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Wasting space with outdated jobs.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.

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.

One of the hardest obstacles to overcome when looking for a job is being unemployed in the first place. The discomfort and possible insecurity that particular entry on a résumé can generate can often demoralize and demotivate an energetic job search.

Whether you were ‘downsized,’ you were fired or you resigned, cover those employment gaps in the cover letter before they’re ‘accidentally discovered.’ Forthright honesty can often provide the leverage into a job instead of out of one.

Downsized

One of the easiest unemployment reasons to cover, downsizing can usually be explained simply and concisely, but do not exaggerate or lie. Mention the unemployed period in the cover letter. Tell the receiver about it before they discover it on your résumé.

Being a victim of downsizing is often beyond the individual’s control. Mention specifically that your position was eliminated when the employer reduced its workforce, whether you were on good terms with the employer and if you enjoy a rehire status, should a similar position become available.

A sample sentence might read:

My position as Engineering Team Leader was eliminated when XYZ Corporation reduced its workforce in September 2010. Because I left on good terms, I am eligible for rehire but have chosen to pursue other options which has led me to the opportunity with your organization.

If you don’t know if you have a rehire status, contact the former employer and ask. Most people, however, know when they’re let go if they qualify.

Terminated

More difficult to overcome than a lay-off, the keys to resolving this issue starts at the same point. You should be the one to mention it first. The reason for leaving the position listed on the application should be truthful, and your addressing it early may be just enough to earn at least an interview.

When mentioning that you were fired, give a concise outline of the exact reason. Admit exactly what you did wrong and what you learned from it—how you would handle that situation or outright avoid it in the future. Hard lessons are learned more deeply, and you’ve learned yours well.

Introducing the issue in your cover letter is no guarantee that you would progress along the hiring trail, but at least you hid nothing that could later get you fired for presenting false information, and your bravery would be admired.

Medical Leave

You are not required in any circumstances to explain the medical condition that prompted your medically-based departure. No employer can require you to surrender your right to privacy of medical matters.

However, explain that your medical condition prompted reconsideration of your employment—if you weren’t fired for absenteeism. Note that the issue is no longer acute or that you have been cleared to return to work.

Resignation

If you’re the parent who resigned a position to stay at home with the children, note that. Detail in the cover letter what functions you performed, qualities you developed or skills learned from the experience that would benefit the prospective employer.

If you left on moral grounds, state simply that you disagreed with certain administrative, supervisory, or financial policies and chose to leave the employer after a two-week notice. Do not disclose or discuss confidential information. You might be well tempted to divulge the details, but you’d be gossiping—not a good thing in either a cover letter or an interview.

Summary

These tips are effective enough more often than not to gain a foothold into the position—receiving an invitation to interview.

Always note periods of unemployment on a résumé between periods of employment. List as many related tasks performed during that period as legitimately possible. As always, honesty is the best policy.

About the Author

JC Ryan is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them search for online degrees that can help them reach their goals.

The Greeting : Get a name, any name. Sometimes you’ll be provided this information and other times you’ll need to do some research online or make a few phone calls. Try to avoid using “To whom it may concern or Dear hiring manager.”

Dear John Smith:

The Intro: Your opening paragraph is your introduction and presents the reader with some immediate and focused information regarding the position you are pursuing and a few core competencies that demonstrate your strength:

Having contributed as an operations and general business leader, I am writing to express my interest in [Name of Position] with [Name of Company]. You will see on the enclosed resume that I turned around an underperforming business, substantially improved productivity and employee morale, and possess critical and creative thinking skills that will facilitate my swift contribution to your sustained growth.

The Hook: This paragraph should define some examples of the work performed and results achieved. This paragraph should highlight your resume. This does not mean that you should copy verbatim what is in the resume. Rather, use this area to expand on some of the bullet points in your resume. You can also use this section to add anything that was left out in your resume such as awards or honors relevant to this position. Use bullets to define key areas of achievement and highlight what you bring:

My professional experiences include my recent position with XYZ Corporation as Operations Manager, and previous positions with ABC Corporation, and DEF Corporation. In all of my roles I guided the professional development of staff and gained consensus for the adoption of new ideas due to my demonstrated ability to clearly present value added recommendations. The following is a brief sample of the expertise I offer:

■  Implemented an innovative business strategy whereby inventory was maintained at vendor locations, resulting in the effective use of the system and annual savings of $250,000 for XYZ Corporation.

■  Established operating procedures that reduced employee downtime by 15%. In addition to conducting cross-training initiatives, I created an environment predicated on accountability for results, which improved the team’s commitment to the attainment of short- and long-term goals.

What You Know: This is where your background research on the company should be presented and tied into your specific skills. This shows the reader that you did some preliminary homework and understand the company’s goals and how you will help them get there.

After researching 123 Company, I understand that your immediate goal is to improve business performance and establish key benchmarks within ABC Company. Given my professional achievements, I am in a position to help you quickly achieve your goals.

Be as specific as possible. This is where you should really be selling yourself as the perfect fit for their company.

The Closing Paragraph: In the closing paragraph quickly summarize what you offer and close by either suggesting a meeting or indicating that you will call in a certain number of days. If you choose the latter approach, make sure you follow-up within the timeframe you reference.

I bring a tool kit comprised of leadership, strategic planning, and analytical skills; and I would be pleased to review my credentials with you to personally explore how I can contribute as a member of your senior leadership team. Please feel free to contact me at the number above to arrange a time to speak.

