Resume Writing: Know Your Future Passion

Nowadays, there is really a tough competition among job seekers. This happens because the ratio between the number of job openings and applicants is not proportion. This scenario brings a negative impact on the economy since many people who can't find jobs may perhaps become unemployed. How about those who are about to graduate? What jobs await them? With all these situations, finding an edge over other hopefuls is such a good idea in order to secure a job and to have a rewarding career.

There are many factors why many job candidates fail to get a job. One of these factors is their incompetence to produce a compelling resume. Though all applicants can write their application documents, creating one that can really convince a hiring manager is yet another thing. For this reason, they have to learn the basics of resume writing. When someone learns how to make an effective pre-employment document, he will be able to come up with a nice output that will surely get positive results.

Learn the basics

Like any other form of writing, resume writing requires knowledge about the ins and outs of this activity. Additionally, it also entails familiarity with the things about various industries, as well as with the latest trends that should be followed to be able to become competitive.

First of all, it is important to know that applicants can either do their application papers on their own or by hiring a professional writer.

Let's talk about doing it by yourself.

If you prefer to do your own application tool, here are some helpful tips for you.

1. Start by contemplating on what career do you really want to have. Consider your educational background, your skills, and your professional experiences. If you're already decided, think of the possible companies you want to be with. Consider its line of business, its reputation in the industry, its offers, and the environment it has.

2. Gather all the necessary materials, such as laptop, notebooks, pen, and important documents (certificates, diplomas, employment records, address book, etc.). This particular activity has a purpose to help the applicant in composing a factual and accurate document especially when it comes to dates, figures, and contact numbers.

3. Look for sample patterns online. It is better to seek those samples for the desired position.

4. Proceed to the writing proper.

Apply the ideas

Making the online sources as patterns, one can have a better idea on what to include in a pre-employment document.

Here are the sections that updated application documents usually contain:

1. Heading. This contains the applicant's full name and contact information. Include here the complete mailing/physical address, telephone number or an alternative contact number, and e-mail address.

2. Career tag. This is the specific position the aspirant is applying for.

3. Summary of qualifications. This narrative is composed of 4 to 5 phrases. Each phrase starts with powerful adjectives (or adverbs) that describe the aspirant's characteristics.

4. Areas of expertise. This is a set of the applicant's skills or proficiencies and know-hows.

5. Professional experience. This is the employment history that is written in chronological order, from the most recent job down to the oldest job held. This should contain key job accomplishments and powerful action words.

6. Education and training. These two sections can be combined into one.

7. Other succeeding sections. Contemporary copies also contain the following sections: awards and honors, affiliations, activities, and licenses.

Always remember to include only those data relevant to the targeted position.

Adopt the trends

For a better output, try to search for the most recent trend as far as crafting an application paper is concerned. It is nice to know the current practice. Know them all and apply to your document.

Make it a passion

At first, resume writing is such a tiresome activity. But when you've got the chance to learn its fundamentals, you will find yourself doing it easier the next time you do it. Or, maybe you will eventually love it and make it as your passion. Who knows you are destined to be a professional writer in the future?

Nelson Mullins is a former corporate hiring and recruitment expert who regularly writes articles on resumes, resume writing, personality development, and career in general. He is a father of three who also enjoys photography and biking. Nelson believes that while the employment world continues to be a rat race for applicants, it is important to always be equipped with new ideas on sustaining career growth and opportunities.

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Resume Writing: Know Your Future Passion

Nowadays, there is really a tough competition among job seekers. This happens because the ratio between the number of job openings and applicants is not proportion. This scenario brings a negative impact on the economy since many people who can't find jobs may perhaps become unemployed. How about those who are about to graduate? What jobs await them? With all these situations, finding an edge over other hopefuls is such a good idea in order to secure a job and to have a rewarding career.

There are many factors why many job candidates fail to get a job. One of these factors is their incompetence to produce a compelling resume. Though all applicants can write their application documents, creating one that can really convince a hiring manager is yet another thing. For this reason, they have to learn the basics of resume writing. When someone learns how to make an effective pre-employment document, he will be able to come up with a nice output that will surely get positive results.

Learn the basics

Like any other form of writing, resume writing requires knowledge about the ins and outs of this activity. Additionally, it also entails familiarity with the things about various industries, as well as with the latest trends that should be followed to be able to become competitive.

First of all, it is important to know that applicants can either do their application papers on their own or by hiring a professional writer.

Let's talk about doing it by yourself.

If you prefer to do your own application tool, here are some helpful tips for you.

1. Start by contemplating on what career do you really want to have. Consider your educational background, your skills, and your professional experiences. If you're already decided, think of the possible companies you want to be with. Consider its line of business, its reputation in the industry, its offers, and the environment it has.

