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Your #Career : Should You Apply For Your Dream Job If You’re Not Qualified?…Recruiters Weigh in with some Surprising Advice on the Importance of Being Qualified to Get the Job you Want.

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 There it is: your dream job. There’s just one problem. You don’t meet all the qualifications.

If your résumé is hard to read, no one will.

It’s a conundrum. Should you channel your inner life coach and go for it? Or should you follow the rules and wait until you have the right experience or credentials? If you sit it out, you may miss a great opportunity. On the other hand, you don’t want to waste your time or, worse, alienate hiring managers by wasting theirs.

It’s a tough question, but you should almost always err on the side of “go for it,” says career expert Cynthia Shapiro author of What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get a Job Around Here? 44 Insider Secrets That Will Get You Hired. After all, everyone has to take a job that stretches skills if they want to move ahead. Before you do, these career coaches and recruiters recommend asking yourself these six questions.

AM I 51% QUALIFIED?

Shapiro’s rule of thumb is that you should meet 51% of the listed qualifications. That’s an arbitrary estimate, but her point is that a job listing is like a house-hunter’s wish list: You ask for everything you want and understand that you’ll likely have to compromise.

“What they’re really looking for is an intangible that they can’t put in a job posting. If you’ve got 51% of what they’re looking for, you should proudly send your resume in,” she says.

 

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AM I MISSING REQUIREMENTS THAT ARE NECESSARY TO DO THE JOB?

Obviously, if you lack a specific degree, license, or specialized training necessary or legally required to do the job, you need to earn that before you apply. But what if you’re lacking the years of experience or some other less objective credential? Still go for it, says Maddie Stough, HR recruiting practice team leader at LaSalle Network.

For example, if the job description requires five to seven years of experience, she says, “You should be looking at it if you have three to 10 years of experience.” Use your resume and cover letter to highlight the responsibilities held and achievements within your job that align with what your stretch job will require.

CAN I EXPLAIN MY JOB PROGRESSION?

A spotty background with a year here and two years there is usually only problematic if it’s not strategic, says James Philip, managing director of executive search firm JMJ Phillip. You should be able to show that you didn’t just change jobs for the next title bump or pay bump, but that you were strategically increasing your experience and developing your skills, Phillip says.

“If they’ve just jumped jobs, there’s going to come a time when they haven’t really honed in on a craft,” he says. Be sure to highlight the career-focused reasons for making the moves you did.

IS MY RESUME A STRETCH?

First, make sure that you’re not stretching the truth on your resume to get your stretch job, Shapiro says. It’s very easy to find out if you actually held a title or hold the degree you have, and employers are increasingly likely to check references or even conduct a background check. So don’t include anything that isn’t true. But you can also show your best side without being deceitful.

When you’re writing your resume and cover letter, think of them as marketing tools, Shapiro says. Companies can usually teach job skills. Many are looking for intangible qualities like emotional intelligence, which is considered to be one of the fastest growing job skills. They also look for enthusiasm, corporate fit, attitude, and approach, which often can’t be taught, she says. Use your documents to convey how you approach challenges, look for ways to improve situations, and achieve success, she says.

HOW BIG IS THE COMPANY?

Phillips says it’s usually easier to stretch into a smaller company than a larger one. Big companies may have preliminary screening that matches resumes with job qualifications. If you’re in the applicant “slush pile,” you could be taken out of the running before you have a chance to shine in person. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to land that big-company job, he says. However, smaller firms may be more willing to take a chance on someone who is a little inexperienced.

DO I HAVE A CHAMPION?

A champion can change the equation, Stough says. If you have a contact, friend, or colleague who is giving you a warm introduction or recommendation for a stretch job, you’ve got a real advantage, she says. So before you apply, scour your network and LinkedIn contacts to see if you know someone (or know someone who knows someone, an otherwise “weak” connection) who can put your resume in play with a “thumbs up,” she says. That can go a long way toward getting you in front of hiring managers so you can sell yourself.

 

FastCompany.com | GWEN MORAN |  11.23.16 5:00 AM

#BestofFSCBlog : 34 Things you Should Remove from your Résumé Immediately. A MUst Read!

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If you want to pass that test, you need to have some solid qualifications — and the perfect résumé to highlight them.

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Here are 34 things you should strike from your résumé right now.

1. An objective

If you applied, it’s already obvious you want the job.

