5 Little Known Ways to Boost Your Job Hunt

5 Little Known Ways to Boost Your Job Hunt Heres how to boost that job hunt of yours: 1. Understand your strengths Get clear about what your strengths, skills and natural passions are. Without knowing what you are good at and what value you can bring to an organization or role, how do you expect others to think you’re the right and best person for a job? Make sure you are clear yourself about what your strengths are. Then communicate and articulate these to others in your job hunt. Learn to harness these strengths and find a role that plays to your strengths. 2. Get to grips with your skills As well as your strengths, the skills, experience and expertise that you have built up is really important to understand, acknowledge and get across to potential employers. Sit down and review your career to date. Think about what skills you have gained in your various roles and how these are transferable into other situations and roles. Make sure you are clear about this so that you can communicate it to others in key situations. Work with a Guide if you aren’t clear about how to do this yourself. 3. Evaluate your options Before gallivanting straight into the marketplace and spamming your CV out to everyone and anyone â€" think about what options you have and what is actually right for you. It’s just wasted energy if you aren’t focused about what you want. Competition will be high for generic roles â€" so try to get specific about what option is the one that really suits you. 4. Review your job search to date If you have been in the job market for a while and you have been struggling â€" why not take some time to reflect and review what you’re doing. Many of us spend endless hours pumping out applications, filling in forms, ringing up agencies, going to interview after interview â€" all to no avail. So hey â€" what’s going wrong!? Think about what you are doing and make a plan that ensures that you are working smart and using your time wisely. Are you sending out generic applications? Are you being clear about what you want? Are you being targeted in your job hunt? Do the recruitment agencies know what you’re after? Do they care? 5. Revamp your CV Before going out into the market and targeting a role, you may need to review and revamp your CV. If you haven’t touched it in many years then definitely spend a bit of time getting it up to date. Spend time understanding what your key strengths and skills are so that you can highlight them in your CV well. Make sure your CV is relevant and targeted to the roles you are going for. Most of us believe that our CV is the most important aspect of a job hunt. This isn’t entirely correct. It plays its part for sure and you need to take some time out to make sure that you have it looking in tip top shape but it isn’t necessarily the first step to getting you on the right track. Dedicate sometime to the other key points in this list and you’ll be in a much better position to land that dream job you want! Related: How You Can Boost Your Job Search and Actually Enjoy the Ride Image: Shutterstock

Friday smorgasbord Summer jobs

Friday smorgasbord Summer jobs The first summer job idea is you better get one. If you are in college, now is the time to gather experience so that you will have some idea what you want to do with your life when you get out of school. Graduating from college is a very hard transition. One way you can make it emotionally treacherous is to try to support yourself with a job when you have no experience in a job. There are lots of different strategies to take when you are looking for something to do in the summer. But each strategy has one thing in common starting now is better than starting later. There is wide consensus that you really must be doing something in the summer that teaches you real world experiences. So dont sign up for summer school thinking that businesses will be impressed. Surely you already have enough school under your belt. Eighteen years, right? Summer is the time to try something new. Look for something that will help you grow personally and professionally. Even if you dont have a great startup idea in your back pocket, you can still think big. You have good reason to demand that your summer job be fun and stimulating there are enough jobs out there that you dont have to take a terrible one. Also, dont restrict yourself geographically. When you have two kids and a mortgage then relocation is terrible. But in college, relocation is an adventure. Apply for summer jobs all over the country. 1. Get money to go to start a company. You have to have an idea, but if you have a good one, Y Combinator will give you about $15,000 to move to Cambridge, MA and be surrounded by people like you doing the same thing. This is a great way to learn how to build a startup. The arrangement is friendly and supportive, and even if your company doesnt get off the ground during the summer, you will learn a lot. Relatively few women apply to do programs like this one. So I am taking a moment to encourage women to try it. Starting a company is not only about being able to program a computer. Its about being able to see an unmet need and find a solution. Apply by April 2. 2. Experiment in social entrepreneurship. Experience just announced a fellowship program that matches students with non-profits for the summer. The students not only get paid to do good, but they also get paired up with mentors from management consulting firms, which really makes this is a great learning opportunity. The fellowship program was only recently announced, so you may benefit from the fact that a lot of students dont know it exists. Apply by March 1. 3. Call someone you want to work for. Really. Just try it. The trick is to call someone senior enough who can make an independent hiring decision, but junior enough that there are not three layers of assistants protecting him. The person you call will be flattered, and mostly likely will listen to you. Tell this person about what you can bring to the company. (Probably your most appealing offer will be some combination of your wet-behind-the-ears enthusiasm for working and Im-younger-than-you flair for technology.) Also, tell the person your goals for the summer, so the person can understand how they fit in. Then ask for an internship. You just might get one. What if you try all three of these ideas and they dont work? Keep trying. You will spend a lot of your life job hunting. You may as well get good at it now, before your life depends on it.

