Wednesday 23 November 2011

Need For Resume

Your resume is one of your most important tools for finding and winning a great job. This one- to two-page document is both a record of your past and current accomplishments in the workplace and an advertisement for the capabilities you offer to other organizations in the future. In effect, your resume describes what you can do and how well you can do it for an employer who has likely never met you.

 
That information is critical to your success in today's job market. Employers are swamped with resumes from other job seekers, and only a well-written, high-impact resume can set you apart. It describes what makes you special by presenting a history of what you have achieved and a statement about the potential contribution you can make. A great resume convincingly presents your unique set of skills and experience on paper so that an employer invites you to an interview, where you can sell yourself in person. In short, a well-prepared resume gets you into the competition so that you have the chance to win your dream job.

Writing a resume can seem a bit intimidating, whether you're a first-time job seeker or a seasoned workplace veteran, a skilled technician or a senior executive. The process is, however, something anyone can accomplish, and everyone should. Yes, it will take a little time and effort; but no, you don't need a degree in English or a background in career counseling to prepare an effective resume. Creating a great resume simply requires careful preparation, attention to detail, selection of the right type of resume for your work background and objective, and thorough follow-through. Do these things, and you'll produce a resume that can open the door to exciting new work opportunities and position you for continuous career advancement. Our website aroj.com is one of the best example providing the best resume samples along with cover letters, resume examples and career guidelines.

What Can A Resume Do?

A great resume can help you accomplish two important objectives: It enables you to make a great first impression, and it presents your work credentials in such a way that you
  1. Can compete successfully for great jobs right now
  2. Are well positioned for career-enhancing positions in the future
Making a positive first impression In today's fast-changing workplace, a great resume is one of the key components of success. It acts as your agent, a tireless advocate for your career interests and goals. If you're job hunting, your resume is the means by which you introduce yourself to employers and networking contacts. It is the document you use to establish your credentials when you apply for a position and to describe your background and goals when you prospect for job leads.

In most cases, your resume gives employers their first look at you. The document's content, clarity, and persuasiveness - all part of your care in presenting these recorded credentials - determines whether that first impression is positive and helpful or not. And making a positive first impression has never been more important in the job market. Research shows that employers typically spend just 15-45 seconds reviewing each resume they receive. That's all the time your resume has to convey your qualifications for an open position. The quality and impact of that initial impression determines whether you are considered for the position.

First impressions can also have a significant impact on your networking abilities. Connecting with others to uncover job leads is an important part of any successful job search campaign. In many cases, you're meeting people for the first time, and your resume helps shape their impression of you. A great resume that creates a positive initial impression can expand the range of people who are willing to meet with you and point you toward interesting employment opportunities.

Promoting your credentials
Even if you're not actively job hunting, a great resume can help you achieve career success. It's an effective tool for measuring your progress in acquiring new skills and experience.

Today, employment security largely depends on how deep and how current your occupational skills and knowledge are. Half of that expertise grows obsolete every 3-5 years, however, due to technological and other changes. As a consequence, you now must continuously replenish and improve your credentials to keep your career healthy and moving forward.

Despite its value, this requirement for lifelong learning sometimes slips in its position among your priorities. The demands of today's job can mask the importance of continuous self- improvement and preparation for the future. That's where your resume can help. It's a record of your personal development, both in the past and in the present. In other words, if you don't have to update your resume every six months or so - to document newly acquired skills or experience - odds are good that your capabilities are falling behind - a fitting reminder that you need to invest some time and energy in their development.

Schedule a personal performance appraisal with yourself every six months. Use your resume to evaluate your progress in the previous six-month period and to set clear, achievable goals for the next six months.
A great resume can also help you promote your credentials to others. Traditionally, cultivating that kind of connection was something you did only in an active job search. In today's ever-changing workplace, however, marketing your credentials should be a continuous activity. It is the only way to protect yourself from unexpected disruptions in employment and to manage your career advancement pro-actively.

A well-written resume enhances both the reach and stature of your credentials. In the past, networking was limited to who you knew; today, it's based on who you know and who knows you. The key to advancing your career is increasing the number of people who are aware of what you can do and how well you can do it.

Your resume enables you to provide an accurate, up-to-date, and upbeat introduction to your track record on the job, and circulating it can help you extend your circle of contacts. That ever-expanding network of people who know about your capabilities in the workplace helps ensure that you are considered for as many opportunities as possible and thus have a range of options with which to work as you manage your career. 

