Cv for Interviews

Posts Tagged ‘Resumes’

If youre seeking the perfect job, its impossible to say exactly where you will find
it. The key is to take your list of requirements and look at the available job postings
to find the closest match. You are not likely to find something that will match your
list exactly because most everyone tends to look for something more than what is
potentially possible to find. For example, everyone would love to find a job that has
free medical insurance, but that is not likely to happen in the economy today,
therefore you want to scale that down a bit into something that is more realistic.
Something you should remember when you are job seeking is that less than 20% of
jobs are listed in the newspaper. Most employers have a file of potential applicants
or look toward those who have the ambition to walk into their company to drop off
a resume and/or see a hiring manager. These are the people who have the highest
potential for being hired because they show the ambition for going after what they
want. It shows a potential employer they are an enterprising person and not
someone who is going to sit back and wait for something to happen.

On the other hand there are many employers today who refuse to accept resumes
unless they are actually hiring and with the cost of gas, many job seekers have
stopped just walking into a company hoping to have an interview. Most employers
today are asking to see resumes in their mail or inboxes before they will even
schedule an interview. How do you beat the game when you are up against
potentially thousands of applicants? One thing that many applicants fail to do in
todays economy is making a list of the places they have submitted resumes so
they can follow up on its status. Never attempt to rely on your memory because
several weeks later you will not be able to remember where you sent your resume.
Of course job posting sites such as Monster.com are available and many employers
today make use of these sites when searching for new applicants. By filtering your
search you have a better chance of finding the job you seek and seeing if it fits
within the scope of your perfect job before you submit your resume. This method
makes it convenient for employer and job seeker and allows both to see what is
available before they request an interview.

Correct these 3 fatal flaws to dramatically improve your chances of winning job interviews…and getting job offers:

1. An ordinary resume without a good Look and Feel.
2. Weak communication skills.
3. A below average personal appearance.

If anything I say rubs you the wrong way…this might be a good thing. Pain often awakens something deep inside us, making it easier for us to see true reality instead of our limited perception of it.

Your shortcoming could be something simple to overcome…or a little more complex to solve. Either way, any problem can be solved if you simply park your ego, open your mind, and learn to see yourself in a new way.

Ok…ready? Let’s go over each of these areas. Examples and detailed instruction is provided via the link at the end of this article:

An ordinary resume:

More than ever, companies today are making the decision to interview you not only from the content of your resume, but its overall Look and Feel. It is one of the most important things you can do to improve your odds of getting an interview.

Yet, most people let their egos take over and create a resume that basically screens them out. And, by the way, it doesn’t make any difference if your resume was done by a professional resume writer. Some of those resumes don’t work very well either.

How do I know this?

Because for years I made my living by placing people with companies who gladly paid me a hefty fee to find qualified people for them. I grew sick and tired of seeing outstanding people rejected all because someone at the company didn’t like their resume.

So, if I didn’t fix this problem, I didn’t eat. Simple as that.

Special Tip: Your resume is a work in progress. It can be updated and tailored frequently. But, the do’s and don’ts of creating content and developing a good Look and Feel do not change.

Weak Communication skills:

Ok…once your resume is up to snuff and starting to turn a few heads, you can expect a couple of calls to set up a phone interview. This is the next critical hurdle you need to get over to be invited in for a face-to-face interview.

No face-to-face interview…no chance of an offer.

The only purpose of your resume and phone interview is to win an on-site interview. Period.

The telephone is a cold instrument and it is difficult to get a warm and fuzzy feeling for someone over the phone. So, you need to communicate well over the phone in order to make a positive impression.

Below Average Personal Appearance:

Ok…your resume is starting to work for you. And, you nailed your phone interview. Your greatest challenge now lies ahead…making a good first impression at your on-site interview.

Fact: People will judge you by your appearance. This is unfair, but it’s an unavoidable reality. Human beings are visual creatures.

During your job search, your appearance needs to be on the conservative side and your body language positive. I’ve seen a lot of bright, talented people rejected because of a poor personal appearance.

On the other hand, I’ve seen some pretty average folks hired because they looked sharp and interviewed well. More often than not, the best prepared candidate is hired over the best qualified candidate.