How to Write Summary of Qualifications for Your Resume

How to Write Summary of Qualifications for Your Resume How to Write Summary of Qualifications for Your Resume Employers will spend hours reading through job applicant resumes in search of the perfect person to fit their vacancy. Obviously, when faced with a virtual mountain of applications to wade through, many employers will take some short-cuts to identify the most promising candidates.When reading a resume, where they will always start is right at the top. This is why you need your resume introduction to deliver your qualifications summary so that the employer can see straight away that you have the right qualifications for the job in hand. Why is your qualifications summary so important?In many cases when faced with the task of sorting through approaching 100 resumes, an employer will simply read your summary of qualifications and then make an instant decision about whether or not your job application will go any further.This is why it is so important to get your summary just right. Learning how to write a clean-cut qualifications summary for your resume will help to boost your chance s of getting through that initial read-through and save your application from being rejected.What is the summary of qualifications?Understanding what a qualifications summary is will better help you to write your own for your resume. It is a way to summarize the most relevant and valuable aspects of your experience that makes you the perfect match for the job you are applying for.This means you will need to sit down and draw on your most major achievements, relevant skills and most related qualifications that best demonstrate your competence for this role.Remember that your qualifications summary is not the same as your resume summary statement or resume objective statement. Your statement should be written bullet point style using short sentences that highlight your skills.Using the bullet point format for your layout helps to quickly deliver the most important aspects of your qualifications that tie in closely with the job requirements for the role on offer.Should everyone use one on their resume?It will greatly depend on where you are coming from in your job application. This can be a very useful tool for a job candidate that has many years of work experience and has undertaken a lot of training courses and qualifications.While a very experienced and mature job candidate will have plenty of information to include on their resume, it can be a very good idea for them to create a summary at the beginning of their document so that they stand a better chance of getting past the first-glance of the employer.It can be extremely tempting to write a chronological resume that shows your work experience timeline when you have plenty of skills and knowledge to demonstrate. However, a weary employer that has maybe already looked through a few dozen resumes will appreciate seeing a short qualifications summary introduction to read.ATS software and human keyword scanningA lot of large corporations make use of ATS software (Applicant Tracking Scanning) to process huge numb ers of job applications. What ATS software does is to scan resumes looking for specific keywords or key phrases that have been entered for the job.If the ATS software comes across any generic resumes that dont contain the desired keywords or phrases, they will be rejected.It is the same case for employers that dont use ATS software. They will use their own staff to check through each job application that comes through manually. If the candidates resume doesnt contain any of the relevant keywords that the employer is looking for, the applicant will be quickly moved to the reject pile.This is why we always stress that you check the job advert and the job description carefully to look for keywords or key phrases that you can take and use in your application.What should you include?Make sure your summary looks attractive and is easy on the eye to read through. Think of this section as being your professional profile that shows the employer your strengths and suitability for the role on offer.Your qualifications summary should be short, clear and free of distracting waffle. Grab the attention of the employer quickly by delivering exactly what they are looking for within the first few seconds of them reading your resume.Write your qualifications summary in a way that makes life easy for the employer. Help them save their time and energy having to