A Round of Applause for You
You have just been chosen “Employee of the Month”–but everyone seems to be chosen sooner or later. You came in second among eight salespeople for total yearly sales–but you weren’t first. Your boss...
View ArticleDetails Make Resumes Stronger
Details in your resume give recruiters confidence in your ability and make you stand out from the crowd. Wherever possible, refer to exact numbers (“supervised a staff of four”), dollar amounts...
View ArticleOrganizing Your Resume
Sometimes the hardest part of writing your own resume is knowing where to begin—and end. How do you know which of your many achievements should be highlighted? How much detail do recruiters expect?...
View ArticleResumes and Keywords
More and more often, employers and recruiters use computer programs to look through resumes for keywords and then discard the resumes that do not contain those words. What are keywords? A keyword is a...
View ArticleWhat Is a Professional Resume? What Makes a Resume “Professional”?
When those questions were asked on LinkedIn, everyone agreed on the answer: a professional resume is tailored to the job you want. You begin to tailor a resume by looking at ads in print and postings...
View ArticleHow Do Recruiters and Hiring Managers Screen Resumes
These days a lot of recruiters and hiring managers rely on computers to eliminate some of the hundreds of resumes they receive in response to each advertisement. The computers search for keywords...
View ArticleFour Common Mistakes You Might Be Making on Your Resume
Professional resume writers know to avoid the following four mistakes. Take a look through your resume now to see if you are guilty of: Misspellings and typos. It is not enough to use an automatic...
View ArticleHow Do Employers Find Their Ideal Candidate?
Recently on LinkedIn, someone asked how business owners, recruiters, and HR executives find their best candidates. The answers to that question are valuable for anyone who is searching for a job. There...
View ArticleQR Codes on Resumes: Good Idea or Bad?
QR (quick response) codes are those weird little boxes that allow Smartphone to go directly to online information, such as a website or map. These codes are starting to show up on resumes. They might...
View ArticleWhat Not to Include on Your Resume
You are probably aware that your resume should generally not include information about your health, marital status, religious or political beliefs (unless you are applying for a job with a religious or...
View ArticleExecutive Resume Myths: Busted
For the 2012 Global Hiring Survey from the global professional association, Career Directors International (CDI) surveyed hiring managers, Human Resource professionals, recruiters and executives to...
View ArticleTen Tips for Proofreading Your Resume
Set the resume aside for at least 24 hours before you review it. With a refreshed eye, you may see problems you missed before. Review your resume on paper and on the screen. You will see problems on...
View ArticleDo You Need a Professional Resume Writer?
It costs money to hire a professional resume writer; is the money worth it? Here are a few reasons why you might consider hiring a professional. You hate bragging or talking about yourself and have...
View ArticleAnticipating the Job Market
In my previous blog post, I talked about the opportunity that unemployment offers to envision and grasp your dream job. Once you know what your dream job looks like, the next step is to become more...
View ArticleResume Advice for 50+ Applicants: Part 2
If you are over 50 and looking for employment, you need to beware of these resume gaffs: Using outdated terminology or misusing current terminology, especially when writing about computer or leadership...
View ArticleAre You Sending Your Resume to All the Right People?
In addition to sending your resume to companies that have advertised positions, you should also be sending it to: Companies who have not advertised but who are a match for your perfect position—let...
View ArticleWhat Have You Been “Responsible for” Lately?
In other blog posts, I mentioned that you should try to avoid phrases like “responsible for,” “experienced in” or “successful in” when describing your achievements. Let me explain why. The first...
View ArticleResumes That Bridge the Work History Gap
Gaps in your work history may occur for many reasons: inability to find a job immediately after a layoff, the decision to become a stay-at-home parent, health issues, and so on. After a gap, writing...
View ArticleUpdating Your Resume
When you update your resume, mistakes may easily happen. For example, in every resume achievements in old jobs are described in the past tense (“Managed 15 accountants”); achievements in current jobs...
View ArticleResume Gone Wild
Recently I rewrote a resume for a professional who knew she had a problem: Her resume was 6 pages long. Now a long resume is fine if the content justifies it, but this resume was a classic case of a...
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