The DIY Resume Book I Recommend Most Often

The DIY Resume Book I Recommend Most Often If you are like me you would have thought you didnt have enough money to write your own resume.   I should have engaged a professional resume writer, but I couldnt figure out where the few hundred dollars would come from.   Plus, I thought I was smart enough to write my own resume after all, isnt it just a two page document?   How hard could that be?   (more on that later!!) So for all of you Do It Yourself (DIY) Im-going-to-write-my-own-resume people, let me share the book I most often recommend.   Understand that (a) Im not a resume writer, (b) many (most) of my partners are resume writers, and many have books, (c) I recognize there are a gazillion resume books on the market, and (d) there are PROS and CONS to writing your own resume.   Im not going to say what YOU should do, but if you are a DIY person heres what I recommend: Happy About My Resume. Why?   The tagline says it all: 50 tips for building a better document to secure a brighter future. In 63 pages, Barbara Safani shares the 50 resume tips with super-tangible examples.   I can get my resume out and compare how Im doing against her 50 resume tips and examples (pictures of the tips) this is exactly what I need.   I already felt I had a strong resume, but this resume book provides my final proofing checklist to see if Im violating any resume rules. The rest of the book (the book is about 155 pages long) is full of examples and other resources in the appendices.   Im not inclined to check out those examples, except I would quickly scan to see if any of the examples had the same job title(s) I was looking for, and then dig a little deeper into those resumes. Here is some of what youll see in this resume book: The Introduction: Usually I skip over the introduction to a book, but in this one Barbara lists 10 common reasons most resumes suck.   And then she gives her thoughts on each of the 10.   This intro is required reading. Chapter 1, Tip 3: Always include an address. Barbara says why leaving an address off can be a red flag, what to do if you are concerned about privacy, and whats different on a job board. Chapter 2, Tip 4: Create a headline. I didnt have a headline on my resume the closest I got was naming the resume file something specific (project manager resume).   This tip comes with over a page of examples, and leads directly into Tip 5: Add a tagline or branded statement (with another page+ of examples.   Remember, your resume is a marketing tool, and should not read like an obituary. Chapter 3, Tip 12: Minimize job tasks. Barbara tells why (and how) to talk about the tasks, and why these should be minimized.   Why?   Hint: because your resume is a marketing tool, not a job description.   Its on page 20. Chapter 6, Tip 39: Dont bullet more than five items in a row. Why?   Might as well write a paragraph (or perhaps a novel) if you have more than five bullet points in a row she has a great solution. Chapter 8 is like a bonus, with 11 Tips for Creating Value Added Cover Letters. This is not the most in-depth resume book Ive seen, but for me it would have been perfect.   I know resume writers have other resume books on their shelves that they use frequently but the DIY resume writer will get   great ideas from Happy About My Resume.   You can get the paperback for $16.96, or the eBook for 11.95 from here. (note: each of the links to the Happy About My Resume page are affiliate links, which means if you buy it Ill get a few bucks. Thats my full disclosure statement :p) If you think your resume is important, you should check out JibberJobber. Why? Because once you get your resume snazzy, youll start to send it out applying here and there. Youll need to track where you apply, what your target companies are (track that in JibberJobber), how you network your way into these target companies, etc. Oh yeah, once you finish your job search, continue to use JibberJobber to track all of this stuff for your next promotion (or job search). The DIY Resume Book I Recommend Most Often If you are like me you would have thought you didnt have enough money to write your own resume.   I should have engaged a professional resume writer, but I couldnt figure out where the few hundred dollars would come from.   Plus, I thought I was smart enough to write my own resume after all, isnt it just a two page document?   How hard could that be?   (more on that later!!) So for all of you Do It Yourself (DIY) Im-going-to-write-my-own-resume people, let me share the book I most often recommend.   Understand that (a) Im not a resume writer, (b) many (most) of my partners are resume writers, and many have books, (c) I recognize there are a gazillion resume books on the market, and (d) there are PROS and CONS to writing your own resume.   Im not going to say what YOU should do, but if you are a DIY person heres what I recommend: Happy About My Resume. Why?   The tagline says it all: 50 tips for building a better document to secure a brighter future. In 63 pages, Barbara Safani shares the 50 resume tips with super-tangible examples.   I can get my resume out and compare how Im doing against her 50 resume tips and examples (pictures of the tips) this is exactly what I need.   I already felt I had a strong resume, but this resume book provides my final proofing checklist to see if Im violating any resume rules. The rest of the book (the book is about 155 pages long) is full of examples and other resources in the appendices.   Im not inclined to check out those examples, except I would quickly scan to see if any of the examples had the same job title(s) I was looking for, and then dig a little deeper into those resumes. Here is some of what youll see in this resume book: The Introduction: Usually I skip over the introduction to a book, but in this one Barbara lists 10 common reasons most resumes suck.   And then she gives her thoughts on each of the 10.   This intro is required reading. Chapter 1, Tip 3: Always include an address. Barbara says why leaving an address off can be a red flag, what to do if you are concerned about privacy, and whats different on a job board. Chapter 2, Tip 4: Create a headline. I didnt have a headline on my resume the closest I got was naming the resume file something specific (project manager resume).   This tip comes with over a page of examples, and leads directly into Tip 5: Add a tagline or branded statement (with another page+ of examples.   Remember, your resume is a marketing tool, and should not read like an obituary. Chapter 3, Tip 12: Minimize job tasks. Barbara tells why (and how) to talk about the tasks, and why these should be minimized.   Why?   Hint: because your resume is a marketing tool, not a job description.   Its on page 20. Chapter 6, Tip 39: Dont bullet more than five items in a row. Why?   Might as well write a paragraph (or perhaps a novel) if you have more than five bullet points in a row she has a great solution. Chapter 8 is like a bonus, with 11 Tips for Creating Value Added Cover Letters. This is not the most in-depth resume book Ive seen, but for me it would have been perfect.   I know resume writers have other resume books on their shelves that they use frequently but the DIY resume writer will get   great ideas from Happy About My Resume.   You can get the paperback for $16.96, or the eBook for 11.95 from here. (note: each of the links to the Happy About My Resume page are affiliate links, which means if you buy it Ill get a few bucks. Thats my full disclosure statement :p) If you think your resume is important, you should check out JibberJobber. Why? Because once you get your resume snazzy, youll start to send it out applying here and there. Youll need to track where you apply, what your target companies are (track that in JibberJobber), how you network your way into these target companies, etc. Oh yeah, once you finish your job search, continue to use JibberJobber to track all of this stuff for your next promotion (or job search).