look through your resume by highlighting your qualifications for the job at the top of your resume in a bullet point style layout using short sentences.Only include the most valuable and relevant information that will demonstrate the skills you will bring to this job. Concentrate on the main benefits you will be able to deliver without the employer needing to train you for.If youre not sure what are the best skills you should list on your resume, check out this guide.How to write a summary of qualificationsYou may want to consider using a professionally designed resume template to get the best possible layout and appearance that you can. Using a well-designed template such as our Shades of Black, for example, will give you an easy way to customize your resume to deliver your summary as early as possible. Lets take a look at what you should include in your summary:1: Highlight your expertiseDive straight in by listing your years of previous work experience in the same or related field. Include a brief list of your duties or responsibilities in each of your related jobs.If you have gained any management experience during your time in a related job, mention your role and your supervisory experience. This will show that you can step up to take on extra responsibilities in the workplace should the need or opportunity arise.2: List relevant courses or trainingInclude any job-related courses or training that you have taken â€" make sure to list the most recent training first to demonstrate that your knowledge is still fresh and up-to-date.3: Demonstrate your innovative sideIf you created and implemented a ny work practices or procedures that benefited your previous company or helped to improve efficiency, productivity or workplace safety, then include brief details of your accomplishments.You will want to include enough detail for your work-related accomplishments to be notable, but again you dont want to include too much text here that could put off the employer. Also, be careful to simply inform of your accomplishments â€" dont try to come across as too boastful or sound as if you are bragging about yourself.4: List any workplace awards or commendationsBeing acknowledged by your peers for your work is impressive and is something worth sharing in your qualifications summary. So briefly list your awards or published work and the dates you received them.Your prospective new employer will be keen to see an applicant that shows dedication to their work and a willingness to further their standing (and that of the company) within your industry.5: Interpersonal skillsWhether you are applyi ng for a job that is part of a close-knit team, or it is for a supervisory or management role, you will need to show that you have good interpersonal skills that enable you to communicate with people on all levels.You can mention that you established a good working relationship with co-workers, senior line managers and junior staff to help establish and maintain a good harmony in the workplace.In most jobs it is important to have a good level of communication skills, especially if you are dealing directly with customers, staff or suppliers, so be sure to state that you are a confident communicator with the ability to listen and compromise when necessary.Conclusion:While you can use the above five points to help you write your qualifications summary, remember that every single point you write must bear relevance to the job you are applying for.While you may be particularly proud of a work-related accomplishment or achievements you may have earned in the past, if it bears no direct re levance to the job in hand, then it doesnt belong in your qualifications summary.Dont forget that you can use one of our fully editable resume templates to help you build a very effective resume. As our templates can be customized in MS Word, you can build a very impressive looking resume without having to struggle with formatting layouts or trying to space out your information correctly.If you are unsure about which resume template is right for you or the industry you want to work in, then read our expert tips about choosing the right resume template to fit your style. You can also find a lot of free help and guidance on our blog about:Job searching, resume tips, cover letter tips, job interview tips and career advice. previous article Cyan Splash Resume Pack next article Smart Portfolio Complete Resume Pack you might also likeHow to Write About Your Accomplishments on Your Resume

