Listening in the Interview

When you walk in the door of the interviewer's office (even if it is an office used just for interviewing purposes), start paying attention. Look for clues to give you little pieces of information about the interviewer and the company. If you have done your homework and researched the company prior to the interview, this information will supplement your knowledge and give you an even broader base of understanding about the corporation, its climate and the expectations for employees.

The first few minutes of the interview will likely entail some general information about the organization and the position you are interviewing for. Listen carefully. You will hear more clues - hot buttons, sometimes - and can use them in your answers later in the interview.

The interviewer will provide you with very useful information. Use it to your advantage. If the department needs a fresh approach, you need to speak to that. If the position you are seeking is part of a team, relate how well you have worked as a team member in the past. If the area you'd be working in struggles with deadlines, offer quantifiable statements of your ability to meet deadlines in the past.

When you are able to fill the employers needs you will be the one to get the job offer. Some candidates listen better than others. If you listen, you will learn a lot about what you need to respond to later in the interview.

Look and listen - keys to your success.

If you want to learn about more job search secrets, click here:
Job Search

~Carla Vaughan
Owner/Webmaster
Professional-Resume-Example.com

How to Get an Employer's Attention

If you are trying to land that perfect job, you should be aware of the need to get the employer's attention with your resume and KEEP IT through the interview all the way to accepting the job offer?

How do you do that?

The first thing you need to do is create a resume that answers all of the employer's questions. Question #1: Will this person do the job well? Question #2: Will this person contribute to the current projects immediately? Question #3: Will this person fit in well with the people I already have on staff? Question #4: Will this person work for this company for a long time?

Those are the main questions an employer is looking to answer when finding a candidate for vacant position. If you can fill all of those needs and do so better than any other candidate for the position, you'll be the one signing that employment agreement.

To find out more about the job-search process, click here:

Job Search

~Carla Vaughan
Owner/Webmaster
Professional-Resume-Example.com

How To Make A Resume

How soon do you need your resume written?

Writing a resume is not the most exciting thing to do. It is something that most of us dread. It takes time and thought and it just isn't fun at all. You know you need one, though, so how about we make it as easy as possible, ok?

There are some essential elements in every resume:

The heading
Objective Statement
Education
Experience
Other (Awards,activities,honors,publications, etc)

Each of these different sections of the resume need to be focused on one thing: The job you want to get. Be honest, concise and enthusiastic and the employer will recognize that you are sincere. Hype is obvious. Employers see so many resumes, they can pick the good ones from the bad ones pretty easily.

Remember that employers weed through resumes rather quickly, too. Yours has got to be better than your competitors if is going to persuade the employer to interview you.

When writing your resume, take some time to truly reflect on what it is you are after, then word each of your statements on the resume so that they lead the employer to one conclusion: You are the best person for the job.

To read more about "How To Make a Resume" click here: http://www.professional-resume-example.com/How-to-make-a-resume.html - It goes into MUCH greater depth.

~C Vaughan
Writing a resume is not the most exciting thing to do. It is something that most of us dread. You know you need one, though, so how about we make it as easy as possible, ok?

There are some essential elements in every resume:

The heading

Objective Statement

Education

Experience

Other (Awards,activities,honors,publications, etc)

Each of these different sections of the resume need to be focused on one thing: The job you want to get. Be honest, concise and enthusiastic and the employer will recognize that you are sincere. Hype is obvious. Employers see so many resumes, they can pick the good ones from the bad ones pretty easily.

Take some time to truly reflect on what it is you are after, then word each of your statements on the resume so that they lead the employer to one conclusion: You are the best person for the job.

To read more about "How To Make a Resume" click here: How To Make A Resume" - It goes into MUCH greater depth.

~C Vaughan
Owner/Webmaster

Professional-Resume-Example.com

Persistence Counts for Something

When you send your resume to a prospective employer, be sure to include a cover letter. Some employers like resumes and others hate them. The cover letter eases the path for those employers who hate reading resumes.

This is true whether you email your information or send it via regular mail. Even if you email it, you might want to consider sending a hard copy to the company, too. Email has a way of tangling up good resume formatting and a hard copy sent directly to the organization might be helpful.

