Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets10 Seconds or Less

Based on the resumes I see on a daily basis, I am not sure there is full appreciation for the amount of time any reviewer gives to your carefully crafted opus. The sad truth is that unless the information presented has a clarity greater than the other documents in that stack of 100-500, it can easily be passed over even though you MAY be the most qualified person in the pile.

Think long and hard about any of the speed reading that you do starting with the morning newspaper. I sometimes feel sorry for the reporters who have slaved over the stories I skip because I have been unable to find even one word of interest to jump up and “bite me.” I am sure that they worked as long and as hard as the authors of the ones I choose to digest along with my morning coffee and bagel.

What do you think is the most important information on your resume? If you guessed your remarkable achievements, you would be wrong. Most jobs fall to location (local candidates only), industry and then job titles previously held. Is all of this information clearly identifiable on your resume? If not, this may very well be why you are not hearing back on jobs where you think you are a “perfect fit.” What is obvious to you is apparently not so obvious to your reader.

Small fonts or unusual fonts, and margins less than 1 inch all the way around are good ways to make the decision to screen out your resume a “no brainer.” The eyes get bleary after even a short period of time trying to focus on the essential information so carefully concealed.

You can read all you want about white space and page layout, but it is often hard to apply this wisdom to your own materials. That is why you have friends. Allow them to be brutally honest and you just might be able to cure the most obvious flaws to THEM that you just can’t see anymore.

I have often been heard to say that I wasn’t born yesterday. The problem is that many of the folks reading this vital marketing document of yours were. Or, they just might not be all that knowledgeable. (If they were really smart, how would they have gotten stuck reviewing resumes all day?) Even if the names of your former employers appear in bold type, and your titles are clear, if you don’t take the time to “define” the company background (in 10 words or less), you are just kidding yourself that XYZ Corporation is going to ring a bell with anyone important when they are never going to see your paperwork.

We can lament all we want about the shortened attention span in the world, but the truth is that the obligation to communicate is ours. Just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, resumes are best written and rewritten until they do the job you need them to do.

Make a habit of collecting resumes at meetings and always be comparing the work you have done with the work of others. The best ideas are freshly stolen.

Out of the box thinking may be a good thing when you are working, but deviating from accepted formats for your resume is not. What if financial reports started sometimes with net profits at the top or perhaps in the middle? Don’t you think it would be confusing?

There are times to conform and times to innovate. The general structure of a resume needs to conform so the reader who is going at 100 miles an hour can find what they need. Make them hunt and they will move on to the next document. Try to make sure the one they examine in detail is yours by making their job easy.Remember:

1) Most jobs fall to location (local candidates only), industry and then job titles previously held.2) Small fonts or unusual fonts, and margins less than 1 inch all the way around are good ways to make the decision to screen out your resume a “no brainer.”3) The best ideas are freshly stolen.4) The general structure of a resume needs to conform so the reader can find what he/she needs.

Matt Budd

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsCommon Resume Mistakes1

We tend to read what we think we wrote, especially when we work on documents for long periods of time or documents which have many iterations. How many hours have you spent on your resume? Most people devote over twenty hours to working on their resumes. At some point, things blur together and words start to lose meaning. When that happens, errors are overlooked and grammar demons have a feeding frenzy. Here are some of the most notorious offenders:

Homophones – Remember these? Your teacher probably taught these to you as "same sound" words. Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Some examples are "hear vs. here" and "right vs. write". In a resume, you often see these masquerading for each other in the forms of "their vs. there" or "led vs. lead". Spell-check usually doesn't catch because they are not misspelled, just misused.

Verb tense errors – Resumes are written in past tense. Experience, by its very nature, happened in the past. Job descriptions and achievements should be written in past tense, but it is easy to slip into present tense when you are thinking of what you did in a job.

Similar words – Words that are very similar in spelling but have different meaning can be the nails in the coffin on your resume. The most common offender is "manger". It's a common typo of the word "manager". Spell check won't catch it because "manger" is a perfectly spelled word. Another, probably more embarrassing similar word, is "pubic". It sometimes comes in place of the word "public". Again, spell check is useless to find this error and unless you are really looking for it, you won't see it on cursory inspection either. Unfortunately, it seems to jump out at the hiring manager and you often see this one on "resume bloopers".

Incorrect email address or phone number – Which is correct – 983-1001 or 983-0001? You can't tell, right? Even if you knew what the number was supposed to be, the error would be hard to find. It is really important to slow down and read each number and the email address on your resume very closely. Wrong numbers and email addresses that bounce will kill your job search.

Beyond mechanical and grammatical errors such as those listed above, outdated techniques can sink your resume, too. Resume styles change over time. What was "in" in the 70's is obsolete now,forty years later. A sure way to brand yourself as a dinosaur in a world of "dynamic, results-oriented professionals" is to have a resume that is out of style. Be careful of the following outdated resume techniques:

Document title – A resume is no longer labeled "Resume of" at the top. Employers recognize a resume without it having to be labeled.

References provided on request – Employers know you will provide references when requested. Everyone does. It's expected.

Hobbies and Interests – Employers don't care if you were the hot dog eating champion of your fraternity or that you like to collect butterflies. Don't waste the space on your resume with hobbies.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsPersonal information – Not only is information such as date of birth, marital status, children or health condition irrelevant, it can result in your resume being eliminated from consideration altogether. Employers do not want to see this information about you on a resume, and they are often compelled by their legal departments to throw your resume out if you include it.

Typing speed – Typewriters serve as boat anchors these days. "Typing speed" is not a modern term. It also does not benefit to list things like "able to use a fax machine" or "shorthand".

Double check your resume for any of these bloopers and make sure you have corrected any that you find. Your resume has to represent you well if it is going to be effective. Mechanical mistakes and out-of-date techniques communicate negative messages about you and will eclipse the great skills or experience you have. Remember, employers are excluding resumes when they are screening candidates. They are weeding out those resumes that show any problems. Don't be a victim of "manger" or "like to play shuffleboard".

1 Alesia Benedict, Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Job and Career Transition Coach (JCTC) is the President of GetInterviews.com, the country's leading resume writing firm.

Seven Ways to Ruin Your ResumeIn the time it takes you to read this paragraph, the average recruiter will have plowed through six

resumes. (We know; we timed one.) Want to increase the chances of your resume making it to the next round? Then don't do any of these seven things, which recruiters say make them want to push the "shred" button.

1. Apply for a job for which you are not remotely qualified Many candidates believe the job hunt is a numbers game - drop enough resumes, and you're bound

to land something. But shotguns are for hunting pheasant, not finding jobs. The reality is that recruiters hate wasting time on resumes from unqualified candidates. Morgan Miller, an executive recruiter at StaffMark, recalls the security guard who applied to be a financial risk manager (maybe Lehman should have hired him), while Scott Ragusa at Winter, Wyman talks of the aerial photographer who sought out a position as a tax specialist.

"Sorting through unqualified resumes is frustrating, unproductive and puts an extra burden on staff," says Katherine Swift, Senior Account Director at KCSA Strategic Communications in Natick, Mass. "It also makes it much more challenging to find the right candidate." So the next time you're thinking of blasting out resumes to all 60 of the job listings on Monster.com that have the word "finance" in them , save your time (and that of the recruiters) and only apply for ones for which you're qualified.

2. Include a lofty mission statement.More than ever, today's savage job market is about the company, not the candidate. As such,

mission or objective statements - particularly ones with an applicant's hopes, dreams, and health insurance aspirations - will dispatch otherwise fine resumes to the circular file. Employers don't care about how they can solve your problems - certainly not before they've met you and possibly not even after they've hired you. Instead, write an "objectives" statement that explains specifically how your skills and experience will help the company you're applying to, not the other way around. And be very clear about what kind of job you're seeking.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets3. Use one generic resume for every job listing.

To stand out amongst the sea of resumes that recruiters receive, yours must speak to each and every specific position, even recycling some of the language from the job description itself. Make it obvious that you will start solving problems even before you've recorded your outgoing voicemail message. Your CV or query letter should include just a touch of industry lingo - sufficient to prove you know your stuff but not so much that you sound like a robot. And it should speak to individual company issues and industry challenges, with specifics on how you have personally improved customer loyalty, efficiency, and profitability at past jobs, says workplace and performance consultant Jay Forte. Plus, each morsel should be on point.

"Think hard about how to best leverage each piece of information to your job search advantage," says Wendy Enelow, a career consultant and trainer in Virginia. "Nothing in your resume should be arbitrary, from what you include in your job descriptions and achievement statements, to whether your education or experience comes first [recent grads may want to put education first] to how you format your contact information."4. Make recruiters or hiring managers guess how exactly you can help their client.