13 Interview Questions You Should Be Asking Finance Candidates

13 Interview Questions You Should Be Asking Finance Candidates Looking for better finance hires? Well, it may be time to send your trusty interview questions back to the drawing board. If your interview process is lacking strategic thought, you’re likely to miss out on valuable insight both positive and negative on your finance candidates. This approach or lack thereof could lead to making the wrong hires and future retainment issues. Posing a variety of particular questions will help you uncover the passion, cultural fit, work ethic, and problem-solving abilities of your potential finance hires. Get more out of your interview by posing stronger general questions. Here are 13 questions you should be asking your finance job candidates today: 1. What motivates you? This is your chance to detect what drives your finance candidates. Dig further to find out whether it’s about the money or the finance industry itself. Keep in mind, the desire to make money doesn’t necessarily equate to a  sufficient drive to succeed or real passion for the business. It often comes with limitations. 2. What is your greatest achievement? For some finance candidates, the answer may be related to a specific project they undertook or an award they received. If they don’t share insightful details about why they feel this was their greatest achievement, be sure to question further. Ask yourself: Is this relevant to the role they’re interviewing for? 3. What can you bring to this role that you’re certain other applicants can’t? Get to the bottom of why this finance candidate truly deserves your attention. It could be their precise role-related experience, achievements within the industry, or even their unique personality. This question is also important for testing your candidate’s level of confidence is it too much or just right? RELATED: How to Answer ‘Why Do You Want This Job?’ in an Interview 4. What hurdles or obstacles have you overcome? Posing this question will help you key into your finance candidate’s ability to overcome adversity or challenges throughout their career. If you’re particularly interested in a piece of information on their resume, like a layoff, ask them directly about how they overcame that situation. 5. What would previous coworkers and managers say about you? Zeroing in on how others perceive your interviewee is essential to find out whether they’re a match for the position and your company as a whole. Jot down what your candidate shares with you and follow-up with their references to see if the descriptions match. 6. Where do you see yourself in five years? It’s important to understand whether your finance candidate’s career path is aligned with the position to which they are applying. Bringing on a candidate who’s just looking for a “here and now” type of position won’t do you any favors in terms of a long-term hire. Watch out for cookie cutter answers that end up sounding more like wishful thinking than actual long-term plans. 7. Are you willing to relocate? This should be a no-brainer for candidates who are truly passionate about the role. Any hesitation in answering this question should lead you to question them further. 8. Are you willing to work all hours? Depending on the available position and the company culture, it may be necessary for your potential finance hire to work late to ensure their responsibilities are completed. Their answer to this question will reveal if they’re dedicated and passionate about the role. 9. Do you play sports? If a competitive spirit is crucial for thriving in the role you’re interviewing for, this question will do the trick. Playing sports, whether currently or previously, is a great way to determine whether your finance candidates have a competitive nature. 10. What other industries are you looking into? Are your candidates really interested in the finance industry, or are they just exploring their options? Passion for finance is essential to staying afloat in this industry. 11. What was the worst class you had in college? What would that professor say about you? These two questions will allow you to dig deeper into the potential weaknesses and challenges of your finance candidates. You’ll also be able to take a closer look at how well they handled this situation. While they may have hated their creative writing class, would their professor say they put their best foot forward in spite of it all? 12. If you could only pick one, what stock would you pick and why? This is one of the few industry-specific questions that will give you a better sense of your candidate. Are they a risk-taker, or do they play it safe? 13. What do you know about our company, our competition, and our industry as a whole? Asking your candidates to sum up your company and their industry knowledge will give you insight into how much homework they did prior to the interview. Candidates who “blank” on this question may be unfamiliar with your company and the finance industry as a whole, and applying to this role on a whim. You don’t want an employee who lacks the ability or desire to research. Better interview questions are a key component in landing better finance hires. Carefully track their body language and reactions to the questions you present, as these are also effective indicators. Remember, you want a candidate who is truly passionate about the opportunity and not just trying to “win the job.” Always read between the lines. What do you think is the most effective interview question for finance candidates? Author: Skiddy von Stade is the founder and CEO of  OneWire.com, the leading career site for finance professionals. Connect with Skiddy and OneWire on  LinkedIn.

What Is My Perfect Resume?

