Ashley Ellis » Resume

Resume Rules you CANNOT Break!

lnourahmadi — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:30:10 +0000

Your resume is the first impression you give a recruiter or hiring manager. Even things as little as the name of your document to the length of the resume are things you can be sure they’ll notice. To increase your chances of landing an interview, make sure you follow these three resume rules.

Avoid Embellishments – It may be tempting to exaggerate just how many years you have of a particular skill, but fabrications like this would be a big mistake. Many companies have practical tests to see how advanced your skills are, so any embellishments will catch up to you in the end. Make sure all your information is current and correct, from your address to your skill sets.

Do not write a book – Your resume is supposed to be a summary of your skills and experience. It is not supposed to be a play by play commentary of each position you have held since high school. On the other hand, details of the important tasks in your previous positions are essential. While a ten-page resume will barely be glanced at, being too vague does not give the hiring managers a good idea of what you did at your last jobs.

Multiple methods of contact – Many people list their email addresses on their resume as the only form of contact, and then only check their emails every couple days. Unfortunately, the chances of them missing a great opportunity this way are very high. Make sure there are at least two ways someone can contact you on your resume, preferably a phone number in addition to your email address. Do not let lack of communication be the reason you don’t get an interview.

Let your first impression be flawless. Proofread your resume and follow these rules to create the best representation of your successes. A well constructed resume should get your foot in the door, and then you can knock them dead with your personality in the interview. Good Luck!

p.s. If you join us on Facebook from now through January 31, 2012, you could WIN a Kindle Fire! Just like our page and sign up on the Happy New Year tab! Thanks for helping us build our online community!

-By Layla Nourahmadi

Job Search Tip: Achievements Vs. Responsibilities

Clare — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:05:39 +0000

It’s typical on a resume to make a series of bullet points that list your responsibilities in previous positions. However, what many people don’t realize is how little this can sometimes mean. Why? Because anyone with the same basic skills could probably have taken on the exact same responsibilities, setting you apart from no one. The real question is, were you successful at those responsibilities? What did you achieve through those responsibilities?

To really set yourself above all the other candidates out there, focus those bullet points on your achievements rather than the basic responsibilities behind them. For example, maybe you developed a mobile application for a company. Sure, anyone can do that. But if that mobile application you developed was so successful that it’s still used today by hundreds or thousands of users and helped increased business by 10%, then make sure your resume says so! Maybe you helped your department become more efficient, increased the functionality of your company’s software, or created a highly successful solution to a problem. Whatever you’ve done, make sure you highlight the difference between the foundational responsibilities and the achievements you accomplished on top of those.

Photo Credit

Job Search Tip: Proof Reading

Clare — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:40:45 +0000

The debate’s still out there on how much spelling or grammatical errors matter on a résumé or cover letter. Some hiring authorities say that unless you’re applying to be an editor or something similar, a couple of errors don’t make a difference to your ability to do a great job. But the truth is, you never know if the person you’re sending your résumé to agrees with this or not. And so, the simple solution is to always proof read every word you write on an application.

And don’t just rely on spell check, as often a misspelled word may still actually be a word, just not the one you wanted. Read slowly a few times through a printed version of your resume (it’s harder to catch errors on a computer screen), and even read it aloud or backwards, to make sure you catch all the errors. Or, hand a copy to someone you know has a great grasp of grammar and spelling. Whatever you do, make sure everything is error-free to guarantee your best chance for your dream career.

Job Search Tip: Listing Hobbies on your Résumé

Clare — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:18:07 +0000

Are you still listing hobbies on your résumé? It’s one of those old résumé habits that many people still cling onto, but unless your hobbies and interests relate to the job or company you’re applying for, those hobbies rarely do much but take up space.

With the little amount of time hiring managers spend reading résumés, hobby lists are usually ignored, especially if they’re completely extraneous to the job. If your résumé’s already pretty long, adding a whole new section listing hobbies and interests can be detrimental.

So the general advice is to skip the hobby section on your résumé. If the company you’re applying for prefers people who have hobbies, they will usually ask during an interview. If you’re insistent on the hobby section, keep it to relevant interests that relate to the job. For example, if you’re applying for a programming position, you could prove your passion for your work by mentioning that coding is a hobby of yours.

5 Easy Tips to Help You Customize Your Resume

Clare — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:48:22 +0000

You’re always hearing that you shouldn’t send out masses of generic resumes. You should customize your application to where you’re sending it. You hear it at least three times a day when you’re mid-job-search. And you’ve begun to tune it out. Who has time for that? How do you even go about doing it? Here, just for you, is a quick and easy guide.

1. Name the hiring authority

Even if you’re not writing a cover letter, you should have a specific name to which you can address your email. If the name’s not listed with the job description, poke around online or simply give the company a call to find out who’s in charge of hiring for that position. This is a quick way to show that you actually care about whom you’re sending your resume to.

