How to Write a Resume That Gets You the Interview

How to Write a Resume That Gets You the Interview Before you begin writing your resume, take some time for introspection and determine why you are writing this in the first place. Where are you heading, what is the plan, what is the best job for you, who will read the resume, how will you get an interview from it? An effective resume will sell yourself and do your skills and experience justice. It will magnify you best sides and should tell the reader to take action immediately. I will assume that you already have a job in mind and that your objective is to  get that interview request. When you have established your purpose, you can now lay out the content of your resume around it and keep it focused from the employer’s point of view. It’s critical that you have this purpose nailed down so your document is focused and clear. List your Achievements Step two is to break out a big notebook and list everything you have achieved in your life. This list can be very detailed and should cover every little accomplishment. Not only will you feel good from seeing the results, you will have a great selection of achievements to pick and choose from for your resume. You can categorize your list by separate listings for education, work experience, community and charity involvement, notable achievements and skills. Don’t be shy now, put down every little part time job, every foreign language interaction and even that half day seminar you did ten years ago. List your Unique Selling Points Whatever job you are thinking about applying for, we can assume there will be competition. In the current economic climate, the competition will be very good as there have been all too many layoffs in all industries recently. What you can do is to think about what makes you better or different to the other candidates. Keep the notebook out and start thinking about your unique selling points, or USPs. Glancing at your achievements list, there should be a few ones standing out that you are proud of. You should be able to squeeze out about 20 of these. If you struggle, ask your friends, family and co-workers. Research the position and the company That position you are applying for, what do you actually know about it? You have seen a job specification I would hope. Have you checked out the company website, researched their employees on LinkedIn and done your best to understand their corporate culture? A job on paper can be very different to reality and you will want your new resume to reflect the real need that the employer has. Do what you can to find out as much background information as possible, anything to make sure you sell the benefit of hiring you to the reader. Research the process Do you know who will screen your resume? Will it even be a person or could it be rejected by a computer? If there is no name on the job description, it’s safe to assume that HR will be the first port of call. In case you see the hiring manager’s name and email, you can personalize your document and sell to this person’s needs direct. Ways to finding out the process would be to speak to the company, its employees and recruitment partners. Knowing the process will give you a slight head start and you will be in control of the event. Summary So now you know why you are writing the resume, you have an idea of what you want to include and what USPs will seal the deal. You have researched the company and the people behind it to better customize your resume. The next step will be to begin writing and to weave all the components together. Thoughts or ideas on the preparation side of resume writing? Related: 7 Ways To Improve Your Resume While Employed.

