Ability to Work in Team #1 Soft Skill Desired By Employers

What do employers look for in a resume? Beyond the candidate’s ability to meet standard criteria—the “right” major or work experience—employers are most likely to look for evidence that the candidate is able to work in a team, according to a new survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

Nearly 80 percent of employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2012 survey said they search for evidence that the potential employee can work in a team, and more than three-quarters indicated they want the resume to show the candidate has leadership abilities and written communication skills. Evidence of problem-solving skills and a strong work ethic round out the top five “soft skills” employers seek on resumes. Continue Reading

Worst Resume Mistakes

With 14.9 million people unemployed in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the pressure to get resumes in the “yes” pile is immense. Nearly half (48 percent) of human resource managers surveyed reported they typically review 25 applications or less for open positions. Thirty-eight percent said, on average, they spend less than a minute reviewing a resume; 18 percent spend less than 30 seconds.

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make that can take them out of the running is a lack of customization. Seventy-nine percent of human resource managers said they pay more attention to resumes that are tailored to their open positions.

When asked for the most memorable missteps they encountered when going through resumes, human resource managers and hiring managers reported the following:

• Candidate put God down as a reference (no phone number).
• Candidate listed her hobby as alligator watching.
• Candidate claimed to be a direct descendant of the Vikings.
• Candidate’s email address had “lovesbeer” in it.
• Candidate listed “Master of Time and Universe” under his experience.
• Candidate started off the application with “Do you want a tiger?”
• Candidate specifically pointed out that he was not a gypsy.
• Candidate’s condition for accepting the position was being allowed to bring his pet monkey to the workplace.
• Candidate pointed out, “I’ll have your job in five years.”
• Candidate sent a 24-page resume for a 5-year career.
• Candidate put a picture of her cat on top of her resume.
• Candidate declared himself the LeBron James of table games.
• Candidate sent a video trying to hypnotize the HR manager into hiring him.

“While it’s important to stand out from the crowd, job seekers need to make sure their resumes catch hiring managers’ eyes for the right reasons,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “Job seekers need to communicate their relevant experience and utilize keywords from the job posting, while customizing their resume for each and every position. Focus on what you can bring to the table right from the get go.”

Haefner offers the following tips to get you started on your road to resume success:

• Quantify your experience – Have you helped increase client business, made significant sales or increased team productivity? Make every effort possible to quantify these experiences so you can show employers how you’ve positively affected bottom lines in the past – and how you can hit the ground running at their organization.
• Keep it professional – While it sometimes can be helpful to include personal achievements on your resume, leave off information that is too personal. Instead, focus on items that are business-related, such as volunteer work or membership in professional organizations. Also, make sure you leave emoticons, inappropriate e-mail addresses and cutesy fonts off your final product.
• Make it easy to read – Avoid using large blocks of text. Use bullets to break up text and make it easy for hiring managers to zero in on important points. Avoid using ornate fonts that may cause formatting issues when sharing electronically.

Resume Writing Tips – Four that are Important and Often Overlooked

Writing your own resume is something to take to heart as your resume will be the single most important weapon in your job-getting arsenal and knowing some easy resume writing tips can help turn your resume into a lethal weapon that is all but guaranteed to get you wonderful results. Many people simply overlook the little things when it comes to their resumes, but it is the little things that often mean the difference between many resume views and your resume ending up in a dumpster.
While proper structure and good keywords are always a must when you are constructing your resume you also need to remember these little and often overlooked tips:
1. Proofread: When your resume is done and you feel as though it is where you want it to be you need to be sure to proof read it. Then you should proof read it again. Then give it to your friend and have them proof read it. The point is that you need to be sure that your resume is not littered with many little misspellings or grammatical errors as there is nothing that says, “Hey, I am careless and don’t check my work,” more than bad grammar.
2. Don’t Over-Style: Using bullet points to emphasize a point in your resume and using bold to indicate a title are great ways to jazz up you resume. However, using all sorts of fancy fonts, different font colors, using bold too much, and using italics too much is a sure way to annoy a reader and have your resume thrown away quickly. Some style is good, but if you spend too much time on style you will end up with a confusing and agitating resume.
3. Supply Contact Info: This sure seems like a no-brainier doesn’t it? The fact is that many people only put one form of contact on their resumes. If your resume really speaks to a potential employer then you want that potential employer to be able to reach you with the greatest of ease. You should include your address, your phone numbers with times that you can be reached at each number, and you should also include your e-mail address. The more ways and employer has to get a hold of you the better. If you are too hard to reach, then they may go on to the next applicant.
4. Sound Professional: Avoid using slang like the plague. Just because you know what the cool phrase of the month is, doesn’t mean that a potential employer will. You should also be sure that your e-mail is professional sounding. If you have an e-mail that is partyguy@xyz.com then how professional do you think you are going to come off? E-mail addresses are free with many different services so if you have an e-mail address that is unprofessional sounding then get one that sounds professional such as workhardguy@xyz.com.
Writing the perfect resume doesn’t have to be a challenge, you just have to be sure to look at everything; including the little things. By taking your time and following these easy resume writing tips you too can have a knock out resume that you will truly be proud of.

