Posts Tagged ‘Guest Post’

The following is a guest post from Jessica Holbrook courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap.

What one strategy is most likely to attract more attention to your resume from hiring managers and recruiters? Providing the potential employer with a picture of what you accomplished at your previous employers is one of the best ways to illustrate what you can deliver to their organization. Employers are looking for results; and when contemplating hiring decisions, they’ll choose the candidate with the best experience and most applicable prior successes. If they have a need—and you’ve demonstrated you can deliver—then you’re essentially showing them you are a perfect fit.

Allow me to explain. When I review a resume, I’m thinking: What can this person do for my company? Does he or she have the results to back up the experience? Is it the right candidate for this particular position?

The best way to communicate this to a potential employer is through accomplishment- and contribution-based resumes. Duties and responsibilities are subpar. Accomplishments and contributions are much better.

Don’t sell yourself short either. If you’re not in sales—and you don’t have hard numbers—that is okay; not every profession will. When I sit down with a client to put together a resume, I basically interview them, just as if I were interviewing them for the job they’re trying to get. I like to know about their entire history at their previous employer—not just what is on their current resume. I can discover a lot more about a client that way—and better relate this information on his or her resume. It is amazing to me, how many people don’t know what to say or how to say it on their resume. When compiling a list of accomplishments to place on your resume, start with these three questions:

1. Name the three things you are most proud of in your career.
2. What do you feel are your biggest strengths? Name three.
3. What makes you unique? Why should this employer hire you over another qualified candidate?

Okay, now take the answers to those questions and find a great way to incorporate them into your resume.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

The following is a guest post from CareerAlley courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap.

If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.

- Vince Lombardi

Is it almost time to graduate already? Four years felt like a long way off and, unless you are on the 5 year plan, in a few months you will be looking to start your new job. What, you don’t have a job lined up yet? Time is running short! If you’ve been listening to the advice of your professors, college career center and yes, even your parents, you’ve been preparing for your job search and should already be looking for a job. If you participated in Internship Programs over you college career you already have some great experience and may even have a job (or some leads). But even if you’ve done everything you should have you may not yet have a job lined up.

Preparing for the Job Hunt: The first part of any endeavor is preparation – knowing what you need, knowing what to do and knowing where to start.

• College Graduation Checklist – Okay, so you know what you need to do to graduate (hopefully), but this article gives you a checklist of things you need to do to prepare for your job search – references, recommendation letters, resumes, cover letters – the usual suspects. This article is a great place to start to ensure you have a list of what you need. There are additional links on the left hand side of the page with relevant information on this topic.

• How to Prepare for Work After College – This article, from ehow.com, has some great information and advice. The article has eight points, all of them are worth a read. Some of these points apply to earlier in your college career, but can certainly be leveraged now as well. In addition to the 8 points of advice, there are related links on the right hand side of the page.

The Tools You Will Need: Every trade and profession has tools. In this case I am talking about the tools of your job search.

• Entry Level Resumes – The first and most important thing you will need is a resume. Take your time with this as your ability to “get your foot in the door” is heavily dependent on the content and “look and feel” of your resume. There are so many choices these days. This resource, from Collegegrad.com, provides a list of links to help you get started (or to improve on what you already have).

• References: The Keys to Choosing and Using the Best Job References in Your Job Search – You will need references in your job search and the best time to get them is before you graduate college. Letters from professors or Internship employers carry a lot of weight. This article, from Quintcareers.com, will help you make the best choices when choosing who you will ask for references. Just having reference letters is not enough, you need to have the right letters. In addition to the great information offered in this article, there is a list of questions that employers might ask your references. Definitely worth a read.

• Guide to Researching Companies, Industries, and Countries – Okay, you have your tools, where do you start? This article, also from Quintcareers.com, provides some great background and an amazing list of links to resources for your job research. You do want to balance the amount of time you spend on research with actually looking for a job (you could spend months just making your list), but this article should be your list of where to look and how to look for companies that interest you.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

The following is a guest post from CareerAlley courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap.

