Resume Help Blog

Posts Tagged ‘resume’

Completing a 26-mile marathon race shares some characteristics with a successful job search.

There is one “winner” who crosses the finish line first. There are the many who quit before they’ve completed the race. Finally, there are the rest of us who don’t finish first, but are determined to complete the race nevertheless.

For most of us, half the battle is finishing the race, regardless of where we place among the finishers. The same goes for a job search.

I’m a veteran of three career changes and numerous job searches. For me, job hunting made flying during turbulence, nails dug into the arms of my seat, seem relaxing by comparison. Yet it was a learning experience; what some call a “character builder.” The good news is that after each episode of job hunting, I became better at the game. I also noticed that job hunting always strengthened and prepared me for my next job. Looking both at my own growth plus that of other successful job seekers, it boils down to 5 characteristics.

Here are Five Secrets of Winning Job Hunters:

1)   Visualize: Marathon runners and other goal-directed athletes are great at visualization. They set a goal and see themselves achieving it. The same applies for your job search. Set a goal and see yourself achieving it. No matter how many setbacks you have, hold that vision of the job you want. Continue to hold it. Focus on the outcome you want, and not on how you’re going to achieve it. Picture it in your mind. Be specific. What is your supervisor like? How about your co-workers? What is your workspace like? What is your workday like? How do you dress? What hours do you work? Include your right brain in the imagination and visualization process enhances the achievement of your goal.

2)   Be Persistent: Just as in running a marathon, nothing worth having is ever easy to achieve. There is a lot of rejection in job search. Sometimes it seems as if you’ll never get a “yes”. Remember what good sales people already know. That winning a sale, a job, or any other goal is a numbers game. Commission sales people will tell you that every “no” is one step closer to a “yes”. When you can see your process from a more objective viewpoint, knowing that you’re one more rejection closer to a “yes”, you’ll be less inclined to take the “no’s” personally, and less likely to get discouraged.

3)   Replenish Yourself: The job search process, like a marathon race, can be an endurance test with a lot of disappointments and setbacks. It can also go on for weeks, months, and for some people, even a year or more. Top marathoners know that they have to nourish their bodies in order to prevail. You need to nourish your mind and spirit as well. If you’re going to outlast this process and prevail, you have to take care of yourself. This means taking time to relax to take your mind off the challenges, frustrations and rejections. Work hard on your job search, then take time out to exercise and pursue activities that bring you joy and replenish you.

4)   Inoculate Yourself Against Negative Messages: Succeeding at a job search is a mental process, and negative input from anywhere can poison your mental outlook and encourage fear, discouragement, anxiety, anger and other negative emotions. Associate with positive people and protect yourself from all types of negativity. A job search journey can be a big undertaking. You need all of the assets and advantages that you can possibly bring to the party. You can’t afford to be exposed to the negativity of others. This includes friends, relatives and negative articles in newspapers and magazines as well as negative TV shows. Make a point of reading books and articles that motivate, encourage and inspire you. Avoid anything and anyone that doesn’t fall into this category.

5)   Meditate: This can be the most important secret, yet it can be very simple. Take some time every day to be still and to get away from the “white noise” of life. Whether you are a spiritual person or not, commit to some quiet time away from the noise of TV, radio and other distractions. Give yourself the gift of quietness to contemplate, calm down and center yourself. Even five minutes of quiet time can make a positive difference in your life. This is an opportunity to relax, focus, and renew yourself. It will ground you and make it easier to face and overcome the stresses of your job search journey ahead.

As with successful marathoners, job hunters have some secret tactics that make their success look easy to others. Winning the job search game has a mental component. Developing the above five winning secret tactics will enhance your chances of success, and make the process more pleasant and less stressful.

Most people, no matter what job they seek or how long they’ve been part of the working world, make the same mistake when it comes to the resume writing process. They forget – or simply don’t know how – to develop their resume from the employer’s point of view.

“Employers want to know several things about you within seconds of glancing at your resume. Your job, then, is to be hit-them-over-the-head obvious about who you are, what job you’re seeking and what you have to offer them,” says Louise Kursmark, a certified professional resume writer and author of “30-Minute Resume Makeover.”

When sifting through resumes, most employers and recruiters know exactly what they’re looking for. Resumes that meet their expectations are ones that respond to the following questions:

Who Are You?

To determine how well your resume addresses this, Kursmark suggests having friends or colleagues read it. Within five seconds of them looking at the resume, snatch it back from them and quiz them on what they know about you as a job seeker based on what they read. If they can’t offer a quick answer that truly describes you, your resumes summary needs some work.

What Can You Do For Me?

The most effective way to show employers the value you offer is to show them how you’ve contributed to an employer’s success elsewhere. These examples must be specific, measurable accomplishments that cite numbers and other details. For instance, did you create a report that tracked results, or saved the company work and time? Did you find a way to save them money by taking on a responsibility?

Do You Have The Skills I’m Looking For?

Scan job ads and job descriptions to discover which skills are most relevant to the employers and recruiters receiving your resume. Then strategically place them throughout your resume to ensure it makes it past computer scans and into the hands of employers and recruiters. If they say you need to have customer service skills then describe your previous position in such a way that it highlights that. If they want you to know a certain computer program then describe how you used it at your last job.

