7 Resume Mistakes You Didn't Realize

Resume blunders to watch out for

Reprinted with permission from theundercoverrecruiter.com.



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If you’ve worked long and hard on your resume only to find that it’s not getting the response you hoped for, it may be because you have made one or more common mistakes.



Over my career, I’ve seen tens of thousands of resumes and I’ve seen just about every mistake you can imagine. But some are more common than others. If your resume isn’t working for you, check whether you have made any of these frequently seen errors.



Resume Mistake #1 - Focusing on Yourself Rather Than on the Employer



Think of a resume as an advertisement for a product, only the “product” is you. Just like any other advertisement, positioning is everything. The person who receives your resume will scan it quickly – perhaps for no more than 20 seconds – to determine whether you can help her company. Your job is to say quickly, clearly and loudly that you can!



Don’t just launch into a chronology of your career history. Instead, determine your own positioning by spelling out your message at the start of the resume and giving the reader your version of events upfront. For this reason, you should use the first 1/3 of your resume to create a compelling personal profile which highlights your key strengths in an attractive, easy-to-read format.



Resume Mistake #2 – Starting with an Objective



Don’t start with an objective. Recruiters and hiring managers don’t like them because they focus on the needs of the job seeker rather than the needs of the potential employer. Consider this objective statement:



“Seeking a software engineer position with a progressive employer where I can contribute to the development of new technologies and work with bright, committed people.”



This may be very honest but it is irrelevant to the reader, who does not care what you want and only cares what you have to offer. Instead of an objective, try using a positioning statement that clearly and concisely explains what you have to offer.



“Senior Software Engineer with 10 years experience developing leading-edge technologies.”



Now the reader can immediately see your value to the company. (For even greater impact, tailor this statement for each position so that the reader immediately sees a match between his/her needs and your skills.)



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SWAG: Do the ends justify the means?

source

Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG).

Are you familiar with Watchmen? The popular graphic novel turned semi-popular summer blockbuster describes a deeply dystopian future in which Richard Nixon has been declared supreme ruler, constant threats of nuclear attack are on everyone's mind, and the practice of playing a vigilante super hero has been outlawed. The characters of Watchmen walk a fine line of human morality: Would the most good come from always doing the right thing? That is, is it always the best course of action to prevent others from entering into harm's way? Or, would the most good come from doing a little bit (or a lot) of bad? The characters of Watchmen walk through murky moral waters throughout the novel, sometimes making decisions to stick to their principles. Other times, characters justify doing a great amount of terrible to promote ultimate good. On this point, one of the central characters, Adrian Veidt, famously quips, "My new world demands less obvious heroism."

Watchmen poses some very interesting questions about our moral lives. Specifically, when is doing bad sometimes a good thing?

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Maintaining Employees’ Productivity during Tough Economic Times

During bad economic times, budget cuts and workforce reductions might be a necessity. Managers are often left with the task of meeting their performance objectives with fewer resources. To keep up with these demands, managers must find a way to maintain employee productivity at a time when morale may be declining. Akhtaboot presents you with 4 tips that would help you with managing employees during tough economic times.

Top 10 Job Hunting Tricks

More job hunt techniques that can lead to success

By Julie Kramer for melissacooley.com



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1. Create a website and/or online portfolio for yourself.



More things will come up on you when your name is Googled by potential employers, plus it will be a good place to direct people on Twitter or LinkedIn to learn more information about you. (Of course, Google yourself every now and then to make sure that nothing you would not want them to see is out there.)



And it is OK if you do not know how to design a website. There are tons of easy-to-use websites out there that do the hard work for you. For example:



wordpress.com

extendr.com

shownd.com

carbonmade.com

vfolio.com

wix.com



You just have to enter in your information!



2. Put yourself out there.



The more places you have online presence, the more likely the right people might find you. Create profiles and post your resume on the main job sites, like Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder. But be careful of the scams!



Also, get involved with other job and networking sites like VisualCV or others that relate to your industry or geographic region. One great site I found is BigShoesNetwork, which posts tons of great marketing and graphic design-related jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.



