How to Write a Good Resume in 7 Easy Steps

How to Write a Good Resume in 7 Easy StepsHow to Write a Good Resume in 7 Easy StepsWriting a resume can feel like a daunting task - just one more item on your never-ending to-do list. But if youre hoping to score an interview for your dream job, bear in mind that a well-written resume can be your foot in the door. Put anotlageher way, your resume and cover letter are key pieces of marketing collateral for your career.Resume formats have changed over the years, and its important to make sure yours meets todays standards. How should it look, how long should it be and what should it include? Here are three guiding principles for how to make a good resume.Tips for writing a resumeUnless you have more than a decade of experience in your career, limit your resume to one page.Avoid using flashy fonts or unusual formats to attract a hiring managers attention.Rely on integrity and professionalism when writing your resume rather than gimmicks to get an interview.Whether youre?crafting your d ocument from scratch or just want to keep it fresh as you prepare for a job search, follow these seven steps for writing a resume1. Grab attention quicklyMinimally, your resume needs your current contact information at the top. Include your name, phone number, email address and, if applicable, links to your website and LinkedIn profile page.Historically, resumes included an objective statement at the top of the page, which explained the type of job a candidate was seeking. What hiring managers and recruiters expect now is?to see a short, snappy paragraph thats more akin to a profile. Think of these important two or three sentences as your written 30-second elevator pitch they should quickly summarize your experience and training, the outcomes youve achieved, your relevant skills for the role, and why youd be a great hire. Expand on your qualifications deeper in your resume and in your cover letter.2. Show outcomes from your contributionsThe bulk of your resume should focus on your w ork?experience. List your past jobs in chronological order, from most recent to oldest, and take a results-driven approach to describing your duties and accomplishments. That means including meaningful information?about how your work had a significant impact on a project or the company.Take time to explain how you excelled in the position. Use action verbs, give specific examples?and include?as much quantifiable data as possible. For instance, instead of simply saying oversaw project management, show the value of your work by including the following type of details Project manager for a six-person team responsible for $500,000 in client work, with impeccable deadline accuracy. Created new calendar system to streamline requests and minimize meetings.3. Showcase your soft skillsAs youre writing your resume, remember that soft skills are critical to your career success. Your resume should provide examples of how youve used skills such as communicating effectively, being organized or ma intaining a positive attitude to achieve your goals.Remember to?show, not tell. Rather than saying that youre a good communicator, give examples. Maybe you have excelled at public speaking and creating presentations, or perhaps your email newsletters have succeeded in bringing in a specific percentage of leads to the company website. Want to show that youre organized? You could describe?the event where you were responsible for coordinating with 20 vendors, arranging travel for 50 individuals and managing?on-site details, and then point out?that your work helped generate sales.GET THE SALARY GUIDES4. Highlight your technical knowledgeShow off your software skills and technical knowledge as youre detailing your work history. Every industry is different, so make sure you share your levels of proficiency with any?software an employer expects you to use. Use the job description as a guide for what programs the employer is interested in knowing about.Employers generally assume job candida tes have Microsoft Office experience, but?do list your levels of proficiency with each of the suites programs, noting if you have completed any training or certification programs.5. Display your specialized skillsInclude any specialized talents, such as foreign language fluency, which could give you an edge in getting an interview if the employer has international operations. Likewise, list any awards or recognition youve been given relevant to the position.Theres no need to highlight all your hobbies or personal interests on your resume, but if some are relevant to the position or company, be sure to include them. For example, you might not normally include volunteering at an animal shelter on your?resume as an accountant, unless you were applying for an accounting job at a veterinary hospital. Some hiring managers love to get more insight into job candidates personalities this way, while others are more neutral.6. Include the right keywordsMany companies scan resumes and cover let ters looking for the keywords theyve used in their job postings. The key to writing a resume that gets through their filter is to use?words and phrases that match their job listing. Update your resume for each job you apply for, tailoring it to highlight your most relevant work experience. For example, if an employer is looking for an applicant with experience maintaining executives calendars, use the same wording in your resume, instead of a more casual phrase like keeping track of schedules. Following the employers lead on keywords also shows you pay attention to detail and understand how to write a resume tailored to the specific job.7. Proofread your resumeOne simple mistake could be all it takes to kill your chances of landing an interview. An employer whos been inundated with resumes probably does not need much of an excuse to remove you from contention. Meticulously proofread your resume for spelling and grammatical goofs. In plus-rechnen to running spell-check, read your doc ument aloud slowly so you can focus on each word. Finally, ask a trusted friend to double-check your work.Need some cautionary tales about typos? The following job seekers from our Resumania archives let easily avoidable errors trip them upEducation Earned a diploma from a very repudiated college.Experience Academic tudor.Skills Excel at working within a tea-oriented culture.Work history My last employer fried me for no reason.Qualifications I ooze mangnetism.Salary requirements Looking for a bass salary of $40,000.Referees available by request.As the need for professional talent grows, employers want to hire people who are able to?make an immediate impact. The right job applicants understand their industry inside and out and have a track record of showing initiative. Knowing how to make a resume that stands out is the first step in proving to a hiring manager that you fit the bill and deserve?an interview.Now that youve mastered these tips on writing a resume, are you ready to let our recruiters take a look? Submit your resume to Robert Half.

