Resume Writing Tips - How to Write an Introduction

Resume Writing Tips - How to Write an IntroductionIf you're in the position of needing a resume, and you're wondering where to begin, I'll help you out with my first tip - and this is about your resume writing an introduction. In particular, let's talk about writing a good introduction. Since so many people find themselves having to write one, let me give you some guidelines for you to follow, and hopefully make things easier for you.First, if you are writing a resume, you need to make sure that it covers what you want to say in the introduction section. It can be a short paragraph or two. But be brief and clear about what your reason for wanting to apply to a particular job is. If you don't give them enough information to know why you are being interviewed, you won't get the interview.Second, if you are writing a resume, keep your content simple and brief. Don't clutter your resume with too much information. This can be tempting to do, but over-stuffing your resume will cause the re ader to skip certain sections and skip them quickly. Too much information is hard to skim, and I suggest you leave the information that you think you'll need for the position in your resume.Third, do not place any other material on your resume before you've read the entire resume. The resume must be the focus of your resume writing. That said, if you do decide to add some text that is complimentary of your resume, then place it on a separate sheet for the purposes of presentation.Fourth, when you are writing an introduction for your resume, don't start off with a second paragraph of information. Instead, use a bulleted list to briefly tell your reader about yourself and what your background is. Also, use the following format: First Name, Last Name, Employer, Phone Number, or Email Address. Don't worry if you don't know these things; they will come in time.Fifth, the best way to learn how to write a resume is to practice. Get a friend or family member to read through your resume, and provide feedback. In addition, you can take a free resume writing course online.Sixth, never, ever, cut or delete a section of your resume. Don't edit your resume to make it fit a particular job. That means no cutting out information about any educational background that you have.In conclusion, remember that the best way to learn how to write a resume is to practice and read through some of your resume after it is written. After you have read it a few times, and practice, you'll find that you can go back and add information to your resume in a jiffy. This also applies to your introduction.

How to Fast-Track Your Way to Promotion - CareerMetis.com

How to Fast-Track Your Way to Promotion A job promotion happens when an employee moves up the organizational ranks of a company and takes on often harder, more advanced tasks that are still related to his or her former position.Aside from taking on new After all, improvement in terms of their skills and career is one of the things workers aspire.It is also essential for HR personnel to know the right time to give this career advancement, as it involves providing additional benefits and higher salaries for the promoted workers, which will definitely incur costs for the company.Moving someone up and not awarding them what is rightfully due because there’s not enough budget, despite delegating more responsibilities, just don’t seem right.For the employee, aside from getting more benefits, a promotion is sort of a bragging rightâ€"something that will be great on paper. A higher-level job title is a credential that they can attach to their resume, and something will pique the interest of their future, potential employer.Com panies also benefit from job promotions. A promoted employee definitely has higher morale, allowing him or her to do a better job, which is always good for business. This can also boost other’s confidence and know that they, too, can achieve something similar if they choose to follow the same commitment.Maybe a particular skill that one worker has can be more utilized in a higher position, which in turn, can reduce labor turnover for the company.Of course, promotions are also given to reward employees who consistently have shown excellent performance and dedication to their job and the company.evalIt used to be that seniority and number of years in service merit promotions because loyalty does mean a lot to an organization.The longer an employee has been with a company, the more knowledgeable and skilled he or she is of the particulars of the job, which is one of the things needed to get promoted.Customarily, promotion by seniority is also based on the belief that the first one sh ould also be given the first chance in all benefit and privileges.But with the corporate landscape changing, everyone now has a chance for quick career advancement. Both old and young employees are on an even playing field because it’s been proven that promotion isn’t just based on age or years in service.evalYour chances to move up the ranks are high when management sees that you demonstrate the knowledge, skills, values, and behavior of someone fitting to lead.These strategies, as shown in this infographic, may be helpful to those who are looking to climb up the corporate ladder fast.

