It’s the end of October, and if you celebrate Halloween, you’ll likely be watching scary movies, dressing up, and eating all the sweet and savory treats you desire. Job Journey wants to join in on the Halloween fun by offering some career advice you can get from trick-or-treaters. (more…)
Halloween will be here before you know it, and if your workplace celebrates the holiday, you might still need a costume. Here are a few ideas that are not only appropriate for the workplace but will also potentially have your co-workers submitting your name for the “Best Costume” award.
Scare off the competition with your newly expanded vocabulary
Ghosts and ghouls are garish and ghastly. Zombies are zealous in their pursuit of brains. And warlocks are wild in their suspiciously suspect spellcasting.
But there is one creature more frightening, foul, and fatal than all the rest:
Your resume.
Only a select few enjoy resume-writing. For the rest of us, the onerous activity can seem like an exercise in futility, akin to trying to melt a witch wearing a water-resistant wetsuit.
You must get your foot in the door to score a job, and, unless you’re a zombie with the ability to throw your actual foot through the literal door, you’ll need a tip-top resume to get past the scanning robots and secure an interview.
Here are the tastiest words to make sure you don’t get eaten by the competition.
Words That Show You Take Initiative
You want to show your potential employer you didn’t twiddle your thumbs and do the bare minimum in your previous positions. Use these words to show you’re eerily experienced, and that you originated new and complex programs:
Words That Show You Are Results-Driven
Employers want results. Would you hire a ghost that scared “a bunch” of people or a ghoul that increased the individuals frightened by 72% within 2 years? Be specific with the following words:
Words That Show You Are a Team Leader
A true werewolf king is the leader of his pack. But that doesn’t mean he needs to repeat the word “led” five hundred times on his resume. Instead of saying you “led” a team, show you went above and beyond with these words:
And that’s it! Now that you have plenty of words in your resume pumpkin, you’re ready to turn it into a ferociously fresh job search jack-o’-lantern. So, get carving!
Any other “boo-tiful” words you’ve found effective in getting your resume noticed? Let us know in the comments below!
You’ve been seeking employment for a while and you’ve become desperate enough to accept the first opportunity that comes along. Now that you have accepted the position, it has proven to be undesirable and doesn’t match your skills. You may be miserable and feel as though you are in a career rut, but don’t let this mistake steer you from your ultimate goal. Instead, build upon the opportunity and look at the failure as a catapult to move forward into the career or a new position with your current employer. This could end up being the break you’ve been waiting for.
So, take a step back and look at your options; you may consider staying and making it work for you. Create a plan with a timeline to help keep you focused on your next steps, whether your decision is to stay or seek employment elsewhere. Having a strategy in place will help shift your mindset away from panicky thinking and give you a clearer vision as to whether the job is doable or not.
Here are some questions you may want to ponder:
However, anxious you may be to escape your current job, keep in mind what makes you the professional you are. A single choice doesn’t have to define your entire career. Even if your successes don’t occur in your current position, don’t negate earlier achievements just because they are from previous years—use them to draw upon. Sell your expertise. Experience goes a long way.
We’ve complied four Movin’ On Up articles that you may find helpful while overcoming a bad career decision:
Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.
Are you spooked by interview questions that are difficult to answer? Interviews can be scary, but they don’t have to be. Take a look at these common interview questions and click each link to discover tips for answering them with ease.
Why are you looking for a change?
What are your greatest weaknesses?
Why is there a gap in your work history?
How do you answer scary interview questions? Let us know in the comments section below!
Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.
When people tell you that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself, they aren’t kidding. It usually takes a scary amount of time and energy to search for opportunities, network, prepare for interviews, actually interview, and then follow up. But the truth is, as much as we dread it, looking for a job is a job that we’re all doing more and more often.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of years employees stay at one company is just under five. So, even if you aren’t currently in the market for a new job, chances are you will be in the near future. That’s why it’s so important to constantly keep your resume up to date. You never know when you might need it again.
If it’s been a little while since your resume has seen the light of day, it may be time to get it out and dust it off. Here are a couple of tips to help you get started.
1. Don’t Be Afraid to Cut Stuff Out
Before you start adding to your resume, check to see if there’s anything that can or should be taken out. Objective statements for example are now seen as obsolete. If you still have one, consider cutting it out and replacing with a list of your skills set instead. Need another example of cutting stuff out? If you’ve been out of high school for a few years, it’s probably time to delete any mention of your old stomping grounds.
Take some time to really think through what you include from your past. Your resume should be succinct and, at the same time, powerful, so there may be some parts of your resume that could be restructured to have a stronger impact.
2. Update Your Resume with Relevant and Valuable Information
After you’ve cut out any unnecessary information, it’s time to start updating your resume with new awards, achievements, and skills. Because you only have one to two pages max to demonstrate your work experience and knowledge, remember that every word counts. Craft your resume carefully with power words like these.
As you describe your work experience, try to stay focused on your accomplishments rather than tasks. Share measurable information about how you’ve made a difference in the companies you’ve worked at, whether that’s how much you’ve increased sales or a problem you solved for your former employers.
3. Keep it Updated As You Move Forward
Every time you win a new award or achieve an important goal, update your resume as soon as possible. That way, you won’t have to spend a ton of time on it when you’re ready to move on to a new job.
Your resume is typically a very important step in getting a new job. But, remember that there are a lot of other steps to successfully landing a job too, so don’t stop here. After you’ve updated your resume, take a look at any online profiles you can update, start brushing up on your interview skills, and find ways to network now so you’ll have the connections you need, when you need them. Preparing ahead of time will help take the fear and dread out of your next job search, and hopefully, help you find the perfect fit fast! For, as one of our great presidents Abraham Lincoln once said, “I will prepare and someday my chance will come.”
Movin’ On Up is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.
