Archive for October, 2009

If you have just graduated or left a job then you are going to need a professionally worded resume to find the best form of employment. Today there is a lot of competition for jobs so it is useful to know what the best tips and techniques for writing a resume are.

1. Understand the purpose of a resume: A resume is not written to find a job, it is put together to get you an interview. Keep this in mind while putting all the details together. It needs to be concise and to the point, highlighting information that can get you to first base.

2. Use good keywords: You need to understand that for every job advertised there can be hundreds of applicants. The person reading through all these resumes may just scan them at the most. This means it is essential to use words and phrases that catch the eye. Keep any sentences short and to the point.

3. Positive Title: The first thing any potential employer will see is your resume title. This needs to be descriptive and relevant to the position applied for. Don’t just use one word, but then don’t use more than nine or ten either.

4. Proofread: It is surprising just how easy it is to make spelling or grammar mistakes. Don’t just read your resume back once straight after you have finished making it, put it down and find something to do for a couple of hours and then read through it again to check for any errors.

5. Bullet Points: These are a great way to take the reader’s eyes to information that you want to stand out. Don’t go over the top with bullet points but certainly use them to list your work experience and educational qualifications.

6. Important Information First: Many people make the mistake of putting the information that is relevant to the position applied for, like work history, at the end of the resume. You need to get the employer’s attention as soon as possible so this needs to come earlier rather than later.

7. Appearance: Any decent resume has to appear clean and tidy, don’t use different fonts and text sizes. Keep all the text in columns and neatly arranged.

8. Stating the Obvious: Some people add phrases such as “Available for interview” or “References available” to their resume. This will just make you look stupid. Obviously both of these phrases are taken as automatic if you are applying for a new job!

9. Professional Goals: Most employers would rather hire somebody with ambitions that can think outside the box to achieve results over someone who is just happy to be told what to do all the time. You need to write about what you want to achieve in your career but this should also be realistic and a contribution to the company.

10. Many Resumes: It is a big mistake just to have one generic resume that you fire off to every opening you see. This will really narrow your chances of being called for an interview. Every job will have different requirements so you need to create separate resumes that are relevant to these openings.

If you need helping writing a resume, I’d recommend checking out the Amazing Resume Creator. It will help you create or update your resume in 10 minutes, easy as 1-2-3. Click here to check it out and stop writing resumes the hard way (NOTE: I do get a commission on this product, but I recommend it 100%).

Whenever you have to supervise or manage a department, it can definitely be challenging. Keeping track of all those employees and making sure they are doing their job, plus being a people person and balancing all the other skills is not easy.

Most likely your staff will be diverse. Whether it’s the various cultures they come from, the different skill levels present, or even the personalities, you will want to understand them all. However, you don’t have to, but instead just take a step back and realize they are a person just like you.

The first area you will want to focus on is having good communication. For instance there might be a couple workers you can joke around with, but a couple others who are more serious. Learning each individual personality will take time, but it will help you develop business relationships in a comfortable manner.

The most important thing to understand here is you DO NOT want to build personal relationships. In the beginning it will seem harmless, but it will come back to haunt you if an employee needs to be reprimanded.

The end result is this individual takes it to heart because they can’t separate the two relationships. The heartfelt betrayal will make them feel as though you have broken the bond, when in fact you were just doing your job. This is an easy situation to fall into, the first time.

You will also notice that employees always want to come to the manager when they are enduring personal problems. They basically just need to vent, and since you are not attached to the situation there is a bull’s-eye on your back. There is nothing wrong with listening to them, but don’t offer any advice. Even if they ask for it, just step around it or tell them you feel uncomfortable. If you do offer advice they will believe you are forming a bond. Worst of all this is a situation outside of work.

The goal is to make sure your staff reaches their goals each week. Just because you didn’t offer advice doesn’t mean you will refrain from being helpful. In fact, just by going around and letting the Leads know they should give this individual some space will do. You will be surprised at the overall reception.

What it comes down to is you can have both a friendly relationship and business relationship with your employees. The biggest thing to remember is try to stay away from offering solutions. It will allow you to be a more effective leader. Oddly enough, lending an ear usually motivates most individuals into concentrating more on their work.

Then again, if you hired these employees, don’t be afraid to tell them upfront that their problems are left at the door. Negative feelings of any magnitude can spread like a virus throughout your employees. The less people know what’s going on outside of work, the easier it will be to Supervise or Manage them will they are at work.

When you’re looking for a new job, you can use all of the resume writing advice that you can handle. Getting a new job, particularly one that you’re highly interested in, is always going to be difficult. However, you can help tip the scales in your favor by taking care of all of the little things that employers pay attention to.

Of course, the resume is one of the most important factors of all, however you’ll find that you can make many quick changes and fixes that will significantly help your chances. Follow these 6 great pieces of resume writing advice and you’ll be that much closer to landing that dream job.

1. Don’t Overdo it – Many people falsely believe that a good piece of resume writing advice is adding fancy colors, graphics and images to your resume. While some clean design elements can certainly help you stick out, it’s easy to get carried away and hurt your cause by using too many. A clean, sharp design that focuses on the content of the resume is the best option that you can use.

2. Highlight Accomplishments – Instead of solely focusing on what kinds of duties you had at a job, focus on what you accomplished. What major projects did you complete? How were sales improved? How much money was saved? Whatever you accomplished, be sure to highlight it prominently.

3. Never lie – The most important piece of resume writing advice that you can receive is to never lie. Even a few embellishments can come back to haunt you. Of course you want to present yourself in the best light possible, but never make anything up to do it.

4. Keep it Brief – Writing your life story and sending it along to an employer isn’t going to impress him or her. In fact, a resume that drags on for too long might get thrown in the trash bin. Keep your resume short, and focus on bulleted lists and essential details rather than every bit of information you can remember.

5. Show Progression – It’s important to be able to show a prospective employer that you have progressed and grown as an individual and employee. What new skills have you learned along the way from job to job, or from a schooling environment that you were in? What kinds of additional responsibilities have you been able to handle? How is the current you a superior person to the one from a few years prior?

6. Tailor it to the Job – Different jobs call for different skill sets. Therefore you should tailor your resume to the job instead of sending out a generic copy to everyone. This is especially important when you’re applying to jobs from different industries, or jobs within the same industry that will have you in opposing roles.

Don’t leave anything up to chance when you’re out to find that next fantastic job. Follow the above pieces of resume writing advice and you’ll be on your way to success.

Need more than just resume writing advice? If you want to create a great resume now, I’d recommend checking out the Amazing Resume Creator. It will help you create or update your resume in 10 minutes, easy as 1-2-3. Click here to check it out and stop writing resumes the hard way (NOTE: I do get a commission on this product, but I recommend it 100%).