Seven Deadly Myths of Job References - Pathfinder Careers

Seven Deadly Myths of Job References - Pathfinder Careers Seven Deadly Myths of Job References Today, we have a guest column generously provided by www.jobreferences.com operated by Allison Taylor Reference Checking, Inc., which is headquartered in Rochester, Mich., and has been in the business of checking references for individuals since 1984. The firm’s services have been listed and recommended in bestselling books authored by Martin Yate. In addition, numerous articles have been published about the service in newspapers and magazines including Glamour, New Woman, Worth, NBEW, The Detroit News, and St. Petersburg Times. For more information, please visit www.jobreferences.com or call 800-651-2460. Thinking about your prospects for landing that new job? You should think first about what your former boss and other references will say about you. There is no doubt, for many job searchers, a person’s past will have a direct bearing on his or her future. “No matter what the nature of the job or pay scale, people should take their references very seriously,” said Heidi M. Allison, Managing Director of www.jobreferences.com. “They can make or break a hiring decision. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what your references are really saying about you during a job search?” (There are several companies including this one who can provide that service to applicants who want to know the scoop on what previous employers are saying about them.) Myth No. 1: Companies are not allowed to say anything negative about a former employee. Reality: While many companies may have policies that dictate only title, dates of employment and eligibility for rehire can be discussed, people do break the rules every day. Due to human nature, providing a reference may be an emotional call for some. How about the boss with whom you had philosophical differences or the supervisor who sexually harassed you? Maybe a boss was just jealous of you? Fifty percent (50%) of our clients do receive a bad reference, despite the strict policies in place. Myth No. 2: Most employers send reference checks to their human resources departments, and these people won’t say anything bad about me. Reality: Most human resources professionals will follow proper protocol. However, in addition to what is said, reference checkers often evaluate how something is said. In other words, they listen to tone of voice and note the HR staffer’s willingness to respond to their questions â€" both critical factors. We have often heard “Check this person’s references very carefully” or on another note, the human resources department will divulge if a person is eligible for re-hire. Are you? Myth No. 3: If I had any issues with my former boss, I can simply leave him or her off my reference list and nobody will ever know. Reality: Many companies actually check references without an official list or you even knowing. They conduct what is known as a “social security check” to determine where you have worked in the past and then call the human resources department or office administrator at each employer for a reference. This practice also is in place to see if a prospective employee has left any significant places of employment off of a resume â€" another bad move that should be avoided at all costs. Myth No. 4: I should have my references listed on my resume and distribute them together. Reality: Your references should be treated with kid gloves. Only provide them when asked. The last thing you want is a number of companies that may or may not have a real interest in hiring you bothering your references. What’s more, you want to meet with a prospective employer first to leave a favorable impression before any reference checks take place. If you suspect a less than favorable reference from someone, you can use the interview to address the situation proactively, from your perspective. Myth No. 5: Once a company hires me, my references really do not matter anymore. Reality: Many employment agreements and contracts include a stipulation that says the employer can hire you with a 90-day probation period. Not only are they evaluating your job performance but, in some instances, are checking your background and references. During this time, your new employer may call your former companies and, should the results be less than expected, they have the legal right to fire you. Myth No. 6: I sued my former company and they are now not allowed to say anything. Reality: They may not be able to say anything definitive, but do not put it past them to carefully take a shot at you. There have been plenty of instances where a former boss or an HR staffer has said, “Hold on a minute while I get the legal file to see what I am allowed to say about Mr. Smith.” Many employers may be uncomfortable hiring someone who has a legal history, dashing your job prospects. Myth No. 7: There is really no need to stay in touch with former references. Reality: As the saying goes â€" out of sight, out of mind. Honor these etiquette guidelines and your references should continue singing your praises for a long time. First, call your former boss(es) periodically and update them on your career, asking them to continue being a reference for you. Make sure you thank them for their time. Next, as you move further up the career ladder in your profession or achieve new educational goals, make sure your references stay abreast of your success. As you progress, a reference is more inclined to see you in a positive light. Finally, acknowledge your references with a personal thank you letter or email; offer to take a former boss to lunch or dinner; or send them a thoughtful gift.

Cover Letter Basics and the Biggest Mistake to Avoid

Cover Letter Basics and the Biggest Mistake to Avoid For some strange reason there is a great deal written about how to craft the perfect resume, but much less attention is focused on the cover letter. The fact is that quite often it is the cover letter that the convinces the reader to even bother looking at your resume. It can certainly be the difference between a cursory glance and someone actually reading it and considering you for an interview. The worst part is that people quite often make the biggest mistake in cover letter writing almost immediately. They make this mistake by addressing the letter to a hiring manager, or worse, to whom it may concern. Trust me, if you start your letter like this, it doesnt concern them. No one likes to be thought of as a non-entity, and that is what you are doing when you address the letter to whomever happens to open the envelope. Take the time and effort to find out the name of the person that is doing the actual hiring. Call the company and ask the secretary if you need to do so. Then address the letter to that person directly. The body of the cover letter follows, and generally there need to be three short paragraphs. In the first one, briefly discuss why you are writing, what job you are applying for and mention where you learned about the job. If you have a mutual contact person, mention it here. Move on to the second paragraph and briefly mention your skills, what you offer the company. Discuss how the skills listed in your resume translate into the job you are seeking. In the third paragraph, thank them for their consideration and let the person know how you will follow up within the next week. Be sure to actually follow up. If the cover letter is mailed, then it needs a handwritten signature. If it is emailed, then a typed signature is fine. Be polite, be concise and be brief.

