My Campus Chronicles
Our college blog dedicated to helping students prepare for life outside of college.
Tim Gorman archive
Let's face it, resume writing can be difficult and stressful. To help combat the confusion when writing a resume, try refreshing your memory with some useful tips.
CareerHub is a great source for career tips, and interviewing and resume tools. Recently, they posted a link to one of Louise Fletcher's e-books called Insider's Guide to Resume Writing. The ebook is sent to recipients via email and can be found here. This is a timeless source for not only writing your resume, but offers other ideas and guidance about finding a job.
Here are a couple of chapters that I found most interesting and provides some sage advice.
· Louis Fletcher's chapter called "Don't Write a Resume - Tell a Story." This section focuses on shaping your resume to tell what you have done and how you did it.
· Another chapter called "How to Pass the Hiring Manager's 30-Second Test" is based on the idea that hiring managers only take 30-seconds to review a resume. This provides job seekers useful advice for creating a resume that stands out from the masses.
· Also check out the chapter titled the "Pros and Cons of the Two-Page Resume." This gives some food for thought when considering what to add or delete from your resume.
Resumes are the most important first step in the job search. They are often your first impression, and represent the type of employee/candidate that you are so make sure its a good one. Good luck!
I am always interested in articles and blog posts that refer to "hot jobs" or "top career choices" lists. One such list that caught my eye was recently posted on Career Builder Campus blog. It names some exciting and rather inventive career options, including Art Therapist and Animal Defense Attorney. Yes, those are real jobs. If you've got a passion for something unique and what may be considered a niche career, these are some great options for you. For those of you who want to stick with career paths a bit more commonplace, you've got choices too. Consider some "hot" mainstream industries in 2007 that are desperately seeking good, qualified talent.
Healthcare will continue to seek out dedicated employees, especially in nursing and allied health positions. If you're looking for a career that has longevity and provides a daily dose of excitement, healthcare may be right up your alley.
Technology is still a red hot option. The IT industry is always evolving with new products and innovative ideas, which can mean long term growth opportunities and an outlet for creative juices. It too remains one of the most exciting career choices for potential job candidates.
Other industries that make my list of "2007 hot jobs" include accounting, education, law enforcement and human resources.
Whether your goal in life is to become an executive chef to the rich and famous, or to happily spend your days crunching numbers, the opportunities are bountiful. Once you've chosen a field to pursue, focus your energy and efforts towards landing the job. For help and advice on getting the job check out the posts in the job search guidance and career advice sections of this blog.
Sharing career "wins" with a potential employer can be an effective way to showcase your skills and expertise during the interview process. However, many candidates are reluctant to tout their accomplishments for fear they're bragging. As discussed recently on a Career Hub blog post, the use of portfolios, typically used by creative professionals, are becoming more mainstream even among even business folks and can make promoting your work more comfortable.
Portfolios are a great way to showcase some of your best work, and they also serve as "cues" to help remind you to mention your most successful project work. Keep in mind that you should only use examples of work where you developed the project yourself, or where you played a prominent role. Also, be selective when developing a portfolio of work. Too many examples can become boring, and if they are too old, the examples will no longer be valid.
Remember the interview process is the opportunity to sell your potential employer on the expertise described in your resume or on your application. If you don't "toot your own horn" no one else will.
We study the workforce frequently and on a wide variety of topics. One such study really struck a chord with me (no pun intended). Take our recent research on listening to music at work (which for the record, I think falls in the latter category). A large majority (79 percent!) of workers said listening to music during work actually improved their job satisfaction and
55 percent said it also improves productivity. Those are pretty large numbers if you ask me.
And don't just chalk these up to a few workers who will say anything to keep their headsets on from 9 to 5. The scientific community has been studying the impact of music on our brains for years. In fact, recent studies indicate that listening to and playing music actually alters how our brains, and thus our bodies, function. Scientists are using the power of music in a number of ways, from battling diseases to relieving pain and improving children's test scores.
So, the impact listening to music can have on job satisfaction and productivity doesn't seem so far fetched. I'm curious then why only 32 percent of workers said they listen to music at work. Let me know what you think. Is it because your employer doesn't allow it? Or that your corporate culture just doesn't encourage it? Do you find it distracting rather than a helpful aid in boosting productivity?
And lastly, if you do mix business with music, do you prefer rockin' out to the Black Eyed Peas or mellowing out to some good ole' Beethoven?
Asking your employer or prospective boss for work/life balance options can be difficult. However, as a recent article in Employment Digest suggests, asking for concessions, such as a flexible schedule, early on in the hiring process can be well received by potential employers. I’d agree that being honest about your work/life balance objectives from the get go is good practice. But even if you are already in a job you love but lack the work/life balance you desire, I suggest you try asking for it.
Scared? Many workers are. But you shouldn’t be. More and more companies are beginning to understand that valuable, talented workers are growing scarce, and that honoring the work/life balance wishes of its workers is far better than risking losing them. So, consider these helpful tips, and go for it!
Before you ask, formulate a clear idea of what you need, how you propose to achieve it (i.e. flexible hours) and how to implement it.
Make sure you know what policies already exist, what initiatives may have failed in the past, and most importantly, be armed with examples of organizations that have successfully instituted work/life balance programs.
Address any business implications that may result from your proposal such as impact on productivity, employee morale, job satisfaction, etc. There are numerous studies that illustrate the financial benefit to companies that utilize work/life balance programs.
If you present your case and your boss still appears hesitant, suggest a trial period where you can both try out your new arrangement. If you are both happy with the results, then make it a permanent gig.
Net net is this, don’t assume that just because work/life balance programs don’t exist at your company that they aren’t something your employer would consider. If you don’t ask, you’ll never get what you want and need.
I’ve caught several articles in the past few weeks about career fairs and how to make the most of them. I particularly liked a piece by Tracey Minor who suggests using job fairs as practice interviews among other things. Throughout my career in the staffing and recruiting industry, I’ve been involved in many, many job fairs representing Spherion and seeking prospective employees. Although there are many new, innovative venues to use for job searching (such as this blog), career fairs still offer candidates a number of benefits, not the least of which is landing a job. I won’t list the benefits here, there are a number of articles you can check out that cover them very well including "Guerrilla Tactics for Job Fairs," and Ian Ybarra's post with three important tips.
I do have a collection of “what not to do’s” that I can share with you. They are:
1) Never attend without a resume
2) Please don’t hand out a resume with errors/misspellings
3) If you’re not dressed for the part, don’t go. Remember, this is an interview
4) Approaching employers/booths when it is overcrowded – you’ll never stand out – wait until they are less busy
5) Don’t drop off and run – avoid the urge to simply hand out as many resumes as you can – that isn’t the goal. Make sure you take the time to talk to the employers, ask questions and appear genuinely interested and not just another company on the receiving end of your resume rampage.
