Creating A Good First Impression

The job market is at its busiest once again. The economic crisis has forced many companies to lay off several employees. Many new graduates and fresh job seekers are already competing with each other to find and secure good-paying jobs. Thus, any job hunter knows that there i...

Ideas Often Overlooked Preparing for Interviews

Experts say job applicants are given a few minutes to impress prospective employers during an in-person job interview. Thus, to many job seekers, the interview process is a make or break process within the job search activity. Indeed, it is. Of course you know that after gett...

How to Pull Off a Great Job Interview

So you have successfully outpaced and beaten hundreds of other job applicants through making it to the first cut of short listed applicants. The challenge does not end there. You have to keep up so that the momentum could move forward. Your primary goal at this time should be...

How to get a job on Craigslist

How to Get a Job on Craigslist

Do you apply to jobs on craigslist? Go here to check out details on how to increase your chances on landing a job through craigslist.  Read More

Interview Ideas

Interview Tips

Need some tips to help you out for an upcoming interview?  Go here to check out some often overlooked interview tips.  Read More

Sample Resumes

Sample Resumes

Want to check out other resumes as a starting point to writing yours? We have resume samples from nearly every job category.  Go here to check them out.  Read More

Job Hunting Ideas

Job Hunting Ideas

Are you still searching for a job? Go here to check out some different ways to help out your job search. Read More
Resume Help - Free Resume Writing Help And Free Resume Templates
Using Resume Keywords
A lot of companies will use databases to keep information on the resumes they get and to look for them when they need to hire someone. Both recruiters and employers will look in these databases by using keywords that are relevant to what they are looking for. These keywords will be placed in phrases that are technical and will describe achievements, job titles, jargon related to the industry, task forces and projects.

This is why your resume should have at least a few keywords placed inside, since people can’t find it if it doesn’t contain the keywords that they’re looking for. Something as simple as the words placed in a resume can make the difference between getting a job and losing the opportunity.

People that have a bit of experience looking for jobs will know that they need to include some keywords in the area where they specify their qualifications. That area is also known as Professional Summary. In other cases it’s known only as “Skills”.  Even if you don’t have that area in your resume, you should still use the keywords where they’re appropriate.

If you want to use keywords in the resume, the tips below should help you:
If you don’t know what keywords to use, take a look at the job listing and you will have an idea of what the employer is looking for.
Use both noun phrases and keyword nouns wherever possible in the resume. If you already listed your qualifications before, try avoiding the use of those keywords in the exact same way.
Use commas to separate phrases and nouns when you are listing your skills, if you want to get a technical job.
There are some cases when just listing what skills you have isn’t enough to describe your background. When the situation asks for it, write the accomplishments as well, while using keywords.

If you don’t know what keywords to use for your resume based on your job and the industry that you’re in, below are some methods that you can use to determine which those are.
Search online for job ads and check out what keywords show up on a regular basis and seem relevant.
If you want to apply to a certain job listing, modify your resume so it has some of the main keywords that the listing has.
Discussing with people that are in the same fields of career as yourself might give you an idea on the type of keywords that you should be using. The BC Career Advisory Network is a good place to start if you want to network with other people from the same field as you.
Go online and look at web sites of professional associations, looking at the texts that you find there. These texts have a lot of jargon that is related to the industry that you’re in, so you can see the keywords that are relevant for your resume.
The US Department of Labor has a nice resource that you should take a look at, called Occupational Outlook Handbook.

A few other ideas that are important:
Consider getting an internship in your area of expertise if you are in college. Even with a one month internship, your resume would still get some extra keywords.
The absolute minimum number of keywords that you should use is 4. It would be best if you used 12 keywords or more in your resume.
Try using both specific and general keywords.
 
How To Boost A Resume

As technology and the web evolves, resumes evolve as well, moving more towards profiles on sites like LinkedIn with resumes that are preformatted, personal sites and bios that are narrative. Still, it’s best to have a normal resume at your disposal, to use when trying to get a job.


I, as many other freelancers, use  a site to represent me in front of possible employers. Still, there are plenty of occasions when people still want a regular resume from me, and I have one for just this type of occasion. Get a basic resume together, that you can work with, whenever you want to give it to another company.Below you can read some of our tips on building the best resume:


When it comes to writing resumes, everybody seems to think that they’re an expert at it. Universities think that their name should be first on your resume, while left column headers  that look good are liked by career counselors. While universities would like people to put their names before degrees, companies want the opposite. You can probably get resumes as examples from colleagues as well. Nobody is right though. You need to look at the resume as a recruiter would. Take into consideration the fact that the resume represents you and needs to convince the recruiter to hire you.