Sincerely,

Full Name

What is the solution to such a situation? Transferable skills, silly. That’s right; you have a veritable goldmine of goodies that are very valuable to employers. Class has now commenced. Today’s lesson is a crash course in showcasing multiple talents to your maximum advantage.

Make Your List And Check It Twice

Your first task is constructing a comprehensive list of all skills obtained and maintained in your current or past jobs. Don’t forget related tasks not explicitly stated in the job description. For instance, competent medical professionals must be highly organized and detail-oriented.

Likewise, secretaries and switchboard operators have exceptional communications and analytical skills. Sales professionals have highly-honed persuasive skills. Construction workers have physical endurance and stamina that make fabulous fits for factory foreman jobs.

After conducting a thorough inventory of transferable skills, take stock of your accumulated knowledge. You may have heard the oft-quoted truism that “knowledge is power.” Class, this truism is total truth. It is more accurate in today’s Information Age than ever before. Knowing about things is worth a lot more than you may think.

Think about it: if a major piece of machinery malfunctions at a huge industrial plant, how much dough do you think it costs that company? Such snafus often add up to huge sums wasted on paying idle workers. Lost revenues due to disrupted production complete the sad picture. Prior assembly line experience would prove invaluable, as practical expertise could affect a quick cure.

Technology-based jobs are especially fertile fodder for those seeking significant adjustments to their vocational sights. If you are a former graphics designer, website designing may be just the right field to design your new career plans around. Are you a bored journalist who is burned out on the hustle and bustle of the news scene? Break onto a new scene as an online writer.

Whether you follow the freelance or captive route, you may freely select the subjects that are especially dear to your heart. Take pride in plying the trade of accurate information dissemination to millions of internet-surfing inquiring minds. With luck and persistence, you may soon see your name in lights as you make major headlines with your very own site or blog column.

The possibilities are endless. Accountants emerge as actuaries; secretaries undergo major metamorphoses into magazine editors; displaced loan officers develop into economics instructors.

A Helping Hand From Uncle Sam

The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (“DOT”) is an official publication of the U.S. Department of Labor. Guess what, class? It is the same exact book employed by vocational experts in analyzing someone’s employment history. The process is known as “transferable skills analysis” (“TSA”). For an in-depth explanation of TSA and a free download of the DOT manual, visit dol.gov.

Job-related things and activities are categorized by materials, products, subject matter, and services. These four data designations are then developed into a general “profile” that identifies a probable range of suitable career paths. Specialized software can help further refine the range of options by factoring in your individual level of proficiency in specific aptitudes such as math, language, and reading.

Varying work conditions and job-related functions may also be added to the mix. MVQS (McCroskey Vocational Quotient System), Skilltran, and OASYS are a few such software packages.

Formulate your plan of attack with proper planning and advance analysis. Rigorously adhere to a recipe of combined tenacity, persistence, and creativity. By doing so, you can be off and running after a smooth landing onto the runway of your new occupational surroundings. Happy flying; I wish you a safe, satisfying, and very rewarding trip. Class is hereby dismissed.

Crissie C. Luckey is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com. My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them understand which online courses and online schools they can choose from to reach their goals.

Start With The Basics

Basically, your resume’s contents can be categorized into two fundamental features: substance and form. As you’ve undoubtedly deduced, the former is the real meat of the matter. The latter is often mistakenly treated as a mere afterthought of secondary skeletal shaping. Proper attention to both basic characteristics is necessary to make the proper initial impact upon prospective employers, however.

Actual substantive content certainly counts. Human resources representatives are highly trained at recognizing hype, hoopla, padding and fluff. They are seeking much more substantial stuff. Devote sufficient time and toil into rounding up all relevant facts. This will result in a well-rounded resume that will most assuredly capture the attention and interest of your intended audience.

Focus For a Good Fit

A major oversight many hopeful job hunters make is over generalizing. Jobs with similar or identical descriptions vary substantially among employers, subspecialties and work environments.

Each such subdivision has its own particular verbiage and vocabulary. Employers typically employ specialized search engines or software to hone in on specific keywords and phrases that pertain to a particular position. By seamlessly weaving such terminology into your resume, you are more likely to get noticed.

Begin With a Bang

Set the right tone for the rest of your resume with a good summary presentation of past job performance. This may be the most challenging part of your entire resume preparation effort. The powerful punch it packs for your overall presentation is well worthwhile, though.

An example of a good job summary would be something like: “Led sales team to a 348 percent increase in business volume.”

Showcase Skills With Specificity

In your “Job History” section, use detailed data. Example: “Oversaw administration of $5 million annual budget,” or “Efficiently managed 18-member staff for 250 percent increase in production output.”

If You’ve Got It, Flaunt It

The extremely competitive job market calls for aggressive self-marketing by applicants. Show off any awards, honors or other recognition that will set you apart from the crowd.

Example: “Received Million-Dollar Producer Award for Four Consecutive Years.” Recent graduates with grade point averages at or above 3.5 should state this fact on their resume. Likewise, membership in Phi Beta Kappa or “summa cum laude” designations should be noted.

How It All Shapes Up

At this point, you have laboriously listed your talents and skills. You’ve expended great sweat, blood and tears to tie all your strengths and assets together. Pat yourself on the back and take a very brief break. You must wrap it all up in an attractive package. Here are some guidelines to avoid the most common resume production errors:

- Avoid fancy paper. Select a high-quality heavyweight bond paper. Choose a smooth, plain finish without “shine“ or “gloss.” A conservative color is most appropriate. A slight hint of cream is okay, but stay away from other flashy hues.

