Resume Writing » Resume Guide

Resume Tips: Improving Your Resume

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:07:32 +0000

Your resume is going to be the single most effective tool that you have at your disposal when you set out to get a new job. The resume that you submit is going to be the very first impression that potential employers will have of you and for this reason, you will want to do everything in your power to make your resume as strong as possible. A weak resume will more likely than not be ignored and in a corporate climate where the best professional presentation is usually the one recognized, you need to make sure that your own resume can live up to these standards.
r
rWatch Your Choice Of Words
r
rThe way that you describe yourself within your resume will be one of the most important factors on whether you will appear interesting enough to call back for a job. Employers want to hire people who have the skills and qualities necessary to become a valuable member of the team and who can fulfill all of the duties that the job dictates. The words that you choose to do this in your resume are going to be very important.
r
rIn your prior work experience, you will want to take care to describe the jobs which gave you the greatest relevance to the position that you are applying for. Describe your personal accomplishments within that job. When you are detailing your personal skills and attributes that make you a suitable candidate for the current position, make sure that you consider how they will fit into the overall picture of the company’s success. Using eye-grabbing keywords around these accomplishments and skills can help make you even more attractive to the hiring employer, as they can indicate that you know how to command their attention and use it to your benefit.
r
rBe Aware Of How The Resume Looks As Well
r
rThe actual appearance of your resume is going to be another important quality for your success. Make sure to carefully proofread your resume, looking for spelling and grammar errors. Take the time to also carefully check all of the facts that you have listed, as you will want to be fully accurate with everything you are describing. This indicates a strong work ethic and shows that you are professional and that you do pay very close attention to all of the details.
r
rYou can also make a great impression with the professionalism of your resume itself. Make sure that it is printed on clean white paper of a good stock. Cheap paper will result in a cheap printing quality which can make your resume smudge or appear weak. The font selection will be important as well. You want to show personality in your resume while still being professional. Choose a classy font which is clear to read but can still give an indication of who you are as a worker. Do all of your printing in black ink. This can help you put together a resume, which looks great and has a better chance of being noticed.

What Is The Purpose Of A Resume?

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:25:00 +0000

In this article, we provide information on an important question you need to be clear on before preparing your resume:

What is the objective of the resume?

Too many people think of their resume as an autobiography and consequently provide a lot of their life history that is simply not relevant from am employer’s point of view. A resume is a marketing tool that is intended to sell a product (you), to a customer (the employer) who is looking to buy a specific product. The job of the resume is to advertise the best features of the product, that meet the customer’s requirement – nothing more and nothing less. Needless to say, that you will need to tailor the advertisement, based on the particular customer you are selling to – in other words you ideally need a specific/tailored resume for each position that you apply to, including information that is most relevant to that employer.

Another point to keep in mind is that the purpose of the resume is to get you the interview. It is not intended to get you the job. Your resume is the bait which attracts the employer’s interest and should be prepared accordingly. During the interview you will have the opportunity to provide additional information and also expand on the details provided in your resume.

Keeping these points in mind will help you focus on communicating only the most important/relevant details from your work experience, education and interests. This is even more important when you consider that for many jobs an employer can get hundreds of resumes. Companies will often spend less than a minute reviewing each resume, often less than 30 seconds. So you need to make a quick impact! In that time you need to gain and maintain their interest and leave a clear concise image of quality, professionalism and of your likely benefit to the selected employer. Also, it is not always your potential boss who will undertake sifting. Many companies will use a junior member of the Human Resource Department who may follow a well-thought-out procedure with clear criteria to allow early exclusion of unsuitable candidates, or the short listing could be done by someone who wants to get through the pile as quickly as possible and will use their own idiosyncratic way to reduce the list. Either way, you need to make sure that you succinctly/powerfully communicate that you meet the required criteria.

Resume Objective Sales

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:00:09 +0000

Your resume can take on a different look just by ordering the sequence of the above information. How you sequence it may depend upon the position you are seeking; the criteria for the position will guide you. As you climb the career ladder, the educational qualifications may fade into the background.

The skills and abilities section may become more important in emphasizing why you qualify for the job advertised. Your experience will underscore your abilities.

Although formal education may become less relevant over time, if you are short on experience and new to the job force, you should stress the educational qualifications and the skills that you have developed.

Let Your Resume Speak For Itself

Do not be verbose. Keep your resume to-the-point and brief. Focus on your abilities to do the job. You need to be specific about how you can handle the job. You can let this employer know later about your other abilities.

