Resume Tips


Writing a Resume With No Content to Include
Writing your first resume can be very daunting, especially if you have little to no work experience to speak of. This is a common problem for students, and a lot of them go about addressing this problem the wrong way – they either apply for jobs that do not require a resume, or they turn in a resume with little to no content.
DO NOT LEAVE YOUR RESUME BLANK!!!
Every person, including you, has skills and knowledge that you can show off, even if you have never worked a day in your life. The challenge is for you to discover and transcribe these skills and knowledge into words. Students, for example, can look to relevant courses and educational achievements – what skills did you pick up from some of your classes? Did you strengthen your written communication skills, for example? Did you increase your knowledge of marketing principles and practices?
Students can also write about relevant courses in the same way they would write about a past job. They can provide a brief description of the course, for example, along with “key roles” undertaken and “achievements” that resulted because of their work.
I would highly advise catering each resume toward the job you are applying for. Take a look at the job description – does it list qualifications or skills that they are looking for in a candidate? Try to include these somewhere in your resume.
Most job seekers are qualified for the positions they apply for, whether they have years of professional experience or not – the challenge is to figure out where you’ve picked up these skills and to transfer that knowledge onto paper.
 Ways to Boost Your Resume While You’re Still in College
The job market is tough out there, especially for graduates who are competing against thousands of others for the same jobs. The way you construct your resume and cover letter will definitely give you a leg up on the competition, but there are also other ways to improve the content that you include on your resume.
One problem that graduates are typically faced with is the fact that they have little to no work experience. Employers obviously understand this, so they won’t hold this against you, but they also understand that opportunities to gain real- world experiences are available to students all the time. The students who take advantage of these opportunities are usually the ones who will stand out to hiring managers. 

Students have access to a variety of resources. They can apply for a number of internships or volunteer positions, most of which are unpaid, and these types of positions are usually easy to find within your school. Internships are designed to not interfere with your school work; they typically occupy only a few hours a week and they do not impact your ability to study or complete your course work. While working for free may not be at the top of your list, you need to realize that it will give you an advantage over your competition and it’s in your best interest to jump at the opportunity.
Just think about it from a hiring manager’s point of view. He or she is deciding between 2 candidates for a position. Both received excellent marks in school and both have beautifully written resumes and cover letters. One, however, used one of his summers to intern for 12 weeks. Looking at these applications strictly from a qualifications point of view, which one do you think has a slight edge over the other?
Sure there are tons of factors that can influence one candidate’s qualifications over another, but your best chance is to always stay ahead of the competition. Experience is never frowned upon. 

Education Vs. Work Experience on a Resume: What Comes First?
A lot of people find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to formatting the content on their resumes. Is it better to list your education first or your professional experience? Like most answers, the answer to this question depends entirely on you.
 People who list education first on their resumes typically have little to no work experience or are recent graduates, and this is usually the proper way to formulate your resume. Education will never hurt you on a resume, so if you’re applying for a job and have little to no work experience, it’s probably best that you include your education first. You can further boost your resume by including any educational awards you’ve received and you can also list courses you’ve completed that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.
On the flip side, if your work experience far outweighs your education, it’s probably best to include this first, but it’s entirely up to you to decide. It’s important to keep the job you’re applying for in mind when deciding how to construct your resume. Are you applying for a position as a marketing director, for example, and you have 15 years of experience in a similar position? If so, this should be one of the first things a hiring manager sees on your resume.
The most important thing to remember, however, is that both education and professional experience are equally valuable in their own right. If you’re concerned about which to list first on your resume, you can include both of them in your objective statement to make sure that they are both noticed straight away. 

Top 100 Most Powerful Resume Words
In today’s society your resume is the most important document you have to get yourself an interview. Including power resume words will increase your chance of getting hired by 80%! When a hiring manager is seeing the same old resume time and time again which includes the cliché words and phrases such as “highly dedicated individual” or “great team player” you are guaranteeing yourself that your resume will be deleted.
Poorly chosen words and clichéd phrases can destroy the interest of the reader. Power words when chosen correctly can have the opposite effect of motivating and inspiring the reader
Power Resume Words will make help you stand out from your competition and increase your chances of getting hired!
Top 100 Power Resume Words!
Advanced, Assigned, Assessed, Absorbed, Accelerated, Attained, Attracted, Announced, Appraised, Budgeted, Bolstered, Balanced, Boosted, Bargained, Benefited, Beneficial, comply, Critiqued, Closed, Collaborated, Designed, Delegated, Demonstrated, Developed, Detected, Efficient, Enhanced, Excelled, Exceeded, Enriched, Fulfilled, Financed, Forecasted, Formulated, Generated, Guided, Granted, Helped, Hosted, Implemented, Investigated, Increased, Initiated, Influenced, Integrated, Innovated, Instituted, Justified, Listed, Logged, Maintained, Mentored Measured, Multiplied, Negotiated, Observed, Operated Obtained, Promoted, Presented Programmed Provided Projected, Qualified, Quantified, Quoted, Recommended, refine, revamp, reacted, Retained, Recovered, Reinstated, Rejected, Sustained, Skilled, Saved, Scheduled, Supported, Secured, Simplified, Screened, Segmented, Streamlined, Strengthened, Triumphed, Troubleshot, Taught, Tutored, Translated, Trained, Uncovered, United, Unified, Updated, Upgraded, Validated, Viewed, Worldwide, Witnessed 