Your area’s newspaper, broadcast news, and industry organization websites usually offer local job postings, too! With marketing being a focus in my case, I look to my local chapter of the Business Marketing Association to see the positions they have listed.



3. Make a brand for yourself.



One way to do this would be to design a personal logo. If you are not very artistically inclined, a simple logo idea would be to download a neat font from a free font site like www.dafont.com and use the new font to type your name or initials. Play around with colors, too!



Also, take a professional photo of yourself to post online, and carry the two throughout your online profiles, your Twitter account, LinkedIn, and even your business cards. Yes, business cards! Design your own business card with your new logo on it. Again, if you need help, try one of the many free business card template sites out there, such as www.businesscardland.com.



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Have Your Cake and Eat It Too! Practical Reform in Social Psychology

The cake we can (1) have, and (2) eat!

If you have been following recent headlines in the social sciences then you are aware that the field of social psychology has been in some rough water over the past three years. In this time period, we've had our flagship journal publish a series of studies providing evidence that ESP exists (and then refuse to publish non-replications of these studies). We've suffered through at least three instances of scientific fraud perpetrated by high profile researchers who engaged in egregious scientific misconduct. We've had an entire popular area of research come under attack because researchers have failed to replicate its effects. And several respected members of the science community have had some harsh words to say about the discipline and its methods.

Listing all of these events in succession makes me feel a bit ashamed to call myself a social psychologist. Clearly our field has been lacking both oversight and leadership if all of this could happen in such a brief period. Now, I'm not one to tuck my tail between my legs. Instead, I've decided to look ahead. I think there are relatively simple changes that social psychologists (even ones without tenure) can make in their research that can shore up our science going forward.
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Common Job Networking Myths - don't believe them!

Fact or fiction? Job seekers must decide

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Myth #1: Networking means you're looking to use people to achieve selfish goals, or opportunistically ask people for help.



REALITY: The definition of the word network according to The Oxford Dictionary:



nétwerk n. & v. a group of people who exchange information, contacts, and experience for professional or social purposes.



Therefore, networking can be defined as one’s efforts to create this group, and of course it can be done honestly and considerately.



You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.



• Jeanette Rankin



Myth #2: You have to be a born networker or a natural at it.



REALITY: The skills needed to be an effective networker can be learned by anyone. Start by getting comfortable asking folks you meet, “So, what are you working on these days?” or, “What do you need help with right now?” Then, read the new book titled, “I’m at a Networking Event—Now What???” for more ways to further develop your networking muscle. (Yes, I'm the author.)



....relationships take time, getting to know folks requires patience, and people are generally cautious – if not fearful – of Johnny come lately that is asking, rather than giving.



• Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst at Forrester



Myth #3: You must have above average charisma to be a good networker.



REALITY: You merely need to be thoughtful, sincere and genuinely helpful. You get offered a job or opportunities from people who are trusting of you. There IS a hidden job market out there, but you have to be willing to be open and giving to be part of it.



To be successful, you have to be able to relate to people; they have to be satisfied with your personality to be able to do business with you and to build a relationship with mutual trust.



• George Ross



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8 New Techniques to Land a Job

A better job search, a better chance

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If you're in the middle of a job search, there will no doubt be moments when you feel frustrated and fatigued. Despite submitting countless applications, your phone might not ring. You may interview for a job and never hear back from the company. Or you could be offered the position you sought, only to learn the compensation is much lower than you expected. Without question, pounding the proverbial pavement requires perseverance, patience and a positive outlook. The following are tips for enhancing your search and coping with the job-hunt blues.



1. Set goals.



When you're between jobs, you may miss the feeling of accomplishment derived from completing tasks and meeting objectives on a regular basis. Make up your own "to-do" list by setting daily or weekly targets for your job search. Give yourself firm deadlines and stick to them. Write notes, like "Send a tailored cover letter and résumé to XYZ Corp. by end of day" or "Thoroughly research 10 new companies in the next week." Meeting specific goals will boost your morale and add momentum to your search.



2. Find the right targets.



You could save time (and avoid frustration) by narrowing your focus. For example, instead of faxing a generic résumé to every company that is advertising an open position, develop targeted materials and send them to a small list of firms that are most appealing to you.



