Yall remember how as kids adults used to tell us “it’s not what you say but how you say it”
Well baby. That applies to building your resume as well. 😭
Instead of saying, “I did” or “took care” of something, let’s leave that at the door & spice it up a bit. ✨
You: -Performed -Handled -Completed -Managed -Accomplished -Processed -Administrated
Change it up! Just cause it’s your resume doesn’t mean it has to be bland.
If you need help updating your resume, click the link in my bio and book you a free consultation today.
You got this!
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#resume it's all about wat u have done for previous employers pin each accomplishment separate and tell how the company benefited from it
I hadn't worked for 4 years no college degree made first resume in 16 years hired to manage a business 5 days later
Wow hard to believe u all having this much trouble I made a resume up for first Time in 16 years had 3 interviews two days later think I'm going to o take the management position thus all comes with a 4 year no work gap as and no college degree. Try pin each accomplishment that u have done for the company and how the Company benefited from it #resume
So I have been working for a staffing agency for the past week and a half. The business they placed me at is very nice and most of the people are very kind and helpful BUT (you knew there was a but, right?) the position wasn't very well thought out in advance and frankly there's just not enough work to do. Yes, during the interview I had said I cannot be bored on the job, I don't care what you give me to do, but give me something. They hired for a receptionist/admin asst but due to several circumstances the position is full of hours where I have to "fake" work. I don't want to do this, it isn't fair to me or the business. So, I've been looking for new opportunities (not on work time). The question is, do I put this on my resume? I don't lie or exaggerate on my resume, I feel that's a great way to get caught out and fired, but honestly, this position has brought nothing to my skill set and would look weak at best to someone trying to decide if they wanted to hire me.
I found this on Workopolis this morning -- Your typing font may be causing your application to be rejected: "We’ve looked at three reasons why you’re not getting called for an interview. Here’s one more: your resume didn’t make it past the automated online resume screening. Job postings receive an average of 250 applications, so this kind of resume screening software lets recruiters quickly shortlist candidates that are the best fit for the job. More than 60% of companies use some sort of automated screening (you might have heard of this referred to as an applicant tracking system) to streamline their hiring process, which means your resume needs to make it through. More specially, it has to get past a program called a resume parser. A resume parser cuts your resume into smaller chunks and then categorizes these into different sections for a searchable database. Even if you are the perfect fit for a job, if your resume is not optimized for a resume parser, you will not make it through. Don’t panic! This infographic will show you how to beat automated resume screening."
In this day and age what type of paper should you use to print your resume? And if it is 2 pages, is it better to print on separate pages or two-sided?
I think my last post really said everything that's been on my mind lately in terms of resume-building and icky jobs and sticking with both, but I just can't emphasize enough how singularly important your resume is. If you're not getting any calls and you've applied to more than 200 jobs, then baby the most likely culprit is that old raggedy resume you've had since the year before last that you keep sending out like a brave little soldier, hoping it'll finally win you the battle and get you a job. I strongly recommend keeping that poor resume home for a bit and giving it a little bit of TLC. I'm not talking about adding a bunch of fluff or smudging the truth, but if there's anything on there you can make sound better, more sophisticated and polished, then think about doing it.
A good way to think of resumes and cover letters is like when you used to write persuasive papers in high school and college. Every single point (the responsibilities and skills in your resume) should mean something and should always support your thesis, which in this case would be your career objective. If you want a career where you work with customers and you put that in your objective, then make sure you emphasize the heck out of your customer service experience or your ability to work with people and serve others. You might want to de-emphasize or even remove things that don't support your objective or align with your summary of skills.
And then there's that service that every single professional essay writer out there will valiantly offer for the low price of a billon dollars: "I will tailor YOUR resume to the job you're looking for!" But you can do that too! Without giving somebody $500+ to switch around a few words on your resume. It just requires a little bit of research and a smidgeon of elbow grease. First, you simply take the job description and responsibilities of the job you want. Then you work on incorporating all of that into your resume. I guarantee you can re-word a part of your original resume to make it sound like at least one of the responsibilities or descriptors for the job you want. Job descriptions are free ways to check out what employers in your desired field are looking for. And if you can compile a little list of all the skills they want and responsibilities they want you to be able to perform, then you've got a bit of an edge over nearly every other person applying for those positions. Let those descriptions inspire your resume writing and try to put as many things from those descriptions (that align with your actual experiences) in your resume as possible.
