Archive for the ‘Executive’ Category

Marketing Your Skills & Abilities

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Suppose you had just one chance to advertise yourself on a billboard overlooking a busy highway, and that passing motorists had only a few seconds to glance at it. It doesn’t matter what your occupation or skill set is. How would you make your advertisement meaningful and memorable?

Think of your résumé as a portable version of that billboard. The motorists whizzing by? Human resources professionals and other hiring entities. They don’t have time to read a biography of a jobseeker, and they don’t want to read your job description. (They aren’t interested in knowing that you report to work and do what an employer expects of you – the daily tasks for which you are paid.) They want to know what makes you special; how you add value; how you can make a difference in their organizations. They want to glance at your résumé and say, “Here’s someone I need to meet.”

It’s not always easy or comfortable for people to try to “sell” themselves this way. There’s a fine line between hollow bragging and effective advertising. Professional resume writers know the difference, and ResumeEdge.com’s writers will work with you to turn a so-what list of responsibilities or accomplishments into a powerful marketing tool. Here are some real-life examples:

Before

• Daily processing of portfolio transactions in accordance with department policies and procedures.

After

• Provide investment managers and clients with accurate, time-sensitive portfolio information through diligent processing, analysis, reporting and dissemination of cash and transaction data.

Before

• Inspected, marketed and sold properties to first time homebuyers.

After

• Created home ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents who might otherwise be excluded from the housing market. Provided prospective buyers with inception-through-settlement financial  consulting services and education.

Before

• Presented PowerPoint presentations to civic, photography and hiking clubs around the country with client endorsements.

After

• Increased revenue and brand awareness by making sales presentations to clubs and associations countrywide, incorporating customer testimonials about tour experiences as marketing technique.

Before

• Organized profitable & charitable events.

After

• Organized and ran for-profit and charity events attracting more than 45 musicians of regional, national and international influence in the avant-garde genre, including two-time world DMC champion DJ Klever. Ready to see yourself in a new light? Help is only a mouse click away!

Getting to the point quickly, succinctly, and effectively is what separates a winning resume from one that’s discarded by the hiring manager or recruiter.

Putting the Employer First

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Are you sending out dozens of resumes each week, but getting no response? Do you feel discouraged about a tough job market and your competition?

In your efforts to get noticed, you should keep one thing in mind: Put yourself in the hiring manager’s place. Ask yourself, “What would the employer think of my resume in the initial few seconds she takes to read it?” Even if you’re exactly right for the job, you may never be asked to interview unless you make the proper first impression with a well-written resume and cover letter.

Today’s resume writing services can provide you with a professional’s opinion on the best way to craft these important documents.

The content and format of your resume are very important. A resume that employs a tiny font and has too much information will be quickly passed over by a hiring manager in favor of a clean, easy to read, well-spaced document. Use bullet points and even-spaced margins. Don’t make the mistake of including every single thing you did at a previous job. Instead, list key accomplishments and major, progressive responsibilities that highlight your skills. You can then expand on your previous responsibilities in a cover letter and during the first interview.

Does the content of your resume reflect transferable skills related to the position for which you’re applying? Hiring managers often glance at a resume looking for key phrases and buzz words that they want in their ideal next employee. Take the time to tailor your resume specifically to a job description. These key phrases may get you past the employers’ Web-based application filter as well as generate enough interest for a first interview.

A basic, yet overlooked, detail is keeping your resume free of spelling and grammatical errors. You want to convey that you are professional, detail-oriented, can write well, and take your work seriously. One glance at a resume with spelling and grammatical errors might cause an employer to think: “sloppy, makes mistakes, and is wasting my time.” Take the time to proofread your resume. Then, have someone you trust review it for you.

Your cover letter should always express your interest in the specific job. Does it give you an opportunity to expand your skill set? Is the company dynamic and progressive? Clearly convey your strong interest in the company and position, and then explain why you’re the ideal candidate. This shows you have done your homework on the company and truly want to work there.