3. Seek expert assistance.



If you're sending scores of targeted résumés and cover letters and still aren't being called for interviews, contact a staffing or recruitment firm and ask for suggestions on how to improve your application materials. Staffing professionals can provide you with invaluable tips and feedback. It's their job to stay current on market conditions and hiring trends. They also can help you locate temporary positions that will allow you to keep working and earn money while you continue searching for full-time employment.



4. Get to work.



It's often said that getting a job is a job in itself. Take a 9-to-5 approach to your employment search. Be disciplined for a solid eight hours each day regardless of the time of year. A common misconception is that hiring grinds to a halt during the summer months and around the holidays due to vacation schedules. The truth, however, is that good companies are always looking for good people.



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SWAG: Thoughts as Physical Objects

Ideas as Objects (Source)

Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG).

We typically think of thoughts as mental constructs without physical properties. And yet, it is remarkably common to use physical metaphors when dealing with these mental constructs. For instance, to say that you "cooked up" an idea is to suggest that ideas may have physical properties. With this logic, it is possible that engaging in physical acts with our thoughts might actually change their influence on our attitudes. A recent article that we read in SWAG tested this prediction.

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The Battle For Jobs: College Grads Vs. Experienced Candidates

Jobs up for grabs. Go get'em, grads.

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Youth is a double-edged sword, right? On the one hand employers
love it because it means you have energy, charisma, and the fact that you might
be the future leader of the company if they groom you just right. On the other
hand…why pick a college graduate when
there’s a more experience professional willing to do the job for just a teeny
bit more pay?

Is this topic really that black and white? Are there just
two sides to this coin and that is the reality we have to accept?

Not really. In fact, it’s more like a pie cut into three
slices (mmm…pie).

The truth is, there are three groups of employers out there;
the first being those who are only
aiming to recruit more experienced folk (more bang for their buck) for entry-level jobs.
This group usually thinks more about what’s on paper than what’s sitting in the
chair in front of them.

The second group of employers is the one who is looking to
hire some “new blood” if you will – a young, innovative mind, topped off with undeniable
passion and an electric go-getter attitude.  Youth simply tickles their fancy and that’s
that. Inexperience will not throw your candidacy away here.

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Get Hired Immediately

Job seekers sometimes complain about not getting hired! Sending your CV and showing up to the interview aren't enough to get you the job in today’s competitive market. Akhtaboot provides you with some tips to follow in order to get hired now!

5 Subliminal Tricks That Make an Employer Adore You

Speak in a job interview physically, not just verbally

By Landon Long



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Okay, we know everyone adores you anyways, but even you Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolie’s can’t get everything you want on looks alone. Sure, some of that physical attraction counts, but what counts even more is your subliminal body language. Even if people don’t realize it, this is the thing that creates the vibes people love.



Here are 5 ways to get people hooked on you in one sitting.



1. Maintain Good Eye Contact



Eye Contact is huge. Imagine talking to someone who never looked at you, not even once. Rather, they scanned the room with their eyes: the walls, the floor, the ceiling—anything but you. Would you feel like they were listening? Even an unusually long look in the other direction would throw the whole conversation off.



Good eye contact establishes rapport. The listener should be giving more eye contact than the person speaking, as if receiving the information not simply by listening but through sight as well, which is sort of what is going on with all the body language involved.



Be careful, though, being too intense can have the opposite effect. Try to maintain good contact throughout about 70% of the conversation. Gentleman, the ladies are a lot better about making eye contact when listening, so if you’re having issues watch the way they do it. Many have it down to an art.



2. Posture: Not the Time to Practice Your Gangster Lean



A confident, able individual has good posture, and a slouch creates the impression that you are unorganized, unambitious, and undisciplined. Good posture says a lot about someone, so this is something you should work on long before you walk into an interview. Use posture exercises to learn how to master this skill.



Also, a good listener leans towards the speaker, as if trying to get closer. This is a temporary submissive gesture to ease the exchange of ideas. Don’t get so far up in their grill that they can diagnose your halitosis; just lean forward a bit as if making a conscious effort to hear their words.



When its your turn to speak, remain in a more neutral position. Don’t lean back as if you own the place or you might seem unnecessarily arrogant. Sit up straight and save the leaning for when you’re listening.



