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Category: Job Search

A job search, also referred to “job hunt” is basically described as an individual’s desire to work for someone else – usually a large company or corporation – in return for money (wages, a salary, etc.) which can be paid in regular intervals – weekly, bi-weekly – in the form of a pacheck.

The Objective Statement: Unique and Effective

About the objective statement

As you may already know, the career objective on many standard resumes is often listed as just “objective;” but such a listing is, in fact, a statement of your career goals, and the message intended is generally a simple one: that you want to get a good job which will allow you to utilize your experience and education in a way that will maximize your earnings.

However, this is the most difficult part of a resume to compose, based on the restriction of one to two sentences in which you are expected to convey your professional expertise.

In other words, conveying a clear and concise message which includes expectations from a job and an organization, as well as goals for your professional growth in a space of only one to two sentences is really not an easy thing to do, unless uniquely descriptive terms are used; and in order to use such terms you will probably need to devote extra time to consulting your dictionary and thesaurus several times during the process.

This exercise can almost be compared to getting an intelligent point across in 140 characters; and we all know that many of those tweets are a far cry from intelligent.

Misconceptions about the objective

The extra time, study and frustration involved in composing an effective objective statement cause many people to make the mistake (often repeated) of not listing one at all, thereby relegating themselves to join those who operate under the false assumption that an objective statement is not necessary in a resume, because it states the obvious: that your objective is to get the job for which you are applying.

But such exclusion and rationalization is misconceived, because employers are looking for an objective since they want to know what you are really looking for in order to determine whether or not you’re a good match for their company.

Another common mistake many individuals make when preparing their resume is including a career objective that doesn’t actually express their goals and qualification. For example, a statement like the one which follows is commonly used in resumes:

“To obtain a position where my experience and education can be utilized and expanded.” But take a closer look at this statement and you’ll find it doesn’t say anything specific about what is being sought in terms of professional growth.

Generic statements send wrong message

When preparing your resume, make it a point to avoid the use of generic statements like the one above; because such statements will hurt you more than help you in your job search. Using such statements will cause your potential employer to be be left with an impression that you don’t have a set a goal in mind, which essentially defeats your purpose for preparing a well-written resume in the first place; don’t you agree?

By now, and in view of the above, you should have a pretty good idea of what not to do about including or omitting an objective statement on your resume; but how about some ideas that could be helpful in your day-to-day resume preparation tasks and job search goals?

The following paragraphs consist of a few ideas you may find helpful when creating your own winning career objective that should get your well-written resume noticed and get your foot in the door.

Objective statement writing tips

First – Make your career objective personal. In other words, think of your whole resume as a sales tool with your career objective as your opening statement; because you want your employer to know what you want, and not just restate what other people want.

Second – You want to state your commitment to your career goal; because if you are unsure of what you want, how is your employer expected to believe that you really want the job at their organization, and you are not just applying because you want to get out of your current work environment? Don’t be afraid to state what you want from a job and from an organization.

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Third – While you want to state your commitment, you also want to show that you are willing to take action to achieve your goal; so indicate what direction or action you are willing to take in order to accomplish your career objective.

Fourth – What might be the most important factor in a successful career objective is being specific about what you are looking for in a work situation; because while you can say that you are looking for a “challenging” environment, this doesn’t mean anything to your employer, since people define challenges in various ways. So avoid using generic and broad terms and simply state what you want, as well as what you’re willing to do to get it.

Sample: An effective objective statement

Keeping these criteria in mind, let’s revise the above career objective statement so that it effectively states what you want:

“To obtain a position of a sales representative in a health insurance industry, where I can utilize my management and customer relations skills, with the opportunity for performance-based advancement.”

Knock ’em Dead Resumes: A Killer Resume Gets More Job Interviews!

The above statement – revised from the earlier generic one – tells a potential employer that you know what kind of job you want, what experience you have in order to get the position, and what you are willing do to become a successful professional with the company.

Thus, you have just created an effective objective statement which transforms into a winning career objective to enhance your resume and increase your chances of landing the job you really want.

11/22/2015
Measuring the Listing of Experience on a Resume
When writing your own resume

For those who write their own resumes instead of paying a service to have one written for them, the goal is always to create a document that is as complete and professional as it would be if a professional resume writing service had written it; and in so doing self preparers [sic] have been known to embellish areas in an otherwise well-written resume in an effort to impress potential employers, but instead, end up defeating the intended purpose.

