Meet the Robots Reading Your Resume

Meet the Robots Reading Your Resume Have you ever applied online for a job you thought you were perfect for, only to never hear back from the employer? Your resume might have been kicked out of the application pool because you designed it for human eyes not for the robot eyes of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), the recruiting tools many organisations are now using to help streamline the hiring process. That means, if you want your resume to make the final cut, you should consider letting go of outdated rules and making sure youre going robot-first instead.  This infographic by HireRight explains further. Takeaways: It costs a company $3,479 to hire a new employee. On average, 144 people apply for each entry-level position posted. 89 people apply for each professional-level position. Some large companies, such as Google, have received thousands of applications up to 75,000 in a week. 50% of mid-sized organisations use ATSs. Dont use fancy formatting robots simply prefer neatly organised sections. RELATED:  7 Steps to Writing a Resume That Beats Application Tracking Systems.

The Mistakes Youre Making on Your Resume and How to Fix Them

The Mistakes You’re Making on Your Resume and How to Fix Them Your resume is more often than not, the first thing an employer is going to see. It’s important to keep your resume polished and up to date, so that it will stand out. It might seem like it’s no big deal, but simple mistakes like being too wordy, or not including information relevant to the job you are applying for, can cause your resume to be tossed into the “no” pile. Let’s go over some of the most common mistakes people make on their resumes, and how to fix them. Too Wordy In most cases you want your resume to be no longer than one page. Even, if you are creating a curriculum vita, or CV, you generally don’t want to go beyond 2-3 pages. Employers are short on time. If they see you going on and on about things that have nothing to do with the job you are applying for, they are going to lose interest quickly. Think economically. Say with 5 five words what you were going to say with 10. This will not only save you space on your page, but also give your resume a clean and professional look. Another way to avoid being wordy is only to only include information that is relevant to the job you are applying for. If you are a construction site manager, keeping your high school pretzel stand job front and center on your resume isn’t going to help. However, if you led a team of foreign exchange students to first place in a pinewood derby contest, you might want to include that. It lets the employer know you are not only able to lead and manage a group of people, but that you also have very effective communication skills, and that would be relevant information. Being Vague This is another common mistake people make on their resumes: they think by being vague, they are actually giving a lot of information, or that they are successfully avoiding specifics they would rather not get into. That is not the case. All you are doing is confusing and possibly boring the person reading your resume. Simply saying, management experience, in your resume is not enough. What did you do? How many people did you manage? What were some of the responsibilities? In essence, you have to prove it. If you have specific things you would rather not delve into, don’t include them on the resume, even if you give a vague overview. The lack of clear answers will only lead the potential employer to ask you further questions about your vague statement, if you get far enough to have an interview in the first place. Be specific, give examples, and if you don’t have anything too specific to talk about, it probably isn’t worth including on your resume anyways. Proofreading So you didn’t notice that you spelled experience, as epxereince, until you are in the middle of the interview. Good going. If you took the time to actually look over proofread your resume, after you had finished it, you might have caught that could have caught the error. In fact, proofreading your resume multiple times will greatly improve the quality of your resume. Not only will you catch simple grammar and spelling errors, but you might think of things to add, or areas to improve while you are looking it over. It is a good idea to have a neutral party look over your resume as well. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in our own heads, especially after going over your resume for the umpteenth time. Having someone else take a look will give you a fresh perspective on your resume. There are even professional services that will look over your resume, give sound advice, and provide templates. If you are taking your job search seriously, proofreading your resume multiple times is a must. Tailoring Your Resume Different jobs have different requirements. You might want to keep a few different versions of your resume handy, depending on the jobs you are applying for. I myself keep 3 three different versions of my resume: one for writing, one for front-of house-restaurant work, and one for back-of-house restaurant work (I moonlight as a cook and server from time to time). Bringing my writing CV to an interview at Applebee’s would be downright stupid. However, I can easily take my restaurant focused resumes, and fine-tune them for any restaurant I apply to. Not only that, but I can also adjust my resumes from their templates. For example, if I am applying to be a writer for a newspaper, I would take my writing CV and rework it a bit to emphasize my time spent in college working on the school newspaper, whereas. On the other hand, if I was were applying to be an editor of a literary arts magazine, I would emphasize anything to do with creative writing and my career. Having a few resume templa tes on hand, will let you quickly and effectively prepare for any job. Wrap Up Don’t make it harder on yourself by having a lackluster resume. Keep it simple, straightforward, and to the point. Make life easier by using one of these resume samples. Give it a few look-overs once you are done, and you should be well on your way to your next job.

Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Business Coach

Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Business Coach Are you looking to grow and expand your business in new ways? Many people try very hard in order to try and guarantee that they can see success when they start to move forward with their business. But, how can you do that in a way that is effective and that will help you to stay on top of everything? Many people will tell you to hire someone like business coach Adam Pritchard to get started with what you need to be successful in the business world. Here are a few reasons why. They can help you to get out of your “safe space.” We all get worried about taking risks in the world of business and, because of that, we may not be completely willing to try and take care of things that way. If you need a push so that you can get out of your comfort zone, a business coach is going to be the main person that you want to be able to take care of that for you. They can help to guide you toward realities instead of just dreams. Many people who start businesses are great at innovating and developing ideas. But, at the same time, they may need a push and some help as to how that can become a reality in the long run. A good business coach will guide you in that direction, which can be a huge benefit for you and how you start to see your business in the future. They can be a mentor that gives you advice and points you in the right direction, no matter what. Advice is something that we all need, but friends and family may be so excited or blinded by the situation that they may not be able to give that advice. If you hire a business coach, they will call you out on whatever you may be doing, point you in the direction that you need to go, and allow you to grow your business in an effective manner. They can help you network. Business coaches have been in the industry a long time, so they know a lot of people. With some work and connections, you can meet many of those people as well. They will help you to connect with others in such a way that you can find answers and be able to get whatever you are looking for. Investing money makes money, even in this case. While a business coach costs money, they are part of the “puzzle” that is investing money to make your business grow. There is a lot of proof out there that business coaches have helped many, many people to work toward their dreams and figure out what may be next for those who are out there and checking things out. See what you can get your hands on and learn what the next steps could be for your business to thrive.

The 7 Habits of Highly Social CEOs

The 7 Habits of Highly Social CEOs One of the best ways to stoke up interest in social media amongst employees is to get the leadership team to lead by example. If you have a leader that embraces social and actively engages on say Twitter or LinkedIn, this sends a powerful message to the rest of the organisation. Not only is it ok to use social media professionally, but the boss is doing it and showing the way. Granted, not every CEO will have the inspirational powers of Richard Branson, let alone three million followers on LinkedIn, but every leader can learn lessons from the most social company executives out there. Our friends at  Weber Shandwick recently released the second  Socializing Your CEO  study, an audit of the online engagement activities of CEOs from the world’s largest companies.  In its report, “The Social CEO: Executives Tell All,” 76 percent of executives surveyed believe their CEO should be actively using social media. The study finds that the online sociability of these top CEOs increased dramatically over the past two years, with 66 percent of CEOs engaging online in 2012 versus 36 percent in 2010. This growth in online visibility comes from posts on the company website as well as corporate videos on the company website and YouTube. Despite the large gains in CEO sociability, the use of social networks has barely budged over the past two years.  When CEOs resist, it’s generally due to social media use being atypical for their region or industry. Also, CEOs often fail to see the return on investment of participating in social media, according to the study. Interesting takeaways: 73% of executives with social CEOs search to see what their CEO is posting 69% of executives with social CEOs would like to see even more activity from their leaders The not-so-social CEOs still do updates, either to the company website (62%) or to a company intranet (50%) The greatest benefits to a CEO being social include: sharing information, enhancing company reputation, demonstrating innovation 7 Habits of Highly Social CEOs: Use an expansive set of social tools Have their own blog Leverage the company website Self-author (DIY) Look forward Are spontaneous but not too informal Engage wide variety of stakeholders RELATED:  Social Media from the Top:  Influential  CEO Leadership The infographic below details more findings from “The Social CEO” study: Learn more about becoming a social CEO in our  interview with the Chief Reputation Strategist of Weber Shandwick, Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross (also available in iTunes).

How to Write a Mobile Application in Resume?