The exception: If you’re in a unique situation, such as changing industries completely, it may be useful to include a brief summary.

2. Irrelevant work experiences

Yes, you might have been the “king of making milkshakes” at the restaurant you worked for in high school. But unless you are planning on redeeming that title, it is time to get rid of all that clutter.

But as Alyssa Gelbard, career expert and founder of career-consulting firm Résumé Strategists, points out: Past work experience that might not appear to be directly relevant to the job at hand might show another dimension, depth, ability, or skill that actually is relevant or applicable.

Only include this experience if it really showcases additional skills that can translate to the position you’re applying for.

3. Personal details

Don’t include your marital status, religious preference, or Social Security number.

This might have been the standard in the past, but all of this information could lead to discrimination, which is illegal, so there’s no need to include it.

 

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4. Your full mailing address

A full street address is the first thing Amanda Augustine, a career-advice expert for TopResume, looks for to immediately cut from a résumé.

“Nobody needs to have that on their résumé anymore, and, to be quite honest, it’s a security concern,” she tells Business Insider.

5. More than one phone number

Augustine suggests only including one phone number on your résumé, and that number should really be your cell phone, so you can control who answers your incoming phone calls, when, and what the voicemail sounds like.

“Also, you don’t want employers trying to contact you in five different places, because then you have to keep track of that,” she says.

6. Your hobbies

In many cases, nobody cares.

If it’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for, it’s a waste of space and a waste of the company’s time.

Free- Man on Skateboard with Sign on Ground

7. Blatant lies

A CareerBuilder survey asked 2,000 hiring managers for memorable résumé mistakes, and blatant lies were a popular choice. One candidate claimed to be the former CEO of the company to which he was applying, another claimed to be a Nobel Prize winner, and one more claimed he attended a college that didn’t exist.

Rosemary Haefner, chief human-resources officer at CareerBuilder, says these lies may be “misguided attempts to compensate for lacking 10o% of the qualifications specified in the job posting.”

But Haefner says candidates should concentrate on the skills they can offer, rather than the skills they can’t offer.

“Hiring managers are more forgiving than job seekers may think,” Haefner explains. “About 42% of employers surveyed said they would consider a candidate who met only three out of five key qualifications for a specific role.”

8. Too much text

When you use a 0.5-inch margin and eight-point font in an effort to get everything to fit on one page, this is an “epic fail,” says J.T. O’Donnell, a career and workplace expert, founder of career-advice site Careerealism.com, and author of “Careerealism: The Smart Approach to a Satisfying Career.”

She recommends lots of white space and no more than a 0.8 margin.

Augustine agrees, warning particularly against dense blocks of text.

“Let’s be honest: You’re looking this over quickly, you’re glancing through it, your eyes glaze over when you get to a big, long paragraph,” she says.

9. Too many bullets

In the same vein, you can also overload your résumé with too many bullet points, which Augustine calls “death by bullets.”

“If absolutely everything is bulleted, it has the same effect as big dense blocks of text — your eyes just glaze over it,” she says.

Augustine explains that bullets are only to be used to draw attention to the most important information. “If you bullet everything, everything is important, which means really nothing stands out,” she says.

Free- Time Mans Watch

10. Time off

If you took time off to travel or raise a family, Gelbard doesn’t recommend including that information on your résumé. “In some countries, it is acceptable to include this information, especially travel, but it is not appropriate to include that in the body of a résumé in the US.”

11. Details that give away your age

If you don’t want to be discriminated against for a position because of your age, it’s time to remove your graduation date, says Catherine Jewell, author of “New Résumé, New Career.”

Another surprising way your résumé could give away your age: double spaces after a period.

12. References

If your employers want to speak to your references, they’ll ask you. Also, it’s better if you have a chance to tell your references ahead of time that a future employer might be calling.

If you write “references upon request” at the bottom of your résumé, you’re merely wasting a valuable line, career coach Eli Amdur says.

13. Inconsistent formatting

The format of your résumé is just as important as its content, Augustine says.

She says the best format is the format that will make it easiest for the hiring manager to scan your résumé and still be able to pick out your key qualifications and career goals.

Once you pick a format, stick with it. If you write the day, month, and year for one date, then use that same format throughout the rest of the résumé.