5 Ways Employer Can Create a Good First Impression

5 Ways Employer Can Create a Good First Impression The interview process is obviously a time consuming and costly one and therefore the ideal scenario is to find a candidate who fits the bill the first time around. Of course if that person doesn?t walk through the door then re-running the process is disappointing but essential. But what if you offer the job to someone that you really wanted and they turn you down because of a negative impression you or someone else within your organisation had given them? You may never actually find out the real reason, but to hear that the cause could have been avoided would be extremely frustrating. Therefore it is essential that you are ready to show yourself and the company in the best light from the moment the ideal candidate arrives. Unfortunately even Russell Grant would find it difficult to predict who this is and when they might appear. Here are a few tips to ensure that you are firing on all cylinders and are immediately creating a positive impact whenever ?the one? may arrive. 1) First impressions: There is an old saying that it only takes 90 seconds for an interviewer to make up their mind about an interviewee, so surely it must be equally quick for an interviewee to make up his or her mind about an employer. First impressions count, so make sure that your front of house (receptionist, secretary etc?) is fully briefed regarding the arrangements for the interviews. There is no better way of creating an initial bad impression for candidates (except maybe slapping them with a wet fish as they come through the revolving door) and demonstrating an uncommunicative organisation than the first person they encounter not knowing who they are or why they are there. To avoid the receptionist having to desperately ring around to find out what?s happening, provide them with all the information they need in advance including: Who the candidates are What position they are applying for What time their interviews starts Who to contact when they arrive Whether or not they have arranged a car parking space If reception can pre-empt the candidates as they arrive: (You  must be Lotta Potential, you?re here for an interview  for the Marketing Manager position. Did you get parked alright? Please take a  seat. Your interview isn?t for another 20 minutes, would you like a drink? You  look a little peaky, would you like to lie down?) then this will create the impression of a slick organisation. Also, if the candidates are providing a presentation and are bringing memory sticks which need virus checking, arrange for the receptionist to organise this while the candidates are waiting so that the interview can start immediately at the appropriate time. 2) Inspect the room: Before the first interview of the day, it is vital that you allow enough time to check the interview room in the first instance. By arriving only minutes before the first interview you will potentially have to clear up (or if you are lucky enough to be arranging for someone to do it for you,) which can make you behind schedule before the process has even started. An even bigger no-no is to bring the first candidate directly to the meeting room without checking the room at all, as you could potentially find the remnants of whatever the previous occupiers have been up to. It is also essential that you allow enough time between interviews. Time is needed to make notes on the previous candidate, remove used glasses, put the notes and CVs of other candidates out of sight and wipe away any tears from the table top (theirs or yours). 3) Check the tech: If you are using technology within the interview make sure the laptop/projector/TV work perfectly before the interviews get underway. There is nothing more awkward than making small talk with a candidate while Malcolm from IT rummages around under the table looking for the appropriate cables. Also, plug in the laptop rather than relying on the battery life and if the laptop has a stand-by or locks out after a certain period of time then switch these features off during the interview process. In case a ?lock-out? does occur, make sure you have the appropriate password in advance if it isn?t your own computer. 4) Be prepared: If you were ever in the Cubs or Brownies you will know this already, but preparation is key. Read a candidate?s CV thoroughly before the interview and prepare any questions that you want to ask them specifically so that you can give them your full attention whilst conducting the interview itself. It can be extremely off putting for candidates if you are desperately flicking through their CV during the interview looking for your next question whilst they are delivering their carefully constructed answer which could be the key to their future. Also, it may seem basic, but make sure you have the answers to all the simple questions the candidate may have regarding the organisation and the benefits of the job. Not knowing the company? turnover or whether the job comes with private health care may leave you sitting there with a significant amount of egg on your face. 5) Create a real  impression: We have all heard of nightmare dates where the date in question has made certain enhancements to themselves and hasn?t turned out to be entirely what the person expected them to be. Of course, it is important to show yourself and the organisation in the best light, but it is pointless making out you or the business are something you are not in order to increase the attractiveness of the offer to the candidate. At best the chosen candidate will feel like they have been tricked once they start work and this may have an immediate impact on their motivation. At worst the candidate will hand in their resignation right away or shortly after starting which means that you will have to go through the whole recruitment process once again. With experience comes  increased wisdom slackness: Unfortunately from my experience the more senior you get and the more interviews you carry out the more likely it is that you will overlook many of the points above. As interviewing becomes a chore rather than a new experience and there are increasingly important demands on your time, it is easy to overlook how costly the interview process is and how important it is to find the right candidates for the business at all levels within the organisation. Senior employees will read CVs last minute, won?t check rooms and turn up to interviews at the last minute or even late. So even if you are an old hat at interviewing, it is worth check boxing the above points once again in order to project a shining reflection of the organisation. Author:  Gary Skipper is the  Marketing Manager for Newman Stewart, an Executive Search and Management Selection company which finds excellent people for excellent businesses and can be found at www.newmanstewart.co.uk.