How to Include Writing Skills in Resume Narrative

How to Include Writing Skills in Resume NarrativeIn the modern world of writing resumes, the question on how to include writing skills in resume storytelling narrative is a hot topic. As in every new skill, learning how to use writing in resume narrative includes practice. Every resume writer is self-taught. But the same rule applies to resume narratives.During the time when resume writing was considered as an art, resume writers used to include writing skills in resume narratives. However, this skill can now be learned by applying a few important tips in making your resume more unique and compelling. The first thing that should be noted is that you must remember that this technique is not a novel written with a creative intention but instead it is a resume story that is crafted for your particular needs.After getting familiar with this technique, you need to work on putting it in practice in your resume to make it more informative and catchy. This can be done through choosing a part icular job that suits your needs. Although a job like employee of a restaurant might sound simple and boring, it can still be used to include writing skills in resume narrative.Do you think writing skills can be developed with just one specific job? Probably not. You have to consider that there are many other jobs where you can include writing skills in resume narrative to add even more captivating point to your resume. This is why a job like an intern in a hospital can be more expressive than a job in an accounting firm.When you know what is most suitable for your job, then you need to find a way to make the resume story interesting. One great tip is to always put on your resume what is special about you and what you excel at. Always remember that you should always write a resume story that reflects the personal attributes of the candidate.Thow to include writing skills in resume storytelling narrative How can you do this? The very first thing that you need to remember is that you should always write from the heart. To give an example, you should never include the name of the hospital or the city in your resume writing. You should focus on what you can do for the employer and on what you can bring to the organization.Another way on how to include writing skills in resume narrative is to come up with a job description and cover letter. Add a paragraph on your previous work experience that can highlight your abilities. You can include a few testimonials on the company as well. This way, you will really include writing skills in resume narrative to make it more effective.