14. Personal pronouns

Your résumé shouldn’t include the words “I,” “me,” “she,” or “my,” says Tina Nicolai, executive career coach and founder of Resume Writers’ Ink.

“Don’t write your résumé in the third or first person. It’s understood that everything on your résumé is about you and your experiences.”

15. Present tense for a past job

Never describe past work experience using the present tense. Only your current job should be written in the present tense, Gelbard says.

16. A less-than-professional email address

If you still use an old email address, like BeerLover123@gmail.com or CuteChick4life@yahoo.com, it’s time to pick a new one.

It only takes a minute or two, and it’s free.

17. Any unnecessary, obvious words

Amdur says there is no reason to put the word “phone” in front of the actual number.

“It’s pretty silly. They know it’s your phone number.” The same rule applies to email.

18. Your current business-contact info

Amdur writes at NorthJersey.com:

This is not only dangerous; it’s stupid. Do you really want employers calling you at work? How are you going to handle that? Oh, and by the way, your current employer can monitor your emails and phone calls. So if you’re not in the mood to get fired, or potentially charged with theft of services (really), then leave the business info off.

19. Headers, footers, tables, images, or charts

These fancy embeddings will have hiring managers thinking, “Could you not?”

While a well-formatted header and footer may look professional, and some cool tables, images, or charts may boost your credibility, they also confuse the applicant-tracking systems that companies use nowadays, Augustine tells Business Insider.

The system will react by scrambling up your résumé and spitting out a poorly formatted one that may no longer include your header or charts. Even if you were an ideal candidate for the position, now the hiring manager has no way to contact you for an interview.

Free- Business Desk

20. Your boss’ name

Don’t include your boss’ name on your résumé unless you’re OK with your potential employer contacting him or her. Even then, Gelbard says the only reason your boss’ name should be on your résumé is if the person is someone noteworthy, and if it would be really impressive.

21. Company-specific jargon

“Companies often have their own internal names for things like customized software, technologies, and processes that are only known within that organization and not by those who work outside of it,” Gelbard says. “Be sure to exclude terms on your résumé that are known only to one specific organization.”

22. Social-media URLs that are not related to the targeted position

Links to your opinionated blogs, Pinterest page, or Instagram account have no business taking up prime résumé real estate. “Candidates who tend to think their personal social media sites are valuable are putting themselves at risk of landing in the ‘no’ pile,” Nicolai says.

“But you should list relevant URLs, such as your LinkedIn page or any others that are professional and directly related to the position you are trying to acquire,” she says.

23. More than 15 years of experience

When you start including jobs from before 2000, you start to lose the hiring manager’s interest.

Your most relevant experience should be from the past 15 years, so hiring managers only need to see that, Augustine says.

On the same note, never include dates on education and certifications that are older than 15 years.

24. Salary information

“Some people include past hourly rates for jobs they held in college,” Nicolai says. This information is completely unnecessary and may send the wrong message.

Amy Hoover, president of Talent Zoo, says you also shouldn’t address your desired salary in a résumé. “This document is intended to showcase your professional experience and skills. Salary comes later in the interview process.”

25. Outdated fonts

“Don’t use Times New Roman and serif fonts, as they’re outdated and old-fashioned,” Hoover says. “Use a standard, sans-serif font like Arial.”

Also, be aware of the font size, she says. Your goal should be to make it look nice and sleek — but also easy to read.

26. Fancy fonts

Curly tailed fonts are also a turn-off, according to O’Donnell. “People try to make their résumé look classier with a fancy font, but studies show they are harder to read and the recruiter absorbs less about you.”

27. Annoying buzzwords

CareerBuilder asked 2,201 US hiring managers: “What résumé terms are the biggest turnoffs?” They cited words and phrases such as, “best of breed,” “go-getter,” “think outside the box,” “synergy,” and “people pleaser.”

Terms employers do like to see on résumés include: “achieved,” “managed,” “resolved,” and “launched” — but only if they’re used in moderation.

Close-up of businessman preparing bomb in office

28. Reasons you left a company or position

Candidates often think, “If I explain why I left the position on my résumé, maybe my chances will improve.”

“Wrong,” Nicolai says. “Listing why you left is irrelevant on your résumé. It’s not the time or place to bring up transitions from one company to the next.”

Use your interview to address this.

29. Your GPA

Once you’re out of school, your grades aren’t so relevant.

