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Your #Career : #ChangingCareers ? Here’s Exactly What To Put On Your #Resume . And What to Leave Off…

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It’s not that hard to update your resume when you’re applying for the next role up the ladder in your field. You’re an associate operations manager trying to become a senior operations manager? Just show how what you’ve already done qualifies you to do similar things at a higher level.

Things get trickier when you’re trying to change industries. You’ve got to rebrand experiences here as transferable qualifications there. You need to explain why you’re a better hire than the candidate who’s spent their whole career in the field you’re trying to get into. And you’ve got to decide which parts of your experience just aren’t relevant anymore.

Figuring this out is a highly situational challenge–what works for one career changer’s resume might not work for another’s. But Erica Breuer, founder of Cake Resumes, says there are some straightforward dos and don’ts that can point you in the right direction.

DO: INCLUDE GROUP WORK

“I often work with career changers who don’t feel they have the right to include projects on their resume that were a team effort, especially when these projects fell outside of their normal job duties,” Breuer tells Fast Company. But it’s precisely those experiences you’ll want to rely on the most. “Including them, while nodding to the team-based or ‘special projects’ nature of the work is the way to go,” she says. “If it happened, it’s a fact, and it can go on your resume.”

Think of it this way: The tasks that are small, routine, or specialized enough for you to complete on your own may not be that relevant outside your industry. But bigger, collaborative projects tend to involve processes and challenges of a higher order, which draw on skills that just about every employer needs–no matter their field.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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DON’T: FUDGE JOB TITLES

“Many career changers get the advice to tweak job titles on their resume to look like the perfect fit. This almost always backfires,” Breuer explains. “It risks looking dishonest or, worse, the self-assigned titles they create add confusion more than they align them with a new path.”

While you can’t control your past job titles, you can control how you describe what you accomplish while you held them. Breuer’s suggestion? “Add a tagline of sorts to the true job title, one that states experience related to the new career direction, for example; ‘Director of Operations—Global Recruitment & Talent Acquisition.’” This way a hiring manager in the HR field, which you’re trying to get into, can spot right away that your operations role had to do with recruiting and talent.

(SOMETIMES) DO: DITCH STRICT CHRONOLOGY IF YOU NEED TO

For job seekers with a lot of experience, it’s common to truncate anything that came before the past 15–20-year period. But Breuer says this rule doesn’t always suit, especially “when you have an early-career experience that applies to an upcoming career change. Drawing this line is important, but so is sharing the details relevant at this very moment. If you’re not doing that, the resume is pointless,” she points out.

So feel free to shake up the chronological approach if you need to. “There are a number of ways to loop early experiences back into a resume without the kitchen sink-style timeline,” says Breuer. For example, you might try breaking your work history into subcategories like “Technical Experience” and “Managerial Experience.”

DON’T: GO TOO BROAD

A final common mistake Breuer sees pretty often among job seekers hoping to change careers is “expecting their resume to do too many things at once,” she says. “They want to capture their career wins, life story, hobbies, and persona as a whole, when a resume actually functions best when it’s a compelling and concise record of your experiences as they pertain to the role at hand.”

When you’re worried about being under-qualified, you might be tempted to overstuff your resume to compensate. Don’t do that. The key is to give recruiters and hiring managers a clear narrative about why you’re the best fit from the role because you’d be coming at it from a nontraditional angle. No, that won’t be the full story of your career, but it will probably be the most effective one for this opportunity.

To take some of the pressure off, Breuer suggests remembering that your resume–while important–is only one piece of the self-portrait you’re presenting to employers. She adds, “It should stack with other branding platforms, such as a personal website, LinkedIn profile, or even a cover letter, in order to tell the whole story of who you are and the value you bring.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rich Bellis is Associate Editor of Fast Company’s Leadership section.

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FastCompany.com | May 14, 2018 | Rich Bellis

 

Your #Career : Don’t Embellish Your #Resume –Do These Things Instead…Lying on your Resume is a Slippery Slope. Rather than Make Up an Achievement, Take these Strategic Approaches to Present Yourself in the Best Possible Light.

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There’s nothing wrong with playing up your skills on a resume to present yourself in the best possible light. But there’s a difference between slightly embellishing and downright lying.

Countless Americans, though, are guilty of the latter, especially among the under-40 set. In fact, 26% of workers in that age range admit to lying on a resume, according to data from Udemy. Workers over 40 aren’t off the hook, though–7% of those 40 and above have gone the same route.

If you’re thinking of lying on your resume to make up for the fact that it’s otherwise not all that impressive, you should know that doing so could end up costing you the jobs you apply for and damaging your reputation in the process. Here’s a better approach to making yourself more appealing to prospective employers.

