Welcome

Home - The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted; a source.
Welcome to your home page. We hope it is a place you will return to frequently for information, insight and support during your job search. We will strive to provide you with useful updates, insider information, and tools that will assist you in your journey to your next career stop. The door is open, step inside and feel free to give us a call if you don’t find what you’re looking for, we’ll be happy to help you locate it.


Can you think of a better gift for the 2010 graduate?
2010 graduates are leaving the comfort of campus life to enter a job market that is, well, gloomy. The 2010 graduate will face stiff competition and will be challenged with finding a way to stand out from the crowd. Remember it’s usually the best resume and not necessarily the best candidate who gets the interview. Give the new grad. in your life the gift that will positively impact his or her life for years to come. A gift that will be remembered long after the cash has been spent, the gift certificates have been redeemed and the ipods have been lost. Just imagine how good you’ll feel when you get a call from the new grad. saying “I got the job, thanks so much for my professional resume!” We will send your new grad. a beautifully wrapped gift card with your message inside. Your new grad. can then redeem the card when he or she is ready.  Call us at 1-800-991-6150 to purchase this remarkable gift for the special graduate in your life.

Are you ready to write your resume?
Here’s a checklist that will help.
 

• Your contact information
  Do you have a phone number, email address and physical address that will be valid for the next 6 months? If not, identify these now. Free email addresses are available through google, yahoo and a host of other services.
   
• Information to build a chronological list of your work experience
  This could include a previous resume, w-2 or 1099’s, employment contracts and other documents that would help you to establish a timeline if you have a long employment history and are not sure of the dates.
   
• A value proposition
  Start thinking about what you bring to the table, what do you have to offer a perspective employer, what makes you stand out from other candidates. This will be the key to creating a compelling resume.
   
• Job descriptions for all previous positions that will be included on your resume
  Again you may refer to a previous resume, or if you don’t have one – jog your memory and begin writing down key components of your previous positions. You may also refer to performance reviews and employment offer letters. Some temporary and consulting services use timesheets that require you to record regular status updates; if you’ve saved these they can be an excellent source of information.
   
• Data that outlines your accomplishments
  Performance reviews, peer reviews such as 360’s, letters of appreciation, relevant awards and recognitions, honors, speaking engagements, promotions, letters of recommendation , metrics, reports that quantify your accomplishments – all are excellent sources of content for your resume.
   
• A brief description of the companies/organizations that have employed you.
  This information can usually be found on the corporate home page or in a company brochure.

Factors to consider when writing your resume.

• Which format will best compliment your background and experience?
  Please do your research and select appropriately. If you have a solid work history with an upward pattern of progression – a chronological resume is a great choice. If you’re making a career change or have noticeable gaps in employment – a functional resume may be a better choice for you. If you need to highlight transferrable skills, or feel that your job titles don’t accurately reflect your experiences, a combination resume may be best. Again, if you are not familiar with these 3 formats, do your research.
   
• Are you capable of writing compelling copy?
  Your resume should not (and cannot in today’s economy) just be a list of jobs held and responsibilities assumed. Your resume must be a compelling marketing document, that highlights your value proposition, promotes your brand, intrigues the prospective hiring authority and makes him/her want to meet you. If you are not able to write compelling copy – seek out someone who is.
   
• Do you have software to create an aesthetically pleasing document?
  If you do not have a computer or access to a word processing application, such as MS Word, WordPerfect,iWork, or OpenOffice, consider using a computer at your local free library, or utilizing a document service such as the ones provided by Kinkos and Staples.
   
• Are you creating a targeted resume for a specific position or a traditional resume?
  A targeted resume is highly customized and specifically highlights the skills and experience you have that are relevant for a specific job for which you are applying. A targeted resume requires you to carefully examine the job description provided and then carefully correlate your experience to that description. You may want by creating a two column sheet of paper. List the key components of the job description in the first column and list your relevant skills, experience and accomplishments in the second column. This exercise will provide you with the content need to create a great targeted resume.
   
• Are you familiar with the keywords, acronyms, and synonyms relative to your industry and position you are seeking?
  If you are unsure, you will need to do some research. Review job posting for the position you are seeking, go to www.acronymfinder.com and enter your key words, check a thesaurus for similar terms.

It’s a whole new world. Is your resume a 2010 resume?
If you’re new to the job market or re-entering after an absence of two years or more, there are some important changes in the ways jobs are secured that you will need to take into consideration.

While you were busy earning that degree, climbing the corporate ladder, or being the stay-at-home parent, the job landscape was changing and changing rapidly. Some of the changes were brought on by newer technologies: applicant tracking systems, social media, E-folios, and the like. Others were a result of the economic downturn. In either case, being armed with the knowledge and tools to deal with these changes will be very important in your job search and could very well be the difference between landing successfully and drifting aimlessly.

