Most job applicants today believe that they should first write their resumes in order for them to land a career. Yes, resumes are truly important and highly critical in one’s professional/corporate success. It plays a significant role for someone to achieve their career goals. But, writing your resume is not the first step. What you should do first is to look for the most appropriate job for your skills, competencies, and needs. After listing down the job opportunities you found that fits your needs and skills, it is then when you move on to writing your resume.
Always keep in mind that for a resume to be successful and outstanding among all other resumes being submitted for the same position, it should be personalized, specific, and targeted to the job you are applying for. This means, one personalized resume for every job opportunity.
To ensure this, you must first look for the most appropriate job for you and read through the job posting. As you are reading through the posting, make sure your skills, knowledge and ability match that of the posting. Make sure these skills are listed at the beginning of your resume. The person viewing the resumes will see it faster than having to sift through it. The keywords you use in your resume need to be specific to the job posting. For example, if the job posting is requiring someone with department management skills, make sure these keywords are in several places on your resume and highlighted. And, use them in the cover letter as well.
Standardized resumes and those written using templates no longer succeed to catch the attention of the primary reviewer of resumes. If you want to make your resume stand out among all the piles of resumes submitted for review, it has to be highly specific with contents that have not been seen before by anyone.
Hiring a resume writer to tailor your resume to fit your skills and those of the marketplace is an excellent option. You can then know that your resume will be professional and will take you places.
A lot of people have probably already done this, but it is important to make sure your executive resume is customized, tailored, and geared toward you in a good light. The best way to know if your resume is working is this: Have you been called in for a job interview? If the answer is no, then it’s time to customize your resume and try something different.
Of course, you want your resume to be a professional piece and it will be, but think about something. How quickly does someone scan over your resume? Interviewers are looking at your skills and experience, which will alert them to the needs that they are hoping you will fulfill. That takes maybe 20 seconds, tops.
So, what do you need to do? Make it pop! Bold certain words throughout your resume so they pop off the page at someone. You’ve got their attention now, right? An example would be: “have 10 years experience as a Project Manager”. OK, that sentence is just sitting there. But if you use “have 10 years experience as a Project Manager“. Much better, right?
Also, be sure to use the same phrases and job descriptions that the potential employer is using. This makes them feel as if you have really read the job requirements and understand the position. It’s only a matter of critiquing your resume so that when viewed it takes on a whole new life.
There are a number of ways of customizing your executive resume. Find the ones that work best for you. You can always find suggestions and help online; it’s just a matter of where to look.
Everyone needs a resume. However, not everyone is very good at building a very good resume and get overwhelmed. It can be boring trying to get it just right and it never seems to be right. That’s where a professional can help. Professional resume writers can sit down with you and discuss your resume needs. They can then build an excellent professional resume that will reflect your jobs skills the most.
Yes, there is a cost involved, but you have spent many years cultivating your job skills and expertise. But, with so many looking for jobs in today’s world, it would be in your best interest to invest in yourself so you won’t get lost in the shuffle.
Because resume writing is what they do, they will be able to create your professional resume into something that will stand out from the crowd and get you noticed. It’s not the same as it was several years ago and a generic resume was all you needed. Today, however, potential employers are looking for that “thing” that will set that particular resume apart from the others. If they don’t see it, the resume gets tossed aside.
Doing research on the internet will give you multiple resources in which to find a resume writer and possible job openings in various venues. It can be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Consider investing in yourself. It is the most important thing you can do to make a change for 2012.
If you are not getting calls for interviews, you may need to review the documents and information employers are receiving from you. Those things are what employers are basing their decisions upon regarding which candidates they will hire. Usually, if you are not getting interviews, there are red flags deterring employers from considering you.
These are the resume red flags of death: 1. Gaps in your work history. Really, a few months do not matter, but more than six months is considered significant. If you can show on your resume that you were doing something during this time such as freelance work or furthering your education, you will be better off. 2. Lack of career progression. Career progression is not necessarily expected in all career fields, but in many it is expected that as the years go by, you will attain more important status by job title with increasing responsibilities. If the progression is not there, employers could assume your work is not worthy of promotion to higher levels or that you lack ambition. 3. You were formerly a business owner. One would assume that with all the capabilities required by an owner this would be a plus to your resume, but not necessarily. The reason you are no longer an owner is the issue. An alternative job title for unsuccessful ventures would be Manager or Operations Manager, and if asked why you became unemployed, you can simply state that the business closed. 4. Career changer without experience or education in the new field. Employers may think you are grabbing at straws, desperate for any job you can get or that you lack direction. The reason for the career change is best addressed in your cover letter and should show a genuine interest in the new career field and reasons why the employer should choose you over experienced or educated applicants. Don’t forget to throw in volunteer and hobby experience if appropriate. 5. Lack of clear direction. You are a jack-of-all trades but master of none. You have worked in many industries or many different types of positions that do not relate to one another. Employers look for candidates who have a real interest in their job industry and may question yours. 6. Multiple jobs of short duration. Employers call this “job hopping” and assume you will also leave them quickly, wasting the time they spent searching for, interviewing, and training you. The best type of resume format for this circumstance is a functional resume. However, when employers receive functional resumes, they often wonder what an applicant may be hiding. If you were freelancing or a contractor, list all companies or persons for whom you worked under one section with your freelance or contractor job title as the heading. 7. You never completed a high school diploma or a GED. Employers presume this is evidence of lack of ambition or laziness. If you did not complete high school, leave the education section off your resume completely.