1. BE SMART ABOUT HIGHLIGHTING YOUR MOST IMPRESSIVE SKILLS

Maybe you’re not coming in with the most eye-catching job title. But if you have the same skills as someone at, say, the director level, talk them up. Use data and statistics to show that you’re equally capable of getting the job done, and that you have a proven track record of success. It’s a better bet than putting down a job title you never actually held.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. LOAD UP ON ACTION VERBS

Your resume should tell employers about the many things you’ve done in your career, so the more action items you include, the more attractive a candidate you’ll be. So talk up the various tasks you’ve tackled in previous roles, and focus on language such as “managed,” “created,” and “implemented.” Words like that will help the person reading your resume picture you doing those tasks, thus helping to make your case.

Related:This Is How To Spot A Lie On Your Resume 

3. TAILOR YOUR RESUME TO THE JOBS YOU’RE APPLYING FOR

Maybe you didn’t spend the bulk of your time at your last job meeting with clients and presenting marketing pitches, but if you did that some of the time, and the role you’re applying to now hinges on your ability to present and sell, then that’s something you want to focus on. Tailoring a resume to a specific job by focusing on certain aspects of your career isn’t lying, provided you did the things you claim you did, and there’s nothing wrong with not including certain former responsibilities that aren’t relevant to the job at hand. Emphasizing the things prospective employers want to see is a good way to get their attention.

Related:Former Recruiters Reveal The Industry’s Dark Secrets That Cost You Job Offers 

4. CRAFT A STRONG COVER LETTER

Your resume is only supposed to serve as a snapshot of your work history. If you have gaps you think will prevent you from getting the job you want, rather than fib your way through your resume, use your cover letter to sell yourself as a candidate. Talk about your strengths, prove that your experience matches the requirements for the role in question, and use language that lets your personality shine through. With any luck, that’ll be just the thing to entice employers and get your foot in the door.

Natural as it may be to want to lie on a resume, it’s a mistake that could end up costing you. Remember, if you’re hired, but your employer then comes to discover you weren’t truthful during the interview process, you could easily find yourself out of a job. And if that happens, you can forget about getting a reference for your next go-round. You’re much better off being honest about the things you did and didn’t do and the titles you did and didn’t hold–even if that means losing out on one or two opportunities along the way.

FastCompany.com | May 8, 2018 | BY MAURIE BACKMAN—THE MOTLEY FOOL 3 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : #Unemployed – 5 Ways to Make Money in the Middle of a #ResumeGap …A resume gap might seem a Bit Scary to Navigate, But it Doesn’t Have to Be.

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A resume gap might seem a bit scary to navigate, but it doesn’t have to be. Whether you were already planning time off between jobs or lost your job due to an uncontrollable circumstance, there are ways to take control of the situation — and still earn money and valuable experience while searching for your next career opportunity.

Here are five ways to make a resume gap work for you.

1. Become a Freelancer

There’s a freelance job for virtually every line of work: copywriting, social media management, product design, graphic design — the list goes on. Search for freelance jobs relevant to your career field, and work on your own time.

The good thing about freelance gigs is that, generally, they’re flexible. If you’re busy applying for full-time jobs, freelance work gives you the freedom you need to attend interviews at all times of the day while still earning extra money.

See Open Freelancer Jobs 

2. Work as a Consultant

In today’s digital world, it’s easier than ever to start your own business. You can work as a consultant for another company or create your own consulting gig. This type of work exists in many different fields, and it’s important to pick a niche where you have deep knowledge and experience on a subject.

While that path to becoming a consultant might differ depending on your field, it’s essential that you build your brand and start networking to be successful. Consulting can be a good option if your gap between jobs will be a prolonged period, such as a year or longer. This way, you have the right amount of time to build up a client base and obtain even more skills to list on your resume.

See Open Consultant Jobs 

3. Develop Your Own Business

Do you have a hobby or skill people would pay for? Maybe you bake delicious cakes or are good at detailing cars. Armed with those skills, talk to friends and family, and start advertising your services.

If people will pay for something you typically offer for free or do as a favor, hone in on that and market yourself as a legitimate business. Make some cheap business cards and get your name out there!

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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4. Join the Gig Economy

The infinitely growing gig economy is a great way to supplement your income, even if a task won’t necessarily benefit your career. Look into pet sitting, ride sharing, delivering groceries or even renting out a spare room on Airbnb. Don’t feel like leaving the house? No worries; you can still make money from the comfort of your own home through methods like investing in real estate on the web, working as an online bookkeeper or selling old items you don’t use anymore.

If you think earning an income through the gig economy is right for you, keep up your professional life by going to networking events, volunteering or interning part-time. These events can still be listed on your resume while you earn an income with other jobs on the side.

See Open Lyft Driver Jobs 

5. Learn a New Skill

This might not make you much money right now, but learning something new you can put on a resume could mean more money in a future job. Maybe you’re only somewhat familiar with CRMs — take a course and master Salesforce, and you’ll quickly become the go-to person in your next office.

Better yet, learn some HTML or CSS coding from a free online resource. Or look into Coursera or Poynter’s News University, where you could earn certifications in fields such as marketing, journalism and online media.

