Posted by ResumeHelp on January 20, 2010
By Claudine Benmar, PayScale.com
When every day brings new headlines about layoffs and economic disaster, your job hunt may start to feel like searching for a four-leaf clover. In Death Valley. In August.
But many companies are stable and still looking for talent. Some are even expanding. In fact, when asked which of the big companies are still hiring despite the recession, BountyJobs CEO Jeremy Lappin had this encouraging answer: “All of them.”
“Even companies in the most pain are hiring,” he says. “They’re just doing it more selectively. Really, truly talented people are always in demand.” If your resume isn’t in the best of shapes give some very serious thought to having it professionally written before you apply. This is your one moment to shine — don’t blow it to save a few bucks.
BountyJobs, which connects employers to recruiters, currently lists 2,000 companies that need to hire right now. Here is another great source for a professionally written resume. Many people think the same old resume they have used before is good enough. That’s not so in these difficult times. Don’t cut corners, a resume is a tool. Have you ever bought a cheap tool and been satisfied? Don’t do it!
7 Examples of Companies Hiring: Looking for Employees:
Places that are Hiring: Google
http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/
For the second year in a row, Google was named Fortune magazine’s top company to work for in 2008. “Googlers” enjoy stock options, gourmet cafeteria food and on-site massages. The company has hundreds of jobs listed for its 27 locations in the United States, including Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Places that are Hiring: Big Fish Games
http://www.bigfishgames.com/company/careers.html
This Seattle-based company, which develops, publishes and distributes online games, has multiple open positions. Peter Anderson, vice president of human resources, credits changing consumer behavior for the company’s current growth. Online games are much less expensive than going out to the movies, for example. “If you do your research, you will find these funny, hidden little gems that expand rather than contract in bad economic times,” he said. “It’s a growth industry — and a lot of fun.”
Places that are Hiring: Microsoft
http://members.microsoft.com/careers/default.mspx
It takes an army of software developers, product managers, editors and lawyers to keep Microsoft going. While the recession has prompted a review of hiring plans, according to a Microsoft spokesperson, the company still anticipates adding thousands of new jobs in 2009. “We will continue hiring the talent we need to ensure our ongoing success,” the spokesperson said.
Places that are Hiring: Alpine Access
http://www.alpineaccess.com/external/careers/
This company, which provides phone-based customer service, tech support, and collections calls for clients like J.Crew and Office Depot, is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, but its 7,500 employees all work from home. Alpine Access plans to hire over 1,200 people in 2009.
Places that are Hiring: Novartis
http://www.novartis.com/careers/index.shtml
Thanks to the success of its new vaccine against human papillomavirus, this Swiss company is expanding operations in the Boston area, adding 150 people to a vaccine research facility in Cambridge in 2009. All told, the drug company has more than 600 jobs open at locations in the United States.
Places that are Hiring: Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/jobs/?ref=pf
If you’ve recently been “friended” by people you haven’t seen in decades, it should come as no surprise that this social networking company is thriving. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Facebook has six other U.S. offices and dozens of job openings. As the company explains on its site: “We’re looking for dynamic people that get excited by big questions and unsolved problems.” Is that you? Confirm or ignore.
Places that are Hiring: Meetup
http://www.meetup.com/jobs/
Online social networking is great, but sometimes you just want to meet face-to-face. The web site Meetup.com, based in New York, helps more than 2,000 groups of people get together in real life in their own communities. Meetup has dozens of jobs available for software engineers, testers and bilingual customer service agents. (Parlez-vous Francais? Then apply tout de suite.)
Posted by ResumeHelp on January 5, 2010
It is astonishing how many recruiters say they receive resumes and cover letters filled with spelling errors. A spelling slip-up, even a minor one, says more about you than the most articulate choice of words. For instance, is it “too” or “to”? Did you write “it’s” or “its”? Just those two words alone count for a lot of mistakes.
Get as many people to proof and edit your resume and cover letter as possible. You can never have too many eyes. The corporate content manager of a large instrument company says she sees a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. Once she sees a mistake she won’t read any further. She is not alone. When asked about the worst resumes and cover letters they have ever received, those that read them can come up with some hilarious shockers. How about the person applying to work at ExxonMobil? Nice resume, great cover letter, but he spelled the company’s name Exxon Mobile. There goes that job prospect.