2. Gather all the necessary materials, such as laptop, notebooks, pen, and important documents (certificates, diplomas, employment records, address book, etc.). This particular activity has a purpose to help the applicant in composing a factual and accurate document especially when it comes to dates, figures, and contact numbers.

3. Look for sample patterns online. It is better to seek those samples for the desired position.

4. Proceed to the writing proper.

Apply the ideas

Making the online sources as patterns, one can have a better idea on what to include in a pre-employment document.

Here are the sections that updated application documents usually contain:

1. Heading. This contains the applicant's full name and contact information. Include here the complete mailing/physical address, telephone number or an alternative contact number, and e-mail address.

2. Career tag. This is the specific position the aspirant is applying for.

3. Summary of qualifications. This narrative is composed of 4 to 5 phrases. Each phrase starts with powerful adjectives (or adverbs) that describe the aspirant's characteristics.

4. Areas of expertise. This is a set of the applicant's skills or proficiencies and know-hows.

5. Professional experience. This is the employment history that is written in chronological order, from the most recent job down to the oldest job held. This should contain key job accomplishments and powerful action words.

6. Education and training. These two sections can be combined into one.

7. Other succeeding sections. Contemporary copies also contain the following sections: awards and honors, affiliations, activities, and licenses.

Always remember to include only those data relevant to the targeted position.

Adopt the trends

For a better output, try to search for the most recent trend as far as crafting an application paper is concerned. It is nice to know the current practice. Know them all and apply to your document.

Make it a passion

At first, resume writing is such a tiresome activity. But when you've got the chance to learn its fundamentals, you will find yourself doing it easier the next time you do it. Or, maybe you will eventually love it and make it as your passion. Who knows you are destined to be a professional writer in the future?

Nelson Mullins is a former corporate hiring and recruitment expert who regularly writes articles on resumes, resume writing, personality development, and career in general. He is a father of three who also enjoys photography and biking. Nelson believes that while the employment world continues to be a rat race for applicants, it is important to always be equipped with new ideas on sustaining career growth and opportunities.

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Scope and Future of Video Resumes

Let us first understand what a video resume is. Quite simply, a video resume is your resume recorded on camera. Instead of your accomplishments on paper, in a video resume a candidate would dress up formally, sit/stand in front of a camera and begin a verbal essay on herself, who she is and why she is the best person for the job listing all her accomplishments, education and experiences in a 1-2 min video. You can make it as a very formal speech or you can include some parts of flash animation into it. Of course it should not be like Barney Stinson's in How I Met Your Mother!

So, what are the pros and cons of video resumes?

1. First and foremost, Accent Issues. A video resume (paper or video) will invariably be made in English. That poses the double problem of grammar and accent in countries which do not speak English as their first language. Grammar can still be corrected with the use of a teleprompter behind the camera while a candidate speaks. But accent will always be a challenge for a working population which will always be divided among varying accents. Some will try to speak with an American accent, others with a British accent and the rest will be those whose native language isn't English and thus do not know how to speak the language properly!

This poses another hazard to the talented lot who are not proficient in English. As a resume is the first step towards creating that valuable first impression, how about a candidate who cannot speak well? Will an HR manager hire her? Will the employer even wait for the part in the video where the candidate tells the manager about the awesome skills she possesses or the terrific projects she has done?

2. Time and difficulty of location of data. The second but more important factor which goes against a video resume is, 'Who has the time?' A video resume typically varies from 1 - 3 minutes in length. A video longer than that is never going to be viewed for obvious reasons. The thing is, who even has that 1 minute?! It is a proven statistic that HR managers scan a paper resume and decide whether or not to spend the next 2 minutes reading it in the first 20-40 seconds. How do you do that in a video resume? You cannot, simply because all the information is hidden. It keeps coming to you but at intervals and then goes away into oblivion.

Again, what if an employer is specifically looking for a person with excellent academics or say, a particular skill set in Telecom Business Analytics? In a paper resume, such a filter could be applied almost instantly (by jumping to a particular section or skimming). In a video, you just need to wait and see when the candidate actually talks about this skill of his or if he even decides to mention his university grades or just skip that part altogether; which brings us to the next difficulty...

3. No Format. There can never be a standard format for a video resume. If there is, it would have destroyed the very purpose of a video resume - creative representation of data. Now, because there is no standard way of vocalizing your resume it becomes difficult to locate data in a video resume. As I said before, you got to wait till the candidate 'decides' to throw in the information the HR manager is looking for.

