10 Words To NEVER Use On Your Resume

To contact us Click HERE

Make your resume flawless

This article was reprinted with permission from http://resumeguru.us .

Tweet

     

Here are 10 of the most overused, uber-cliché words you could ever use on a resume, cover letter or job application. Here’s why:

1) Ambitious: “If it were so, it was a grievous fault; and grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.” Ambition may be a wonderful thing for your career, but no one wants to hire someone who’s going to try to replace them or leave as soon as he gets a bit of training at the company’s expense.

2) Competent: If that’s the best you can say about your work performance maybe you ought to consider a new line of work, perhaps the Post Office. When the chips are down we want people who are awesome. Don’t tell us you’re competent, show us you’re amazing.

3) Creative: The last thing we need is more creative accountants. You’re trying to demonstrate business value. Creativity is neither measurable nor reliable. It can sometimes be turned into profit. In that case tell us how you did it and how much it was worth. Let us determine for ourselves how creative you are.


4) Efficient: So was Jack the Ripper. What we really want to know is how you’re efficiency is going to make us money.

5) Flexible: What are you, a contortionist? If by this you mean that you’re able to take on a number of different tasks then show us a range of what you can do. Better yet, show us the range of results you can get. If you mean that you can put your foot behind your head then show us that too, you’ll definitely get remembered.

6) Hard-working: We could say the same of a prisoner on a chain-gang. What an employer is looking for is results. If you achieve them by hard work or occasional bursts of brilliance doesn’t matter a whole lot. Merely working hard isn’t enough. For all we know you tend to do it at cross-purposes.

| 1 | 2 | Next Page

What Employers Are Looking for in a Recent Graduate

To contact us Click HERE

Showing employers your potential as a job candidate

Tweet
     

If you were an employer, what kind of people would you want to hire? Well, the perfect candidate of course! He or she would meet every aspect of the job description. Employers know, of course, that this isn’t realistic. People who have years of experience may either require a salary too high, may not have knowledge of the newest technologies, or may not possess a preferred business perspective. Reverse this and employers find that recent graduates don’t have important years of experience, professional knowledge, or highly developed skills. Employers realize they have to compromise and they usually expect to hire the person who best fits their needs with the intention of continuing to educate and mold them into the worker they desire. As a recent college graduate, you need to show employers that you’re providing them enough quality clay to work with to create that perfect mold.

Five Things Employers Desire from New College Graduates

Whether you’re on an IT job search or looking for jobs in healthcare, today’s employers want highly-skilled candidates. This is why your education (and how you enhance your education) is so important. The job market is currently flooded with experienced professionals and that is a challenge to new graduates with short resumes. So, why hire you?

• Today’s college students will often have a desired “global perspective.” As the business world changes, companies are increasingly working on an international level. This is especially true in financial jobs and careers in telecommunications. Therefore, studying abroad may be a wonderful resume booster. In addition, being bilingual is valued in many fields, especially healthcare. Showing your multi-cultural learning and experience is a bonus on any resume, at the very least it often allows for interesting conversational opportunities during interviews, making you more memorable as a candidate.

• Candidates with the newest technical knowledge are sought by employers. One of the positive acknowledgements made by people who have covered the topic of “millenials in the workplace” (Generation Y) is that today’s young employees have grown up with the latest technology at their fingertips and they often have a quicker grasp of new technologies than older candidates. Use this to your advantage. These skills are important to your resume, so be sure to highlight them. Research the field you intend to go into and see what technologies they are use and the skills they value. Take the right courses to meet these needs and if necessary find a means to fill any gaps your college education leaves.

| 1 | 2 | Next Page

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

To contact us Click HERE

Resume ignored? Find out why

Tweet
     

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.

| 1 | 2 | Next Page

7 Reasons Why Your Job Networking Doesn't Work

To contact us Click HERE

Job networking's common pitfalls

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

Tweet
     

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.



| 1 | 2 | Next Page

Common Job Networking Myths - don't believe them!

To contact us Click HERE

Fact or fiction? Job seekers must decide

Tweet

     

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

| 1 | 2 | Next Page

7 Reasons Why Your Job Networking Doesn't Work

To contact us Click HERE

Job networking's common pitfalls

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

Tweet
     

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.



| 1 | 2 | Next Page

Common Job Networking Myths - don't believe them!

To contact us Click HERE

Fact or fiction? Job seekers must decide

Tweet

     

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

| 1 | 2 | Next Page