Resume Writing Common Sense Tips

Are you still waiting for employers to call? Have you wondered why your resume isn't generating the response that you would like? Outlined below are a few common reasons why hiring managers may put your resume into the "no" pile.

How long is too long? The HR manager doesn't want your entire work history. In fact, they don't actually care about you. Harsh, I know, but they really just want to know what you can do FOR THEM. They want to know what value you will add to their organization, preferably in one page. Two is okay, but one is better. Keep it concise and hit only the highlights that will draw them in.

Vague words - Exceptional, successful, problem solver... what do these have in common? They don't actually say anything. I want to know exactly what you have accomplished. I don't want to read a description of you, I want to draw my own conclusions from your actions. As a hiring manager, I want to think for myself and not let you do it for me.

Job duties? Who cares! Just like vague words don't get the job done, neither does a laundry list of job duties. It's great that you sold ice to polar bears, but I want to know how much! You need to show why exactly you are the best person for the job, and the best way to do that is to show what a superstar you are by highlighting your accomplishments.

Metrics, metrics, metrics - The name of the game is metrics. Your resume needs numbers. It needs percentages. It need DATA. The best way to show your value is through provable (and hopefully outstanding) performance data. The more data you have, the easier it will be to have amazing content. With amazing content, the phone will start ringing.

Sell yourself - This is your chance to toot your own horn. Use it! This is not the time to be modest or humble. This is the time to feel confident (even if you don't), and to blow all those other candidates out of the water. All of your major accomplishments belong on your resume... you can be your competition is using theirs.

Don't forget that above all, a resume is a marketing document. It is your own personal press release and advertisement rolled into one. Attacking it the way you would a work project may remove some of the stress and de-personalize the process. Good luck and happy writing!

For a free resume evaluation, please visit my web site at http://www.virtuosoresumes.com/

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Why Writing Online Articles to Recruit People to Your Organization or Business Makes Sense

In the US, our top corporations are busy looking and scanning our society and civilization for the very best possible people to recruit into the organization. It's also a very tough job, as they are being inundated with resumes and inquiries. One of the best ways I've found to recruit the top people is to create online articles discussing topics of interest that those types of folks you are looking for might consider intriguing. This way you can exactly target market the individuals that think like your company needs and therefore, will be a valuable new person for your team. Let's talk about this for second of the might.

Why should you write online articles to recruit people to your organization or business, you ask? It's simple, you see, if you prepare an article correctly you can speak directly to the individual, invite them to think on the topic you brought up, and allow them to offer insight. Perhaps they have ideas, innovations, or are very passionate about the topic. Indeed, these are the exact people you need to propel your organization into the future and ahead of the competition.

Whereas many companies have their recruiters, some of them handsomely paid going through LinkedIn resumes, and trying to recruit people from other companies and organizations for higher pay trying to lure them away, you can simply allow people to come to you, and the cost is minimal. If your article is prepared correctly, and submitted to one of the top online directories for articles you will ensure that those keywords are found by those who are searching that exact topic.

Anyone who is thoroughly interested in a subject will seek it out, even if they are unemployed, or perhaps not even looking for a job, they will do this because it is of interest to them, not because they are being paid. Anyone that is already searching around the Internet for something that they care very much about is someone who will be loyal to the cause, and passionate about that area of the human endeavor. It's worked for me, and I am blown away by just how good it has worked.

In fact, up until now I haven't shared this advice with anyone else, it's always been my little secret. Of course, now the secret is out, and you have this knowledge, my question to you is; what are you going to do about it? Perhaps you will be creating online articles in the future? Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Writing Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

Read more ...

Resume Writing Common Sense Tips

Are you still waiting for employers to call? Have you wondered why your resume isn't generating the response that you would like? Outlined below are a few common reasons why hiring managers may put your resume into the "no" pile.

How long is too long? The HR manager doesn't want your entire work history. In fact, they don't actually care about you. Harsh, I know, but they really just want to know what you can do FOR THEM. They want to know what value you will add to their organization, preferably in one page. Two is okay, but one is better. Keep it concise and hit only the highlights that will draw them in.

Vague words - Exceptional, successful, problem solver... what do these have in common? They don't actually say anything. I want to know exactly what you have accomplished. I don't want to read a description of you, I want to draw my own conclusions from your actions. As a hiring manager, I want to think for myself and not let you do it for me.

