Creating a resume that is strong enough to compete with the hundreds of applicants applying for every job opportunity out there is tough. It’s even tougher because you need as much experience as possible to get a job but you need a job to get the experience. Especially for graduates leaving university with a degree but who have no experience it can be extremely difficult to stand out from the crowd when you have a big gap in your resume.

However, the introduction of social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter has allowed job seekers to gain direct access to potential employers. This can give you the competitive advantage you need to get ahead in your job hunt by allowing employers to find your resume as soon as job opportunities arise.

But to fully utilize its benefits job seekers need to be uploading their resumes onto their social profiles so that employers can also see who you are and what value you could bring to their company. Your resume can be written, video recorded or illustrated but combine it with social media and you will dramatically improve the success rate of your job hunt. Here are a few tips you optimise your resume effectively for social media:

Link to social

More and more resumes are now including a social media link to for example people’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles alongside other contact details. Especially LinkedIn as it is a professional social network which can show employers what value you can bring to the business. By allowing employers to learn more about you and by making yourself more transparent, employers will feel more comfortable in hiring you.

You can even use social media to also find employers and get your resume to them through these platforms. For example by creating a LinkedIn profile you can upload your contacts from your email address book which is then used to create and build your network. You can then use the search feature to find companies or job opportunities and have a look at who in your network can pass your resume onto an employer or even introduce you to one.

Be consistent

Having information about yourself in so many different places makes it difficult to spot out dated information. It is vital not to have any discrepancies in your resume where information on your resume doesn’t match what is on your LinkedIn profile. It could damage your chances of being considered if mistakes are found as employers may consider you as dishonest. So make sure you keep track of all your profiles and jobsites where you have uploaded information and update it regularly.

SEO Keywords

Unfortunately employers are increasingly using Google and applicant tracking systems to find potential employees through social media sites. Where you rank in search results is highly important and even more important than appearing on the list at all. If your resume is listed on page 14 then your resume will have no chance of being viewed by employers.

So it is important to utilize SEO tools and leverage keywords to make your resume searchable. To do this read through job listings for the position you are aiming for and find common words that appear frequently such as similar skills and experience that is required and any industry jargon. By using relevant search terms you will dramatically increases your chances of being found by employers in the industry you are interested in working in.

Be Concise

It is becoming increasingly common to use resumes to fill out profile sections such as ‘about me’ and ‘work experience’. However, it’s important to select the most important aspects to summarize the key points. This will help provide a concise outline of your resume with all the important and relevant information employers need. Don’t overload your profiles as it will look cluttered, therefore putting employers off from reading it and you won’t be able to format your resume well either.

Spring Clean

Finally, make sure you give your social profiles a good spring clean. Go through and remove any incriminating posts or updates, basically anything which may reflect negatively on you. For example with Facebook you can pick and choose what certain people see. It’s important to remember that first impressions count online as well as face to face. So present yourself in a positive way and check and double check every profile for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.

Harpreet is a content writer and provides job hunting advice for students looking for graduate jobs.

Long-term unemployment may have become normal, but its effects can doom workers because of employer prejudice. Employers customarily regard employment gaps as warning signs that disqualify most applicants from consideration. Fair or not, employers have the economy on their side because they normally have dozens of qualified applicants vying for every open position. This means that unemployment can self-perpetuate despite the best efforts of job seekers.

Every day, employers demand ask for resumes that contain the complete employment history of applicants. Intentionally evasive resumes find themselves in the circular file alongside honest resumes submitted by workers who have suffered from the modern economy. Job seekers should fight back. Applicants should use the following seven ways to deal with employment gaps in a creative and honest way.

List Employment by Year

The following entries might automatically disqualify an applicant from a job opportunity:

November 2014 – April 2015, Webmaster, School of Nursing
March 2010 – February 2014, Manager, ABC Company

Applicants know they suffered unemployment caused by layoffs, sickness or other issues that should have no bearing on their future employment. However, employers see the gap as a danger sign.

