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Resumes and Cover Letters The Job Search

5 Ways to Write a Stand-Out Résumé

By Movin On' Up on Thursday, May 17, 2012

Writing your résumé for the first time – or for the first time in a long time – can be a daunting task for anyone. How you write up your credentials can make or break your chance to get your foot in the door for an interview, so it’s important to have your résumé nearly perfect every time you apply for a job. Here are five big things to do every time you sit down to update your résumé.

Tailor it. The best way to write a perfect résumé is tailoring it to a specific job description. Clearly list each skill you possess that the position requires. If you’re a perfect match for the job, a tailored résumé will help potential employers see at a glance how your skills and talents match the position perfectly.

List unique skills. After you review a job description, you may notice that a skill you possess wasn’t included in the posting. If that skill relates to the job and would benefit your employer, include this skill on your résumé. Employers will take notice when you list unique skills, which can put you ahead of your competition, especially if no one else possesses those skills. If you have a skill that doesn’t relate to the job, don’t include it on your résumé. For example, if you’re applying for a data processing job, don’t list your cooking skills.

Practice. Writing a perfect résumé doesn’t happen in an instance, and if you’re learning new skills and gaining new experiences, what you can put on your résumé will constantly grow. The more practice you have writing your résumé, the better you’ll be at tailoring it to each job description and including just what employers are looking for. Try drafting your résumé in different formats, such as chronological and functional formats. This will help you figure out which style works best for each of the positions you’re applying for.

Proofread. When you make careless mistakes and they end up in a potential employer’s hands, your chances of landing an interview may disappear. So, carefully read and reread your résumé, checking for misspelled words, incorrect grammar, and misuse of similar sounding words that have a different meaning. Ask a friend or family member to proofread your résumé, too. They’re more likely to catch a mistake that you’ve overlooked. Taking the time to make sure your résumé is error-free keeps you from missing out on an opportunity because of an easily avoidable mistake.

Keep it short. Most hiring managers receive many résumés and cover letters for every job opening they post and don’t have time to read every résumé word for word. So, limit your résumé to two pages or less. This provides enough space to detail your education, skills, and talents to employers without overwhelming them with too much information. And because they’re often in a hurry when looking through a stack of résumés, use bulleted lists to facilitate quick and easy reading instead of writing in long paragraphs. It’s great to highlight your achievements and include your work history, but only describe your more current employment.

Résumés play a big role in whether or not you’ll land an interview, so take your time putting yours together before you apply for each job. You can write a stand-out résumé by practicing, proofreading, and tailoring it to each position. A near-perfect résumé will help your accomplishments stand out and sell you as a great candidate for the job.

So What’s This Gap in Your Résumé?

By Job Journey on Wednesday, December 14, 2011

When creating your résumé, you may struggle with how to address a gap in your employment. While it’s critical to be honest on your résumé, there are steps to help draw attention to your work experience or abilities and away from your time spent out of the workforce. It’s also important to remain confident. If you dwell on your unemployed time, you’re not focusing on the skills and abilities you bring to the workplace. Keep in mind that most people understand that having a blank spot in your résumé isn’t inconceivable, life happens and sometimes that life takes you away from work. Here are three tips to handling a gap in your résumé.

Formatting to Highlight the Positive

Instead of using a standard chronological format for your résumé, consider a skills-focused résumé that begins by highlighting your skills and education. Make sure to keep your résumé clear and organized. When you use a format that isn’t as common, it’s important to make sure it’s easy to read and still addresses the points in a traditional chronological résumé. It is better to put your work experience and skills above your education because that portion really develops a picture of how you can impact the workplace. Make sure to use specifics when describing your skills, such as how fast you can work, specific sales goals you achieved, or solutions you created that saved money for your past employer. Make sure to cite the versions of computer software you are comfortable working with, and if you aren’t up to date in the current versions, consider taking a class at a local community college, technical school, or online training. You also need to include a list of past employers at the conclusion of a skills-focused résumé.

Put the Cover Letter to Work

It’s important to use a unique cover letter for each position you are applying for, which allows you to specifically cite how your skills and achievements match the requirements of the job. Again, it’s important to paint the picture of how you can impact the workplace and fit into the job. The cover letter is a great place to briefly address the gap in your résumé. Be as direct and concise as possible. For example, “I’m excited to return to the workforce now that I’m needed less at home.” Or, “We’ve been traveling for the past few years for my husband’s job. I’m excited that we have settled here, and I can now return the workforce full time.” If you are seeking a job in a professional role, it may be good to quote a recent trade article or technological development to assure the potential employer you’ve kept a pulse on your career field while out of the workforce. Additionally, if you are a member of a professional organization, check to see if the person hiring for the role is in the same organization, and cite in the cover letter that you hope to meet them at the next networking event. This indicates your involvement in the professional world.