Creating the Right Resume for the Right Job

So you’ve recently started searching for jobs in your field and have discovered an opening that matches your qualifications and career goals to a tee. The only problem is that you’re not sure how to create a specific resume for this job.
Don’t be discouraged if you feel this way. In all honesty, you are probably already one step ahead of those who believe that updating a resume is accomplished by adding the most recent employment/school/skill information where appropriate, saving the changes, and sending it on its way. Of course, you’ll need to dig deeper to create a great job-specific resume. So let’s look at a few ways you can get this done.
Study the Job Posting for Keywords
One great way to make the prospective employer feel that you are truly qualified for the position is by studying their job posting. By doing this you can find company-specific skills, job titles, jargon, certifications, and other keywords to be included in your resume.
For example, if you are applying for a position in healthcare, you might notice words like “imaging” and “pharma” show up in the job posting. It is a good idea to add these and other relevant words to your resume because they apply widely to the field. Likewise, if you’re in marketing, you might find words like “branding,” “campaigns,” and “trade shows” within the posting. These are also relevant and can be included to populate your resume with great keywords.
Visit the Company’s Website
Once you’ve studied the job posting for relevant keywords to use in your resume, it is a good idea to visit the company’s website. There you can learn even more about how the company’s goals can fit in with your specific career goals.
Some important information to look for on the website includes the company’s values, mission statement, and even their organizational culture. This information can help you better describe who you are, what you’re looking for, and how you think you can enhance their business with your skills and personality.
Strategically Combine Action Words and Keywords
Using action words in your job-specific resume is just as important as incorporating the keywords you’ve found through the job posting and website. In fact, the action words and keywords work together in your resume to create a picture of the type of employee you are likely to be.
For example, if you were responsible for the success of a major ad campaign at your previous employer then try to describe it by saying that you “developed and executed an intense 9-month ad campaign with the marketing team that resulted in a $1.2 million year-end profit increase.” The action words in this example were “developed” and “executed” and the keywords were “ad campaign” and “marketing team.” Using these action words along with others like created, planned, organized, recommended, advised, and trained – and of course your relevant keywords – will help you write a great job-specific resume.
Creating the right resume for the right job can result in you securing the position of your dreams. So take your time, do your research, and most importantly, have a good time writing a great job-specific resume.
Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and owner of http://www.ResumeLines.com who is now dedicated to providing job seekers with resources and products that promote job search success from beginning to end.

Cover Letter Mistake #3: Call Me Because I Won’t Call You

The last paragraph of your cover letter can be very powerful. How you end it could leave a lasting impression with the employer – good or bad. So before you sign off using your typical, “Please call me at your earliest convenience to set up an interview” kind of mumbo-jumbo, take care to let the employer off the hook and put the responsibility to follow-up squarely on your shoulders.
Mark this date
By stating that you’re going to follow up with the employer on a particular day makes you appear confident and willing to go the extra mile for an interview. It makes them feel important and that you honestly want to know about the job if you are willing to follow up with them.
It also eases the pressure off of them since they expect you to call. If they’re interested in speaking with you, they might set your resume aside and mark it down in their planner that you are going to call. That way they can be prepared to schedule an interview.
Do what you say
Whatever you do, if you write in your cover letter that you’re going to call them on a specific day, by all means – do it! By not following through, you have jeopardized ever getting called by the employer.
This is actually worse than including a passive ending in your cover letter. By not following up like you claimed you would, you’re showing yourself to be irresponsible – not a highly sought out trait for a new employee.

