The weather can cause havoc on any occasion, and a job interview isn’t immune to being affected. You’ve spent countless hours on your LinkedIn profile development, writing an effective resume and polishing up your cover letter only to see a blizzard or powerful storm system is rolling through your area on your interview day. What are you supposed to do? Instead of letting the weather event derail your interview, take it as an opportunity to showcase your soft skills and make the most of an unexpected and unfortunate situation.
Be Proactive Instead of Reactive
When you see a major weather event is taking place on your interview day, don’t hesitate to reach out to the employer the day before the interview just to touch base. Acknowledge the storm and offer to reschedule the interview if it works best for them. You could also suggest holding a phone interview if it works with their plans. Being proactive by reaching out ahead of the weather event shows your interest in the job and that you’re aware of the events going on around you.
Take Advantage of Additional Preparation Time
Assuming your interview does get rescheduled for a couple days later, take advantage of the time to get some extra preparation in. Check in with your professional executive resume writers again if you need to, or simply focus on your LinkedIn profile development. Just be sure not to put too much focus on yourself. Learning more about the company culture and the current employees can give you the opportunity to ask insightful questions at the interview.
Be Prepared For A Video Interview
During your call with the employer, you may suggest holding a video interview to avoid traveling during harsh weather conditions. But even if you don’t make the suggestion, you have to be prepared for the employer to make the suggestion themselves. A video interview should be treated as formal as an in-person interview, from dressing appropriately to making eye contact and even reducing clutter in the background. With all the time you’ve spent writing an effective resume, you don’t want lack of preparation for a video interview to be the reason why you aren’t considered for a job.
Professional Resume Services helps executives with all aspects of their job search. Our professional executive resume writers can’t predict the weather, but they can help you be prepared for a significant weather event that delays your interview. To learn more about how our services can benefit your job search at any stage, don’t hesitate to contact us.
One of the most under-appreciated aspects of a job search is creating a comprehensive plan and sticking to it. The mistake many professionals make is thinking they can put in a significant amount of time and effort for a couple of weeks and their efforts will be rewarded with their desired job shortly afterward. However, the best professional resume writers will tell you this isn’t always the case, even if you have a flawless resume. Creating a job search plan you can stick with will help you not only efficiently land your next job, but also give you a higher likelihood of getting the job you actually want. Here are some steps to take to create a solid job search plan.
Write Down Clear Goals
Due to the advanced technology today, the traditional pen and paper method of taking notes has essentially vanished. However, there’s something about writing down your goals that make them more likely to be accomplished. Write down big goals you have, as well as smaller goals you want to reach along the way. Some of your goals could be about the role you want at your next job, what culture you want in your next office or how large the organization is. Then you can tailor your resumes and cover letters to those qualities and start working to reach the goals.
Treat Your Job Search Like A Job
A job search is a job on its own. If you have a home office, set it up with all the tools you need to be successful in your job search. Also schedule out your day like you would any other job, whether it’s scheduling time for writing an executive bio, researching words to include in your resume or even taking lunch. The more you treat the job search like a job, the more structured it will be and will help you stay on track.
Reward Yourself When Reaching Milestones
Most people feel accomplished when their boss praises them for reaching milestones, so you should reward yourself for the same throughout a job search. When you’ve written a couple versions of resumes and cover letters, treat yourself to a nice dinner. Or when you’re done writing an executive bio, reward yourself by taking a walk or doing other things you enjoy. Breaking up the job search in these manners can keep the motivation levels high and prevent burnout.
Seek Advice When Needed
You will likely reach a point in your job search where you feel stuck or get discouraged. Before it reaches that point, reach out to the best professional resume writers for advice. Sometimes talking to another professional can give you the boost of motivation or energy you need to remember your goals and get back on track.
Professional Resume Services is here to help you throughout your job search. Whether it’s writing your initial resume and cover letter or developing a complete job search plan, we want to assist in any way we can. Feel free to reach out to us at any time throughout the duration of your job search.
If you’re like most executives, you choose your words carefully when crafting the perfect resume. However, depending on when the last time you updated your resume was, some of the words you think sound good may actually be diminishing your chances of landing an interview. Due to the limited amount of time a recruiter spends looking at a resume, you have to know which words to include. And most importantly, the key to writing an effective resume is knowing which words to avoid. Here are some of the most common words and phrases used that should be avoided.