One of the embellishing mistakes made most often is that of the individual’s professional experience; so if you are one who prefer to write your own resume, make sure to consider the following questions before you begin writing:
- What is your career objective?
- Are you changing careers?
- Are you looking for professional growth?
- What experience do you have that will help in meeting your professional goals?
To get started in developing your resume, list all of your previous experience in chronological order, starting with your latest job on a piece of paper, in order of dates of employment, job title, full company name and location of your employment. At this point you can take a look at what you have written down and then consider (calculate?) just how much experience you have acquired based on the dates you’ve written down.

Good “best practices” rule

It has become more commonplace to change jobs more frequently and, as a result, folks are not able to build their careers in one place or with one employer; and as such, it is possible that someone with ten years of professional experience following college has had over three jobs.

Although this lack of continuity in employers does not seem that important to include on a resume, it certainly becomes significant to an individual with over 30 years of experience. It is for this reason that you should set limits on what you include and what you exclude from your well-written resume in the professional experience section.

Ideally, a well-written resume should not exceed two pages; and depending on the type of jobs you have held, as well as your responsibilities in those jobs, two pages don’t seem to account for a lot of space. So a good “best practices” rule to adopt when listing your experiences is not to exceed your most recent five jobs, despite the period over which you held them.

Always keep the length of your resume in mind when you’re deciding on the number of jobs you will list; and if your last five jobs and accompanying responsibilities will exceed one page, then consider paring down the experience to three of your most recent positions.

Avoiding embellishment

You could also consider the time you spent at each organization for which you have worked and list up to the last ten to fifteen years of experience, if that appears a more suitable fit to the resume document.

In other words, it is not necessary to list every job you’ve ever had in order to showcase your qualifications and years of experience; but if you have a long professional career, just focus on the last three to five jobs and use the profile or summary at the beginning of the resume to highlight the number of years you have spent working, or the number of years you have spent in a certain industry acquiring specific skills.

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When listing your experiences, it is important that you do so in chronological order without skipping any of the jobs you have held; and while you may feel that certain jobs are not particularly complimenting to your current career objective, you should not avoid listing them on your resume.

Work on highlighting the responsibilities that are transferable across various industries in stead of omitting particular jobs or employers which might result in gaps being created in your employment history.

Resume quality over listing quantity

It is important to understand that leaving any unexplained gaps in your work history will raise questions by your potential employer; so don’t create gaps on your resume by listing your experience out of order or skipping jobs you have had.

Finally, make sure that your cover letter accounts for any additional qualifications you would like to bring to the attention of a potential employer that you didn’t include on the resume.

Your well-written resume should be concise, well written, and designed to sell you as the best candidate for any job you pursue. Just remember: It’s quality over quantity that actually counts.
11/19/2015
Managing the Job Experience Deficiency Factor

The resume: important, complex

Resumes are thought of – by some people – as a collection of their education, skills and professional experience typed on a sheet of 11 x 8 paper; and many employers accept resumes in the place of job applications for certain available positions that need filling within their organizations.

But because of the importance placed on these documents by employers and others, it is important that you have a well-written resume when searching for a job, because contrary to what some people think, your resume is much more than information typed on a sheet of 11 x 8 paper.

As you probably already know, creating a resume is not an easy task, even if you are a professional with years of experience and multiple skills – specialized and otherwise. However, structuring a resume when you are looking to completely change careers, or when you are fresh out of school, is much more difficult because you do not have any experience – or very little – to highlight and therefore cannot present an adequate employment chronology to a potential employer. However, if you are pursuing a career change, and nothing from your past professional experience qualifies you for the new job you are seeking, you can highlight those qualifications that can be transitioned across multiple industries.

For example, if you managed people, no matter the type of business, you should highlight this skill under your experience. Rather than omitting, or not highlighting, your professional experience – even if it is not directly related to the job you are seeking – you should consider writing a professional profile, or summary at the start of your resume.

Skills and education emphasized

The summary will allow you to address your career change by highlighting your skills, as well as to convey how they relate to your career objective. This is also a situation where it is okay to reference any volunteer or community service work in which you have participated if such reference can be helpful in promoting your qualifications for the job. Keep in mind that many employers place emphasis more on accomplishments and quality of work than on the number of years an applicant may have been in a given position.

about resumes, cover letters and interviews

So if you are fresh out of school, and lack the necessary experience of full time job or professional, don’t let that be the cause of you being discouraged when creating your resume.

Instead you must focus on highlighting any skills you have acquired, as well as inherent and your education; but you should avoid using a professional profile or summary; but rather, list your career objective, and start the resume by listing your education. Make sure also to mention any awards or honors you received while in school.