- Don’t forget the font. Common software applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Works feature dozens of fonts to choose from. Experiment until you find one that provides good word spacing and letter spacing that fits your particular needs. Also, choose the font size with care. Don’t make the mistake of trying to cram data into a reduced space with tiny writing. In truth, most corporate hiring officers do not possess perfect 20/20 vision. When confronted with a mass of miniature meanderings, your resume’s likely destination is the shredder.

- Leave off excessive imagery. Forget about huge insignia or logos designed to capture an employer’s attention. Such gaudy “attractions” are actually major detractions from your resume’s primary purpose.

- Stick with portrait. Many applicants employ a landscape resume format. Rather than being taken as a sign of innovation and initiative, hiring managers find it more of an irritation. Having to turn and rotate to read the first word of your resume is highly annoying. Moreover, many firms file resumes for possible subsequent review. So, stick with horizontal.

Having finished your massive effort, don’t forget to spell check and proofread for punctuation or grammatical errors.

Employing the above strategies in your resume preparation campaign will greatly enhance your chances for employment. Although a piece of paper, your resume carries far more weight than other documents. If you respect this fact by taking proper care in its production, it is guaranteed to take very good care of you.

Crissie C. Luckey, JD is a freelance writer for MyCollegesandCareers.com.  My Colleges and Careers helps people determine if an online education is right for them and helps them understand which online courses and online schools they can choose from to reach their goals.

Following these listed tips will significantly increase the amount of attention hiring managers will give your resume.

• Create a small keyword bank in the footer of your resume and use alternative job titles for the position you are applying for. For example if you list your position as “Secretary” but the hiring manager is doing a search for “Administrative Assistant” you might be scanned over and miss out on a potential job opportunity.
• When applying for open positions read the job description very carefully and stress your qualifications that match the posting using the same language as the ad.
• Submit your resume and cover letters in the .doc file type but always have a .pdf version of both in case the hiring manager requests one or the other.
• Include a concise summary of your unique qualifications for that specific job opening, giving the hiring manager a good reason to continue reading the entire resume.
• Figure in any awards and honors you may have received that a relevant to the job description and quantify these achievements.
• Format your resume and cover letter in a way that is easy to read and one doesn’t have to go searching for information. ResumeBucket.com provides hundreds of excellent resume templates and samples you can use. Careless formating is the number one non-content related that resumes end up in a hiring managers trash bin.

Having multiple resumes is a requirement in this tough job market. Take the time to edit each one to cater specifically to each job you are applying for. Putting in the extra effort it takes to follow the above steps will put candidates considerably ahead of their competition in this demanding job market.

If this is your first job, it’s even more of a challenge because you haven’t done it at all yet.

So if you are writing your first resume or wondering how to tailor your job experience to fit a new job application, who can you ask for help with your resume?
That can depend on your situation, and there are a few sources of help you can turn to.

School or College

Colleges usually have people on staff who can help graduating students create a resume for their job search, and this is also true in some cases of high schools. The best approach here is to gather all your information before you meet with the advisor.

For example, consider the courses you have taken in college and what skills they helped you develop. What are your areas of strength? Have you taken part in any extra-curricular activities that might also give you job skills? Make a list of all these things, and the advisor will help you put them together in the best way.

If you show up unprepared, you’ll waste everyone’s time and you’re less likely to get the help you need.

Recruiting Agencies

Recruiters expect you to have done at least some work on your resume before you approach them for representation on your job search. In fact, some won’t even take you on unless you have done a decent job on your resume.

But it’s in their interests to present their candidates in the best light, and most are willing to help you tweak and improve your resume. You should have at least a draft with all the pertinent information on it, so that they just need to help you with the format and tweaking the information to suit the job you are going after.

Skilled recruiters may also see potential advantages in your background that you may not even have recognized, which will improve the quality of your resume. On the other hand, inexperienced job hunters often put in information that’s not relevant or doesn’t help their case, and again an experienced recruiter will identify what should come out.

Associations

Do you belong to a professional association for people in your line or work or your industry? Whatever your profession or job, or whatever industry you work in, there’s an association of people just like you. If you find one in your city, it’s a good idea to join.

Once you are a member of your association, make use of the resources there to help with your resume. It may be a member service (although you may have to pay for it). You will meet people who understand how to set out your particular experience in an advantageous way because their own experience is similar. If you take this approach, it’s a good idea to look to senior people who are less likely to be on a job search themselves.

Career Coaches

Depending on the type of work you do, you may be using the services of a career coach. If that’s the case, helping with your resume is one of the services you should expect to receive from them. Typically, coaches don’t actually do things for you, but they know how to ask the right questions so that you can figure out answers and do things properly for yourself.

Government

Governments often have career offices to help job seekers. If there’s one in your town, check out the services they provide. Often they have someone on staff to help people with their resumes.

Resume Writers

Finally, if all else fails and you just don’t think your resume is up to the job, you might consider having a professional resume writer do it for you. Yes, this will cost money, but it’s an investment in your future and if it makes the difference between getting the interview and not, it’s worthwhile.

There are several essential steps in the search for a job, and the resume is the first of those steps. Remember, it’s not the job of the resume to actually get you the job. The resume is designed to get you the interview, which is the next essential step towards the job. So give the resume the attention and work it deserves, and if you can’t do it alone these ideas can help you decide who to ask for help with your resume.