Sourcing experts want to know - immediately - what someone can offer, and they won't spend time noodling someone's credentials. "Animal, vegetable or mineral? Doctor, lawyer or Indian chief? That's what I'm wondering every time I open a resume. If it takes me more than a split second to figure this out, I feel frustrated," says Mary O'Gorman, a veteran recruiter based in Brooklyn.

5. Don't explain how past experience translates to a new position.Though candidates should avoid jobs where they have no experience, they absolutely should

pursue new areas and positions if they can position their experience effectively. A high school English teacher applying for new jobs, for example, can cite expertise in human resource management, people skills, record keeping, writing, and training, says Anthony Pensabene, a professional writer who works with executives.

"Titles are just semantics; candidates need to relate their 'actual' skills and experiences to the job they're applying for in their resume," Pensabene says. An applicant who cannot be bothered to identify the parallels between the two likely won't be bothered with interviews, either.

6. Don't include a cover letter with your resume.A cover letter should always accompany a resume - even if it's going to your best friend. And that

doesn't mean a lazy "I'm _____ and I'm looking for a job in New York; please see my attached resume." Says Lindsay Olson, a partner at Manhattan's Paradigm Staffing: "I'd like to know why you are contacting me (a particular position, referral, etc.), a short background about yourself, and a career highlight or two. It's important to attempt to set yourself apart from the competition."

7. Be careless with details.Reckless job hunters rarely make for conscientious workers. As such, even promising resumes

must abide by age-old dictums: typo-free, proper organization, and no embellishment. Susan Whitcomb, author of Resume Magic:

Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer, says that almost 80 percent of HR managers she surveyed said they would dismiss otherwise qualified candidates who break these rules. She tells the story of one would-be employer who, when looking for an assistant, decided not to hire anyone because every resume she received contained typos.1 “7 ways to ruin your resume” by CBS MoneyWatch.com. “What not to do with your resume,” By Hillary Chura

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsYou know the feeling. You spend hours, or even days, creating a résumé. You pore over every

word of your cover letter and agonize over what to say in your email. Then you hit ‘send’ and wait. And wait. And wait. No one calls. No one writes. You don’t know if anyone even saw your résumé. When this happens, it’s easy to get dejected and worry that employers are not interested in you. Don’t! Remember, they haven’t met you. They have only seen your résumé and that may be the problem.

An overwhelming majority of job seekers make basic mistakes with their résumés - mistakes that ensure that they will not get the interviews they deserve. If you feel as though you’re sending your résumé into a black hole, try this ‘Ten Step Program’ to diagnose problems and get your résumé working for you.

1. Is your résumé the right length? You may have heard that your résumé should fit on one page. This is nonsense. Recruiter or hiring

managers don’t care if your résumé is one or two pages long. But they do care whether it is easy to read and gives key information upfront. Your résumé can be one, two, or (occasionally) even three pages. The only rule is that the length should be appropriate for you. If in doubt follow the (very general) rule of thumb that less than 5 years experience probably only requires one page and more than that may need two.

2. Does your résumé clearly position you as someone who can meet the needs of the employer? Think of a résumé as an advertisement for a product, only this time the product is you. Just like

any other advertisement, positioning is everything. The person who receives your résumé will scan it quickly perhaps for no more than 20 seconds to determine whether you can help her company. Your job is to say quickly, clearly and loudly that you can!

Don’t just launch into a chronology of your career history. Instead, determine your own positioning by spelling out your message at the start of the résumé and giving the reader your version of events upfront. For this reason, you should use the first 1/3 of your résumé to create a compelling personal profile which highlights your key strengths in an attractive, easy-to-read format.

3. Does your résumé begin with an objective?Don’t start with an objective. Recruiters and hiring managers don’t like them because they focus

on the needs of the job seeker rather than the needs of the potential employer. Consider this objective statement: “Seeking a software engineer position with a progressive employer where I can contribute to the development of new technologies and work with bright, committed people.”

This may be very honest but it is irrelevant to the reader, who does not care what you want and only cares what you have to offer. Instead of an objective, try using a positioning statement that clearly and concisely explains what you have to offer. “Senior Software Engineer with 10 years experience developing leading-edge technologies.” Now the reader can immediately see your value to the company. (For even greater impact, tailor this statement for each position so that the reader immediately sees a match between his/her needs and your skills.)

4. Does your résumé contain specifics?You must place your achievements in context by providing specifics. For example, don’t say

something vague like “contributed to product design.” This tells the employer nothing about your actual contribution. Instead be specific about what you did: “Conducted market analysis for (name of product) to determine design and mechanics. Led changes to original design spec. despite initial developer objections. Received critical acclaim and sold over 4 million units.” See how being specific makes a difference? This level of detail shows the reader the contributions you have made in the past (and therefore the contributions you can be expected to make in the future.)

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets5. Have you outlined achievements as well as responsibilities?

Don’t provide a laundry list of responsibilities without showing what results you achieved. Most employers already know what the main responsibilities of your job were. They want to know what makes you different from all the other applicants. An effective résumé summarizes job responsibilities in a few sentences and then provides details of quantifiable achievements. Focus most of your résumé on the results you accomplished, not the regular duties of your job.

6. Are there any typos? Your résumé has to be perfect. Proofread it over and over again. When you are sure it’s perfect,

have other people proof it! If even one word is misspelled the reader will assume that you didn’t know how to spell the word (this is bad) or that you didn’t care (this is even worse!) Nothing puts the reader off more quickly than misspellings or typos.

7. Is the résumé easy to read?At least 50% of the impact of your résumé derives from design. A strong résumé design will pull

the eye through the document, making it easy to keep reading and will highlight your key strengths clearly. But if your résumé is badly laid out, disorganized or hard to read, it will be discarded before the reader knows how qualified you are.

To see examples of how to lay out your résumé, go to the library or bookstore and look in the career section. You will find collections of sample résumés. Take time to understand how the page has been laid out and then apply what you’ve learned to your résumé.

8. Have you listed irrelevant information?Don’t list your hobbies unless they directly support your qualifications for the position. Don’t

detail your marital status or the number of children you have. Don’t mention non-professional affiliations such as political or religious volunteer work unless it directly relates to the position you are applying for. Any personal information runs the risk of turning the reader off. However proud you are of personal achievements, you should not run the risk of alienating someone before you even have your foot in the door.

9. Are you too modest?Don’t be uncomfortable about blowing your own trumpet. Too many people play down their

achievements. While you should never exaggerate on a résumé, you should definitely take credit for the things you’ve accomplished. Some people feel uncomfortable boasting on paper preferring to explain in an interview. But if your résumé doesn’t spark interest, you may never get that opportunity, so don’t be modest!

10. Have you created an internet-ready version of résumé?If you have to post your résumé online, or apply to a job via an online system, you will need to

convert your résumé to a text-only format. If you don’t do this, your résumé will be almost impossible to read because most online systems cannot support the type of formatting used in a résumé (bold, italics, bullet points, lines etc.)

SUMMARY When you send your résumé out, it must speak articulately for you. You can’t explain

inconsistencies, clear up confusion or fill in things that are missing. Your résumé has to make your sales

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secretspitch in a clear and compelling manner within 20 seconds. Invest the time to make it exceptional and you will see an immediate increase in the response rate.

Guest Author Louise Fletcher founded Blue Sky Resumes after leaving a 15 year HR career. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and a member of the Professional Resume Writers Association, the Career Masters Institute and Society for Human Resources Management.

Why should a person consider having a professional write their resume?Erin Kennedy, president of Professional Resume Services, offers a full line of executive and

professional resume services including resumes, cover letters, bio’s and social network profile development. Erin explains how a professional resume can make a difference. “A certified resume writer knows the ins and outs of resumes, what needs to be on there, what can be removed and how to position you to show off your strengths and accomplishments. After I create it, I always tell my clients to send their NEW resume out to a place they had previously sent it but received no response. Nine times out of ten, they get a call for an interview.”

What’s involved in the process of having a pro write your resume?Dawn Bugni, owner of The Write Solution, shared some insights regarding what to expect. “As

with most career-related questions, the response to that is, ‘It depends.’ Some professionals work strictly from questionnaires, some interview clients over the phone or in person, some use a combination of both. Regardless the information- gathering process, creating a resume is a collaborative process. When engaging with a professional, most likely, a client will be asked to provide existing career documents, if available. Additionally, they should gather any other career-related documents – performance appraisals, letters of recommendations, thank you notes – that help demonstrate expertise in the career path of choice. The resume writer will also need a clear picture of current industry vernacular and sought-after skills, so representative job postings are also helpful in the process. Depending on the writer, job seeker goals and industry standards, more information may be required. Bottom line: the better the information provided; the better the end document.”