If you’re a new college graduate and your GPA was a 3.8 or higher — it’s OK to leave it. But, if you’re more than three years out of school, or if your GPA was lower than a 3.8, ditch it.

30. A photo of yourself

This may become the norm at some point in the future, but it’s just weird — and tacky and distracting — to include a photo with your résumé for now.

31. An explanation of why you want the job

That’s what the cover letter and interviews are for!

Your résumé is not the place to start explaining why you’d be a great fit or why you want the job. Your skills and qualifications should be able to do that for you — and if they don’t, then your résumé is either in bad shape, or this isn’t the right job for you.

32. Opinions, not facts

Don’t try to sell yourself by using all sorts of subjective words to describe yourself, O’Donnell says. “I’m an excellent communicator” or “highly organized and motivated” are opinions of yourself and not necessarily the truth. “Recruiters want facts only. They’ll decide if you are those things after they meet you,” she says.

33. Generic explanations of accomplishments

Don’t just say you accomplished X, Y, or Z — show it by quantifying the facts.

For instance, instead of, “Grew revenues” try, “X project resulted in an Y% increase in revenues.”

34. Short-term employment

Avoid including a job on your résumé if you only held the position for a short period of time, Gelbard says. You should especially avoid including jobs you were let go from or didn’t like.

Vivian Giang and Natalie Walters contributed to earlier versions of this article.

Businessinsider.com | November 21, 2016 | Jacquelyn Smith and Rachel Gillett

 

Your #Career : 13 Verbs Employers and Recruiters want to See on your CV/Resume…Survey of 150 Employers to Find Out What they Want to See on Your Resume – and Here is the Consensus.

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CV writing: it’s a deeply awkward process – from working out which tense to write in (hint: do past tense) to deciding whether to list your love of paragliding among your hobbies.

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But now CV writing service StandoutCV has surveyed 150 employers to find out what they want to see on your resume – and the consensus seems to be that those who can manage, deliver, improve and reduce (very Austerity Britain) are more employable.

In fact, the word “managed” came out on top, with 92 per cent of employers saying they wanted someone who can take responsibility. Meanwhile, 65 per cent of employers said they’d like someone who can negotiate.

1. Managed

Shows recruiters you have control over your responsibilities and are able to drive results

2. Delivered

Shows the end product of your work by explaining what you have delivered

 

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3. Improved

If you’re an employee who can be brought on board to drive positive change within an organisation, you will be invaluable

4. Reduced

Reducing company spending or resource use in particular is hugely beneficial

5. Planned

Planning is the backbone of success

6. Supported

Showing that you can support others is another way of proving that you can be relied upon

7. Influenced

The ability to influence others is a necessary talent for getting things done in any industry

8. Trained

Shows you have of expertise in your field along with the gravitas and communication skills to deliver training sessions

9. Resolved

Businesses face problems every day: if you can prove your ability to resolve issues, you will impress recruiters

10. Presented

Public speaking of any kind can be a daunting task but it’s a hugely valuable skill for any employee to have

11. Analysed

Data is a vital currency in any organisation, but it’s worthless without staff who can analyse it and understand its implications

12. Developed

Development drives progress and advancements across all aspects of life

13. Negotiated

People often assume that negotiation is purely a tool for sales staff; but actually, it can be applied to many areas of business.

Read the original article on City AM. Copyright 2016.

Businessinsider.com | October 27, 2016 | Emma Haslett, City AM

Your #Career : 9 Mistakes that Will get your Résumé Thrown in the Trash…Having a Résumé riddled with Errors is like Shooting Yourself in the Foot before the Race even Starts. There are Minor Problems that Hiring Managers Might Overlook or Forgive.

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And then there are the mistakes that’ll get your application thrown out faster than you can say, “It was a mistake to put my CV in Comic Sans font.”

ResumeInHole

Here are several devastating résumé errors that’ll get you immediately tossed into the rejection pile:

Vivian Giang contributed to an earlier version of this article.

Distracting typos and grammatical errors

An abundance typos and grammatical errors tell the hiring manager one thing — you didn’t care enough to take two seconds to double check your résumé. So why should they take the time to read it?

Lies

Don’t lie on your résumé. You’ll get caught — immediately or eventually — and it’ll be super awkward for everyone involved. If you’re really concerned that you have no experience relative to the role, it’s better to just be honest and hope for the best.