You may not have the money right now, but if your clothing is old and out of style, you might want to consider it. Also, work with a good clothing consultant at the store. Tell him/her that you are looking for a job and want to look your best.

My April newsletter, Job Brick Wall, contains detailed examples of what works best to overcome these 3 fatal flaws.

All the best to you with your job search.

Mike

Michael Petras is a veteran Executive Recruiter of 14 years and also spent 20 years in the Recreational Vehicle Industry as a Regional Sales Director. He hired and trained over 50 sales professionals. Many have since gone on to become Directors, Executives, and Presidents of companies both inside and outside the RV Industry. Mike conducts community workshops for job seekers and career changers on a volunteer basis. He also publishes a daily blog and a monthly newsletter available through his website: http://www.job-interview-wisdom.com.

Once the application has been sent and the resume has been received the next thing that would possibly happen is that the employer will be
calling to test communication skills by means of an interview. Allowing oneself to be given the option on which employer is best fitting the
applicant is one characteristic of being pro-active. Consider being called by multiple employers for a job interview in a day a good sign.
This only means that they were really impressed with the documents submitted, therefore, deserving a personal communication on how
most likely an applicant would land on the job.

Resumes can present an individual very well. Seventy-five per cent of employers say that applicants with resumes passing their standards
would definitely be invited for a job interview. Allow two or more interviews.

Looking for a job in any field, especially for a beginner, has always been challenging – beginners have to overcome their own insecurities, at the same time that they learn to navigate the marketplace and follow promising leads. Here are some of the most important things that you can do to speed up your job search:

Prepare a good resume and cover letter

Most people do not understand the purpose of a resume – it is not to get you a job. It is the interview and subsequent meetings that will convince the prospective employer to hire you.

The resume’s main purpose is to open the door and get you that interview. But now you need to consider the employer – he or she is busy, has little time to review lots of resumes, is probably confronted with many many resumes, most of which are from people who lack the proper qualifications. So how will a resume convince the employer to call you for an interview.

The resume must stand out – there are just too many that look alike for any but the most interesting and powerful to stand out. You need to capture the employer’s attention and interest – your resume needs to make the employer feel that “this” one seems promising.

Make sure that the resume is very clear – you need to make it easy for the employer to pick out what he or she is looking for. List specific skills and experiences that you know the employer is looking for – don’t be vague!

Integrate into the resume any and all experience in the field that you are applying for that you have acquired- even if it was not. Experience in any kind of writing counts for something – and often it is the very “something” that motivates the employer to give you a call.

But simply waiting to hear from a company to which you have sent your resume is counterproductive. Here are some tips:

Use Social Contacts

It’s best to try to spread name out to as many people as possible and to let people know that you’re in the job market; this is the way many professionals find jobs, especially freelance jobs. Use your social contacts as much as possible – today, the internet also provides many ways to expand and reinforce social contacts: social networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook, twitter, etc. Make sure that you have a good LinkedIn profile and an impressive resume there – then make a habit of linking to people, correspond with your links, send lots of messages, join groups and make comments or send messages.

The key is to maintain a high profile. You can try to reinforce the internet links with real meetings wherever possible.

Social networking is one of the main ways that professionals get jobs today, especially in hi-tech fields such as programming, technical writing, etc.

Be Proactive

It’s important to realize that you need to actively contact people to get a job – you can’t just send out resumes and wait. Actively contact companies that you have strong reason to suspect have a job opening, or are contemplating one. Many companies do not advertise their open positions right away – if you can contact the company before they think about advertising, you can considerably increase your chances of getting a job.

Where do you get tips about which company has a potential opening? One source is from friends who work in the company – for example, friends may tip you off about an upcoming project. You then simply contact the company directly and introduce yourself as a friend of so and so, and suggest a meeting.

Other ways of finding clues as to which companies are hiring in your field is to follow advertisements for positions that are related to your own. For example, say you are a technical writer and you discover that a software company suddenly advertises for software engineers, programmers, and other hi-tech personnel. This indicates that the company may be starting the development of a new product or product version. Now you make a good guess that the company might be under pressure to finish a lot of documentation related to the project – so you contact them and ask if they are interested in hiring a good technical writer.