Friday 18 November 2011

Writing a Great Resume

Every great resume has seven core elements, all of which must be present for it to be complete and effective:
  • Contact information
  • Objective
  • Profile
  • Experience
  • Accomplishments
  • Education
  • Professional affiliations and awards
Contact information
Begin your resume by centering your name at the top of the first page. Use your complete name, but not any informal or nickname or such designations as Mr., Ms., or Mrs. In addition, do not give the document a title, such as "Resume" or "The Resume of ______."

Beneath your name, position your postal address, telephone number, and e-mail address, if you have one. This information is critically important because it enables employers and recruiters to contact you for additional details and, potentially, to schedule an interview.

If possible, provide a telephone number where you can be reached privately during the business day. Otherwise, use a private telephone number that will be answered by another adult, a voice mail service, or an answering machine. Then make sure that you check your messages regularly and return recruiters' calls promptly. Similarly, use a private e-mailbox - not one provided by your employer (which is subject to inspection) - to receive e-mail from recruiters. Check your incoming e-mail at least twice daily.

Objective
Your resume objective statement tells the employer what kind of position you're seeking and helps you organize your resume. Place this single sentence, which generally runs about 20-30 words, just below your contact information. (For guidelines on writing an effective statement of objective, see Chapter 3.)

Profile
A profile appears below your objective statement and summarizes your key skills, abilities, experience, and knowledge. It should be roughly the same length as an objective statement (20-30 words) and written in 3-5 bullets or short, descriptive phrases.

A profile functions as a billboard to highlight your strengths in the workplace, and by being positioned near the top of your resume, enables recruiters to assess your qualifications quickly and accurately. Your profile should be rich with keywords - the nouns and phrases recruiters use to describe qualifications similar to yours. Review the terms included in recruitment ads, job postings on the Internet, and position descriptions, if you have access to them. Then write your profile with recruiters' vocabulary, always ensuring that the information you include is accurate, clearly expressed, and persuasive. For example:

PROFILE
  • 15 years of experience as a successful sales agent in the personal insurance industry
  • Top performer in the Eastern Region for the past five years
  • Experienced at both new account sales and current account management and growth
Experience
The experience section provides a detailed description of your work credentials. Because both the space on your resume and the time recruiters have to review it are limited, include information that clearly and directly supports your good resume objective writing. Each detail should be designed to provide evidence of your skills and knowledge, your track record in applying these attributes on the job, and your potential to extend that capability into another organization and a new position. If you use a chronological or hybrid format, this section also details your previous employers, positions held, and locations. (See Chapter 1 for a description of chronological, functional, and hybrid resumes.)

In today's job market, employers are seeking very specific kinds of talent. They want to hire individuals who have demonstrated high levels of performance in their occupational fields and gained the kind of experience that prepares them to achieve similar success in the future. Therefore, your experience section should provide a focused, hard-hitting summary of what you can do, not who you hope to be. It is a place for fact, not dreams; achievable objectives, not wishful thinking.
Accomplishments
In most cases, your accomplishments are best presented as bullets in the experience section. These success stories provide two kinds of information to employers. First, they are the details that prove how capable you are in your occupational field. Because quantitative measures are often easiest to understand and have the greatest impact on the reader, describing your on-the-job achievements in numbers, rather than phrases, may attract the most employer attention. Here's an example:
  • Increased sales by 30% in just two years
  • Accomplished special project on time and within budget, producing a $150,000 profit for the company
  • Managed a weather-related spike of 5,000 claims within 60 days by hiring and training five new employees
Your accomplishments also provide employers with information about your character. These glimpses into proven performance are a statement about the pride you take in your work. They describe your sense of commitment to making genuine contributions on the job. And they are a measure of the importance you attach to being the best you can be in your profession, craft, or trade.

Education
Your resume also presents your most important education and training credentials. Once again, what you say in your objective should determine what to include in this section. Cite past degree-track programs you pursued and any classes and programs in which you are currently involved. In fact, employers now look very favorably on candidates who recognize the importance of and take responsibility for keeping their skills current. Therefore, think of yourself as a work-inprogress; always be enrolled in a program that extends your skills and knowledge in the workplace and always include that information on your resume.
To describe your educational credentials, think about providing the following information:
  • The name of the degree(s) or certificate(s) you have earned or are in the process of earning
  • The specific field in which you majored or the subject you are currently studying
  • The institution where you did your coursework or are now doing it
  • The date your degree(s)/certificate(s) were awarded or the term "ongoing" if you have not yet completed the program For example:
    BS/Software Engineering Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA 1971
    JAVA Programming University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Ongoing
Professional affiliations and awards
In the professional affiliations and awards section, cite the names of any professional societies or associations to which you belong, as well as any positions you have held, presentations you have delivered at annual or chapter meetings, and articles you have authored for publication. Don't include the citation you received for helping out at the local community center, but do highlight any activities or achievements that underscore your dedication to your field and demonstrate your improved competency. For example:
  • Member American Marketing Association - 1975 - Present
  • Mid-Ohio Chapter President American Marketing Association - 1991-93
  • "Building Powerful Brands" paper presented at American Marketing Association 9th Annual Convention - 1998  

