Tips For Writing a Resume

Tips For Writing a ResumeWriting a resume is the first step to landing that great job. When you are writing your resume, make sure to follow these tips to ensure you come up with the best resume. The tips below will help you with writing your resume.The first tip for writing a resume is to write it in a way that tells your potential employer that you are professional. Even if you are still working on your education, you need to include the university or college attended and the academic type of degree that you have completed. The name of the position you are applying for, as well as your contact information such as email address and phone number should be included. These details are important because these will be used when you meet with your prospective employer and are required by law.Always make sure to include the highest level of education and training you have had. Keep in mind that employers might not realize this unless they ask. They may assume that all of your education and training is at the college level unless they see a full-time college degree.Focus on what you have learned from your education. Do not overwhelm the interviewer with irrelevant information. If your information is relevant, then include it in your resume. This will not only boost your chances of being hired, but also keep your interviewer interested in your experience.You should always send a cover letter as well as a resume to your potential employer. This will tell them what type of applicant you are and what you do. Include your contact information so that they can get in touch with you when they want to interview you.You should always include your contact information even if you are only working part-time. This will help to reinforce the fact that you are someone who can be trusted. Your prospective employer needs to know that you will be available if they need you.Your past employment will give your potential employer an idea of your work ethic. If you did not have many referen ces, consider talking to them. This will provide some feedback about your potential to do a good job. A reference will be able to relate the stories that happened during your job that will help your prospective employer to decide if you would be a good fit for the job.If you do not have any references, then don't feel you need to include this information. Some people have trouble looking for references if they have been with a company for a long time. It's important to be honest with yourself about how much work it will take to find some good references.

10 LinkedIn Headlines that Stand Out from the Crowd

10 LinkedIn Headlines that Stand Out from the Crowd The headline is possibly the most important part on your LinkedIn profile. It is your 120  character hook to people finding you in a LinkedIn search, it should be about what you do as opposed to what you are. It should be memorable and enticing enough for someone to click on your profile and not your competitors. Here is a compilation of a few interesting and creative LinkedIn headlines from around the world. Some are funny, some are memorable and some are very professional. Do let us know which is your favorite below in the comments section! Be sure to check out the  Top 10 LinkedIn Headlines of Recruiters as well. 1. Left right brain thinker Giacomo Bracci Helsen clearly uses his whole brain when coming up with new strategies for design. 2. Bleeding for his art Glenn Le Santo keeps it brief. If you have ever seen Glenns speed of content creation you would definitely agree with his statement in the headline. 3. Wickless Candles Fun? How exactly are candles fun? Well, the headline  sounds like fun. Bit of a tongue twister perhaps but certainly an intriguing headline by Rebecca Brown. 4. The clear value  statement Our great friend and LinkedIn supremo  Ed Han has gone for the classic personal brand statement with clear value to the reader. 5. The publicity expert on Google Joan Stewart is the Publicity Hound, there is no confusion here about what she does for a living. 6. The secret agent Tony Giovannini is a secret agent at UTV, what he really does is obviously shrouded in mystery. 7. Living the dream Antonio Rocha Ferreira is living it up in Lisbon town, to find out more we have to click on his profile (and how could we resist with such a great headline?). 8. Human potential Unleashing that human potential on LinkedIn, Steven Pallesen has gone for an almost philosophical headline. 9. The non-dead recruiter Michael Bense has our favorite recruiter headline and deserves a mention here as well. 10. Not a team player? Gordon Rae takes the biscuit with a humorous headline, wonder how it works when applying for a new job? Have a feeling Gordon isnt too bothered! I hope these headlines have given you some inspiration and will help you craft your own winning tagline on LinkedIn. If you want feedback on your headline, just write it in the comments and well review it for you! Related: How To Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search.

