Chambers Assist

In Sept. 2008 at the National Resume Writers Association convention, I had the privilege of listening in on an HR panel who took the time to share what they wanted to see (and did not want to see) on a job candidate’s resume. Here’s what they had to say:

State your objective.
You needn’t have an “objective” section per se but HR reps agree that they want to know right off the bat that you’re well aware of the position for which you’re applying. This may seem like common sense to you but to someone with a stack of 100 resumes, it’s an important distinction.

Avoid functional resumes.
Whenever possible, use a reverse chronological format and make sure to highlight the last five years of your work/life experience. The panel agreed, it’s fine if your recent work is irrelevant; you should still discuss it.

Consider combination and hybrid formats.
If your most impressive work accomplishments are earlier in your work history, add a highlights section to the front of your resume but make sure to limit it to the top 1/3 of the page at the most. Another option is subtitling your bullet points with headings that are relevant to the reviewers’ needs.

Don’t stress over job titles.
Titles mean different things at different companies, depending on size, industry, and location. For this reason, resume screeners pay less attention to job titles and more attention to job responsibilities.

Compensate for a missing degree.
Not having a degree is NOT a deal breaker. Some advice to those without degrees is to play up personality traits and soft skills. Degrees denote commitment, follow-through, and organizational ability (to name a few). If you illustrate your talents in these area, you’ll hit an emotional chord with your reader, and they’ll want to interview you.

Keep fonts traditional.
Unless you’re in an unconventional field, use Georgia, Times, Courier, or Arial (10-12 point) font.

Remain sincere.
Verbosity, excessive confidence, hyperbole, and over-inflated language were all greatly looked down upon. Stick to the point and you’ll win every time. Better to explain a shortcoming than try to cover it up.

Lose the keyword section.
Running lists of keywords are so 1990s. A successful resume will integrate keywords throughout all of the sections, not try to lump them all together in a desperate attempt to attract as many different job opportunities as possible.

Include links to your online profile.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other networking sites provide valuable information to complement your resume. Panelists agreed that recommendations and comments from these sites prove helpful in evaluating candidates.

Keep links “hot”.
Some resume reviewers enjoy moving from the resume to your online profile to your employer’s bio. Supply these links to make surfing easier for them. The more time they spend learning about you and your work history, the better off your are.

The above information was taken from a 2-hour seminar as part of the National Resume Writers’ Association annual conference in San Diego, CA, 2008. There were 6 panelists comprised of recruiters and HR reps, representing a broad range of multi-national corporations and small businesses. Cliff Flamer (http://www.brightsideresumes.com/about-brightside.php) serves as the NRWA’s Certfication Chairperson charged with overseeing the credentialing of all its memebers.

Cliff Flamer
http://www.articlesbase.com/resumes-articles/human-resources-personnel-tells-all-about-resume-wishes-693036.html

See how quickly Intel’s X25-M SSD enables you to launch office applications, hibernate, and then resume back to productivity. You can go to lunch while your colleague with the conventional hard drive must wait!

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If you want to change careers or if you are looking fro a new job you may be creating resumes for yourself. Resumes are always thought of to be complicated and also nerve-wracking but they are a lot easier to put it down complete than you would have thought. Keeping this in mind, there are yet many more complications as well as problems that may come up. The biggest problem for resume writers comes when they have to put down the references.

Listing references is one thing most of you will be doing if you are putting down your resume. The references can be in two kinds of formats. The two are professional references and personal references. Many of the employers would like to see both these. Most of the companies who hire people would like to see at least three references on the resume.

Now you know what companies and employers are looking for on your resume regarding references. You can start jotting them down now. You can go on with this but you must want to proceed with further caution. References are where most of the resume writers make mistakes. Below are a number of mistakes that are outlined so that you can make sure you do not make them same mistakes in yours.

One of the hugest mistakes you can make on your resume is not to put down any references at all. If you are submitting your resume for the fun of it, you may get off with it but do not take any chances with it. If you still have not put down your references and are not sure about them, put a lien saying ‘references will be given on request’. Omitting information on your application may cause rejection. So do not overlook any small matters to be put it.

Many of them do not ask people if they can use them as a reference at all. In most of the places they do check if you have put down the references. This way you are sure to be in trouble. They may be receiving a phone call so do make sure that they person you have referred to knows that you have put them down on your reference list on the resume. You do not want the referred person to be shocked that you had put down their name in your resume. This may also bring down your chances of getting the job.