What Is My Perfect Resume?A lot of people are turning to My Perfect Resume.com as a way to make their resume stands out and get noticed. I personally have been searching for this company online and I've seen a lot of different testimonials and actually learned them even send them out through mail to companies as well. However, there is one issue that they are facing and it relates to the description of their services being misleading.There is no problem in having a resume written by My Perfect Resume. It is completely legal to be doing this and it also can be useful to your career in many ways. However, the people who write these are not qualified to do so and they aren't going to be helping you with what you need.They don't know what to write and what kind of experience to provide you with and will have little or no way of evaluating you as a candidate. They will just give you your info and leave you to do all the work. In order to be successful, you need to get all the relevant inf ormation about the company that you are considering and then write the resume yourself. This is the best way to go.Not only will it show you how to write your resume, but you will learn how to critique the different parts of it. Make sure you take a look at the writing skills of the person who wrote it for you. There should be some information that is required of you and some that you can do for yourself.The resume must have good writing skills and there should be no spelling or grammatical errors. If there are, the company doesn't care about your skills as a writer and they won't be doing you any favors. After all, if they weren't going to hire someone, they wouldn't be needing anyone at all.Speaking of the information that you will provide on your resume, that is the most important part. You want to make sure that it's as much of it as possible and all the information is relevant to the job. Some of the information may be outdated or irrelevant and that is why you need to check it and proofread it before you submit it. Don't forget to go back and review it over again.If you submit the resume and someone else has changed something, go back and change it. You don't want to pass it along to the next place you submit it. Remember, everyone is going to be using the same resume.Now that you know what My Perfect Resume is, go ahead and look at their site. They have many great features as well as many ways you can get a free resume editor and learn more about writing a resume. You can get some great tips from there as well.

Company Career Sites - Technology Companies - CareerAlley

Company Career Sites - Technology Companies - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. Rich Cook The vast majority of companies have some form of technology, but not may companies are drive technology. There are the usual suspects (some of which are featured below), but it really depends on how broadly or narrowly you define technology. As an example, is Pixar (now part of the Disney empire) a technology company or an entertainment company? The answer, of course, is yes. So at the least, identifying technology companies can be as clear as mud. There were over 10,000 job opportunities across the companies featured today. For today, we will try to be as purist as possible as we continue our focus on company career sites. IBM Another name known by everyone, IBM is truly a global company and its products range from manufactured goods to business services. The Job Seekers page has a video about the company, a section for University Students and search by country. Select search openings and you can search for jobs or register on the site. The Advanced Search function provides a number of options so that you can focus you search. There were over 3,900 job opportunities when I checked the site. Microsoft We all know what this company does. In addition to being at the top of Fortunes most profitable list, Microsoft is also on Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work for. Based in Redmond Washington, the Careers page allows job search by region or Development Centers. Picking your country of choice from the center of the page takes you to that countrys career page. You can register, search jobs, submit your resume and create a job agent. The page also provides links to career paths, detailed information on the company and a student center. There were over 100 job opportunities when I checked the site (the site only shows 100 jobs at a time). Hewlet Packard HPs career website provides an overview of the company with links to Search Job and Submit your Profile on the left of the page. Their are separate tabs for Students Graduates and Diversity. Searching all HP jobs returns over 4,300 job opportunities when I checked the site. Apple Apple has been on the upswing for some time now, and they are admired on many fronts. Their career page has two paths, Apple Pro and Apple Store. A fairly simple page, which has Start Your Search at the top right hand side. You then select Retail or Corporate jobs center page. Clicking Search Jobs links to a job search engine. You can register for the site or just search. A generic search of Corporate jobs returned 1,055 corporate job opportunities when I checked the site (be sure to check their retail jobs as well). Honeywell International According to their website, Honeywell is a diversified technology and manufacturing company with business in, aerospace, control technologies and automotive products. Their careers site has links at the top for Job Search, Career Paths, University Relations and more. The left hand side of the page has news, while center page has Honeywell Careers. The right hand side lists a number of career paths, all with links with additional information and a small search box on the top right hand side. The job search page has quick links for search in other languages. As an example, there were 577 job opportunities in the US when I checked the site. Good luck in your search.