How to Write a Mobile Application in Resume?Writing a mobile application in resume is very essential for companies. While organizing the files in the company, there is a lot of tracking which needs to be done and the mobile application or the application that the employee has developed is just one of them. It helps the company to keep track of the application as well as keeping a close watch on what the employee is doing at all times. As a result of this, the employee gets promoted faster.The mobile application is the most popular and well-liked one in the market. There are lots of small companies who take help of mobile application while arranging the files. Since the application is very easy to use and requires no special skills, it is used by the majority of the companies. Though there are some people who write the application but most of the time, they give the task to the professionals. However, if the software developer knows the use of the software, then he/she can also do it. The applications helps the user to share the data and documents that are more compatible with the mobile format. This is one reason why it is widely used by many people. The writing of a mobile application in resume is not an easy task and you should take help from the professionals if you want to write it yourself.The first thing which should be done when writing a mobile application in resume is to find out the document format. If you want to have the best results, you must follow the document format. You must also make sure that the user can see the information in the list so that he/she can locate it easily.Next, the developer must be able to think of a unique way to display the information about the application. There are lots of ideas that are supported by the mobile application and the developers have to think of the best ways to display the application. For instance, some of the mobile application are capable of playing music, showing images, calendar and games.The designer of the mobile application should be able to think of some innovative ideas which will add up to the data which is present in the application. While creating the application, you must ensure that there is a lot of flexibility as well. The mobile application should be very simple and should not have any complex features. Therefore, the user should be able to download the application easily and he/she should be able to use it quickly.The designer must be able to produce a very good and useful application for the customers. The software developer should keep it in mind that he/she should not concentrate on the appearance of the application but the functionality of the application. This is because people who are browsing through the mobile application will be able to enjoy the design and the features of the application.The application, which is produced by the software developer should be compatible with the other applications and must be available in the market. You must keep it in mind that the application is very important to the customer. The quality of the application determines the future of the company. Therefore, if you are able to understand the above mentioned points, then you can get rid of the hassle of writing a mobile application in resume.

How to Write A Resume That Crosses Borders (Infographic)

How to Write A Resume That Crosses Borders (Infographic) Want to land your dream job abroad? Take a look at this infographic from the team atHansen Companyto learn how to write a résumé that travels. These days more and more people are looking to start working in new and exciting far-flung locations across the world. Fortunately, digital innovations and cheap travel costs means that it has never been easier to find a job abroad to fund your wanderlust. As you fire off applications, you may find that there are vast variations in employer expectations from country to country. To put yourself forward as a serious contender, you must familiarise yourself with the cultural conventions around job applications in your chosen country. Failure to perform this due diligence may significantly hamper your job search efforts. This is especially true of your résumé as this will be the first impression an employer will receive of you. Hiring managers will be able to easily pick out applications from candidates who didn’t bother to do their research and these will go straight into the slush pile. So what kind of things do you need to consider when writing an international résumé? To create a CV that crosses borders you will need to consider a wide range of variables, including: ?Whether you use the term CV or résumé ?The length of the application ?Whether or not you should include a personal photo ?Whether or not you need to include personal information such as your gender, date of birth, and marital status ?Formatting and language conventions This helpful infographic guide features some practical pointers on how to customise the content and formatting of your résumé based on various national standards. Good luck with your job hunting journey!

Interview Tips for Men Whats in Your Wallet

Interview Tips for Men Whats in Your Wallet My male clients often ask me questions about appropriate interview dress. Most know to wear a suit and tie and polish their shoes. But I recently read a great post by  Ann Lindsay of Style of Success, an image consulting firm specializing in men, titled  What Does Your Wallet Say About You?  If you think about it, your wallet is a huge part of your interview attire.You may need to pull it out during the interview so you can give out your business card or accept cards from others. So what does your wallet say about you?According to Lindsay, the wallet is often the weak link in a mans professional interview attire. A worn, overstuffed wallet says:Im not organized.Details dont matter.I dont care that the lines of my clothing are being distorted.I put myself last.Yikes! Certainly not the impression you want to convey during an interview. You can read the full post  here  for advice on how to select a great wallet and keep it neat and organized. And if you are interested in working on you r interview attire, check out our partnership with Lindsay via Career Solvers  image consulting services.