Many of the companies would like to have a combination of both personal as well as professional references on all the resumes that are submitted. This is one thing you should make sure you do not make and also one thing that most of them do make. You may list about four references on the resume just for this sake. This would let you have equal number of both the personal as well as the professional references.

These are the common mistakes that most of the resume writers make. Keep these in mind and try not to make these mistakes on yours. This will give you an upper hand in getting your job when you are in for an job interview.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/listing-references-in-your-resume-reasons-you-must-do-this-702875.html

Legendary Record Producer Steve Lillywhite discusses American Idol.

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If you wear more than one hat where your job skills are concerned you would obviously like to emphasise on the most important ones in your resume to be found suitable for a special kind of job. The Customer Services resume
is undoubtedly the most important of resumes that you could have. This kind of a resume is going to get you the best job possible, regardless of whether you have made your own resume or have had it made by a company that specialises in customer services representative resume. This resume will give you the best reference in your area of work and will be most beneficial to finding a good job.

How to write an impressive customer services resume
To write an impressive customer services resume you have to ensure that all your positive traits are highlighted in it and that the company you are applying to gets a remarkable opinion of your abilities right away. You should let the company know through your resume that you have worked in a similar position before and in companies that are highly reputed, that you have handled issues relating to this job with confidence and done a good job of it and that your educational and other qualifications enhance your abilities to do this job well. Maybe you could have references from your earlier places of work with experience letters that give you a good reference and show your work as being of a high quality. Once the new employer is convinced of your aptitude and has a favorable impression of your resume, there is nothing to hold you back from getting that super job.

The resume should fit on a single page
No employer likes to go through pages and pages of a resume with descriptions and other stuff taking up too much of his time. he would like to see it all on one page and written in a concise manner so that he can gauge your work and qualifications as well as your past experience fast. There will be several candidates applying for the same job and no employer will have the time to waste by going through long resumes. Short and sweet is what they want. This saves them their time and also lets them know what your work is going to be like in one swift glance. So if you have written long resumes, shorten it immediately without loosing the gist of the matter and the information that is very necessary.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/customer-services-representative-how-to-write-a-resume-that-does-all-the-talking-703266.html

Do you know WHY you are writing a resume? Few people stop to ask the question “What is a resume?” and then end up writing one that doesn’t work. Watch this short video to learn 3 things a resume really is, so you can write one that will get you noticed.

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A resume is the term used to describe the history of your life. It is also called a Curriculum Vitae which is generally abbreviated as a CV. Sometimes, some people mistakenly write it in the lower case as a cv or c.v. This is a mistake which should never happen, it should always be written in the upper case as a CV or C.V and not the other way round. The resume is a very important document on which all your hopes and career dreams rest upon. Your promotion to the next career ladder, a better position which is more challenging but with a better pays all lies on the way you design your resume. In fact your resume represents the best you have to offer. It should therefore ensure that you do not miss out on that job you saw and thought is the best bet for you.

Employers nowadays receive a lot of resumes once they advertise for a vacant position in their organizations. They receive resumes from hundreds of applicants. So, in order for them to even consider you, your CV or resume should be unique. It should stand out from among the many received resumes so that at least, you will receive an interview invitation. Unfortunately, most people do not have the know-how as pertains to writing a winning resume. They will often spend little time possible while preparing their resumes. This ensures that no interview invitation will ever come their way. Writing professional resumes is a skill which people must acquire or learn in order to get themselves being invited for interviews, which in turn, will lead to the jobs of their dreams.

And of course, even after your resume has landed you a job of your dream, it should continue to be useful piece of a document. It should continue to work in your favor for future job applications even after obtaining you a job interview. The document will always help you at an interview by carefully focusing the interviewer’s attention on your strong points and achievements leaving out your weak points. Even after the interview is over, it will continue to work on your favor because the interviewer will most likely re-read it before making a decision as to who to offer the job to.

After you have been offered the job, the resume will help in pay negotiations because a well written document will always give out your full worthiness. You are more likely to get a fatter check with a well written resume, than you will get with a poorly written one. So take your time when writing your document and the result will always pay higher dividends.

