Monday, July 26, 2010
Resume Social
On Resume Social you can upload your resume and receive feedback from other users and hopefully you will receive constructive criticism so that you can improve your resume. The key word is constructive criticisms , just like any website with a comment section, comments can degenerate into immature name calling and an evaluation of mothers. But usually there are nuggets of gold, for those willing to put themselves out there.
You can also browse the resumes of people in your industry to help you get inspiration on how to improve your own resumes. Lets face it, not all of us are blessed with the creative gene. Even for the blessed, taking a browse won't hurt.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Leveraging Your Education In Your Resume
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Hidden Job Positions
Uploading your resume on a few online job boards and constantly scanning Craigslist cannot be considered a comprehensive job search. There are many different avenues for looking for job openings and if you want to increase the chance of being hired, then utilize as many avenues as you can.
Create a list of companies that you are interested in and visit their websites, usually they will have a section on their front page called Careers or something similar. The Careers webpage usually gives detail instructions on applying for a position at the company. They will usually also provide information on current job openings. By visiting the Careers page of companies your interested in, you may be able to access job openings that many others have overlooked. The Career page may be located in the Corporate Info section of the webpage.
Trade organizations and Professional directories can also provide leads to hidden job postings. Trade organizations and Professional directories can provide you with a wealth of contact information. These contacts can be to people who are directly responsible for the hiring of its firm. This allows you to bypass the usually gate keeps of the firm, such as a secretaries. You may want to contact these people directly, remember to be polite and to be direct about your intentions.
Usually Trade Organizations will hold a few gatherings over the year, find out when the next one will be and attend the gathering. These gatherings can be charity functions or professional workshops, but whatever they may be, attend them because they will provide you with networking opportunities with people in the industry. Building a list of contacts is key and will give you an edge in your job search.
When you’re looking for a job, be creative and try to look for hidden job openings. The more well hidden a job opening is, the fewer the people will apply to them and that means less competition for the job. If you just look at popular online job boards and Craigslist for job openings, you will face tremendous competition for job openings. Expand the scope of your job search for better quality job leads.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Creating a Cultural Specific Resume
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Logos in Resumes
Monday, July 12, 2010
Resume Letterheads
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Paper Your Resume is Printed On
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Fonts and their role in Resumes
Friday, July 9, 2010
Consistent Resume Design part 2
Before
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Consistent Resume Design
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Not Just a Number
Monday, July 5, 2010
Objective Statements
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Skimmable Material
Saturday, July 3, 2010
5 Words to Motivate Employers to Hire You
Friday, July 2, 2010
Functional Resumes
Thursday, July 1, 2010
5 Ways to Improve your Resume
1. Emphasize Results : Employers want to hire you so that you can make an impact on their bottom line and one of the easiest ways you can convince them that you can, is by emphasizing your results. Write about how you helped your previous firms generate revenues, cut cost or improved in some way that benefited their bottom line . Make sure to write these results down in a high impact manner, such as a 26 percent increase in revenue or $160,000 increase in annual profit. Listing your results will make you seem like a result driven individual and what firm doesn’tlove that ?
2. Build a Brand : Don’t be a “Jack of all Trades”, rather, build a brand around your core competency. Many firms look for specialize skills, so emphasize those skills; it will make you look like a focused individual with expert knowledge. For an example, don’t be just an economist, be a recession economist, don’t be a graphics designer be an Adobe Illustrator graphics designer. Sure it may seem like you are boxing yourself in, but you will leap out from the piles of resume that require specific expertise.
3. Use Keywords: As a result of getting thousands of resumes, medium to large sized employers are using databases and resume screening software to filter junk and miss matched resumes. They accomplished this by scanning for keywords within your resumes, so make sure you know and weave these keywords into your resumes. Take the time to carefully scan several key job postings in your industry and see what the important keywords are, then logically incorporate them into your resume.
4. Proofreading : I’ve mention in my previous posting that a simple spelling mistake or an obvious grammatical error can discredit you quickly as sloppy and/or incompetent prospect, so take the time to weed out these silly mistakes. Proofreading can also mean carefully examining your resume to see if there are any unnecessary information that does not support your application. Traditionally, resumes have been no more than two pages.
5. Graphic Design: Let’s face it, most people do judge the book by its cover, so take the time to design an eye catching resume. This does not mean choosing radical colors or using incomprehensible fonts (well maybe for a job that involves great artistic and creative energy). Rather, think about how Apple designs their products: clean, elegant and attractive. That’s what you want. Remember sometimes less is more and when in doubt, choose a more conservative design. Design your resumes to suit the field you are trying to enter.