If the requirements for the position have been specified, be specific about your preparation for this particular job rather than focusing on your jack-of-all-trades skills. If the employer is looking for a manager, stress your managerial strengths and avoid listing any background that might disqualify you.

Read the job description carefully when creating your resume. Remember, one resume will never meet the requirements of two different jobs. Each resume must be done independently of the other and be specific to the job advertised.

Resume Creator Click here

Respond only to those job advertisements that fit your background.

Resume Layout

Take care with how you handle the layout of your resume. Do not overuse capital letters, because then nothing will be emphasized. Use capitals only for sectional headings and your name at the top.

Follow the same practice with bold and italics; do not overplay any of these or they lose their effect and purpose. Use bullets only if they make the information easier to read. Use proper headings.

Do not underline anything. Pay attention to punctuation.

Keep It Relevant

A resume is meant to be a summary. Your interviewer or employer does not have the time to read unduly lengthy resumes. They might just set it aside to be trashed. There is no need to list every job you ever held, especially if you have been inclined to frequent job changes. Mention the important and relevant ones, those that pertain to and underscore your skills in handling the new job.

However, do not try to cover up the time gaps when questioned about them. Be sure to be honest about them.

Check the Final Product

Read and re-read your resume thoroughly once you have completed it. Check for spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Proofreading will help you locate any mistakes not caught by the spellchecker.

Remember – your resume is one among thousands, and any errors will only increase the likelihood that it will sink to the bottom of the stack.

Best Resume Tool Click here

5 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Called Back for an Interview

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:22:09 +0000

When it comes to searching for jobs online, you want to aim for success. You want to have confidence when submitting your resume, but it is only natural to feel disappointed when weeks go by without a phone call or email. Why weren’t you called back for an interview? You thought you were perfect for the job! Continue reading on for five common reasons why you aren’t getting job interviews.

1 – A Bad Resume

When you apply for jobs online, your resume does the speaking for you. Is it good? Does it fully outline all of your skills? It better if you want to have even the slightest chance of getting a job interview. If you haven’t written a resume in years, use the services of a professional resume writer or use free templates as a guide. Plus, ask an unbiased friend or family member to review your resume and provide feedback. Implement their tips and see if you have more luck.

2 – No Resume At All

Forget about whether your resume is good or not; did you even attach a resume? Never apply for a job without submitting a professional resume. A casual email saying “I saw this job online” with some brief information about your work experience in the body of that email will not cut it. It will be deleted within minutes.

3 – A Bad Attitude

Here is the tricky part about an attitude. Your chances of landing a job interview all depend on your resume and cover letter. Since this is all written text, you might not realize that you have a “bad attitude.” Your tone may be too casual, too over-the-top, or it just gives off that rude vibe. That is another reason why you should have a friend or family member review your resume. A second set of eyes can help determine too much attitude, drama, or overconfidence.

4 – Sending Your Resume Too Late

You might have had the perfect resume and you might be the perfect candidate for the job, but still don’t get a call back. Unfortunately, it can be for no other reason than you submitted your resume too late. Most companies begin scheduling interviews as soon as they receive resumes. Moreover, some companies are known to let job ads linger online before removing them. So that means while you may have just emailed your resume, they may already have a new hire starting tomorrow. That is one reason to start your job search early and stay on the ball.

5 – Too Many Applicants

Another “not really your fault” reason for not receiving a call about an interview has to do with too many applicants. Better yet, too many qualified applicants. Some companies receive thousands of applications for one single position. Many hiring managers do not have time to schedule an interview for each person. In fact, they may not even get through the entire stack of resumes! Your best option is to be one of the first to apply for jobs and only apply for jobs that you are qualified for.