Go the extra mile
If you follow up the date that you stated and never could get in touch with the contact, you can leave a voice mail stating that you were following up on the specific job posting. You can choose to follow-up with an email and/or try to call them back another day. The point is to let them know that you followed up when you said you would.
Now don’t get me wrong, you do want to try to actually speak to them. However, you don’t want to harass them either. Give it a couple of shots and if you can’t get them on the phone, leave a message and follow-up via email, if you so choose.
Follow-up is very important. That’s why stating you’re going to do so in your cover letter is impressive and important to the hiring manager. Keep it simple, keep your word and you might just come out with an interview.
Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and owner of http://www.ResumeLines.com who is now dedicated to providing job seekers with resources and products that promote job search success from beginning to end.

The ABCs of Effective Resume Writing: Part 5 – Second Opinions Count or A Once Over Will Never Do

How many times have you written a document or email, sent it out, and then discovered some major typos or even words missing? What if it doesn’t get your point across – or worse yet – give off the exact opposite impression? If you’re like most, it’s happened to you at least once.
How do you keep yourself from making the same mistake when it comes to your resume? Here are a couple of necessities when it comes to having your resume stand up to the scrutiny of Hiring Managers.
1. Give your eyes a break. Do you notice that when you’re finding a task particularly difficult that if you take a break for a few hours – or even overnight – you can tackle it with a freshness and vigor that you had lost? You need to recharge before you require yourself to inspect a document that you’ve been working on for hours. The words all start to run together and nothing even makes sense to you. The passion for which you originally wrote with is lost on you due to mental fatigue. You need to take a step back, refresh your eyes and mind, then go back and take another look.
2. Have a friend (or family member) take a look. Having another person read your resume can be extremely helpful when it comes to having a fresh perspective. You are so close to your resume that you tend to not be very objective when it’s all said and done. It’s beneficial to have someone completely new look over it. Why? What important information can you gleam from this exercise?
• What’s their first impression? Professional? Amateur? Sloppy?
• Do they know what kind of job you are applying for and how you are qualified?
• Are they impressed with your achievements?
• Is there too little information? Too much?
Be sure that the person or people you choose can give you an honest opinion. You don’t want to depend on someone who is afraid to hurt your feelings or thinks that everything you do is great. It is best to choose someone with business acumen as well. It’s not necessary that they be efficient in human resources and the like, but the more they’re involved with the business world, the better.
3. Have a professional review it. There are many resume writing services who offer a free review of your resume. They can provide some great tips that you might never have thought of to improve your overall success at getting interviews. However, you want to choose one that is personalized and not just a checklist. Not that you won’t get anything out of a checklist but you’ll get a lot more out of a more thorough review.
Resume writing is an exhausting task so you need to be sure not to jump the gun and send out your resume package immediately after you complete it. It’ll pay to take one – if not all – the tips above to heart before you apply if you decide to write your own resume.
Now that you’re all set to send out your resume, we need to review some tips on how to do that effectively. But…that’s for next time.

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The ABCs of Effective Resume Writing: Part 4 – Make Your Achievements ‘Pop’

Now that you know the right format for your resume and you have written out all your achievements and responsibilities, it’s time to really showcase those accomplishments. But what is the best way to do that?
Bullets are your friend
I’m a big advocate of using bullets effectively in a resume. This does not mean that the entire document should use bullets to stress the important facts that you want to highlight. If you use bullets everywhere, then nothing will stand out to the reader. That’s why it’s important to only highlight the information that will be most likely to get you an interview.
A popular way to mix bullets and paragraphs is by writing a brief paragraph about your responsibilities before adding your achievements as bullets below. In most cases, you want to have more bullets for your recent positions. The further back you go, the less important those achievements are to the employer. Sometimes that is unfortunate since those accomplishments might relate more to what you are currently seeking in a position. If that’s the case, highlight the most important ones so that they don’t get lost in a see of bullets.
Numbers can be your best friend
Using qualifying factors in your achievements can truly make the difference of getting the interview or being passed over. Why are they so important? There are a couple of different reasons.
1. Illustrates how big the achievement was in the overall picture and the significant impact it had on the company.
If you simply state that you increased inventory turn and reduced backorders, that doesn’t really say a whole lot. A lot of people could say that and have it be true.
However, see what happens if you state it this way: “Saved $7 million with a 50% increase in inventory turn and a 75% backorder reduction.” That is something that will impress an employer.