Dawn’s expertise and company focus is on creating compelling career documents for her clients. As such, she added that it was important to “locate a professional whose work style matches client preferences. Job seekers who enjoy deep introspection and writing will probably do better with questionnaires, where a talker probably does better with an interview-style writer. Going through the resume creation process with a trained professional brings an objective perspective to career accomplishments, boosts overall confidence and sheds light on current job market navigation.”

Are there situations when someone shouldn’t consider having a professional write their resume? If so, what are they?Dawn says there are two situations where it might not make sense. “

1. One is if someone truly couldn’t afford to invest in professional assistance. That said, there are many, many top-notch career professionals writing blogs, offering free resume writing courses and contributing samples to books. While one-on-one assistance may be out of reach, the wisdom of those providers is available for those willing to dig for it.

2. The second would be if the current resume was landing lots of interviews in the job seeker’s chosen field. If that’s the case, the resume has done its job. Although, that doesn’t mean the individual wouldn’t benefit from the coaching and interview preparation inherent to the resume creation process. (Keep in mind, lots of interviews and no offers are usually a sign of difficulties while interviewing. Interview coaching may be order.)”

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsJacqui Barrett-Poindexter, MRW , president of CareerTrend, who specializes in professional and

executive resume writing and social media profiles, explains the distinction. “The job hunter is the industry and/or functional expert; the resume writer is the resume writing and career strategy expert – a storyteller with a twist.”

Should a person’s LinkedIn profile look like their resume?Jacqui’s take? “The LinkedIn profile is not a mini-me resume. Though the resume will fuel the

LinkedIn profile, the LI profile should include distinctive language and have its own style. For example, the Summary section is an opportunity for first-person narrative, akin to the tone of a professional biography that briefly and impactfully articulates one’s unique value proposition. As well, in the Experience section, though bullets and snippets of one’s resume may be woven in, it’s not a copy and paste process, but a selective development that includes highlights from the resume achievements and power statements. Moreover, the LinkedIn profile offers billboard space on which to display feeds from your professional blog and Twitter, SlideShare presentations and full recommendations. This multimedia venue is an adjunct to the resume, another vehicle in which to drive career and value proposition content in a unique way that complements the resume.”

Tell me your thoughts on VisualCVs.Erin is a fan of VisualCVs and offers them to clients. “They are great for people in any industry or

position because clients can upload images, charts, presentations, awards—essentially your whole portfolio. You can then get a customized URL that you can give to people if you are at a business luncheon, mixer, etc. and don’t have your resume on hand. Plus, it gives the reader a different perspective on YOU.”

Dawn agrees that a well-done VisualCV can be a solid addition to a job seeker career package. But cautions job seekers not to use them as a first-point-of-contact document. “The VisualCV (VCV) should be carefully crafted and continue to enhance the message and value established by the rest of the job seekers career information. Just as the resume and LinkedIn profile derives from a ’what does the reader want to know?’ perspective, so should the VisualCV. If information does not support the search, then it should not appear on the resume or the VCV. Each piece of a job seeker’s toolkit needs to stand alone yet must also integrate with and enhance the rest of the information.”

If you could give one piece of advice to a job seeker today, what would it be?Jacqui suggests taking a “slow down and think approach. In addition to building relationships on-

and offline, the most important aspect of an effective job search strategy is thoughtful introspection that elicits a sharp and compelling value proposition that resonates with the audience (hiring decision makers and influencers) you wish to attract. Make that goal the centerpiece of your activity.”

Erin recommends using social networking to your advantage. “Develop contact relationships, build your network, and gain visibility for yourself online. Create a strong internet presence and maintain that. You will be amazed at how quickly you will be ‘found’. “

By HR Bartender Posted: 07 Oct 2010 02:30 AM PDT

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsTo get an idea of the cost involved in having a resume professionally writen, I repeatedly receive this offer:

Jason,

Today only - take $200 off a professionally written resume. You'll only pay $54.83 per month or $299 one time. If your resume uses the world's most common font, or the format is standard, or its language is unexciting, your resume is not representing you as energetic, forward-thinking, or worthy of an interview. In one word - it's dull. Remember, a resume is a marketing tool. While it should not be outrageously flashy, it should swiftly emphasize how your experience will add worth to your prospective employer.

Get started here and take $100 off or call us at 1-877-456-2FOX (2369).

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Peggy Patelino VP, Resume Services 1-877-456-2FOX (2369) Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 7:00pm ET Saturday - Sunday: 9:00am - 6:00pm EThttp://www.jobfox.com/Web/Signin.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fWeb%2fSeeker%2fOffer%2fResumeWritingExcR510.aspx%3fsText%3dEm_Mad%26dCd%3dRWR510F1%26idCd%3dRWR510FI&sText=Em_Mad&dCd=RWR510F1&idCd=RWR510FI

14 Fatal Resume MistakesNo cover letter – Yes, you need a cover letter even when you are emailing your resume, posting it to a job board, or sending it electronically. A cover letter is the best place to introduce yourself, identify your goals, and briefly describe why you are a good fit for the position. A well-written cover letter is a sales tool that will ensure your resume will be read.

No imagination – Avoid using cookie-cutter resume templates, such as those from Microsoft or other resume-generating programs. Hiring managers will spot them in an instant, and will assume you either lack creativity or don't care enough about the position you are applying for to go the extra mile.

Too much imagination - Resumes that arrive unconventionally, are on colored or perfumed paper, or have many different fonts in an effort to make them stick out in the crowd will likely go unread. Employers will assume that if you need to resort to these tactics, you probably don't have the qualifications for the job.

Including an objective statement – This is the best way to paint yourself into a corner, and is not a good way to go if you want the employer to keep you in mind for other positions that you may also be qualified for. Lose the objective statement.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsTypos and grammatical errors – Your resume must be grammatically perfect. Most positions today require good communication and writing skills, and if your resume is riddled with errors, you'll be immediately judged as someone who doesn't possess these basic skills. It stands to reason that if you can't spell "financial analyst" correctly, you have no business being one. Invest in a dictionary and be sure to have your document carefully proofread.

Your resume is unfocused - Your resume should clearly state what you do, what you are good at, and what you have accomplished. If you are applying for a sales position focus on your numbers and statistics, and give your two years as a veterinary technician a backseat, if any ink at all. If you have a long work history with valuable experience in more than one area, for example, sales and marketing -- it may make sense to craft two resumes: one that focuses on sales, and another that focuses on marketing.

You list dates first – Statistics show that hiring managers spend just a couple of seconds looking at a resume before deciding whether it warrants a full read, so be sure to show them what they want to see first. When listing past employment, instead of listing dates first list them last. A good order is: title/position, name of employer, city/state of employer, and then dates.

Your resume is too short or too long – Contrary to popular opinion you don't need to keep your resume down to one page, especially if you've accrued some work experience. The goal should be to document everything you've done, without being verbose. One page should suffice for entry-level workers and those with a few years of work experience. If you have more than six or seven years of experience, two pages is appropriate.

Your resume is in paragraph form – Hiring managers have piles of resumes to get through, and most of them are unwilling to struggle through a tough read no matter how qualified the candidate. Avoid turnoffs like dense type and paragraphs, and use bullets instead. Think easily digestible nuggets, rather than lengthy sentences.Too much focus on past, irrelevant job descriptions – Employers don't care what duties were assigned to you in your past jobs. All they are really concerned about is what you have done, and what you can do for them. Focus on your accomplishments, rather than your duties. Use statistics and numbers. Show how you solved problems. Avoid phrases like "duties included" or "responsibilities included."

Too much personal information – If you choose to put hobbies and interests on your resume, use them sparingly and choose them carefully to ensure they are not potentially controversial or offensive, or worthy of chuckles or eye rolling. Including that you enjoy tennis, reading, and rock climbing is fine. Stating that you knit sweaters for your ferret in your spare time is TMI, unless you are applying for a job knitting pet apparel.

You are obviously not qualified – Some people do this believing that it's a way to get their foot into the door of a company they would really like to work for. But employers find this a waste of their time, and are annoyed by this practice. If the employer remembers you later when you apply for a job you are actually qualified for, it won't be fondly.

No keywords – If you are submitting online, be aware that hiring managers will do a quick search of keywords and keyword phrases to find appropriate resumes. If you apply for a job where the company uses technology to search for keywords, and you don't have those keywords in your resume, your resume will go unnoticed.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets"References available upon request" – This is often used as a way to end a resume, but it's completely unnecessary. Of course you have references! Otherwise, you have no business applying for this job!