Team-Player, Passionate, and Detail-Oriented
These words may accurately describe you, but they also describe many others. Since these terms have been so overused in the past, the value has decreased significantly. An executive resume writer may suggest getting rid of these words and replacing them with actual achievements. Shift your wording to show what you’ve done instead of telling about it.
Weak Action Verbs
Common weak action verbs include “managed,” “handled,” “led,” “supported” and many others. Again, these may be true, but they aren’t actionable and can bore the reader. A professional resume writing service can help you be creative with your action verbs, since they’ve seen every weak one imaginable.
Objective Statement
The objective statement is a thing of the past when it comes to resumes and will make you seem as though you aren’t current on the way resumes should be. Most applicants have the same needs and desires when applying for a job, so most objective statements are similar as a result. Instead, an executive resume writer will suggest ditching the objective statement in favor of a professional summary demonstrating your qualifications and experiences briefly.
“References Available Upon Request”
The common assumption recruiters have today is applicants will be able to provide references if asked, so don’t include this on your resume. As with the Objective Statement, this will make you seem out of touch with resumes today.
Outdated Information
At a certain point, a professional resume writing service will tell you experience is more valuable over certifications or education. If you have more than about 5 years of experience, you can likely relocate any mentions of your certifications or education to the end of the resume since employers are more interested in what you’ve accomplished.
Professional Resume Services provides detailed critiques of resumes to ensure these words, phrases and information are used to your advantage. Many executives aren’t aware these words could be hurting their chances at landing their next job, so we are happy to assist in any way we can. To learn more about how we can help with your resume preparation, feel free to contact us at any time.
Employers today are using applicant tracking systems (ATS) more than ever before. The purpose of ATS is to help hiring managers electronically sort through large stacks of resumes and to filter out unqualified candidates. As an executive job seeker, you have to keep ATS in mind when writing resumes that get you hired. You could put together the best executive resume format, but if certain keywords are missing from the resume, then it could quickly be sorted away. So how do you know if you are defeating ATS or if it’s defeating you? Here are important points to consider.
Understanding Applicant Tracking Systems
Applicant tracking systems can differ, so job applicants never really know what criteria any particular system has. The majority of them will pick out specific fields in the resume, such as relevant experience, educational background, contact information and other common headers. ATS can also identify keywords throughout the resume and use all the information to provide the recruiter or hiring manager with a score for the resume. The employer will have a certain score they look for, and if your resume does not pass, then it will never be looked at by human eyes.
Keywords Are Critical
Using the right keywords in your resume is critical for getting a passing ATS score. However, ATS can identify keyword stuffing as well, so they have to be used appropriately. The best professional resume writing services will help you strategically place your keywords throughout the resume, based on the keywords located in the job description and job requirements of the posting.
Is it Possible to Defeat ATS?
Many job seekers work diligently to have the best executive resume format and focus completely on defeating ATS. While it is entirely possible to include the right mix of keywords and relevant information on a resume, you have to remember that once you pass ATS, an actual human will read the resume as well. For example, if a certain job description requires a certification, you will eventually have to back up your claim that you either have the certification or are actively working to obtain it. Simply including the word “certification” in your resume may get through ATS, but it won’t help you land the job if you can’t back up the claim when a human asks you about it.
Professional Resume Services understands the struggle of defeating ATS. Writing resumes that get you hired today is more difficult than ever before, mainly because of the automation and technology available to help hiring managers sort through resumes. Our professional resume writing services are available to help you through these struggles, so don’t hesitate to contact us at any time for assistance.
Investing in your career is one of the most important investments you can make. Setting clear and achievable goals will help guide you where you need to be, and improving personal branding for senior level managers may happen naturally throughout the year. There’s no time like the present to start setting aggressive, yet attainable, goals to help you boost your career where you want it to be. Once you’ve developed your short-term and long-term goals, your mindset can shift to working toward them every single day. Here’s how to make the most out of your executive career this year.