Applicants who have less than a year of unemployment can easily veil their employment gaps by listing start and end dates by year, not by month and year. This means workers who lost their jobs in February but did not return to work until November of the same year can present a resume that does not reveal the employment gap, making it a non-issue as shown below.

2014 –2015, Manager, XYZ Company 2010 – 2014, Manager, ABC Company

Spin Gaps as Relevant

People who have more than a large gap can find ways to make time spent outside the workforce as relevant. For example, applicants applying for a health-care position can report time spent caring for a sick or dying family member. Applicants seeking to work with a travel agency can highlight travel experiences during employment gaps.

Parents returning to work after raising children can list their volunteer experiences at school and in the community.

Avoid Negative Signals

Applicants who cannot portray activities during employment gaps as career enhancements should avoid sending negative signals to potential employers. For example, job seekers should avoid listing employment gaps as time spent in alcohol or drug rehabilitation. Similarly, workers should avoid mentioning prolonged illnesses and identifying extended unemployment on their resumes. People should consider listing independent study, family management, estate management and other wise terms to establish the fact that time spent out of work was positive and justified.

List Work History, Not Employment History

Workers can fill resume gaps by spending time volunteering for community organizations or businesses that need help but cannot pay for it. Such work contributes to personal and professional development but does not qualify as employment. Workers can honestly include this experience by listing work history rather than professional experience.

Attend School While Unemployed

Workers who take the initiative to continue their education have an easy way to explain employment gaps. This helps job seekers to present themselves as workers who willingly updated their skills to become valuable to future employers. Employers value proactive people above those content to spend some idle months or years watching daytime television.

Start Your Own Business

Employees who lose their jobs can choose to create their own jobs. This helps them find ways to earn a living without relying on the mercy of prejudiced employers who do not accept candidates with employment gaps. People regularly work as consultants, product resellers or service providers to help make ends meet while unemployed.

Workers should explain a period of self employment as a desire to try the life of an entrepreneur rather than a desperate measure to survive a streak of unfortunate luck.

Applicants who give up on the self-employed lifestyle should give positive explanations for their desire to re-enter the traditional workforce. Rather than expressing a desire to have a guaranteed paycheck and a short workday, workers should explain how they feel that they need to become part of a team to realize maximum potential.

Accept Responsibility

Applicants should find ways to creatively conceal employment gaps without falsifying their records. Millions of people have overcome periods of unemployment without sacrificing their core principles. Employers usually reject candidates who lack the character to deal honestly with potentially negative information on a resume.

Therefore, applicants who choose honesty have better chances for finding work. They also have the benefit of knowing that they have enough personal integrity to know where fudging and creativity end and lying begins.

When cornered about employment gaps, applicants should accept responsibility rather than blame the economy, past employers, Congress and other entities. Workers should admit they had difficult times in the past and then explain all the positive opportunities that subsequently arose. Employers value honesty and optimism, so they often will overlook employment gaps to give deserving candidates a chance to succeed.

This was a guest post by Matt B., who works as a freelance writer for www.schoolofNursing.com. SchoolofNursing.com prepares students for an exciting and challenging career in the field of nursing.

Everyone knows that when searching for a job, the first task you will have to complete for a potential employer is, “Send a copy of your resume.” This is your first impression, and you will be judged. You don’t want to wait until your interview to “wow” them. If your resume doesn’t do it, you won’t even get a chance. Here are the fatal errors you can make on your resume that will most quickly get it sent to the “reject” pile.

Using a Word template to design your resume.

Not only do they usually look cheesy, but formatting is a nightmare. You can’t easily vary from the design without screwing up all your spacing. Use the templates for inspiration, but stick to your own style and keep it consistent. Don’t use any fancy fonts. No matter what, send your resume as a PDF so it looks the same on any computer.

Including an Objective.

Your objective is to get the job. Obviously. Instead, try starting with a short summary of your career and skills. Very short, which leads to the next point…

Writing too much.