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Resume Cover Letter

Writing a Good Resume Cover Letter
Cover letters are just as import, or more important than the resume themselves. Your cover letter is taking out all your best characteristics and skills from your resume and putting them into a document to entice the prospective employer. The cover letter leads the employer to your resume, and then to deciding if you are going to make in onto the shortlist of prospective employees.

 
The cover letter is built on top of the resume, and being built it leads the employer to your resume. The goal of the cover letter is to get the employer excited about your resume. In essence, your cover letter is a salesman for your resume. It should let the employer know that you are special compared to all other applications, but try not to sound cocky. Try and address the cover letter to the actual person who will be reading it, not just "Dear Sir/Madam". It may take a bit of research, for example phones calls or looking on their website, but it often can be done.

You should keep you cover letter to a one page maximum. A cover letter should be around three or four paragraphs, starting with the opening paragraph. The opening paragraph gives the basics of what you are writing about. It should include which job you are applying for, the place that you heard about the job, and who you are personally.

The middle paragraph, or paragraphs, is where you must describe your relevant qualifications to the job you are applying for. Explain why you are a perfect fit for the job. Tell the employer what you can do for their organization, but don't talk about what they will do for you. Highlight how you have the right work ethic and attitude to be the perfect candidate for the job. It is also good to show that you know something about the organization. For example if it was a car company you could write "I find it a pleasure to see your newest car model on the roads, and am pleased with the way that you treat environmental issues."

The closing paragraph shouldn't actually be too closing. Make a note of any attachments there are such as your resume. You should be confident in saying things such as "I hope to hear from you soon" and also thank them for their time and consideration in looking at your application.

Remember when you have finished writing your cover letter to edit and proofread it. It is often an excellent idea to get a friend or family member to read over the cover letter. This is the first contact that you will ever have with you potential employer, so try and make first impressions last.

You can see some resume examples and resume cover letters having some very good resume cover letters for various jobs.

How to Write a Resume

A resume consists of several key components, and to write a good resume you need to cover all these aspects. The main items that are required on a resume include your name, contact details (address, telephone and optionally email), your objective, education, previous work experience and references. You may also include other additional information that may be relevant to the job you are applying for such as special interests, computer knowledge, and if you are multilingual you may write down the languages that you speak.
Name and contact details
It is important to put your real name on your resume, and not a nickname. This is to show that you are serious about the position you are applying for. It is also best to give your permanent, residential address so that employers can see where you are located. It is a good idea to list both your home phone number, and your mobile/cell phone number incase you are not available at home when the prospective employer rings.
Objective
This is often the focus point on your resume, it outlines to the employer what type of work that you are after and why you are after it. The resume objective should be a simple sentence or two that is directly related to what work you wish to gain and your qualifications or accomplishments. For more information on this visit .
Education
This is often one of the most important areas when writing a resume. It is important to list all the education you have achieved so that you distinguish yourself from other applicants. If you have a degree, be sure to include the type of degree you achieved (Bachelor, Masters, etc.), your majors, the institution attended, graduation date and years attended. It may be worth providing your grade average, and also any special awards and achievements that you have.
Work Experience
Work experience is also another very highly important category when writing a resume. It shows employers if you have had relevant past experience to the job you are applying for. Ensure that you list the name of the organization, location of the organization, your position with them and the dates you worked with them. You should also describe the work you done with them, ensuring that you use strong and words relevant to the job at hand (for example, if the job you are applying for relies heavily on teamwork, focus on the teamwork aspects in previous jobs). You should list any forms of volunteer work or internships.
Additional Information
This is the area in which you can list anything else that may be relevant, or put you ahead of other applicants. This could be for example if you are multilingual, you could list the languages that you speak. You can also list computer knowledge that you have if computers will be used in the workplace.
References
It is almost essential to include a reference list when writing a resume. References are most often people you have previously worked for, or if you haven't had a job before you could list teachers or family friends. You must ask references if you can put them on your resume before including them. It is best to have at least two people, and include there name, phone number, what relation they had and organization they work for. If you do not wish to provide references when you first submit you resume, you can write "References available upon request" in which the potential employer will ask you for them when they are ready.

If you are looking for some more information about how to write a good resume, we will like to recommend resume cover letter and resume examples.