Awful Job Descriptions Make Even Worse Status Updates

Awful Job Descriptions Make Even Worse Status Updates Every recruiter I work with, their primary goal is to raise their profile. Lots of lovely things happen when they do this (well): More connections (less accusations of spam) More appropriate job applications and speedier placements Larger community of active listeners Decent ROI on time spent online. However,  the recruitment market still seems to be raising its profile with pointless profile-damaging updates. I’m not talking about naked recruiting, dilated pupil’d photos, drink and dial content the #job is still the main topic of the day. Heres a statistic: in the UK, there are 20+ million members on LinkedIn. 200,000 of those are recruiters and what we lack in size, we make up for in noise. In 1872, I wrote a blog about this, and it felt revolutionary at the time â€" now I’m just plain bored! Awful job descriptions  make REALLY awful status updates: Never let it be said that great job adverts make crap status updates â€" but let it be said that crap job specs make really crap status updates. The art of pitching the role has almost died and in its place recruiters are dumbing down their role by #job’ing and “our client is”’ing their status updates. And to add insult to injury, some clever recruiters have figured out how to make themselves look really pointless to the recruiting cycle by using the new LinkedIn Publisher platform to advertise their dumb and boring job specs. I knew it was coming, but when I saw my first one, I felt really disappointed (a bit like my mum did when I was a teenager!). You are what you read and you are what you share: Check out your recent updates â€" do they demonstrate your specialism, or smack of a contingent recruiter with yet another vacancy that they won’t fill? Most recruiters in the UK fill 2/10 of their jobs (by the way). When you get the new LinkedIn Publisher feature, use it wisely! Rumour control  jobs are good: I have nothing against jobs being advertised â€" if they are well written, pitched the correct way and demonstrate that recruiters doing this is a million miles more appropriate than a busy HR department flinging a 100,000 word job spec online. View  recent updates: The newly released button â€" View Recent Activity, neatly hiding on a user’s profile is a great way of seeing what people have been updating their status with. Don’t reinvent the wheel â€" pick out your choice clients and candidates and see what they’re sharing and liking â€" this is what you should be engaging with (and sharing)! Publisher: When you get it, stop, look and listen (a little like crossing the road, be strategic). Your aim is not to get taken to hospital wearing your worst underwear! To finish Lisa’s top 5 things for recruiters to stop updating their status with: Boring job  descriptions  â€" reverse the trend and update me with interesting adverts (note the difference). Which tie to where to an interview, what questions to ask at an interview, how to get an interview â€" 79% of LinkedIn are passive, so turning stop them off with stuff they couldn’t care less about.   Don’t make me press that Hide button! We have a new website (and??) To summarise Lisa’s top 3 things for recruiters to start updating their status with: Career advice Great, engaging job adverts Tips on how to manage newly qualified staff, how to cope with staff shortage during the holidays, how to manage graduates, how to deal with illness, office expansion, redundancy… anything that will engage someone in post, who funnily enough could be an active candidate at any moment…