10 Ways to Maximize Productivity When Working From Home

10 Ways to Maximize Productivity When Working From Home Obviously, it’s fantastic to work from home. You can get up a little later, you don’t have to commute into work â€" which is great for both you and the environment. You can make  your own lunch and it’s okay to wander around without any pants on. It also means that you can combine your work with other aspects, like motherhood. That’s probably why it’s becoming ever more popular and that’s why it may be right for you. That said, the fact that nobody is breathing down your neck can make it hard to stay focused. It’s just too easy to crash on the couch for a bit and take a nap in the middle of the day. It’s important you take steps to boost your productivity  so you ensure  you get your work done without having to work late into the night.  Below are some tips to help keep you on the right path to productivy when working from home. 1. Have an office or an office like space We’re constantly being influenced by our surroundings, through such things as priming and other subtle influences. For this reason it’s absolutely vital that you make certain where you sit down to do your work is conducive to you actually getting things done. To accomplish that, you need to remove all the distractions  that might remind you of things unrelated to work. So make certain you can’t see the TV, that your personal phone and texts are turned off, and that the couch is out of sight. This will make it easier for you to stay on target and get done what  you’re supposed to. 2. Be organized Priming also works in terms of junk. The more messy your work environment, the more confused your mind is going to be. They really weren’t kidding when they said ‘a messy space is a messy mind.’ But, in this case, it’s not that the messy mind creates the messy space (though, that too) but more that the messy space creates the messy mind. So stay on top of your mess! This is a great task to do at the end of the say, when you’ve finished everything else as, at  this point, your concentration is at its lowest and cleaning  doesn’t actually require that much concentration. This  way, when you start out in the morning your desk is as clean as it can be, which will really serve to boost your initial productivity. 3. Don’t get pulled into emails Emails can take up a lot of time. This goes double if you’re working from home for the obvious reason that you can’t speak to people directly. Don’t make this worse than it need to be. Instead, if an email is bouncing back and forth more than two or three times and your time is getting sucked out into cyberspace, pick up the phone or use video conferencing. It might take a moment of your full concentration, but at least it’s done and you can get on with your day. 4. Singletask Try to avoid mulit-tasking. Instead, its best to work as hard as you  can to focus on only one task at a time. This is actually much easier at home, where colleagues can’t lean over to interrupt you  and talk  about their weekend. To aid the process, be sure to  have social media sites closed versus  pinging you with your friend’s status updates ever minute.  I’m not saying that this has to be continuous. You don’t suddenly have to become a monk. Instead, keep social media  out of sight for the duration of whatever you’re doing, then check  afterwards and get caught up on whatever might need your attention. 5. Standardize your day Our bodies and our minds like routines. They work far better when we have a routine. For this reason, try to come up with  a standard way of doing things. So, be sure to get up at the same time every day.  Yes, this does seem to defeat one of the freedoms of working from home, but the result will be that because your mind and body are  familiar  with a routine, you’ll be sharper and get your work done more efficiently. That more than compensates, don’t you think? That doesn’t mean that you need to work in the morning, or the afternoon. It just means that you need to figure out when you work best and make certain that is when you work. Have a schedule and stick  to it. 6. Have your tech help in place This is vital. There’s nothing more frustrating than being on a roll then you have your computer, your work tool, flunk out on you. For that reason, take care of having your tech people in place before such things happen. They can utilize  remote access  systems and thereby directly access to your computer  when things go wrong and fix the problem. Your flow will only be momentarily be interrupted instead of completely derailed. Do make sure that you get use someone  trustworthy and reputable! The best way to go is to ask other people who work from home how they’ve set it up and who they use. 7. Work in several spaces One of the big advantages of working from home is that you don’t actually have to work from home. You can also go down to the local coffee shop, or the park. Sometimes the very act of moving from one work space to another can clear your head and give you the energy to start again with fresh energy. You can either try to do this in an unstructured way, or â€" if that doesn’t appeal to you â€" use what Lifehack refers to as ‘workstation popcorn’. Here you divide you work up into sets of three, which you do in three separate locations. When you finish at one place, you head to the next one. This forces you to take breaks â€" something that many of us often forget to do, despite it helping us clear our heads and focus our attention. It also means that we’re getting out of our dark caves and getting far more sunlight, which â€" let’s be honest about it â€" many of us can use more of. 8. Exercise Since we need to exercise anyway, why not use it to promote productivity? The great thing about working from home is that instead of having to go early, late or take an hour out from the middle of your work day, you can now intersperse your little exercise routines in between jobs. All you need is some weights or to go for a walk. This will let your mind calm, physically relax, improve your mood your and allow your concentration to reset. You can even consider doing these exercise routines as little rewards for finishing tasks. For example, if you use the Pomodoro method, where you work really hard at something for 30 minutes using a timer and then take a break, this can be your break. This way you won’t just get your work done, but you’ll end up a bit more fit in the end. 9. Go virtual Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have to do everything. Instead, consider outsourcing some of your tasks. Outsourcing tasks is  getting easier every day. There are dozens of websites that can help you write, manage your appointments and organize your day. You can either try using actual AI, which is getting better all the time, or use people. For the former consider Amy, which is a fantastic virtual program that will schedule meetings for you, without you needing to learn any new programming language. Instead you just add her to an email and she’ll take it from there. Did I mention that it’s free? For that personal touch, consider such sites as Upwork and Freelancer. Here you can find thousands of freelancers that you can get to do jobs for you for a pittance, thereby freeing yourself up for more important tasks. 10. Know when to quit The big danger of working from home is that you always take your work home with you. For a short time this can make you more productive, but ultimately this can be terribly detrimental as you stress yourself out and completely destroy your work-life balance. Therefore, just like you need to have a hard start to your day, try to have a hard end as well. Make  sure  that you only breach it, at most, occasionally when you may have  important tasks that need to be completed. Also, try to tell your family or friends about you quit time so they can hold you accountable. Perhaps make a deal with them that they can’t disturb you before that time, but they’re free to come in and remind you that the day is over afterwards. This will make it easier for them to understand the boundaries you have in place because youre  working from home. Boundaries In fact, that’s a vital aspect of almost all the productivity tips that have been mentioned above. You need to know where to draw the line. You need to have boundaries. Here I work, there I don’t. This I do, this I won’t. Here I email, there I call. This is when I need to work, this is when I relax. With previous positions, boundaries were  very clear. It  was when you walked out the  door to head off to work or return home, which  therefore helped you to keep life and work separated. If you work from home, however, that line no longer exists. You have to be far more mentally disciplined to bring that balance back into your life. If you can do that, then you’ll find working from home highly enjoyable. If you can’t, then your productivity â€" and possibly your sanity â€" will suffer.