6 Classes That Will Help You Add In-Demand Skills to Your Resume

Three Tips for Addressing a Resume Gap

Ready to enter the workforce again? Here are a few helpful tips for mentioning a gap on your resume or in an interview.

  • Address the gap clearly. Instead of ignoring it or waiting for the interviewer to ask about it, talk about your resume gap and anything relevant to the job you did during that time. If it was parental leave, state you wanted to be home to take care of your child. It’s all about being honest — addressing the gap head-on during the interview will get you further than not being straightforward about your job history.
  • Prepare what you’ll say ahead of time. Frame your job gap as productive time away from the office. Did you stay home with the kids and manage all the bills? Talk about how you became proficient in Excel and learned how to budget. Did you choose to take a sabbatical and travel the world? Discuss how adaptable you are and how much you learned by immersing yourself in a foreign culture.
  • Keep it positive. Regardless of whether or not you were let go or left of your own accord, position the circumstance in a positive way. Instead of saying you had problems with your previous manager, talk about what you learned about yourself as a professional, and what you do and don’t want out of a workplace.

You don’t have to be afraid of your resume gap. Leverage this time and use it to your advantage — learn relevant skills, get a certification in your field or explore new career opportunities. Good luck!

Jacquelyn Pica is a writer at The Penny Hoarder. Find her on Twitter @JacquelynTPH.

 

Glassdoor.com | May 7, 2018 | Jacquelyn Pica

Your #Career : How Power Words Can Help You Land Your Dream Job… There’s No Silver Bullet to Get you the Job you Want, but Power Words Might Be the Closest Thing.

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What are power words, you ask? Power words are buzzwords and special phrases that signal to a company that you’re on their wavelength. Use them to tailor your application to a specific company and show that you know their mission, their approach and their values — and that you’ve done your homework.

These are the words that they’re watching for to find out which applicants are best suited to join the team.

Why Power Words Are Your Friends

Power words are like hypnosis. Use the words your potential employers want to hear and they’ll come knocking at your door.

Okay, it’s a bit more complicated than that. But the right power words can help your resume stand out, and that can give you the edge you need to get the job.

Here’s why. Some companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), which searches resumes for certain keywords and forwards only the resumes of candidates who jam-packed their applications with the power words companies are looking for.

And for companies that do have a human reading applications, that human is often trying to get through a lot of resumes in a short time. They may not be a computer, but they will have superbly trained eyes that speedily scan for buzzwords and phrases.

So, the better you train yourself to use those words and phrases, the more your resume will stand out.

How to Use Keywords to Make a Resume Recruiters Notice

How do you find the right power words to make your resume pop? Try these tips to find and use power words in any job application.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Get Power Word Gems from the Job Description

A big, juicy job description is like a math textbook with the answers in the back. It lists the requirements, skills and daily tasks of the job you’re applying for, so all you need to do is say that you meet those requirements, have those skills and are up to that set of daily tasks. Piece of cake, right?

Of course, you don’t want to copy the job description word for word. Instead, imagine which words and phrases would be highlighted. Those are your power words. As you write your resume and your cover letter, work the words from the job description into your description of who you are and what you do.

For example, if the job description says you’ll “influence strategic decisions by working with cross-functional partners,” you might include phrases like “guided strategy,” “engaged in cross-functional collaboration,” or “coordinated decision-making with multiple teams.” By using some of the same words and some synonyms, you demonstrate that you can do what they’re asking, and you have the smarts to phrase it in a different way.

Select Company-Specific Power Words

You’re not just applying to do a job; you’re applying to work at a company. While applying, make sure you familiarize yourself with the company and what makes it unique, and incorporate some of that information in your application materials.

How do you find that information? Most job descriptions include some information about the company, and sometimes explain why that job is important to that company’s development. Use that information to explain why you’re not just a good fit for the daily work; you’re a good fit for the company culture, too.

You can expand on that by looking at the “about” information on the company website and its mission statement, if it has one. For example, if the mission involves “introducing our product to a global market,” you can mention how your abilities will suit you to developing the product, and also how reaching an international audience is something you value.

Double benefit: you show that your skills suit the work you’ll be doing, and that your personality is in line with what the company is trying to accomplish overall.

Use Industry Jargon (Appropriately)

A/B testing. Malfeasance. Amortization. Socratic method. SEO, UX, UI.

Doesn’t matter if you’re a marketer, lawyer, teacher or techie: every industry has its jargon. Get a handle on the specific words people in your line of business use to describe the work they do, because guess what? Those are power words! In your resume and cover letter, include jargon that shows that you not only know how the industry works but also how it talks.

But strike a balance: show what you know, but don’t make your writing so chock-full of jargon that there’s no sign of a human in there.

How To Decode Job Opening Jargon

Pick Verbs with Verve

Verbs will help you express yourself, convey your skills and win at life. See how great verbs are?

