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RELATED ARTICLES
Avoid Potential Job Interview Disasters There are definitely things that you can do to avoid minor mishaps which could ultimately blow an interview. Become familiar with these 7 potential interview disasters so you can prevent them from obstructing your path to that ideal job. Rethink Your Career Transition Are you going nowhere in your career? If you've decided it's time to change your career completely, here's a new way of changing! Rewriting Your Resume? 7 Easy Ways To Give Yourself An Upgrade In today's competitive job market, a first class resume is an essential tool for winning an interview. The way in which you present your skills, achievements and experience on paper will profoundly affect the way in which a hiring company considers your application. Self Describing Skills - Key Strengths You need to be the best you can at describing your best qualities; particularly your key strengths. In my coaching practice I generally, at some point, ask my client: "What are you good at?" purely as a means to establish if they have already thought through this most important question. How to Conquer Job Hunting Apathy Jack, downsized from his last job, was frozen in a place called Apathy. Had been for months now. Knew he had to get moving, had to find a job, but ? just couldn't seem to get his act together. Oh, he'd tried ? a little. But his lack of immediate success just made him that much more apathetic. Make em READ Your Cover Letter Using This Killer Secret! Got your attention? Great. That was my intention. Who wouldn't want to read on when the title promises a 'killer secret.' Resurrecting the Perfect Resume, Part Two Are you in denial about the lifelessness of your resume? If you are reasonably qualified for the type of work you seek, yet your resume is consistently failing to win you interviews, then you need to face the reality that your beloved document is dead. Taking Job Loss Seriously Anyone reading this article and hassuffered a job loss recently IStaking the job loss seriously. Thestages often are: Unemployment Blues: Staying Afloat The unemployment checks are running out and there is no potential job in sight. The wolf is knocking at the door and you need to survive. Is Your Resume Doing ITS Job? Is it opening doors to new opportunities? Does it compel the reader to think, "Hey! This applicant can ?put that one on top of the 'call in for an interview' pile!" Does it showcase what you have accomplished for past employers as well as what you can accomplish for the potential employer? 2 Job-Search Success Stories Here are two success stories from my readers who found great new jobs last week. As you read each story, ask yourself, "How could I apply this to my job hunt?" Five Fabulous Resume Tips for College Grads (or Anybody) Fluffy clouds. Chirping birds. Green trees. Colorful flowers. It's springtime! All of these things bring thoughts of joy and serenity to most people, but to you, dear college senior, it is usually a hectic time, full of final exams, decisions to be made, Graduation Day, and looking for a job. Sure, the job search is a major thing on your to-do list, but having fun, studying, and exams usually take the top spots as the months wind down and Graduation Day nears. Does Retirement Fit Into Your Busy Schedule? Why do you work? How To Get More Interviews In Your Job Search Richard Bolles, job search guru and author of What Color Is Your Parachute? predicts that you can expect to search for work 1-2 months for every $10,000 you hope to earn. So, if you're looking for a $40,000 a year position, you may search for 4-8 months to land it. Back when the economy sizzled, that job search length would have seemed outrageous, but now, many people would be thrilled to only search for 4-8 months. When Should You Update Your Job Skills? 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How to Write a CV A winning CV has 2 objectives: To illustrate your strengths and maximise your chances of getting through to interview and to put factual information, such as dates, places, names together in a presentable and readable form. Focal Point It is claimed that the human eyes are naturally drawn to a focal point one third down from the top of the page. Therefore, put your most useful information in this area. It might be your Profile, Key Skills, Professional Qualifications or details of your most recent employment. You can choose whichever you think is most important and relevant to your application. Always get a second opinion when you have put your CV together. It is difficult to be objective about oneself. Presentation It is often thought that a CV should be fitted on to one side of A4. This can be difficult if you are a mature applicant with a long employment history. If you need to go on to a second page make sure that the CV is spread out over 2 whole pages, not one and a half pages as this looks messy. As a 'rule of thumb' there should be more white than black on a page to make it easier to read. Always write a rough draft first. It can be as long as you like as you will edit it later. Always start with your Career History as this will highlight your Key Skills and help you write your Profile. Once you have compiled your draft copy you must edit it. 1. Take out anything that will not help you get where you want to be. 2. Write in the 'third' person as much as possible keeping 'I' to a minimum 3. Never use the past tense e.g. use "supporting senior management" rather than "supported senior management". 