Work Your Network

Now’s the time to activate your networking skills. Send copies of your résumé to former colleagues and co-workers to let them know you are returning to the workforce and would appreciate any referrals to open positions. At Express, 40% of our associates come from referrals. If you know someone at a company you are applying for, it helps to contact that person and see if they can assist you in your application process. Additionally, if this person understands the gap in your résumé, they can help defer attention from it and reaffirm your commitment to joining the workforce. Don’t wait before you find a job to attend community networking events or professional association meetings, but join them as a way to support your job search. If possible, let your network know you’d be willing to take contract or temporary assignments while you are looking for a full-time position to help you return to the workforce even sooner.

Do you have an example to share on how you’ve managed a gap on your résumé?

By Rachel Rudisill

At Work Cube Life My Entry-Level Life New Job Tips The Daily Grind Work/Life Balance

The Building Blocks of a Successful, Professional Résumé

By Miranda Wilson on Monday, April 5, 2010

When it comes to building a résumé, it’s important to know what to include and how to get an employer to notice yours. Typically, a hiring manager will form an opinion about you and your résumé within about 10 minutes, so your résumé needs to grab someone’s attention … and fast.

So, what does a great résumé include? Make sure you include these items to maximize your job search results.

The Basics. The basics for any résumé include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. And when it comes to listing an address, be sure to include a permanent address to ensure that if an employer sends you something, you will receive it. Also, for e-mail addresses, think professional. A great way to get overlooked for a job opportunity is to include a non-professional e-mail address, such as love2party@gmail.com. Instead, have a more professional e-mail address to include, such as jane.doe@gmail.com. Employers look at every detail on your résumé when deciding if you’re the right employee for them.

Educational Background and Experience. Include what your major is or what certifications and training you have received. The more you include the better. Also, list which school or votech you graduated from or that you’re attending. However, when it comes to your grade point average, only list it if it’s 3.5 or higher.

Objective and Summary of Skills. It’s never a bad idea to include a clear, direct objective and summary of what you’re looking for and what you can offer an employer. Remember, when it comes to a résumé, your ultimate goal is to tell them what you can do for them, not what they can do for you.

For example, if you’re applying for an ad copy writer position, list your top skills that would showcase to the employer why you are the best choice for the job. Keep this object short – only a few sentences at most – and communicate your passion for the job. Grab their attention early on in the résumé.

List of Achievements. Once you’ve told an employer in your objective and summary why they should hire you, you have to show them why. This is the section where you can go more in depth about your skills and abilities. It’s also OK to brag on yourself a little here. Tell them about honors, awards, and recognition you’ve received regarding your area of study. List internships or major projects you worked on that got rave reviews? Did you showcase a major community project for your school?

If you received an award for being the best of the best, include that too. Let a potential employer know what you’re able to do! The more impressive you appear, the better. But remember, a cardinal rule of creating a résumé is to keep everything truthful. Don’t fudge the truth even a little to seem more impressive. If an employer ever finds out you did, your career with them would be over before it ever gets started.

Community and Extracurricular Activities. Be sure to list all the organizations you have been involved in at school and outside of school. Since you don’t have a lot of on-the-job experience yet, this is a great way to show how you’re putting your skills to use.

These are some basic must-haves that every résumé should include. One other thing to keep in mind is the format you use. Usually for recent college grads, a combination of a chronological and functional format is a good choice. The chronological format lists your experience in a timely order, while the functional format focuses more on just your skills and abilities overall. Also, check out additional tips for getting past resume gaps.

Finally keep the overall design basic and try to keep your résumé to one page in length. The busier your résumé appears, the more distracting it will be. When it comes to the design, less is more. Also, create your résumé in Microsoft Word, but save your final copy as a PDF version.

Follow these tips to make sure you start your job search off on the right foot. Tune in next week for information on creating a list of references.

Resumes and Cover Letters The Job Search

Five Tips for Getting Past Résumé Gaps

By tiffany monhollon on Friday, August 31, 2007

A reader recently asked a great question in response to our post about telling the truth on your résumé . She asked what to do when you have a spotty work history with many employment gaps but for good reason. We think this is a great question.

Employment gaps happen to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Those who’ve been stay-at-home parents, had the opportunity to travel, attend school, serve as a volunteer, or be a care-giver for a loved one, often choose to return to the workforce after a period of time. Unfortunately, because employment gaps are typically associated with poor performing workers, employers tend to look negatively on all applicants whose résumés reflect a large period of time without work. This can make it tricky to get in the door for an interview and show that you’re a qualified candidate.

But, there are some résumé techniques you can use to highlight your capabilities and not the gaps.