2. Position title

Make sure your resume objective is specific, and instead of writing something vague, such as, “to obtain a position relating to my skills in….” or something equally generic, include the actual position title. After all, the objective of this particular resume is in fact to obtain that particular position.

3. Name of the company

In many cases, you will know the actual company you’re applying to, and you can easily write this into your objective too. This will be a clear sign that you’ve put in the extra effort to write this resume specifically for this company. If in the case you don’t know the company’s name, try to be as specific as you can, perhaps including the industry instead of the company name.

4. Required skills

Somewhere on your resume, you probably already have listed your skills and all the experience you have using them. Make sure that out of all the skills you list, the ones that meet the requirements of the job are listed most prominently. This way, whoever’s reading your resume will see the immediate keyword match, instead having to search them out.

5. Culture fit

You may not be writing a full-blown cover letter, but you should at least have a short introductory email. While it’s never guaranteed that your message will be read, it is a good idea to reflect the company in your note. Mentioning why the company appeals to you or how you think you’d be a good fit with the culture described in the job ad or on their website is another sign that you’ve done your homework and are serious about the job.

Daily Job Search Tips: The most important parts of your resume

Clare — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:42:20 +0000

Are you paying attention to the details in your resume?

It’s easy to research basic resume templates online and follow a general format, but are you paying attention to how your format is affected by the content of your resume?

It’s seems like a simple difference, but there is a distinction between bolding your job title instead of bolding your employer’s name – in most cases, who you are is more important than who you worked for.

Or between listing skills in order of your proficiency or importance instead of alphabetically – people want to know what makes you most valuable; they don’t care about everything else.

Or between putting the most recent work experience before relevant education – your most recent lessons come from your most recent experience, not school.

These are simple choices but they really do make a difference to how someone reads your resume. Pay close attention to every detail of your resume in order to have the maximum impact.

Daily Job Search Tip: The knight in shining armor

Clare — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:23:28 +0000

Solve a company’s challenges before you even get the job!

Wondering how you can customize your resume to a particular employer and appear as their knight in shining armor? A great way to do this is by understanding what challenges a company may have and providing your own ideas to solve those issues. How can you figure out these problems?

It might be hard to find out the challenges of a specific company, but it’s easier to figure it out for the company’s industry. Maybe their industry is struggling in the economy, or maybe their industry is changing significantly with new technology.

Once you’ve determined what potential challenges this company has, your resume and listed skills should suggest how you could help solve those challenges. Use your past experience and skills to show how you can help this company grow and succeed. This will help you stand out as a candidate and make your skills and experience highly attractive.

Photo Credit

Daily Job Search Tip: Resume White Sound

Clare — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:44:29 +0000

Designing your resume with space in mind

You’re often told to keep your resume to just one or two pages. Unfortunately, many people understand this piece of advice to mean, stuff one or two pages with the same amount of text it takes to fill 10 normal pages.

But when you jam-pack your 1-2 page resume with a ton of text, it becomes illegible and unattractive. Cut down your text as much as possible, leaving your resume with only concise, brief sentences. Cut out any unnecessary or repetitive information.

Only then can you use the white space to your advantage. Spaces between sections and titles make it easier to navigate your resume and make the most important parts stand out.

Daily Job Search Tip: Beware of Pre-Made Resume Templates

Clare — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:03:22 +0000

Resume Templates are a Bad Example

Whether you use the resume template from your word processor or if you’ve download one from the Internet, be cautious. Here are a couple of things to think about before you make the decision to use a template. First, consider the fact that a lot of people are probably using that template already, and you’re resume will look like everyone else’s and blend into the masses.

Secondly, these templates are often hard to manipulate if you ever want to change the design or add sections, so you may end up starting over if that’s what you want to do. Finally, these templates don’t always translate well onto other people’s computers once you’ve emailed it. Instead of directly using such templates, just use them to get an idea of how to design your own personal resume.

Daily Job Search Tip: Resume Keywords

Clare — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:42:05 +0000

Using Resume Keywords to Unlock Your Job Search Success

Even though you spent over an hour or even a day writing your resume, the people reading it won’t afford it the same amount of time. Plus, the people reading aren’t always in the same career field, and their lesser technical knowledge leads them to picking out keywords. So how to you cater to these people in your resume?

Without making your resume completely illegible, put plenty of emphasis on keywords. Focus on job titles, applicable skills, and important aspects of the job descriptions. For some easy hints at what keywords are most important, take a look at the job ad for the position you’re applying to. The job ad will give you a clue as to the main skills and job descriptions, providing you with the exact keywords you need. Just make sure the keywords you focus on are an accurate description of your experience; you don’t want to make yourself out to be someone you’re not, just for the sake of using keywords.

Photo Credit