Set Clear Goals
It’s impossible to get where you want to be if you don’t know where you’re going to begin. While it’s important to set yearly goals, you can also set monthly or quarterly goals to help you stay on track. If you’re in line for a promotion this year, think about what you can do to ensure you get it rather than get overlooked. If boosting personal branding for senior level managers is a goal, then you know you must attend networking events and make your name widely known throughout your industry. Clear goals will help you figure out what actions you need to take to reach them.
Make A Point to Network
Connecting with your network isn’t just reserved for when you’re looking for a job. Even the top rated resume writing services suggest to network as much as possible. This doesn’t mean you have to attend an event every night, but at the very least you can update your LinkedIn profile and check in with your connections frequently. Get advice from other professionals whom you look up to, and you may be able to develop a similar path to success. Plus, you never know when a new opportunity will arise, so you don’t want to miss out by not connecting with other professionals.
Create New Opportunities
Just because you’re happy and comfortable in your role doesn’t mean you can’t be proactive about new opportunities. Always do anything you can to improve your executive resume biography. This doesn’t mean simply changing the words. It means to accomplish more tasks in your current role in order to beef up your profile with relevant and meaningful accomplishments. By excelling in your current role, you can create new opportunities for yourself within the same company or be put in a better position to pursue other opportunities if you choose.
Professional Resume Services is more than just one of the top rated resume writing services. We take a personal interest with each of our clients and we want to help you make the most out of your executive career in any way we can. Feel free to reach out to us at any time to learn more about how we can help you set goals to reach new career heights this year.
Effective communication skills used to be added benefits for an executive job seeker, but nowadays it’s a requirement. You’re expected to have top notch communication skills, so if you’re struggling with your job search, it may be time to look into boosting that aspect. Sometimes people don’t even realize they are communicating ineffectively on paper or in person until they hear it from professional executive resume writers. The good news is identifying any potential flaws is generally straightforward and fixing them is entirely possible. Here are some must-have communication strategies for every executive job seeker.
Communicate Clearly on Paper
Your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile are the three main components any hiring manager will look at. Since you never know which one they will look at first, all three have to be worded clearly and concisely. The key to effective written communication is telling your reader why you are the best candidate for the job in as few words as possible. Even an expert writer needs someone to look over their work to ensure the proper message is being presented, and professional executive resume writers can be that resource.
Validate Written Skills With Great Interpersonal Communication
Being a well-rounded communicator means your written skills need to be backed up by your verbal communication. Your verbal communication skills are put to the test every time you talk to someone, whether it’s at a networking event, a career fair or even a job interview. You have a chance to boost your c-level personal branding every time you say a word, so choose each word wisely and practice effective communication regularly. The worst thing you can do is call yourself an effective communicator in your resume, but your speech isn’t as polished as you make it sound on paper.
Control Your Online Presence
Your online presence is huge in today’s world. Many executives make the mistake of thinking if they don’t utilize social media and don’t create an account for a LinkedIn profile, then they won’t have an online presence to worry about. The reality is their online presence is still there, but they just don’t have any control over it if they choose to ignore it. Align your online communications with your c-level personal branding and control the message you want people to know about you.
Professional Resume Services places a big emphasis on communication every time we meet with an executive. It’s important for your resume style to match your interpersonal communication style, so we take the time to understand your strengths and weaknesses clearly. Communication is such a vital part of an executive job search, so contact us if you need help developing or tweaking yours.
Most executives have the same job for numerous years, which means new resume trends have developed in the meantime. Even if you’ve only been at your current company for a few years, chances are your resume is already outdated from both stylistic and content perspectives. An executive resume writer can get your resume out of the past and modernize it to give you a better chance of being recognized. But before you hire one, here are some tips you can follow to determine on your own whether your resume is stuck in the past.
Ditch The Resume Template
Did you use a resume template for your last resume? If you did, it’s time to start over from scratch. The key to writing resumes that get you hired is making it stand out by using easy-to-read formatting, styles and effectively using white space. Plus, a vast majority of people will write their resume using a template, making it difficult to stand out. Do yourself a favor and ditch the resume template, and work with an executive resume writer instead.
Cut Out Wordy Text
The best way to eliminate wordy text is by having a clear direction with targeted content throughout your resume. You have about six seconds to impress your reader, and they won’t even take that long if they look at your resume and see more text than white space. Touch on main points, achievements, accomplishments and use concrete statistics wherever appropriate to eliminate wordiness and present meaningful information.