1. Focus on skills. Using a skills-focused résumé can help you emphasize your qualifications over your work history. Try opening your résumé with your objective and then give bullet points with key skills or qualifications you possess and those you’ve attained while on hiatus instead of launching into your employment history.

2. Use a functional format. Instead of relating your work experience in a chronological format like a traditional résumé, use the functional style. This type of résumé groups experience not by chronological order but by relevance to the position at hand.

3. Highlight unpaid experience. If you served as a volunteer for a religious or civic organization during your employment gap, list the position you held along with the title “volunteer” and describe the transferable skills you used in that position to show that you have unpaid experience in the field you’re applying for.

4. Don’t fudge on the dates. It’s critical not to exaggerate or lie about the dates of employment you’ve held. It’s easy for employers to verify employment dates, and fudging the facts will only make matters worse.

5. Send a cover letter. It’s typically not appropriate to write “Stay-at-home-parent, June 2004-August 2007” on your résumé, but you can talk about your situation in a cover letter, if you feel comfortable doing so. Don’t get into the nitty gritty, and whatever you do, don’t complain about your situation. But you can explain your situation, highlighting how it pertains to the position at hand. For example, you could say that for three years you used time management, care-giving and financial skills by maintaining the family budget and caring for your child at home.

Be honest with prospective employers about the reasons you have a work gap, and keep in mind that if you’ve been busy with other pursuits while away from work, you’ve probably gained a variety of transferable skills that may make you a prime candidate. Your break from the work world may just make you the perfect candidate for the right employer. In fact, recruiters are beginning to look for returning workers with past experience to fill the void of Baby Boomers who are beginning to retire. Using these tips to highlight everything about you that makes you the right candidate can help you make sure recruiters look past the gaps and see what you have to offer as an employee instead.

Career Options Dress for Success The Daily Grind The Job Search

Reinvent Yourself – Repackage Yourself

By Jennifer Kenley on Thursday, September 13, 2007

Yesterday, I talked about starting the process of reinventing yourself for a new career, or rejuvenating yourself in your current job. Today, I want to talk about what to do after you have found your new direction – repackaging yourself.

Even after individuals find their true passion, they still sometimes find it difficult to shed the old image and be perceived by others in a new way. By following these tips, you can showcase the new you to employers, as well as to yourself.

Tweak your résumé. Rewrite your résumé to reflect your new image. Regardless of whether you are venturing out on a new direction or just reigniting your passion in your old job, refreshing your résumé will help you stay focused with who you want to be and the direction you want to go. When updating your résumé, use a functional résumé format. This type of résumé focuses on specific skills you possess, instead of the progression of jobs that a chronological résumé format focuses on. Write your résumé with an emphasis on your new career goal. The point is to make sure potential employers can see who you are now, not who you were.

Change inside and out. If you list on your résumé that you’re an outgoing and innovative salesperson, make sure your appearance reflects the attitude. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. If you have an outdated hairstyle or are in need of a new wardrobe, search online, peruse through current magazines or contact an image consultant for what’s in style in your particular field of work and region. Improving your outward appearance will project confidence to employers.

Make the connection. You have pinpointed your new career goal. Your résumé is updated, and your looks reflect the inner you. Now, you’re ready to start making connections with prospective employers to boost your current career track. When searching for jobs in your market, try attending job fairs and networking with friends to find out what jobs are out there. This will help you test the waters and get the inside track on companies without having to make a commitment. Staying in your current position? Try scheduling a one-on-one meeting with your boss. You can use this time to inform your boss that you’d love to try some new projects or learn new skills.

Creating a new image can be a tough process, but by following these tips, you can make the transition a positive experience.

Tomorrow, I’ll offer tips that will help you sustain the new you.

Career Options Job Interviews Resumes and Cover Letters The Job Search

What to Do When You Really Are Overqualified

By Caleb Yen on Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Your interview felt perfect. You knew all the answers and your resume was shining with experience. But you didn’t get the job. They said you were “overqualified.” It wasn’t an excuse. They meant it. You really and truly were overqualified.

Think you may be overqualified for the jobs you’re applying for? Here are our top tips to help you ace your next interview regardless.

Make Sure You Want It

Before doing anything else, you need to figure out whether you actually want this job or not. There are two main reasons companies turn away overqualified applicants. The first is lack of funds. They don’t have enough money set aside to pay what your experience is worth. The second is that you could be a flight risk. A late career change may be seen as a risky hire. They don’t want your time at the company to be a short detour from your main career path.

So before even applying to a position you’re overqualified for, decide why you want the job. Is it because you’re ready for a career change? If so, make sure you realize it could mean a pay cut. What matters is where you are in your life now. What you want now. Not your past salary or education. And be prepared stay at this job for at least a few years. If this is what you want, you need to commit.