Where Have You Worked Before?

This one should be simple. Employers want to know where you worked, for how long and which job titles you’ve held that may indicate how prepared you are for a role at their organization.

Is Your Experience Relevant To My Needs?

Sometimes it’s necessary to expand upon a job title or job description to truly demonstrate that you have experience that applies to the job you’re seeking. Consider using bullets to present brief and interesting information that is relevant to the employer.

Do You Have The Right Education And Credentials?

If you have the education, credentials and training needed to qualify for the job, be sure to say so! Use commonly accepted terminology and keywords in this section to ensure your information isn’t misinterpreted or overlooked by employers or resume scanners.

Do I See Any “Red Flags” In Your Background?

Gaps in employment (an indication of job hopping), spending too much time in the same job or resume errors may alert employers and recruiters that you are not the type of candidate they’re looking for in their organization. You can turn “red flags” into a positive by calling attention to it first and making it a positive. Call attention by addressing the issue and explaining it thereby disarming the hiring person.

For instance if you’ve been 8 years at one job outline the various job titles, or responsibilities that were added in a date format. Say you started as the receptionist and then 2 years later you were an administrative assistant and then 2 years later you were the executive assistant to the president. Show a progression of responsibility within the company.

We asked three college recruiters what they looked for first when reviewing resumes. All three represent major companies and look over countless pages of resumes every year. Some of these come on expensive bond, some on plain copy paper. In the end it doesn’t matter, it’s what is on the paper that counts.

One college recruiter represents GTE Corp. in Irving Texas and tells us that he looks at the education portion of the resume first. He tells us that he looks at the degree, the major, the graduation date and of course the GPA.

Another recruiter is a college relations manager at J.C. Penny. Inc. in Dallas, Texas. She says she looks at the experience section first. She is looking for retail experience and then adds that her next look is the GPA and the graduation date.

The third recruiter we asked is the corporate staffing manager at America Online out of Fairfax, Virginia. This recruiter looks first for skills and experience.

They all agree that a resume should contain the skills and experience as well as the education. Your resume must communicate those elements clearly and be free from glaring grammatical and spelling errors.

Getting Started

If you’re just beginning the process of building your resume, you’ll need to construct a framework first.

“A resume is like a final term paper,” says Jeff Nardo, career services coordinator at Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville, North Carolina. “You have to put in the same energy, attention to detail, and focus.”

Your resume should begin with a heading that includes your name, address, telephone number, and, in most cases, e-mail address. If you can make it look like professional stationery letterhead this is always nice.

If you’ll be leaving campus soon, be sure to provide a way for employers to reach you. If you’re not sure where you’ll be living, it’s best to include both your campus contact information and contact information for your parents. If you don’t have an email address you can sign up for a free one at Yahoo, Hotmail or Google.

Objectively Speaking

Write your objective that clearly tells the employer the sort of work you’re hoping to do. Avoid writing grandiose “philosophy-of-life” objectives.

Employers like to see some kind of objective or summary statement. The more specific it is, the better. Then they are able to route the resume to the appropriate people.”

Tailor your objectives to each employer you are targeting-and to each job they’re seeking.

The objective is like the thesis statement for a term paper.  In it, you’re trying to prove your knowledge of a particular area.”

Education

Tell them what you have learned. You may also want to include related course work in that category or in a separate section directly beneath it.

At minimum, the education section should include your degree, when it was earned or is expected, and what college or university you attended or are attending. Be sure to include your GPA.

You should also include in this section if you’re on the dean’s list or have received other academic honors.

For most students, the education section should precede the experience section.

Be descriptive in what your work experience actually was. Don’t just say, ‘rang up sales and talked to customers.’ In other words, don’t generalize, be creative.

Students are way too negative about their fast-food experience. It’s how you position it that matters. Customer service is a wonderful training ground. Try to identify how what you did fits into the corporate world and play up that experience. Again, be creative. Emphasize the ‘customer service’ angle. Also list any promotions you received and if it was in a short timeframe make sure to brag about that. For instance, ‘promoted to Assistant Manager after 3 months.

Describe a fast food job like a work experience. “But be honest about what it is. You don’t want to snow someone into thinking it was a full-time job for two years.”

One counselor who often counsels students transitioning from other careers or returning to the workplace after raising their children, says that sometimes volunteer and home-management activities can be used as experience.

Other Categories

Recruiters and career counselors agree that not every resume needs to look exactly the same. Different people need to emphasize things in different ways.

You could also include a key skills or special competencies section, to be placed high on the resume, usually just below the objective.

Special skills, such as fluency in a foreign language or proficiency in specific computer programs, can be placed beneath the experience category as well.

Putting It On Paper

No matter how you plan to submit your resume, make sure that you’ve proofread it carefully and asked several other people to do the same.

It’s really important to remember that spell check does not work for grammar, the same holds true for homonyms. “If you have ‘their’ instead of ‘there,’ it won’t come up on spell check.”

Make sure you have spelled everything right, especially the company’s name. And keep in mind what a resume is: a summary of your job qualifications.”