In terms of your resume:
Impress the Computer, Impress the Person
As the competition for jobs heats up and the number of applicants increases ever so rapidly, many more employers are using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to handle candidate flow. What this means is that in many cases, the first person to see your resume may not be a person at all; It may be a computer application. This computer application looks at things a little differently than its human counterpart, and if it doesn’t find what it is looking for, your resume may land at the bottom of the pile or worse, be discarded before ever reaching human hands. The ATS is looking for specific keywords and criteria, usually based on the job description. It is important that you do your research and ensure that all applicable keywords are included in your resume and in varying ways. For example, if you are seeking a position as a registered nurse, the ATS may be looking for terms such as “R.N.” or “registered nurse” or “B.S.N.,” depending upon the job description and requirements. Failure to have the correct term listed in the correct way could result in your resume being rejected.

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Have You Googled Yourself Lately?
So let’s say you pass the ATS screening. More and more recruiters and hiring managers are turning to social media to further prescreen you before picking up the phone to schedule that interview. Have you Googled yourself lately? Do you know what is being said about you out there in cyberspace? Do you have alerts set up to keep you posted on the status of your cyber reputation? Even if you don’t participate in some online media, others can put their two cents about you out there for the world to see. Take a look and see what’s there. Don’t let your resume get stopped by something you didn’t even know existed.

Extend Your Reachability
The Internet impacted not only the way we do business but the way we live our lives. Web 2.0 is now having a similar impact. The Web is the first place many of us turn for buying decisions, job searches, research, and entertainment. It where we go when we want to know more, and it is increasingly where employers go when they want to know more about you. In today’s highly competitive market, a resume alone may not be enough. Do you have an Internet presence? Do you have a Website or a blog? If not, do you at least have a profile on a professional networking site? If you do not and your competition does, where does that leave you? Certainly not with the edge you want to have. Having an Internet presence can give you the advantage of being found by employers who aren’t posting their jobs. It can give you access to jobs that are only viewable to select groups, and it can give employers an opportunity to get to know the real you even before they pick up the phone. Now is NOT the time to be invisible. Stand up, stand out get noticed, get hired!

Deliver Your Resume Effectively
Yes, it is important to have a well-written resume that contains all the important keywords and phrases that showcase your abilities and potential and that is esthetically pleasing. But did you know that the route that great resume takes to get to the hiring manager or recruiter’s desk also has an impact? A well-written resume that arrives on the hiring manager’s desk via interoffice correspondence from the V.P. of the department is going to get far more attention than one that arrives via an on-line application. A resume that is hand delivered by a trusted colleague is far more like to earn an interview than one received off the FAX with 50 others. And sometimes, a resume received directly from the company’s Website will receive more attention than one for the same position received via a major job board submission.

It's Wise to Customize
The internet has indeed made the job application process a lot more efficient for computer-savvy individuals. Gone are the days of circling ads in the Help Wanted column of the local paper, hand typing a cover letter, copying a resume, and sending them off via snail mail. It would have been challenging in those time to send out a mere 10 resumes per day. But with today’s technologies, one could conceivably send out hundreds of resumes a day in the hopes that something will stick. Well, in today’s market, We would propose that it would be more effective to send out fewer resumes and customize each one to the specific position. Start working for the perspective employer before you even meet him or her. Do the work of correlating your skills and experience to the job. Use your cover letter to draw a one-one correspondence between what you have to offer and what the company needs. Make the hiring manager’s job easier from the moment he or she picks up your compelling resume.

*Web 2.0 (a term that arose in 2004) is about rich Internet applications and the social Web that make the Internet much more user friendly, if not user dominated

What are they really looking for?
Have you ever wondered what happens to your resume after you hit the submit button? Who sees it? How long do they spend reviewing it and most important, what are they looking for when they read it?

Well, for starters, they are three likely recipients of your resume: an applicant tracking system, an HR professional or a hiring manager. The very first thing each of these recipients will do with your resume is.....look for a reason to discard it. That’s right; they’re looking for a reason to eliminate you from the running so that they can narrow the applicant pool. They are inundated with applicants applying for each position, and they do not have the time to give serious consideration to each applicant. So, they’ll spend about 15 seconds scanning your resume looking for any reason to put you in the reject pile. Common reasons for rejection at this stage of the game include: grammatical errors, the absence of relevant keywords, boring job descriptions, lack of aesthetic appeal, underemphasized accomplishments, experience that is not properly correlated to the job description, and superficial objectives that don’t really say anything.

Once the process of discarding the rejections is completed, resumes are reviewed a second time and often put in the equivalent of an A pile and a B pile. The A pile consist of resumes that are compelling enough to warrant an interview. The B pile consists of runners up, those who may get a chance if a hire is not made from the A pile. Often B pile candidates have left too many questions unanswered, such as why would he/she be interested in this position?, or why does he/she have so many employment gaps? If the hiring authority had the time he/she would probably pick up the phone and call the B pile candidates to ask these questions, but since they do not have the time the B pile resumes remains in limbo, (often eternally.)

So, if you take on the task of writing your resume, make sure you don’t provide a reason to be discarded in round 1. Spell check and human check for spelling, punctuation and grammar, and then ask a friend to do a final proofing for you. Differentiate yourself by stating a solid value proposition, provide enough information to create intrigue and then pull away – leaving the reader wanting to know more.

Remember it’s the best presentation and not the best candidate that gets the interview!