If you decide to pursue this route we work with a handful of professional resume writing services here at ResumeBucket.

So your resume’s first job is to get through that first pass. How do you do that? Well, here are 5 easy tips to make your resume stand out.

Make it reader friendly and scannable.

People read in different ways: some read every single word on every page, while others like to scan for information and general concepts. Your resume must be easily read by both groups.

The way to do this is to break the page up into chunks of information, each clearly labelled with a descriptive heading. In resume terms, example segments might be Related Work Experience or Career Summary.

For the detail oriented reader, you simply put all the relevant information under each heading.

Create a functional resume.

Traditionally, resumes listed all previous jobs chronologically with the latest on top, and in fact many still do. However, functional resumes are becoming more popular, and many recruiters and employers prefer them. They can also be much more beneficial to you, the job searcher.

What is a function resume? Simply put, instead of listing actual jobs you list personal characteristics and skills that apply to the particular job you’re applying for. They may come from previous jobs, but they may just as easily come from other areas of your life. Mothers of young children, for example, are natural multi-taskers.

Another benefit of the functional resume is that it lets you focus on the skills you have, rather than the ones you don’t have!

Keep it focused on the needs of the employer.

Gone are the days of cookie cutter resumes you sent out to every prospective employer about every job. Technology lets us easily make changes in documents, so take advantage of that to change your resume to suit every job application.

If the job you are applying for is in an industry you know well, then that’s what you should emphasize because it will give the employer some confidence in you. On the other hand, if it’s a different industry but the same job function, then that’s where your emphasis should be. Ideally, you have both, in which case you need to point up that fact.

Take a good look at the ad to which you are responding, particularly the words used to describe the job.

Then use the same words on your resume, even if you have to change them. For example, if the ad says they are looking for “depth of experience” or “ability to lead people” or “leading edge technology expert”, then use these phrases in your description of yourself and your experience.

Why? Because even though they probably won’t consciously recognize the phrases as their own, subconsciously they will respond to them. This seems like a small thing, but studies have shown this to be true.

Make sure your contact information is clearly shown on your resume.

You’d think this would be obvious, but according to recruiters many people either forget to put their contact information on, or make it so small it can hardly be seen.

Contact information for resume purposes should include as many ways to reach you as possible: address, phone number, email address, even your LinkedIn address. Prospective employers will often scan LinkedIn profiles, because they offer more insights into a person’s character and personality than a resume.

Finally, two tricks NOT to use in trying to make your resume stand out:

• Printing it on brightly coloured paper. This may have worked at one time, but it’s definitely old fashioned now and cuts no ice with recruiters or employers.
• Using fancy fonts in the mistaken belief that this makes you look creative. It’s not businesslike, it’s amateur and if your resume does stand out it will be for the wrong reason.

In today’s competitive job market, your resume needs to stand out in order to get you to the interview stage. Follow these guidelines to give yourself an advantage.

Frustrated with seeing “experience required”? Here are some methods to help get around that.

Everyday job seekers hit the invisible brick wall known as “experience required”. Seeing those two words usually makes your heart sink because how are you supposed to get experience for the ‘experience required’ jobs, right? Common ways to subvert this blockade is to get an internship in the field you want to break into but taking an unpaid internship is hardly practical in this economic climate.

Here are a few tips to help you get your resume in the door even if it doesn’t meet the exact demands of the ‘experience required’ employer.

1. Make the layout professional

• Don’t go overboard with fancy fonts, graphics, or a confusing structure. For examples check out your Fuctional Resume blog.
• Keep it simple and easy to read. We have thousands of resume layout examples in our database. Feel free to edit one to tailor your specific needs.

2. Content is key

• Use your work history to highlight the talents you can bring to employers.
• Include any extra curricular activities you may have done in school, or charity, even being apart of a sports team tells a hiring manager you are a team player. Use at your discretion.
• Write a 2-3 short and concise introduction about yourself and your goals, be careful and don’t make it to wordy.

3. Clean up

• Be concise. Try to keep it at one page, two max. Employers who are looking at a fresh resume with little relevant experience are reading between the lines . Padding your resume with trivial information is a turn off to hiring manager and you’ll find yourself lost in the dreaded resume pile.
• Most likely your name will be Googled by employers. Make your Facebook or any other social sites that may come up private. You don’t want them seeing your pictures from Friday and Saturday nights. Instead build out a Linkedin.com profile, sign up and post your resume on ResumeBucket.com. Google yourself and see what comes up and work from there.

Post up your comments! We love to help out our users with any questions they have, and if you really want an outstanding resume check out our top tier resume writer.

2. Formatting a resume correctly is very important. It should be concise and friendly to the reader without exaggerated formatting and distracting designs. Preferably it should have four sections - contact, summary, previous work experience and skills as well as educational qualification.

3. The resume must be to-the-point and avoid wordy sentences. Instead of writing long paragraphs about experience or achievements, it is better to stick with concise points in bullets of objectives that you specifically had a hand in.

4. The resume should provide a brief account of the kind of work you are capable of doing but it should not look like your biography. It’s best to tailor this section of the resume for each specific job you are applying for. Instead of focusing only on your job responsibilities, you should mention your strong points like your achievements or any special training. Mention your achievements in a manner that they complement the position you are applying for.

5. Avoid using phrases like “I was part of a team that facilitated a one million dollar growth in the company.” That sentence while impressive, tells the reader nothing about what you specifically did. Be precise.