Want to Join the SES Here is How to Get Started

Want to Join the SES Here is How to Get StartedWant to Join the SES Here is How to Get StartedWant to Join the SES? Here is How to Get StartedAre you thinking about applying for the elite SES ranks or for an SES Career Development Program within the next five years? If the answer is yes, then now is the time to start planning Like in show business, in government there are no overnight successes. Instead there can be many unnoticed years of dedicated hard work as you head toward future leadership roles. This concept welches illustrated in Rudolph Giulianis bestseller Leadership, in which the former New York Mayor states that he didnt simply become a great leader on 9/11. Instead he purposefully took on challenges throughout his entire career.Which employees can start planning to apply for SES?Federal employees eligible to apply for the governments SES-track Career Development Programs (CPDs) come from the manager and senior technical levels GS-14 and 15. Others with a five-year plan o f their own could begin around GS-12/13.The best advice to all potential SES applicants is to start writing the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) right away.The Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) are OPMs tool for assessing whether you have demonstrated the levels of leadership necessary to join the SES to be accepted into an SES Career Development Program.If you start writing your ECQs now, you can also use this as an important self-assessment tool. This way, you can begin to look at whats missing according to the Office of Personnel Managements required 28 leadership competencies, advised Diane Hudson Burns, co-author, The New SES Application.The practical reason for this self-assessment is that youre going to have to prove your SES worthiness with specified types of real-life examples. If you are lacking some of the real-life examples, then you need to fill in the gaps over the next several years by seeking career opportunities to help you achieve your goal. This exercise wi ll literally help you plan your climb.The ECQs are your Past Performance.ECQs are broken into 5 separate leadership competencies (see the list below). You need to write two examples for each of the ECQs from your past work experience which show that you already demonstrate a particular leadership competency. If you have managed a program, changed an organization, lead staff through difficult times, worked through a changing budget, or developed a new partnership, then you have some excellent accomplishments to start writing your ECQs.Consider these ECQ descriptions and questions to help you prepare to write your ECQsECQ 1 Leading Change This competency is about leading change, not just implementing change. It demonstrates creativity and strategic thinking. Ask yourself, When did I lead change? Why was change needed? What was my role in the change? Remember, this is not about what your department did, but what you did to lead change.ECQ 2 Leading People The second ECQ centers on th e ability to lead people toward meeting the organizations vision. Your example might address conflict management, leveraging diversity, or implementing career development. Ask yourself, Who did I lead? What was going on with them? What were the challenges of their jobs?ECQ 3 Results Driven The third ECQ relates to action, staying on task, following up, and being driven by the desired results. Top leaders are very results driven, like Giuliani was as New Yorks mayor.ECQ 4 Business Acumen To tackle this qualification, you need three hats leading finances, human capital, and technology. This can be the toughest ECQ. Government people tend to think about programs and policies, rather than business. But think of contracts, procurements and budgets for finance, restructuring, recruitment and training for people, and security, IT security and automation for technology.ECQ 5 Building Coalitions The fifth ECQ is about partnering, political savvy, influencing and negotiating. Ask yoursel f, How well do I partner with other organizations to achieve goals? How well do I communicate with them? How well do I work with others?Writing your ECQs is like writing your own executive leadership book about what you have accomplished. Its an important exercise that can result in increased confidence in your achievements and an impressive resume. The ECQs are also important talking points for your next behavior-based interview. For instance What is your best accomplishment for 2011? Write it down and share it with your best friend or co-worker- Kathryn Troutman and Diane Hudson Burns book The New SES Application is the latest publication from the award-winning Federal Career Publishers.GET THE BOOK2nd Edition available Dec.2015$21.95 (includes postage)