How to Run a Candidate-Led Recruitment Service

How to Run a Candidate-Led Recruitment Service When I set my business up almost 10 yrs ago, my differentiator at that time was to market exclusive recruitment professionals and to genuinely be seen as the “go to” person to be trusted with their own career search. Incredibly, despite the plethora of competition via social media, particularly the dominance of LinkedIn as THE recruitment sourcing tool, this remains my USP! Even when the tide is turned: During the difficult years of 2008-2009 when there were few recruitment agencies hiring externally, I still behaved on the candidates behalf- refusing to give in to the explosive volumes of recruiters calling me due to (impending or actual) redundancy. I chose to ring-fence those candidates whom I thought added value, had superb experience and usually who had transferrable skills. Rather than the alarming numbers who clearly had “given up” mentally and so had cascaded out of the sector for poor performance rather than because their sector had been hit by the credit crunch and subsequent recession. (sorry if that sounds harsh and unsentimental but this observation is true from my own experiences of interviewing thousands of recruiters over the years). The current landscape and beyond: Most sectors, markets and disciplines are now so candidate driven, it is the most common talked about topic on social media, in meetings, between recruiters. This is obviously due to a huge skills shortage in a lot of key growth areas such as Technology, Digital marketing and Construction, to name a few. (recruitment is also very skill short and has been for a very long time, so I write from (hopefully) an expert perspective. Reversing the recruitment process: You can have the best website, a wonderful CRM database, an aggressive headhunting programme, a talent mapper in house but all of those things are totally benign if you dont reverse your thinking in HOW you market and treat your candidate. I would like to share with you some tips of how to run a successful Candidate led service. My business has benefited from reversing the process from day 1. By proving that if you work your candidates requirements rather than trying to fill a job spec, you get better results for BOTH parties- the client gets to know about the best candidates whom they may not have considered or been approached about before. The candidate gets a more bespoke service and gets to meet clients they may not have known about and is not elbowing 54 candidates out of the way! But it takes proper consulting to achieve this! Anyone reading this who runs a high volume, bums on seats style service just wont be able to adapt nor gain the results intended. My tips: Exclusivity by gaining the exclusive control of a candidates profile and CV, you have carte blanche over where their best place to work is; with no fears of “cv races” or a duplicate application. I always maintain, if someone is exclusive and GOOD, I WILL place them (whether this takes a week or 3 months, the more discerning the better!) Educate â€" it is so important that your clients understand HOW you intend to work on their behalf. Please dont promise that you are going to get them 5 Cvs by the end of the day/week. Instead, total honesty and proactiveness combined to assure your client you will only contact them about suitable and interested people for their role/business. NB. Suitable AND interested. Never just one of those key words! Communicate â€" as a recruitment ambassador, the comment that horrifies me the most when speaking to people socially or otherwise is their lack of respect for recruiters they have engaged- and this spans every sector- in that they have “never heard back from” or are “waiting for feedback from 2 weeks ago”. It costs nothing to drop a text or email if you havent time to call someone back! Sometimes, even a call just to “update” can make someones expectation elevate- something that simple could differentiate YOU!