Resume Help Blog

Posts Tagged ‘changing careers’

The Ultimate Guide To Job Interview Answers – Learn How To Answer Any Interview Question With Confidence And Ease!

Interviewing is like public speaking. By that I mean most people would rather have a root canal than go on an interview or talk publicly to a group.

The Ultimate Guide To Job Interview Answers is kind of like having a “cheat sheet” in your pocket. You can know all the questions and their correct answers before your interview! Imagine the self confidence you will have knowing ahead of time how to answer all those tricky interview questions. It’ll take away all the fear and anxiety. Trust me!

Here’s just 5 of the many interview questions this amazing book will prepare you for:

• Why should we hire you? What can you do for us that someone else cannot?
• Can you explain this gap in your employment history?
• Have you ever had problems with a supervisor or coworker? Describe the situation. . .
• You don’t have the right kind of experience . . .
• What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

We can go on and on, but we won’t. Get The Ultimate Guide To job Interview Answers today and next time you interview you’ll be sure to get the job!

As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, I am often approached by highly qualified job seekers frustrated by weeks and often months of costly unemployment. Job seekers who have sent hundreds of resumes yet never hear back from the employer.

I’ve found that the majority of my clients attempt to write their own resume and only seek the help of a professional after weeks of failure. There are many reasons they fail, but most tend to be associated with ineffective resume templates designed in the 1990s which are not compatible with today’s keyword searches done by recruiters and hiring managers. I am dismayed to think of the number of opportunities that highly qualified candidates have lost to those less qualified but have a better understanding of today’s job search process.

The Top 5 Reasons Resumes Fail

Lack of Industry Specific Keywords — Due to the sheer volume of resumes that employers receive, only a handful are ever printed and will reach the hands of the hiring manager. Employers today often use software programs to search for keywords specific to the position. The more hits that they find, the more likely it is that your resume will be read. This is the process that most often eliminates even the most qualified candidates from consideration.

Resume Format — There are a variety of formats available to better market your skills and experience including: chronological, functional, hybrid, Curriculum Vitae (CV), Federal Resume format, etc. Choosing the wrong format for your situation can quickly eliminate you from consideration. A well-written resume will match your skills and experience to the hiring managers’ needs.
Objective or Qualifications Summary? — I personally believe that an old-fashioned objective is a waste of the most valuable real estate on the resume. It would be nice if employers really cared what you wanted in a job, but in actuality they are only concerned with what you can do for them. Why not use this area to market the skills and experience to position you as the best candidate for the position?
Task-Focused vs. Accomplishment Based Resume Unfortunately, the majority of resumes that I review are more of a chronological history than a true marketing document. Imagine a hiring manager with one position to fill and 100 equally qualified candidates applying for the position and each candidate has a similar educational and professional background. It’s easy to see that the candidate who contributed the most in previous positions is likely to get the job.

A One-Size-Fits-All Resume — In today’s highly competitive job market a one-size-fits-all resume really fits none. An employer searching for an accountant is going to be searching for different keywords than an employer searching for a sales representative. If you don’t know what type of position that you’re looking for, how will the employer know?

In today’s highly competitive job market it is imperative that you quickly and concisely provide the hiring manager with the information that they seek. A well formatted resume will allow the employer to quickly glance at the resume and find the skills and experience that they are looking for in the first 1/3 of the first page. Only after capturing their attention will they bother to read your resume from top to bottom.
When seeking the help of a professional it is important to seek a certified resume writer. With today’s economic conditions many claim to be professional resume writers, however, they often do not have the training necessary to help you get through the screening process.

Choose carefully; ask for and compare samples of their work. Your writer should do much more than simply type a resume. They will analyze your career and help you determine your career direction, develop a format that’s most suitable to your specific situation, and then craft a strong and compelling marketing document that targets your career objective and positions you as the best candidate for the position. A professionally written resume can help you get the job that you want and the pay you deserve.

Courtesy ArticleSnatch.com

What should you do if you need a career tune-up?
An awful lot of people will wait until their career crashes and burns before they seek the guidance of a career counselor or coach, and even then they want to make sure that they can’t fix it themselves first.

What would happen if you met with a career counselor before your career had a breakdown, before being laid off or before you became so discouraged that you are ready to throw in the towel? Let me suggest that you would be well on your way to a better, doing something that you love to do job instead of dreading to go to work every day.

Does this sound too good to be true? It can happen by developing a the right career plan.

Career counselors and coaches do not have all the answers for you. They aren’t magical. They can’t answer the question “what should I be when I grow up?”. However, they can guide you on a journey to help you discover the answer for yourself.

The most common issue that most job seekers have is resume development. Most people start with a resume, without having a clue what they want to do, what their skills and talents are and where they would like to apply those skills. They aren’t creative and only list their jobs without any explanation and thus their resumes are boring.

You must look at your resume as selling a product (you) then define what you have to offer and what problems you can solve. Only then can you develop and implement a plan. Until you understand your “product”, you cannot define who needs your product or who is willing to buy it. This will take some time and some work. You will be the one who decides where you want to be and what you want to do, instead of waiting for someone else to make those decisions

What if you have already been laid off or expect a downsizing? A career counselor or coach can help you here as well. If you need quick results, you will need to work smarter, not harder. Career counselors and coaches can put together a plan to help you to develop job search strategies. They will develop an effective resume first and then use all available resources to unearth job openings.

However, not all career counselors are equally effective. You need to find a career counselor or coach that you can work well with. One who will help you to identify any career gaps, and who is astute enough to generate solutions and suggestions that will help you move forward.

The difference between a career counselor and career coach is how they approach your needs. Both career counselors and career coaches will work with you to identify your strengths, goals and of course interests. Of course they expect you to take responsibility for your outcome. In other words if you think this is a magic pill, you are mistaken. Your coach will be direct, will push you, and will probably schedule check-in calls. A career counselor will let you set the pace, encourage you to call when you need help, and expect you to report in at agreed upon times. Which is better? Only you can tell. How motivated are you? Either approach will move you forward.  You decide which approach will work best for you.

Exercise caution when selecting either one. In some states they are licensed, in others not. Therefore it is your responsibility as a consumer to do your research. If licensing is required in your state they should have a have a graduate degree in counseling or a related field, have a solid track record of helping individuals be successful in their career pursuits.

The career counselors we offer on our website are credentialed and are genuine.

Before making your first appointment, you should interview your potential career counselor or coach over the phone.

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