Weak Ties versus Strong Ties in your Job Search [Updated] - Career Pivot

Weak Ties versus Strong Ties in your Job Search [Updated] - Career Pivot Weak Ties versus Strong Ties Weak tiesâ€"or weak connectionsâ€"in your network are more valuable than strong ties! WHAT? Weak ties are those people who you do not know well…those people with whom you only have a casual relationship. Wait a minute. Everyone has been telling you that you need to network and develop deep relationships to help in your job search. That is still true. Here is the problem. People who know you really well, know the same people you know. People who know you more casually likely know a lot of people you do not know. Why Would Weak Ties be More Valuable than Strong Ties? This concept comes from a section of the book Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant. Look for a couple of more posts based on this book. Adam writes: Strong ties are our close friends and colleagues, the people we really trust. Weak ties are our acquaintances, the people we know casually. Testing the common assumption that we get the most help from our strong ties, Stanford sociologist Mark Granvotter, surveyed people in professional, technical and managerial professions who recently changed jobs. Nearly 17 percent heard about the job from a strong tie. Their friends and trusted colleagues gave them plenty of leads. But, surprisingly, people were significantly more likely to benefit from weak ties. Almost 28 percent heard about the job from a weak tie. Strong ties provide bonds, but weak ties served as bridges: they provide more efficient access to new information. Our strong ties tend to travel in the same social circles and know about the same opportunities as we do. Weak ties are more likely to open up access to a different network, facilitating the discovery of original leads. Here’s the wrinkle: it’s tough to ask weak ties for help. The premise is that weak ties know about people and opportunities that your strong ties do not. Therefore, weak ties can be more valuable to you in your job search than strong ties. Asking for Advice Most of us are not comfortable asking weak ties for help. Heck…I am a guy, I do not like asking for help from anyone! The magic word is to ask for advice. When you ask for advice, you will rarely be turned down. If they do turn you down, they are a jerk and you do not want to talk with them anyway. When you ask for advice from a weak tie, it is a compliment. It might sound like â€" Can you give some advice on: How to get hired at your company? Who do I need to talk to at your company to get axyz job? How to best hear of new opportunities at your company? You are not asking for a job! You are just asking for a little bit of advice. This fits nicely into the asking for A-I-Râ€"Advice, Insights, and Recommendations. Weak Tie Example #1 â€" Past Colleagues and Managers Weak tiescan come from a variety of areas. Take a moment and read about Steve in the postIntroverted Sales Guy Job Search â€" Case Study. Steve very methodically reached out to past co-workers and managers who he had worked with over the last 20 years. Many of these people he had not spoken with for over 10 years. He reached outand reached out, and finally found a former colleague who was looking for an account manager. This former colleague remembered him as an excellent account manager and a really nice guy. It was through this weak tie that Steve landed his job. Weak Tie Example #2 â€" Family Relationships If you have children still at home, you likely have a huge amount of weak ties. It is your children’s friends parents. Think about that for a second. If they are still in school, playing team sports or involved in other school activities, you have access to people who have networks that may only barely intersect your network. Even if your children are grown, look to their network for access to potential connections. One trend I am seeing is our reluctance to reach out to people much younger than us. The problem is, when we hit our 50s, 60s or beyond, our networks may age out. I wrote about this in the postHas Your Network Aged Out and Abandoned You? We need to be constantly looking for new connections and sometimes they will be younger than you would expect. Weak Tie Example #3 â€" Professional Relationships You have a lot of professional relationships outside of work. How about asking for help from your: Financial Advisor Accountant Doctor Lawyer Chiropractor Hair Dresser or Barber Personal Trainer When I was looking for a high school math teaching position, my most valuable networking connection was …. my chiropractor. At that point, I had been seeing her for over a dozen years and she had seen me through two very difficult situations, a ruptured disc in 1993 and my near-fatal bicycle accident in 2002. She knew me well, why I was pursuing a pivot into teaching and knew a lot of people I did not know, including several local school superintendents. Willingness to Reach Out to Weak Ties All of these weak ties know a lot of people who you do not know. As Adam Grant said in his book,it’s tough to ask weak ties for help. If you can become comfortable reaching out to weak ties, your network will expand greatly…and so do your opportunities. Have your weak ties been more valuable than strong ties? Tell us about it! Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

7 Essential Tools for Job Search

7 Essential Tools for Job Search Tools For Job Search If you are considering a job hunt or revamping your current search, these are the essential tools you need to succeed in finding your next opportunity. Tools For Job Search Before you start your job search, youll need to make sure you have the right gear in place to help you do it right! Sure, you need a resume, but theres so much more. Think about all the people youll be meeting with and all the email messages youll send. I want your search to be successful and productive from the start, so here are the essentials you need. 1. Email Signature Your email signature is possibly one of the most important branding tools youre not taking advantage of. It’s your chance to let everyone know what your expertise is, how to contact you and where to learn more about you online. Employees are often required to add the company logo, tagline and contact information to email signatures. As job seekers, an email signature is a subtle way to remind people what you do. Quick tips: The most important information to include is your name, phone number, email address, desired occupation and link to your LinkedIn profile. An easy solution is to use an app like WiseStamp to create and insert your signature. Learn more about what to include in your WiseStamp email signature. 2. Active and Robust LinkedIn Presence LinkedIn has become a go-to source for companies of all sizes to seek out talent. While your profile will be similar to your  resume, it is not exactly the same. LinkedIn is a social network  where people share information. Besides having a profile rich in content and media, you should also use status updates to share newsworthy articles to help build your online reputation and stay connected with your network. Quick tips: You must have a headshot, a headline that describes what you do and a summary where you tell your story. But don’t stop there.  Embed a presentation that summarizes your experience or includes testimonials. Have you checked out SlideShare (now owned by LinkedIn)? What about the LinkedIn Job Search  app? These tools give you a better mobile LinkedIn experience. 3. An Easily Accessible, On-the-Go Resume There will be occasions when someone wants you to send your resume ASAP or when you arrive at an interview and your resume  is MIA. Save your resumes so you can  easily  access them and share them from your mobile device. Quick tip: Being able to access important documents from anywhere is critical not only in your job search, but at work, too. Learn how to save and share documents using Dropbox or Google Drive, which provide free storage and are easily accessible from any device. 4. Business Cards This may seem old-fashioned, but business cards make life easier. When you meet someone new or reconnect with an old friend, just hand him or her your card at the end of the conversation. Here are ideas on what your business card should include:  Get Your Business Cards Now Quick tip: Your business card need only include the information you want to share: your name, occupation (or desired occupation), phone number, email address and links to any social media profiles, like your LinkedIn URL. If you want to use something more high-tech, try one of the apps that allows you to share your card from your phone, like CamCard. (If you are looking for other alternatives, search for business card scanning apps.) 5. Your Perfected Pitch You only have one chance to make a great first impression. Don’t blow it. You’ll need it when you meet people and they ask what you do. You’ll also need one customized for every interview you take. Your pitch conveys what problem you can solve for an employer. Use words and language to ensure your unique style and personality come through. And avoid resume-speak or jargon that isn’t universally understood. Quick tip: Keep your pitch under a minute, and practice so it sounds natural. If you need some guidance, check out the myPitch app created by Karalyn Brown of InterviewIQ. 6. Target List of Potential  Employers Rather than searching job boards all day, looking for the perfect job and getting lost in the black hole of applications, why not approach people inside companies you would like to work for? This route is more work up front, but it will help you stand out and rise to the top of the referral pile if you make the cut. Quick tip: There are tons of apps for finding posted jobs, but what you really need is additional help networking. Don’t miss Alison Doyle’s app called Career Tool Belt. Its loaded with job hunting tips, including the 30 Days to your Dream Job series to guide you day by day. 7. A Dose of Motivation Job searching tends to lead to frustration. Rejection is an unfortunate part of the process. Invest time doing things that rejuvenate your energy and keep you feeling hopeful, such as exercising, volunteering or learning a new skill. Keep moving forward and create to-do lists and follow-up actions every day. Quick tip: Whether you use a calendar system or an organizational app like Any.do, mapping out your weekly activities helps maintain momentum and puts you in the driver’s seat. This post originally appeared on US News World Report On Careers

