As a recent high school or college graduate now in search of a full time job you must do all you can to standout among potential employers. Among your tools is your resume. Keep in mind that a good resume needs to be accompanied by great cover letter. Every day millions of teenagers and young adults submit their resumes to prospective employers, hoping to land their dream job. But, most of those resumes either end up in the trash bin or filed away for some “future use.” Only a very small percentage of applicants actually have resumes that catch the attention of their would-be employers. Why is that? What is it that makes the difference between having your resume noticed and having it discarded? Simple, it’s the cover letter that gets the attention of those in the position to offer you a position. [Read more...]
Resume Mistakes to Avoid
Looking for a part time job, your first job or ready to start a new career, your resume speaks volumes about you. If your resume doesn’t make it past the first cut, you’re doomed; no matter how qualified you are. Below are ten common mistakes to avoid when putting your resume together. Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
1. Multiple pages – You need to be concise. Keep it to one page and one page only. If you can’t highlight your talents on one page, you’re giving the message that you are unorganized and tend to go on and on.
2. Fancy paper – If your skills don’t speak for themselves, then your fancy paper isn’t going to make a bit of difference.
3. Fancy font – Same as above. Don’t try to set yourself apart with a different font on your resume. Set yourself apart by being uniquely qualified.
4. Irrelevant info – No one really cares that you were a singing waiter if you’re applying for an accountant job.
5. Outdated information – Does it matter than you had a newspaper route and were on the high school cheer leading squad 24 years ago? No, not in the least. Leave it off.
6. Typos and misspellings – You would think this is an obvious one, but you’d be amazed at the number of resumes received with big blaring mistakes.
7. Falsified information –Greatly elaborated credentials are the same as lies. Do not list diplomas, certifications, affiliations or awards that you did not earn. Just don’t do it. It’ll come back to bite you in the butt.
8. Attachments – At the resume stage do not send any attachments, whatsoever. If you are granted an interview, at that time you could bring in whatever it is you’re so hot to get into the selecting official’s hands. The person accepting the resumes will likely just throw it in the round file.
9. Elaborating too much – Place of employment, job title and brief, very brief description of job responsibilities are all you need. Don’t complete a whole paragraph for each job you’ve held.
10. No cover letter – Writing a good cover letter is a bit of an art. However, any cover letter is better than none. Just keep the same principles in mind with your letter: Brevity, relevant and free from typos.
If you can avoid these simple ten resume mistakes, you’re more than half way there to getting an interview. Once you have your foot in the door you can really shine for the boss. If you don’t make it past the first cut, due to any of the above fatal mistakes, your beautiful resume will be used to wipe up coffee spills or will be added to the recycle pile! Don’t let that happen to you. And if you would like some professional help along the way you might want to check out ResumeEdge. ResumeEdge Resume Builder now only $29.99
Writing an Entry Level Resume
Are you a teen or young person searching for your first job or perhaps a new job? Then you will need a resume. A resume is nothing more than a statement about your past skills and knowledge, but formatted into an easy to read way.
Just as for adults in your search for teens jobs a resume is your personal business card. A resume gives you the chances to write everything good about yourself – this may be one of the only few times socially it is acceptable to brag.
Skip using the pre-formatted templates in Microsoft Word or any other kind of desktop publishing software suite. These resumes focus too much just on what you ‘did’ at work versus what you can do.
You want your resume to be a complete reflection about you. A lot of times these resumes in Word leave very little room for you to talk about your outside personal life. What other kinds of activities do you spend a lot of time in? This helps expand upon what you really know and does not just define the kinds of technical tasks you did at your last place of employment.
Here is an incomplete list of tips you can use to create a quick effective resume without pulling your hair out.
Top 1. Put your name in bold and in 16 point font in the very top of the page and center it. Your name is your headline like in a newspaper.
Tip 2. Put your contact information right your name including an email address now. Many employers or recruiters rely on email to send information or request resumes.
Tip 3. Write an objective. This area seems to be one of the toughest for people to wrap their minds around. Your objective should be about a simple 10-word sentence or less. What kind of job are you applying for? Are you applying for a teaching assistant at your local school district? Then just write: “Position as a teaching assistant at Wilson Elementary.”
This lets the employer know you are specifically seeking employment with them and also it personalizes your resume. It is specific to them. They are not on some mailing list of 100 other places you sent your resume out to. That is known as a broadcast mailing.
Tip 4. Open up a clean Word document. Now, begin brainstorming everything and anything you have ever done in the past including jobs, volunteer opportunities, vacations, schools, classes, and so on.
You are looking for certain skills that may be useful to your potential new employer through your various experiences. Your experiences are proof that, yes, you can do such and such.
Previous Experience: You played the piano for 7 years while a kid and now want to get a job as an executive assistant.
Skill: You learned how to type in grade school at the same time and have the ability to move your fingers rapidly across the keywords. You can type 75 words per minute. This is a skill backed by proof through experience that you can do what you say you can.
Tip 5. Spell check, spell check, spell check. There’s nothing worse off than sending a resume to an employer without combing through your resume with a fine-tooth-comb.
Ask 3 or 4 friends and relatives to read over it. Also, take a break from your resume mentally for two or three days. When you take a break and look back at it later, there are many things that will jump right out at you that you wouldn’t have noticed before. Maybe you need to change the way something sounds or you think of new ideas to add.
Your resume is a living, working document. When it comes to job hunting, look at the description of the job. Is there a skill you can honestly perform that is listed in the description? Write that into your resume and use a few of their words. By using their language you are giving them exactly what they want and your chances of getting the job are higher.
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