Kill the suggestion box - theres a much better way - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Kill the suggestion box - theres a much better way - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Almost every company talks about empowering their employees, but few actually do it an any meaningful way. In many cases it becomes a sham process, where employees are encouraged to voice their opinions and those opinions are then promptly ignored. And the best (or is that worst) symbol of fake empowerment is the suggestion box. Many workplaces have one hanging on a wall somewhere. You can stick in your idea, but then what? Who (if anyone) will read it? Will it ever be acted upon? If not, why not? If it is, who will take credit? Its time to kill off the suggestions box and the coolest way Ive seen to do this comes from marketing agency Quirk?based in Cape Town, Johannesburg and the UK. They have created a process that lets anyone in the company suggest ideas, gather support for them and then have them implemented (or not).?When I visited their Cape Town HQ I had a chance to see it for myself, and I think every workplace who wants to give their employees a voice should do something similar. This flowchart shows how it works: The first step is to post your idea to a board that hangs in a prominent spot in the office and get 12 of your coworkers to also sign on. If you like an idea, you show your support in a very low-tech way: you put a sticker on it. Some ideas die at this stage theres just not enough energy or support behind the proposal. All ideas that dont make it for one reason or another are displayed in The Graveyard: Here you can see each idea that failed and why. If an idea does get the necessary support, the person behind it writes a one-page proposal which is then submitted to Quirks EXCO, which is basically their top leadership team. If they approve it, the idea goes ahead immediately and is placed on the Ideas in motion section of the board: Ideas that were previously approved are shown on the Its happening section. Of course, the leadership group can turn the idea down, and if they do, they must carefully explain why they dont think its a good idea. They cant just say No or Maybe later. But as you can see from the flow chart above, even if the leadership group turns an idea down, that need not be the end of it. If a person feels that this idea is still to good to ignore, it can be put to a debate and subsequent vote inside the company. If the idea is voted through, this overrides the EXCOs decision and the idea goes ahead anyway. Another thing they do on the board is highlight the costs of previous ideas, so employees know how much things end up costing. I think this process is absolutely brilliant for 5 reasons: 1: Its visual Its not just a bunch of documents or lines in a spreadsheet this is highly visual which gives you a great overview. Its also well-designed and looks pretty, which probably helps a little too. 2: Its low-tech This could also be done on the intranet or in an app, but I kinda like that its on paper and cork board and you vote with stickers. This also makes it very flexible.?Also, a page or an app is on demand that means that people need to be proactive to access their democracy (and apathy is a killer). This board is a sort of dynamic wallpaper it sits in front of your eyes while you butter your toast in the kitchen you can be as passive as you like the democracy comes to you. 3: Its fast The process is fast. The leadership group have committed to addressing each idea at their next meeting and this means that ideas can get acted on while the energy is still there. 4: It has memory The board is a great record of previous failed ideas (so you dont have to deal with the same proposals once every 6 months from different people and it also highlights ideas that were implemented, so you can see that this actually works. 5: Its transparent This takes most of the politics out of these ideas. Getting your idea implemented is not about who you know or how well you can lobby for it, its about gaining support for good suggestions. There is zero doubt that autonomy and control over our own situation makes us happy. The more we can meaningfully contribute to things we care about at work, the prouder and happier we feel. And that way the company can also better tap into the creativity of its employees and become more efficient. So simply put: Fake empowerment = frustration and cynicism. Real empowerment = trust and happiness. Your take Does your workplace empower its employees? For real or in a fake way? If you have a really good idea, do you know where to go with it? Related posts Is your workplace a democracy or a dictatorship? Meet the company that has no meetings, no emails, no fear and no bosses. Photo credits: The awesome picture above of the suggestion box is from a train station in Moshi, Tanzania and was originally shown here. All other photos are courtesy of Quirk. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related