Need some help finding employment? How about for landing your dream job? If you answered yes to either of these questions, maybe I can help!
To start things off, I decided to just do a short and simple blog post on some quick tips for resumes and cover letters. In the future I plan to go into more depth and explain approaches, styles and strategies, including action words, impact statements, outlines etc. So keep watching and reading and implementing!
Resume Quick Tips!
1. A resume is to be no more then two pages! You don’t want to overwhelm a person with too much information. Remember, the people hiring are reading a lot of resumes. You can further elaborate in your cover letter and in an interview.
2. You shouldn’t put references on your resume. Use the old standby “available upon request”. When you stick your references on your resume you are giving a hiring agent permission to call them, before even getting a interview. Wait until you get an interview.
3. Use an appropriate e-mail address! You want to be professional, and “partyhard@hotmail.com” or “sexy_girl84@hotmail.com” don’t exactly give that impression. So use the most professional one you have. Consider making a new one if you don’t.
4. Use impact statements (more to come on making these!) all throughout your resume. These statements are taking the normal “good communication skills” you may stick under the skills category and turning it into something like “gained good communication skills through 2 years of customer service”. Basically, you are giving proof that you do have the skill you just named.
5. Give proof of everything. If you say you have computer skills, tell them why. If you tell them you are a good team-worker, tell them how.
6. Be consistent in format. Stay away from overusing fonts and bullets. Try to pick one and stick with it. Use Ittalics or bolds to emphasis titles, but be consistent in their use and don’t go crazy.
7. Spell check, and then spell check again and then give your resume to someone else and have them spell check it!
Cover Letter Quick Tips!
1. A cover letter should at best only be one page!
2. Address it to someone. Try to find out who will be getting your resume. If a name is not given, use “hiring manager” or “human resources”.
3. Do not start your first paragraph with “my name is” or “I would like to apply for”. They know who you are and obviously you are applying. Instead, do a catchy opening, tell them something nice about themselves; why you want to work for them. And then tell them something about yourself, mainly why they will benefit in hiring you!
4. Do an outline first. It makes it easier to keep the cover letter clear and your points organized.
3. Pick threeish skills you want to highlight and then in a paragraph tell them that you have it, tell them where you got it and tell them why this skill of yours will benefit them.
4. The three skills you pick should be pulled not from your own personal list but from the job posting itself. Look for the main things they want and match them to your skills. You want to show them you have the skills they are looking for.
5. Don’t lie. It is easy to make the skills and experience you do have sound really good. Don’t lie about what you have as you likely will get caught.
6. In the last concluding paragraph, always thank them for their time and tell them in some way that you are looking forward to the opportunity of hearing from them. Give your contact information again. Studies show that statistically when contact info is included again at the bottom, people are more likely to get a call back.
Those are my quick tips. Hope you found them helpful. If you have questions, feel free to comment on this post with them. If you think I missed something out, let me know.
Happy hunting!
Sara
Greetings!
Mark your calendar and hang on to your socks, because on September 25, 2008, Nan Akasha and Amy Scott Grant will challenge everything you THINK you know about power, control, and your ego!
“What?! My Ego?”, you ask.
That’s right — just think about this for a sec:
What if everything you THINK you know about your Ego is dead wrong?
What if your most powerful resources and allies are the ones you don’t even know you have?
What if you could produce real, tangible results, with absolute minimal effort and extreme velocity?
What if you don’t have to dominate, suppress, muscle or otherwise “master” your ego to achieve results?
And What if you could get a bonus valued at $100 just for showing up to the live preview call?
The preview call is f/ree, but space is limited and you MUST register to hold your spot:
http://www.spinning-blue-planet.com/egoteleclass.html
Have you ever stopped to consider that everything you think you have to struggle with, fight against, and “overcome” might just be the one key — the one ALLY — that could make all your dreams come true?
I mean, really — what if the thing you think is your greatest enemy is really your most powerful asset?
Irony at its finest.
On September 25th, Amy Scott Grant and Nan Akasha are going to change everything you THINK you know about your EGO. And you won’t have to pay a cent to sample it.
Nan and Amy have been mastering the practice of negotiating with egos — their own and their clients’ — to create massive breakthroughs with minimal effort, in the quickest possible timeline.
To register for the f/ree preview call, visit this link:
http://www.spinning-blue-planet.com/egoteleclass.html
You can thank me later. And trust me, you will.