Tips For Writing A Personal Statement Using The First Person Perspective

Tips For Writing A Personal Statement Using The First Person PerspectiveThe traditional way of writing a resume is to write in first person. However, this can sometimes be hard on the eyes, and there are many times when people want to personalize their resume with a personal statement. It is very important to be specific about what you want on your resume and to keep your wording to a minimum.Resume writing has become more complex over the years, but it is still not uncommon for those in charge of hiring to have an applicant's background checked before making a decision. This is especially true for those who have only recently come into the company.Do not give too much information. If you are not comfortable speaking in front of your interviewer, then you need to keep your opinions and other information to yourself. Even if it is something that is bothering you, you need to stay away from telling everything that you feel. This does not mean that you need to lie about your mistakes, b ut rather that you need to be careful about telling everything that you think.You should write about yourself in the third person. If you do not have a lot of time to go through every section, then you need to put yourself in a third person perspective. You may be tempted to talk about yourself in the first person, but remember that it can be difficult to stay in the third person when writing your resume.When you have to write a personal statement for a particular position, make sure that you tailor your resume to the position. Do not write about your job history that is no longer applicable to the position. Also, avoid saying things that could offend the individual hiring you.Do not start a statement by trying to convince the person interviewing you that they should hire you. Youdo not need to prove your worthiness to the employer, but it is important to give them something to think about before making a decision.A final tip for how to write a third person resume and a person's res ume will be, when writing a statement for the first time, try to remember to look in the mirror and visualize yourself in the third person. For example, instead of saying that you are upset that you missed an important meeting, try to say that you found yourself interrupted during a conversation that was a good deal more important than the one you missed. Try to focus on yourself and how you would have responded to this situation if you were in that situation.Finally, this is not a study about how to write a resume to fit certain situation. This is simply a guide to help you write a resume using the first person perspective.