By mysalary.com

Is your Resume a Relic?Advances in technology in the past several years have made resumes more powerful than ever, but

you need to do a little initial work (and then maintenance work) to make them work for you. But how do you know which resume format is best for your particular job search? This article shows you how to create a customized resume that ends up in the hire pile, not the circular file.

Choosing the right resume format. In resume design, there are three basic organization types: chronological, functional, and combination. The chronological resume lists job and education history in a reverse chronological order, making it easy for employers to see the applicant's career progression. The functional resume concentrates on pertinent skills and abilities. Names of employers, dates and education history details are omitted and the information is not presented chronologically. The combination resume is, for some candidates, the best of both worlds, presenting relevant skills and abilities in chronological order.

The chronological resume. Most employers prefer the chronological resume because it's easy to read and it generally makes its salient points quickly and concisely. First list your name, address, and contact information. Next, a targeted summary or objective cover letter will help the reader know at a glance if you might be a match. Starting with your most recent position, list your employer, including location, dates, job titles, and descriptions of your tasks, accomplishments and skills, using concise, action-oriented words. End with education, special skills and any relevant awards, honors, or accolades.

Include only the most important information about each position. Be specific rather than general in your descriptions, using concise and vivid language. Quantify the impact of your actions in your previous positions. Facts, figures, and numbers help to

do this. For example: How many accounts did you work on? How many employees did you supervise?

Be sure to include a list of key contributions or achievements. Find key words and terminology in the job advertisement and use them in your resume. Don't use unnecessary prose. Have an editorially minded friend help cut out extra words.

The functional resume. Applicants such as recent graduates, career changers, and parents returning to the work force may choose a functional resume to highlight skills instead of a spotty or atypical career path. A skill-oriented format allows you to focus on your abilities and point out what you would bring to a particular job. This resume should be as targeted as possible in order to gain attention. Start with your contact information and include a precisely worded summary or objective cover letter that draws a distinct parallel between your strengths and the job's requirements. Include education, awards and any volunteer positions you've held.

Choose three or four pertinent skills (e.g. Marketing and Sales, Leadership, etc.) and use them as headers followed by bullets delineating your accomplishments within that field.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets Recent graduates, list student government, athletics, community work, and other extra-curricular

pursuits and describe the skills you presented in carrying out those activities. If you volunteered at your child’s school, took care of a sick parent, or served as the executor of a

relative’s will, it took skill. Describe it.

The combination resume. Functional resumes sometimes scare away hiring managers, who, after all, have piles of papers to wade through and may become suspicious or irritated when faced with missing dates or titles. So, if you can't use a chronological resume due to gaps or too little (or too much) experience, consider the combination option and add as many concise, chronological elements as possible. Start with an attention-getting and pertinent description of your applicable skills. Then, lead off with clearly defined accomplishments, followed by jobs, dates, titles, awards, and education. Obviously, your combination resume will be tailored to your unique situation. Here are some tips to consider when balancing function with chronology

Remember that the sooner your reader is interested, the greater your chance of having your resume read. Be sparkling upfront. Get across your value as soon as possible.

Be sure the accomplishments you list are relevant to this position. In as few words as possible, call out your pertinent skills and responsibilities.

If your past jobs have little relevance to the desired position, simply list the titles and dates (if appropriate), without going into detail about job requirements.

The targeted resume. With unemployment rates so high, technology so advanced, and competition for each job so great, every resume needs to be a specifically targeted resume. Even if you include a personalized cover letter for each job (which you definitely should), you still need to customize the resume, even if it's as simple as changing a word in the summary. This is particularly important in electronic resumes, which are often searchable. This means employers can choose or eliminate resumes without ever looking at them, simply because they have or lack a certain keyword or search term. Always write a resume with a particular job posting in mind. Even if you use an existing document as a template, edit it to perfectly fit the new position's description and requirements. If you have held positions which are similar but differ slightly, such as sales and marketing, be sure to emphasize the aspects of your experience that the desired job requires. If your existing resume doesn't include many key terms from the job ad, see how you can edit your descriptions to fit them in. Make it clear that this job is exactly what you are suited to do.

The electronic version. No longer is it enough to have a stack of nice, crisp, white or cream-colored paper resumes that you edit maybe once or twice a year and hand out or mail whenever a desired job is posted. Yes, you still need an elegant paper resume to hand out at interviews, but most companies want an electronic version since they're easier to read, organize and scan for keywords. They're also much easier for you to edit, forward and upload to job search databases and social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook that give your resume increased visibility. The e-version of your resume can easily reach thousands of potential employers, so take advantage of career websites that allow you to post it and make it public. E-resume pre-screening is done on a keyword basis. Employers can reach out to you when keywords in your document match their hiring needs, so keep your online resumes up to date. When emailing a resume, attach an e-version, but also copy the same information in the body of the email in case the employer can't open the attachment. Also, create job alerts at sites like Salary.com and Indeed.com to get relevant job ads emailed to you.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsOn the subject of subject lines. Just like paper resumes can sink in a sea of paper, emailed resumes risk getting lost in a crowded inbox. At the very least, include your last name and the position for which you are applying in the subject line so employers can easily pick out your email. And don't use all caps or words like "amazing" and "Read now" that could trigger spam filters.

Dos and don'ts: Keep the layout clean and easy to read to pull in the reader. Use high quality ivory or white paper

and stick with one standard font, using bold and italics if necessary. Avoid excess formatting on electronic versions.

Begin with your name, address, e-mail and phone number(s) to make it easy for a potential employer to contact you, but avoid giving personal information such as Social Security number, age, height, weight, etc.

If possible, keep your resume to one page, and don’t exceed two pages. A short, concise representation of your work history, experience and education is most likely to be read.

Present a precisely worded, short objective or summary cover letter to grab an employer's attention. Read the job ad closely to determine what the employer wants and then customize your message accordingly.

The experience section of your resume follows. List your employers, job location, employment dates, job titles, and descriptions of tasks, accomplishments and skills.

Your education comes next, and should include college, degree, and any honors you received. Be sure to include relevant awards or special recognition if you have received any.

In today's competitive job market, it's important that you help employers see the benefits of hiring you over someone else. A clean, simple resume stating your value is the first step. Make sure it is formatted so potential employers can identify it, open it, read it, search it and immediately comprehend its main point -- that hiring you is a winning proposition.

By mySalary.com

Garbage in your resume: Take it out

The purpose of a resume is not to recite your entire work history. At least 30% of any resume is jargon that's in all resumes—cut it. The “objective,” for example, is purely wasted space. Look at five resumes, and you’ll see similar jargon and gibberish about wanting a job with a growth-oriented company, and good opportunities, and a progressive work environment, where you can make a positive contribution as a team player by “working with people.” Your resume doesn't need to explain to anyone why you want the job.

If the hiring manager doesn’t already know why you want to work there, then don’t send the resume. That’s right: You need to communicate with the manager beforehand, and you need to establish a mutual interest before you send the resume. Your resume is not a “marketing piece” or a “sales tool.” When an employer receives 5,000 resumes, your resume is just one more document with an objective at the top, buried in the pile. So cut it out.

Another 30% of resumes is past history that is repeated, in one way or another, from one job description to the next. Cut it or shorten it way down. The hiring manager doesn’t need to see all the repetitive functions you did as a Marketing Assistant, then a Marketing Project Manager, then a Marketing

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsCoordinator… a Marketing Manager, and a Marketing Director. The work you did overlapped and the words do, too—so don’t waste the reader’s time.

The biggest waste in overly-detailed work history is job jargon. Acronyms and terminology that only your old employers understand, and which they should probably eliminate from their business anyway. Filling your resume with job jargon doesn’t make you appear sophisticated and impressive. It makes you dense and unclear. If you can’t explain it so your grandmother or 12 year old daughter would understand it, leave it out.

At least 10% of a resume is credentials that, especially for management jobs, aren’t used to make a decision to interview you. If you’re lacking the academic degrees, or the expertise to compensate for them, then don’t apply, because you’ll embarrass yourself. Don’t fill up space discussing credentials that you can list on one or two lines. Take it all out. Then use most of your resume to show how you're going to apply what you've really got in your toolkit to help the employer. Where in your resume is that? Where do you show how you will do the specific job for the specific employer in a way that will drop additional profit to the bottom line? That’s what’s necessary.

That’s what every manager wants, whether HR says so in the job description or not. But managers are lousy at figuring out—from a resume—how you will profit their business. So you have to spoon feed them and explain it quickly. Managers spend about 30 seconds on a resume. After you take the garbage out, will they find the answers to their problems in yours?