Get to the point. Employers don’t want to waste time reading a lot of meaningless babble. Only include the most important, relevant information. Don’t write run-on sentences or long lists of adjectives. When employers are going through a huge pile of resumes, they don’t want to stop and decipher anything. Get to the point.

Not showing results.

Don’t just list all the responsibilities you had at your previous jobs. Show how you were an asset to the company. The most important thing a future employer wants to know is what you will do for them. Say how you came up with a new idea, saved your past employer money, got a specific result, or anything that is a quantifiable detail.

Aging yourself.

Don’t put a date on your education/degree. The important thing is you have it, not when you got it.

Getting off track.

Don’t let your resume go on longer than one page. Take out anything that your employers won’t really care about, like how you volunteer for your daughter’s Girl Scout troupe. Only include volunteer activities if they are relevant to the type of work you do.

Wasting space with outdated jobs.

It’s great that you’ve been employed since you were in high school, but most likely your current employers don’t need your entire work history. Most recent and significant ones are probably enough – remember, no more than one page.

Including a picture.

Come on, it’s not a beauty contest.

Stating your salary.

Your past salaries aren’t necessary and may too quickly put you out of the running just by being too below or too above your future employer’s idea of pay.

Forgetting your contact information.

Don’t leave out your cell number or your email. Give your employers two options for contacting you. Assuming they’ll just reply to your email isn’t enough.

Typos, poor grammar & spelling errors

There is absolutely no excuse for errors in this area. Use grammar checker have a friend check your work and proofread several times before hitting send.

If you don’t mess up in any of these ways, you’ll be in a good position to smoke your competition. These are some of the most common resume mistakes, and if you don’t make them you’re already proving yourself to be worth an interview, at least.

Want to hang out with the grammar experts? Stop by and visit us to learn more about English Grammar Rules

The job market is tough. The open positions are limited and the candidate pool is overflowing. What’s even more frightening is that in most cases, you get one 8.5 x 11in piece of paper to describe why you’re the right person for the job. This piece of paper will either land you an interview or be discarded and tossed into a waste bin.

If you’ve been using the same resume for some time and aren’t getting the positive responses you’ve been looking for, maybe it’s time to revamp your resume. Putting a fresh spin on the same old content can make a world of difference. Here are five easy resume makeover tips to land you that interview and save your resume from the recycling bin.

Choose your Target Audience

Your resume is your personal advertisement. With each resume sent out, you’re attempting to sell yourself to the company. If you’re serious about finding a job, you’re applying for a variety of jobs, at an assortment of companies, and in a number of industries. Therefore, your “sales pitch” or resume must be tailored to fit what the audience wants to see and hear.

Make yourself desirable. If the marketing firm you’re applying for has indicated that they are looking for someone with social media experience, highlight that in your resume. While customizing your resume for each company may sound tedious, the time and effort will be well worth it when you’re getting that paycheck.

If you’ll be attending a job fair, compile a list of companies you’d like to visit and group them by industry or position. That way if you don’t have time to make a resume for each company you can at least create unique versions of your resume for each particular industry or job grouping.

Stock-Up on Objective Statements

Any good job hunter understands the importance of having an elevator pitch prepared at all times. An elevator pitch is a person’s 10 second spiel designed to explain who they are, what they can do and what they’d like to do. Resumes need an elevator pitch too—an objective statement that grabs the reader’s attention and encourages them to keep reading.

Your objective statement should be in the first or second sections of your resume and should describe your skills and how they can be utilized in the company. The one or two sentence statement should leave your reader with a strong understanding of what you want to achieve and how you fit within the company.

Create an arsenal of objective statements that you can modify for each prospective job.

Embrace White Space

Readers love white space. Prospective employers are thumbing through piles of resumes on a daily basis and will appreciate a resume that’s easy to read and effective. Write succinctly and use formatting and white space to attract the reader’s attention to the vital information.

Remember, you’re no longer in grade school and incomplete sentences won’t land you in the principal’s office. Instead, use action statements and lists to describe your skills, achievements, job roles and education. There are a plethora of online templates and guides to help you create a resume with well-defined sections with bulleted content.