While such big blunders are not that common, many people do make simple mistakes that could be easily avoided.
The top four common mistakes are:
Spelling and grammar are at the top of the list, probably because people rely too much on spell check. Spell check is a useful tool, but you also need several sets of eyeballs to catch everything. Spell check doesn’t check the context and use of words—your or you’re, four or for?
Repeating verbatim what’s in your resume on your cover letter
Forgetting to replace a company name when cutting and pasting parts of a letter
Carelessness — “I’d like to work for your company” (and the organization is a non-profit or government agency) or “I read your ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer” and it was run in another publication.
To make your way through the maze of errors that inevitably pop up, follow these simple steps:
Find people who will critically read each resume and cover letter you write for the content as well as the details. You might not notice that a period is missing from a sentence or an indentation that should be there isn’t. A reader hunting for errors will find them.
Read your resume and cover letter backwards from the bottom up, word by word. It sounds silly, but doing so allows you to see errors you would probably gloss over reading it from the top down.
Read the resume and cover letter aloud to find words that don’t make sense or aren’t meaningful. If you still are not satisfied with how it reads then it is a good idea to have a professional resume writer review it. This can make all the difference in getting the job of your dreams or getting passed over (again). Resume Edge is the best company in this field!
If you send a resume or cover letter to several companies, highlight each specific change so you make sure not to send Company A’s letter to Company B.
Finally, if you send a resume and cover letter via e-mail, stick it in the draft folder for an hour and then read it again before actually sending it. However sending something this important email is not recommended.
Posted by ResumeHelp on December 29, 2009
Yesterday I ran a post on how to get hired 65% faster and lots of you emailed me and asked me if this were true. Let me be perfectly clear — YES, 100% true. Today I would like to follow up and give you another idea or two. But this isn’t all there is – if you will take the next step and follow the link to Guerrilla Resume you will learn and receive lots more. These methods really work. The example we gave yesterday came from someone living in Michigan where the unemployment rate is at least 15% (conservatively) and if this will work there, why won’t it work where you live?
Many people never think of it that way. You should and must!
Think about it.
To get hired, you must identify, qualify and contact prospects (decision makers who can hire you) and sell to them (convince them to offer you a job). Anyone who has ever had a sales job knows the above to be true. You must sell the decision maker!
Here are 2 Guerrilla Job Search tactics based on *unconventional* sales and marketing methods.
Try one or both today, to get hired faster tomorrow …
- Treat Voicemails as Radio Spots
Here’s an idea: Think of your voicemail messages as 30-second radio commercials.
That means you should script and rehearse the voicemails you leave for employers.
Don’t adopt a fake baritone, but do try to sound upbeat and professional.
While other job seekers leave dull, rambling messages, you can give employers one more reason to hire you, by leaving tantalizing voicemails that practically force them to call you back.
Example:
“Hi, this is Steve Jones. I wanted to make
sure you got the resume I mailed you on Monday
for the position of accountant. I had something
to add to the part where I saved $27,000 last
year for a firm just like yours. If you’d like
to know the missing piece, please call me at
702-555-1212. Thank you!”
- Send Sales Letters, Not Cover Letters
It’s been said (by us) that you can’t bore employers into hiring you. So why send out the same dull cover letters as other job seekers?
To sell an employer on the idea of hiring you, it helps to send them a … sales letter.
Here’s a crash course to get you started:
- Personalize your opening. Example: “Dear Mr. Jackson.” Never, ever write: “Dear Sir or Madam.” Can’t find the name of the hiring manager? Pick up the phone and call.
Timid job seekers have skinny kids.
- Focus on the reader. All good sales letters are written about “you,” the reader, and not, “I,” the author. If you change all instances of “I” to “you” in your cover letter, you’ll make it more effective.
- Make specific claims, then prove them with facts. Look at your last letter. How many numbers, percentages, and dollar signs do you see? Add more.
- Ask for the sale. Example: “Please call me today to learn how I can save you money as a customer service manager.” Or, better: “I will call your office at 10 a.m. Wed. to answer any questions and tell you how I saved $15,000 in my last role as a customer service manager.”
Are you beginning to think you will NEVER find another job? Are you tired of being unemployed? You don’t have to be! Want to know more? The real key to your success is whether you are willing to take the next step or not. It’s that simple. Click here for more details!