Volunteering Resume Sample

Volunteering Resume SampleIf you're looking for some inspiration to create a very professional looking resume, consider looking at volunteering resume sample. If you take some time and examine these samples, you'll be in a position to develop a resume that will leave the admissions office asking why you didn't have one!This is the perfect chance to share a little bit about your volunteer activities. If you want to impress them with your volunteer work, you have to include a bit of information. It's not necessary to tell them where you worked, although it's always nice to know. It's just nice to give them an idea of what you've done.The volunteering resume sample is always a good idea because they will be able to see how much you have done. However, make sure you don't put too much information in there, or you will feel as though you've been asked to do too much. The focus should be on your volunteer experiences and accomplishments, not the volunteer activities themselves.If you reall y need to stress your volunteer activities, you might consider using the 'memo.' Many employers prefer to get a written version of their volunteer application and are willing to look over the resume yourself, or read the whole thing. In this case, you don't have to worry about whether you've included everything.Another important aspect to your volunteer resume is how many jobs you've gotten involved with. Sometimes, some people who take volunteering opportunities may apply to more than one place to try to secure that all important job. If you've applied to four different places, for example, you may want to highlight that fact in your volunteer resume sample.Volunteering requires a lot of time and effort, but it's worth it if you're considering an important promotion. If you want to show an employer that you're devoted to the service, they'll definitely be impressed with your volunteer history. Volunteer resume sample is always a good idea, but you need to look at it from a personal level.Career advancement is something that everyone looks for. That is why volunteering is always a good idea. You have the potential to change careers and move up in an organization. These opportunities don't come around too often, so make sure you look at volunteering resume sample before you begin.

The Insider Secret on Welder Resume Revealed

The Insider Secret on Welder Resume Revealed The Truth About Welder Resume You'll also have to hold a torch in place for extended amounts of time, and that means you will need steady hands. About 2-6 decades of welding experience is also needed for the job. Because being a welder can be tough and sometimes risky, by means of several tools that might be potentially hazardous to health, plenty of expertise and specific understanding of safety protocols will be important to any work application. Aaron Fishing Throughout america, there are several different ways you may become an expert welder like Aaron Ardaiz. The occupation isn't total, yet. Welding is utilized in the majority of kinds of heavy manufacturing and construction, therefore it's a useful and versatile trade. A welder resume can cover tasks in various fields. Soldering workers have a tendency to work with small pieces that should be positioned precisely. Get the Scoop on Welder Resume Before You're Too Late Yo u are able to also see Animator Resumes. Structural Welder Resumes are not just about what you've done before. Welder Resume for Dummies You could also share what you do on the job if you're a structural welder. You can also share what you do on your job if you're a TIG welder. Furthermore, you can look for welder jobs on Monster. The Secret to Welder Resume Many welding schools provide certification programs along with their welding courses. Structural welders receive some on-the-job training to get acquainted with the tools and equipment employed in the plan of the job. Teachers can make an effort to foray into various locations or build new hobbies and techniques. The Chronicles of Welder Resume Furthermore, it's possible for you to learn about skilled trades careers and search for welder jobs on Monster. Welding is also work which demands high-level skill. In their jobs, welders operate lots of distinct tools. They also need to be able to plan and manage projects. The Chronicles of Welder Resume The resume examples given below highlight the skills employers are seeking from a welder. Your welder resume should contain specifics on the sort of work you've done previously and the types of materials you've worked with. Demonstrating your prior work history is another important factor to writing a prosperous welder resume. Brazing also can be employed to apply coatings to parts in order to lessen wear and guard against corrosion. MIG welding is normal and is the simplest type to carry out. Welders must finish a special training course for each type of welding they would like to do. Thus, they must be constantly aware of safety concerns. The Welder Resume Cover Up Perfecting the type of your document isn't only expected, it is also going to reflect your capacity to concentrate on detail and will put you ahead of competition that doesn't take some time to properly proofread or format their resumes, which may literally make all of the dif ference between two similarly-qualified individuals. Thus the perfect welder resume format is one which would make it possible for you to soften the effects of having gaps in your work experience. Stick to the amount of the resume template you will use.

3 Ways To Snatch A Job With LinkedIn - Work It Daily

3 Ways To Snatch A Job With LinkedIn - Work It Daily Have you noticed the zillions are articles written about the virtues of LinkedIn and necessity of you getting on board in order to have a successful job hunt? Social media permeates our society, and LinkedIn has become the most fertile hunting ground for talent for recruiters and businesses of all sizes. The buzz about LinkedIn does point to something real, but it often doesn’t clarify, beyond “help you get a job,” the three basic ways this business social media site can help you do just that. Put in simplest terms, you should use LinkedIn in such a way as to: 1. Make you findable by companies and recruiters looking for someone with your talents and experience. 2. Enable you to find employment opportunities worth pursuing. 3. Help you learn what you need to know about the “latest and greatest” in your field, about companies you want to work for and the people who already work there, especially including the people you want to hire you... and much, much more. My latest article in U.S. News World Report covers these three things and gives specific tips about how to do them. Read Full Article Happy hunting! Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!