6. Unless asked, do not attach your photo on resume.

7. Do not include the amount you are expecting to be compensated from the potential employer. If this information is relevant the hiring manager will let you know.

8. Do not exaggerate about your performance or achievements and avoid using buzz words. Trying to sneak one by just to get an interview wastes everyones time.

9. Do not include references in the resume. If references are necessary the prospective employer will ask for them, likely after the first interview. 99% of the time employers won’t bother to call references before any initial contact has been made because it tells them nothing about the candidate. Also in some areas employers are required to get a signed release from the job seeker before any references can be called.

10. Your resume should not be unreasonably lengthy. Keep it concise and simple and avoid putting extra details in it. These details can be put across during the interview. Stick to what hiring managers call the “10 second rule”. In 10 seconds a reader should be able to determine if the entire resume is worth reading. This means they are just scanning the important parts so it’s critical that the above rules are followed so you don’t end up in the pile of unread resumes!

• Address the letter to the person who could hire you by name and title. If you can’t find their name use a functional title like “manager” or “selection committee” and remember to never use “To whom it may concern.” You are writing a simple letter to another person to let them personally know that you have interest in their company.

• Show that you know a little about their company. Do some research and be up to date on their current interests, priorities or problems. You don’t want to waste your time and the recruiters time by not doing any research about the company you are apply for.

• Express your enthusiasm to work for that company. If you have a good idea for a current problem a company might be having, offer to come in and discuss it. That’s one way to get your foot in the door, offer to help them with a current situation they might be having. Be creative, use your imagination to get as much face-time as possible with any company you want to work for; it really does help.

• Keep your tone warm and friendly while being professional. Avoid generic and cliché phrases. Recruiters can go through hundreds of resumes a day and it only takes a couple keywords to have your resume in the trash before it’s cracked open.

• Set yourself apart from the crowd. Put someone really unique about yourself in thecover letter. This gives the recruiter some incentive to look into your resume and will remember you. This may seem obvious, but make sure your unique skill is relevant to the job you are applying to.
• Take the initiative about what will happen next. A lot of times people will say that they will follow up with an e-mail of phone call about setting up an interview. Here is a great way to follow up on a resume.

• Keep it to one page. All cover letters should be less than one page. Short and sweet is the way to go; don’t waste anyone’s time.

• Proofread multiple times. This is overlooked more than you could imagine.

When you write your cover letter let your creative process flow. The person reading it will have an idea of who you are instead of taking a template and inputting a few words sporadically throughout the letter. It might be easier to write your cover letter after you have tweaked your resume so that the whole packet flows together. If you need help with writing your cover letter or resume, feel free to contact us.

A quick Google search for the term “functional resume” brings up the following examples

Both are solid resumes that showcase the job seekers abilities without unessessary clutter. Note that both are tailored for very different positions so keep in mind that you will need to build your functional resume from the ground up and consider the job you are applying for and the person who will be reading your resume. A great place to start is to get out some paper and pencil and play around with your own creative layouts with the information you’ve gathered through this article and browsing other resume templates.

When deciding on how to create your functional resume consider the three following questions:

• What type of position are you applying for?
• What type of company are you submitting your resume to? An internet start-up company in San Fransico is going to have a much different tone than conservative accounting firm in New York.
• Who is going to be reading your resume? Are you giving it to a recruiter who spends 10 seconds scanning a resume for relevant information or are you going directly to the hiring manager who will take more time on their review.

Refrain from using any non-traditional fonts and colors. The key is to be professional and informative without overloading the reader with to much information but not so little information that they aren’t clear about your previous roles and what you can offer the company by the end of the resume.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your resume at one page. Two pages maximum if you have the experience to warrent it. A recruiter once said “Anything over two pages tells me the candidate is either overcompensating or just doesn’t get “it”. I don’t want to work with someone especially sit through a meeting with someone who can’t condense themselves into two pages.”

Be sure to check out the ResumeBucket Sample Resumes for hundreds of pages of inspirations from all types of careers.

I was recently talking to some hiring managers and they were each bragging about the clever ways in which they find applicants or screen applicants once they have a list of potential candidates.  It was an eye-opening experience and particularly interesting in terms of how they find resumes.  I will share some of the more poignant tactics they use and you may end up tweaking your resume as a result.

Keywords

Keywords is a popularly discussed topic and if you haven’t combed through your resume for keywords you need to do it immediately.

But what keywords are you looking for?  What should you be including?

Simply put yourself in the mind of a hiring manager who is trying to fill a position you are interested in.  If you are looking for work as a graphic designer naturally you would have ‘graphic designer’ in your resume.  But it might also be useful to to have the old-school term ‘desktop designer’ as well or synonyms like ‘information design’ or ‘visual communication’.

You might also want to include superlatives in your work experience descriptions.  For example, can you imagine a recruiter searching for the ‘best’, ‘top’, or ‘accomplished’ of something?

Location

In theory many websites, ours included, ask you to list a specific location on your resume.  And in practice, this has traditionally been your home address, including city and state.  But it turns out many hiring managers are filtering their candidate searches by location.

All of the hiring managers I talked to used a similar practice of starting their search within the city the office was located in and then slowly branching out. But how many people do you know that work outside of the city they live?  How many live far far away from where they live?