Be a Show-Off

Instead of simply describing your duties at a previous job, describe your accomplishments. Businesses can teach just about anyone to simply do a job, but they can’t teach success. Use your resume as a bragging platform. Briefly describe your duties, but then focus on specific achievements that will set you apart from the crowd.

Rather than stating that you “managed a large budget,” show off your accomplishments by focusing on a budgetary success, maybe something like, “decreased a budget deficit inherited from a previous employee.” This shows that you didn’t just carry out your assigned duties; you added value to the company and went above and beyond.

Don’t Neglect Numbers

Employers love quantifying things. It’s important to demonstrate the value you can add to a company through numbers. So rather than simply saying that your work “increased website traffic” add some numbers. Explain the magnitude and effect of the increased traffic. Reword the statement to something like your work “increased website traffic ten-fold which led to a $20,000 increase in sales over the previous year.” Employers are constantly concerned with cost-cutting and increasing revenue, so if you can numerically demonstrate you’ve done this, you’ll be worth your weight in gold.

Finally, don’t forget the significance of a good critique. Send your resume to family, friends or even the barista while you sit in the coffee shop tirelessly revamping your resume. Be open to suggestions and if comments seem to be repeating themselves, take heed.

Guest author, Maggie Voelker, is a recent college graduate, all too familiar with the job search. She currently lives in Indianapolis and works as a content writer for a sunglasses company specializing in aviator sunglasses.

More often than not, job hunters are working on finding job listings, getting interviews, networking with potential employers and above all, tinkering with their resume.  It’s safe to assume that many resumes being written today are so focused on neatness, organization and simplicity that they forget about the most important aspect of the resume itself; it’s an explanation of your skills and experiences to a possible employers.

One of the most important aspects of your resume is making it support your experience, not the other way around.  Relying on your resume might get you an interview, but when it comes time to talk about your experiences with that potential employer and all that comes to mind is a paragraph description he’s already read, the interview is likely not going to end well for you.

A resume is more than your work history and academic achievements; it’s your chance to show employers who you are, before they ever meet you.  For many of the clients we serve, it’s clear that their life experiences are supported by their resume.  We serve individuals interested in entering the work force from military defense positions.  Although those coming from a defense background often forgo college to serve in the military, what we find is that the training received in defense jobs is highly technical and often practiced in stressful situations that simply don’t exist in the every-day working world.  Stressing this in a resume supports the experience of these individuals much more than trying to say what they think a recruiter wants them to say. Using your resume to support your work, the environment you’ve worked in and the training you’ve received (whether educationally or technically) is valuable to employers.  This is no different for those coming out of college or technical school.

If you’re a graphic designer fresh out of school and lacking work experience for your resume consider mentioning projects, specialized classes or even out of school courses or hobbies you might have done on your own time. Try altering your resume to be more graphically impressive or list some hobbies and experiences that show them you’re creative.  Don’t try too hard to convince employers of the person you are.  Instead, show them.  More often than not recruiters know when you’re trying too hard to convince them of something.  After all, they’re professionals too.

This is not to say dismissing organization and clarity in your resume for expression is the way to go.  It’s still important to keep your resume organized, clear and direct but there is nothing out there telling you what is and isn’t appropriate if it’s relevant experience to the job you’re applying for.  What’s important is to stop relying so heavily on your resume to get you the job you want, and start using your resume to support you, and allow yourself to get the job you’re looking for.  Trying to make a resume that tells employers what they want is next to impossible.  What’s more important is to value your experiences for what they are and stop trying to tell employers about your experience; show them your experience instead.

Contributed by Defense Placements, a job placement and executive recruiting company that specializes in helping place top-notch talent into jobs around the world.  We specialize in promoting our clients to potential employers through a variety of methods, including social media.

People can certainly write their own resumes, but can they write one that catches the recruiters’ attention?