Most resumes are essentially souped-up lists of stuff you did. And it sounds a lot better to say you orchestrated, designed, spearheaded or led instead of just did. That’s right: most power words are power verbs.

Now you know why power words can help you land a job, where to look for the right power words in the job and company descriptions and how to show what you can do with the right set of vivacious verbs. But which verbs in particular, you might ask?

If you need more tips on seeking superb synonyms to power up your resume, we’ve got a handy list of 65 powerful words to take your resume to the next level. So now that you know how power words work, find your favorites and get them working for you.

 

 

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Your #Career : #CareerAdvice – Help! I’m #Overqualified — What Do I Do? ….In these Situations, your Context will Influence your Course of Action. Let’s Examine What you Can Do When you’re Considered to be Overqualified.

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Demonstrate how a role will help you develop, and show how you can be an asset, then don’t let a recruiter persuade you that you’re overqualified! Remember, you need to maintain your confidence throughout the process and let your resiliency guide you as you continue your search!

When it comes to job searching, we often hear how difficult it can be for recent graduates, who are somehow expected to have years of experience straight out of school, to even be considered for an entry-level position. What happens when the situation is reversed, and your years of experience begin to work against you? How can job seekers set themselves up for success when recruiters keep telling them they are overqualified for positions they’re interested in?

Hiring managers might challenge you by saying you’ll be bored and leave for a better-suited position, or your compensation expectations won’t be met.

In these situations, your context will influence your course of action. Let’s examine what you can do when you’re considered to be overqualified.

Situation #1: You’ve relocated or have been laid off

How to Respond: Highlight the win-win situation

Here, you must explain your motivation for applying to a position that you might seem “overqualified” for on paper. Highlight “how the organization can benefit from your experience, and how taking this position can advance your own skill set,” says Alan Zelnicker, executive recruiter. If the job scope is more narrow and the compensation is less than your old position, you must emphasize what you can contribute in terms of added value and what you can get from the role.

How to Respond: Make an important mind shift

Going into any interview, you should always project confidence and take on the mindset that recruiters are getting a great deal from you, rather than going in feeling like you’re overqualified for the job. You have to drive the power seat and never feel like you’re getting the short end of the stick. Instead, adopt the mindset that any company would be lucky to have you! Without seeming arrogant, remind recruiters that the learning curve involved with your onboarding will be cut in half, leaving you more time to learn the organization, and giving you a competitive edge!

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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How to Respond: Re-evaluate compensation

Managing expectations around compensation is a separate conversation. You need to be realistic and accept that sometimes you’ll need to take a step back. Whenever possible, make a direct touch point with the hiring manager over the phone to talk about compensation. This way, you can form a personal connection, and you can articulate all that you have to offer. As mentioned before, what is the win-win negotiation for you that makes taking a pay cut worthwhile?

Ask a Resume Writer: Why Are Employers Calling Me Overqualified?

Situation #2: You’re switching careers/industries

How to Respond: Highlight your new career path

It is not uncommon for people to switch industries or careers. In fact, millennials report switching jobs 4 times in their first 10 years out of school. When working with recruiters, highlight any new credentials you’ve earned to demonstrate your commitment towards this new path you’re taking. Emphasize your desire to learn and retrain to create a new path forward for yourself.

How to Respond: Emphasize the rudimentary

Though you may have 20 years of experience in one field, you must demonstrate to recruiters that you’re ready to check your ego at the door and learn about a whole new world. That being said, relevant and rudimentary skills can always be transferable and should be considered as your added value.

How Do I Showcase Transferable Skills?

How to Respond: Know your worth

When discussing salary, make sure to mention that you’ve done your research, you’re aware of the industry standards, and are comfortable with what these types of roles typically offer.

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” –Japanese proverb

What not to do: The worst thing you could do is tell a recruiter you’ll take anything just to get a job. Though this often may be the truth, people want to see that you possess the right enthusiasm and fit for the role. You must always sell your skills and highlight how you are the perfect candidate for the job.

Your resume: If you’re having trouble getting through the door and you think your resume might be the culprit, there are some workarounds to try:

  1. If your resume demonstrates work dating back more than 10 years, consider consolidating your experience and only keeping what is still relevant today
  2. If you have multiple designations and education, consider only keeping what is relevant to the job you’re applying for and removing anything that is redundant
  3. Consider reformatting your resume in a way that tells a new story

If you can demonstrate how a role will help you develop, and show how you can be an asset, then don’t let a recruiter persuade you that you’re overqualified! Remember, you need to maintain your confidence throughout the process and let your resiliency guide you as you continue your search!

Stacy Pollack is a Learning Specialist with an MA in educational technology. She loves to share her perspective on job hunting, career building, and networking for success. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.

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Your #Career : 8 Books every #JobHunter should Read Before Sending out #Résumés ….These Books Go Beyond the Nuts & Bolts of #JobSearching (#Interviewing, #RésuméWriting ) & Help Readers Find their True Passion & Motivation.

