Even People Who Hate Writing Can Make Their Cover Letter Stand Out

• 2-minute read •
Remember that course you had to take in college? The one in which the professor outlined an “appropriate” way to write a cover letter? Yes, that class. That weekly lecture that taught you how to use perfect sentence structure, one-inch margins (all the way around) and an incredibly stilted tone because all of that was professional. Appropriate. Correct.

Remember that?

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5 Resume Writing Tips for Government Job Seekers

• 2-minute read •
Landing a public-sector job takes a special approach.
Applying for a government job is different in many ways from applying for a job in the private sector.
In fact, you might as well forget all the resume advice you've ever learned, says Marilyn Santiesteban, assistant director of career services at the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University.

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Simple Guidelines For Writing A Stellar Résumé

Your résumé should communicate vital information to a potential employer, but how do you know if yours is up to par and will compete with other résumés?

In their new book, "Expert Résumés for Managers and Executives," authors Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark say that strict rules for writing résumés don't really exist, but that job seekers should consider some simple standards that most employers have come to expect. Here are some of their tips:

Content standards
-- Writing style: Always write in the active, not passive, voice.
-- Phrases to avoid: Do not use "responsible for" or "duties included," which are passive.
-- Résumé style: Organize your résumé chronologically, functionally or both.
-- Résumé formats: Use paragraphs, bullets or both.
-- Email address and URL: Include your email address and URL at the top of your résumé.

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Résumé-Writing Tips For Managers And Executives

Job seekers often communicate a first impression through their résumés. In the newly updated edition of "Expert Résumés for Managers and Executives," authors Wendy Enelow and Louise Kursmark stress the importance of a strong résumé for all applicants.

"A vital component of your career management plan is your résumé, which must instantly position you as a well-qualified and highly competitive candidate," the authors say. "The easiest way to accomplish that objective is by developing a powerful, performance-based résumé."

In their book, Enelow and Kursmark provide numerous résumé samples, divided by career field, that are aimed at people at all levels of management, from front-line supervisors to top-level executives. They also offer nine strategies for writing effective résumés:

1. Write for the job you want: "You cannot write an effective résumé without knowing, at least to some degree, what type or types of positions you will be seeking."

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7 Deadly Sins of Résumé Writing

Despite the fact that there are numerous how-to articles out there, résumés are not easy to write. They require time, talent and patience in order to craft them into targeted advertisements for your most precious commodity: you.

You don't want this document that you have been poring over for days to fall victim to the seven deadly sins of résumé writing. Be vigilant and double check before you send your résumé to any potential employers.

Deadly sin No. 1: Typos
This is a no-brainer, but it is still one of the most common mistakes on a job seeker's résumé. Double and triple check, and then have someone else proofread it for you. This is the easiest of the seven to fix as long as you read carefully.

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Writing your resume

Writing your resume is an essential aspect of applying for a job, as it requires a lot of effort and planning on your behalf. A badly worded and poorly presented resume can put off a potential employer totally!

We intend to provide some broad guidelines to help you write a resume that could work for you. Work for you to achieve what it is meant to i.e. to get you an interview call for a job.

At the outset, it is necessary to clarify that you could use the term "resume" or "curriculum vitae" (CV), even though technically a CV is primarily meant for job positions within the academic environment and is supposed to be a lengthy document. The difference is not strictly followed and it is safe to use these two terms interchangeably, but remember that whatever word you use, be sure that you know how to pronounce it accurately!

Your resume should be about two pages long
A resume should be about two pages long. It is supposed to be a brief presentation of your skills, work experience, achievements and education. Anything too long runs the risk of being skimmed over and not read properly. Long and detailed does not necessarily imply better! What your resume has to get across to the potential employer is just this - you have the required skills, experience and education to handle the job! This can be done by appropriately focusing on the key aspects unique to your experience, and leaving out the standard repetitive details, which would be similar to those of your competitors applying for the same job/position. So, try and stick to 2 pages!

Start off by identifying your job objective
The job objective is an excellent area to include in your resume and is usually omitted. It puts your resume in the right perspective for the reader and clearly shows where you are headed in your career plans. If you are applying for an entry level position in marketing, your job objective could be something like:

Objective: Interested in an entry level position in marketing in a multi-national corporation.

The 'multi-national corporation' phrase makes your objective generic regarding company choice. It would be advisable to modify each resume to suit specific companies that you apply to. Then the job objective would read like this:

Objective: Interested in an entry level position in marketing.

Provide a summary of your experience and skills
The next section that your resume should contain is a 5-6 point summary of your skills and experience. That includes:

* No. of years of past and relevant work experience
* a brief description of the work done
* specific skills acquired
* significant achievements
* educational qualifications.