Clean Up Your Online Footprint

Clean Up Your Online Footprint Clean Up Your Online Footprint In a recent post, Career Rocketeer discussed the importance of building a positive online footprint.Your online footprint is the digital imprint of your life. Its the things you created deliberately, with readers in mind, like your LinkedIn profile or VisualCV. But its also the comments you made two years ago on a political blog. Its the nasty review you once wrote on Amazon because you were feeling cranky. Its the letter to the editor from belastung year. Its the hobbyist website you own that has nothing to do with your profession. In short, its everything you ever did online using either your real name, or a screen name that can be traced back to you (and if someone is trying hard enough and knows what theyre doing, thats basically any screen name).As Career Rocketeer points out, online research is increasingly commonA recent poll of HR professionals and hiring managers showed that more than half will Google prospective candidates at some point during the hiring process. Furthermore, 46% of those, have said that they have eliminated candidates based on what they found What this means for job seekers? If youre looking for a job, the people you need to worry about are recruiters and employers. But can it be too long before hundreds of companies spring up with the sole purpose of researching people online? When employers outsource the work to experts in that way, there will literally be nowhere to hide.So now would be a good time to evaluate what youre doing online under a variety of screen names and determine whether you want to keep going. Feel passionately that your chosen political party are the good guys and the other side is evil incarnate? Thats fine but does the world need to hear you say it online? Can the debate continue without your five cents? Because if so, youre probably better off to hold your fire.Angry enough with someone else to write a long tirade against them on a public forum? Con sider sending a private message or email instead. Want to review a book on Amazon? OK, but keep it non-controversial and make koranvers you spell and punctuate correctlyBut thats down the road what about now?Right now the people looking up your name in Google wont be delving into alternate screen names unless they have a lot of time on their hands. More likely they will Google your name and see what comes up.That means you should do the same (and use Yahoo and MSN too search engines all return different results). What do you find on the first 3 pages? I dont like what I found. Now what? Now comes the hard part. The web is pretty much forever. Even sites that disappear may be catalogued on The Wayback Machine and similar archives. But there are things you can do to minimize the impact of something you said or did online. Here are just a few suggestions, but these are by no means exhaustive. If you know of more, please add them in the comments.1) See if you can change your screen na me on the site. If you can, as the search engine refreshes its results, your chosen screen name will replace your real name. It will take a while depending on how often the site is reindexed by the search engines.2) Write to the site owner and ask him/her to delete your comment. This is only effective for small sites and even then, many site owners will refuse to rewrite history by removing your comment. But its worth a try.3) And by far the most effective abflug replacing the results you dont like with ones that reflect more positively on you. Here are 3 things you can departure working on now to replace negatives with positivesOnline ProfilesComplete online profiles on all the major social networking sites and use your real name. MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, ZoomInfo, Plaxo, Visual CV and Naymz are good places to start. If you use the same name and email address, the results from these sites will then show up on sites such as ppl.com, which aggregrate social media profiles and th is will help push negative content down the results. You should also set up our own Google profile.Soliciting testimonialsLinkedin and Naymz allow you to receive testimonials from others, which then appear on your profile. Make the most of this feature because it will help mitigate any negatives. Comment or write on business blogsAnother way to push negatives down in the search results is to start making informed and useful comments on blogs about your industry or field. Some of these will make their way into search results. You can find blogs at Technorati.If you like to write, submit guest posts to blogs in your field and be sure to use your real name. Blog posts rank very well in the search engines for a variety of reasons and this is a surefire way to position yourself as an expert in your field. Deal with what you cant fix In some cases, there will be a big fat negative just sitting out there online waiting to catch you out. You cant hide it, you cant bump it down, and you cant persuade anyone to remove it. If this applies to you, you need to make a plan to deal with it. Depending on how bad it is and how closely related to your work, you may even need to proactively address it in interviews.One of my clients ran a website for a famous musician and, through no fault of his own, became the target of fan grasflche when the artist made a decision fans didnt like. As the face of the site, he was the one people discussed (i.e. trashed) online. For quite some time, these discussions were on page one of Google for his name. So he addressed it head on in interviews, explaining the situation and how he handled it. As far as we know, that strategy worked every time. In Summary In the early days of the web, most people felt that they could partition their online lives. They had one screen name for political blogs, one for discussing their favorite band, and one for professional activities. That is no longer possible. All of these identities will one day be attributa ble to you so start now to build the kind of digital footprint you can be proud of when people research you online.And to those who accuse me of encouraging people to be inauthentic, let me ask you this do you generally blurt out your political opinions when walking around meeting new people? Do you frequently get into shouting matches with other people in public? Do you share 25 Things That Drive Me Nuts with all your co-workers? If the answer is no, then think carefully before doing it online.Photo by ezioman