Top 10 Signs Your Resume Needs Updating

Top 10 Signs Your Resume Needs Updating The dynamic job market of today keeps changing and what was required on a resume a few years ago could be the show stopper today. To roll with the punches the clever job seeker has to be flexible and prepared to adapt, this goes especially for your resume. Resumes are living documents and will change over time, just like you should. The devil is most often in the detail and are you confident that your resume will do you justice? Signs that tell you it’s time for a little resume makeover: 1. The title is Resume Even if you use the fancy spelling and call it résumé, its not going to do you any favours as recruiters and HR people look at 100s of resumes per day and yours wont stand out. In fact, in can be rather annoying for them as they have to change the titles themselves sometimes. Make the title your name and make sure the file name is your name as well. 2. Its one page only Not sure who came up with this recommendation in the first place, I have friends who had a one page document for years. Your resume should obviously be concise and to the point but one page does make it look like there is a page missing and probably left in the printer.  The rule of thumb is, the longer the career, the longer the resume so go ahead and fill out what you have done and if it lands at 2 full pages that is fine (as long as it’s relevant information). 3. You have included age, height, weight, and marital status These personal details have no place in your resume, if it’s on your profile you might be accused of ageism and other unpleasant things. Make sure to remove. 4. You have a photo A photo on a resume is a bit weird somehow, it comes across as the person is using their looks to secure a job. And most often the photo will not be great and therefore do more harm than good to an applicant. There are of course exceptions to this rule, in case you are in TV, modeling, entertainment etc you can get away with it. You will be told when a photo is required on a resume and by default it is not. 5. Your resume lacks social media contact details I will assume you have your phone number and email address on your resume. That’s great but to indicate how tech savvy you are, you will want to include your public Linkedin and other professional networking details. Facebook and Twitter are optional; only include these if they are employee friendly. In case you have a blog, put the URL on your document as long as your blog looks professional and its consistently updated. 6. You break out objectives It is pretty obvious that you are seeking more knowledge and experience in the career path you have chosen. One major clue was you applying for this particular job. Writing about what you want is doing it the wrong way around. You should focus on what you can do for the company, tune in to their WIIFM and entice them to get you in for an interview. The cover letter is an excellent place to tell the world your reasons for wanting this job. 7. You have listed all your jobs Having longer experience than other candidates no longer guarantees you the job. Back in the day that might have been the case but in today’s economy it’s the individual with the most relevant skills to do the job that is in pole position. You should refrain from listing your jobs that have no relevance to the position you applied for. What you could do is grouping the all together under Various Jobs and simply list the titles. 8. Terminology Try not to describe yourself in job specification language; duties, tasks, responsible for etc. You will want to focus on your accomplishments, which is much more interesting reading and will sell yourself better. 9. References available (and happily supplied on request) No need to write that in your resume, it’s only wasting space. Surely this is implied when you apply for a job anyway? If you want to show off you references, write up another document with the people, titles, how you know each other and be ready to hand this over when it will really help you, perhaps when you are head to head with only one other candidate. And it’s worth noting that most companies don’t actually check references until the very end of a selection process. 10. Thinking its now up to scratch You resume is a constant live document that need to be fine tuned, tweaked and calibrated. Make a habit out of reviewing it on a monthly basis and benchmarking it against your friends and colleagues to ensure you are on top of your game.

Need A Resume Writer?