Following your education, list all the skills that will qualify you for the job you are seeking; and make sure to mention any courses you’ve taken, such as project management or business communication which you can apply at work; and while you should avoid listing any experience, you can certainly title the section “Pre-professional Experience” and divide it into categories applicable to your career objective. In other words, don’t say “I spent a summer working at The Gap.” Use a sub-heading of “Customer Relations” and list any responsibilities where you have provided customer service.

Your winning resume

Tap into any community service, volunteer, or school club positions you have held in order to highlight your abilities and showcase that you are the best candidate for that job; and don’t be afraid of not having the right experience, or not having any professional experience to include in a resume.

Focus on what you can do and what you do have, rather than what you don’t have the experience in doing, and you will have a winning, adequately structured and well-written resume.

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11/13/2015
Errors to Avoid in Addressing a Cover Letter

Cover letter errors: Fixable!

It may surprise you to learn that most mistakes in the cover letter that accompanies a resume are made in the address line; and while many professionals spend extra time to revise their cover letter in an effort to make sure it is personalized to the position for which they are applying, they seem to disregard a very important and prominent area of that letter, which is its address line.

This can be very problematic since the address line in a cover letter is the first piece of information a potential employer sees in that resume package. Think about it in the sense that if mistakes are made in the address line, it is very likely that the potential employer will discard your letter and you will lose an opportunity to be considered a candidate for the job you really want.

However, there is good news: these errors can be avoided, and in the following paragraphs we discuss a few frequently repeated errors, as well as items which should be added, deleted or corrected before that cover letter is sent to a potential employer along with your well-written resume.

To whom the letter is addressed

Not addressing your cover letter to a person is a big mistake in the world of cover letters, as generic greetings such as, “To whom it may concern” or “Dear Human Resources Team,” are not looked upon favorably; and if the job description or posting does not include a contact person, it will be necessary to do a little research and find out who the appropriate contact person is for the job you are seeking. In addition, you must avoid addressing the letter to a job title.

You can call the organization or send an email to the human resource department to find out exactly who the hiring manager or the job recruiter is, and address the cover letter directly to that person. However, if you find it futile or impossible to find out who the appropriate contact is, you should simply take the most recommended course of action by leaving off any kind of generic greetings and simply begin the cover letter.

Spelling of the organization name

Misspelling the name of an organization to which you are applying for a job is really a bit careless and should not happen; but unfortunately is occurs more frequently than you would expect; and even if the cover letter is being addressed to a specific person, it is important (it’s recommended) that the company name and address be still included in the cover letter. So it is a definite plus to always make sure that the company name is spelled correctly.

Hiring managers and recruiters know from experience that misspelling the company name is a common mistake, but they also know that it’s the easiest one to avoid; so triple-check the company name on your cover letter, because if your potential employer receives the letter with an incorrect spelling of his/her company name, your letter will never make it past the first person who receives it. Let’s face it, an incorrect spelling of a company name, essentially makes that company the wrong addressee, right? Think about it!

Immediately stating your purpose

Make sure your first sentence explains why you are contacting the company, because if it doesn’t the reader might choose not to read any further. This is a common mistake, as many people assume that stating why they’re contacting the company regarding employment is unnecessary due to the fact that it is already stated on their resume.

However, this is not the case, so let your potential employer know exactly why you are contacting them; and identify the job you are interested in by stating its title, as well as and how your qualifications make you an ideal candidate for it.

Your first statement needs to be straight forward, energetic, and positive; and it should invite the employer to read through your cover letter in its entirety. Keep in mind that bland and generic opening statements will most likely result in disinterest on the part of your potential employer, and your resume will not get pass the first review.

Since the goal of a cover letter is to create interest in your resume and, by extension, in you as a candidate for the available position, to not insure that your cover letter is professional and error-free will defeat your purpose of sending it in the first place.

11/10/2015
Being Forthright and Original in a Resume

Honesty conveyed in a resume

In addition to having your professional life presented in a way that reflects the best of your skills, education and other qualification elements, it is important to make sure that your resume and cover letter showcase your ethics and sincerity as well; because that resume document which you worked so hard to get right is a reflection of who you are. So when you compose your well-written resume, make sure there are no errors or gaps that would raise questions or leave open to misinterpretation, exactly what you are attempting to convey.

Additionally, while highlighting those qualifications that present you as the best candidate for the job, make sure that you include any credentials, certificates/licenses (where applicable) or specific language which could convey to your potential employer that you are a polished, detail-oriented professional who is also trustworthy, capable and reliable. Of course, doing all these things can be a difficult task, since the conveyance of honesty coupled with good intentions in a form letter and a resume is not an easy thing to do.

