often put you at a disadvantage, but you may have no choice. Potential employers may require a salary history before even considering you as a candidate. In this case it is helpful to know, ” Why do some companies ask job applicants for a salary history?”
The answers are fairly simple and they even make sense.
Requesting a salary history may just be a part of the employer’s screening process. It is their policy with every job applicant and that includes you. Give them the history, get in there and set the hook, get the offer, and then be a good negotiator.
Now, while that is a perfectly reasonable answer, there is one that is even better. As an applicant, you are a “business of one” and you are selling your services. With that in mind, would you buy from a business that, when you asked how much the product cost, responded with “We are not going to tell you until you buy?” In order to “make the sale” to your potential employers you need to name your price.
Your best course is always to do your homework before going into a negotiation. If you know what you are talking about, then you are more likely to get what you want, even if you have already given a salary history to your potential employers.
Going to an interview can be the most stressful part of the job search process. It is difficult not to get stressed or feel anxiety before the interview-you know there is a lot riding on the interview and how you perform during it can get you an offer or shown to the door. Being successful during a job interview is all about being impressive to your potential employer and keeping your cool.
So how do you keep your cool? With so much pressure to impress and get the job, how do you keep calm and ensure your answers effectively tell the employer why you are the best candidate for the job? While controlling your nerves during an interview may seem impossible, have no fear. We offer some tips and tricks that you can try:
- Schedule a practice interview: have friends or family set up a mock interview for you to practice, or you can go to a career counseling or career services center and see if they do mock interviews. If you have an idea of what is going to happen, you will feel more calm and will come off confident instead of nervous.
- Take deep breaths before going into your interview: It seems simple, but if you take deep breaths and focus on your breathing, then it will help slow down your heart rate and help keep your mind from racing. This will help you remain cool, calm, and collected.
- Smile: Smiling does a few things. It will show your interviewer confidence, help them feel more at ease, and if you do it long enough smiling can actually change how you are feeling so you are happier and more at ease during the interview.
While these strategies will help, there is nothing more important than reviewing your resume and making sure that your content is factual and that you are prepared to speak easily about your expertise and achievements. If you have been called for an interview, there is something in your resume that impressed the employer. Keep your cool, be honest and forthcoming in your answers, and clearly communicate to the employer the value you will be able to offer the company.
You’ll do great!
When you receive a gift, you send a thank you letter. So why wouldn’t you send a thank you letter during a job search? Sending a thank you letter is a particularly important part of your job search, so you need to take the time to write a nice letter. Because you don’t need to send a thank you for every job prospect you look into, we offer the following guidelines to help you decipher when you should send a thank you letter and when you don’t need to.
- If you have already gotten the job, you do not need to send a letter. You will be seeing the employer in person and you will be able to thank them then, which will mean more to your employer than a letter.
- If you have given the company your resume but never heard back (even after following up), then you do not need to send a thank you letter. If the employer didn’t bother to contact you, then why would you take time to thank them for something they didn’t even do?
- If you have been contacted, but not given an interview, then you should definitely send a thank you letter. They made the effort to contact you even though you were not the right fit. You should thank them for their consideration.
- If you have been given an interview but have not received a job offer, then you should absolutely send a thank you letter. They have put just as much effort in as you have at this point, and you should thank them for their consideration and effort.
Sending an appropriate thank you letter will help to ensure that employers remember you and hopefully think of you if future positions open up. There is nothing bad that can come from sending a sincere thank you letter.
You may think that if you search a recruiting agency’s job listings and there are only a few jobs, that a recruiter won’t be able to help you. That isn’t necessarily true. One of the actions a recruiter can take when he gets an exceptional resume, one with unique skill sets, is to skills market that job candidate.
Skill marketing occurs when a recruiter contacts a company that does not necessarily have a job opening, but knows that the company may find a particular candidate to be a valuable asset regardless of not having open positions. Skill marketing can be a good tool to use to get noticed and hired by a company. However, you must be able to present your skill sets clearly on your resume, and keep up to date on trends in your field so that you know which skills may get your foot in the door.
A good recruiter knows what those skills are, too, based on industry trends, but also on building relationships with companies. He/she often has a unique perspective on where a company is headed. For example, company Q may be known for digital printing, but the recruiter may know through conversations with hiring managers that company Q is moving towards other types of digital imaging as well. If you have skills working in digital imaging, the company may just create a position for you to spearhead their new ventures in digital imaging.
So don’t just rely on job aggregators that list job postings from all over the internet. Feel free to use them. But also develop relationships with recruiters. Let them know what you are looking for in in you next job. If they don’t see any immediate openings for someone with your credentials, ask these recruiters to skill market you. You may just end up with a great job that didn’t even exist before you asked for their help.
