Filed Under Job Hunting | Comments Off

Michelle Dumas asked:


Do you have a completely unblemished work history? Was writing your resume a breeze because you are perfectly qualified with a model career and educational background?

Or, do you find yourself struggling to prepare your resume…struggling because of some glitch or problem in your background that you don’t know quite how to overcome in your resume?

* Maybe you are too old…or too young…

* Maybe you have an obvious gap in your work history…

* Maybe you have changed employers too many times…

* Maybe you are a new graduate with little-to-no relevant experience…

* Maybe you are an executive who needs to explain what appears to be a demotion…

* Maybe you are returning to the workforce after taking some time off…

* Maybe you are trying to change careers and your past experience doesn’t relate…

Don’t feel alone! It is the extraordinarily rare job searcher who doesn’t struggle with how to deal with some problem on their resume.

As a professional resume writer I have worked with thousands and thousands of clients, and while every single one of those clients is unique, they all have one thing in common: they have a problem that they need me to solve for them. How do I do it? Very honestly, each individual client often requires a solution that is as unique as he or she is. But, prior to starting and new resume writing project for a client, there are six steps that I carefully think through. As you work on developing or refining your own resume — as you try to come up with ways to transform YOUR troubled work history into a job-winning resume — it may be helpful for you to work through the same six steps.

Step #1 - Know your goal

What is your current career goal? What profession? What industry? What professional level? Knowing your objective and your goals for a job search is the foundation of not just your resume, but of your entire job search. Unless you know where you are going, you will have no idea what the focus of your resume must be and you won’t even have a clue how to begin writing it. Don’t expect a busy employer to figure it out for you. Your resume must have a precise focus and it must convey that focus in five seconds or less. If it doesn’t, it will be discarded. It is that simple.

Step #2 - Know your audience

Now that you know your goal, you are in a position to begin thinking about the recipients of your resume. What are the expectations and requirements of a candidate for the job you are targeting? What are the problems that a person in your ideal position is likely to be faced with? Remember (speaking of problems) that the person doing the hiring has problems that they are hoping their new-hire will solve. What are those problems? Do they need to increase sales? Reduce costs? Increase productivity? Improve efficiency? If you clearly identify the problems of your target audience, you can construct an entire resume focused on how you are the ideal candidate to solve them. Do that effectively and whatever issue you are dealing with in your troubled work history will suddenly become a non-issue.

An employee is an investment, and if you can create a resume that proves you will produce a better RETURN on that investment than the next guy (even the one with the squeaky clean work history), doors will swing open to you.

Step #3 - Know your competition

Who is your competition in the job market? What qualifications might they have that you don’t have? Do you have qualifications that your competition doesn’t have? For most situations, I’m not referring to specific individuals. Obviously you wouldn’t want to violate the privacy of any specific person competing for the same type of job. But, there is definite value in trying to define your competition in generalities. What types of qualifications does the typical candidate have for the job you are targeting?

Very clearly defining your competition is a crucial part of step #4…

Step #4 - Clearly identify the problem(s)

Okay. Now that you know where you are going, know what your audience is seeking, and know what your competition brings to the table, you are ready to fully define the problem or problems that your resume must overcome.

Some of those problems might be obvious. Work-history gaps, concerns about age discrimination, and multiple job changes are among the most common. But, having worked your way through the prior three steps, you may have identified others. Are there key qualifications you are lacking? Educational requirements that you don’t quite meet? Ways that your experience doesn’t quite stand up to your competition? Whatever those problems might be, make sure you define them. In the next step, we will begin to solve them.

Step #5 - Be willing to throw the rules out the window and think outside the box

Now, take everything you have ever read or learned about resume writing and forget it. Well, maybe not everything, but at this point you definitely do need to begin thinking creatively and strategically.

Remember that a resume is essentially an advertisement - a marketing piece - a personal sales pitch. Resumes are NOT autobiographies! They are personal marketing documents meant to sell you as the ideal candidate for a particular position. Everything about the content, the structure, and the design of your resume should be strategically and selectively included, excluded, highlighted, or de-emphasized.

Always be absolutely and meticulously honest, but be willing to think outside the box and present your background in a format and structure that will be most flattering to you in relation to the career goal you are targeting.