Parts Of Resume

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:35:25 +0000

The sections in the resume help to give the distinctive factor to the resume than other written documents. The different parts in the resume help the reader i.e. the hiring manager in scanning the key areas of the resume. The layout and format of the resume can be shown as different feature with the help of parts of resume. Every individual arranges the various parts of resume in different manner to make his/her resume look unique.
r
rThere in no specific or particular manner in which you can present the information in parts of your resume. The focus of your resume determines which part of resume should be highlighted and the other part secondary importance. This also depends on the format that you are using for drafting the resume.
r
rThe following points will help you in finding out the main parts of resume:
r
r1.Heading: This is the beginning of your resume. The heading is nothing but the identity information for your recruiters to contact you. It should include your full name, and contact details like address, phone number, and email address. This is important and helps the hiring manager understand your identity.
r
r2.Career Objective: This part of your resume is summary of the skills, qualification and career goals of an individual. The objective will help the recruiter in getting an idea about your profile.
r
r3.Skills: You have to include all the skills that you possess. You need to include the proficiency in computers i.e. technical skills, fluency in a foreign language i.e. language proficiency in this part of the resume.
r
r4.Education: This is an important area in your resume. Make sure that you include all the details like educational qualifications, year of passing, college/university attended. You can give information about certifications and diploma completed, trainings and seminar attended in this section. The degrees have to be arranged in reverse chronological manner.
r
r5. Work Experience: You need to include all the part-time and full-time jobs that you have done. You should begin with the most recent job and then move backwards. You have to mention details like name of the organization, period of working, designation and job profile. You can mention internships that you have completed. List the achievements under each job.
r
r6.Interests: You can include voluntary experience that you have gained working with NGOs, clubs, etc. You can include your hobbies and leisure time interests. This will bring out different facets of your personality.
r
rBased on the requirements, you can shuffle these sections or parts in the resume. You may include details like personal profile that has your nationality, date of birth, gender, etc. It is optional. You can include extra curricular activities if you were outstanding in sports, dramatics, music etc. Resume is a subjective matter. To personalize a resume you can always reshuffle the sections of resume according to your requirements and profile. You can add some sections while delete a few on the needs of your resume. An individual has the full freedom and personal choice while drafting his/her resume.

What is a Resume Objective?

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:50:32 +0000

There is some debate about whether a resume should have an objective or not. The how to write a resume pundits often advise against this feature when speaking about effective resume formats. Yet others advise that the objective of the resume should be stated in the cover letter of the resume that you plan to send out. Therefore, even though having a resume objective is optional in many cases, it makes sense to have a resume objective at the beginning of your resume in certain scenarios:

When you are looking to change careers: Here you clearly set out at the outset that you are seeking to venture into a new arena, for whatever reason and for which you will be able to use your current skill set, experience and know how effectively. Here the objective can be included in resume formats to display how you will effectively be able transition from one to another kind of job.

When you are a first time job hunter: Now when you are fresh out of school or have just concluded your specialized training in a profession, you are obviously not going to have much to put down as work experience. Here it does make a lot of sense, when you are figuring out how to write a resume, to include a resume objective, which clearly sets out your hopes and aspirations personally as well as those that you may have from the organisation that you hope to be part of. It can help set you apart from the other applicants who are vying for the job by putting out there your particular or unique qualities.

Including a resume objective in your resume examples can help show how one is familiar with the field and that you know what you are talking about.

There are a lot of resume objective samples that you can get, however it is important not to copy one and just add it to your resume. It must be customized in a way that makes it pertinent to your situation and the position you are seeking. One must be specific and clear.

Also one needs to keep in mind that this is a resume objective, and it is therefore absolutely necessary that it is brief and to the point. A long winded resume objective will cause the reader to lose interest in it right away. It is only a precursor to your resume, remember? The actual resume will follow, and it will contain all the various details that you want to convey to a prospective employer.

A resume objective should be no more than one or two meaningful sentences: this is not supposed to be for cosmetic purposes, and should not be some pretty sounding sentences that you happened to read somewhere. They should be pertinent to what you are trying to express about yourself. Ideally the objective should demonstrate your personal brand and the value addition that your employment can mean to your prospective employer.

Cover Letter Guide

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:01:24 +0000

Over the last few decades, the way people look and apply for jobs has changed dramatically and those who are unable to adapt will constantly find themselves looking for a job whenever and wherever they can, often feeling discouraged in the process.

Best Cover Letter Tool Click here

However, even if you have not been able to fully adapt to the way business is currently conducted — such as applying for jobs over the Internet and through an email process — there are still ways you can get yourself noticed and quite possibly land that much coveted interview.

Primarily, by writing a good cover letter you can make yourself stand out over other applicants and give the human resources manager a reason to view your resume and quite possibly call you in to interview.

Cover Letter Creator Click here

However, for many millions of people, the thought of writing a corresponding cover letter as companion to their resume is often daunting. The resume itself is basically just a composition of well versed catch phrases in a chronological order of when you did what and what results were achieved, and are often not a problem for the job hunter to compose.

But given the fact that companies often require a cover letter along with the resume, a glimpse in to the heart of the resume if you will, this can sometimes give people great problems and cause much anxiety. The need for writing a good cover letter then becomes quite important as it will determine whether or not your resume moves to the top of the pile or the bottom.

Cover Letter Guide