Rules For Resume Writing 2020

Rules For Resume Writing 2020There are certain rules for resume writing 2020 that you need to follow in order to make sure that your resume is done with the right style and format. Let's go through a few of them to see how it's all done.Remember to use bullet points to highlight the points that you want to make in your resume. This is something that I usually do when I'm writing the resume of someone who is very creative. But you should also use them when you're writing a plain old standard resume because people appreciate having bullet points.As I mentioned earlier, you should include all of the necessary information. If your job objective is for someone to find out more about you, then you need to show all of that. Don't go into too much detail in the resume; just stick to what you need to talk about.Avoid putting any spelling mistakes. The rule of thumb here is to never put a typo in your resume, especially if it means that you won't get an interview. Unless it's something that's going to be really hard to fix later on, the chances of you getting the job are pretty slim anyway.Make sure that the resume has a section that explains why you're qualified for the job you're applying for. It should contain that information, along with your skills, skills that you're good at, and other details related to that specific job. Your resume should be designed to showcase your best qualities, and make sure that it does so.One of the most important parts of the resume is the cover letter. It should really be something that you'll use again in your future interviews. It should contain the things that you want to say about yourself and your qualifications and then also include some examples of other things that you can bring to the interview that will help you get the job.These are just a few of the great tips and ideas that you can follow for making sure that your resume gets the best possible exposure for your application. You can rest assured that if you follow these tips , you'll have no trouble getting the job that you applied for.

Email and Meetings Are Killing Workplace Productivity

Email and Meetings Are Killing Workplace Productivity Between endless email chains, office chatter, and meetings to discuss future meetings, it can be hard to get work done some days. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Bob Pozen, the author of Extreme Productivity (and five other books), former vice chairman of Fidelity Investments, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, knows a thing or two about maximizing your productivity at work. And no, spending more time in the office is not something he would suggest. “I want people to think about what were the important goals for this week and did they get them accomplished, not whether they spent the hours” at their desk, Pozen says. Unsurprisingly, Pozen believes that two of the biggest time killers in the workplace are email and meetings. Here’s how to streamline both. Only Handle It Once When it comes to email, Pozen, who teaches executives how to manage their workloads, suggests following the acronym OHIO, or Only Handle It Once. If you receive an email you need to respond to, reply to it immediately and be done with it. “If you need to wait a few days to gather information, put a reminder in your calendar to respond to the request on a specific date in the future,” he says. Often people put off responding to certain emails and messages, leading to further distraction, because the unanswered email is never far from your mind. This also eliminates the chance that you’ll forget to respond to something important and frees you from combing through your inbox later on. “You may remember a week later, then you spend half an hour searching for it,” Pozen says. “Only handle it once. If it’s important, respond to it right then and there.” That isn’t just a good tip for getting more done in the office. Whether it’s saving money, having a serious conversation with a friend or spouse, or facing other problems, it’s always best to handle the issue up front, without delayâ€"and then move on. Beyond that, the fewer times you check your email during the day, the more productive you’re guaranteed to be. “Do not look at your email every two minutes or five minutes. Try to retrain yourself to look at your email every hour or two,” Pozen advises. Another tip? Never hit ‘Reply All.’ “Organizations should train people not to copy a bunch of people on an email,” Pozen says. “Really confine the email to the people who need to know. Reply All just leads to huge amounts of email.” And who has time for that? Finally, Pozen says, a respite from email for at least an hour or two when you get home at the end of the day will help you unwind and be more efficient when you get back to work. “Have some oasis time for two hours, whatever works for you,” he says. “You may have to go back on at 10 pm … but the thing that really irritates the hell out of people is when you come in and you’re supposed to be concentrating on other people and you’re on your email.” So take a break when you get homeâ€"you deserve it. Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Keep Meetings to a Minimum Are you apt to spend meetings staring wistfully out of the window or doodling on your notepad under the guise of taking notes? Then this next set of tips is for you. Pozen says there’s hardly a bigger office time killer than meetings. Sometimes even the knowledge that one is coming up in the next hour can limit our productivity because we feel as if we can’t start a new task before our workflow will be interrupted. And how often does your boss call a meeting, only to spend half of it clarifying what the meeting is about? “Are those meetings really productive?” Pozen asks. “The answer is a small number are, most are not.” Instead of convening a meeting to exchange information, Pozen suggests doing that in a different format, such as office messaging systems like Slack or, yes, even email. And when everyone is on the same page and ready to make actionable suggestions, then get everyone together in the conference room. When you do, try these tips to maximize efficiency: Send an agenda ahead of time, including any materials attendees need to read, so they can come prepared. Use most of the meeting for discussion and debate, not reiteration of purpose or summation of materials (the two goals of every meeting should be “energy and interactivity,” according to Pozen). Leave with next steps established and responsibility assigned for each task. Limit meetings to 90 minutes, and ideally quite a bit shorter than that. “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest people don’t really pick up much after 90 minutes,” Pozen says. What qualifies as a good reason to have a meeting? Negotiating something, Pozen says, or meeting a client or colleague for the first time.