Job duties? Who cares! Just like vague words don't get the job done, neither does a laundry list of job duties. It's great that you sold ice to polar bears, but I want to know how much! You need to show why exactly you are the best person for the job, and the best way to do that is to show what a superstar you are by highlighting your accomplishments.

Metrics, metrics, metrics - The name of the game is metrics. Your resume needs numbers. It needs percentages. It need DATA. The best way to show your value is through provable (and hopefully outstanding) performance data. The more data you have, the easier it will be to have amazing content. With amazing content, the phone will start ringing.

Sell yourself - This is your chance to toot your own horn. Use it! This is not the time to be modest or humble. This is the time to feel confident (even if you don't), and to blow all those other candidates out of the water. All of your major accomplishments belong on your resume... you can be your competition is using theirs.

Don't forget that above all, a resume is a marketing document. It is your own personal press release and advertisement rolled into one. Attacking it the way you would a work project may remove some of the stress and de-personalize the process. Good luck and happy writing!

For a free resume evaluation, please visit my web site at http://www.virtuosoresumes.com/

Read more ...

Why Writing Online Articles to Recruit People to Your Organization or Business Makes Sense

In the US, our top corporations are busy looking and scanning our society and civilization for the very best possible people to recruit into the organization. It's also a very tough job, as they are being inundated with resumes and inquiries. One of the best ways I've found to recruit the top people is to create online articles discussing topics of interest that those types of folks you are looking for might consider intriguing. This way you can exactly target market the individuals that think like your company needs and therefore, will be a valuable new person for your team. Let's talk about this for second of the might.

Why should you write online articles to recruit people to your organization or business, you ask? It's simple, you see, if you prepare an article correctly you can speak directly to the individual, invite them to think on the topic you brought up, and allow them to offer insight. Perhaps they have ideas, innovations, or are very passionate about the topic. Indeed, these are the exact people you need to propel your organization into the future and ahead of the competition.

Whereas many companies have their recruiters, some of them handsomely paid going through LinkedIn resumes, and trying to recruit people from other companies and organizations for higher pay trying to lure them away, you can simply allow people to come to you, and the cost is minimal. If your article is prepared correctly, and submitted to one of the top online directories for articles you will ensure that those keywords are found by those who are searching that exact topic.

Anyone who is thoroughly interested in a subject will seek it out, even if they are unemployed, or perhaps not even looking for a job, they will do this because it is of interest to them, not because they are being paid. Anyone that is already searching around the Internet for something that they care very much about is someone who will be loyal to the cause, and passionate about that area of the human endeavor. It's worked for me, and I am blown away by just how good it has worked.

In fact, up until now I haven't shared this advice with anyone else, it's always been my little secret. Of course, now the secret is out, and you have this knowledge, my question to you is; what are you going to do about it? Perhaps you will be creating online articles in the future? Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Writing Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

Read more ...

Why Writing Online Articles to Recruit People to Your Organization or Business Makes Sense

In the US, our top corporations are busy looking and scanning our society and civilization for the very best possible people to recruit into the organization. It's also a very tough job, as they are being inundated with resumes and inquiries. One of the best ways I've found to recruit the top people is to create online articles discussing topics of interest that those types of folks you are looking for might consider intriguing. This way you can exactly target market the individuals that think like your company needs and therefore, will be a valuable new person for your team. Let's talk about this for second of the might.

Why should you write online articles to recruit people to your organization or business, you ask? It's simple, you see, if you prepare an article correctly you can speak directly to the individual, invite them to think on the topic you brought up, and allow them to offer insight. Perhaps they have ideas, innovations, or are very passionate about the topic. Indeed, these are the exact people you need to propel your organization into the future and ahead of the competition.

Whereas many companies have their recruiters, some of them handsomely paid going through LinkedIn resumes, and trying to recruit people from other companies and organizations for higher pay trying to lure them away, you can simply allow people to come to you, and the cost is minimal. If your article is prepared correctly, and submitted to one of the top online directories for articles you will ensure that those keywords are found by those who are searching that exact topic.