6 Things To Think About Before You Start Your Job Hunt - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

6 Things To Think About Before You Start Your Job Hunt - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You’ve spent the last three months searching for a job and company that not only interests you, but that you’re confident you can excel in. Unfortunately, you’ve only been able to find one or the other. Finding the right job fit isn’t always easy. The job search can be a painstakingly long process defined by constant hills and valleys (seemingly a lot of the latter). In fact, job seekers report increasingly longer hiring times, with the job interview process taking an average of 22.9 days in the U.S., according to a June research report by Glassdoor. The reason? Glassdoor’s report found that labor markets in some countries simply do a better job at matching job seekers and companies. When it comes to finding the right job fit, you have to be your own advocate. You’ll have a much better chance of success if you take the time to understand your goals, values, and skills and how they apply to various positions and organizations. So, here are six questions to ask yourself before beginning your job search: 1. Why am I job hunting? What led you to begin your job search? Are you looking for your first job out of college? Are you unhappy in your current position? Identifying why you’re looking for a job is the first step in finding the best possible job fit. Let’s say you are, in fact, unhappy in your current role. Spend some time figuring out why you’re not satisfied. Maybe there’s a lack of development or advancement opportunities. Now you know to look for those opportunities during your job search. Answering this question before beginning your search will ensure you don’t fall into a similar situation. 2. Where do I see myself a year from now? Goals give you something to actively work toward and be excited about. Establishing short- and long-term goals is a necessary step in developing a solid career path and finding a job that you’ll enjoy and be good at. An easy way to set career goals is to determine where you see yourself a year from now. What do you hope to accomplish in that time? To better set long-term goals for yourself, where would you like to be in five years? These questions can help you figure out what you’d like to accomplish and what it’ll take to achieve those goals. 3. What path do I have to take to make this happen? Now that you’ve established your short- and long-term career goals, it’s time to figure out how to make those dreams a reality. Discover exactly what it’ll take to achieve your goals. That can mean pursuing further education or training, getting involved in professional development and networking events, building your knowledge and experience through lower-level jobs you get the idea. To establish a clear direction, try looking at job ads for positions you’re working toward. What skill, experience, and education levels do those jobs require? This information can give you a better idea of what path to take. 4. What do I have to offer employers? Whether you’re fresh out of school or have some professional experience under your belt, you have something to offer employers. List out your experiences in and out of school and what you learned from each. Next, determine how those lessons, skills, and experiences can be applied to the workplace. This is something you absolutely want to figure out before being asked “Why should we hire you?” in a job interview. 5. What skills would I like to acquire/expand on? While you need to know what value you can bring to a company, you also want to know what the company can offer you this is where you really have to become your own advocate. Determine what skills could use some work and what skills you’d like to acquire. This will help you find a position that will provide the necessary resources to help you grow and develop as a professional. 6. What type of company do I see myself in? Last, but certainly not least, find out what type of company you see yourself in based on your personality. When it comes to finding the right job fit, skills and experience aren’t all that matters. Your personality and interests are equally important, as they can help you determine whether you’d fit within a particular company’s culture. For instance, if you work best independently, you might be more open to working in a traditional cubicle, whereas someone who enjoys collaborating and isn’t distracted as easily might enjoy working in an open office space. Or maybe you want a position that will allow you to make a big impact on the company. If that’s the case, maybe it’s the startup life you seek. Whatever the case, strive to find a company that fits your needs, skills, interests, and future goals. What are some other things job seekers should nail down before they begin their job search?