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  • The job search process can be confusing and intimidating, not least because you’re trying to choose from a seemingly infinite number of potential career trajectories.
  • Plenty of authors have published guides for overwhelmed job seekers. We selected seven of the best.
  • These books go beyond the nuts and bolts of job searching (interviewing, résumé-writing) and help readers find their true passion and motivation.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a college student or a mid-level professional — making a career change can be intimidating.

Get some guidance from the pros.

Sure, sending out cover letters and going on job interviews is panic-inducing. But perhaps the scarier part is figuring out what you really want to do and how you can best contribute to the world.

The good news is you’re hardly the first job-seeker to find yourself in this position. There are tons of books geared toward people just like you. Below, we’ve highlighted seven of the best, so you can launch into your job search with confidence.

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‘Designing Your Life’ by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

'Designing Your Life' by Bill Burnett and Dave EvansAmazon

This book, by two Stanford professors of engineering, is a bestseller for a reason: It’s at once reassuring, empowering, and enlightening for anyone in the throes of the job-search process.

The most important takeaway is that there isn’t just one career path out there for you. You probably have lots of passions, and you can definitely have lots of jobs.

The authors share anecdotes alongside exercises to help you figure out which careers would suit you best — like “mind mapping” and “Odyssey planning.” It’s a fun and very actionable read that helps you see the careers forest for the trees.

Find it here »

‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie

'How to Win Friends and Influence People' by Dale CarnegieAmazon

Nearly a century after its original publication, this book continues to be a megahit among people looking to be better with … people.

In fact, Warren Buffett says the book helped him overcome his social awkwardness and ultimately changed his life, Business Insider’sRichard Feloni reported.

The late Carnegie advises readers on how to have smoother interactions with others — perhaps most importantly, by letting them talk about themselves. Feloni rounded up some of the other core lessons, like acknowledge your own mistakes and avoid criticizing, condemning, or complaining.

Whether you’re gearing up for job interviews or networking events, Carnegie’s classic advice is a must-read.

Find it here »

 

‘Pivot’ by Jenny Blake

'Pivot' by Jenny BlakeAmazon

Blake is a former Googler who’s “pivoted” — i.e. changed career directions — multiple times, once when she was working at the tech giant, and again when she left to launch her consulting business. And she knows how scary it can be.

“Pivot” guides readers who are confused, intimidated, or just plain curious through the step-by-step process of figuring out what you should do next — and then doing it. She’s nothing if not cautious, telling readers they should run some tests to make sure, for example, their startup idea is viable or this is really their passion.

Blake also has advice on building your network without feeling slimy, by “drafting,” or taking on extra projects from someone who works in your desired field. It’s a practical, highly re-readable guide for anyone at any stage.

Find it here »

‘The New Rules of Work’ by Alex Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew

'The New Rules of Work' by Alex Cavoulacos and Kathryn MinshewAmazon

If you’re looking for people who “get” the modern-day job search — and how frustrating it can be — look no further.

Cavoulacos and Minshew are the cofounders, and COO and CEO, respectively, of popular career advice and job listings site The Muse. In “The New Rules of Work,” they break down the process of landing your dream job into accessible steps, from networking to interviewing to moving up the ranks at your company.

Some highlights from the book: a template for cold-emailingsomeone at your dream company, a fresh take on post-interview thank-you notes, and advice on how tokeep from stagnating in your current role.

Find it here »

‘What Color Is Your Parachute?’

'What Color Is Your Parachute?'Amazon

The most popular job-search guide ever has been revised every year to reflect the realities of modern work.

The late Bolles (who was an Episcopalian minister) covers the basics — résumé writing, interviewing, networking — but also helps readers pinpoint their ideal career through the “Flower Exercise.”

Barbara Safani, president of the career-management firm Career Solvers, told The New York Timesin 2014 that the book has stayed relevant because Bolles “focuses not only on the job search process but the emotional and psychological side” of job hunting.

Find it here »

‘Insight’ by Tasha Eurich

'Insight' by Tasha EurichAmazon

Before you head into a job interview and start pitching yourself to a hiring manager, you’ll need to get a better handle on who exactly you are, in terms of your strengths and weaknesses.

Eurich is an organizational psychologist who helps people overcome obstacles to professional success — and the biggest one, she argues, is being oblivious to your flaws and mistakes. The problem? Self-awareness is key to success at work.

“Insight” guides readers through the process of knowing themselves just a little bit better. Each chapter juxtaposes an anecdote about a struggling client Eurich has coached with relevant scientific research, and ends with some practical exercises readers can use in their everyday lives.

These exercises — like inviting someone to a meal and asking them to tell you everything that’s wrong with you— take courage. But Eurich’s experience suggests that, if you do take her advice, you’ll be better positioned to advance in your career.