4. Beautiful vs. Ugly. It is a natural tendency for a human being to look at faces which are pleasant to see, while turning away from the ones that are ugly. Again, the average human being's obsession with fair skin is ubiquitous. This scenario does not leave any room for a poor faced or even a physically handicapped but extremely talented individual to publish his video resume. Because as we are talking about first impressions here, in a video resume the first impression will always be your face value (which includes how well you are dressed). Now although in an ideal situation this should never happen, but unfortunately as we are talking about practicality here, in a video resume there will almost always be biasness in favour of the fair skinned and smartly dressed. Talent and skills will only find the second row seat.

5. Who will make a video resume? Even if video resume begins to catch up to paper format, there will still be a very large number of senior and mid-level professionals who may not go with the idea. Reason - a mental block. Even if they do, is it possible to recreate the entire database of say a well established job portal in a video format? I don't think so. Then there is the problem of tagging a video file. Of course there will be meta tags associated with each video, but who writes them? Candidates themselves will try to include as many tags as possible, which in many cases will be misleading for the HR managers. A third party tagging is possible though at the expense of some really good technology. But such an attempt will again face a lot of difficulty because of accent issues!

6. During the Interviews. This should not even be discussed. An interview panel will always question the prospective employee on her resume. A video resume does not make sense on the interview table. Then again, HR managers generally look up a candidate's paper resume and make their markings and highlights before sharing it with the management. The management then decides who to call for further interaction. What happens in a video resume?

7. Video conferencing. After all these negatives, I feel video resume does offer a good parallel approach - Interviews through video conferencing. Although this is already in place in many organizations, interviewing candidates at the first level of screening through video conferencing can save a lot of time (and time is money) spent in calling them at the company's offices.

At best a video resume can serve a purpose by being an add-on to the traditional (and more useful) paper resume. Overall I think if video resumes do try to make a mark, the reception will best be lopsided.

Visit http://www.getsetresumes.com/blog for more insightful articles on careers, interviews, employment trends and of course resumes and cover letters.

Rajat (Founder, getsetResumes.com)

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Professional Resume Documents Are an Investment in Your Future

During these harsh economic times, more and more people are getting laid off and looking for that elusive dream career opportunity. When an opening presents itself, you will want to be able to take full advantage of it and hopefully get a job interview and ultimately a solid job offer.

In order to position yourself as the candidate of choice you will need to successfully communicate your value to hiring agents. Having professionally created resume and other job search documents is the best way to achieve this. Your resume needs to be accomplishment-based, key-word rich, visually appealing, and show your unique selling points or personal brand.

If you have been filling out applications and submitting your resume for months with nothing to show for it, it's easy to become discouraged. However, the problem could be quite easy to fix. Since your resume is usually your first impression with a potential employer, you need to ensure that it effectively communicates your impressive skills, qualifications, and attributes. If it presently isn't, then your resume could be standing in your way of receiving call backs. It is highly likely that your resume is not tailored to optimize its chance of being reviewed.

When you are unemployed and have limited funds, spending money can seem like the worst thing to do. However, in order to get ahead and secure a new valuable, appealing position, the best choice is to invest money to secure a profitable and fulfilling future. Hiring a professional resume writer to assist you in developing career documents is the smart thing to do. In the long run it will save you time, money, and assist you to secure the career/position you aspire to achieve.

It can be difficult to develop a resume and cover letter that sufficiently captures your worth, core competencies, and proven accomplishments, that is why professional resume writers exist. Knowing how to display your experience, and extract important information to bring it to the forefront of your resume is critical to a successful job search. Professional resume writers know what the keywords are and what recruitment personnel are looking for, which is invaluable to someone looking for opportunities.

Most companies that offer professional resume writing services will also be able to offer experience within your chosen field. They will know exactly which keywords your resume should contain to get noticed and will be skilled in weaving them seamlessly into the overall document. As well, since most people who create their own resumes use standard templates to help with formatting, most applicants' resumes end up looking very similar to one another. Professional resume writers are able to create you a unique resume that will stand out from the crowd for all right reasons.

Even though you may hesitate at spending money on your job search, in the end it will pay dividends in the time you will save due to reducing your job search time. It is therefore important that you look at this as a marketing investment - to help market yourself to potential employers. Getting an employer's attention, will lead to interviews. So, invest in your future.

Author and Career Management Specialist, Candace Davies, owner of http://www.candocareer.com/ is dedicated to advancing job seekers' careers by providing strategic, achievement-orientated resumes and cover letters and proactive interview coaching. First impressions last! Need a little help? For 20 comprehensive answers to the toughest interview questions, grab a copy of Candace's powerful free interview questions and answers. It's yours free when you sign up for her free weekly newsletter, the Cando Career Connection. It's a win-win!

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