Try this test: Tear your resume in half. Read the top half. Does it tell me how you'll bring more profit to my bottom line?

By Nick Corcodilos (Ask The Headhunter®)

10 HR Secrets You Should know About Resumes

1. Once you’re unemployed more than six months, you’re considered pretty much unemployable. We assume that other people have already passed you over, so we don’t want anything to do with you. 1

2. When it comes to getting a job, who you know really does matter. No matter how nice your résumé is or how great your experience may be, it’s all about connections. 2

3. If you’re trying to get a job at a specific company, often the best thing to do is to avoid HR entirely. Find someone at the company you know, or go straight to the hiring manager. 3

4. People assume someone’s reading their cover letter. I haven’t read one in 11 years.

5. We will judge you based on your e-mail address. Especially if it’s something inappropriate like kinkyboots101@hotmail.com or johnnylikestodrink@gmail.com. 5

6. If you’re in your 50s or 60s, don’t put the year you graduated on your résumé.6

7. There’s a myth out there that a résumé has to be one page. So people send their résumé in a two-point font. Nobody is going to read that. 7

8. I always read résumés from the bottom up. And I have no problem with a two-page résumé, but three pages is pushing it.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets9. Most of us use applicant-tracking systems that scan résumés for key words. The secret to getting your résumé through the system is to pull key words directly from the job description and put them on. The more matches you have, the more likely your résumé will get picked and actually seen by a real person.

10. Résumés don’t need color to stand out. When I see a little color, I smirk. And when I see a ton of color, I cringe. And walking in and dropping off your resume is no longer seen as a good thing. It’s actually a little creepy.10

1 Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know2 HR director at a health-care facility3 Shauna Moerke, an HR administrator in Alabama who blogs at hrminion.com4 HR director at a financial services firm5 Rich DeMatteo, a recruiting consultant in Philadelphia6 HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina7 HR director at a financial services firm8 Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida9 Chris Ferdinandi, HR professional in the Boston area10 Rich DeMatteo

Ten Cover Letter Don'tsYour cover letter is the first thing a hiring manager will see when you apply for a job. It's the

deciding factor that determines whether your resume will earn a glance or end up in the trash, so make sure you leave a positive and lasting impression by avoiding these top cover letter don'ts.

1. Don't begin with a weak opening - The first part of your cover letter may be the only part that a hiring manager takes the time to read, so don't risk an opener that will make their eyes glaze over. Grab the reader's attention with a short introduction and an attention-grabbing statement. For example, "Your need for a top-performing administrative assistant is an excellent match to my 4-year track record in successful office management and executive support for a Fortune 500 company."

2. Don't repeat your resume - Nobody wants to read the same thing twice. Instead of regurgitating your resume, highlight the top three key points or skills that you offer.

3. Don't send the same one to every job - Just like your resume, customizing your cover letter is the key to success. Read the job description and use it as a "cheat sheet" to create a cover letter centered on this specific position.

4. Don't only focus on your needs - Avoid using "I" or "my" too often. Although you are writing about yourself, the cover letter should mainly focus on the employer and the position. What makes you the right person for this specific job? How can the company benefit from hiring you?

5. Don't use "Dear Sir or Madam" or "To whom this may concern" - Avoid addressing your cover letter to a generic reader by finding out who the actual hiring manager is. Do your research and it will definitely pay off, maybe enough to get your cover letter to the "yes" pile. If you can't find the name, use the reference "Hiring Manager" instead.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets6. Don't forget to indicate the position you are applying for - Hiring managers usually hear from

hundreds of applicants—sometimes for different jobs within the company. Make a reference to the job that you are applying for incase they are hiring candidates for more than one position.

7. Don't hide that you're great for the job - Take advantage of formatting tools such as bullet points or bold fonts to emphasize your achievements. If the hiring manager is going to scan your cover letter, you want to make sure these important details jump off the page.

8. Don't go over one page - Make sure that your cover letter is clear and concise. No matter how extensive your work history, keep it down to one page only. You don't want to waste the reader's time …or put them to sleep!

9. Don't email as an attachment - Sending a blank email with an attachment risks your application looking like spam. When applying to a job online, include your cover letter in the body of the email and attach your resume to the message.

10. Don't forget a strong closer - If you have followed #1 above, its time to end your cover letter with a bang. Include a strong closer that will leave a lasting impression and create anticipation for your resume. Promise to follow up by phone or email—and pull through when the actual time comes.

By Joanna Boydak, LiveCareer

Storytelling As A Resume StrategySpend some time in a networking event, and chances are that the people who you will remember

most are the ones with whom you exchanged stories. Hiring managers will tell you after a day of interviewing candidates, the ones who stood out were the ones who had an interesting story to tell. Good marketing is good storytelling. And a job search is all about good marketing. But if you wait for the interview to tell your stories, you may be missing an important opportunity to distinguish yourself from the crowd. Stories, when told in the right way, to the right audience, can be a terrific resume differentiator, the key to standing out in a pool of qualified candidates.

So, what are the critical success factors to making a story-telling strategy work?

1. Before you start writing your resume, create a detailed map of your career plot line, all the stories that define your career path. I’m not talking about simple CAR/PAR/SAR statements, but the nuts and bolts of how you came to be where you are today. What was going on the company, in the industry, when you first came on board? What was your mandate, the first challenge, and how did you go about tackling it? And then what happened? And then what happened after that? You will end up with dozens of stories, far more than you will need for your resume, but this is good. You are better off having a lot of stories that you can choose from, than a limited number of stories that have no connection with each other or with your audience.

2. Develop a detailed picture of your target audience – the kind of company or hiring manager you want your stories to appeal to. Marketers spend huge amounts of time defining their target markets, and so should job seekers. What are the issues and challenges that your ideal company is dealing with right now? What is their strategy? Their pain points? What are their buying motivators when it comes to hiring? What matters to them? The more time you spend on this, the easier it will be to figure out which of your dozens of stories your target audience is likely to want to hear.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets3. Winnow through all the stories you’ve collected, and identify which ones will have the greatest impact on your target audience, which ones will “speak” to your target’s goals and challenges. Be ruthless in deciding which stories to include or exclude. Every story must pass the “so what” test. If the reason that it’s on the resume isn’t immediately obvious, then either it doesn’t belong, or it needs to be rewritten so that your target audience isn’t left wondering. Some great stories may end up on the cutting room floor, and that’s okay. Save them for your interviews.

4. Create context for your stories, so that your reader will understand the full scope and scale of your contributions. For each position, you should include information about the company and your mandate. For example: “Headhunted by this mid-sized widget manufacturing company to develop the Timbuktu market from the ground up.”

5. Write your stories in succinct bullet points. A basic “Generated $2.5M in sales of widgets to the SME sector within six months of launch in a Greenfield territory” tells a much better story than a long paragraph with details on your responsibilities, the meetings you attended, the tasks that filled your day.

6. Sequence the bullets in a way that makes logical sense to the reader, which most times will be in the same order in which they occurred: did this, then this, then this, then this, culminating with a big bang legacy impact. In some cases it might be better to organize the stories around subject headings or case studies. Think like the hiring manager – what makes the most sense of them?

7. Make the first impression count. There are 72,000 self-described “visionaries” on LinkedIn, and no doubt hundreds of thousands more in resume databases. Purple prose sucks in a novel, it’s even worse in a resume. Self-aggrandizing profile statements are “white noise” to a reader. They get ignored at best, ridiculed at worst, because after a while they all sound alike, and they all sound hallow. A good storytelling resume will have an adjective-free profile that showcases, in tangible terms, exactly what the candidate is good at doing. “Sales Executive who knows what it takes to open up new regional and vertical markets and achieve $MM in first year sales through solution selling and active pipeline development.” Makes sure that your statement is backed up by proof in the stories you’ve selected.

8. Keywords, keywords, keywords. Use them in your stories. In your profile. In a keyword table if necessary. The first time around, the reader is going to do a resume eye-dance: resume heading, down to titles, across to dates, back to companies, down to education, back up to profile. Strategically placed keywords, bolded throughout the document, will jump off the page and give the reader an indication of why it will be worthwhile reading the document in more detail.

It is the rare person who doesn’t have at least a few interesting career stories. Finding the right stories to tell, and telling them in the right way, to the right audience, will make the difference between a “blah” resume and one that says “this is a candidate worth meeting.”