Recruiters and hiring managers often get flooded with paperwork, leaving them very little time to thoroughly review every single applicant’s qualifications. Therefore, unless you have superior skills and fit exactly what they are looking for, chances are your resume will be passed up. Additionally, can you ensure that your resume contains absolutely zero grammatical errors and awkward-sounding sentences? Because if you cannot even write proper English, then why should anyone hire you to manage teams, handle finances or lead meetings?

Because a resume serves as your own advertisement, it is one of the first things recruiters and hiring managers see. Therefore, it needs to sound professional, eloquent and informative. For this reason many people hire professional resume writers to create an attractive and marketable resume that guarantees the attention of employers.

The Importance of a Professional Resume

You only have one chance to make a first impression.

Recruiters and hiring managers usually do not meet you face-to-face when you apply for a job, but they do see your resume. Your resume, therefore, is a representation of your professional image with the purpose of selling your experiences and skills and letting others know what you can bring to the table.

A professionally written resume contains clear and concise language, easy-to-follow format and outlines precisely what the employer needs to see. Even at first glance, an employer can quickly identify if the person has what it takes to do the job.

Not only does a professionally written resume help identify the right applicant; it also gives him or her a professional image.

Benefits of Hiring Professional Resume Writers

Do you get tongue-tied when you talk about yourself? Do you feel embarrassed when you list all your accomplishments?

Tabulating your own skills and experiences is not as easy as it seems. In fact, most people become very uncomfortable and end up looking either too arrogant or too self-conscience. Having another person write your resume gives it an objective perspective and makes it easier to present your information truthfully and draw out important points.

A professional resume writer, especially one with human resources background, also knows what recruiters are looking for. They know how to play up transferable “soft skills” as well as highlighting the specific industry skills that will get you noticed. They have the knowledge and expertise to market your talents and make you stand out.

In addition to an objective view and marketing skills, professional resume writers can also string words together beautifully. They know exactly which words to use to cause maximum effect and how to use them to create refined and polished content.

How to Hire a Professional Resume Writer?

If you are contemplating on hiring a professional resume writer, then do your research. Many writers out there claim to write quality resumes but deliver the exact opposite. Interview different writers and get to know their background. Do they have human resources experience? Did they work as a hiring manager or recruiter? Do they have an understanding of what you want?

Many professional resume writers also have a specific area they target. For example, some specialize in IT while others specialize in accounting. Depending on which field you are looking into, you should hire a writer who specializes in that type of resume.

If you are paying for their services, then you should research carefully and make sure you hire the right person.

How Much Do They Cost?

The price range for resume writing services vary, depending on the individual and what kind of service they offer. Most services range from $70 to $150 and take two to three days to deliver. Some places, however, have rush assistance available.

Should You Hire a Professional Resume Writer?

Although hiring a professional resume writer is not necessary, it does offer benefits. Not only will you have a glossy, professional-sounding resume, you also gain the experience of resume writing and find out what employers seek. After years of studying and anticipation, you are only one resume away from that dream job. Paying for a professional, then, seems like a small sacrifice in the bigger picture.

Justin is a full time blogger. During his free time he works with a http://www.cashfortrucks.com a company which helps people receive cash for cars

As a recent college graduate, I am very familiar with the ins, outs, trials, tribulations, and unfortunately, the rejections of the job search process. Although it can seem like an emotional rollercoaster at times, the ending result is definitely worth it. I know some of you may be in doubt and wondering if there will ever be a light at the tunnel, so listen up: you will land a job. And after endless hours slaving away in your university library or years spent building your career at other jobs and internships, you deserve it, too.

While the process consists of many components, the most important part of the job search is building an impressive resume that not only showcases your talents, but catches your intended employer’s attention. Before we go any further, I will warn you:  resumes take time. They’re not something you just throw together and hope to get noticed. I worked for a year on crafting my resume(s) into what it is today, and after hard work, I was fortunate enough to land an amazing job a month before graduation.

