Category Archives: Management

Conquer Resume Writing with Powerful Words

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Writing resumes is tricky business for most. What should be said, and how to say it are often the two most difficult parts of writing resumes. The various elements of resumes all hold their own important place in career success, but what most people don’t understand is the power of the words that they use. When it comes to resumes, how you state your experiences often means the difference between catching the reader’s attention and having your resume tossed aside.

The first way you can use words to help you is to focus on keywords from the job listing. These keywords and phrases describe Perfectly what the employer is after, and if you use these words in your resume, you’re more likely to grab their attention. For example:

Human Resources Manager

Payroll experience, familiarity with employee relations, training, and familiarity with hourly status reports, Excel spreadsheets. Must have 2 year degree or higher in business and/or management, with experience in Accounting. Minimum five years experience with employee base over 100.

 

From this listing, you can gather about five or different words and phrases that you can use on your resume to catch the attention of the reader. For example, under your skills section, you can list the following:

 

Payroll experience

Employee training/relationships

Excel use

Accounting experience

Work with 100+ employees

 

This will make the task of writing a resume much simpler, as it creates a focus for the reader, and shows two things: your ability to pay attention, and your dedication to following the rules and meeting requirements.

Another way to use words to your advantage is to focus on what are known as power words. This simply means revising your resume so that the language you use is more gripping. There are ways to say things that are better than others, but you want to make sure you’re still being direct and not wordy in your resume.

 

For example, instead of this:

Gave assessments to employees, handed out paychecks, tracked company hours.

Say this:

Responsible for employee assessments, payroll processing, and hourly tracking and reporting.

 

You can see how much better the latter sounds to a prospective employer. It’s still direct, but changing a few words and the way you say things can make all the difference in the world.

Whether it’s through using more powerful words or simply utilizing the keywords in the job listing, you can make a much greater impression on the hiring manager that reads your resume by using powerful words. There are other elements of your resume that need to be polished as well, the objective for instance ,but the words that you use when writing a professional style resume will make a huge difference in whether your resume gets the attention it deserves or not!

The Key to Successful Resume Writing is in the Objective

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One of the essential elements of resume writing is the objective statement. It usually contains information on what you are looking for in a job and/or your qualifications for the position you seek. Many people aren’t aware of how to write a good resume objective, objective writing should be simple.The first point is your objective can should be only a few sentences in length. It should be direct and brief. The purpose of an objective is to summarize your abilities in regards to the position you seek, and to establish your professional identity. You don’t want the objective to be generic or indirect, because this will make you appear the same way to the employer. You should write a different resume for each position, and a new objective that is directed toward each different company you’re applying with.The resume objective is the point at which you need to catch the eye of the reader. If you don’t gain their interest here, they will likely discard your resume and move on to a more interesting one. Your resume writing objective shouldn’t be self-oriented. Instead, you need to focus your resume writing on what you have to offer the hiring manager. Don’t assume that if you list your abilities that they will be able to make the connections to how that will affect them. Be specific and relate exactly how your skills will benefit them. Otherwise your resume won’t get a second look.

The Difference Between a Standard Federal and an SES Job Posting

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Getting hired for a Federal government job in the old days meant using a very long, boring form called an SF-171, standard form 171 I government lingo. Getting entry-level or mid-level government jobs in the 21st century, thankfully means using the new Federal style resume, allowing use of the computer and word processing software and more individual creativity. Going past the standard Federal level and into upper management or executive positions with the Federal government requires looking at the Senior Executive Service, a pay grade in the civil service, and using the SES resume packages these higher level positions require.

 

The Office of Personnel Management says that the SES is “charged with leading the continuing transformation of government…possess well-honed executive skills and have a broad perspective of government and a public service commitment which is grounded in the constitution.” Designed as a corps of executives, these are key positions just under those appointed by the President. As expected, the SES resume can be quite long and detailed when compared to a standard Federal resume, and especially when compared to a private sector standard resume. It also generally includes the ECQs, or Executive Corps qualifications, responses to specific questions relating to the position applied for, generally not more than ten pages, and separate from the SES resume itself and the cover letter.

 

If seeking an executive level federal job is important then getting assistance in preparing an SES resume from a team that specializes in writing this high level of resume is essentia

When Job Hunting, What You Put on your FaceBook or MySpace Page May Come Back to Haunt You

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When you are having fun and posting stories or photos on FaceBook or MySpace, you are usually only thinking of the present moment and the friends who will read your entries. However, when you start job hunting, you may regret what you put on your MySpace or FaceBook page.Although the internet has become a friendly media for many, you are still putting details out to the public that everyone can read. Unfortunately, someday “everyone” may be a potential employer who will search for additional details about you online. Imagine how embarrassed you would be if you applied for a lofty position with a conservative firm and your prospective employer discovered compromising details about you by doing a simple search of MySpace or FaceBook. Besides the embarrassment, you may also be left out when it comes getting the position you want.Your MySpace or FaceBook page should not contain any information that would come back to haunt you if viewed by a potential employer. There are many ways an employers determines your character and whether you would be a viable team player for their company. Having a racy or questionable presence online will make an employer think twice and could cost you the employment you want. After all, will your new boss really appreciate your “pimping” skills or how hot you are at the clubs? The boss will probably wonder about your level of commitment to the job.When you make entries on your MySpace or FaceBook page, remember you are putting this information out to millions of people. Make sure what you write really reflects the person you are in your resume and would not humiliate you or jeopardize your chances in a competitive job market.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Cover Letter: It is Your FOOT in the Door

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Your cover letter isn’t merely a piece of paper you include with your resume. In fact, often a cover letter is even more important than the resume because it can determine whether or not your prospective employer continues on to read your resume!When writing your resume cover letter, keep the old but true saying that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” firmly in mind. Use the correct business format: title, name of the person to whose attention you are sending your resume, company name and address at top left, skip a couple of spaces and then insert the date.Always begin your letter using the name of the person to whom it is addressed: “Dear Mr. Jones” instead of “Dear Employer.” Double space between paragraphs to make reading easier. And above all, be concise in stating why you are writing and what you want, such as, “I am applying for the position you recently advertised of acting comptroller for XYZ Widgets.”Rather than just let your letter dwindle to an end, include a specific time and method you will use for following up on the position, for example, “I will call your office next Monday to see if we can schedule an interview.”Keep it short, make it clear and always err on the side of more formality than less to ensure that your cover letter will get your resume read by a professional!

When To Drop High School Education from your Resume

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Your high school education information should only be included on your resume if you are younger than 20 years old AND have no education or training of any type beyond high school.If you are currently a college student, or have graduated, you may leave your high school off your resume. Replace it with your college data. Even if you haven’t yet graduated, simply list your education like this:

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) – Expected May 2009University of South FloridaHigh school just isn’t that important to employers – especially if you’ve been to college, because if you got into college then you have obviously met the basic requirements for graduating from high school.The only exception might be if the high school you attended was particularly prestigious, and you are applying to employers whom you know to have connections to that high school.If you have not attended any college courses or completed any type of training beyond high school AND you are under the age of 20, then you may include your high school. Once past age 20, however, you should drop the information off your resume, because by then you’ll have gained enough job experience that your high school data will no longer be relevant or important to employers.