Salary information

“Some people include past hourly rates for jobs they held in college,” Nicolai says. This information is completely unnecessary and may send the wrong message.

Amy Hoover, president of Talent Zoo, says you also shouldn’t address your desired salary in a résumé. “This document is intended to showcase your professional experience and skills. Salary comes later in the interview process.”

Ridiculous fonts

Don’t get fancy with your font choices.

Curly-tailed fonts are also a turn off according to J.T. O’Donnell, a career and workplace expert, founder of career-advice site WorkItDaily.com, and author of “Careerealism: The Smart Approach to a Satisfying Career “People try to make their résumé look classier with a fancy font, but studies show they are harder to read and the recruiter absorbs less about you.”

Less is more when it comes to the font you use on your résumé.

No mention of required skills or experience

This one’s pretty basic, but if you don’t meet any of the minimum qualifications, your résumé’s probably going to get tossed (especially for management-level positions). Hiring managers don’t have all day to pore over CVs that don’t meet their criteria.

You don’t even have to be unqualified! Your résumé might just be so bad it fails highlight any of your actual strengths and experiences, leaving the hiring manager feeling like you’re not a good fit.

 

Telling the hiring manager what you can’t do

In Business Insider’s previous roundup of disastrous résumés, one applicant revealed that they didn’t want to deal with angry customers in the future.

The résumé is only the beginning of the application process. Don’t start off with such a negative tone.

Nonsensical formatting

There’s no reason to get creative with your formatting (unless you’re in a design-based industry and you really know what you’re doing). Everyone else, use a standard template. Anything too complicated will just annoy the reader.

Complete lack of relevant experience

How does that waiting job you had in high school apply to the financial internship you’re applying for?

Clogging up your résumé with useless tidbits is a surefire way of landing in the “no” pile.

 

Businessinsider.com | September 2, 2016 | Jacquelyn Smith, Rachel Gillett and Áine Cain

Your #Career : 10 Quick Changes That Help Your Resume Get Noticed…If the Applicant Does Not Obey the Rules, the Resume or Application Goes into the Proverbial Black Hole and Never Reaches its Intended Destination.

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The adage “What you don’t know won’t hurt you” is very misleading, especially for people in transition or otherwise contemplating a career change. Not only is the contention untrue, but also it in fact hinders the ability to get what you want. Furthermore, it conveys a false sense of positive feeling. For example, those in transition are advised to customize their resumes to the job openings they’re applying to.

ResumeInHole

Sounds logical, but it’s a laborious process that can take hours of close work, even though, at the end of the process, clicking on Submit or Apply gives a sense of satisfaction. But it’s a false satisfaction because nowadays, most if not all such submissions are going through electronic software called an applicant-tracking system, or ATS, which has its own rules.

If the applicant does not obey the rules, the resume or application goes into the proverbial black hole and never reaches its intended destination. That’s where the hurt comes in, because the applicant will never learn why it happened or how to correct the process for next time.

 

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So, what to do?

 

Here are several suggestions. They apply only to electronic job applications, which means you should have two versions of the resume: one for ATS software so that it will reach a recruiter and another one for a human.

  1. Submit your resume in Microsoft Word format.
  2. Do not include tables in formatting the text.
  3. Be aware that there are many ATS providers, including archaic and new versions. As a candidate, you have no way of knowing which one your resume will have to deal with, and pdf files or files formatted in other ways might not be able to get read into every type of ATS software.
  4. Don’t format your resume by way of the use of a resume template.
  5. Use the standard, customary section headers for sections and put them on separate lines.
  6. Type those section headers in all capital letters, such as “Professional Experience,” but do not type anything else in all caps. Of course use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, for the words in course titles and for all proper nouns.
  7. Be consistent when listing your previous companies and titles — whichever you want to list first for emphasis.
  8. List a company name with its appropriate suffix such as Inc. or LLC. Otherwise, the company name could be mistaken for a different company.
  9. Separate each resume section by a blank line, but never add a blank line within a paragraph.

Do not number the pages because computers see all information as continuous. Your page number would wind up appearing at random somewhere in the middle of the document.

As you can see, the foregoing steps may appear as details, but as another adage goes, “The devil is in the details;” and that notion could be both crucial and decisive for your future career.