Anyone who is thoroughly interested in a subject will seek it out, even if they are unemployed, or perhaps not even looking for a job, they will do this because it is of interest to them, not because they are being paid. Anyone that is already searching around the Internet for something that they care very much about is someone who will be loyal to the cause, and passionate about that area of the human endeavor. It's worked for me, and I am blown away by just how good it has worked.

In fact, up until now I haven't shared this advice with anyone else, it's always been my little secret. Of course, now the secret is out, and you have this knowledge, my question to you is; what are you going to do about it? Perhaps you will be creating online articles in the future? Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Writing Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

Read more ...

Cover Letters and the Sense of Urgency Myth

You can learn and take advantage of the same principle businesses spend billions of dollars to broadcast. Many job hunters are working from a position of weakness and are therefore hesitant to create a sense of urgency in their resume cover letters. They believe they must be available at all times for a potential employer and that will somehow demonstrate their determination and motivation. These job hunters often close their cover letters with "I am available any time for an interview" or something to that effect.

These same job seekers surmise that if they limit themselves in any way the employer will somehow see them as a nuisance or less valuable. This is the myth. The opposite is true. Limitation in itself creates value. That is supply and demand. And no matter what the employment environment or job market is, you can put supply and demand on your side every time. How? You are a unique asset! There is only one of you. Limit your availability and create a sense of urgency.

Perception is the same even in a buyers' or employers' market. When an employer receives 200 resumes and cover letters for the same position that all are available anytime, and one comes in with limited availability, that one job hunter suddenly stands out and is perceived as having more value.

Professional marketers and successful business owners know a sense of urgency drives people to buy. That's why every sale is for a limited time and why coupons expire. Car dealers take full advantage of the sense of urgency in their advertising. Here is an excerpt from a radio commercial I heard recently for a local auto dealership:

Today we are offering possibly the greatest deals on new cars in history with our inventory reduction blowout. Hurry in now because this sale offer is for this weekend only and our stock is running out and will be gone soon.

Wow! Those two lines pack a punch. Sounds like I could miss out on a once in a lifetime sale and there is a double sense of urgency; this weekend only and if I don't hurry the cars could be gone before I get there. Car dealerships use these ads again and again because they work. People respond to a sense of urgency. You can use the same principle in your resume cover letters:

Today I am offering possibly the greatest employer deal in history with an inventory reduction sale. Hurry and call me now because my skills are running out and will be gone soon.

OK this needs some tweaking! Sending out writing that sounds like car dealership advertising might make some HR personnel laugh but will probably not produce the results you are seeking. Obviously you don't want to state your skills will be running out soon, but you can create urgency and limit your availability. Create urgency in cover letters by letting the employer know you will only be in their city until a certain date, or that you are contemplating another project and will no longer be available after a certain date.

If the date passes and you are not contacted by the employer you can still approach them again later. Look for real scenarios that create urgency and do not fabricate here. You can also simply state that after a certain date you expect to no longer be available: period. You can limit your availability by offering employers two or three interview times on different days. You can also do this by stating window of opportunity period such as a week that you will be in their city or town.

I Have a Confession

My personal system for screening resumes and making interview decisions for hiring at my office is unparalleled. I utilize automated contact software synchronized with my calendar. My smart phone tells me who I need to contact and when at any given moment wherever I am. All that is backed up by a live assistant.

Yet despite all my technology and cracker jack assistant, here is what often happens: While reading cover letters and resumes already screened by HR I find a candidate I want to interview and mark them with a yes; contact. Then before we reach that job hunter or before we interview him or her, a better cover letter arrives that has incorporated marketing tactics such as a sense of urgency. The urgency in the cover letter appeals to and hooks me. I waste no time and call or email the person immediately. (Notice I said a better cover letter; not necessarily a better resume.)

This candidate now has a head start over the rest of the job hunters and if we make contact and get together fairly quickly, and the person lives up to his or her qualifications, the position is filled before an interview is ever conducted with the first or earlier candidate.

Marketing Tactics for Cover Letters 101: Create a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency causes people to act now. Your cover or connect letter must cause employers to contact you. Your words must work to make that happen immediately, while they are reading your letter. You must create a sense of urgency.

Please see cover letters and job hunting follow up letters that have incorporated a sense of urgency. These letters are written with fields to customize your letters for any job or employer. You can also jump leaps and bounds ahead of other candidates in the job hunting game with my bestselling book: Employer Secrets and How to Use Them to Get the Job and Pay You Want. Copyright 2011 by Phil Baker. Freely distribute this article but please leave article, author name, copyright info, and links intact.