Be Persistent
You can’t just say, “OK, I’ve done enough, I’ve sent 50 resumes, that’s it. You need to be persistent. Of course, some people confuse persistence with misguided obstinacy – they send out their resume to one company and then just sit and wait for one company to come through – this is like waiting for the winning lottery ticket. That kind of persistence is just a waste of time and emotional energy.

Real persistence means to keep contacting new companies – you need to keep going and never give up. When you get a “no” from a company, just go to the next one. To put yourself in the right frame of mind to do this, just tell yourself that you have to collect lots of “no’s” before you get a “yes” – every time you get a “no” you get that much closer to getting a “yes”. That’s the reverse psychology that you need to keep going. Tell yourself that if you don’t get 10 “nos” you won’t get a job; force yourself to keep contacting new places. Have confidence when you contact a potential employer – don’t sit trembling in fear, hoping to hear a “yes”. And, avoid contacting an employer again after they have rejected you. I have seen some people contact the same company again and again, as if there were no other companies to apply to. This is a mistake – a completely warped idea of what it means to be persistent.

You can considerably increase your chances of finding a job if you apply the strategies and techniques outlined in this article – be creative, open, sociable, and persistent.

Educator and sociologist Dr. Mati Schwrarcz has been training English speakers as technical writers and marcom specialists for over 17 years. Since then his graduates have become leading writers in hi-tech companies throughout the world.

YEDA Center for Technical Communications

http://www.yedacenter.com

Here are some resumes tips that would give you not only one but more calls for interview:

1. The position that an applicant is interested in should be placed right
at the start of the resume. Having this as an objective shows that an

applicant is really focused and career oriented tells that he or she
knows what is exactly the perfect career for him or her.
2. One of the best significant ways to get the employers’ attention is
by using words that are really powerful that denotes strong capabilities
of the applicant. An example of this is, instead of writing, “assigned to
be”, write instead “in-charge of,” indicating that the applicant has
active leadership skills that can be a step to the management position
if there is any.
3. A bullet catches the eye of an employer at one look. Use these in
itemizing achievements, career highlights, recognition, qualifications,
and skills and interests. Words in bullet form forces the employer to
read the information provided. These also create more clear space on
the paper making the application form or the resume very neat and
astounding.
4. Make sure that the resume is very selective. Only apply for a
certain position in one company or organization one at a time. Do not
submit resumes with different job interests and positions applied for at
one time. This will be a complete waste of time.
5. Ask a pro. Resumes are written with the help of experts who can
actually see the applicant’s strengths and opportunities.
Aside from preparing an impressive resume carefully follow and read
all the special instructions like how many spaces are provided for a
specific answer or the number of words for the answer. Keep in mind
that this is also a test to see how well an applicant can follow simple
rules. Not only does it have to follow the steps, the application form
should also be neat. Handwriting is also being considered and using a
black pen will greatly add to the formality of the answer. As much as
possible, never use a liquid paper or fold and bend the application
form and paper.

When answering, be careful not to leave blanks unless it really does
not apply. Use NA only if necessary. Be truthful will all the answers
but this does not mean that you have to provide a complete or
thorough answer for every question. Always adapt the answers to the
job being applied for. Only provide the skills and recognition received
that will be beneficial to the new company or employer. However, see
to it that the answers provided indicate the reason of being more
qualified than the other applicants.

Choose references that can provide the applicant an objective
description and information, teachers, friends, and previous employers
can be willing and honest enough to provide that information. The
application form must be consistent with the resume. Since many of
these employers standardize and gauge the information the applicant
is providing in his application form and resume, these must be full of
complete and honest information. This will be their basis when
considering a one on one interview to see if what they read is true
enough.

Arm yourself with positive strategies and knowledge to get those
invitations for interviews come after you. Remember that this will also
be a marketing tool that any applicant can use for other future job
hunting experience. Since many of these employers standardize and
gauge the information the applicant is providing in his application form
and resume, these must be full of complete and honest information.
This will be their basis when considering having a one on one interview
to see if what they read is true enough. Arm yourself with positive
strategies and knowledge to get those interview invitations coming to
you. Remember that this will also be a marketing tool that any
applicant can use for other future job hunting experience.