Putting the employer first by having a tailored cover letter and well-written resume will ensure you have sent out the best possible representation of yourself. It will also bring you a step closer to getting that interview and job offer.

Returning to Work After a Long Hiatus

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

It’s no secret that an increasing number of men have opted to be stay-at-home moms, while even the most energetic career women sometimes have to leave the workforce because of family needs.

Even if years separate you from the last job and the new career goal, there are tricks to turning a potential negative into an asset – it’s just a matter of knowing what to do.

1. Never explain in a resume that you have been unemployed for a number of years.

Opening a resume with a negative immediately places you at a disadvantage to other candidates applying for the same position. Instead, you should focus on your skills and qualifications as they relate to the job opening. That’s really all a hiring manager wants to see.

2. Personal data regarding your hiatus should not be included in the document.

All too often, candidates feel they must be completely up-front in a resume, or somehow explain their absence from the workforce. Therefore, they include comments like: “Being a stay-at-home mom with Johnny was one of the most rewarding periods of my life.” (That may well be, but a hiring manager will wonder if that person will be effective and professional in a business environment.) or “A serious disease and subsequent operation took me out of the work force. However, now I feel quite well and am able to meet all work-related challenges.” (Most hiring managers would worry about hiring a candidate who was so seriously ill, and that person’s effect on the company’s health insurance premiums.)

3. Use a functional format that stresses skills, rather than a reverse-chronological format that stresses an unbroken history of employment.

Think of a resume as a marketing tool with you as the product. Showcase the positive (skills, qualifications, recent education in the chosen field), while downplaying the negative (employment gaps).

4. List any Volunteer work or Community Service that is relevant to your new career goal.

If you have organized numerous charitable functions, raised funds, directed a group of volunteers, or interfaced with the media about community-related events, these are all transferable skills.

5. Showcase only that Education and Training which is current to the career sought.

This is particularly true for someone in Information Technology. IT has changed so rapidly over the years that showcasing coursework or degrees attained even 10 years ago will date your document, and be certain to hurt your candidacy. Instead, current training – as it applies to the new career – should be showcased.

When You Have Multiple Career Goals

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessary to have completely different resumes for each career goal. After all, your professional and academic experience doesn’t change. That said, how you construct an effective resume for multiple career goals does depend upon prioritization and organization of data, and answers to these questions:

1. Are the career fields similar?
2. Are the career fields diverse?

SIMILAR CAREER FIELDS

Let’s say as a Registered Nurse you’ve taught nursing students, you have served as an administrator at a nursing home, and you have worked in a hospital. Three careers, but all related. A resume in this instance can be both general (for application to many jobs) and specific (targeting one job) – it’s all in how you organize and prioritize the information.

For example, your Professional Experience can be broken down into three categories on your resume – Nursing Experience – Administrator Experience – Teaching Experience, with the appropriate employer and daily duties listed within each section (in a reverse chronological format). When applying for Nursing positions, that section would be listed first. When applying for a Teaching position, that section would be listed first.

In this way, one resume, with minor modifications, can be used for many postings.

DIVERSE CAREER FIELDS

You began your professional career in real estate sales, but then transitioned to the paralegal field, and finally chose yet another career in bookkeeping. Three very different careers that would seem to require three separate resumes, but that’s certainly not the case.

To avoid producing resume after resume for each job, and if at least some of the skills are transferable within different industries, then a functional format is best for you.

Functional formats stress professional skills, rather than employers or industries. So, instead of providing a reverse chronological resume that clearly shows you’ve been moving from career to career and back (which some employers might find troubling), a functional resume states core qualifications beneath varying subheadings.

The example given above would warrant three or more subheadings, namely:

Contract Negotiation (Real Estate)

Sales (Real Estate)

Contracts (Paralegal)

Payroll (Bookkeeping).

These subheadings can be organized in order of importance to the targeted position (eg: if Sales interests you, then you would list your Real Estate Experience first, followed by your other experience). The subheadings can also show broad experience that could very well be valued in an economy where employees are expected to wear many hats and to perform many functions.