Find it here »

‘Why We Work’ by Barry Schwartz

'Why We Work' by Barry SchwartzAmazon

In this relatively short read, Schwartz, a psychologist at Swarthmore College, explains how human motivation works — and doesn’t work.

Schwartz argues that people are motivated by purpose and meaning, i.e. the chance to achieve great things. There’s no evidence to suggest people are motivated primarily by money. But most companies — from education to law — incentivize workers with financial rewards anyway.

As you’re moving into the next phase of your career, you’ll want to learn more about what makes employees excel and what makes an organization great. Schwartz’s insights are invaluable in that domain.

Find it here »

 

Bonus Read: Resume DNA by John Singer

For every position that interests you there are dozens, possibly hundreds of applicants. You need to make yourself stand out — but how? Resume DNA: Succeeding in Spite of Yourself is a practical blueprint for navigating your way through a complicated, competitive job market.

You’ll learn to identify the qualities that distinguish you from your competition, write cover letters and resumes that demonstrate why you’re a good fit, deliver an opening statement that enables you to control the interview, work your network and pilot a proactive search in the “unpublished” job market, and much more. With humor and warm encouragement, Resume DNA: Succeeding in Spite of Yourself reminds you of what you’ve already accomplished . . . and teaches you how to leverage those accomplishments as you make your way up the career ladder.

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Resume-DNA-Succeeding-Spite-Yourself/dp/1627873848

 

Businessinsider.com | March 13, 2018 | Shana Lebowitz

 

Your #Career : 7 Ways to Make Your #Resume Easier for #Recruiters to Process…So, like Anyone Faced with a Whole Lot to Do, Recruiters take Shortcuts. Instead of Looking through Every Single Application Carefully

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Getting recruiters to thoroughly read your resume is a luxury you have to earn. By making your resume more skimmable for recruiters, you’ll position yourself as a strong candidate worthy of being taken seriously.

It’s easy to think that after all the work you’ve put into perfecting your resume, recruiters will at least spend the time to thoroughly reading it through from start to finish. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. Recruiters are generally very busy. Resume writing blogger and long-time recruiter Steve Wang says,

“During my more busy weeks, sometimes I have to fill as many as 15 positions at once, and when each position gets over a hundred applicants, I can only afford to spend a minute or two on each resume.”

So, like anyone faced with a whole lot to do, recruiters take shortcuts. Instead of looking through every single application carefully, they’ll simply skim through each resume to see which ones might be worth taking a closer look at. Because of this, it’s crucial that even a quick glance at your resume will leave readers awestruck. With this in mind, here are some techniques you can dish out to make your resume super easy for recruiters to skim through and understand.

Use Standard Headings

I get it, you want to get fancy with your headings to stand out from the pack, but doing so can have the unintended consequence of making your resume way harder to skim. Recruiters are used to reading the same old headers over and over again. If you change “Work Experience” to “Work Background”, that can throw off a recruiter’s rhythm – even if it’s just a little. So when it comes to resume headings, stick with what is tried and true.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Digitize Your Numbers

When it’s time to decide whether to spell out numbers on your resume, you might find yourself in a dilemma where you’re unsure whether to use APA or MLA style rules to approach this common concern. While it’s great that you’re paying attention to this type of detail, it’s a lot simpler than you think. Just write your numbers as digits to make information like numerical achievements nice and easy to spot. Whether you follow APA or MLA protocol is the least of anyone’s concerns here.

How to Find a Job in 72 Hours

List All Your Skills Separately

Some job applicants like to intertwine their skills with their job experience. If they used skills A, B, and C while working for Job X, they’ll mention those skills in the same section of the resume that describes the job. While this is certainly a fine way to format your resume, it’s still important to have a separate section that lists out all your skills in their entirety. 

Use Short Bullet Points

One to two lines is an okay length for bullet points. If they get any longer though, not only will your resume become more difficult to understand, but it can also hint that you’re trying to get at too many different things at once. Instead, keep your bullet points short, sweet, and to the point.

Avoid 99% of Resume Mistakes with This Simple Checklist

Choose the Right Template

Some resume templates do a far better job than others at making your content aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand. Make sure that the template you use is taking full advantage of techniques like bolding, USING ALL CAPS, italics, underlining, and even colors to make information like job titles, company names, and dates more distinguishable from one another. Here’s what I mean:

Job title, Company Name, New York, NY May 2016 – Present

This would be considered hard to read. While everything is bolded and italicized to differentiate the entire line from the rest of the resume, individually the job title, company name, location, and date are hard to distinguish.

Job title, Company Name, NEW YORK, NY May 2016 – Present

Here the formatting is far superior. The job title, company name, location, and date all have their own unique style, which makes everything much easier to discern.

If you’re ever unsure about whether a particular resume template might be easier to skim than another, simply test them out by skimming them yourself.

Align Dates to the Right

Keeping all your dates to the right allows you to create a clear timeline of your resume. If a recruiter wants to check to see if you have any work gaps, all the recruiter needs to do is look over to the right and all the dates will be lined up as clear as day.