This section is very useful, in providing a snapshot view of what your resume contains for situations where yours is one resume in a pile of fifty others. It allows minimal information loss in case the resume is quickly skimmed over and not given a detailed reading. In this section, the skills that you present should help in answering the question -"How can you contribute to the organization?"

In case of IT/Software professionals, the skill set could be added to the summary. But be sure, that all the skills mentioned are truly areas you have worked in or are comfortable working in.

Use language and content that communicates a proactive style
The style of writing that you use and the particular words or phrases can make a significant difference to your resume. It affects the impression created about you regarding your past work experience and your skills. For example, you might say in your past work experience that you "maintained records and accounts". A better way of expressing the same thing could be "Reported directly to the VP-Finance and managed over 1500 accounts...". Your language and content should focus on what you achieved e.g. saving so many lakh rupees for the organization, rather than a standard listing of responsibilities which sounds like a job profile common to anyone in a similar position to yours. If you have been a brand manager in the past, do not just list your job responsibilities like" responsible for sales, profits, advertising related to the brand...". Instead highlight things like " Implemented change in product formulation that saved Rs 50 lakhs per year for the brand...". Quantifiable parameters have a better impact than just saying " Implemented change in product formulation".


Prioritise details of your past work experience
After the summary section, you can go on to providing details of your past work experience. Leave aside the job objective and summary and that gives you just one and a half pages to cover the details of your work experience as well as your educational qualifications. You need to prioritise. Decide what weightage to give to different organisations/positions. You should not skip any place worked at, but you obviously cannot give all details of each position. A few points to note while preparing this section:

You could present the work experience in reverse chronological order
Start with the most recent work experience at the beginning of this section and the rest later on. That is the organisation where you are currently working first and the earlier ones worked in, later in the resume. This should highlight your relevant work experience at the outset.

Within an organisation, present your career path in the correct chronological order
While you may present the organisations you have worked in, in reverse chronological order, for a particular organisation it is easier to follow your career path if the positions are given in the way they happened e.g. " joined ABC co. as management trainee in 1989 and was promoted to assistant manager (finance) in 1991.....". You could then go on to elaborate your responsibilities and achievements at this position. Remember to highlight the more important designations with their accomplishments, as this will be more relevant than just focusing on your training period.

Mention responsibilities briefly, focus more on accomplishments
If responsibilities are similar across positions in an organisation, try to avoid repeating the same set of responsibilities with each position. That will unnecessarily increase the size of your resume without giving any additional value. Instead, try and include your different achievements at each position, or something that you introduced or did differently in your job. This would also hold true for situations where responsibilities are similar across organisations. Avoid tautology and stick to the accomplishments.

If worked in many organisations, merge information to reduce chronological details
To avoid presenting a long, chronological detail of each organisation worked in, try and merge information on similar positions/responsibilities across organisations into one category. This will be easier to read and will also avoid presenting a negative image of you being a job-hopper.

If changing your area of specialisation, classify the information by function
If you are changing your field from finance to marketing, then instead of just presenting the details of your past work experience in reverse chronological order by organisation, you could classify the information into different functional areas e.g. your responsibilities and achievements in finance (even if across companies); similarly for marketing. You should try and incorporate some marketing experience (and hopefully you will have some) if you intend to get into that area.

Include other information only if significant
You may like to mention your hobbies, interests or extra-curricular activities, under a separate heading, but it will really not add value to your resume unless you have made a significant achievement there. For example, mentioning mountaineering as a hobby is not relevant unless you have achieved something like taken a trip to Mount Everest or Kanchenjunga!

Such achievements which are not directly related to your work experience can be put under the heading "Other information".

Present educational qualifications with the most recent one first
When giving information on your educational qualifications in a separate section, it is advisable to begin by presenting the most recent degree/diploma achieved, as this is usually relevant to the work you are currently doing. For example, if you have acquired a post-graduate degree in management, give that information at the outset.

There is no need to go as far back as schooling, unless you are a fresh graduate with no work experience. Remember, the resume is just 2 pages and you need to give better reasons for being recruited than the school you studied in!

If you have acquired a degree in some other country, mention a degree that it is equivalent to which is internationally recognised, to put it in the right perspective for the reader.

Avoid tables while presenting details of educational qualifications because they occupy more space and interfere with the smooth flow of sentences and points.

Provide information on training if it is at least 3 months or more. Short term one week courses do not really look good on your resume unless you do not have enough to say in 2 pages!

Even if you are not a software/IT professional, today computer literacy is assumed for most positions. So don't list competencies in MS-Word and such like but do include any significant packages you may have learnt, helped develop or are in the process of learning.