The simple answer is to include the names of other cities you are potentially looking for work in.  That way when a potential employee is searching for a particular city, you have the keyword in your resume.  Just think about the last time you searched for something on Craig’s List.  The marketeers on Craig’s List know to stuff additional location keywords to gain more traction and so should you in your resume.

Complete Your Resume / Profile

On sites like ResumeBucket and LinkedIn there are a ton of companies looking for employees and there are a ton of people looking for work.  The thing that amazes a lot of hiring managers is the lack of effort a lot of these people put into their profiles.

They say that often they have to weed through countless profiles with missing information, and at a certain point they simply ignore resumes and profiles that are missing key pieces of information.

What are these key pieces of information?

Some of the popular ones mentioned to me are photo, job title, location, career level, and years of experience.

Start With Your Strengths

Before you start plugging everything you’ve done into your resume template, stop for a minute and reflect.  There are a few things that you’ll need to think about and keep in mind throughout the resume writing process.

Your Strengths:  What are the things you’re naturally good at?

Your Successes:  What are you most proud of?

Your Results:  Always focus on the results that you’ve gotten in your past jobs.

Take all of your job experience, educational experience, skills and qualifications and gear them toward your strengths, successes and results.  These are the things they’ll be looking for.

These are also the things that will be talking points during your interview.  Throughout the whole process of finding a job, your resume sets the tone for everything that comes later.  These are the things they’ll ask you about.

Spend Time On The Objective And Summary

A major mistake many people make is that they spend all of their time and energy on the job experience section.  This is the longest part of the resume, so it makes sense to spend the most time on it.  But, to a recruiter’s eyes, the objective or summary are much more important.  If they’ve got a stack of resumes to look at, they might be reading only those parts.  That’s why you’ve got to make them count.

The objective is a short sentence that tells who you are, what you want, and what you can bring to the job.  It should be that, and that only.  You don’t need anything fancy here; just tell them who you are and what you’re about.  It should only be one sentence.

The summary is the same, but instead of just one sentence, it has a sentence followed by bullet points.  The summary allows you to put a little more detail about yourself, but still, keep it short.

Trim – Too Much Detail Is A Resume Killer

Once you’ve written your resume’s first draft, be ready to trim some things out of it.  Resumes should be short and concise.  If your resume stretches on for pages and pages, it won’t help you in finding a job.  Say what you need to say, and move on.

Remember that the resume provides your interview’s talking points.  For this reason, don’t put anything on your resume that you don’t want them asking you about.  If there’s something you’re not proud of, leave it off.  Also be ready to explain if there are gaps in employment.

Finding a job is tough, but with a great resume, you’ll have it made.  If your resume is really good, they may even decide to hire you before the interview.  It’s the key factor that gets you the job.

This article was written by Richard Spencer, a member of the team at HirePulse, where the work finds you.

Time out from work is something that all of us may have to contend with on our resumes at any time. There are a wide range of different reasons why time out of employment might be necessary. These might include the birth of a child, taking care of a sick person, taking time out to travel or recovering from illness, among others. Or, more commonly right now, you may have been fired due to downsizing in this depressed economy.

Whatever the reason for your absence, you need to be able to handle it in a way that does not put the employer off, particularly in the current job market. Anything that can strike one more candidate off the list easily is an opportunity that a recruiter will take. Presenting downtime in your career in an effective manner has never been more important.

Where gaps exist in your employment history, it is often best just to be straightforward and direct about it, of course being sure to put a positive spin on what happened. If you were fired because you and your boss couldn’t see eye to eye, it is probably best not to say that in exactly that way, or you may be labeled as “difficult” or considered to not be a team player. Simon left his job due to continual difficulties with his manager. On his resume, he presented the positive steps that he had taken during his time out to find another job. He said,

“I didn’t have too many issues finding another job, because on my resume I listed the projects I worked on in my gap time, which included building my own website. At the interview, I told my new employer the truth, which was that I did not see an opportunity for growth, and I wanted to pursue new goals.”

Some experts argue that where a resume is patchy, the best solution is to use a “functional” resume rather than a chronological one. Listing jobs by function instead of in chronological order makes it harder for employers to spot gaps, especially smaller holes. This is particularly true when you consider that most employers will only look over your resume for a few seconds. With this type of resume, the gap may not be identified until the interview, and once you have your foot in the door, you have a better chance of getting the job.

At an interview, you will almost certainly be asked about gaps. Whatever the hole in your resume, you need to try and present it in a positive light. Michelle took time off while she raised her small child. She took two years out of her business management career to do this. Michelle said,

“After taking a year out when Beth was born, I realized that it wouldn’t be easy to sell this time off, despite the fact that I think motherhood is important in society. So I enrolled myself on an evening class in project management. This way, I’m gaining new skills to help ease me back into the workplace.”

As a result of her actions, Michelle will be able to demonstrate to recruiters that she continued to take an interest in her professional development during her gap, and that she is committed to getting back into the workforce.

If you are currently on a gap from work, you should try to find some constructive activities to keep yourself occupied and show prospective employers that you have used your time well:

Volunteering

One activity that usually goes over well with employers, is volunteering. This is particularly helpful for your resume if you want to gain new skills. Volunteering in order to add new strings to your bow is highly commendable and shows prospective employers that you are committed to your goals.

Learning

You might also consider taking a class in order to increase your skill set. Since you’ll be free during the day, you will potentially have a wider range of options open to you, as your hours may be more flexible. Taking a language or other very practical class can only serve to make you more employable.