The 3 Most Common Time Wasters at Work

The 3 Most Common Time Wasters at Work Employees wasting time at work is a big concern to employers. According to a survey, 80.4% of people waste time at work!Employees spend time on non-work related activities like talking on the phone or texting, gossiping, browsing the web, and on social media. Also there are some in-office distractions like messy work environment, unproductive meetings and noisy coworkers etc.All this hampers employee productivity and that in turn affects the company’s bottom line.evalAmong all these, there are 3 common time wasters that every employee / employer should be concerned about. Here they are â€"1. Chatting with co-workersIts surprising to know how much time an employee usually wastes chatting with co-workers. Employees never realize how much time they waste in chatting and taking unnecessary coffee breaks.Every minute spent in chatting piles up and becomes a concern to the employer.Some believe that it’s a kind of stress-buster and helps employees work better after they have a coffee o r chatting break. But this doesn’t apply to all employees and some may find it disturbing.Hence it is necessary to control the talkative employees without hurting their emotions.2. Non-work related Internet surfingWasted time in internet surfing at work is a bigger issue than ever. With so many social channels available now a days, employees are often tempted to visit social sites. Spending time on social media neither takes them away from work nor they get refreshed. The time spent in non-work related internet surfing is a time-theft, yet many employees refuse to admit it.evalMany times, this leads to debate between the employee and the employer. It, in turn, results in unsatisfied employees, low productivity or even high employee turnover. 3. Useless / unproductive meetingsEmployees have lots of tasks to complete and they feel meetings are pointless. Most meetings are disruptive and many are really unnecessary. Such meetings affect employee productivity. It is true in a sense . There are roughly six general types of meetings that employees have to attend. Most of them involve unnecessary hour-long discussions and eat-up valuable work-hours of the employees. If this wasted time makes employees to work late hours, they may feel burn-out and less motivated.These are certainly time wasters because they don’t contribute to any good for the employees or the employer. Better options for employees to rejuvenate are going for walks, reading a book or meditation. These are healthy options which inspire them to work and also boost their productivity.evalHere’s an infographic from Time Doctor that depicts these common time wasters.Infographic Credit â€" biz30.timedoctor.com