To spare you long hours of resume writing, here are a few tips to boost your resume into high gear:

Get Involved

No matter how artfully crafted your resume is, it won’t really matter if you don’t have anything to put on it. With that said, you need to be involved and engaged in your jobs, internships, and activities in order to prove to employers that you understand what it takes to be a professional and talented asset for their company. Whether you’re entry-level or are already in the workforce, employers really look at experience in that particular field or position. By experience, they’re not only looking for what skills and knowledge you’ve acquired, but also your leadership positions and personal professional development, such as attending a summer workshop or conference. Having volunteer experience is also a plus, as it shows that you care about a cause, your community, and working as a team.

Know the Basics

People tend to focus too much at the beginning of resume writing on making it look attractive. While this is important, focus on the content first. Start by simply making a list of all your past jobs and experiences and detailing exactly what you did, who you interacted with, and what accomplishments you achieved. It’s alright if the lists are long and overbearing at first, because it’ll end up making your job summaries that much easier to write. To keep your resume down to the recommended one-page length, keep a maximum of three to four main points per entry. Also, although there are mixed emotions on whether or not to write an objective at the top of your resume, I’d say ditch it. Your objective should be clear enough in your cover letter and the job that you’re applying for that you needn’t be redundant.

Decide What Type to Write

There are four main types of resumes: chronological, functional, combination, and targeted. Chronological resumes list your work histories in order of most recent, functional focuses on your skills and experience rather than the order of your job experience, and combination highlights the skills you have that are relevant to the job and provide a listed work history. My most favorite and most recommended, a targeted resume, is customized specifically to highlight the job experience and skill set that applies directly to the position or field you are applying for. For example, I created two different resumes: one for writing and editing and one for special events. These types take longer and involve creating multiple versions of your resume, but they are beyond worth it! By listing the appropriate qualifications and experiences, you are directly spelling out the specifics in why you are a perfect match for that position.

Drive Action Verbs and Numbers

When talking about each job and experience, use action verbs to describe your tasks and accomplishments. Use words like “conducted, created, executed, supervised, and maintained” in your descriptions. By doing so, you’re showing employers that you made something happen and didn’t just show up to work every day. Also, employers want to see quantitative figures on your resume, because then, not only are you saying that you made something happen, but that you produced successful results. So, for example, how many clients and/or team members do you manage? How much money did you raise for your campaign? How many listeners listen to the radio station you promoted? These are vital pieces of information and will get you noticed.

Use Your Resources Wisely

Go to the career center. Ask your family. Get into contact with friends who work in HR or are supervisors. Ask them how you can enhance, rework, and make your resume the best it can be. Also, the extra sets of eyes will help pick up on spelling or grammar errors. A supervisor I know said proofreading errors are the number one deal-breaker, because “if they can’t take the time to proofread their resume, then they won’t take the time to do their job correctly.” The average employer spends between 10-30 seconds looking at a resume, so make sure it is flawless.

Follow these steps, don’t give up, and once you get those interviews because of your impressive resume, know that you are that much closer to landing your dream job.

Molly Borter graduated in May from DePauw University and now works as a writer for SunglassWarehouse.com in Indianapolis, IN. She enjoys spending time with her family, road trips with friends, blogging about fashionable accessories and women’s sunglasses, and giving advice to those who need it.

The most difficult job market in recent American history has put all of the power into the hands of employers. Companies that are hiring have such a wealth of talent to choose from because of the fact that millions of American’s are out of jobs due to the economic downturn. Knowing how to write a superb resume has never been more important.

A well-written resume will not necessarily guarantee job placement, but it can tremendously increase the odds of getting a job applicant to the competitive interview rounds, which, in the current economic climate, is a real accomplishment in itself.

Resumes should be written with a specific audience in mind. As a financial professional, your audience, who is a manager in the financial industry, will be interested in different criteria and qualifications than a film industry professional. This is very important. Let’s get into specifics.

The Basics

In any skill, mastery of the basics is essential for real success. Resume writing is no different. Basic operations such as grammar, spelling, and format must be perfect. There is literally no room for error here. Grammar and spelling mistakes communicate a lack of attention for detail, which is often a significant aspect of day-to-day work as a finance professional.