By Karen Siwak, aka @ResumeStrategy

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsIncluding Short-Term Jobs on Your Resume

In the current economic climate, it's not unusual for people to take multiple part-time, contract, freelance or temporary jobs to earn an income while looking for their next big gig. But it's not always recommended to include those short-term jobs on your resume.

It's important to keep in mind that your resume is not a place to list every job you've ever held. Rather, it’s a way to showcase your most relevant work experience to prove you have the experience required for roles that you are interested. In fact, if you list a number of jobs held in a short period of time, this can send a red-flag to employers that you're a serial job-hopper, and that you may not stick around at their company for long either. Below are some of the best practices for including (or not including) short-term jobs:

Tell the truth – When you send in an application to a hiring company, it should be the complete truth. A simple background check would show inconsistencies, and you could easily lose your consideration for a great job.

Include years only – A simple change from a month and year (March 2010) date format to year-only (2010) can be an easy way to make short-term jobs less noticeable. This is generally acceptable if you've held the position for six or more months.

Leave it off – If you held a position for less than six months, it's not relevant to the positions that you're applying for, or you didn't stay at the job long enough to make any notable contributions, you can leave it off your resume.

Contract and temp work – If short-term jobs were meant to only last a few months, such as contract work, temporary jobs, freelance work, or even seasonal jobs, you should definitely include them on your resume. Just make a note that it was a contract position (or whatever the case) right after the dates held.

Example: Retail Manager, April 2009 – September 2009 (6 month contract)

If you have multiple contract or freelance positions, it's perfectly acceptable to list them all under a Contract Experience or Freelance Experience section.

Overall, it's important to determine on a case-by-case basis whether including each short-term job will do more help or harm on your resume, depending on the job you'd like to land. Short-term jobs don't have to be a red-flag to employers. Rather, they can enrich your background with the many skills you've picked up along the way.

By simplyblog (5/16/2011)

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsMicrosoft Word document Produced on a Mac

If you're a Mac computer user and you've sent your resume as a Microsoft Word document, there's a decent chance that the recruiter or HR department you sent it to can't read it. It can also be a problem if you've sent your resume in any other program besides Word.

Most folks using Macintosh computers don't realize that even though Mac says the programs are compatible with all PCs, they aren't. It's a huge problem. Many recruiters and HR departments just can't open Word documents sent from a Mac, and they also encounter problems with opening resumes using PDF files/web links or PowerPoint programs because they're not compatible with their computer systems. A very few recruiters will respond to candidates, letting them know so they can resend, but most recruiters and HR departments won't, which means your resume will never be seen and you'll never know. And if you're sending your resume to a resume database or applying online and they can't open it, it will end up in the trash for sure.

For safety's sake, when you're submitting your resume online, always send your resume as a Word document, and find a PC to send it from.

If you must send it from a Mac, take the extra step of sending it to a PC friend first who can verify that it arrived and can be opened successfully before you send it to a recruiter or Human Resources.

By Peggy McKee (Career Confidential)

How To Submit A Resume Via Email

You are confident with your resume. Whether you hired any resume writing services, or you did it on your own, you feel good about your resume. That’s nice. But have you decided how to submit your resume? We belong in the Online Age, so let’s talk about submitting your resume online. There are many ways to submit your resume online. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to help you on how to submit a resume via email. Some of the points you might want to keep in mind when submitting your resume via email are:

Attachment vs. plain text - Some companies don’t accept email attachments. If you aren’t sure, it’s best to do both – insert your resume in the body of the email plus add as an attachment. This means you’re going to lose the format in your resume when you include it in the body of the email. Your best bet – draft two versions of your resume – one fully formatted pretty looking resume (as a Word document) and the other in plain text. And use either version (or both) as applicable. It saves you time, plus you also give the recipient the choice on how to view your resume. While it’s tempting to include a link to a website and suggest the recruiter or hiring manager to go look for the resume themselves, it’s a terrible idea. Recruiters don’t need to do that – you’ll end up getting disqualified.

Cover Letter - Most time the body of the email can be considered the cover letter. However, don’t repeat stuff you’ve already included in your resume – redundant data will bore the person reading your application, and you certainly don’t want that, do you?

Before You Hit The Send Button - Verify the email address of the recipient. Include the job title you’re applying for in the SUBJECT line. Use simple words in the body of the email to convey your message. This can be the potential cover letter, so word it carefully. If you’re including your resume in plain text,

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secretsmake sure it looks okay. If you’re sending attachments, list them out at the end of your message in the body of the email. Finally, spell check. Correct errors, if any. CC yourself in the email and then hit send.

By Peggy McKee (Career Confidential)

The Secret Life of a ResumeJust where does your resume go after you hit the submit button on a job application? Turns out,

it's not into a big black hole. After hearing repeated complaints from the unemployed about their job applications disappearing into the void, CNNMoney decided to examine how a company fills a job posting. We selected global technology giant, Siemens, which is currently looking for more than 3,000 engineers, salespeople, technology professionals, field service representatives and others across the United States. The company is returning to its pre-recession hiring levels, filling 10,000 positions this year.

Siemens typically advertises its openings on job boards, such as Monster and CareerBuilder, as well as on its company Web site. Employees are also notified about available positions through Siemens' intranet in case they want to apply or refer a friend. (About 40% of Siemens' jobs are filled from within.) The company employs about 80 recruiters to sift through the more than 65,000 applications that Siemens typically receives each month. Each staffer usually has a portfolio of 30 to 35 open posts to fill.

Increasingly, the recruiters are turning to networking site LinkedIn to hunt for professionals who fit a position's criteria, even if they aren't looking for a job. Siemens pays LinkedIn for the privilege of being able to recruit on the site, allowing it to search member profiles by job function, title, location and even professional affiliation, such as the Society of Women Engineers. "We can go from 100 million to 100 or 10 [candidates] fairly quickly," said Mike Brown, Siemens' senior director for talent acquisition, of the LinkedIn community.

The search for a civil engineer

On Feb 24, the company began looking for a civil engineer for its Orlando, Fla., headquarters of its energy division. The job was advertised on Monster and CareerBuilder, as well as Siemens' internal and external Web sites. Some 44 candidates applied for the position within 12 days, and a recruiter was assigned to sift through the resumes to find the best candidates. Since it's tough to review every single resume, the recruiters depend on technology that allows them to search for applications that meet the requirements of the job. For its civil engineer position, Siemens was looking to hire someone with five to eight years of experience and was adept at "complex material specification" and "schematic preparation." It wanted someone who is a problem solver, but also refers complex, unusual problems to others.

During those first 12 days, the recruiter found two people who fit the bill and called them on the phone to confirm the information on their resumes and get examples of their on-the-job experience. She was also trying to get a sense of whether they'd fit in at Siemens, what they expected in terms of salary, and whether they'd be willing to relocate and travel for the job. The conversations usually last between 15 and 45 minutes. Satisfied, the recruiter sent their names to the hiring manager. As for all the others? They get an email acknowledging their application was received. That could be the last they hear from the company if they aren't a good match. But they remain in Siemens' database, so they might be surprised with a call months later, if they turn out to be a good fit for another position.

By mid-March, another 54 people had applied for the civil engineer post, and the recruiter sent an additional four applicants to the hiring manager for review. Of the six people presented to him, the hiring

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secretsmanager selected three to interview face-to-face by month's end. During that time, another 53 candidates sent in resumes.

At the interview, Siemens managers ask a lot about a candidate's previous experience. The prospective employees will likely be prompted to describe a situation and how they handled it. The interviewers want to know what candidates learned from the episode, while listening for mention of traits important to the company. Teamwork, for instance, is key at the tech firm, so managers may inquire about a time when the candidates had to rely on other people to be successful. The Siemens managers are also looking to ascertain an applicant's capabilities and leadership potential. For example, if the job requires that the person deal with clients around the world, then the managers may ask questions that would gauge the jobseeker's cultural sensitivities. "It's not only to fill the position that is being advertised, but it's also to look at that talented individual joining the organization [and] where can they go in the future," said Mike Panigel, chief human resources officer for Siemens.

By early April, another 36 people had sent in resumes, too late to be considered. One person had already been selected by the hiring managers. The successful candidate was offered the position on April 8, beating out 186 other applicants.

By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney May 18, 2011

What Recruiters Look for in a Resume

One of the main questions we receive is what exactly recruiters and hiring managers look for in a resume. The goal of reviewing a resume is to determine who should be called for a phone screen or interview, so recruiters evaluate candidates to find out who closely matches the requirements for a role based on the content of their resume.

Work experience – A recruiter is going to look to see if you have enough and the right kind of experience that is required for the role. If a job requires 3 years of product management, and you have only a year of product management or 3 years of project management, chances are your resume will be passed over.

