by cjxpadmin | May 1, 2013 | This Issue's FEATURE
Making It Past The 5-Second Resume Scan
www.careerealism.com
Here are the three areas I looked at when considering whether to invest more time:
Professional Formatting
When you’re reviewing 100 resumes a day, the ones that really stick out are the ones you can tell the person invested time into creating. The professional and executive resume formats that were well-organized, easy to read, and perfectly laid out really made reviewing the resume easier—and definitely caught my attention.
When you’re comparing a professionally organized and strategically laid out resume to a messy, unprofessional, and disorganized one, determining which one to invest time into reading becomes a no-brainer. After all, why waste time searching through a document trying to find the information you need when someone else has clearly laid it out for you?
Easy-To-Find Requirements
When I posted a job ad online and was deluged with responses, I was appalled at how many people just shot me a resume that said absolutely nothing about the requirements I had spent so much time writing to include in the ad. Normally, when I posted a job ad, I would include: REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS and PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS.
At the very least, to even be considered, the person had to possess the required qualifications; the resumes that caught my attention were the ones that made it easy for me to see they did indeed meet the requirements—either by listing them in the top or calling attention to them in a bold, underlined, or italicized font, and placing them throughout their resume.
Want to put the nail in the coffin? Call attention to the fact you also meet their preferred qualifications. Meeting the required and preferred qualifications—and calling attention to this fact in your resume—makes you a perfect candidate for the job.
Compelling, Easy-To-Read Content
Long paragraphs on resumes serve one purpose… and that’s to lose the hiring manager’s attention. If you’re using paragraphs with 5+ sentences, then you not only lost my attention, but now the information I need isn’t readily accessible – it’s buried beneath an enormous amount of text density that I don’t have the time to wade through.
Keep it concise, cut out the mundane, and highlight your accomplishments. Don’t go super crazy with the bold, underline, or italics, but use them when it fits, and use them to call attention to the most important information.
Just to review—here’s how to make it past the initial 5-second scan:
- Professional, polished, and well-organized format (colors and white space, good—messy and distracting, bad).
- Make it easy for the hiring manager to find exactly what he or she needs—and to find it quickly.
- Keep the content concise, and highlight the critical information the hiring manager needs in order to make the decision to call for the interview.
Other strategies come into play when creating a compelling resume that will secure interviews, so if you’re not sure your resume has the right stuff—and if you haven’t heard of personal branding or incorporated it into your resume—it may be time to call a certified resume writer and get a resume checkup. If it means the difference between three interviews next week or three more months of job searching, you may want to consider speaking with a professional.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock △
by cjxpadmin | May 1, 2013 | Job Club Alamo Area
Welcome to Wednesday Everyone!
Today we would like to discuss outlook and attitude, but first we need to share a bit of information with you. Our role at The Heart of Texas Workforce Center will be changing. We will notify you of the changes as they occur. We will still be assisting you through Campusjobxpress.com with discussions, job matching and everything else that this website has to offer.
As for today’s discussion, we cannot stress enough how important attitude is when searching for a job. We have been witnessing many people successfully finding employment. A big part of their success has been to change their outlook on life and learn how to create a positive atmosphere around themselves.
You can tell someone a lot without even saying a word. Your mood is written all over your face and so you must always be aware of how you are presenting yourself. Are you going into an interview slumped over with a blank stare? Do you look everywhere in the room except at the employer? These actions can give the impression that you are not interested in working.
Also, how you act with others can either give a good or bad impression of your work ethic. Do you greet people with a smile and a warm hello as you meet them? Do you have an enthusiastic attitude about speaking with people? If so, you’re doing great!
One example of a way to improve your persona could be to become more involved in your community. Volunteering can be a great self-improvement activity as well as a social skills builder. When you volunteer, you build a relationship with people you never knew. This can help you feel more comfortable when talking with an employer or co-workers whom you have never met. Volunteering can also boost your self-esteem. Helping others for the greater good can really take a weight off of your shoulders and help you lift your mood. Seeing someone smile and knowing you made a difference, simply because you were there to help, can really open our minds up to a better way of being. We need to be a helping hand, a shoulder, a strong friend, a good heart, and someone who can be relied on. Now that, my friends, is something a company needs in an employee.
by cjxpadmin | May 1, 2013 | Job Club Heart of Texas
Welcome to Wednesday Everyone!
Today we would like to discuss outlook and attitude, but first we need to share a bit of information with you. Our role at The Heart of Texas Workforce Center will be changing. We will notify you of the changes as they occur. We will still be assisting you through Campusjobxpress.com with discussions, job matching and everything else that this website has to offer.
As for today’s discussion, we cannot stress enough how important attitude is when searching for a job. We have been witnessing many people successfully finding employment. A big part of their success has been to change their outlook on life and learn how to create a positive atmosphere around themselves.
You can tell someone a lot without even saying a word. Your mood is written all over your face and so you must always be aware of how you are presenting yourself. Are you going into an interview slumped over with a blank stare? Do you look everywhere in the room except at the employer? These actions can give the impression that you are not interested in working.
Also, how you act with others can either give a good or bad impression of your work ethic. Do you greet people with a smile and a warm hello as you meet them? Do you have an enthusiastic attitude about speaking with people? If so, you’re doing great!
One example of a way to improve your persona could be to become more involved in your community. Volunteering can be a great self-improvement activity as well as a social skills builder. When you volunteer, you build a relationship with people you never knew. This can help you feel more comfortable when talking with an employer or co-workers whom you have never met. Volunteering can also boost your self-esteem. Helping others for the greater good can really take a weight off of your shoulders and help you lift your mood. Seeing someone smile and knowing you made a difference, simply because you were there to help, can really open our minds up to a better way of being. We need to be a helping hand, a shoulder, a strong friend, a good heart, and someone who can be relied on. Now that, my friends, is something a company needs in an employee.
