While no one intentionally wants to sell themselves short, it is unfortunately a common aspect of human behavior. This isn’t always the result of low self-esteem. Sometimes this happens as a result of developing bad habits and getting stuck in them for too long. Case in point: your resume. Quite a few people struggle with their job search for months, only to visit professional resume writers and learn their resume is the majority of the problem! Your resume is supposed to help your chances of finding work, not hinder it! Here are a few ways you can help yourself.
Don’t View Your Accomplishments Through the Wrong Lens
Many people think of their accomplishments from previous jobs as being the general responsibilities associated with them. This is not only false, but downplays your own unique skills tremendously. Never list your basic duties under your accomplishments! Rather, think about what you did for the position that no one else could.
Think about what impact you left upon the previous companies you’ve worked for and anything you’ve received commendation for. This is worth mentioning. It provides potential employers with an excellent picture of what kind of employee you’ll be and why you’re worth bringing aboard over everyone else looking for the same position.
Adopt More Efficient Means of Looking for Work
If you’re looking at specific companies to work for, simply filling out their online job application won’t do you any favors. You have to hit them where it counts! It’s easier than you think to find out who’s in charge of hiring at your desired workplace. All it takes, in fact, is a bit of googling!
You can then contact them by email. What should you put in this email? A cover letter appealing to the company and its needs is a great place to start! Before you start penning this email, be sure to look carefully over the job listing you’ve found for a second time. You’ll want to be sure to hit a majority of the points featured on it. Remember you can always turn to a cover letter writing service for help with this task.
Keep Your Skills in Mind
Skills are becoming more important than ever to today’s job market, meaning you’ll have to have a clear idea of what your individual skills are and how they can apply to your industry of choice. If you aren’t sure what these skills are, you run the risk of marketing yourself inefficiently to employers and being passed over for a valuable opportunity. Too many job seekers are unable to properly identify what qualifies as a skill. Luckily, you can rely on top rated resume writing services to help you hash out the best way to frame your skill set.
At Professional Resume Services, we believe you deserve the best job available for your level of expertise and experience. This is why we work closely with job seekers to ensure their resume adequately reflects their potential as employees and appeals to industry recruiters. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to help improve your resume and display your full potential!
Professional resume writers can help get you hired.
Searching for a new job doesn’t have to be as difficult as some people make it. Although it may seem like staying at your current job is easier than looking for another one, you owe it to yourself to continue to seek new opportunities and develop throughout your career. When you are ready to make the leap into a new job opportunity, many professional resume writers recommend taking these steps.
Know Yourself
C-level executive jobs are especially competitive. Your prospective employers not only want to know you can do the job well, but also feel you will fit into their company culture. Before you start your search, take an inventory of your skills and unique characteristics. Add these to your resume’s executive biography and be prepared to show off what makes you you!
Narrow Your Focus
One of the main reasons employers hire another candidate is because while you may fit a few of their skill requirements, you may not fit all of them. If you want to write a resume that gets you hired, make sure you thoroughly tailor it to the job description on the employer’s listing.
Proactive vs. Reactive
When it comes to a job search, good things don’t come to those who wait. You cannot simply send out thousands of resumes and wait for a company to bite. Professional resume writers suggest proactively contacting employers and always continuing to develop your skills.
Investigate
Digging up info on each company you apply to can help you write a resume that gets you hired. If you know the company encourages volunteer work, you can add yours to your resume or executive biography and make a great impression. It will also allow you to decide if you’re applying to a company you actually want to work for.
Network
The importance of networking absolutely cannot be understated. In today’s incredibly competitive job market, who you know is much more important than what you know. However, be careful just relying on superficial LinkedIn connections to network. The more hands you shake, the larger your network will grow. Attending conferences, talking to your colleagues and using your college’s alumni network are great ways to meet new friends in high places.
Although many executives may get nervous about leaving their job to take another opportunity, it’s important to keep growing and developing in your career. Who knows what you’re missing out on if you don’t take a chance on a new job. In order to find a great new position for you, make sure you network, tailor your resume to each job and do your research!
If “networking” isn’t working for you, maybe you need to change your ideas about what networking actually is.
Networking means different things to different people. For some, networking is that mysterious executive function only done by the upper tiers of a corporation. For others, networking is connecting regularly with friends for lunch. Networking to the tech team involves software and hardware and creative solutions to computer glitches. All the definitions of networking include the basic concept of interconnecting individual parts. That interconnection creates the larger unit we call a network…and your own definition of networking is influenced by what you see “the network” is in relation to you. Do you think that you have no place in a network? Think again:
are you part of a family?
do you see people during the week?
do you communicate with anyone using some sort of technology?
Each one of those points is a networking opportunity. You are already part of some type of network, and you probably are part of several different networks. The workplace, job searches, religious affiliations, family, even regularly attended locations like a coffeeshop or online social media are networks. If you don’t recognize them as such, then the challenge is to change the way you interact with your networks so that you improve your part of the process. Learn more about what you can do to improve your networking. This can mean everything from deliberately listening when folks talk to you to investing in professional coaching like The Job Search Success System. Subscribe to blogs like this one, as well as to those relating to your interests. Comment on those blogs; that back-and-forth interaction is the foundation of networking. At its most basic level, networking is the acknowledgement that we do not function in isolation. We are part of networks in every area of our lives: from transportation and supply systems…to the way you are reading this post…with all the people your life touches in between. What you do within your networks makes a difference in your future and the future of those around you.