- and you may even get referrals off them for proving you actually care. Empathy have YOU yourself ever been the candidate? I bet 99.9% of you answer yes. So you know what it is like. What service did you rate? Someone who showed they cared about YOU or where you were just another box ticked. Show your candidate that you have empathy and you will get loyalty from them forthwith. Commodity â€" NO! Candidates are NOT commodoties. They are not pound/dollar signs! Dont ever treat a candidates career search like they have a fee attached nor make them feel like you NEED the commission. Show some respect, you are dealing with their LIFE/Livelihood! Simple. Integrity â€" an overused and often misunderstood recruitment buzzword. Be honest. Have respect. Care about the person whose life you are changing. Dont lie to them. Put yourself in their shoes. Dont be controlled by your targets so that you screw up someone elses life. Have courage- if a role clearly isnt right, tell your candidate that. They will remember you for it! Ask the experts: Dont just take my word for it. I asked Brian Matthews, the Co-Founder of The Candidate â€" a digital, marketing and e-commerce specialist recruitment consultancy based in Manchester,  how they define their own differentiator in their competitive market: “We founded The Candidate based on the demands of the market. We wanted to create a better service to our customers. We have created a tailor made approach for our candidates which ensures that all of our customers receive care and attention from our business. All businesses should be centred around its people and that is what The Candidate has set out to achieve.” What do you think? Is your market candidate led? As a business owner, could you reverse how you target your revenue by consultants by focusing on candidates  instead of filling jobs? As we enter the next era of recruitment, I predict this will be how most perm and interim markets will have to behave and conduct themselves. I predict few things (clearly especially lottery numbers!) but this is one thing I know will need addressing; there are  too many recruiters who I fear will fail to adapt and will disappear into the ether of job filler. Look forward to hearing your comments, in agreement or contrary!

Example Writing Resume

Example Writing ResumeA good example writing resume must be short, to the point and it should take no more than a few minutes to read. An example writing resume is a bit of a Trojan horse because it will present the candidates resume as if it were written by the candidate. The resume is not written as a candidate would write it but as the recruiter intended it to look like it was written.There are lots of samples to choose from on the internet but they are only samples and often do not give a real impression of the applicant or the company. To really get the feel of what the resume will look like you must read the sample resumes closely. This may seem obvious but there are some recruiters who actually believe that by using the sample resumes they are cheating the applicants. It is illegal for a recruiter to do this.There are many websites that offer samples of resumes and all have the same format. Some sites can be downloaded for free and others will require a fee. You can usually fi nd these websites by doing a simple search for sample resumes. When you start reading you will be surprised how often it will be the same exact resume that is presented to you.The reason these sites are able to offer so many sample resumes is because it is all exactly the same, all the resume is done with the same font style. This means that the recruiter has all the information about the candidate including the spelling of the name, what city they live in, what their hobbies are and what their educational history has been. The writer does not even have to know anything about the education but simply can do a 'quick' keyword search to see what the most popular keywords for the position were.After compiling all the information needed the recruiter just places it in front of the candidate and asks them to fill in the candidate's name. The applicant that answers the question 'Jane Smith' will automatically be put into the pool for the company and the recruiter knows for sure that they have the best person. The recruiter can always delete this applicant should they choose to do so.Most of the time a candidate will want to include a picture of themselves and for this reason you will need to place the picture somewhere on the page and under the heading 'Experience' at the top. This gives the recruiter an idea of what the applicant looks like so they can see what they are going to be getting when they are hiring.Another reason that sample resumes are used by recruiters is because it is cheaper than buying a software program to be able to do all of the searches. By using this approach the recruiter saves money on both time and money.So if you are reading one of these resumes or have already written one, do yourself a favor and do not take it seriously. When you use a sample writing resume the recruiter can use any other form of searching for the individual and can take the applicant at their word.