By Freddy Ngiam, Founder & CEO http://www.JobSupermart.com- a job portal in Singapore, Hong Kong & USA.

freddy ngiam
http://www.articlesbase.com/resumes-articles/a-resume-what-is-it-723454.html

Steven Seagal Resume

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When writing a resume, it is always good to take your time, think about your work experience and the kind of a job you are looking for. There are numerous types of resumes available. If you are re-entering the job market, the type and the format of your resume is quite different from the one you would construct for a freshly college graduate. It would also be different from one a person who had been working continuously would format. An individual who is charging careers would opt for a different type and format. Below is a summary of the different types of resumes a person may opt to construct.

Skills-based resume

This is the type of a resume allows the writer to group their work history by skills and not by places or dates of employment. The writer is able to highlight the most important skill they possess, starting with the most pertinent experience instead of the most recent working experience. These types of resumes are best suited for people who are re-entering the job workforce, the first timers in the workforce and do not have the relevant working experience. It is also useful for people who are changing their careers. This is because they can list the most relevant skills to the job they are applying for when they are writing the resume.

When writing the resume, ensure you write a clear objective statement that will explain how your skills relate to the job you are seeking. Ensure you include a career summary. This will explain why you are changing your career or seeking re-employment. The general format is as follows;

ü Header which should include the name, address, phone numbers, email.

ü Objective statement

ü Career summary

ü Skills grouping

ü Places of employment list which should include employer names, locations and dates of employment.

ü Your educational background which should include the schools name, location and your grades or score.

Chronological resumes.

This is the type of resume which you list your work and educational history chronologically. It is the most common type of a resume. You list your achievements in different positions and not what your job responsibilities entailed. When constructing these resumes, you quantify your career accomplishments and summarize any information which you think is of a less value to your job-hunting efforts. When writing this type of a resume, the format to follow is as listed below;

ü Header with your name, physical address, phone numbers and email

ü Statement of objectivity

ü Career and skills summary

ü Reverse chronological career listings which should include your employer location and name.

ü Your educational background

Functional resumes

This is a type of a resume bears very close resemblance to the skills-based resume. It can be very helpful to newly qualified graduates and people seeking re-employment. For those who worked in different work places in a short period of time, a functional resume can assist in avoiding you being labeled a job-hopper. Even for those who held temporary and contract positions, a functional resume will help in highlighting the skills they gained while in these jobs. The style lets you explains how your previous work and educational background has provided you with the appropriate background for the job opportunity you are applying for. Here you list the jobs according to what you think is the most relevant one leaving the irreverent ones out. You will also list a summary of all your past employers accordingly. You should also include an objective statement in your resume.

You should format it as follows:

ü Header with all your personal information

ü Objective statement

ü Careers and skills summary

ü Career listings according to relevance to the position applied for.

ü The history of all your past employment, listing your employers and the dates of employment.

ü Educational history

Combination resumes

As the name suggests, this is a combination of chronological, functional, and skills formats. It marries all kinds of resumes types in one document. It is useful to new job-seekers as well as to the old workers who are in need of a new job. The format highlights your strongest credentials. It is quite helpful to people who have employment gaps because it lets them focus on what they achieved while employed. The objective statement should be included. The layout to follow is as highlighted below;

ü Header with all your personal information.

ü Objective statement

ü All your career summary

ü Skills summary

ü Reverse chronological career listings

ü Educational history

Video resumes

These are not very popular but as time goes by they will become the in-thing. Job listing sites such as Jobster and vault.com let job applicants to post video resumes online. Word of caution though, make sure you can use your video before you post it online. Resume videos should be well tailored and should relate to the job you are applying for. This will help in getting the attention of your prospective employers. To make the video resume, make sure you dress up appropriately, speak clearly and do not make distracting motions. Just like for the paper resumes, begin with your name, address, and email address. Next, list your educational background, qualifications which should be relevant to the job you are applying for. Don’t forget to mention any special skills you may possess. End the video resume by re-stating your name, and remember to thank the watchers of your video.

There you are, these are but a few resumes types you may choose while constructing your resume. Good luck!

By Freddy Ngiam, Founder & CEO http://www.JobSupermart.com- a job portal in Singapore, Hong Kong & USA.

freddy ngiam
http://www.articlesbase.com/resumes-articles/resume-types-723448.html

The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China have been holding talks in Ekaterinburg in the Urals. The discussions are focusing on economic and military co-operation, but the ministers also touched on international affairs.

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