Contract Working

Alternatively you might consider working on a short-term contract (temping) basis while you are unemployed. This may help you to gain new skills, it could lead to a full time, permanent position, or in the worst case it will simply help you to make ends meet while you are unemployed.

Brushing Up Your Resume

While you are working on your resume, it might be a god idea to check out our sample resumes database, which has a number of examples to get your resume completed.

As a new graduate seeking your first career job, it can be hard to know what to put on your resume. You’re told frequently to keep your resume to one page, but it can be very difficult to know what to fill that page with if you have no experience. Bear in mind that employers seeking recent graduates know that you have little or no experience. They’d be very surprised to see a resume packed with work experience. That said, there are some snippets of information that they do want to know about you, and these are what you should focus on:

1. Employment Objective

A nice addition to the top of your resume is an employment objective. This is one sentence which states what you are trying to achieve to your potential employer. This is also a great way to tailor your resume to the job that you are applying for, making it specific to each job. It might say something like:

To secure a role in an organization that will provide opportunities in the field of X.

X may be journalism, accounting, biochemistry or anything else that you wish to substitute it with.

2. Academic Qualifications

You’ve just graduated and one of the areas that your potential employer will look first is your academic qualifications. This should be located in the top third of your resume, where the employer’s eye is automatically drawn. If you have a GPA of 3.4, 3.5 or above, it is worth including that information. If not, you may want to consider leaving it out.

Other academic information that employers may be interested in include honors and awards won, or recognition for special academic achievements. If you studied abroad for a semester or year, or even just for a few weeks, it’s worth including. This is especially true if you studied in another language. This experience demonstrates to most potential employers that you are versatile and resilient.

3. Internship Experience

A graduate with internship experience shows that they are able to commit to and operate in the world of work for a period of time, and depending on the experience, can show that they are committed to a particular career. Internships should be listed on your resume. For each internship, pick out two or three achievements or assignments that you enjoyed working on, or better still, that are directly relevant to this specific application, and include them. Try to focus on achievements where possible, rather than on tasks performed. It will make you stand out a bit from the crowd. Any responsibilities over and above the internship requirements can be highlighted.

4. Extra-Curricular Activities and Volunteering

During your university days, you probably took part in a number of activities outside of your studies. Perhaps you worked on the student paper? Maybe you captained the football team? Alternatively, perhaps you mentored disadvantaged teenagers, or did some fundraising or organized an event? The first is professional experience and should be highlighted, especially if you can demonstrate specific skills that may be useful to your current application. The second shows leadership experience, which may be of significant interest to an employer. Mentoring is a very useful skill and so the third should also not be left off your resume. Event organizing demonstrates planning, organizing and follow-through. There is a never ending list of activities or volunteering that you may have been involved with during your university career. Think about these carefully and include them if they can demonstrate important transferable skills to this job.

5. Skills

Don’t forget your skills when finalizing your resume. Most roles have a list of skills that the ideal candidate will have. These may include relatively standard software packages such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. They might include more sophisticated packages such as Quark or Adobe Suites. Alternatively, the skills sought may be language-based, so don’t leave out any language skills. Whatever your skills, it is usually worth including them in a section on your resume. Sometimes a certain skill might not be required for a particular job, but if your employer sees that you have that skill, it may put you ahead of the game because you can help out in with additional tasks that they had not thought of.

6. Demonstrating Attitudes

Finally, in your resume you will want to demonstrate a certain selection of attitudes that are relevant to most jobs. These may include:

• Flexible
• Team playing
• Multi-tasker
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing
• Hard working
• Can get along with others

Try to make sure that your resume at least demonstrates all of the above, which are common to most job roles.  And for some additional help you can check out our sample resumes section for tons of templates to get you started.

Good Luck!

Numbers show that the majority of people change careers five to ten times during their lives. Once the initial excitement wears off most employees tend to burn themselves out and go through what’s called a “Midcareer Crisis.”

“Midlife crisis” may be many things — depression, a reassessment,
dissatisfaction, or unease — but a key contributor can be career
issues.”

Other factors such as location, layoffs, and personal issues influence may also impact this decision. While sometimes it is necessary to ‘reinvent’ yourself.. tread carefully because it’s easy to harm relationships, burn  bridges, kill-off networking opportunities, and emp you down the line with a resume which has no specific industry focus and short employment histories.

If you fall into this category you need to focus on presenting yourself to hiring managers as an asset that can fill the role just as well as your competition, most of whom have had experience in tyour potential field for years. The key is being able to associate your past employment history, skills, and qualifications into your new venture.

Four Tips To Transitioning

1. Identify your accomplishments, skills, and expertise that your new venture will expect you to have. Knowing these traits will be your best resource in transferring into a new industry.

2. Extensively research the ins and outs of any new opportunity. Running into an interview blind will fail nine out of ten times. If you don’t have someone in the space to pull information, the Internet is your next and best resource.
3. Combine the the first and second steps above to identify the vital skills and competence you’ll bring to this next opportunity. Establish yourself as confident and valuable resource.

4. Formulate your resume around this information and be ready to elaborate on it during the interview. You will be grilled on it. This is your chance to prove your worth, and where all the above steps come into play.

1. Minimalism is key

Just because Microsoft Word lets you use Clip Art and Symbols doesn’t mean you should. The NUMBER ONE thing that should be in your mind during the creation process is “Is this easy to read?” Employers want to be able find what they are looking for in seconds. Keep it clear, keep it concise, keep it simple.