We All Suffer from Short-Attention-Span Theatre

We All Suffer from Short-Attention-Span Theatre It is easy to get distracted by shiny new things like a new gadget, an exciting project, or hot celebrity news (ha!). Whether you are a job seeker or a hiring manager or anyone in between, we all suffer from bouts of attention deficit disorder today. Has this ever happened to you? One minute you are researching something online and the next minute you find yourself on Amazon, searching for flashlights (or some random item you dont really need). a website with no idea what you were supposed to be looking for? This is short-attention-span  theatre. Here are some tips on how to fix this common affliction. Work in 25 Minute Increments Also known as the Pomodoro Technique, this is a time management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s that helps you accomplish projects or tasks by working in 25 minute increments. Seriously, there are many studies that prove working for hours on a computer is not only dangerous to your health but counter-productive. Get to the Point All correspondence should be concise. Letters should be no longer than three paragraphs! No one will read the entire sheet of paper! Your cover letter only needs to address these three points: Explain why you want to work for the company Why you are a fit for the job Thank them for their time!   State Your Case Be direct and specific. Speaking or writing in generalities or using templates without customizing your message for your reader is a huge turnoff. You need to address the specific concerns of the employer and grab them hook, line and sinker! Your Pitch Isnt About You Time after time, people introduce themselves by walking through their work history. STOP, thats boring and no one cares. Ditch the old 45 second elevator pitch. Focus on answering these three questions in your 5-10 second response to the questions So, what do you do? What problem do you solve How you do it uniquely Who benefits Be Purposeful Have a mission when you attend a networking event or one-on-one meeting.   What is the outcome you expect? And be as specific as possible. When you request a meeting with someone, state exactly how they can help you and what information you are seeking. Carve Out Downtime You and I both know that burn-out happens, especially when you are doing work you dont enjoy (ie. job search). This is why you need to carve out time to rejuvenate yourself! All work and no play makes you dull.

Kent Test Results Day 2018 - What Comes Next - How 2 Become

Kent Test Results Day 2018 - What Comes Next - How 2 Become Kent Test results day 2018 was Thursday, 11th October. If your child sat the Kent Test back in September, then you will have received their results on Thursday. These results will have been sent via email, and if you have a Kent County Council account you can log in and see your child’s results at the following link: https://kent.cloud.servelec-synergy.com/parentportal/login.aspxOnce you have your child’s Kent Test results, it’s time to figure out what comes next for you and your child after Kent Test Results Day 2018. So, let’s take a look at a road-map of the rest of your child’s journey to enrolling and starting at the school of their choice!Your Child’s Scores Explained â€" Kent Test Results Day 2018In total, your child will receive four different scores for the Kent Test: one for Maths, one for English, and one for Reasoning. An aggregate of these three scores is the fourth result. These scores will then be used by the grammar schools that your child has applied for to decide who will enrol. In order to be considered for a place at a grammar school, your child must score at least 323 marks in total (on their fourth score). In addition, your child must score no lower than 107 marks in each test.What if My Child Didn’t Score 323 Marks? â€" Kent Test Results Day 2018If your child achieved less than the required 323 marks, don’t panic. You have the opportunity to organise with your child’s primary school to have the case examined by the Head Teacher Assessment Panel. This panel will examine your child’s academic performance, as well as the English writing exercise that your child completed during the 11+.Can I Appeal? â€" Kent Test Results Day 2019If the Head Teacher panel decides that your child has not passed the Kent Test, and your child did not receive the minimum marks required to pass, fear not. Appeals are still possible, but you will have to wait until 1st March 2019. This is the date when your child will find out which school’s t hey have been enrolled at based on their choices. Once you receive this information, you can make an appeal to the grammar school that you would like your child to enrol at.If you want more guidance on passing the Kent Test, check out our workbook: Kent Test Practice Papers. This entry was posted in Education, 11+, News, Testing. Bookmark the permalink. Jacob Senior GCSE Results Day 2018 â€" GCSE Opportunities and Career PathsIn-Tray Tips â€" How to Pass Your Next In-Tray Exercise