Technology/software/special skills – If a job requires certain technology, software or any special skills, a recruiter is going to look for those requirements on your resume. So don't forget to include that you "speak" PHP or Python, were a Salesforce administrator in your previous job, or have specialized knowledge in pediatrics.

Education – A recruiter is also going to look to see if you have the required education or certification required for the role. All of your education and certifications can be listed in the Education section of your resume.

Dates of employment – Looking at your dates of employment shows a recruiter two things: 1. That you have the years of experience required for the role.2. Whether you commit to a company for an extended time or if you’re a job hopper, as well as if you

have any noticeable employment gaps. Though, multiple jobs in a short period of time or a long break can be explained in the cover letter or early in the interview process.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsProof of success – Not only do recruiters look for your experience, but they also want to know that you were successful in previous jobs. If you’ve won awards, saved the company money, made the company money, increased website traffic, etc. include these on your resume to put you ahead of other candidates.

Overall, a recruiter looks at resumes to see who is the best fit for a given role based on the job description and requirements. To ensure a recruiter sees you as a great candidate to phone screen or call in for an interview, take a good look at the job description and make sure you include your accomplishments in your resume that are required.

http://blog.simplyhired.com

Advantages of Posting Resumes on Job Boards

Looking for a job can be an emotionally draining, time-consuming experience. While you can still look in the newspaper’s want ads and call individual employers one at a time to set up interviews, it’s not an efficient use of time or resources. Posting résumés on job sites offers several advantages that will vastly increase the chances of landing your dream job.

There are several different kinds of job boards. They can be local, regional, or national. They can be general, catering to all fields, or they can be specialized. For example, Media Bistro caters to the media industries such as journalism, public relations, and graphic. General listing job boards are useful if you are looking for a non-specific job but if you are trained in a given industry, using a job board designed for that market can cut through a lot of clutter.

Job boards also let you tailor your résumé for specific jobs. If you have a range of IT skills, say Java developer but also have a background in data security, you can prepare résumés for each job that highlights your experience to that particular skill set.

Tailoring a résumé simply means highlighting your skills and experience as they pertain to a particular position. Mostly, it’s a matter of presentation so that a prospective employer can immediately see why you are a good fit for the job.

Another advantage of job boards is that you can use national sites that post listings from all across the country; some also include international opportunities. If you are tied to a certain locale, a national site may not be necessary, unless you are seeking a job suited for telecommuting.

Finally, industry specific job boards can save you time. Rather than combing through hundreds of listings that don’t match your interests or skills, online job boards enable you to narrow your search to specific positions. This is especially useful if your skills are highly specialized.

While job boards cannot guarantee employment, they are a great tool for maximizing your time and efforts.

Please note: tailoring a résumé does not mean padding or taking creative license with your background. It is crucial you be honest and accurate on your résumé because employers will check. With more applicants than there are jobs, employers are in the driver’s seat. And with so many qualified applicants around, character is one of those intangibles that now count even more as a way to sift through prospective employees.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsPhrases You Should Ban From Your Resume

I'm a Team-Player. – This is one of the most over-used cliches, so try to find a way you can show that you are this team player. Did you collaborate with someone or with a department to meet an objective? Put that on your resume instead of a vague, cliched expression. Be detailed about your achievement.

I Have Great Communication Skills. – Communication skills can mean so many things, which is why using this term on your resume only makes you lose your recruiter's interest. What communication skills did you use to contribute to your employer? Did you create a presentation, a press release or lead a conference call? State your specific achievement.

I Have a Proven Track-Record. – So prove it! What did you do to give you this track record? Be specific, and try to quantify your impact; I brought in 10 new customers, adding $50k profit for 2009 sounds far more impressive than some vague statement, and will help you stand out among the dozens of resumes.

I'm a Problem Solver. – Everybody loves a problem solver, which is why so many resumes state this skill with pride. You can do better: tell your prospective company what problem you solved. Did you optimize a troubling schedule, did you solve an employee dispute or did you iron out a problem with a customer? Again, be specific to be memorable.

I Assisted In X Task. – Maybe you weren't the lead on a particular project, but saying you assisted is the kiss of death for your resume. What was it that you did? Did you write a sales report or keep inventory? Write that on your resume with pride, and lose the assisted - you're better than that.

I Have a Strong Work Ethic. – A strong work ethic - that sounds great, right? You're not the only one using this cliche, so freshen up your resume by stating how you go that extra mile. Did you take a class to improve your skills? Did you meet some really tough deadline? Show the hiring official what makes you this person with a strong work ethic, instead of using another cliche like your fellow applicants.

I'm Bottom-Line Focused. – Another hollow term that is overused and now means nothing - so show what you did that added to the bottom-line of your company. It's very important to quantify for this skill: list amounts of money, time, or resources you saved or added to the business.

I'm Responsible For X. – We're all responsible for something when we go to work, whether a janitor or a CEO. Drop this expression and just state what your job title is and what you added to the company's success. Cutting these clutter words will make your resume stronger and more to-the-point.

I'm Self-Motivated. – What you're really trying to say is that you're not that slacker who clocks out at three every day, but this cliche is not going to help you get your point across. Find a way to show that you're self-motivated: did you overhaul a broken inventory system, or find a new way to expand your sales territory? Self-motivated employees find innovative ways to improve on what they've been handed - put what you actually did on your resume.

I'm Accustomed to a Fast-Paced Environment. – What does this mean, exactly? Fast-paced work environments are the norm in this recession, where most people do more work for less money. To be

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secretsspecific, look at one of your busiest days in your (former) job. What did you accomplish, and how did you adapt to the obstacles thrown your way? Put that achievement on your resume to prove that you can adapt when challenged - a quality employers look for.

By Fleur Bradley

Keywords in Résumé Lead to InterviewsEighty percent of all submitted résumés (and 100 percent of résumés sent to Fortune 1000

companies) get scanned by software commonly known as an applicant-tracking system (ATS), and such scanned résumés are stored on a server in a digitized format. Humans are seeing your résumé only if it resurfaces based on a query. That’s why most job applicants don’t receive responses from companies after submitting résumés. Therefore, in order to increase your résumé’s chances of being at least viewed by a human--even if it’s not thereafter considered suitable--you have to understand the process and beat them at their own game.

Human resources departments that use ATSs base their queries on keywords they lift from job descriptions or receive verbally from hiring managers. Based on that information, the ATS extracts appropriate résumés from the ones on file. The human resources employee’s query may result in just a few résumés or a vast number. The ATS also scores those résumés and sorts and prioritizes them. Then the employee reviews, say, 20 and submits 5 to be interviewed.

Your job is to ensure that you embed sufficient keywords in your résumé. So, what’s the best way to find those magical keywords? It’s a simple, albeit somewhat tedious, exercise:

1. Search the Internet via job boards such as Monster and The Ladders.com to find 5 to 20 job descriptions of jobs advertised in the field you’re interested in.

2. Cut and paste all of the descriptions one after another into a new Word document.3. Review the document, resetting in boldface what you consider the keywords throughout.4. Delete everything except the boldface words.5. Alphabetize the words, and delete duplicates.6. Copy your résumé into a new Word document, and repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 on that copy.

The two resulting lists will display which keywords from the descriptions are missing from your résumé. And now comes the creative part: you incorporate the missing keywords into your résumé so it seems seamless and a perfect match for the context in which the words are mentioned in the job descriptions.

By doing this admittedly laborious task, you increase manyfold your chances of being picked out from the crowd.

By Alex Freund [founder of Landing Expert–Career Coaching.(www.landingexpert.com)]

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets

Cover Letter Mistakes to Avoid

During your job search, you'll probably apply to hundreds of jobs, creating customized resumes and cover letters for each position. Most people spend a considerable amount of time perfecting their resume to best reflect their experience and show off their accomplishments, but throw their cover letter together quickly or worse—don't write a cover letter at all. To make sure your cover letter gets noticed, make sure to avoid the following mistakes:

Not personalizing your greeting – If possible, address your cover letter to the person doing the hiring (Ex: "Dear Mr. Thompson" or "Dear Ms. Fleming"). However, if the recruiter or hiring manager's name is unisex, include their full name: "Dear Pat Chang." If you can't find the hiring manager or recruiter's name, avoid addressing the cover letter to "Dear Sir" or "Dear Madam" in the 50/50 chance you guess wrong. Instead, use a gender-neutral phrase such as "Dear Hiring Manager" or "Dear Selection Committee."