There are two main things that you should be concentrating on if you want to prepare a resume to be seen by a recruiter or company, and those things are the content and the formatting. Formatting the resume is the easy part. When you do that, you need to try making it easy to read, even if it’s scanned on a computer. This happens usually, since companies will scan the resume and keep it on their computers. Since there is so much competition out there, the content part of the resume is harder, since you need to differentiate yourself from other people that want the same job.Below are some tips you can use to improve your resume:


1) All Left Justified
Don’t use templates, fancy bullets or headers in left columns. Just try to keep it as simple as possible. Use left justify for your text. If your resume gets printed or forwarded by the recruiter, using left justify will make sure that it’s easy to read. Try reading the resume in rtf format to check how it works, and change it if it doesn’t work well.


2) Title and Profile
Make sure you put a title on your resume. You don’t need to use the title you currently hold as the resume’s title. Just specify the kind of professional you area, like “I am a marketing manager with experience”. After the title,  add the profile, which should be modified to fit the job you’re trying to get. When a recruiter reads your profile, they need to find out what you can do and what you expect from the job. To test the resume, give someone your resume and give them 10 seconds to read it. If they can’t determine in that period of time what type of job you’re trying to get, the recruiter will not be able to do it either.


3) Personal and Professional Development
It doesn’t matter if you’re a champion scrap booker or of squash, you should show off your accomplishments if they show that you can commit to something and stick with it. Don’t put the personal accomplishments first though, as professional ones are much more important for those looking at your resume. Mention the professional things first, and the personal ones only after that. You can also make a special section in your resume, that will hold the things related to the profession. Add the personal stuff only if you have room for it. No need to make the resume longer than needed. A full triathlon can be mentioned as it can impress someone, but running only a few miles will not interest anyone. Read the resume and see if your skills are all over the place and if they are move them in a single part of the document.


4) Positions Broken Out
You should mention your promotions, as they are important to show off your successes and possibilities. Don’t use titles that other people don’t understand easily. Simplify them if they can’t be understood by everyone. Use a title like Accountant instead of the longer Junior L-Accountant II, which is harder to remember or understand.


5) Overall Differentiation
When a position opens, the recruiter will receive a lot of resumes for the job that is offered. The recruiter will pick 20 on his shortlist, and these people will pretty much have the same qualifications and skills. If all you write in your resume is the skills you have, than you don’t stand out compared to the other 20 people. So, try explaining everything, like the way you reached the positions you have and why you did it. Try to avoid putting too many keywords in your resume, as it can make it harder to read. You should choose jobs that you are perfect for, then modify the resume to fit them.
 
How to Make Your Resume Survive the Screening Process

You should be aware that in a particular job opening, you may be competing with hundreds to thousands of other candidates. Many of your competitors can even hold higher credentials and qualifications than you do. The good news is that you may outpace and outshine those candidates if you could produce an impressive resume. The bad news is that you may not be able to come out with a really noticeable and outstanding one.

A human resources personnel who is making the first cut for the short list of applicants surely is dreaded that he needs to browse through thousands of resumes in a day to select rightful and qualified applicants. Thus, every strategy you could take or every good layout you could use should be employed to make sure your resume makes that good first impression. You surely do not aim to be screened out. Here are some guidelines to make your resume survive the bloody screening process.

Keep the resume as short as possible. If you could squeeze in all relevant information in just a page, do so. Prospective employers do not have enough time to browse through everything written in the document. If they need to find out more about you, they could ask during the interview.

Make the document easy to read. Ease to the eyes not only involves good layout but also overall organization. Thus, your resume should have clear headings, bulleted points and brief statements of professional achievements.

Avoid jargons even if you are professionally in line with the industry of the company. Your resume may be read by someone from the HR department who is not very well familiar with industry terms.

Do not overdo design and layout. Surely, you want to express your creativity. The resume is not the right opportunity to showcase your layout abilities, unless you are applying to be a layout artist. Use New Times Roman as a standard font if you prefer fonts with serif and Arial, Verdana or Helvetica for sans serif fonts. Use beige or white paper for printing.

Justify and support your job achievements and accomplishments with numerical data. For instance, you should mention you have helped boost your previous company’s annual sales by 75%. Numbers could be great attention catchers in resumes, but do not fill the document with too much of it. It may not be advisable to mention your current and expected salary range, unless required.

Skip other personal information like religion, age, hobbies, talents or civil status. They could just fill space and make the resume look jammed and overloaded with data. Remember that good resumes are those with much white space, which give ease to the eyes of readers.

Proofread before sending. Typographical and grammatical errors as well as misspellings will not create a good impression of you. Have other people read and critique your resume so you can be sure it is free of possible mistakes. Always improve and update the document.