Professional Accomplishments

Most finance jobs such as institutional sales at a forex broker are extremely goal-oriented. It is essential that you display your ability to set, meet, and even exceed goals in a work environment. Be specific with your accomplishments. Do not state generalities. You want to convey that you are driven.

It is also extremely important that you convey this, however, in the proper format and manner. Do not fall prey to wordiness here. It is very tempting to write way too much when describing your professional accomplishments. Instead, communicate the facts, figures, and data and trust that competent hiring managers will understand the significance.

Emphasize Technical Skill Set

In this current job market, overqualified people are applying for positions all the time. This means that companies can hand pick the best talent and most skilled workers, since there are so many qualified applicants. This means two things.

• Highlight your skills. Training new employees costs significant money and time. Consider applying for jobs where you have a high level of skill and understanding. That will save a potential employer money, which will generally draw their attention.
• Improve your skills. Take advantage of time off to pursue further education and skill development. Communicate this on the resume. This conveys that you are consciously and proactively seeking to improve yourself, which is attractive to potential employers.

Forget General Resumes

This is a major mistake. After job hunting for a period of time, it gets tempting to simply send out standard resumes to every company. Perhaps a metaphor will help drive this point. Sending out the same resume all the time is akin to fitting a circle into a square—it’s just not going to work! Instead, you need to fit a square into a square. To do this, an applicant must create the perfect resume for each specific job.

Remember, you have a different audience with each resume you send out. Why would you create the same piece of art for each audience? Find out all you can about the position, the company, management, etc, and craft your resume for this particular position.
Jason Hoerr is a market analyst and writer for Forex Traders, an online resource for the foreign exchange market.

Grab the Employer’s Attention with Relevant Titles

You need to immediately catch the employers’ attention. After all, they are most likely looking at hundreds of resumes each month so you need to ensure that your resume stands our from the rest. If your experience is related, even indirectly, to the job you’re applying for, try to phrase your past job titles and skills in such a way that they closely match the job.

Design

The layout of your resume is very important. Leave plenty of white space as it’s easier on the eye and don’t forget to embolden your titles and italicize important points (italicization looks a lot more professional than underlining). Choose the typeface wisely – do not pick a trendy, funny or gimmicky typeface, pick a professional and traditional one like Times. Make sure you use uniformity in your formatting styles so that you keep like with like, for example, all the headings in the Skills section should be the same size and formatted in the same way. Leave wide margins left and right as too many words in each horizontal line can be tiring to read and also wide margins are helpful in case the employer wants to make notes.

Grammar and Punctuation

Make sure that your resume contains no spelling errors and that it’s written with perfect grammar and punctuation. There is nothing more off-putting to a new employer than a badly-written resume with typos and bad grammar. This is especially true if the job you’re applying for involves writing or typing. Check and double-check your spelling and punctuation and, if necessary, ask a friend to give it the once-over too.

Create Content that Sells

Think of your resume as one big advert for yourself. With that in mind, make sure you sell yourself well! Describe your skills, work experience, hobbies and personal details in a professional manner. Avoid excessive wordiness but, at the same time, do ensure that you accurately describe everything. Content is key and a potential employer is much more likely to contact someone who has sold themselves properly through their resume’s content than someone who just threw a few words on a page in a haphazard manner.

Sell your Skills

Ensure that your skills are relevant and professional. There’s no point in simply listing your skills, instead try to sell them to the employer by pointing out the benefits these skills would bring to this new position. If you are highly skilled at marketing, don’t just state ‘I have great marketing skills’. Explain to the potential employer exactly how those marketing skills will bring value to the new role.

This is a guest article by Darren.  Talking about writing, I’ve been writing a lot on the topic on people search free and finding people online.

When it comes to impressing a prospective employer, anything you can bring to the table which may give you the edge over competing interviewees is a plus. We’ve all got our faults (regardless of what we say in the interview room,) and some of them are difficult to resolve – a poor communicator will almost always remain a poor communicator, and if you’re one of the many people who is hopeless at math, nothing short of serious tuition will improve the situation.