Need A Resume Writer?A resume writer is a person who prepares, writes and delivers professional-looking resumes. They assist in creating the most suitable resume for each job seeker. Resume writers are usually hired by various industries, including financial firms, government agencies, staffing agencies, medical institutions, education firms, law firms, consulting firms, and many more. Resume writers need to be knowledgeable about the terminology of different types of resumes and can even offer their services to qualified candidates.Writing resumes can be very time consuming, but is also very easy. However, you should not try to cover all areas of a resume yourself, as it is not always advisable. Rather, a good resume writer can help you come up with an appropriate resume that covers your various qualifications and experience.There are many different types of resumes that a skilled resume writer can help you create. They can also determine which resume format suits you best. These re sume templates come in many different formats, and a qualified writer can customize these to match any profile.They can also write a unique resume for you. This is especially true if you are an executive or a manager. A skilled writer can help you create an executive style resume that not only highlights your qualifications but also highlights your career goals and strengths. These executive style resumes are more appropriate for the job you are seeking.A well-written resume can also be used for specialized jobs such as registered nurses. A registered nurse may have many different responsibilities to perform during his or her employment. In order to be effective, a resume needs to highlight these responsibilities. As a result, the resume writer will likely write the resume in the form of a 'How To' guide to the specific duties of a registered nurse.Specialized resumes can also be used for doctors, lawyers, managers, architects, engineers, and professors. These are among the most com petitive professions. In order to make sure that your resume is going to stand out among others, you should consider hiring a professional resume writer. The resume writer will customize your resume to meet your specific needs.Most resume writers specialize in a particular field or niche. A certain type of resume writer may be the first point of contact for a job seeker when looking for a specific job. Resume writers have to be highly skilled in the specific fields they specialize in, so they should be hired by job seekers first before they get hired by a company.A professional resume writer should help you create the resume that suits your career goals. Instead of wasting time preparing a generic, unprofessional resume, you should hire a professional writer to create a professional one. You can be confident that your professional resume will be as good as, or better than, your competitors'.

4 Types of questions get us in trouble

4 Types of questions get us in trouble How far you get, in almost anything, is limited mainly by your ability to ask good questions. The problem is that we are not taught to ask good questions. Were trained to answer questions. But only answering questions doesnt make an interesting life. After all, if you have all the answers, and youre spewing them all the time, then you are not learning anything new. Asking questions is how we get smarter. One of the earliest signs of a child with Asperger syndrome is that they fall behind in their learning because they do not understand how to ask a question. It doesnt occur to them that someone would have information. And maybe all my blog posts are actually about my obsession with a good question. For example, my recent rant about how blogs need topics is really about how a good blog is based on a good question. (My question is: how can we make the the intersection of work and life better?) Today Im going to focus on the kinds of questions that back us into a corner. 1) The question that asks: What is the meaning of life? I think a lot about how people ask questions because I get them all the time. Often, the questions are so vague and poorly framed that I cant believe the person actually sent an email. Heres an example of one: Hi Penelope, I am from Bangalore India and an avid reader of your blog. I have recently quit my job at [big, international tech company] after working with them for many years. I would like to start something of my own but do not know how to go about it. Can you guide me please? Thanks for taking time out to read my mail. I will look forward to your response. I sent a reprimanding email back to this person. In hindsight, I should have directed him to the post titled How to Write an Email that Generates a Good Response. Instead, I told him that there is no answer to this question. The question is so vague that it is not actually a question but a plea for respite from the inherent difficulties of adult life. 2. The question that reveals that you dont care. The questions that are most interesting are ones that create a conversation. My friend, Marci Alboher is great at these questions, because I love the conversations we have, even though she never likes my answers. One of the most frequent mistakes people make in a job interview is when you switch to complete BS when the interviewer asks, at the end, Do you have any questions for me? Face it: the best way to ask questions in an interview is to ask them the whole time, not just at the end, so you can create the conversation that the interviewer needs so she can learn that yes, you are the right person with the right ideas for this position. If you wait until the end of the interview, its obvious that you dont careyou have already had your conversation, based only on you answering the questions and having nothing to contribute on your own. 3. The question that generates an answer you cant cope with. I like to think that Ive learned to be great at asking questions. I spend days dreaming up the perfect question for my mentor who I havent spoken to in a month. I want to make sure I ask a question that is interesting, and engaging to him and useful to me. And I hear so many bad questions that I think I have become immune to asking them. But it turns out that Im not. Because I knew I was going to have a hard time getting myself to write a blog post today. Last year, Id often go five days with no post. But that was when I was CEO of Brazen Careerist, and traveling every week, and also worrying that the company had no money. Today I have a relatively calm life. The company is going great, and there is a new CEO, and my job is to write this blog, be a thought leader about the workplace, and talk to the press. So I need to be posting more regularly. I know that having a trick works for me, from days when I cant get myself to go to the gym. Like, I tell myself I will go to the gym and just sit in the locker room and listen to my ipod and then go home. Invariably, if I convince myself to do that, I dont actually stay in the locker room. I end up doing some sort of exercise. So I thought of a trick for blogging. I told myself that Id make a game of it. I asked my Brazen Careerist chat group (sign-up required) for a topic. I told them Id write about the first three topics people suggested. But heres what happened: I didnt like the topics. Well, some of them I liked a lot. Like, Karen Gaustad and Mara Lunaria both asked why we link to Facebook profiles from Brazen Careerist. Its a good question, because I talk all the time about how Facebook is a network for personal and often unprofessional aspects of your life, and Brazen Careerist is for building your professional network. So I actually dont know why we link to Facebook. I keep asking Ryan and Ryan and they say something which I will summarize like this: Wait. Hold it. I cant even summarize what they say, because I cant remember exactly, but I think its something like Youre too old to understand but I dont want to write that. Okay. So I asked a good question that generated good questions in return. But I dont like that question. I try to spend my life not hiding from hard questions. Youd think itd be the abortion stuff that flummoxes me. But Im pretty clear on how I feel about that. Why to link to Facebook, though? Thats a tough one. 4) The question that has unintended consequences. Melissa Mansfield asked me to write about how companies that are highly ethical and also highly profitable. She will think I didnt write about this topic. But I did. Because we cant control companies. We can only control ourselves. So Im always more focused on how I can change the world personally than how I can try to require institutions to change the world. The thing is, though, that ethical workplace behavior is based on asking good questions. They lead to honest conversations and meaningful connections and the world of good behavior is build on relationships like these. Not that every good question leads to a great relationship. The world is not perfect, of course. Because sometimes you ask a question that reveals only that the person youre asking is useless.

