04 Dec 09 Avoiding Resume Mistakes When Job Hunting
Hunting for work means writing, or updating your resume numerous times. Especially if you want to apply for a broad range of jobs, and increase the likelihood that you’ll be chosen for one. The importance of personalizing your resume cannot be understated, especially if you want to stand out from the crowd. But in addition to avoiding writing mundane formatted resumes, here are a few more pitfalls you’ll want to side step.
Make sure your resume is properly up to date. The last thing anybody wants to see is an old resume that you’ve been using for a few years. That shows no initiative, a lack of effort, and will reflect poorly on your work ethic. You definitely don’t want a potential boss counting strikes against you before you even have a chance to interview.
Keep your resume professional. While I always stress making your resume unique and tailored to each job that you apply for, don’t step out of the professional mold. Keep your font generic and readable, and stick to the standard resume format. Just tailor the information to each job that you apply for. That’s the best way to make a great impression.
Don’t send your resume without a cover letter. The cover letter is the standard starting point of any application, and a resume sent without one is incomplete. The resume only serves as a list of professional accomplishments and goals, the cover letter is where you put these into perspective with your personality. The cover letter sells you, and shows that you are the best employee for the job. Take advantage of the opportunity.
Finally, make your objective statement absolutely clear. You have to have a clear cut idea of what you intend to give, and get from the job you are applying to get. This is extremely important to a potential employer, so you want the statement to be as clear and understandable as possible. You wouldn’t want someone tripping over the first, and most vital part of your resume.
Tags: Boss, Cover Letter, Crowd, Initiative, Job Hunting, Likelihood, Mold, Objective Statement, Personality, Perspective, Pitfalls, Professional Accomplishments, Resume Format, Resume Job, Resume Mistakes, Resumes, Send Resume, Side Step, Strikes, Work Ethic
23 Sep 09 Writing A Resume In A Recession
Part of surviving in an economic downturn, is knowing how to adjust your job hunting tactics. Part of that is adjusting your resume. As your resume is your introduction, or pre-interview to a job, you have to know the right direction to take in an economic recession. If any company does happen to be hiring, they’re going to be more discriminatory than before to applicants that don’t meet their qualifications. Meaning you’ve got a much larger wall to climb, in order to get your foot in the door.
The number one step in this plan is to keep your resume as current as possible. By frequently updating your resume with your most recent accomplishments, or work history, you ensure it’s current and very reflective of you. Beyond that you want to customize your objective to tailor to the company to which you are applying. Your objective should not be a bland description of what you want out of a job, but rather what you want to put into a job. Specifically focused on the company to which you are applying.
Highlight your stability from previous jobs. By emphasizing that you are a worker that is reliable, and also with a fair amount of loyalty, you make yourself an asset to an organization. Companies are looking to people that they can count on if they’re actually hiring during a recession. Highlight the fact that you are dependable, and that a company would do well to hire you for that fact.
Finally, make sure that you personalize the resume for each company. You need to have a job specific resume each time, so that you are presenting yourself as an interested party. By making the resume count for them, you look interested and ready to commit to the position. The work you put in before you actually get a job will pay off on your road to getting hired.
Tags: Current, Economic Downturn, Economic Recession, Interested Party, Job Hunting, Job Pay, Job Resume, Jobs, Loyalty, Objective, Right Direction, Work History, Writing A Resume, Writing Resume
15 Aug 09 Is Your Job In Trouble?
The economy is on the up finally, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still quite a few jobs being cut at companies that are desperate to make financial ends meet. So you should always be aware of the warning signs that your job may be in trouble. Here are a few that could clue you in about when it might be the right time to start getting that resume together.
1. Bad Performance Reviews
Okay, so it’s your monthly performance review and normally you excel at your job, this month has been no different, so you’re expecting a quick and easy positive performance review right? Well what if you get a bad one out of the blue? This could be a clue in that your company is setting you up to be fired. It’s always favorable for Human Resources and the legal departments if someone has a few bad performance reviews on file before they are terminated, to show that the company had adequate reason.
2. Your Inclusion In Projects Is Limited.
If you’re starting to feel left out of your bosses tactics, and are feeling fairly underappreciated, you may not be imagining things, it may just be that you’re slowly being phased out of that workplace. Anytime your boss is avoiding you more, leaving you out, or your own colleagues are leaving you out of private meetings, it wouldn’t hurt for you to start browsing some opportunities elsewhere. At least that way your job loss won’t come as an earth shattering shock.
3. You Get A New Boss.
Managers like to work with employees that they are familiar with. With workers that they know well, a boss knows what to expect, how far they can push, and which goals that they will be able to accomplish. The problem with that strategy is for your new boss to make room for new people, he/she has to get rid of you. A new boss is always a good time for you to brush up that resume and be prepared to be job hunting.
4. Coworkers Begin Getting Fired.
Even if you’re a star performer at your job, if the company starts making cuts on account of an economic crisis nobody is safe. So if you see a lot of heads rolling at your company, get your interview skills practiced once more, because you could be following suite before too long.
Tags: Adequate Reason, Clue, Colleagues, Coworkers, Economy, Good Time, Human Resources, Imagining Things, Inclusion, Job Hunting, Legal Departments, New Boss, Out Of The Blue, Private Meetings, Reason 2, Resume, Right Time, Shock, Star Performer, Warning Signs That