And my last piece of advice, that you can really take or leave depending on what you're applying for, is to use the nicest resume template you can find. For some employers this won't be a big deal because they want you to submit your resume as a simple DOC. But there are tons of free templates out there that can make your resume really stand out to the discerning employer. Colors that pop on top of clean, creative arrangements are really appealing to look at and will likely garner you more attention from potential hiring managers.
It can feel very degrading taking a position that you feel overqualified for, but it's important to think of everything in the long-term. Short-term expectations will have you turning down job offers and avoiding calls from potential employers, and maybe even ducking by them on the street if you happen to be unlucky and shop at the same store as them. But I think you should always think of the "menial" job you're performing as a means to an end. You do hear the over-hyped success stories of people landing their sparkle dream job sparkle right out of school or right after leaving another job, but for normal people who have to deal with our (terrible) local job economies and a fickle job market, it's just not that easy.
So the most important thing isn't that you're mopping floors, flipping burgers or stocking shelves, it's that you're 1) getting paid, 2) gaining valuable experience you can then wax poetic over on your resume, and 3) working towards a goal. Nearly every position out there has an opportunity for upward mobility in some form or fashion, and every job you take, "menial" or not, is (or should be) preparing you for something you might face in a future career setting. I mean working at Walmart as a lowly sales associate earning the bare minimum of minimum wage, while not glamorous or fun, did give me crucial customer service experience and retail knowledge that I've drawn on even when I didn't have a real, 9-to-5 job. Learning how to really talk to people and compromise made me a great seller on eBay and I used the money from doing that to take classes and pay the rent. Working at Walmart also gave me more confidence in my abilities as a worker. I went from being incredibly shy and awkward around customers to being really comfortable and friendly with even complete strangers (only in the stores and on the clock though, cuz 'stranger danger' is still a thing).
Not only that, but with the right words and perspective, you can make nearly any position sound incredibly good on a resume or cover letter. You should never underestimate how incredibly useful a well-crafted resume can be to you during a job search. Even with my admittedly paltry experience, I spruced up my resume as well as I could, asked friends and family to look it over if they had a minute, and hammered at it until I was comfortable sending it out to employers. Only to be rejected. Numerous times. Until I made even more changes and now I've been extended employment offers by more than one company. And right now I have about a dozen different versions of my resume and three different types that I choose from depending on the job description/job title that emphasize different aspects of my career experience. Buuuuut that's probably going overboard tbh. Just having a stellar resume that accentuates your strengths should be enough. And anything that deserves doing deserves doing right, so try not to skip on editing and updates and generally just making sure your resume looks nice enough to take a second glance at.
The point I want to make though (in the most long-winded way possible) is that you should always use every position to its absolute fullest, despite how ill-suited you think you might be for it or it for you. Even if it is literally numbing your poor brain doing it. Focus instead on your long-term resolutions for success and a solid career and remember to always work toward that. That demeaning job you can't wait to get away from is just one little stepping stone on the path to a better, more fulfilling job, but you have to walk the path, bumpy as it may be, before you can reach your final destination.
The main reason hiring managers aren’t calling you to interview is found in the ‘previous experience’ section of your online application. I attended resume workshop last month that opened my eye’s on how much weight this part of the application has on the hiring process. What I learned is simple.
First, a job title, employer name, with no work skills under each job say’s there’s nothing special about you and a safe way to guarantee your application gets automatically sent to the online trash bin.
Hiring managers are not going to waste time trying to figure out if your worth calling back for an interview if there’s no info the application that shows you can do the job. Besides, there’s another 100 applications behind yours then can easily flip to and find the person they need.
Second, ‘relevant’ job skills, experience, and workplace accomplishments always Win! Quantify your skills and accomplishment for even better results Example:
Experienced typist.. should read… Typing 60 WPM
Provided excellent customer service… should read… Implemented a payment process that increased my total daily transactions by 20% and decreased customer waiting time by 10 mins to help ensure department 100% Customer Satisfaction and Retention goals.
There’s tons of articles online you can look up for tips on how to add more value to your skills and experience info. Make time to read up on a few strategies or attend a career workshop and learn how to make changes that will instantly improve your job search results.