Do you want to be one of a kind? Or do you want to be one of many? Your resume is meant to make you stand out and shine. You will NOT achieve this by following some rigid template and structure that doesn’t have the flexibility to showcase your unique qualifications.

Step #6 - Reframe, reposition, reformat, and redesign

It is really all about how you frame and position your experience, your achievements, your educational background, and any other qualifications. Once you get to this step, you are ready to put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) and begin writing your resume. Take what you know about the expectations and the desires of your target audience, combine this with your understanding of the competition and the problems you defined in Step #4, and start writing your resume.

Perhaps you are making a career change into a completely new profession. While it is often not immediately obvious to the recipient of your resume, much of your experience is usually transferable. How can you “reframe” your past experience to selectively emphasize the transferable skills and de-emphasize those that will no longer be relevant?

Is there a qualification you are lacking for the position you are targeting? It is very common for a person to have developed a particular qualification in a non-traditional way, from some other seemingly unrelated experience. How can you “reposition” that experience to illustrate the qualification in question?

Maybe you are returning to a career path that you veered away from ten years ago. Your recent experience is not as relevant as your past experience. What opportunities do you have to “reformat” your resume to bring the older skills to the forefront?

Or maybe you have a couple of big gaps in your work history. Can you think of a way to “redesign” your resume to take the visual emphasis off of the chronology/dates of your experience and place it instead on your achievements and results?

So, what problems does your resume need to solve? What challenges are you dealing with that you must face to turn your less-than-perfect work history into an effective resume? As you get started, remember, it is words on a piece of paper. It is easy to edit and move things around. Don’t be afraid to experiment (just do it BEFORE you use it in the job market!).

If you aren’t sure what the best solution is, create several versions and ask your friends and family for feedback before choosing the one you use in your search. And, if you get stuck, that is what professional resume writers are here for! We can often provide solutions that you would never have thought of on your own.

Do you want to use this article in your ezine, website, or other publication? You are welcome to as long as you use the following text with it:



Dau

Woop asked:


Job 1: Independent Contractor (has writeoffs for gas, office supplies, etc.)

Job 2: Employee (has writeoffs for gas, office supplies, etc.)

Job 3: Employee

Also, I have $1500 in interest for student loans.

How do I separate all of these for my tax filing?
I work from home as an employee. That’s why I have office supplies on there.

Also, once I’ve filled out the Schedule A and Schedule C, where do I total everything up?

Mechelle

Filed Under Job Hunting | Comments Off

Abhishek Agarwal asked:


You can avail of the innumerable free resume writing software available on the Internet; however, these free software might not have a number of features necessary to create an impressive resume. People who plan to write a professional-looking resume prefer to purchase a resume writing software with features that will enable them to change their resume to make it better.

Resume writing software are available at a variety of prices. The price depends on the features offered by the program. Study various components of a resume writing software to determine if it is worth purchasing and whether it is within your budget. Consider the following features that will assist you in making the right choice of software. Do you intend to write just one resume, your own, or are you a professional resume writer who has to write a number of resumes in the course of your career?

While writing a resume, you should be aware that there are basically two types of resumes: the functional resume and the chronological resume. The chronologic resume, which makes a list of work experiences according to dates, is more popular among prospective employers and employees alike. However, freshers and those who have large gaps in their work histories rely on the functional style, which focuses on skills rather than a chronological record of work experiences.

Usually, a resume writing software offers anywhere between 90 to 300 various types of fonts. While considering fonts, you have to remember that you don’t use decorative fonts to write a resume. Most resumes are written in standard fonts.

Not all resume writing software come with a thesaurus; however, most of them comprise a spell-check facility. If you want to write a single resume, you don’t really need a thesaurus, but people who write a number of resumes require a thesaurus and had better purchase a package that offers a thesaurus.

Several resume writing software comprise links to job portals, which enables you to easily create online profiles, upload your resume online, and search jobs.

Usually, resume writing software comprises a set of key phrases that you can use when you are writing about your educational qualification, skills, and other aspects of your resume. You can select and modify these phrases as per your requirement.

Certain resume writing software enables you to easily convert your file to a PDF file; however, not all software have this facility. If you want to e-mail your resume, a PDF format is the best. You can convert a word file into a PDF file even without a resume writing software.

Some resume writing software are not compatible with newer versions of Windows, such as Vista, or with MacIntosh. Most of them are, however, compatible with any operating system.