Women at Work 4 Mistakes Women Make at the Office

Women at Work 4 Mistakes Women Make at the Office Ready for some on the job training?   Here are  4  mistakes that women make at the office  from a recent article in Oprah Magazine  that  we all need to be aware of. 1. Taking a back seat.  Do you ever go into a meeting where there arent many seats left so you purposely choose the seat in the back? Unfortunately, I do this often so I dont have to walk in front of everyone.  The article pushes us to not be afraid to sit at the table with the men! 2. Accepting.  Women feel they need to earn a higher salary, whereas men believe they deserve a higher salary.  Just a slight difference in your word and thoughts  can make all the difference in your confidence  during  a  discussion with the boss.  Know your worth and demand it! 3. Doing too much for free.  Yes,  you may  have to do most of the work at home for your kids and husband. But, please  dont volunteer yourself for everything at work too or you surely will be taken advantage of very quickly. 4. Treating other women like enemies. Women can be pretty mean and petty  sometimes.  Instead, fight for each other and work together!  We need to all be  on each others side in the corporate world because  we need all the help we can get to rise up the ladder! What do you think about this list?

Find Out Why Companies Use Phoenix Resume Writing Services

Find Out Why Companies Use Phoenix Resume Writing ServicesPhoenix resume writing services are no doubt great services for you, whether you're in Phoenix or not. Because of the way that the Internet has become, these companies are quickly becoming a requirement. You will find a lot of them online and they offer great services. Some may offer free samples, while others have pricier rates.When you're working on your resume, it can be a little overwhelming and difficult to make some headway. With a resume, you have to come up with exactly what you need. You can't just make something up. Sometimes, things are off balance. You can get discouraged and give up altogether.With professional resume writers, you don't have to do that. It's easy to write a resume. There are guidelines that you can follow as well as templates that can make it a whole lot easier.Of course, it is your responsibility to make sure that your resume is up to par. After all, it is used by potential employers to assess yo ur qualifications. You need to make sure that it is professional and still fits within your business's policies.Being able to be successful is not all about experience. There are plenty of people who have lost their jobs and are now unemployed. They went through Phoenix resume writing services and are able to get back on their feet again. These services were able to help them re-brand themselves and put them on the right track again.When you think that you are finished looking for employment, you will need to ensure that you have all of your ducks in a row. What that means is that you will need to ensure that you have your qualifications, education, work history, and references lined up properly. You will also need to ensure that you have your applications all together as well.Once you have all of that taken care of, you will be ready to go back and start updating your resume. Phoenix resume writing services are there to ensure that you don't miss any opportunities. After all, when you have a fresh resume, you are more likely to get a new job.If you're already out of work, you can use Phoenix resume writing services. This way, you can save yourself the trouble of writing your own resume. Your company will take care of the job and the Phoenix resume writing services can get the ball rolling for you. This way, you can move on with your life.