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7 Reasons Why Your Job Networking Doesn't Work

Job networking's common pitfalls

This guest post was written by David Couper. You can find the original source article on selfgrowth.com



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1. Not doing your research. 



- Make sure you know who will help you and why. Understand your business and how it works. Research which are the companies that you want to work with and which are the ones that you don't. If you don’t you run the risk of blowing the job.

- I called someone without researching their company only to find that they didn't work in Europe like I thought they did. So my pitch about my European background was wasted.



2. Networking with the wrong people.



- A Career Fair may be a great place for some people looking for a job but not always. A lawyer I know wasted an afternoon meeting with fast-food providers looking for entry-level staff. She didn't want to learn to flip!

- If you are an actor the best place to get a job is hanging out with other actors but with buyers - producers and directors. Hang out for support but not for opportunities.

- Watch out for scams, opportunists and ne-er-do-wells. Don't pay for a networking opportunity unless you have checked it out and got some good feedback. Be smart!



3. Not being clear why you are there. 



- Do you want information?

- Do you want names?

- Do you want job leads?

- Do you want to get free food?

Make sure you have a purpose and stick to it.







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Do it for Future You

Source

It's only a month and a half into the New Year, and most of us have already abandoned our New Year's resolutions. We had the best of intentions, but our intentions only got us so far, and eventually we fell back into our old habits--eating and drinking too much, exercising and sleeping too little. Why are we so bad at this?

There are a number of reasons for our difficulty with New Year's Resolutions and other efforts to make positive changes in our lives. For example, our goals are often unrealistic or vague, we give up too easily when we have setbacks, and we have a tendency to "bask in projected glory"--research suggests that when we announce lofty goals and envision ourselves accomplishing them, we become less motivated to pursue these goals in reality because we feel, in some sense, that we're already there.

In addition to these obstacles, we may also be hindered by an inability to see our future selves--the ones who will suffer the consequences of the poor decisions we make today--as us. Rather, we tend to see them as different people altogether, people whose happiness is less important than the happiness of our present selves. 

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7 Reasons Why a Potential Employer Won't Read your Resume, and What to Do About it

Resume ignored? Find out why

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When you write your resume (with or without advice and professional help), who is your target audience? Who are you trying to satisfy?



First of all, you’re not writing your resume to satisfy yourself. For that matter, you’re not writing it to satisfy any “expert” – the author of the resume book you just read, or the recruiter you’re working with, or your career guidance counselor, or your cousin Fred who is a human resources manager, or even a professional resume writer.



You are writing your resume for a particular kind of reader: a potential employer. And if you’re like most of us, you make some very, very optimistic assumptions about that reader. You are certain that your reader is eager to find the best person for the job. Your reader, you are sure, is going to read the important things in your resume, and his or her eye will be drawn to all of those clever formatting tricks you’ve used (columns, underlining, different fonts, boldfacing, italics, strong verbs, skills, numbers, results, etc.).



But you’d better take off the rose-colored glasses. Your resume has a better than 98% chance of ending up in the garbage can (real or virtual).



Here are 7 characteristics of the psychology of the typical resume reader:



1. Resume readers are some of the smartest and most skeptical readers in the world. They know that at least half of what they read consists of lies, exaggerations, half-truths, and semantic and formatting “tricks.” They don’t accept anything at face value. Remember, the typical resume reader sees literally thousands; they know every trick in the book by now.



2. Most readers are in a bad mood, not a happy mood of eager expectancy. They’ve got 300 resumes to read, and nobody is giving them an extra penny to carefully peruse each one. They are rushed for time, annoyed at having to read yet another resume, and hostile rather than sympathetic. Reading yet another resume is a burden that is keeping them from their attention to what they consider much, much more important matters.



3. Therefore, the typical resume reader is looking for a quick and convincing reason to throw out yours. Some will even discard it if they don’t like the envelope or the way the email looks. Some will read only the resume and not the cover letter, or vice-versa. And they are unwilling to open up a zip file. You know how annoying it is to get an email that requires you to open up several files? For the resume reader, it is triply annoying.