Here’s What the Perfect Resume Looks Like

Begin Each Job Description with a Summary

In some cases, even though each individual bullet point on a resume may be easy to comprehend, sometimes they don’t paint a clear picture of the job applicant collectively when put together. This difficulty is exacerbated when bullet points describe assorted one-off achievements at a particular job. To alleviate this issue, it’s often a good idea to use your first bullet point to give a short summary describing what the core of your job is all about. This way, recruiters can better contextualize how your later bullet points fit into the bigger picture of what you do.

Getting recruiters to thoroughly read your resume is a luxury you have to earn. By making your resume more skimmable for recruiters, you’ll position yourself as a strong candidate worthy of being taken seriously.

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Your #Career : Changing Careers? Here’s Exactly What To Put On Your #Resume And What to Leave Off…

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It’s not that hard to update your resume when you’re applying for the next role up the ladder in your field. You’re an associate operations manager trying to become a senior operations manager? Just show how what you’ve already done qualifies you to do similar things at a higher level.

Things get trickier when you’re trying to change industries. You’ve got to rebrand experiences here as transferable qualifications there. You need to explain why you’re a better hire than the candidate who’s spent their whole career in the field you’re trying to get into. And you’ve got to decide which parts of your experience just aren’t relevant anymore.

Figuring this out is a highly situational challenge–what works for one career changer’s resume might not work for another’s. But Erica Breuer, founder of Cake Resumes, says there are some straightforward dos and don’ts that can point you in the right direction.

DO: INCLUDE GROUP WORK

“I often work with career changers who don’t feel they have the right to include projects on their resume that were a team effort, especially when these projects fell outside of their normal job duties,” Breuer tells Fast Company. But it’s precisely those experiences you’ll want to rely on the most. “Including them, while nodding to the team-based or ‘special projects’ nature of the work is the way to go,” she says. “If it happened, it’s a fact, and it can go on your resume.”

Think of it this way: The tasks that are small, routine, or specialized enough for you to complete on your own may not be that relevant outside your industry. But bigger, collaborative projects tend to involve processes and challenges of a higher order, which draw on skills that just about every employer needs–no matter their field.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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DON’T: FUDGE JOB TITLES

“Many career changers get the advice to tweak job titles on their resume to look like the perfect fit. This almost always backfires,” Breuer explains. “It risks looking dishonest or, worse, the self-assigned titles they create add confusion more than they align them with a new path.”

While you can’t control your past job titles, you can control how you describe what you accomplish while you held them. Breuer’s suggestion? “Add a tagline of sorts to the true job title, one that states experience related to the new career direction, for example; ‘Director of Operations—Global Recruitment & Talent Acquisition.’” This way a hiring manager in the HR field, which you’re trying to get into, can spot right away that your operations role had to do with recruiting and talent.

(SOMETIMES) DO: DITCH STRICT CHRONOLOGY IF YOU NEED TO

For job seekers with a lot of experience, it’s common to truncate anything that came before the past 15–20-year period. But Breuer says this rule doesn’t always suit, especially “when you have an early-career experience that applies to an upcoming career change. Drawing this line is important, but so is sharing the details relevant at this very moment. If you’re not doing that, the resume is pointless,” she points out.

So feel free to shake up the chronological approach if you need to. “There are a number of ways to loop early experiences back into a resume without the kitchen sink-style timeline,” says Breuer. For example, you might try breaking your work history into subcategories like “Technical Experience” and “Managerial Experience.”

DON’T: GO TOO BROAD

A final common mistake Breuer sees pretty often among job seekers hoping to change careers is “expecting their resume to do too many things at once,” she says. “They want to capture their career wins, life story, hobbies, and persona as a whole, when a resume actually functions best when it’s a compelling and conciserecord of your experiences as they pertain to the role at hand.”

When you’re worried about being under-qualified, you might be tempted to overstuff your resume to compensate. Don’t do that. The key is to give recruiters and hiring managers a clear narrative about why you’re the best fit from the role because you’d be coming at it from a nontraditional angle. No, that won’t be the full story of your career, but it will probably be the most effective one for this opportunity.

To take some of the pressure off, Breuer suggests remembering that your resume–while important–is only one piece of the self-portrait you’re presenting to employers. She adds, “It should stack with other branding platforms, such as a personal website, LinkedIn profile, or even a cover letter, in order to tell the whole story of who you are and the value you bring.”

Your #Career : Here’s What the Perfect #Resume Looks Like…. We Combed through Some of our Best #ResumeAdvice & Compiled it into One Infographic to Give you an Easy-to-Follow Outline for a Resume that will Wow #Recruiters & Hopefully, Land you the #Job of your Dreams.

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Resumes are essential to the job search, but let’s be honest: creating one is not exactly anyone’s idea of a good time. With so many conflicting pieces of advice, you might feel like you don’t know where to start or what to do. But don’t worry — this time, we’ve done the heavy lifting.