 

Entrepreneur.com | August 27, 2016 | Alex Freund

 

Your #Career : 2 Things That Could Keep You From Landing That Job Offer…“It’s Happened Over & Over. I Practice. I Study. I Do everything Right. But Then I Don’t get the Job. What’s Wrong with Me?”

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Leah was discouraged with her job search and hired me to help her. “I’m really good at what I do, but I’m not a dynamic interviewee,” Leah told me during our first meeting. “My resume gets me the telephone interview. That gets me the in-person interview. But then I never get the job offer.”

Room Interior

She took a sip of coffee and sighed as she set her cup on the table. “It’s happened over and over. I practice. I study. I do everything right. But then I don’t get the job. What’s wrong with me?”

 

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Some times, like Leah, a candidate can do everything right when it comes to preparing for an interview. And after reviewing what Leah had been doing as prep work, she had done a great job. But for many hiring managers, there are often other attributes they look for in candidates during job interviews that might not be specifically called out in the job posting.

A friend of mine sums up these unstated attributes quite well. He says he looks for “attitude, aptitude, and promotability.” In other words, he looks for someone who has a positive attitude and is energetic, who is intelligent and has the ability to learn new things, and who has long-term potential with the organization.

While a hiring manager can see some of these characteristics by reading the job candidate’s resume, most are attributes that come across while interviewing someone in person. Leah and I conducted some practice interviews. Her problem? Even though she was highly professional and had good qualifications, she seemed “flat” during her interview. With each passing minute, Leah’s energy level decreased and her voice became more monotone.

Leah just wasn’t selling me on her passion and drive for the job. She also wasn’t conveying work examples to show her determination to take on more challenging work and learn new skills. So we took a break from our mock interview and discussed those additional attributes hiring managers often look for, but which usually aren’t listed on most job descriptions.

Leah caught on quickly, and I could see her energy level increase as she began telling me stories about the various projects she had led and the results she was able to achieve. She also provided me with examples where she had proactively contributed to improving processes and described what she had done over the last year as part of her personal development plan.

Guess what? As she was telling me all this, Leah became more and more excited, and her passion for her work became clearly visible. This was exactly the energetic attitude she needed to get across to hiring managers during job interviews!

Sometimes it isn’t a lack of prep work that keeps you from obtaining your dream job – it might be that you’re not exuding enough passion or energy for the position. So consider ways you can demonstrate these attributes through your non-verbal communication as well as the examples you provide during interviews.

Lisa Quast is the author of Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach: A Foolproof Guide to Getting the Job You Want. Every Time.

 

Forbes.com | July 11, 2016 | Lisa Quast

Your #Career : 4 Worst Pieces of Career Advice to Avoid…Here are some Career Tips the Experts Told Us you’d be Better Off Avoiding.

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There’s a lot of work advice out there, and some of it is pretty bad. When it comes to navigating your career, you have to be careful about who you take career advice from. A wrong move could cost you a job. Here are some career tips the experts told us you’d be better off avoiding.

question mark signs painted on a asphalt road surface

1. A flashy resume will help you stand out

A flashy resume could cause your application to get passed over. While a little creativity is welcome, going overboard is a problem, said Saad Rizvi, founder of career site Mentat. “In many cases, the first round interview screen is conducted by an ATS or Application Tracking System (in simple terms, a robot!). These programs are optimized for gathering information from a very basic design, and fancy graphs or pictures are not picked up or taken into consideration while filtering out resumes, so you might be passed over despite being a good fit for the role,” Rizvi told The Cheat Sheet.

 

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2. Apply for as many jobs as you can at one company

No matter how tempting, resist the urge to blast your application to everyone at the same company. Also resist the urge to apply for multiple jobs at the same company. Marissa Peretz, founder of Silicon Beach Talent, said doing a resume blast reeks of desperation. “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Don’t] cast too wide a net. Emailing everyone whose email address you can find at a specific company or applying to many open jobs at one company can convey an air of desperation. People sometimes fall in love with a specific company, and that’s understandable, but the way to increase your chances is to think about these opportunities strategically. I suggest only applying to roles you are actually a fit for, and try to network with people at a company you’re interested in or speak with recruiters who can help present you directly,” said Peretz.