Leverage Your Network

Now that you know you truly want this, it’s time to let your network know. If your potential interviewers are skeptical of whether you actually want the job or not, it’s time to bring in backup. They are more likely to trust a mutual acquaintance over a faceless applicant.

Your network can also help you find job opportunities. You might have a contact out there with a friend who would love to hire someone overqualified, but just doesn’t have the budget. You’re a perfect fit, but your contact won’t ever know it if you don’t tell them!

Tailor Your Resume

A resume is usually a chance to go all out. It’s a chance to shine, to list all of your accomplishments for the world to see. But when you’re overqualified, perhaps not all of those accomplishments are related to the position you’re applying for. It can be difficult for human resources to sift through a packed resume to find which accomplishments match up to the position.

A resume tells a story. It paints a picture of you as a potential employee. But if there are too many brush strokes, the end result might be a painting that’s too fancy for the room in which it’s being placed. Consider your words carefully, and customize your resume for the position. Focus on skills first, then accomplishments.

This is where staffing agencies can help. Recruiters are your advocates and personal brand ambassadors. Their insider knowledge allows them to highlight and promote your most marketable skills. As noted by Bettye Taylor, a recruiter from a local Express office, “a recruiter can sell the transferable skills where they will be noticed, versus those skills being glossed over when submitting a resume to a website.”

And retooling your resume can show real results. “Many times I’ve had candidates reconstruct their resume from a chronological one to a functional one, highlighting those top three to five transferable skills and functions, and then list accomplishments and achievements under those,” she says. “You won’t believe what a difference that makes.”

Be Honest

When it comes to the actual interview, be honest. Address the elephant in the room. Let the interviewer know why you’re interested in the position. If it’s because of a career change, let them know why you’re making that change. Tell them that you’re really in this for the long haul.

And be positive! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by thinking they’ll just tell you you’re overqualified. Interviewers want to see that you’re an actual human being they would enjoy working with. So be real!

Have you ever been rejected due to being “overqualified?” Let us know in the comments below!

The Job Search

The Job Hunt: Staying Motivated

By Job Journey on Monday, June 27, 2016

Express Employment Professionals recently released results from a new Harris Poll of the unemployed, which, for the third year in a row, shows a significant number of Americans have completely given up looking for work.

Forty-three percent of those surveyed said they have completely given up looking for work. For those unemployed more than two years, the percentage of individuals giving up on the job hunt increased to 59% from 2015.

Results were based on a May 2016 survey of 1,513 jobless Americans, age 18 and older, who are unemployed but capable of working.

Who Are the Unemployed?
According to the survey, 55% of the unemployed are men; 45 % are women; and 33% are between ages 18 and 29.

The majority lack a college degree:

38% received a high school diploma
22% attended college, but did not receive a degree
13% hold a bachelor’s degree

Of those with at least a college degree, 52% indicated they wish they had focused on a vocational career such as automotive technology, electrician, plumber, HVAC specialist, dental assisting, or medical assisting. If you find yourself thinking about a vocational career, Express published a white paper, “Caution: College May Not Be For Everyone,” that takes an in-depth look at career technical education, and compares its benefits to a traditional bachelor’s degree.
Inspiration from Thomas Edison
American Inventor and businessman Thomas A. Edison once said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
If you are among the unemployed, it can be a frightening time. However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates there are 5.8 million open jobs. When re-entering the workforce, it’s important to be honest about resume gaps and be open to the idea that you might need to look for a career path in a different industry.

You can always take advantage of the time you have to read, volunteer, or continue your education. Use your time to work on your resume, polish your skills, and heed Edison’s advice. Try sending out one more resume a day, applying for one more job per week, and calling on your network to see if they know of open jobs.

Resources to Find Work
The 2016 survey on the “State of the Unemployed” indicates that unemployment is becoming a chronic condition. More than half, 51%, reported they haven’t been on a job interview since 2014.

According to the study, the unemployed reported they are putting in an average of only 11.7 hours per week looking for work. Recruiters, however, will often tell you that a job seeker needs to spend more time looking for a job.

In today’s online world, there are numerous sources that you can use to enhance your job search. Job boards such as Monster or Indeed.com provide valuable listings. Also, company websites often list open jobs. And, there are valuable websites that help enhance your job search, as well as offer resume tips.

You can also use a staffing company, like Express Employment Professionals, to help you find work. According to the American Staffing Association, more than 3 million temporary and contract employees work for staffing companies during an average week. And, during the course of a year, American staffing companies hire nearly 16 million temporary and contract employees.

Express also conducted a similar study on the unemployed in Canada. View results of both studies with infographics on unemployed Americans and Canadians.

If you have found yourself unemployed, what motivates you to continue your job search? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.