Once the application has been sent and the resume has been received the next thing that would possibly happen is that the employer will be
calling to test communication skills by means of an interview. Allowing oneself to be given the option on which employer is best fitting the
applicant is one characteristic of being pro-active. Consider being called by multiple employers for a job interview in a day a good sign.
This only means that they were really impressed with the documents submitted, therefore, deserving a personal communication on how
most likely an applicant would land on the job.

Resumes can present an individual very well. Seventy-five per cent of employers say that applicants with resumes passing their standards
would definitely be invited for a job interview. Allow two or more interviews.

Creating a resume or CV is central to the search for a job, but is something most of us hate doing. Unfortunately, very few people are adept at presenting themselves in the best possible light and this can mean their application is rejected at the first hurdle.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make is sending out the same resume for every application. It’s a big temptation – you’ve spent hours getting the details and layout just right, or perhaps you’ve paid a considerable amount of money to have someone write it professionally. The trouble is, each resume needs to be tailored to the job in question, and it’s vital that you do this if you want to stand out from the crowd.

What does tailoring a resume mean? It simply means writing it specifically for the post you are targeting. To do this you must recognise the keywords the employer will be looking for and relate them to your own experience. Keywords will be found in the job description and person specification, or in the job advertisement and on the company website. They describe the skills, qualifications and experience needed for the post. Keywords should stand out on your resume – don’t forget that in the first round of the selection process, resumes are usually only given a 20 second glance. So if the interviewer doesn’t see what he’s looking for, your resume is destined for the shredder.

Here’s an example of targeting: let’s say you are a secretary who speaks several languages and can take shorthand in all of them, but are applying for a job in an office where only English and audio are used. Languages and shorthand, impressive as they are, would not be the most prominent skills on your resume. Instead, you would focus on the skills required, which might be fast typing, advanced Excel or Powerpoint. Languages and shorthand would be mentioned briefly, perhaps under the heading “Additional Skills.”

Another common mistake, usually made by older applicants, is including their entire work and educational history. It’s usual (in the UK) for CVs to go back only 10 years in terms of work and if you have a degree, school qualifications can be omitted, unless specifically requested or relevant. Employers occasionally ask for a full CV, in which case you do have to include everything.

Choosing the wrong format can also condemn your resume to the bin – different styles work best in specific situations. Many people stick to the chronological resume, but this is not always the most appropriate. It works well if you have been steadily progressing up the ladder in a particular career, or if your most recent jobs are likely to impress the company you hope to work for.

A skills-based or functional resume is great if you have gaps in your work history, as you can use it to highlight the fact that you have exactly the skills the employer is looking for. It’s also useful if you are moving to a new career or area of work and your work experience isn’t completely relevant.

A targeted resume is aimed at a precise job or career, for example if you retrained as a teacher in your 30s or 40s and were applying for a teaching post, your work-related heading might be “Teaching Experience” and your main skills would all be relevant to teaching, for example using IT in the classroom and curriculum development. For soft skills, such as communication skills and team work, you would use examples from your teaching career.

You may need to have different styles of resume for different applications. If we use the previous example of the secretary, she might have had a series of language related jobs and is now applying for linguist and non linguist posts. She could choose a chronological resume for the language jobs and a functional resume for the others.

To sum up, individualist every resume for the job concerned, choose the most suitable format for the situation and remember: keywords must jump out at the reader in the first 20 seconds.

The major purpose of Resume/CV is to get you to the interview rooms. Therefore, for jobs seekers this is the step that requires great deal of care and holds vital significance in the whole process of Job Hunting.

Now I have listed down some key mistakes to avoid so that your Resume/CV could give you better results the next time you send it.

1- Avoid Grammatical Mistakes:

At times this has been observed and has been sated by the employers that one of the most negative that could go against any candidate is having grammatical errors in their Resume/CV. Thus, preventive measure should be taken. Before taking a printout for final submission whole document should be carefully corrected for any grammatical mistakes.