Thankfully, one of the more sought-after skills in the modern workplace is also the easiest to pick up. The need for IT proficiency is a sign of the times, and isn’t purely reserved for the office environment – almost every vocation imaginable employs some degree of IT in order to increase efficiency. But this is the tricky thing – at which point does ’using technology’ become ’IT skills’?

Of course, there’s a vast gulf between being able to send an e-mail and knowing how to compile a data management program from scratch using C++ . The majority of us know how to create a Word document or find an address using Google, but there’s a much overlooked and powerful program which is not only easy to learn but a valuable asset on anyone’s resume.

Enter Excel

Excel was originally released in ‘85 as part of the Office package. The easy-to-use yet immensely customisable application outstripped the leading competitor, Lotus’ 3-2-1, which had (up until then) been the only mainstream spreadsheet program. In fact, Excel arguably did as much as the Windows operating system in giving Microsoft the lion’s share of the computing market.

The program has changed little over the last 25 years, other than a few cosmetic alterations and functional add-ons. Essentially, if you’ve ever used Excel in the past, it won’t take more than half an hour to get up to speed with the latest version.

Who the Heck Uses Spreadsheets, Anyway?

Excel isn’t just used to knock up data graphs for those tedious company presentations. Let’s look at a few possible applications and you’ll see how versatile it can be:

- Personnel rotas can be created pretty swiftly in Excel and fiddled with until your heart’s content (and staff are finally happy!) Any work setting where a number of people are employed can utilise this, from retail stores, offices, warehouses, etc. And it is not just limited to working out shift patterns – such a spreadsheet can do anything from keep pay dates organised in HR to simply sorting out squabbles over who takes which lunch hour.

- Ironically, Excel is also a useful way to get un-technical: if you’re not comfortable working out sales figures and percentages using a calculator, just plug it straight into Excel and let it do the hard work. Very little maths skills are needed in order to set up a complex algebra framework which will save bundles of time if you’re working with a lot of raw data. You can then, if so inclined, turn it into a pretty graph and display it in a tedious company presentation.

- Live updating is also a useful tool in Excel. If you want your data to update automatically should there be any changes to a website or another Excel document, a few clicks and it’s done. This can be used to unify data between departments (since everyone can track changes as they occur on openly-shared documents) and is very handy if you work in an environment which requires the handling and accuracy of a large volume of information. Once again, with Excel this is very easy to implement.

Why On Earth Do Businesses Care?

At the risk of sounding cliché, time equals money. One of the primary aims of IT is to increase efficiency, and programs such as Excel have been a huge success chiefly because they are designed to save a company time and funds which would otherwise be wasted.

Admittedly this is not a very romantic notion, but that’s the world of business. If an employee can display good spreadsheet skills, they will not only appear keen to constantly update their skill set but also be mindful of how they can go the extra mile for the company.

The converse is also true – if someone does not seem to have even a basic grasp of programs such as Excel (which has been around for some time,) why would an prospective employer choose them over a less-stagnant competitor? In the current economic client, businesses are more likely to hire someone who can both keep themselves organised as well as being able to handle other aspects of the ‘bigger picture’ – in nearly all cases, this will involve some level of IT proficiency.

I See Your Point – So Where Can I Brush Up On My Excel Skills?

As with many things, one of the best resources for learning is the Internet. There are countless pages out there in both video and text format which can help you learn the very basics right up to programming with Excel. One word of advice would be to make sure the tutorial you’re reading is based on the same version of Excel you own – although most of the lessons you’ll learn apply to all versions, program layouts have changed throughout the years.

If you’re currently in employment, an alternative is to ask your manager or IT department for some additional training on Excel. Even if there are no resources for this at your place of work, asking will do no harm and will show you’re taking initiative.

Hopefully this short guide was of some use and you’re well on the road to job success. The guide itself was provided for free by the guys at Sofas and Sectionals, who also know a thing or two about Palliser furniture.