Read more ...

Cover Letters and the Sense of Urgency Myth

You can learn and take advantage of the same principle businesses spend billions of dollars to broadcast. Many job hunters are working from a position of weakness and are therefore hesitant to create a sense of urgency in their resume cover letters. They believe they must be available at all times for a potential employer and that will somehow demonstrate their determination and motivation. These job hunters often close their cover letters with "I am available any time for an interview" or something to that effect.

These same job seekers surmise that if they limit themselves in any way the employer will somehow see them as a nuisance or less valuable. This is the myth. The opposite is true. Limitation in itself creates value. That is supply and demand. And no matter what the employment environment or job market is, you can put supply and demand on your side every time. How? You are a unique asset! There is only one of you. Limit your availability and create a sense of urgency.

Perception is the same even in a buyers' or employers' market. When an employer receives 200 resumes and cover letters for the same position that all are available anytime, and one comes in with limited availability, that one job hunter suddenly stands out and is perceived as having more value.

Professional marketers and successful business owners know a sense of urgency drives people to buy. That's why every sale is for a limited time and why coupons expire. Car dealers take full advantage of the sense of urgency in their advertising. Here is an excerpt from a radio commercial I heard recently for a local auto dealership:

Today we are offering possibly the greatest deals on new cars in history with our inventory reduction blowout. Hurry in now because this sale offer is for this weekend only and our stock is running out and will be gone soon.

Wow! Those two lines pack a punch. Sounds like I could miss out on a once in a lifetime sale and there is a double sense of urgency; this weekend only and if I don't hurry the cars could be gone before I get there. Car dealerships use these ads again and again because they work. People respond to a sense of urgency. You can use the same principle in your resume cover letters:

Today I am offering possibly the greatest employer deal in history with an inventory reduction sale. Hurry and call me now because my skills are running out and will be gone soon.

OK this needs some tweaking! Sending out writing that sounds like car dealership advertising might make some HR personnel laugh but will probably not produce the results you are seeking. Obviously you don't want to state your skills will be running out soon, but you can create urgency and limit your availability. Create urgency in cover letters by letting the employer know you will only be in their city until a certain date, or that you are contemplating another project and will no longer be available after a certain date.

If the date passes and you are not contacted by the employer you can still approach them again later. Look for real scenarios that create urgency and do not fabricate here. You can also simply state that after a certain date you expect to no longer be available: period. You can limit your availability by offering employers two or three interview times on different days. You can also do this by stating window of opportunity period such as a week that you will be in their city or town.

I Have a Confession

My personal system for screening resumes and making interview decisions for hiring at my office is unparalleled. I utilize automated contact software synchronized with my calendar. My smart phone tells me who I need to contact and when at any given moment wherever I am. All that is backed up by a live assistant.

Yet despite all my technology and cracker jack assistant, here is what often happens: While reading cover letters and resumes already screened by HR I find a candidate I want to interview and mark them with a yes; contact. Then before we reach that job hunter or before we interview him or her, a better cover letter arrives that has incorporated marketing tactics such as a sense of urgency. The urgency in the cover letter appeals to and hooks me. I waste no time and call or email the person immediately. (Notice I said a better cover letter; not necessarily a better resume.)

This candidate now has a head start over the rest of the job hunters and if we make contact and get together fairly quickly, and the person lives up to his or her qualifications, the position is filled before an interview is ever conducted with the first or earlier candidate.

Marketing Tactics for Cover Letters 101: Create a sense of urgency. A sense of urgency causes people to act now. Your cover or connect letter must cause employers to contact you. Your words must work to make that happen immediately, while they are reading your letter. You must create a sense of urgency.

Please see cover letters and job hunting follow up letters that have incorporated a sense of urgency. These letters are written with fields to customize your letters for any job or employer. You can also jump leaps and bounds ahead of other candidates in the job hunting game with my bestselling book: Employer Secrets and How to Use Them to Get the Job and Pay You Want. Copyright 2011 by Phil Baker. Freely distribute this article but please leave article, author name, copyright info, and links intact.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Phil_Baker

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