If you do not hear from the employer within a week, pick up the phone and ask if your resume has been received.

With many employers, persistence counts for something. Please note, this is not a license to badger employers. It is merely a means to let them know that you are very interested in the position.

To find out more about the job search process, read any or all of the articles here:
Job Search Articles


~Carla Vaughan

Cover Letter Tips

Here are some ideas to make your cover letter even better

1. Make sure the paper matches the resume paper. Seems like an easy thing to keep in mind, but it is amazing how many people don't get this right.

2. Typos - There shouldn't be any. Proofread your material again and again. Have someone else proofread it, too. It has to be error free.

3. Personalize each letter you send out. Make sure the spelling is right, too.

4. Be confident, but don't be arrogant. You can sell yourself without turning people off.

5. Keep the letter to 3-4 paragraphs if possible.

6. Use anecdotes to illustrate your amazing qualifications whenever possible.

7. Quantify the results you achieved at your last/current employer.

8. Inject energy wherever possible.

9. Avoid euphamisms, cliches, metaphors, etc.

10. Make sure your career goals are spelled out. Make it easy for the employer.

For more cover letter information, click here: Cover Letters

Best of luck!

~Carla Vaughan

Tomorrow's Jobs

Making informed career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities in the future. Opportunities result from the relationships between the population, labor force, and the demand for goods and services.

Population ultimately limits the size of the labor force—individuals working or looking for work—which constrains how much can be produced. Demand for various goods and services determines employment in the industries providing them. Occupational employment opportunities, in turn, result from demand for skills needed within specific industries. Opportunities for medical assistants and other health care occupations, for example, have surged in response to rapid growth in demand for health services.

Examining the past and projecting changes in these relationships is the foundation of the Occupational Outlook Program. This chapter presents highlights of Bureau of Labor Statistics projections of the labor force and occupational and industry employment that can help guide your career plans.

Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-05 Edition


U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bulletin 2540

For more information on Tomorrow's Jobs, click here: Occupational Outlook Summary

The Objective Statement

Will You Use an Objective Statement in Your Resume?

If you are in the market for a new desktop computer and a salesperson asks you what features you are looking for, you may relate a few details, such as: 512KB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, flat panel monitor, wireless keyboard or any of a dozen other desired features. The salesperson is much more likely to find a computer that matches your description if you provide the right kind of information.

The same is true of an objective statement. If you don’t use one, an employer might not be able to figure out what type of job you are interested in.

Do not assume your resume makes everything perfectly clear. Your cover letter may not be able to convey everything, either. The cover letter might not even get read. Even if it does get read, it could very easily get separated from your resume. If that happens, the employer has no lead-in to your resume and it has to stand alone.

It is for this reason that a résumé’s objective statement becomes critical. The employer needs some direction from you.

The objective statement tells the employer what kind of work you are interested in. A well written objective statement does it in a way that lets the employer know what you can do for them, too.

To read more about the objective statement, follow any or all of these links:

The Objective Statement

The Resume Outline

Resume Components

There are two basic components to a resume. The first one is CONTENT. The second one is DESIGN.

Both elements are critical in determining the success of the resume.
What does the design component consist of? Quite a few aspects of the resume fall into this category.

Here are some for you to peruse:
type and color of paper
format
layout within the format
font(s) used
white space

Determining the design your resume can contribute a great deal to the impact you make to prospective employers. A resume must not only contain the right words and qualifications, but it must be easy to read.

When a pile of resumes are first taken out of their envelopes, the process of making a first impression begins. You can’t take a chance of being ruled out at any stage of the process, so your materials must be superior.

Do you know what your competitors are doing? If not, then you need to ensure you are doing everything possible to give yourself an advantage over them. Keep in mind that they could just as easily be reading the same information you are right now. How are you going to out-perform them?

You are going to ensure that each design component is outstanding!


To read the rest of this article, follow this link:

Resume Components

~Carla Vaughan
Owner/Webmaster

Professional-Resume-Example.com

Classified Ads

Classified ads work. People will get hired by responding to classified ads. Paul N. Mendelsohn writes, in the CPA Journal, that, “Want ads are a source of much information. You can learn what types of jobs are available, their requirements and their salary ranges.”