I’ll see you there,
Chris Darroch Biggs
Spinning Blue Planet
P.S. The live conference bridge can only hold 200 people, so be sure to register now and reserve your spot!
The lazy man’s way to meditate!Listening to this amazing, scientifically proven brain technology gives you all the benefits of meditation in a fraction of the time, easily and effortlessly!
http://www.spinning-blue-planet.com/centerpointe.html
THE FIRST INSIGHT . . . A CRITICAL MASS
A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidences.
THE SECOND INSIGHT . . . THE LONGER NOW
This awakening represents the creation of a new, more complete worldview, which replaces a five-hundred-year-old preoccupation with secular survival and comfort. While this technological preoccupation was an important step, our awakening to life’s coincidences is opening us up to the real purpose of human life on this planet, and the real nature of our universe.
THE THIRD INSIGHT . . . A MATTER OF ENERGY
We now experience that we live not in a material universe, but in a universe of dynamic energy. Everything extant is a field of sacred energy that we can sense and intuit. Moreover, we humans can project our energy by focusing our attention in the desired direction…where attention goes, energy flows…influencing other energy systems and increasing the pace of coincidences in our lives.
THE FOURTH INSIGHT . . . THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER
Too often humans cut themselves off from the greater source of this energy and so feel weak and insecure. To gain energy we tend to manipulate or force others to give us attention and thus energy. When we successfully dominate others in this way, we feel more powerful, but they are left weakened and often fight back. Competition for scarce, human energy is the cause of all conflict between people.
THE FIFTH INSIGHT . . . THE MESSAGE OF THE MYSTICS
Insecurity and violence ends when we experience an inner connection with divine energy within, a connection described by mystics of all traditions. A sense of lightness–buoyancy–along with the constant sensation of love are measures of this connection. If these measures are present, the connection is real. If not, it is only pretended.
THE SIXTH INSIGHT . . . CLEARING THE PAST
The more we stay connected, the more we are acutely aware of those times when we lose connection, usually when we are under stress. In these times, we can see our own particular way of stealing energy from others. Once our manipulations are brought to personal awareness, our connection becomes more constant and we can discover our own growth path in life, and our spiritual mission–the personal way we can contribute to the world.
THE SEVENTH INSIGHT . . . ENGAGING THE FLOW
Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. First we have a question; then dreams, daydreams, and intuitions lead us towards the answers, which usually are synchronistically provided by the wisdom of another human being.
THE EIGHTH INSIGHT . . . THE INTERPERSONAL ETHIC
We can increase the frequency of guiding coincidences by uplifting every person that comes into our lives. Care must be taken not to lose our inner connection in romantic relationships. Uplifting others is especially effective in groups where each member can feel energy of all the others. With children it is extremely important for their early security and growth. By seeing the beauty in every face, we lift others into their wisest self, and increase the chances of hearing a synchronistic message.
THE NINTH INSIGHT . . .THE EMERGING CULTURE
As we all evolve toward the best completion of our spiritual missions, the technological means of survival will be fully automated as humans focus instead on synchronistic growth. Such growth will move humans into higher energy states, ultimately transforming our bodies into spiritual form and uniting this dimension of existence with the after-life dimension, ending the cycle of birth and death.
THE TENTH INSIGHT . . . HOLDING THE VISION
The Tenth Insight is the realization that throughout history human beings have been unconsciously struggling to implement this lived spirituality on Earth. Each of us comes here on assignment, and as we pull this understanding into consciousness, we can remember a fuller birth vision of what we wanted to accomplish with our lives. Further we can remember a common world vision of how we will all work together to create a new spiritual culture. We know that our challenge is to hold this vision with intention and prayer everyday.
THE ELEVENTH INSIGHT . . . EXTENDING PRAYER FIELDS
The Eleventh Insight is the precise method through which we hold the vision. For centuries, religious scriptures, poems, and philosophies have pointed to a latent power of mind within all of us that mysteriously helps to affect what occurs in the future. It has been called faith power, positive thinking, and the power of prayer. We are now taking this power seriously enough to bring a fuller knowledge of it into public awareness. We are finding that this prayer power is a field of intention, which moves out from us and can be extended and strengthened, especially when we connect with others in a common vision. This is the power through which we hold the vision of a spiritual world and build the energy in ourselves and in others to make this vision a reality.
THE TWELFTH INSIGHT . . . IS YET TO BE RELEASED
*** Taken from http://www.celestinevision.com ***