Writing a generic cover letter – Although creating a template cover letter can be a time-saver during your job search, you should customize each one to each employer and job to show how you fit the requirements. Not to mention, accidentally inserting the wrong job title or forgetting to switch out the name of the employer is a sure-fire way to get your application dumped in the trash or deleted.

Writing too much or too little – Many recruiters and hiring managers won't spend a lot of time reading your cover letter, but you need to include enough information to sell yourself. Keep your cover letter to two or three high-impact paragraphs that describe how you fit the role's requirements and are a perfect candidate for the position.

Making it all about you – While it's important to show off all of your awesome experience, the cover letter should equally be about you and the employer. Through your cover letter, show how you can benefit the company if they hire you and how you fit the employer’s needs.

Forgetting to include your contact information – Resumes and cover letters can easily become separated, so make sure to include you contact information on both documents. By doing so, an employer can still know how to contact you by referring to your cover letter.

Forgetting to proofread – Many job seekers forget to proofread their cover letter or do it too quickly and miss some of those pesky typos. If your cover letter has too many misspellings, typos, or grammar mistakes, you won't send a positive message to the employer. Ask some friends or family members to review before sending.

Not following directions – If the employer has asked that you address a certain question in your cover letter or send it in a particular format, make sure you follow these directions. Employers often base their decisions on information they ask you to include and sometimes include application instructions—such as including the cover letter in the body of the email—as a way to test how well candidates can follow directions. If you can't follow their instructions, it's an easy way to eliminate you from consideration.

Not sending a cover letter – Some job seekers don't even attach a cover letter when they apply for a job or include a quick note such as "My resume is attached." Take the time to write a clean, professional and

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secretsdirect cover letter that introduces you to the employer and addresses how you fit the specific requirements for the role.

Cover letters are a way to introduce yourself to an employer and show how you are the best candidate, so use it to your advantage! It's worth it to spend the extra time creating a great cover letter if it helps you land the job!

By Simply Hired

Four Resolutions for Your ResumeResolution time has come and passed for many. People everywhere threw out their last pack of

cigarettes, renewed that forgotten gym membership, and planned out a strategy to finally clean out that garage! While those resolutions are all admirable, it’s not too late to add just a few more, for your resume. 2012 is your year to have a stellar resume. Having an awesome resume and using it the right way is your key to landing the very best jobs at the right time. Fortunately, I’ve taken the guesswork out and started your very own list of four resolutions that you can start today! Here it goes…

I, [Your Name], solemnly swear to make 2012 my resume’s very best year. To do this, I promise to…

Take it with me – Whether you load your resume to your phone or keep it in the cloud, your resume will go with you everywhere in 2012. Keeping your resume on you at all times will make it easy to pull out whenever you need it.

Make it mesh – Your resume should compliment your other job search tools, such as your business cards, website, or portfolio. By making your job search documents mesh, employers will be able to see you as a put-together candidate with a solid brand.

Tailor it every time – It takes time, but tailoring your resume is a crucial step in the application process! Employers cycle through so many generic resumes, one that’s tailored to them will really stand out!

Update even when I have a job – Just in case you didn’t know, every job is temporary. It’s oh-so-smart to update your resume every single time your work story does. Score a huge accomplishment? Update! Get promoted! Update!

By Gerrit Hall

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsUse Your Email Subject Line as Resume and Door

Opener

You want to get into conversation with recruiters and hiring managers as quickly and as often as you can, because initiating conversation is the fastest route to job interviews, job offers and out of this damn job search.

Whenever you find the name of a headhunter or hiring manager, email is likely going to be your first line of approach. But In an age when email has become the world’s pre-eminent communication tool, we all flounder in oceans of unwanted communications. To a recruiter or hiring manager you are an unknown correspondent, so your subject line can make the difference between a careful reading of your message and instant deletion.

With e-mail, the Subject Line is your attention grabber; it's your headline and your advertising pitch. In the same way that headlines on blogs, articles, books, and movies are used to grab readers' attention and draw them into the story, your subject line is what draws the reader into your e-mail. It needs to be intriguing, concise, and should allow the recipient to immediately recognize who you are and what you want, and you have to achieve this goal with limited space.

The subject line in an email inbox typically reveal about 60 characters, you need to take advantage of this advertising space and can do better than settle for subject lines that state, "Resume" or "Jim Smith’s Resume." If you are responding to a job posting, the job title and job posting number are useful as a start, you can add the credentials that you know are important from your reading of the job posting.

For example: Financial Analyst posting #MB450—CPA/MBA/8 yrs exp Posting # 2314—MIT Grad is interested Job #6745—Top performing sales professional wants to talk

If there is no job posting to refer to: IT Manager—7 yrs IT Consulting Benefits Consultant—Nonprofit Exp in NY Referral from Tony Banks—Product Management Job

The Subject Line Resume – You actually have enough space to turn your subject line into a condensed two-part resume.

Part One. The subject line of an unopened email in the average inbox will typically reveal a maximum of 60 characters. You want to get the most compelling information into less than 60 characters. This example uses 48 characters, with spaces:

Your next Reg HR Manager—EEOC, FLSA, & ADA exp

Part Two. An opened message will show usually show up to 150 characters, so an expanded subject line that captures more critical skills can act as a condensed resume. This example has an expanded subject line that comes in at 148 characters, including spaces.

Your next Reg HR Manager—EEOC, FLSA, ADA, OSHA. 10 years exp includes arbitration, campus, executive recruitment, selection, compensation, T&D

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsWhen you take full advantage of the available space in email subject lines, you can deliver a relevant and compelling headline that draws the reader into the message of your email with a condensed version of your resume. Try it; you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

By Martin Yate CPC

Resume Tool Gives You the Competitive Advantage

With a new service called MyJobHunter, you can search all top career sites at once & apply to all matching jobs with one click. Just enter your search criteria, review the matching jobs and select the ones you want. Then, click a single button and you'll instantly apply to all selected jobs with your resume and cover letter (without having to log into each job site separately).

Click another button and you can automate the whole process! MyJobHunter can remember what you searched for, search for it again each day, and AUTOMATICALLY APPLY FOR YOU to new jobs matching your criteria. Review jobs in advance or put searching & applying on auto-pilot. The choice is yours.

You'll also get an application history report that makes follow-up a breeze! It shows the jobs you were applied to, full job descriptions, employer contact info, and application dates. You can even add personal notes to each job! This service is proven to reduce hours of job searching and resume submitting to just minutes. Simply upload your resume, enter your job search criteria and let MyJobHunter take it from there. To get the competitive advantage and land a job faster, visit (http://www.myjobhunter.com/) today.

Staff Writer, The Career News

Key Steps to a Cover Letter That Opens Doors

So you've created a knockout resume, and you're ready to wow employers by sending it directly to them. Don't forget to send it under cover--a powerful cover letter, that is. While a great resume can open doors, a compelling cover letter can be an equal (if not MORE) important part of your pitch for employment.

In fact, some surveys of HR professionals and recruiters have suggested the cover letter--instead of the resume--is what really gets read! That's right! The interviewing decision may actually rest on how well-written and concise your letter appears. The irony is you may never find out whether it was the resume OR the cover letter that swayed an employer. Even if cover letter writing isn't your style, don't panic! Read on for five strategies that can help even a novice letter writer create a memorable introduction to capture an employer's attention:

Ensure your letter matches your resume in presentation and style. Try to find out the name of the hiring manager before sending your application. Keep in mind the purpose of the letter is to gain attention.

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept Secrets Summarize what you can do for the company without a total reiteration of the resume. Limit the number of sentences beginning with "I" as much as possible.

Staff Writer, The Career News

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Resume Writing – The Best Kept SecretsCreate a Resume in Minutes

You have just 10 seconds to make an impact on a prospective employer. While your resume is your passport to get a better job, most people don't know how to write one that gets real results. You need to sell your skills, achievements and experience in a way that makes employers want to know more about you. But how? To get real results, you need to:

1. Choose the right resume format 2. Emphasize your most impressive selling points 3. Paint a positive picture of your accomplishments 4. Create a visually striking layout and design

The career experts at Resume Companion have developed a revolutionary automated resume builder. You can chose from a powerful database of over 50,000 professionally written resume phrases spanning over 1000 unique occupations. Now you can create a professional resume in minutes with no prior writing experience! It's easy to choose from 100's of premium resume templates developed by certified resume writers covering all jobs and industries. Resume Companion also features an easy to use cover letter builder. Additionally, you can save your finished resume as an MS Word, PDF, Text or HTML document. If you like, you can even request a resume critique by a certified resume writer all from the Resume Companion website. What are you waiting for? Try it for free today (http://resumecompanion.com/).

Staff Writer, The Career News

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