However, many employers keep a strict no tolerance policy against dishonesty, and therefore you will have to take extra care in making sure that all the information on your resume is authentic and truthful. Intentionally lying on a resume is not acceptable, but there are certain areas of your resume that may cause you to unintentionally list incorrect information; so pay close attention to the following aspects of your resume so that you can avoid giving your potential employer the impression that you are untruthful.

Avoiding unwanted interpretations

List your exact title under professional experience, because many professionals have titles that are company specific and therefore might not make sense outside of the organization where they work; so always list your exact title, but feel free to add a few words that explain what your responsibilities were in relation to the overall industry. This way, when your potential employer calls your employer for a reference check, they will confirm your exact title, but also understand the scope of your position as it applies outside of that specific organization.

When in doubt do not guess, because that could lead to unwanted interpretations and conclusions by a potential employer. For example, if you are unsure when you started or ended a job due to the length of time that has elapsed since you worked for that company, simply call the company and ask about your employment dates. Do not make assumptions about dates or titles of your references; and don’t take liberties with their contact information, certification dates, or any other pertinent information. Always take the time to verify any information you are unsure of before including it on your resume.

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Truthfully & adroitly filling employment gaps

It makes no sense to cover up your employment gaps, so don’t commit this unforced error, since having gaps in employment on a resume has certainly been done before and is therefore something that a potential; employer will understand. Many professionals have gaps in their experience for various reasons, but they don’t try to hide this from potential employers. So simply address any work history gaps in your cover letter, and be honest regarding the reasons you were not working during a specific period.

Be honest about your accomplishments, since it is futile to try and reinvent yourself by citing events, completed tasks and activities that never took place. Rather than worrying about the qualifications you may not have, be confident in those you do have and highlight your work experience and achievements in a truthful manner. Do not exaggerate skills, professional roles, or stretch the employment dates. Work on presenting yourself and your qualifications in the best possible light.

What a functional resume looks like!

Developing a comfort level with your resume

Take the time to quantify your accomplishments, and compose a positive professional summary for your resume; and revise the document until you feel comfortable that all the information included is truthful and will not raise any questions by a potential employer that you have not addressed in the resume or accompanying cover letter. The rule is: be honest on your resume; so by no means should you include any information that breaks that rule.

11/07/2015
Business Owners Should Have Resumes Too

The business owner’s resume

When asked to give their impression of business owners, most normal, everyday people would probably paint a picture of individuals who are always busy dealing with things that pertain to keeping their business profitable and running smoothly; and if you asked them whether or not they believe a business owner needs to have an up-to-date resume, they would probably answer with a resounding “no” which would seem, at first glance, to be the most practical answer; but when you think about it a little more the reverse is actually true.

This is because small business owners – based on the very nature of their standing in the community, as well as the responsibilities they have undertaken – should have an updated resume so they can share their professional experiences with likely investors, potential vendors, prospective clients, and other entities they must deal with in order to operate a credible, trusted and profitable business. In other words having an updated resume is critical for any professional, even if that professional is not in search of a job.

functional resume

A resume for the potentially self-employed

Consider, for example, that you have a viable business idea which might be good enough to start your own business with. In order to take the preliminary steps towards implementing your idea, it is important that you also have a polished, professional, well-written resume which you will need to present – along with your business plan – in order to secure investment dollars for your business and get started. This type of resume should be written as if you are applying to be a business owner of the organization you wish to start.

You might say that this sounds a bit silly, since you would of course be working for yourself; but it’s important for the potentially self-employed to show their investors that they have the professional experience required to run a business of the type being proposed; and their qualifications, career goals, education and prior experience should all be aligned with whatever business venture they are pursuing. But that’s not all, because once you have started your own business, you will come in contact with vendors, independent contractors, and clients who will want to know what you are about before they decide to do business with you.

A resume specific to its recipient

While you can promote your business through a web site, or other advertising media, if you are new to what you are attempting to do, people will want to know about you; so to help convince them of your abilities, you can use a resume to apprise them of your qualifications. Of course you can use the same resume for your vendors and/or clients as you used for your investors; but keep in mind that any financial goals pertaining to the business which may be necessary for your investors, should never appear on the resume or personal letter you send to your clients or business partners.

about resumes, cover letters and interviews

Just take steps to insure that your professional summary is changed to appropriately show how you would service your clients or your vendors; but a statement about client satisfaction would be necessary (enough?) in a resume which you would share with prospective clients. Additionally, as a small business owner, you may have an opportunity to branch out into another business, start a new location of your existing business, partner with another company, or even have an opportunity to go work for a larger company in your field.

