Two Qualities All Resumes Should Show
Resumes
Your resume is a compilation of your career for the purpose of evaluation. The reader of your resume is looking for indications you will be suitable for a specific opening and that reader uses your resume to determine if an interview should be scheduled. One way to categorize what will be looked for is summed up in two areas: learn and lead.
The ability to learn is essential no matter which position you are filling in an organization. From the top executive to the lowest rung of the career ladder, if you aren’t continually seeking to learn how to increase your effectiveness, you are dead weight. This can be shown in a resume through several means:
- seminars and classes attended
- organizations and volunteer activity
- certifications
The ability to lead is really the ability to think and act independently for the good of the group. Some of this ability isn’t going to show in a resume — having the strength of character to avoid gossip, for instance. Still, a resume can show that you have accomplished goals. The positions you have held in any organization, the time spent as a member and the activities you participate in all show leadership by example even when they are not “head” positions. Your references will reveal what kind of person you are, which indicates what kind of worker you probably will be.
During an interview, you are assessed in the light of your resume. The impression the resume gave is adjusted to include the face-to-face interaction and the whole package is considered. Will you be able to learn the job? Will you be able to do the job well even when distractions occur? Will you be a positive force in their particular workplace? If your resume hasn’t shown that you might fit, you will probably not be called in for that interview.
If your resume hasn’t resulted in being called in for any interviews, maybe it’s time to look at it again. Does it show that you know how to both learn and lead? Is it well written? Professional Resume Services has carefully built a site with many ways to help you develop an excellent resume for distribution. Explore the tips and services and see how your resume can be one that gets you that interview and the opportunity to learn and lead in a new job.
Every so often, uncertain times come to a large part of the economy. It might be a government shut down, severe weather, or a variety of other calamities can happen that affect your job. Even when uncertainty affects a small part of the economy, if it affects your job, then you need to be prepared to navigate unknown waters.
Here are a few basic points to keep in mind:
- There will occasionally be uncertain times — look back in history and you can see that financial and political crises happen all the time, all over the world. Even if most of the economy is good, if your job is uncertain, then you have every reason to be concerned enough to do something about it. Job-related stress has symptoms, but it also has resolutions.
- It is always a good idea to prepare for uncertain times — work on paying off your debt load even if all you can do is pay a little more than the minimum every month. Put some money in savings every payday, and don’t use it unless it is a last resort. Work out your budget so you have a handle on what you are doing with your money. Talk with your family about how you will get through a crisis; it’s like a fire drill that prepares you for emergencies.
- Don’t waste today’s energy on worrying — do something about what stresses you. Take a walk every day instead of eating a donut for breakfast (not that I object to donuts–believe me, I don’t–but a walk is de-stressing where sugary snacks backfire). Look at your worries and work on what you are in control of. If you can’t control the thing that worries you, how will worry help? Answer: it won’t.
- Forget about drama and smile at the people in your life — we are in the boat together. It makes the journey so much easier when we treat one another with kindness. The people you work with, the people you live with, and the people you interact with as you go through your day are all on the same ocean, and we all do better when we are smiling.
There are many reasons why those seeking better jobs choose a professional resume service, but the biggest reason is simple: you aren’t trying to write your resume all by yourself.
When you do things all by yourself, you are limited to your own experience and perspective. I’m not saying your experience and perspective are bad or wrong, but that they are limited to what you know. Investing in a professional resume service, on the other hand, puts you at the head of a team of advisers committed to your success.
- you benefit from the experience of someone who writes resumes for a living
- you benefit from the effectiveness of the networking professional resume services offer
- you benefit from the resume service’s real need to make you a satisfied customer
When you work with others on a mutual project — your resume — they can catch things you miss and ask questions that bring out strengths you take for granted. You can give all your information during the consultation brainstorming and know that there will be an opportunity to go over the draft and change anything you might want to edit. You are working with certified resume writers who are experts in strategy, branding, and format so you don’t have to teach yourself all you need to know in those areas.
A professional resume service is an investment, but that investment pays off in huge dividends. The biggest advantage is having collaborative input when working on the all-important package of your cover letter, resume, followup, and distribution. It’s a big job to do alone but not intimidating when you have help.
One of the most often used phrases on a resume is usually found under the heading “Career Objective,”or “Career Summary” and the same phrase is used over and over without regard to profession. It’s a generic phrase that your career objective is to find a job somewhat related to the degree you studied for in college. The exact wording varies slightly, but it all means the same thing: you haven’t put much thought into your career.
It’s understandable when you are unemployed and willing to take basically any position offered that you might use a generic phrase. It’s still a mistake. You need to, at the very least, tailor it to match the specific job you are applying for and to be different enough from others applying for the job that you merit attention from the hiring manager. Better still is to spend the time thinking about your dream job and to state your actual career objective.
It doesn’t matter if your objective is above, or even skewed from, the position to which you are applying. You can address this, briefly, in your cover letter. As an example, if your career goal is to be a computer software designer but the position you are applying for is at the help desk, you can state that while your goal is to be a software designer you are willing to work as a tech at the help desk because it will enable you to better understand the components of software design from the perspective of the user. A hiring manager will likely appreciate your honesty as well as the way you think about those situations.
Remember, if you haven’t been able to define your career goals to yourself, then you will never be able to define them to someone else, and you will certainly never be able to meet them. So spend some time figuring this out and update your resume accordingly.