Including Key Achievements
If I had a dollar for every resume I saw that did not include “key achievements”, I would be a very wealthy resume writer!
Failing to include key achievements throughout your resume is a recipe for disaster and will cause your resume to be put straight in the deleted folder and never to be seen again.
The job market is competitive, and if you’re going to prove to the hiring manager that you are the best candidate for a job, you need to show off every key achievement and skill that will stand you out against all the other job candidates. Remember the golden rule of resume writing – your resume is a marketing document and, as such, needs to market all the great things that you can bring to a potential job. Providing achievements that are backed up with quantitative evidence will guarantee that you will stand out from the other job seekers.
The best written resumes adequately sell the person’s achievements, skills and personality. Do this correctly and I guarantee that you will find success.
What Types of Achievements should you include in your resume?
Employers want to know the value you are going to add to the business and therefore want to see examples of your past behaviors to indicate your future behaviors.
Types of achievements to include are:
  • Ways you saved the company money
  • Examples of how you reduced costs
  • Examples of new ideas or implementations that resulted in positive outcomes
  • Special awards or recognitions you received (e.g. voted #1 salesperson for two consecutive years)
  • Training, hiring, mentoring, leading, managing staff
  • Resolution of problems or issues that led to a positive outcome
  • Training courses, seminars, workshops that you successfully completed
    2 key Tricks and Tips to turn your resume into a selling tool
    Use strategic keywords throughout your resume to catch the reader’s eye. Strategic keywords will ensure that your resume will be picked up by employers using software programs that help eliminate candidate resumes
    Go through the job requirements to find out exactly what the employer is looking for in the right candidate and incorporate these directly into your resume. For example, if the job is looking for someone with leadership skills, make sure you provide examples about the leadership you performed either in your past jobs or through community involvement or extra-curricular activities
    Including responsibilities and duties in your resume are important because it shows the reader what you actually do on a day to day basis. However, in order to take your resume to the next level and stand out against the competition (and get the highest possible salary!), you need to focus on value added achievements.
Listing Hobbies
I frequently come across resumes that include a section for “hobbies and interests” or something similar. Many people think it’s necessary to include something like this, however I can assure you that it’s probably best to avoid doing so. There is a limited amount of space for content on your resume and just a small amount of time for the reader to look over your information. That being said, you should use it strictly to highlight your professional qualifications and achievements, not your personal hobbies and interests.
Hiring managers are looking to see how you can specifically help them and their companies, not whether you enjoy skiing or bike riding. This sort of information is often times seen as “fluff ” – in other words, irrelevant information that is used solely to take up space on a resume to make it seem longer. If you’re concerned about your resume looking too short, there are lots of ways to increase the content without having to lists your hobbies and interests. Think about substituting them for something more work-related, like a section for your professional qualifications or computer-related skills. Or maybe try adding some achievements onto your professional experience section.
While I feel I make a strong point against listing these on your resume, people are always going to be adamant about using them. So, if you absolutely must include your hobbies and interests, try to at least make them pertain to the job you are applying for. Do any of your hobbies involve using your leadership skills, for example? Do they show a pattern of long- term commitment? The most important thing to remember is to keep the content on your resume professionally relevant. 

More Numbers Less Words
Are you sick of not landing job interviews? Are you applying for jobs you feel you are more than qualified for, but not having any success? More than likely, the problem has more to do with the way your resume is written than not having the right skill sets for the job.
Resume writing is an art form and in order to be successful your resume needs to pass 4 major rules:
Skills and qualifications are highlighted in order to make your resume instantly stand out. Reports suggest that once a hiring manager or recruiter opens your resume you have between 10-20 seconds to make an impact. No impact, no interview, no job!
Strategic keywords to highlight your achievements and pass online screening software tools that are used to reduce the amount of candidate resumes that a business may receive for a certain role.
Formatted, structured and presented specifically to target your experience and industry
Presented in a professional manner using the correct font, bullet points, headings, length and most importantly error free!
How can I make my resume stand out from the crowd?
Using numbers and quantitative evidence to highlight your achievements is key to standing out from the competition and presenting value added evidence about the type of behaviour a hiring manager can expect from you. If your position involves business development, for example, rather than including a generic description such as “Excellent communicator and relationship manager”, you can spice up this sentence and turn it into an “Accomplishment Statement” that will aid your resume in being noticed. (Don’t forget to use strategic keywords!)
Example 1: Successful business development and account management helped to exceed annual sales target of $X by 15% for the full financial year.
Example 2: Managed a team of 6 Sales Representatives in conducting product launches to increase new product penetration into the market leading to an overall increase of $5 million over a 12 month period
Example 3: Part of the Project Management Team involved in the rollout of a 200 networks leading to a 10% increase in revenue and a further 20% in cost savings.
Proof and Evidence
Using numbers and evidence to back up your statements will aid your resume application and make your resume shine against other candidates. In the current economy where jobs are tough to get, you need to prove to the hiring manager that you are the best candidate for the job and the best way to do this is to use numbers to back up your achievement statements. 
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