2. Shows how well you meet and exceed company and personal goals.
Every company wants an employee who at least meets the objectives set by the company. Whether it be for the company as a whole, your department or your personal objectives, they all are important to an employer.
So as you’re sifting through your accomplishments, don’t forget to include this important aspect. If you are an accountant and had a goal of saving the company $1 million by discovering more tax exemptions, but you actually saved $1.5 million, be sure to say that. By stating the fact that you exceeded your goal by 50% is huge in the eyes of an employer.
Your achievements and how you showcase them are vital in getting interviews. Don’t shortchange yourself or you’ll be pretty shortchanged in the interview area.
Many job seekers skip the next step which can be detrimental to their job search. Next time you’ll discover how important it is to have a second, third (or more!) pair of eyes look over your resume.

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Get the Results You Want By Using an Executive Summary on Your Resume

In the not-so-distant past, the resume objective section was widely used. The resume objective, simply put, is a 2-3 line statement summarizing the goals you have set for yourself and the position you seek.
Many experts in the field feel that a section on resume objectives may be omitted. They suggest the use other useful information instead. A resume objective focuses on your personal goals, which often reads like a wish statement – in most cases, in complete disregard of what the employers want to know and expect to get from you. For this reason, more and more job seekers are using the executive summary instead of a resume objective section.
Resume Objective vs. Executive Summary
Resume objectives can be construed as being self-centric. For example, “Seeking a position in the sales department with an opportunity for faster career advancement” focuses completely on you. It does not tell the employer anything about your past career, your strengths or what you can do for them.
• A resume objective could lead hiring managers into thinking about the specifics of your objectives (i.e., what you want) instead of your skills and strengths.
• Resume objectives tend to be career-limiting and one-dimensional.
• A resume objective narrows down your opportunities when you are multi-skilled and qualified for more than one position.
An executive summary, on the other hand, talks about the results that you have achieved and the potential you possess which makes recruiters take notice – it also helps establish your professional identity. An executive summary presents you, in terms of your career skills, accomplishments and abilities, to the hiring manager or organization before they start reading your resume. That is why the executive summary is so important today.
Think of the executive summary as the introduction to a novel. You can read the introduction, find out the main characters and the plot before you actually start reading the novel itself. The introduction gives you the push you need to actually begin reading the book. If you like what you read in the introduction, you usually go on. It’s the same thing with the executive summary and your resume.
Why the Executive Summary Is Used Now Instead
Obviously, resumes that win interviews are simple and focused. An executive summary achieves this by saying who you are (professionally), what you have achieved and how and what you can contribute. A recent survey revealed that more than 72% of resumes that win interviews are well summarized and focused. Also, many job seekers who have changed their resume format to include the executive summary instead of an objective section have acknowledged this. Here’s why the executive summary is more often used now:
• It highlights your career skills and presents them as desired by hiring managers.
• It exhibits how you can benefit the organization by presenting your abilities and strengths as they relate to the current position that you are targeting.
• Executive summaries grab attention, permits use of descriptive verbs (such as accelerated, delivered, re-engineered and generated).
Executive summaries help recruiters decide whether to call you for an interview – and we all know that the real test of a resume is whether or not it produces interviews. So replace that objective section on your resume with a rewritten executive summary. It just might get you the results that you are looking for.

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The Write Way To Get The Job You Want

All job seekers ultimately ask one basic question – “Why do I need a good resume?” The answer is simple. You need a good resume to market yourself, have a written record of your skills and accomplishments and to sow the seeds of interest in the minds of recruiters and potential employers. In short, if you want a rewarding, fulfilling career, you need a good resume.
A Good Resume Evolves From Your Credentials and Not From Writing Skills
How very true! But of late, this fact seems to have moved to the background. Yes, with good resume writing skills you can really project your skills. However, realize that you have to have good, marketable skills and credentials – and no one, not even a resume writer, knows them better than you do. So, if you are writing your own resume, how do really make yours stand out from the crowd?

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A New Twist On An Old Friend – The Chronological Resume

What is a chronological resume? A chronological resume is a resume in which you list your past jobs and educational qualifications in reverse chronological order, beginning from the latest or the present one first. This is the traditional and most well known resume format.
Why Use A Chronological Resume?
A chronological resume is especially effective for mid-career professionals and new grads that have limited work experience. It allows the employer to see all of your qualifications including education upfront. Your resume shouldn’t read like a Ph.D. Dissertation – it should get straight to the point, and the chronological resume does this and more:

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