Do a little research to find out the best resume writing software for you. The Internet is the best source of information regarding this.



Fifi

Hammertime asked:


Aside from the job of Graphic Designer and Web Designer… What kind of job can utilize graphic design and web design skills?
Yellow- So you are of the impression that only people who are JUST graphic designers do graphic designs? There are no other fields where that skill comes in handy?

Sami

cutielovesu asked:


Like since there’s so many different types of job in this major (finance), what are they and what do you have to do in that specific job?

Daveta

mimi asked:


I have good income, good credit score, and a good down payment but the job history is not good. I have only been at my job 4 months, but I really want a house. Are they even going to consider me?

Kees

ETC’s Mom asked:


I’ve been out of work almost 4 years taking care of my kids and now I’m planning on going back to work. Is there a way to say I’ve been a full time mom on my resume so companies realize what I’ve been doing since my last job? I don’t know what the acceptable standard is for this kind of lapse in work.

Eyde

DC asked:


I would like to know if there are any jobs out there that works during school schedule? I have 3 young ones and I would like to be home when then are home also (eg. after school, holidays & vacations). I also need to work b/c my spouses job is not cutting it. Thanks for any info.

Ferdinanda

Filed Under Job Hunting | Comments Off

Mario Churchill asked:


If you are seeking employment, you will want to build a professional resume. There are many different ways to build a professional resume and for a professional resume example, you can look a number of places online. There are also many different software programs that will show you a quality professional resume example which you can copy and simply add your own information.

Many people choose to build their resumes on their word processors. Most word processing programs have templates that can be used to give one an accurate glimpse of a professional resume example. A professional resume is not difficult to build. It is simply a list of your accomplishments, employment history, skills and education. The biggest mistake people make when building their professional resume is underestimating their skills and knowledge. By viewing a professional resume example, you can see exactly how you should display your knowledge so that it gets noticed by your prospective employer.

When building a professional resume, it is important that you do not use elaborate fonts or fanciful designs. Take a look at a professional resume example and you will see that it is done in a classic style with easy to read fonts on a muted or plain paper. You will not see any fancy designs or symbols. A professional resume should exhibit your accomplishments, not your computer skills. When you view a professional resume example, you will see that it is tasteful, simple and to the point.

It is very important, when building a professional resume, to list all of your accomplishments, knowledge and skills. Many times, people bunch all of these items into one long, difficult to read paragraph. If you take a look at a professional resume example, you will see that most of them use bullet points to highlight skills and knowledge. This makes it much easier for employers to read and understand.

A professional resume example will also show you how to set up your resume so that you are certain that you include everything that you need to put into your resume. All too often, people forget to put in certain facts or do not realize that a major award that they won can be a great asset to them when applying for a job. By looking at a professional resume example, you can see everything that you should list on your resume that will be of benefit to you.

This works both ways. Many people tend to add insignificant information onto their resumes that are not needed. By taking a look at a professional resume example, you can see which information that can be eliminated. For example, you do not need to list all of your employment back to the time when you were 16 years old. Your stint at Dairy Queen is not essential to your new job, unless you are again applying at Dairy Queen, in which case, you will probably not need a resume. It is also not necessary to list where you went to grammar school. If you have a post graduate degree, you should list the name of the school, the type of degree which you received and any honors or awards. Then you should list your undergraduate school and degree. In the case of someone with a post graduate degree, they do not need to list their high school education.

By taking a look at a professional resume example, you can see many different types of resumes for many different occupations. There are examples for those for nurses, attorneys, teachers and other individuals. There are also many different styles from which to choose. This is probably the easiest way to build your own resume. Simply copy the resume to your own word processing program and fill in your own information.

By viewing a professional resume example, you can learn exactly how to build your own professional resume. There are many different examples provided both on the internet as well as in different software programs.

Your resume is the first impression you will make on your potential employer. The importance of a resume cannot be underestimated and should be done correctly. By viewing a professional resume example, you are helping yourself build the best possible resume designed to reflect your own skills and knowledge.



Korney

tburdette87 asked:


I will be graduating from college in May with a bachelors in accounting. I have began applying for jobs but I do not know what job titles to search for jobs other than accounting ones. I am not restricting my job search only to accounting jobs but what should I search for other business jobs?

Souphalack

Next Page →