Go through your resume carefully looking for red flags, and decide whether you need to have some re-vamping done. Then continue your job search with renewed energy and hope. Your new job is out there. It’s time to claim it.
There are layoffs happening at your company. Are your skills going to be able to weather the storm? How secure is your position within the company? There are some things you can do to ensure your place with the company. It all comes down to profitability for the company. Is the department you work in having problems or struggling? It is often not the fault of the employee when they are laid off. No matter how long a person has been with a company, when headquarters sends the word to downsize, the company has no other choice. If a company is operating at a profit, you may have nothing to worry about. If the company has lost money over the last few months, be careful. Be wary of the company whose financials are down from the previous year. If a company has been in business for quite a while, you probably don’t have anything to worry about. When a corporation is trying to decide whom they can afford to layoff, they do not do it at random. They have to layoff those who are no longer an asset to the company. When a company is struggling, they will first downsize or get rid of certain departments first. It will be those that will not be necessary for the success of the company. For example, company consultants will probably be some of the first to go. The marketing department would also suffer losses in the company’s cost cutting efforts.
When a company is no longer as successful as it has been, they do not see advertising as important as it was. The accounting department is usually stable since you can’t run a business without the financial aspect of it. Salespeople are also in a fairly safe spot. For the company to continue, they will still have to have salespeople. If there is no sales team, there is no revenue. You should never be so secure in your career that you don’t keep your resume updated. Even before you begin to fear that your job is in jeopardy, revamp your resume. Take a look around the job market and see what positions seem to have the lowest percentages of layoffs. Then, see how your skills and interests can fit into these positions. Find out what skills are in high demand and cater your resume to demonstrate how you would be a perfect fit for a position. Always be aware of the stability of the company you work for and do what is necessary to keep that position. If you can’t, then look for other positions that are more stable in today’s job market.
How To Get Your Resume Past Resume Screening Software
Did you ever consider that the resume you just sent to a prospective company would have computer software that screens your resume before any human person can see it? More companies are using these types of software due to the sheer number of applicants per job opening. Automated resume screeners or applicant tracking systems are regularly now being used to separate resumes into ones that fit the job and discarding the others. All regardless of how spiffy your resume is. These programs work just like SEO does for websites, keywords. The screener programs will take keywords from your resume and match it to the job requirements of a position. But wait, it’s not just about keywords in general like accounting or website design.
The program is designed to watch for those generalities. You will need to get more creative about the keywords you use on your resume, even an executive resume. Use keywords that list a number of different job skills. Make sure you have researched the job position well and if you do have the skills, be sure to list something about the job requirements on your resume.
Again, make sure your years of experience in a related field match the job requirements so you don’t have your resume kicked out. It is also a good idea to have a resume writing service work out the details for you. They will know just what to do to get past the computer screeners and get your resume in the right hands.
Many companies are turning to background checks in an effort to reduce hiring questionable employees. While a lot of people do not like someone checking into their personal lives, it is becoming something whether you like it or not in order to get a job. There are many reasons why background checks are being performed. Perhaps a company deals with security related products. It is very important to have employees that will not be enticed. For instance, if someone has been convicted of theft of money, and a company wants to hire someone who takes care of the finances, they will not want that personal dealing with the financial aspect of the business.
Other reasons are if a potential employee has possibly tried or has sued a previous employer. The potential employer will want to know that and then make a decision whether to hire that person or not.
The list is long that can be included in background checks but tax liens, bankruptcies or civil judgements cannot be included. However, this may not apply in your state if you have a salary of $75,000 or more. Companies are required to let you know when they perform a background check. That is also the reason why you have to sign a release for certain types of information.
No matter what anyone thinks of background checks, they are here to stay. If you feel you have a background that may not pass muster, it is very important to be upfront about it in the beginning. If you hide information and it’s found out later, you certainly won’t get the job. However, if you are upfront with the employer, you may get the chance to be considered anyway.
Everyone starts their career in an entry level position. A basic resume is great for entry level positions but will not work for executive positions as your experience grows. And, experience does grow. There is a young lady who started out as a cashier in a motorcycle accessory store. She did not have a college education and so she didn’t make much money. But she stayed there, went above and beyond the scope of her job and got raises and more responsibility.
After a couple of years, she moved on. This time, it was still a customer service job, but it paid more and it gave her the freedom to go to school to get a degree.
She has since gotten her degree after 3 years and in this current position she just got a promotion to manage two of the stores. It can be done. Many people work hard to climb this ladder of success. But you then have to change your resume to reflect you now, not the you from several years ago. It’s important to keep your entry level resume up to date. As you progress in the job field, keep adding new skills, new responsibilities, etc. You will also need to adjust your career outlook so that it reflects your work ethic and beliefs and how you can better a company with your experience.
As your resume turns into an executive resume, you will be able to recognize more things you can add to the resume so that it is tailored correctly, tastefully and will encompass everything you know. After all, if a resume is a reflection of you, don’t you want to be presented in the best possible light?