Small Business Saturday Blog or Burn

Small Business Saturday Blog or Burn If your business doesnt have a blog, you are  burning your opportunity to attract  future customers, not to mention, leaving your current customers unfulfilled! And your sites probably not ranking too well in search engines either!  Here are some ideas to make the concept less overwhelming.   If you havent thought about starting a blog, maybe now is the time. When I first started, I had so many questions and there were so many options I felt overwhelmed.   Lets keep this simple and uncomplicated. These are just my recommendations based on my experience and a pretty basic level of technological savvy.   I had to self-teach myself a lot but it has been worth every minute Ive invested. To Blog Yourself You may be thinking you dont have the stamina, ideas, or even desire to start a blog by yourself.   Dont rule out blogging just yet. Ask yourself these questions before you decide one way or another: Can I commit to writing once a week (or at least once a month)? What area of expertise do I want to showcase? Who is my audience (who would benefit from reading what I have to say) Yes, there are many other things to consider and you can check out sites for more on getting started and improving your blogging:    ProBlogger These are particularly good resources: The Best Way To Start A Blog in 2019 from ProBlogger How To Start a Blog â€" Beginner’s Guide for 2019 from Blogging Basics 101 Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers  from Problogger How To Start A Blog from Neil Patel 68 Ways to Make Your Blog Work for You  from Danny Brown Choosing Your Weapon (I mean platform) WordPress.com (free) WordPress.org (you have to pay to host it on a server) Typepad (free) Blogger (free) WordPress is the more popular of the platforms for blogging.   I have found it has the newest and greatest bells and whistles (themes, plugins and widgets).The others all have their own following and pros and cons. I would suggest you ask around and pick a platform that someone you know is using.   This will make it so much easier for you to get your questions asked and help for your problems. A Lighter Load Often referred to as a microblogging sites, this allows you to write posts and share photos etc. Tumblr Nope, Not Ready to Jump off That Bridge (yet) Perhaps this is sounding like too much of a commitment.   Fine, start commenting on blogs in your industry.   You will be able to contribute to the conversation and begin building relationships, learning and acquiring digital terrain. So where do you find good blogs to comment on? Google Blog Search AllTop SmartBrief Commenting Guidelines: One of the best ways to expand awareness of who you are and what you write about is to comment on other blogs. Here are some things to keep in mind when leaving comments: Be professional at all times Check grammar, punctuation, spelling before submitting comments Join in on the conversation by reading the other comments and contributing, adding, politely disagreeing or supporting Add value to the post by adding your thoughts on the topic/issue Be sure to keep it relevant to your areas of expertise Be generous and gracious and polite Use your real name/the name by which you want to be found by Log in/Sign in Commenting on blogs usually requires that you sign in. The choices you have vary depending on the blog.   You want to use the same login/profile consistently.   You can also sign in with other accounts such as your Facebook, Twitter or Google. Discus is another popular sign in tool bloggers use. Then other times you can use your name, email and URL/website. Guest Blogging Maybe you dont feel ready to commit to hosting your own blog.   If you find a blog you like, you might be able to become a guest blogger.   Many times blogs are looking for people to contribute. See if there is a guest blogging policy on their site and follow those instructions.   Reach out and introduce yourself but it might be a good idea to interact on the blog via comments first to build name recognition.   If you go this route, you should have samples of your work and be a strong writer or a new angle. Being A Good Social Citizen Here are some parting thoughts and I am sorry this is longer than I intended it to be. Watch and listen. See what others are doing Experiment with new ideas Have fun Build a community Make your blog interactive, ask for comments, feedback, ideas, other solutions

Does Your Ego Show During The Interview

Does Your Ego Show During The Interview There was a very interesting study done at the University of British Columbia where narcissistic behavior was studied in context of job interviews. According to UBC Psychology Prof. Del Paulhus, A job interview is one of the few social situations where narcissistic behaviours such as boasting actually create a positive impression. Normally, people are put off by such behaviour, especially over repeated exposure. The study was conducted by having participants answer questions to rate their narcissism, then be observed in a job interview scenario. Those who fell higher on the narcissism scale made more eye contact, asked questions, talked about themselves, and joked around a bit. This made them more attractive as candidates despite the reality of what theyd be like as coworkers. Its also interesting that a cultural bias was observed, where candidates from cultures emphasizing humility (as do many Asian countries) did not impress as well during the interview despite being equally qualified. I think many women also have been trained to avoid being pushy and this would apply to that as well. Interviews Need Some Narcissism Theres a difference between a self-inflated egoist and a legitimately confident candidate. If you are qualified for the position and have the resume to show it, youve got healthy reasons to talk about why you are the best fit for the job. Your qualifications are the foundation of your confidence and you just need to look at yourself carefully to build on it. Making eye contact is a skill that takes practice if you arent used to it. Remind yourself to do this with people you talk to all the time and it will get easier. Asking questions also takes some skill. Do some research on questions to ask at your job interview  and be prepared. Talking about yourself isnt comfortable if it was discouraged in your past. Think about the reason you are talking; they need to know if you will be a good fit for their company. Help them know you by sharing who you are. Joking around a bit can backfire if you really are a narcissist because theres an insensitivity to people around you. But being comfortable enough to joke makes everything a little less stressed. The question in the title was, does your ego show during the interview? The answer to that question depends on how you view ego, but theres truth to the idea that who you are needs to come across when you sit in the interview chair. Narcissists arent afraid to talk about who they are, and thats why they make such good impressions in job interviews.