2. Keywords are your friend

When employers and recruiters are using job search engines to browse resumes they use specific keywords to locate potential candidates. If you list yourself as a software engineer on your resume, but an employer is using the search term ’software developer’ you may get overlooked. A viable solution for these types of jobs (graphic designer/graphic artist) is to pick the most common term and insert the other relevant terms at the very bottom in small text.

3. No one cares about your objectives

You objective is to get a job. Plain and simple. Writing out a paragraph about your future goals and previous life story is almost always looked over. To often a resume gets tossed out because their objectives are a turn off or intimidating; for instance “I want to manage people” or “Eventually I wish to run my own company”. Employers are looking for experience not wishes and dreams, or people who want to use them as a stepping stone. Keep them to yourself.

4. Lead with your most recent job

This is the most important part of your resume and 95% of what the reader cares about. Since you aren’t leading with objective or education (we’ll get to that next) put down your current employment or most recent. The first question you’ll be asked is “Why do you want to leave?” or “Why did you leave?” Save the employer time and answer these questions but be careful, if you are currently employed it may not be the best idea to put your resume online with this information explaining why you no longer want to work for them.

5. Education and Time lines are not for everyone

The only time you should lead with education is if you are still in school or just graduated. The exception here is if you have a Master or PhD from a top tier school. Putting down a junior college or state college you attended fifteen years ago will never help you.
Employment time lines often harm more than help. If you were employed for six months or even two years you will be passed over or at the very least grilled by the interviewer as to why. However this really is determined on a case-to-case basis but more often than not it’s a good idea to leave exclude information.

Your diploma, unfortunatly, isn’t a ‘get a job free’ card. All to often graduates have no clue what to include on your resume and cover letter. Unless you have a few extra-curricular activities under your belt, the only things you can list are common part time jobs which most likely involved absolutely nothing relevant to the position you want.

Often the question that comes up is if you are applying for a full time career position, how do you create a resume for a full time career if your only previous experience in the workforce was at a clothing store or fast food joint? It shows you have experience but is it the experience they are looking for? Follow the quick three step guide in this first installment of Student Week at ResumeBucket.

1. Make the layout professional

• Don’t go overboard with fancy fonts, graphics, or a confusing structure. While you may think this makes you look good, it’s painful to read for the employer.
• Keep it simple and easy to read. You can find resume layout examples in our database of sample resumes.

2. Content is key

• Employers and Recruiters don’t care about any part type job you had in high school or college. Unless you moved up to a management/supervisor position, omit this information.
• Instead include any type of extra-curricular activities you may have been involved in on campus, this includes sports, clubs, student body government. Anything to show you were more than just a body who showed up to class then left.
• Write a 2-3 short and concise introduction about yourself and your goals, be careful and don’t make it to wordy. Tailor this to suit the job you are applying for.
• Finish it with any references you have. Many people lie here and get caught. Employers DO check. Make sure to use reputable people and not friends or family remembers.

3. Clean up

• Keep it to a one page. Employers who are looking at a fresh resume don’t expect you to have that much experience in the work force. Padding your resume with trivial information is a turn off to hiring manager reading your resume.
• Most likely your name will be Googled by employers. Make your Facebook or any other social sites that may come up private. You don’t want them seeing your pictures from Friday and Saturday nights. Instead build out a Linkedin.com profile, sign up and post your resume on ResumeBucket.com. Google yourself and see what comes up and work from there.

Post up your comments! We love to help out our users with any questions they have, and if you really want an outstanding resume check out our top tier resume writer.

Sometimes cover letters can be a bit tricky to write, so we decided to write a short tutorial on how to go about it. Don’t be intimidated by writing the cover letter; it’s where you can show off your talents and writing skills. So here it is, 8 simple steps for a great cover letter:

• Address the letter to the person who could hire you by name and title. If you can’t find their name use a functional title like “manager” or “selection committee” and remember to never use “To whom it may concern.” You are writing a simple letter to another person to let them personally know that you have interest in their company.

• Show that you know a little about their company. Do some research and be up to date on their current interests, priorities or problems. You don’t want to waste your time and the recruiters time by not doing any research about the company you are apply for.

• Express your enthusiasm to work for that company. If you have a good idea for a current problem a company might be having, offer to come in and discuss it. That’s one way to get your foot in the door, offer to help them with a current situation they might be having. Be creative, use your imagination to get as much face-time as possible with any company you want to work for; it really does help.

• Keep your tone warm and friendly while being professional. Avoid generic and cliché phrases. Recruiters can go through hundreds of resumes a day and it only takes a couple keywords to have your resume in the trash before it’s cracked open.

• Set yourself apart from the crowd. Put someone really unique about yourself in the cover letter. This gives the recruiter some incentive to look into your resume and will remember you. This may seem obvious, but make sure your unique skill is relevant to the job you are applying to.
• Take the initiative about what will happen next. A lot of times people will say that they will follow up with an e-mail of phone call about setting up an interview. Here is a great way to follow up on a resume.

• Keep it to one page. All cover letters should be less than one page. Short and sweet is the way to go; don’t waste anyone’s time.

• Proofread multiple times. This is overlooked more than you could imagine.

When you write your cover letter let your creative process flow. The person reading it will have an idea of who you are instead of taking a template and inputting a few words sporadically throughout the letter. It might be easier to write your cover letter after you have tweaked your resume so that the whole packet flows together. If you need help with writing your cover letter or resume, feel free to contact us.