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4 Ways to Boost Gratitude on Valentine's Day

Today's post is the second in a two-part series on Gratitude. Yesterday I discussed research I've done on how gratitude helps us hold onto our relationships. Today I give you a few science-based tips for how to boost gratitude on Valentine's Day.

Whether February 14^th is your first Valentine’s Day together or your 35^th, it is a great excuse to show gratitude for the one you love. This Valentine’s Day, try these science-based tips to make sure you get the most out of your acts of kindness.

1   Focus on Your Partner. It is easy to think about all the ways we hope that our partners will treat us well on Valentine’s Day. But to make the most of the day, focus on your partner and think of February 14^thas a day to show your partner how much you care. Giving to others makes us happier than spending time and money on ourselves (Dunn, Aknin,& Norton, 2008). Giving as a way to express gratitude to your partner is likely to help your partner see how great you are and want to do something nice to express gratitude in return (Gordon et al., 2012). By focusing on giving and being grateful instead of on getting, you may find that both of you get more in the end.

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The Art of Giving Feedback

One of the key skills a good leader must possess is the art of giving and receiving feedback. It is essential in keeping a healthy work environment, motivating staff and encouraging a learning culture. Positive feedback can be easy to give but when it comes to giving negative feedback, it could be a difficult process. You need to build your confidence and to improve your communication skills. Akhtaboot provides you with some tips in order to master the art of giving effective feedback.

Top 100 Niche Job Sites

Job boards and job search engines you may have missed

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There are tons of job sites out there, but often during your job search on them you fill find few within a very particular job field or industry. If you want to get a job in a niche industry, it's even harder. So take a look at the Top 100 Niche Job Sites list here so you can spend more time on effective job boards and land the job you want today.



 accounting

• accountingjobstoday

• careerbank.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com

• jobsinthemoney.com owned by Dice.com



administrative

• bizjournals.com

• net-temps.com



advertising

• marketingjobs.com

• talentzoo.com



art

• artjob.org

• artsusa.org



attorney

• lawjobs.com



automotive

• autojobs.com

• automotivejobsonline.com

• needtechs.com



bank

• bankjobs.com

• careerbank.com owned by OnTargetJobs.com

• jobsinthemoney.com owned by Dice.com



callcenter

• callcenterjobs.com



clerical

• net-temps.com



college

• aftercollege.com

• collegegrad.com

• collegerecruiter.com

• universityjobs.com



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To Have and To Thank: Gratitude Helps us Hold onto our Relationships

In honor of St. Valentine, today's post is the first in a two-part series on why gratitude may be a key ingredient in successful relationships. Today I talk about some of my own research on gratitude. Then on Wednesday I'll be back with a few tips for how to make sure you and your partner get the most out of your gratitude on Valentine's Day.

I had one goal when I started graduate school five years ago – to understand why some romantic relationships thrive while others fail. I also had one primary hypothesis – relationships fail when partners begin to take each other for granted. And I thought: if taking each other for granted is the poison, maybe gratitude is the antidote.

Back when I started, few people were talking about gratitude. Today it is everywhere, and for good reason. A decade of burgeoning research has highlighted the myriad benefits of gratitude for physical and mental well-being. And we've found that gratitude is good in large part because it helps us create and hold onto our close relationships.

In research by Sara Algoe and colleagues, grateful couples were more satisfied in their relationships and felt closer to each other  (see this post for the details of their findings). And in our research, we found that the more grateful participants were, the more likely they were to still be in their relationships nine months later.

What do I mean by gratitude? When I examine the role of gratitude in relationships, I’m not just looking at what happens when people say “thanks” after their partner takes out the trash. My definition of gratitude includes appreciating not just what your partner does, but who they are as a person. You’re not just thankful that your partner took out the trash—you’re thankful that you have a partner who is thoughtful enough to know you hate taking out the trash. Gratitude means thinking about all of your partner’s best traits and remembering why you got into a relationship with them in the first place.

But how does gratitude help couples? 

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5 Crazy Job Interview Tips That Work

Job interview tips you can't miss

Reprinted with permission from careerealism.com.