2- One Resume/CV will do:

Another turn off for the employers has been that the Resume/CV which they have received has nothing to do with the job opportunity. What the Job Seekers do is that they take many printouts of one CV and send it to all the employers. What the employers actually are looking for is a specific CV which has been created for them only. So substantial care if required.

3- Lack of Details:

At times irrelevant information is provided and relevant information seems to be missing from the Resume/CV. Therefore, we need to make sure that the key information will remain present there. Remain to the point and not to mention irrelevant details. However, do list about your accomplishment in a story form.

4- Incorrect Contact Information:

Another thing that needs attention is that you should not provide incorrect information in the resume. As this process usually entails getting in touch with you. But, if the information is not as correct that it should be then it will again fail to full fill its purpose.

5- Consultation:

Before sending your resumes do get it checked by some individuals. It’s always a good idea to get your Resume/ CV checked by some expert. They will provide you professional feedback and might also recommend you for something better in future.

So, these are the major mistakes which you need to avoid and by doing so you will be increasing the probability of letting the Resume/CV attain its objective.

Many newcomers to Information Technology get an overly-optimistic picture of the field from tech school ads that continually make note that “an average MCSE salary is 80.000 a year!”.

And if someone’s thinking of getting into IT and goes on the internet to do some research, they’re met with the opposite end of the spectrum – complaint after complaint about how much IT is a terrible field, you can’t break in, there’s no room for newcomers, etc.

As usual, the truth lies in the middle. As much as I love the IT field, I’ll be the first to say that it’s often hard to get that first job. Many tech schools have a job placement department, and that can be one big plus in their favor.

What if you don’t have that resource working for you? When you’re breaking into any field, IT or not, you must not make the classic mistake of sending a ton of resumes and waiting for the phone to ring. The odds are that it won’t.

You must get out and talk to people. The term “networking” doesn’t just refer to allowing computers to talk to each other; it also refers to people talking to each other. In your case, you’ve got to get out and meet people. Check the business section of your local newspaper. There will be dozens of networking meetings listed in there. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t in the field yet; go to these meetings and meet people. Initiative is never a bad thing.

And once you get that first job, make it count. Show up on time and do what you say you’ll do. If you don’t know something, dig into Google and find the answer or ask a more knowledgeable colleague. (Just doing these few basic things will put you way ahead of the pack.)

Getting started in IT is as tough as breaking into any other field. Having worked in a few different jobs in my life, though, I can tell you this: No other field in the world rewards individual drive, initiative, and achievement like Information Technology. The fact that you have to work so hard to get in will make your eventual and unstoppable success just that much sweeter.

There is no one method of conducting a job search that will provide better results
than another. However, it is important to keep in mind that the job market today is
different than it was even ten years ago and many employers refuse to see
applicants until they have seen a resume first. At the same time, very few
employers will accept resumes unless they have a job opening available. The other
problem is that employers are also no longer accepting resumes without knowing
specifically what a job applicant is seeking. It makes it easier for the employer but
more difficult for the job applicant who is seeking to work his or her way into the
perfect job.

Where is the best place to start? Since many employers today are utilizing online
resources this may be your best bet. With so many job posting sites, its a good
idea to look at several job posting boards rather than just one or two. Although
some may be more popular than others, they are not the only ones employers
utilize. You want to exercise all of your options and you can only do that if you take
the time to look at all of the job boards that her available online. Never assume
that all employers use what you perceive to be the most popular site. That is the
same as thinking that all employment agencies will have the same job listingsa
serious mistake in judgment.

Since only 20% of available jobs are posted in the local newspaper, does that mean
you should not use that as a source? Of course you should not eliminate using your
local newspaper advertisements but you should not limit yourself to that source. If
you are a serious job seeker, you want to make use of any and all resources that
are available. The more potential resources you utilize, the better your chances are
of finding the job that is perfect for you. In addition, the more sources of job
advertisements you search, the quicker you will be able to find a job. When you
limit yourself to only a few resources you will not have access to everything that is
available and will limit your search. The more resources you have available, the
more options you open and the quicker you will be able to find the job that appeals
to you the most.