There is an old joke of sorts that defines recession as an economic period when your neighbor is out of work, and a depression as an economic period when you are out of work. The point of that is that for someone looking for a job the economy is never great. This is why persistence is so important for your job search. Without it, even in a great economy, you aren’t going to have much luck.
As an example; a young woman I know was looking for a job. She had been an intern at a company that wasn’t hiring, but she sent them a copy of her resume anyway and requested that it be kept on file. She called and checked on new positions every other week but the company had tightened up due to the economy. After 6 months of this, she went and placed her updated resume on file. The head of the department remembered her and they were chatting about some of the changes that had taken place in the year since she had been an intern. The young woman drove the three hours home. Guess what? There was a job offer from the company waiting for her on her answering machine. The head of the department admired her persistence in keeping after what she wanted.
This is a real world example of getting what you want by going after it. When a company isn’t hiring, politely request that they keep your resume on file and be sure to ask how long it will be kept. Then send another one. Visit the company, network with those who work there. Because many companies prefer to hire from within, consider taking any position that opens up with that business. Persistence is often the difference between a job and a career. It’s also often the difference between being employed and being unemployed.
Picking your references is a very important part of your resume, yet many people do not take them into proper consideration. Your references are important for potential employers to get an opinion of you from someone other than yourself. This means that the references you choose to put on your resume need to be competent, reliable, respectable, and trustworthy sources who your potential employers will listen to and respect their opinions of you. This also means that you want to pick people who will talk about you in a good way. Below are some ideas that may help you decide who to pick for your references and who to avoid.
- Teachers/Professors–New Graduates or College Students: Teachers or professors that you have a good relationship with and who you have done good work for are a great option for references because they get to see your work, but they also can see how you work with other people. However, do not pick teachers that have not seen your academic work. Art and music teachers may have been good friends and teachers, but they do not get to see your writing, computer skills, or other skills that are applicable to your job. This can be ignored if your field of work is applicable to art or music.
- Direct Supervisors/Managers– Professionals: Direct supervisors are a good choice to put down for a reference. They are able to see how you work while also being reliable and respectable people due to the nature of your relationship with them. Avoid putting supervisors as references if you have had major difficulties with them.
These are both excellent types of people to put as references. They will give the type of recommendation that you want without being biased due to familial connection or long term friendship.
When you are writing a resume you are in the mindset of showing yourself off and you want to make sure that your potential employers know all the impressive things about you that can get you the job. Unfortunately, adding all those impressive skills, experiences, and accomplishments could fill up your resume with too much information and make it uninteresting to your potential employers. So how do you know if you have too much information? Here are some ways to tell if you have too much information and help you fix your resume so it doesn’t have too much information.
- Does your resume read like a letter? If your resume has commentary that adds interesting information making it read like a letter, then you have gone in the wrong direction with your resume and you need to edit so that your resume doesn’t have that extra commentary. If you feel the commentary is necessary, then add it to your cover letter.
- Does your resume go longer than three pages? If your resume is longer than three pages, you may have too much information. For technical resumes or even some senior executive resumes, it may be more acceptable, but for the typical professional or executive 2 or even 3 pages is best. The reader doesn’t want to browse through your novel to get to the good stuff. Keep it clean, concise, relevant, and focused.
- Does your resume give skills, experiences, or accomplishments that do not apply to the job? If they don’t apply to the job description, leave them out. There is no reason to have things on your resume that won’t help you get the job. So edit them out and get back to the things that are applicable and impressive for the job.
These tips will help you edit your resume so you have the right amount of impressive information to get you to the interview– and hopefully the job!
The expression “curriculum vitae” originated from a Latin phrase meaning “course of life.” It can be described as a concise review of an individual’s academic qualifications, professional experience, and skills and is usually attached to a job application when seeking a job. Whereas a curriculum vitae or CV is used particularly to apply for academic, educational, scientific, and research positions, or even for fellowships and grants in the United States, it is used to apply for all kinds of white collar jobs in other parts of the world.
CVs can be anywhere from 3 to 20 pages and more (we’ve seen them all!)– that describe you and your career. Especially in academia, a CV can actually be several pages long, since educators will list all of their published papers, any speaking engagements,workshops, professional development, volunteer info and more. Employers use CVs to screen candidates for personal interviews and to aid in the final employee selection. Therefore, it is important for a CV to be catchy, attractive and interesting. Good CV writing thus becomes an important part of finding a good job.
In spite of CVs being so popular, there are a few organizations that prefer to have job seekers apply for a job using a format designed by the company itself. The reason is simple: these businesses rate job seekers based on their answers to a series of standardized questions. A custom format ensures that all candidates provide the desired information, as opposed to a CV, which is somewhat flexible and makes it more difficult to compare two individuals.
Internationally a CV is actually what people in the United States refer to as the resume. CV writing could be divided into groups based on the purpose for which a CV is written. General or all-purpose CV writing is when a CV is written to suit all general purposes. Graduate CV writing is when a new graduate writes a CV for his/her first job. Various forms of CV writing can be difficult and has to be done skilfully.
Good CV writing is not something everyone can do. As a result, a huge number of professional CV writing companies have cropped up in recent years, each promising a better CV than the other. You could approach a company in person in order to get your CV made, or you could simply hire a CV writer online, from the comfort of your home. The choice is yours. Each CV designing company makes different promises and claims. As always, to your homework and research any company you are interested in.