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Preparing for an interview can be a nerve wracking experience. Fortunately, there are some ways to prep for it which will let you ace the interview. While these may seem like strange pre-interview routines, they actually do work and will help you to land the job of your dreams:



1. Look at Facebook



This is actually two strategies in one. First of all, check your Facebook profile out and make sure that your own profile is set to private and there are no embarrassing photos of you tagged on the site. If there are, untag yourself from those photos and ask your friends if they would please refrain from tagging you. If possible, get the photos taken down. Double check as well that status updates you’ve posted aren’t embarrassing. If they are, delete them.



While this won’t completely remove the record of those photos, it does make it harder to find. That in turn means if you ace the interview, your interviewer is less likely to find embarrassing material online which will make them think twice about calling you back for a second interview.



The second half of this technique is to find out the name of the person who will be interviewing you and look up their Facebook profile. Get as much information as you can about the person since this will be helpful to you to throw into the conversation when you are meeting with them. Showing an interest in something the person is interested in is a sure way to get yourself remembered out of the hundreds of interviews the hiring manager has to conduct.



2. Prepare a Folder to Fiddle With



Yeah, it sounds strange, but this is a great pre-interview technique that can come in handy. Often, you will be asked to wait for a few minutes before your interview. Most times, it’s just because the person interviewing you is busy or wants to make you feel as if you aren’t the most important person for them to meet. However, on occasion, this is actually a test. They will secretly observe you to see what you do when you are waiting to be interviewed. If you have a folder with your papers in it, you can spend the time appearing to organize yourself so you ace that test.



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How To Get The Best Recommendations

A job seeker's secret weapon

This post was written by Susanna Cha, a Content Writer and MSc. International Marketing Graduate, currently writing about graduate jobs on behalf of Guardian Jobs.

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So your university years are behind you and you've finally got that degree that you've worked so hard for. Now you find yourself in a competitive graduate jobs market. It's not impossible to get a job in the current tough climate, but it is tougher than usual. That doesn't mean you should give up, it just means that you need to be savvy about how you can give yourself competitive edge and know how to get the best recommendations.



1. Have you got some work experience?



Having a degree is great. But do you have any work experience? Hopefully you've been working during your university time and you can put that work experience to good use in looking for a graduate job. Think laterally, your part-time job might have been burger flipping or warehouse unloading. But think carefully about the practical skills you've demonstrated during your time there. For example, you've shown that you can work as part of a team. You've worked under pressure to meet tight deadlines. You have a good understanding of customer service. Analyse everything you've done and distil the skills from it. If you haven't had any work experience, don't despair, it's not too late. While you're job hunting, there's time to cram in some experience.



2. Have you considered volunteering or an intern opportunity?



If you're short on work experience (and even if you're not), then it might be worthwhile doing some volunteering. This will not only give you valuable experience, it will impress future employers. There's a possible added bonus that you might find yourself an opportunity in the field that you want to work in.



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SWAG: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough... and I give up!

wikipedia.org

Every Wednesday afternoon, I gather with a bunch of faculty and graduate students at the University of Illinois to discuss a journal article about social psychology, and to eat a snack. This blog post reflects the discussion we had during this week's seminar affectionately called Social Wednesdays and Grub (SWAG).

This week we read a recent collection of studies written by Kathleen Vohs and her colleagues (2013) about goal disengagement and self-affirmation. Usually self-affirmations are a good thing for us because they remind us that we are, as Stuart Smalley put it, "Good enough, smart enough, and dog-gone-it, people like (us)!" Sometimes these affirmations can lead one to actually disengage from goals.

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The 10 Biggest Job Hunt Myths

Don't fall for these traps in your job search

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There's more job search mythology being passed around than even the ancient Greeks could have imagined. Some of the most well-traveled and persistent myths are also the most dangerous ones -- because following this faux wisdom could sabotage your job search efforts.



Here are 10 of my favorite job-search myths, and the reality to replace each one.



MYTH: In your resume, you should talk about how you're great at everything.



Have you ever seen a job posting that said, "We want to hire someone who's good at everything"? Individual department managers get approval to hire people to perform certain specific duties. The last thing you want on your resume is a message that says, "I can do Sales, Marketing, Finance, Customer Service, or Manufacturing!" No one will believe you, and you won't be the best fit for any job, anywhere.