Remove The Objective Header
People used to think writing an effective resume meant starting off with an objective section. This used to state why you are applying for the job. This an obvious statement, because you are indirectly stating your objective by applying for the position in the first place. All it does is take up valuable space on your resume that can be used for more meaningful content instead. Check with an executive resume writer if you’re unsure how to effectively remove the objective section of your resume.
Don’t Mention References on Your Resume
Nowadays it’s understood you can provide references upon request. Don’t waste space on your resume by providing references or saying they are available. The interviewer may ask you for references, so it’s important to always have them available. Having a list of references at the bottom of your resume is a sure way to tell your potential employer that you’re not up-to-date with the latest resume trends.
Professional Resume Services knows what goes into writing an effective resume, no matter the industry you work in. Modernizing the style of your resume is important for being recognized, but so is the type of information provided. We can help you with both aspects if needed, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you’re having a hard time getting your resume up to date.
A job is one of the top sources for stress in people. And since most of us work, we all have to deal with stress at some point. Dealing with and managing stress isn’t always easy, but it is possible. In fact, employers will often ask job candidates how they handle stress at work. This isn’t something you generally put in your executive resume, but it’s an important component of being successful with a job. Here are some of the most common ways people handle stress at work.
Work On Time Management Skills
Sometimes 24 hours in a day just doesn’t seem like enough to do everything you need to do. Prioritizing your list of to-do items is one of the first steps you can take for better time management. If possible, schedule certain blocks of time to complete a task and reduce distractions as much as possible so you can get it done. Many people handle stress by avoiding certain work and doing things. Avoidance only increases stress levels because it is always there in the back of your mind, bugging you. Start delegating! Delegate what you don’t want to deal with. Can’t even think about updating your LinkedIn profile? Let a LinkedIn profile writer do it for you instead. When I have too much on my plate, I ask my assistant Jennie to take some of it over. What a weight off my chest. Take the pressure off yourself by having someone else do it.
Make Lists! Not sure how to go about your daily jobs for work? Create a list! I love lists, mostly because I love crossing off the items. Now, every morning I make a list of what I need to do and I even do subheadings with things like: Email, Project Updates, Calls, etc. It keeps me ultra organized and I get them done.
Know Your Limits
Saying “no” to anyone is hard at a job, but sometimes you have to in order to keep your sanity and a high work productivity. When you say “yes” to someone, you are essentially saying “no” to another task you already had to complete. It may take time, but knowing your limits will help you manage your stress and saying “no” at the appropriate times. There is nothing wrong with turning something down.. especially if it is someone else’s work. It’s great to help out, but not at the expense of your own workload and piece of mind.
Take A Break
Taking breaks throughout the day can help clear your mind enough to refocus when you get back. Go on a short walk or just sit outside and get your mind off of work for a few minutes. These relaxing minutes can translate into more productive time once you get back to your desk.
Talk With Your Supervisor
If your job duties are simply too overwhelming for you, and there’s no end in sight, you may want to talk with your supervisor about re-assigning duties. You don’t want to work yourself into the ground to the point where you make a brash decision to quit on the spot. That wouldn’t look good for your executive resume biography, and your supervisor may have a simple solution to help you.
Evaluate Your Workplace Satisfaction
If you’ve done everything imaginable to reduce your stress and nothing has worked, it may be time to gain an overall perspective of your workplace satisfaction. Being unhappy with your job can create stress on its own, and sometimes you can’t do anything to make it better. In situations like this, it may be time to visit a professional resume writing service to brush up your resume and look for new opportunities.
Stress plays a big role in the success or failure of any employee, so contact us at any time if there’s any way we can help reduce your stress level.
The weather can cause havoc on any occasion, and a job interview isn’t immune to being affected. You’ve spent countless hours on your LinkedIn profile development, writing an effective resume and polishing up your cover letter only to see a blizzard or powerful storm system is rolling through your area on your interview day. What are you supposed to do? Instead of letting the weather event derail your interview, take it as an opportunity to showcase your soft skills and make the most of an unexpected and unfortunate situation. 