Don#039;t Buy Into the Retirement Gloom

Don#039;t Buy Into the Retirement Gloom This story was originally published at Next Avenue. Gray wave. Age wave. Geezer tsunami. (Pick your favorite â€" or most hated â€" euphemism.) Catchphrases like these capture the realization that we’re living longer and that older Americans make up a growing share of the population. As economist Laurence Kotlikoff and columnist Scott Burns say in The Coming Generational Storm: “The aging of America isn’t a temporary event. We are well into a change that is permanent, irreversible, and very long term.” Living longer should be a trend worth celebrating. But many people believe that America’s boomers can’t afford retirement, let alone a decent retirement. They fear that aging boomers are inevitably hurtling toward a lower standard of living. And here’s their evidence: We’ve just been through the worst downturn since the 1930s, decimating jobs and pensions. Retirement savings are slim. Surveys show that boomers aren’t spending much time planning for retirement. The prediction that the swelling tab for Social Security and other old-age entitlements will push the U.S. government and economy into a Greece-like collapse seems almost routine. The Unretirement Movement Don’t buy into the retirement gloom. I’m not. Here’s why: The signs of a grassroots push to reinvent the last third of life are unmistakable. Call it the “Unretirement” movement â€" and it is a movement. Unretirement starts with the insight that earning a paycheck well into the traditional retirement years will make a huge difference in our future living standards. You â€" and your skills and talents â€" are your best retirement investment. What’s more, if society taps into the talents and abilities of sixty-somethings and seventy-somethings, employers will benefit, the economy will be wealthier and funding entitlements will be much easier. The Unretirement movement is built off a series of broad, mutually reinforcing changes in the economy and society that are transforming an aging workforce into a powerful economic asset. Boomers are the most educated generation in U.S. history and they’re healthier, on average, than previous generations. A century-long trend toward a declining average age of retirement has already reversed itself and â€" it’s safe to say â€" you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. “Many people aren’t slowing down in their 60s and 70s,” says Ross Levin, a certified financial planner and president of Accredited Investors in Edina, Minn. Adds Nicole Maestas, economist at the Rand Corp., the Santa Monica, Calif.-based think tank: “Yes, America has an aging population. The upside of that is a whole generation of people who are interested in anything but retirement.” Your ‘Next Big Thing‘ Just ask Luanne Mullin, 60. She has done marketing for a dance company, opened a theater company and run a recording studio. These days, Mullin is a project manager at the University of California, San Francisco, overseeing the construction of scientific laboratories (she does mediation at the school on the side). “I think there’s more and more of us at 60 who are saying, ‘OK, what’s my next career? What do I want to do that’s fulfilling?’” Mullin told me. “I’m all for what’s my next big thing.”Mullin loves her work, but she’s also wrestling with the same questions as many of her peers. “What is this aging thing?” she wonders. “Am I living fully? Is this the second half of life I dreamed of, or if not, how do I pull it together?” When Unretirement is Tougher For many in their 50s and 60s, the transition to Unretirement is much tougher â€" especially for those who are involuntarily unemployed, like Debbie Nowak. She didn’t see the layoff coming. Nowak worked for more than 30 years in customer relations for the pensions and benefits department at Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., In November 2011, at 58, she lost her job there. Nowak, who has a high school diploma, let herself grieve until the holidays were over. In the New Year, she got her severance, went on unemployment and began thinking about embracing something completely different from her old job. “I never thought of myself as a risk taker,” she says. “After 30 years, I thought I should take a risk.” Nowak had a stained glass hobby, making window panes, mosaic trays, and other objects. That led her to the idea of working in the wood finishing and furniture-restoring business. Last year, she got a certificate from The National Institute for Wood Finishing at Dakota Community Technical College in Rosemount, Minn. To pay for it, Nowak took out a loan and the state chipped in from its displaced workers fund. Today, she has a part-time job at small furniture-restoration company. “It’s a crap shoot, a risk I was willing to take,” says Nowak. “This is also a way to produce additional income in retirement.” As Mullin and Nowak demonstrate, we’re living though a period of experimentation while redefining retirement. Many people are stumbling about, searching for an encore career, a part-time job or contract work that offers them meaning and an income. Some find it extremely tough to get hired, cobbling together a job here and a contract there, assuming they’re healthy. Especially vulnerable are less-educated workers who never made much money or never had jobs with employer-sponsored retirement and health benefits. How Society Will Change The rise of Unretirement calls for a whole cluster of changes in how society rewards work, creates jobs, shares the wealth and deals with old age. Unretirement will affect where Americans live out their lives, too, as they seek communities and services equipped for them. Taken altogether, boomers will construct a new vision of their retirement years, which will impact how younger generations will think about their careers. “People tend to learn from examples or stories handed down from previous generations â€" but there are few stories to navigate the new context of old age and retirement for the baby boomers,” writes Joseph Coughlin, the infectiously enthusiastic head of MIT’s AgeLab, a multi-disciplinary center. “When there are no set rules you make them up. The future of old age will be improvised.” Send Your Unretirement Questions This blog aims to take a first draft at the Unretirement improv act. I’ll particularly focus on the personal finance and entrepreneurial start-up implications of the movement. I’ll talk about successes and failures, the impediments of age discrimination and the lessons people learn as they search for meaning and income in their next chapters. Most of all, I hope to hear from you and find out about your experiences so I can address your questions in future columns. Send your queries to me at cfarrell@mpr.org. My twitter address is @cfarrellecon. Peter Drucker, the late philosopher of management, noted that every once in a while, society crosses a major divide. “Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself â€" its worldview; its basic values; its social and political structure; its arts; its key institutions,” Drucker wrote in Post-Capitalist Society. “Fifty years later there is a new world.” The transformation of retirement into Unretirement marks such a divide. Welcome to a revolution in the making. Chris Farrell is economics editor for APM’s Marketplace Money, a syndicated personal finance program, and author of the forthcoming Unretirement: How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community, and The Good Life. He will be writing on Unretirement twice a month. Related Links: ‘Partial Retirement’ Is On the Rise A Manual for Encore Careers

The Terrible Job Search Advice You Are Getting By Accident - Work It Daily

The Terrible Job Search Advice You Are Getting By Accident - Work It Daily If you’re in the middle of a job search, you probably have lots of well-meaning family members and friends giving you advice on how to find a job as fast as you can. Unfortunately, these people could be giving you TERRIBLE job search advice without even realizing it. Do you ever hear people telling you to be “open to any opportunity” that comes along? Or do they advise you to “take anything that’s available”? This might surprise you, but these are actually the WORST things you can do for your career. Here’s why… Back in the day, employers were looking for hardworking people who could do everything. They wanted generalists. So, if you could do something, even if you weren’t the best at it and even if it didn’t relate to the job you wanted, you would put that thing on your resume. While this might have been sought after years ago, it’s not what employers want anymore. Employers are looking for specialists in their fields. They want to know that the people they hire know everything there is to know about the thing they were hired to do. Unfortunately, there are still lots of professionals out there who still brand themselves as “Jack- or Jills-of-all-trades.” They can do it all. They know everything. They’re generalists. And employers aren’t impressed. That's why it's important to showcase your specialty. What specific problem do you solve? How? That's what you want to focus on during your job search. So, before you take Aunt Hilde’s (accidentally) terrible job search advice from 20 years ago, think about how job search is being done today. What are employers looking for NOW? Related Posts: Use This Simple Trick To Get A Job When You Don’t Have Any Experience 5 Minutes To A Faster Job Search What School Forgot To Teach You About Job Search   Have you joined our career growth club?Join For Free!