Having a resume on hand

In each of these scenarios, you may need an up-to-date resume highlighting your professional and entrepreneurial experience, so it is best to have a prepared resume; and keep updating it or customizing it for specific audiences as necessary. You really should avoid finding yourself in a position of not having a resume when one is requested, or having to develop a resume from a blank page in a short period of time, since this would tend to expose you to appearing unprofessional, and not representing yourself or your business in a professional and serious manner.

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Make no mistake about the importance of this very real item which should be a part of your important document file; because you will definitely want to have a well-written resume that is well well-formatted and error-free even if you do own your own business. In the final analysis, marketing yourself well and marketing your business well, will assure your success as a business owner, whether it’s a sole proprietorship or a larger enterprise.

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11/04/2015
Resume Review Help and Proofing Parameters

Resume proofing: A critical task

Anyone who has ever written a resume will agree that writing, formatting and completing such an important document is a time consuming process; and in order to ensure that a resume achieves the goal for which it was prepared, there is one important step which must be taken before it is sent to designated recipients – potential employers. However, a surprisingly high number of professionals make the mistake of not reviewing their final resume document with fresh eyes before sending it out, thereby relegating it to the recycling bin.

That having been said, it might seem redundant to emphasize the importance of proofreading what you may believe to be a well-written resume document before forwarding it to potential employers; but reviewing, editing and perfecting such a document is a routine (or even a habit) that you – if you are a job applicant writing your own resume – should adopt, since failing to do so can have an undesired result on your chances of securing the job in which you are really interested.

With that in mind, you are encouraged to take a look at the following concepts which we hope will help you with the final stages of perfecting your well-written resume and making sure the document is in top shape before it reaches any of the potential employers to whom you intend to send it.

Check for grammar and spelling errors

Proofreading your resume document is one of the most critical steps in your resume review process, because it is often hard to catch composition errors after you’ve spent hours writing and re-writing all parts of it, or any other important document; but it is something which must be done and there are two workable methods you can use to effectively catch resume errors

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One method is to ask someone else to proofread your resume, or give yourself time between writing and reviewing it; and if you ask a friend or a family member for help, make sure that their strengths include spelling and grammar; but they should also be able to edit your resume for content and consistency in style. Asking others to review your resume, however, should be done with parameters. For example, let your friend know what you are struggling with, so that they can help you address those concerns.

Because personal preferences can come into play when you are discussing resumes, make sure the changes you make are the kind with which you are comfortable in terms of content. Another method you can utilize in proofreading, which should be thought of as a must, is to step away from the document for a day or two, and then revisit it for a final review. This gives you some space from the content, and will allow you to review for grammatical and spelling errors with fresh eyes.

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Printing out and emailing your resume

So that you know what your potential employers will receive after you submit your resume, just print out the document and take a look at its appearance, or email it to yourself (if you have more than one email address), or email it to a friend or family member where you will have immediate access to the digital version. However, you must make sure to print your resume from the file in which you are emailing it to your employer; and make sure that the margins are set properly and are not cutting off any content.

Look for spaces and adjust the text in case of any large gaps on the paper. In addition, if you email your resume to some of your friends, have them open the file and let you know how it appears on their screen, as well as how it prints out. Addressing any formatting issues before your resume reaches a potential employer is ideal, so doing a couple of test runs will only assist you in developing an error-free final resume.

The resume-to-job requirements comparison

When you do a comparison of your resume to a particular job’s requirements, it is important to make sure that all requirements are addressed, either in your resume or your cover letter; and a major part of such comparison is to review exactly what the employer is looking for and make sure that your resume addresses all of their needs. Keep in mind that when potential employers receive your resume, they will look for key terms from their job description in order to match your qualifications to their available position.

If possible, use some of the same terminology on your resume as the employer used on the job description, as this will let the employer know that you are in sync with their needs, thereby making them more interested in you as the ideal candidate for the job. Ask one of your friends to review the job description and your resume as well, and give you their impression on how well the two match.

Meticulous review = landing a great job!?

Probably the most important thing you should take away from this article, is the fact that a poorly written and/or formatted resume will – in effect – let most of your potential employers know that you don’t pay any attention to detail; but on the other hand, taking whatever extra time that is necessary to do a final review of your resume document is one of the most important things you can do in getting an employer’s attention, thereby ensuring that you get the job you really want.

10/31/2015