3. Stay at a new job for at least one year

Job hopping looks bad on your resume, but if you’re miserable at a new job, don’t feel obligated to finish out the year. This is especially true if your job is making you sick. Debbie Chew, head of operations at Codementor, told The Cheat Sheet it’s best to leave and search for another opportunity. “If you’re downright unhappy with your job and you’re unable to cope, then it’s not worth it to pretend to be happy or stay. Instead of wasting your time at a job not suitable for you, you can be doing other things like learning a new skill or finding a different job,” said Chew.

4. Go on interviews for jobs you aren’t interested in just for the practice

Practice on your own time. Lori Bumgarner, career specialist and owner of passion and career coaching servicepaNASH, said hiring managers have a sixth sense and will know immediately what you’re doing. Your best bet is to only interview for jobs you would actually consider taking. “Avoid interviewing for a job you don’t intend to take if offered just for interview practice. Recruiters can often sense when a candidate is doing this, and recruiters run in the same circles (especially within the same industry) and they talk to each other. Word will get around if a candidate is known for doing this, which could hurt their chances of getting an interview or an offer for a job they actually want … If you want to improve your interview skills, do some mock interviews with friends or family who are in hiring positions at their jobs, or with a career coach,” Bumgarner said.

 

CheatSheet.com | July 10, 2016 | 

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Your #Career : You Only have One Chance to Make a First impression…….When you Unintentionally MisUse or MisSpell a Word, you Appear to be Uneducated, & your Entire Message Loses any Sense of Credibility.

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A client recently shared an email he had received from a competitor in his industry. The author of the email was attempting to position himself as an expert in their trade and belittle my client for his unique style of doing business. The email carried a negative tone and read as a stream-of-consciousness rant written in the late hours of the night with a bottle of scotch and a splash of venom.

Resume DNA Cover

It was quite obvious that the author did not proofread his document. The absence of punctuation and the six misspelled words did not compare to the closing statement: “There is no room in our industry for people like you who insist on going rouge.”

Let’s see—Dictionary.com defines rouge as: rouge n…….. A red powder, used as a cosmetic for adding redness to the cheeks.

A spellchecker will recognize rouge as a correctly spelled word—just as it will accept the spelling of the appropriate word: r-o-g-u-e.

When you unintentionally misuse or misspell a word, you appear to be uneducated, and your entire message loses any sense of credibility. As our poison-penned emailer may put it: “You’re nothing but a scoundrel with rosy-red cheeks.”

It is up to the writer to pay close attention to the content of their emails and letters. Words have many meanings. Read your messages out loud (we catch more mistakes that way), or have another person proof your work before you send your lyrical literature into the atmosphere.

 

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When a client sends a letter for me to review and tells me it was mailed yesterday, I’m wondering why they are wasting my time. I’m there to proof their work and maybe save them from embarrassment. I usually find several mistakes and will highlight their errors and send the document back for their wall of shame. Proofreading a document after it has been mailed is like closing the barn door after the horse has run away.

When your cover letter and resume are reviewed by hiring managers and they see inconsistencies, grammatical mistakes or spelling errors – what kind of impression are you making? When you express that you are “Detail Oriented” in your Profile and your resume is full of errors, do you think they will take you seriously?

If I see mistakes in a letter or resume it tells me the writer simply does not care. If I were making the decision to select this person for an interview, I would disqualify them immediately. Check the documents that you currently have online with the Job Boards, LinkedIn and all of your social media sites. There is a strong likelihood that you will find a mistake – hopefully not too embarrassing.

You only have one chance to make a first impression.

 

 

Excerpt from the book “Resume DNA – Succeeding In Spite Of Yourself” by John Singer ……. Read more:  www.johnmsinger.com

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.     Available on Amazon.com

 

About the Author:  John Singer

As a certified professional resume writer (CPRW) and a dedicated career coach and advisor, John Singer has mentored and motivated professionals to identify their unique skills and talents and transition into meaningful and rewarding careers. As president and owner of Professional Development Strategies, John is committed to equipping clients with the necessary tools to communicate their strengths, build and establish professional networks, and secure positions that will allow them to soar professionally.

Earlier in his career, John was an episodic television writer and member of the Writers Guild of America. With a noted career in the broadcasting industry as a station owner/operator and radio personality, John combines his experience in business, marketing, and communication to inspire others to reach their highest levels of professional performance.

John Singer resides in Tucson, Arizona, providing outplacement services for companies internationally. He is a motivational speaker who educates and entertains his audience with practical advice on business, branding, career search, and life.