Reality: Use your resume to talk about how you're really strong in two or three areas. If you need more than one resume, so be it.



MYTH: The people who get jobs are the ones who apply for the most jobs



The people who actually get jobs are the ones who create thoughtful, targeted approaches to the jobs they're especially well suited for. Lobbing dozens of random resumes with boilerplate cover letters into inboxes across America doesn't help you.



Reality: Approach each job opportunity with a targeted letter and, if necessary, a customized resume that links your background and the job's requirements.



MYTH: The more information on your resume, the better!



Editing is an important business skill. If your resume includes the details for the jobs you held before 1990, your resume is too long. Two pages in an absolute max for non-academic resumes, and in those two pages you want to tell us the most important bits, not every task and duty you've ever been responsible for.



Reality: The best resumes are concise, pithy and specific. Less is more when it comes to describing your strengths and talents.



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What R.E.S.U.M.E Stands For

Resume writing explained in a different way

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We all know that a resume is basically a written summary of your skills, background, and experience related to a particular field – but what does the word “resume” actually stand for?



The truth is the word “resume” doesn’t actually stand for anything, but we thought it was a good idea to think of which words could best describe the process through which you can improve your resume. Read on to see what your resume is missing and what you can do to improve it.



Recognize



It’s important to first recognize the employer’s needs. Take a look at the job posting and highlight the most important parts; the job duties, responsibilities, and requirements. Keywords are very important to note here. If you’re not sure which keywords are important, search for a similar job posting and see which similar words you find. Reviewing the overall job description is another way to truly understand the purpose of the position – and if you can indeed serve that purpose.



Evaluate



Compare your resume to the job posting and see what differences and similarities exist. This is a good time to reflect upon your resume keyword-wise and see what you could change to grab the employer’s attention. Think about your qualifications as a job candidate and see if you really fit the position you are applying for. As job seekers get desperate they’ll often apply to jobs they aren’t qualified for and this not only frustrates the employer who has to go through hundreds of resumes, but it also makes a job seeker’s life more difficult with yet another rejection letter to read.



Strategize



Now that you know which particular keywords are relevant within the job duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and description, it’s time to form a strategy for your resume.



Take some time to write down all the major duties and responsibilities of the last position you held. As you’re writing them down, it should now be apparent which ones are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Write down a list of your accomplishments as well (professional or academic) and again note which ones would make sense to use for this particular job posting.



This process basically tailors your resume to the specific job you’re applying for - it makes you rethink exactly what you’re putting on your resume and whether or not you could be putting something more relevant that you hadn’t thought of before.



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Living Abroad and Thinking Outside of the Box



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Two weeks ago, I had the exciting opportunity to visit my sister in London where she is studying for the year. As she showed me her new lifestyle and daily routine, we reflected on some of the benefits she has gained from her time abroad thus far, such as greater knowledge about European history and new friends from different countries. We also talked about some less tangible advantages, like changing the way she thinks about the world, learning to interpret behaviors from a new perspective, and improving her ability to solve problems. In other words, we came to the conclusion that living abroad has helped foster her creativity.

The notion that living abroad enhances creativity may be quite familiar to you. There is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence to support this idea and a long tradition of the “expatriate artist.” For example, while visiting Westminster Abbey, my sister and I saw memorials to George Händel and Henry James – two artists who were not born in England but who produced some of their most famous works while living there. It’s easy to conjure up glamorous ideas of artists living and working abroad, their creativity sparked by new environments and lifestyles, as in the movie Midnight in Paris. But can the rest of us improve our creativity by living abroad? Were my sister and I right to think that her experience abroad has fostered her creativity? In this post, I’ll present some evidence that such a connection does exist and that it occurs not just for artists, but also within the general population.

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Attitude is Everything at the Workplace!

Developing a positive attitude at work is essential for better communication, creativity and innovation. The constant can't-do attitude will harm your career as well as the progress of the whole company. Positive attitude is contagious and can be easily transmitted to the people surrounding you. Akhtaboot presents you with 5 simple tips to help you adopt a more positive attitude at the workplace.