For a candidate applying for an entry level position in an organisation, the educational qualifications will be more important as there is no significant work experience other than training. This section could therefore, come before work experience, in your resume.

References should be provided on request
Though it is useful to have names and contact numbers of people to give as references, it makes sense to provide them only on request. You should not give the details on your resume but provide the information later on, when asked for, or further on in the selection process.

The reason for this is that at the outset you do not know how long your resume will be with a company before you get an interview call. By then the persons you mentioned as references may have moved or their contact numbers could have changed.

Also you can tailor your list of references based on the company you are applying to. So there is no need to provide the same information to all the places you send your resume to.

It is also a good idea to inform your references that you have given their names before they receive a call out of the blue. This way when the employers who have included you in the short-list for recruitment, contact your references to check you out, there are no hitches or surprises.

Try and follow these guidelines and you will be surprised at the improvements you can make to your resume!

Remember the resume format is flexible depending on the specifics of your background and experience.

Apply Now - Resume or CV with Job Post Title
Email: jobs@aarenconsultants.in

15 Tips for Writing Winning Resumes

The thought of writing a resume intimidates almost anyone. It’s difficult to know where to start or what to include. It can seem like an insurmountable task. Here are 15 tips to help you not only tackle the task, but also write a winning resume.

1. Determine your job search objective prior to writing the resume. Once you have determined your objective, you can structure the content of your resume around that objective. Think of your objective as the bull’s-eye to focus your resume on hitting. If you write your resume without having a clear objective in mind, it will likely come across as unfocused to those that read it. Take the time before you start your resume to form a clear objective.

2. Think of your resume as a marketing tool. Think of yourself as a product, potential employers as your customers, and your resume as a brochure about you. Market yourself through your resume. What are your features and benefits? What makes you unique? Make sure to convey this information in your resume.

3. Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job. You don’t need to go into detail about every accomplishment. Strive to be clear and concise. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in you to have an employer contact you for an interview. Use the interview to provide a more detailed explanation of your accomplishments and to land a job offer.

4. Use bulleted sentences. In the body of your resume, use bullets with short sentences rather than lengthy paragraphs. Resumes are read quickly. This bulleted sentence format makes it easier for someone to quickly scan your resume and still absorb it.

5. Use action words. Action words cause your resume to pop. To add life to your resume, use bulleted sentences that begin with action words like prepared, developed, monitored, and presented.

6. Use #’s, $’s and %’s. Numbers, dollars, and percentages stand out in the body of a resume. Use them. Here are two examples:
· Managed a department of 10 with a budget of $1,000,000.
· Increased sales by 25% in a 15-state territory.

7. Lead with your strengths. Since resumes are typically reviewed in 30 seconds, take the time to determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where they are more apt to be read.

8. Play Match Game. Review want ads for positions that interest you. Use the key words listed in these ads to match them to bullets in your resume. If you have missed any key words, add them to your resume.

9. Use buzzwords. If there are terms that show your competence in a particular field, use them in your resume. For marketing people, use "competitive analysis." For accounting types, use "reconciled accounts."

10. Accent the positive. Leave off negatives and irrelevant points. If you feel your date of graduation will subject you to age discrimination, leave the date off your resume. If you do some duties in your current job that don’t support your job search objective, leave them off your resume. Focus on the duties that do support your objective. Leave off irrelevant personal information like your height and weight.

11. Show what you know. Rather than going into depth in one area, use your resume to highlight your breadth of knowledge. Use an interview to provide more detail.

12. Show who you know. If you have reported to someone important such as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume. Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that you are important.

13. Construct your resume to read easily. Leave white space. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point. Limit the length of your resume to 1-2 pages. Remember, resumes are reviewed quickly. Help the reader to scan your resume efficiently and effectively.

14. Have someone else review your resume. Since you are so close to your situation, it can be difficult for you to hit all your high points and clearly convey all your accomplishments. Have someone review your job search objective, your resume, and listings of positions that interest you. Encourage them to ask questions. Their questions can help you to discover items you inadvertently left off your resume. Revise your resume to include these items. Their questions can also point to items on your resume that are confusing to the reader. Clarify your resume based on this input.

15. Submit your resume to potential employers. Have the courage to submit your resume. Think of it as a game where your odds of winning increase with every resume you submit. You really do increase your odds with every resume you submit. Use a three-tiered approach. Apply for some jobs that appear to be beneath you. Perhaps they will turn out to be more than they appeared to be once you interview for them. Or perhaps once you have your foot in the door you can learn of other opportunities. Apply for jobs that seem to be just at your level. You will get interviews for some of those jobs. See how each job stacks up. Try for some jobs that seem like a stretch. That’s how you grow -- by taking risks. Don’t rule yourself out. Trust the process. Good luck in your job search!