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

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29 Aug 09 Top 8 Resume Mistakes

When applying for a job, or writing a resume, there are a ton of opportunities for error. Any error can prove costly as well, as your resume is your first introduction to a job. Essentially a pre-interview, interview, your resume says a lot about you, which is why you’ll want to be careful not to accidentally make a mistake. You’d actually be surprised at the amount of people that make mistakes when writing their resumes, most of them simple changes that could have been avoided, had they been aware of the fact. So here are eight of the most common mistakes, so that you can avoid them:

1. Not following submission directions. This is a huge negative before you’ve even got your foot in the door. Not following directions makes you look unable to follow directions, and not many people are interested in hiring a difficult employee to deal with.

2. The dreaded typo. Spellchecker is your friend, but isn’t 100% accurate, so always, always proofread. Read everything at least twice, and once backwards so that you can ensure all mistakes are completely eradicated.

3. Listing non-job related information. The hiring manager that’s handling your resume doesn’t care about the info that doesn’t apply to that job, so don’t waste their time by adding unnecessary fluff.

4. Improper format. All resumes basically follow the same exact format, and most corporations use this format to quickly scan through their masses of resumes. If they find one that doesn’t follow the guidelines, usually they lose interest, as being different in the corporate world is never a good thing.

5. Don’t refer to yourself. Whatever you do stay away from words like “I” or “me”, as referring to yourself on a resume is unprofessional, and makes you look bad. It’s your resume, they already know that it’s about you.

6. Don’t make yourself look well-rounded. Most people think that if they seem to have a broad skill set, there will be more availability for you at a particular corporation. This isn’t true at all. You want to describe a very specific skill set, as that’s what the job you’re applying to is looking for.

7. Writing too much. Most people make their resumes much too long, loading the page with senseless facts, or worse, droning on for more than one page. Your resume is supposed to be a short document to introduce a potential employer to your work experience, emphasis on the short. A hiring manager’s time is valuable, they don’t want to read through pages of content, they want to get a feel for you as quickly as possible.

8. Inappropriate email address in your contact information. There are a plethora of sources which offer you an email address for free, take advantage. If you have something controversial, or possible offensive in your email address, don’t use it when you’re applying for a job. You’re expected to be professional, an inappropriate email isn’t exactly that.

Tags: Amount Of People, Applying For A Job, Corporations, Exact Format, Hiring Manager, Improper Format, Lot, Many People, Mistake, Resume Mistakes, Resumes, Simple Changes, Submission Directions, Typo, Unnecessary Fluff, Writing A Resume, Writing Resume

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23 Sep 09 Writing A Resume In A Recession

29 Aug 09 Top 8 Resume Mistakes

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