8 Easy Ways To Put More Power Into Your Resume - Work It Daily

8 Easy Ways To Put More Power Into Your Resume - Work It Daily Is your resume getting you the results you want? I’ve worked with countless clients over the years that have come to me for help after months of fruitless job hunting on their own. Often, one of their greatest barriers is a resume that is underpowered. Not compelling. Boring. Meh. Related: 4 Ways To Edit Your Resume Like A Professional Resume Writer If you suspect that your resume may not be as effective as it could be, it’s possible you’ve overlooked one of these key ways to put more power into your resume: 1. Focus On Your Brand Does your resume jump right in to your job history, or lead off with an “Objective” statement? Do you start off with a summary statement filled with over-used descriptors like “great communicator” or “team player”? If so, you’re wasting the valuable real estate at the top of your resume. Spend some time thinking about what unique skills and attributes you bring to the position you’re looking for… what truly sets you apart from the other applicants for the job. Then capture those abilities in a 1-3 sentence, tightly-written “branding statement” that helps employers see why you’d be a great fit within their organization. Not sure how to write a branding statement? Check out the sample resumes on my website for ideas. 2. Lead With Keyword-Rich Accomplishments Now that you have gotten a prospective employer’s attention with your compelling branding statement, take full advantage of this opportunity by summarizing some of your most impressive accomplishments. For example, a relevant accomplishment for an HR Executive might be: “Slashed staffing costs 25% at X Company by streamlining training program.” Don’t bury that in the bowels of your resume! Hook your reader in to reading further by having your most notable successes front and center in your document. 3. Choose Your Words Carefully Using keywords that appear in the job posting makes the above statements even more effective. One of the best ways to put more power into your resume is by sprinkling terminology important to the position liberally throughout the entire text of your resume, from your branding statement to the responsibilities and accomplishments you list for every single job. Since most companies now use applicant tracking software to screen applicantsâ€"using keywords like you might use search terms when you look up something on the Internetâ€"the more often a relevant keyword shows up in your documents, the higher your resume will rank in their screening process. One caveat, though: these keywords need to make sense in context, so don’t just put keywords in your resume in an attempt to game the system. 4. Use SMART Stories If you only included your job responsibilities for each position you’ve held, you’d be wasting a great opportunity to demonstrate your value. If you really are great at your job, prove it! For every position you list on your resume, but especially the most recent ones, include SMART stories, or Situations with Metrics, Actions, Results, and Tie-in. In other words, how did you make a difference to the company and what was the result? 5. Reference Metrics Okay, I know that Metrics are included in the SMART stories I’ve already encouraged you to write. But I’m going to re-emphasize it here, because including them is critical to capturing an employer’s attention. So critical that whenever I work with a resume client, I spend a significant amount of time questioning them about ways they’ve made a difference to the companies they’ve worked for, and asking them to quantify that difference. Why? Numbers are impressive. Not convinced that it’s worth your time to dig up those figures? Consider these two examples: “Reduced costs annually by initiating data storage policy change.” “Reduced costs $1.2 million annually by initiating data storage policy change.” Which one do you find more impressive? 6. Emphasize Your “Extras.” Have you taken any professional development courses or specialized training that relate to your career goals? Do you volunteer regularly for organizations that a prospective employer might be interested in, either because of your role or how the organization fits in with the hiring company’s goals or values? Do you serve on any community boards or belong to any professional associations? These things can really set you apart, showing you go above and beyond, so be sure and list them after your work experience section. 7. Modernize Your Formatting Let’s face it: we live in a world where appearances matter, and that even goes for resumes and cover letters. Professionally-designed resumes add space between lines of text, use larger font sizes for the candidate’s name and section titles, incorporate colored text for headings or shaded text boxes (where appropriate), and use bold and/or italic fonts to call attention to important text. To put your best foot forward, you’ll want to do the same. 8. Include Links If you have a website, LinkedIn profile, Google+ account, or published articles online… list those links. (Provided they present you in a professional and favorable light, of course!) Professional resume writers rely on these strategies to produce results for their clients, so I’m confident that if you incorporate one or more of them (but preferably all of them!), they’ll boost your resume’s effectiveness, too. This post was originally published on an earlier date. Related Posts Common Grammar Rules For Resumes Why Social Media Is The New Resume 3 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Helping You Get Hired About the author Kristin S. Johnson is a TORI award-winning, 6-times certified resume writer, job search coach, and social media consultant. Her approach is cutting-edge, creative, and kind. As owner of Profession Direction, LLC, she works with professionals and aspiring executives across the country.     Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.   Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!