4. Use short sharp sentences cutting out any waffle and jargon. Headings Name Print your name in bold type at the centre top of your CV. If there is any doubt as to which is your surname, e.g. James Martin, indicate by using capitals or underlining. Address Top left of CV. Full address including post code. Telephone Top Right of CV. Full dialing code and daytime and evening numbers if possible. Date of birth Put in full such as 13th December 1962. Do not put your age. Bearing in mind that you will be close to the Focal Point now, this might need to go at the end of the CV under 'Personal' along with other details such as marital status and children. Marital status You do not have to include this at all. If you choose to, make sure you use only "married" or "single". Do not use divorced or co-habiting. Put at the end of the CV under 'Personal'. Children Its up to you whether you include this information or not but if you include it put it at the end of the CV under 'Personal' Profile This is an introductory statement about who you are and what you have to offer. You should complete this last although it is positioned prominently in the CV, possibly in the Focal Point. It should be no more than two sentences and include the most important facts about yourself. You can include skills, achievements, responsibility or personal qualities. e.g. Highly motivated Account Manager with successful direct and telesales experience in hardware and software industries. Key Skills Several Key skills should be highlighted after you have analysed and edited your employment history. Pick out no more than six. Make sure they are relevant. Do not include dates. A key skill can come from an earlier job or an outside interest. If you are short on direct experience and qualifications you may have skills arising from your personality, i.e. Interpersonal skills, e.g. "the ability to relate and communicate with others". Some examples of descriptive words to use in key skills are: Administering Implementing Budgeting Leading Reorganising Forecasting Advising Employment History Always start with your most recent employment. Break down your job functions as much as possible. The job description on your contract might provide a starting point or, consider how your employer might advertise your job. You should have more to say about your most recent, and therefore most relevant, employment. Include successes and achievements especially if it saved the company money. Don't have any employment gaps. If these occur explain them briefly. Qualifications If you are a mature applicant you can leave these out as career history is more important. Put the highest qualification first with year achieved. If you have a degree you can leave out the lower qualifications altogether or include the basic information. Do not include poor grades or failures. Professional qualifications Only include those that are still current. Training Only include training that is relevant to the position for which you are applying. Interests Only include interests that are unusual or which indicate transferable skills, achievements or responsibilities. Reasons For Applying This finishes the CV off with a concluding statement and puts the application into context. Don't imply you are out to gain advantage to yourself such as "I would like to join the company to gain additional experience". Instead, concentrate on what you have to offer, "my experience at??would be useful to the company because????." Finally Your CV should be available soft copy or on good quality plain white A4 paper. Do not use double sides. Only fold once and enclose an SAE Copyright 2005 CVwriting.net Why One Word Answers are Bad News at Job Interviews It takes a lot of time and effort to get invited to a job interview. Don't blow your chances by being misunderstood by the interviewer. Not many people are aware that giving one word answers to questions, substantially increases your chances of conveying the wrong impression. Tips on Finding Employment as a Corporate Flight Attendant I will not pretend that this is the easiest topic to write about. In fact, my knowledge of how one finds work as a private flight attendant is based chiefly on what others have shared with me. You can find some useful tips within the many threads written on the Corporate Flight Attendant Community message boards at http://www.cabinmanagers.com, but to save you from culling through hundreds of threads I will highlight various standout points and include others that have been shared with me over the past several years by industry insiders: How To Establish Trust, Credibility and Enthusiasm To Your Interviewer If you use your voice to get attention, you use your eyes to hold attention. People tend to believe you, trust you, and listen to what you say if you are looking at them.
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