We combed through some of our best resume advice and compiled it into one infographic to give you an easy-to-follow outline for a resume that will wow recruiters and hopefully, land you the job of your dreams.

Ready for a resume revamp? Read on below!

anatomy of resume

1. Design Matters: Don’t go overboard with intricately decorated templates. Look for sufficient white space, margins of at least .7 inches, and a font size no smaller than 11 pt.

2. Be Reachable: Make it easy for recruiters to reach out to you by providing your contact info near the header.

3. Show Off Your Skills: Don’t make recruiters hunt for the most critical information on your resume — include a table of your key soft and hard skill sets up top. Make sure your highlighted skills show why you’re a good fit for the job — all the better if these are keywords from the job description.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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4. List Your Experience: This section should include each company you’ve worked for, your title, the dates you worked there, and several bullet points that describe your key accomplishments and responsibilities.

5. Quantify Your Experience:  Whenever you can, use concrete data points — it helps provide recruiters with the scope and context of your work, and demonstrates how you contributed to the bottom line.

6. Include Other Positions: Don’t be afraid to include positions that aren’t directly related to the one you’re applying for, especially if you have limited work experience. You can still use it to demonstrate the skills and qualities you want highlighted.

7. Get the Grade: Many jobs require degrees or certifications, so make sure to list yours. GPA is optional, but may be worth including if you’ve graduated recently with high marks.

8. The Extra Stuff: Add some color to your resume with a short catch-all ‘Additional Experience’ section at the end. Include clubs/organizations, volunteer experience, awards you’ve won, and even interesting hobbies or activities.

9. Keep It Concise: Limit your resume to 1-2 pages at the most.

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Your #Career : Add This To Your Resume After Deleting Your “Objective” Statement…A “Performance Summary” Puts a Fresh (and Tech-Savvy) Spin on an Outmoded #Resume Feature.

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Since most resumes are written to cast a wide net, they basically just recite everything the writer has done, but this approach dilutes the all-important data density that makes your resume discoverable. In order for recruiters to find your resume in the vast databases they search through, you need to focus on a specific target job, then get the role’s relevant keywords front-and-center where ATS, or “applicant tracking systems,” will detect them.

And as it turns out, one of the best ways to do that is by resurrecting–but with a twist–the dusty old “objective” statement you’ve been told dozens of times to cut.

Related: How To Trick The Robots And Get Your Resume In Front Of Recruiters

WHY YOUR “OBJECTIVE” DOESN’T MATTER

No one reads resumes for fun–only when there’s a specific job to fill. That means recruiters and hiring managers are fixated on the skill requirements of the job openings they’re looking to fill. Consequently, a resume that starts with “Objective” and focuses on what you want out of your career as the opening paragraph does nothing to help you. After all, nobody really cares what you want at this point (save that for negotiating an offer), so putting that right up top wastes prime ad space.

Headlines of all kinds, including the one at the top of this article, act as signposts, telling the reader what’s ahead–and that holds true on your resume, too. So replace “Objective” with a more relevant and compelling heading: “Performance Summary” or “Career Summary” tends to work well. Right away it flags for the reader that you’re going to tell them what you can do or what you’ve already done, rather than what you want.

Under this heading, highlight your capabilities as they relate to the demands of the target job, using the words, phrases, and acronyms listed in job postings for the type of role you’re angling for. Make sure you include objective criteria for your customers’ needs, too. That helps your resume’s discoverability by ATS, and it grabs the reader’s attention.

Related: Try These Resume Templates For Every Stage Of Your Career

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WHAT GOES INTO YOUR SUMMARY

To write a good performance summary, you need to get inside the heads of your prospective employers’ customers to discover what they collectively want. Yes–think past the hiring managers and recruiters for a second, and consider the organization’s end goals instead: the people it’s trying to serve.

I’ve laid out some tips for doing this in one of my books, but for present purposes, the gist is just to think about your own capabilities as they relate to customer needs. How can what you do directly help them? The answer to that is the basis of your performance summary.

Here’s an example:

Performance Summary: 9-plus years of marcomm experience in new technologies executing high-impact, cost-efficient, media outreach for brand awareness, b2b marketing, and business and public-policy audiences. Expert in crisis communication and corporate reputation maintenance. Bilingual.

  • Five years managing disbursed internal and external communications teams.
  • Adept at developing marcomm strategy with teams spread across all EMEA cultures.

Note those keywords that are likely to get swept up by an ATS: “marcomm” for “marketing communications,” “b2b” for “business-to-business,” “EMEA” for “Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.” And the bullets help you quickly break out a couple of key highlights.

Using employers’ language to describe your capabilities, wherever you can, creates a tightly focused document that establishes a clear match between your skills and employer needs. That, after all, is your resume’s real objective.

Martin Yate is the author of  Knock ’em Dead: The Ultimate Job Search Guide.