What you will need to remember, though, is that everyone else who reads that paper is likely reading the same ad you are. The number of resumes an employer can receive for any given job posting can be in the hundreds. That is a lot of competition.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the effectiveness of applying for a job directly with an employer is 47.7%. While this could include walking into an employer’s building right off the street, it’s more likely to include job hunting with classified ads.

So how do you rise above the crowd?

First, your resume has to be excellent. That means no typos or grammar errors. You have to stand out as a positive, energetic person who will fit in with the corporate culture immediately and contribute to the bottom line.

Convey what you can do for the employer in a way that relates to what they do or how they operate. Speak their language. The same holds true for the cover letter. Everything you put in that letter must guide the reader to the conclusion that you know more about what they need than anyone else does – and you can do the job better than anyone else.

When you DO choose to use classified ads as a part of your job-hunting strategies, remember that many newspapers (and job boards) list their classified ads on the Internet, too. Not only is this a great resource for you in looking for your next job, but it is also an excellent way to see just what is available in other markets.

While you are on-line, don’t forget to research the companies in which you are interested. Find out what they do or make, their history, who the major corporate gurus are and what their plan is for growth. Use that information to slant your resume to their way of doing business and you will be that much farther ahead. Plus, you will have the information you need when you are called for an interview.

Job hunting with classified ads is a great way to find a job, but it isn’t the only way. Never limit yourself to only one option. To find the right job with the right company, you need to open yourself up to every opportunity.

To read more about finding a job and how to present yourself in your resume and cover letter, follow this link to:

Professional-Resume-Example.com

The 30-Second Resume Scan

by Carla Vaughan

If you have been in a job-search for very long at all, you have most likely read that employers do not read resumes, they scan them.

Do you think a 30-second scan is ridiculous? When you consider how important filling a vacant position must be to an employer, that isn’t a very long amount of time, is it? Why wouldn’t an employer want to read EVERY resume to make sure they were hiring the right person for the job? Surely there is no way to properly get a feel for someone in 30 seconds.

Well, think about it from a hiring manager’s point of view.

The day starts at 7:00am with a bang – the phone rings, there are email messages to answer and a meeting with marketing at 8:00am to go over the recently vacated Brand Manager’s position.

From there, a round of interviews for an opening in the executive suite for an Administrative Assistant have to be performed with little or no time to review the resumes prior to interviewing each candidate.

Next thing you know, it is lunch time, but hey, there is no time for that since a meeting with Benefits Administrator is next on the schedule and the recent changes in the medical plan have caused a lot of headaches in trying to recruit new sales associates.

After that shouting match, it is time to check the latest HR new hire reports to set up the next round of orientation meetings as they are supposed to take place every 2 weeks and it is already a week past that.

A 2:30pm phone call to the HR assistant who handles the orientations leads to a dozen more phone calls to get the conference room scheduled as no one wants to give up their time slot for anyone else.

It is nearly 4:00pm. A quick trip to the restroom ends up taking an hour as the recently hired Sales Director pauses to lash out about the medical benefit changes which were not a part of the original employment agreement.

The final meeting of the day consists of all HR managers discussing, usually all at one time, the impending acquisition of a new company.

Before driving home, a 4 inch stack of resumes are stuffed into a briefcase to be reviewed at home after the children are in bed.

Now, does a 30-second scan seem a little more reasonable?

Yes, filling vacant positions is important. It is extremely important. One of the most serious errors a hiring manager can make is bringing someone into the organization who is not qualified for the position they are hired for – OR – they do not fit with the corporate culture. Every new hire reflects on the hiring manager – good or bad.

Realistically, if time permitted, resumes WOULD be reviewed more thoroughly, but it simply isn’t possible for most hiring managers.

If you want to master the job-search process, you have to make sure you make it past that 30 second scan. Proofread your resume again and again.

For more information on resumes, see these links:

The Job Application

Transferable Skills

Free Chronological Resume Template

How To Make A Resume