“New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!” – Arthur C. Clarke

If it helps you get a job, it must be a good idea. Now I won’t go as far as to say there are no bad ideas in job search (there are plenty – see below), but the good ideas are all time tested. Some are basic, like “Prepare for your search” while others are more complex like “create an elevator speech”, but all of these are essential to finding a new job. Even if you’ve been on the job hunt for awhile, some of these basics may help jump start your search. As an example, have you leveraged your college career center (it doesn’t matter how long ago you graduated)? What about professional associations? Broaden your approach and follow these tips.

• LOOKING FOR A CAREER, NOT JUST A JOB – This article, from The University of Akron, provides all of the basics for your job search. From “what do I want to be when I grow up” to the basic steps (resume, cover letter, references and interviews). The article includes job search etiquette, how to use phone and voicemail as well as pointers on what to do (an not to do).

• Fast Track Your Job Search – Ten Steps to Find a Job Fast – About.com’s Alison Doyle provides this article which provides the basics for fast tracking our job search – job search plan, resume, cover letters, websites and more. There are embedded links throughout the article for each of the main categories as well helpful links at the bottom of the page.

• Fast Track Your Job Search Through a Professional Association – Professional associations can be a great resource in your job search. This article, from search firm Spherion, reviews what you should do to connect and leverage professional associations.

• Job Hunting Tips: Strategies for Finding a Job Online – This article provides some job hunting tips along with embedded links. The best websites, networking, how to prepare your searches and more.

• Job Search Strategies – A great list of resources, this site leads with a list of quick guides (each of which leads to a detailed page) like “ask the employer”, “interview effectively” and more. Below this are links for FAQs such as – “How do I use Site Search?”, “How do I find jobs to apply for on the internet?” and so much more. In addition to this there are numerous links to additional resources on the left hand side of the screen.

Okay, what about those bad ideas? There are plenty, read below.

• True Job Search Blunders – This article, posted on Careerbuilder.com has some pretty funny (and sad) blunders. Now many of these are hard to believe, but all are true. Hopefully you won’t need this advice, but it is certainly worth a read. Once you are done, check out some of the great links on the left hand side of the page.

• 3 Phone Blunders that Can Hang Up Your Job Search – A few more for your review. This one is provided by pongoresume.com and, while not as funny as the prior link, this is worth a read as well. So often we don’t have job search in mind when it comes to our personal lives, but you never know what others will find annoying.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

The following is a guest post from Kevin Donlin courtesy of Recruiting Blogswap.

In the current economy, some folks are looking far and wide for jobs, including out of state. But there are plenty of obstacles to relocating, right?

Not exactly. Most obstacles to a long-distance job search are in your mind, not the employer’s. That’s according to David E. Perry, co-author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0 (Wiley; 2009).

Perry, a working recruiter with more than 24 years of experience, offers the following tips if you’re thinking of relocating to find a job …

Here’s the simple solution: Don’t tell employers where you live. Period. The best way to do that is to have no address information on your resume but your name and phone number,

To camouflage your area code, consider getting a toll-free phone number.  Try a service like www.eVoice.com or www.my1voice.com to get a new number for a few bucks a month. Put that on any resumes you send to out-of-state employers. When they call, they’ll get your voicemail and leave a message, which is delivered via e-mail. You then call the employer back.

“The most difficult thing about getting a job is starting a conversation with the employer. When you’re out of city, out of state, or out of the country, you’re on the bottom of the pile, if you even make the pile,” says Perry.

Want to take this a step further?

“Leave city names off your resume. Include only the name of the company you worked for, and the years, of course,” says Perry.

If you’re afraid employers will balk at city names missing from your resume, ask yourself, what are they hiring you for? Answer: For the results you’ve produced.

“I’ve been inside large corporations and I’ve seen someone say, ‘Well, he saved this company $1 million or $28 million, but he’s in Pittsburgh instead of Philadelphia. We don’t want to pay $10,000 to relocate him.’ That’s how middle management thinks. But, if you told the CEO you made that decision, he’d kick you out the door,” says Perry.

So don’t give small-minded readers of your resume a reason to eliminate you, based on location.

Here’s the sneaky psychology behind leaving city names off your out-of-town resume: If you can make an emotional connection with the reader, by the time they learn that you’re not local, they already want you, and they’ll start rationalizing why it’s a good idea to fly you in for an interview and relocate you.

Now.

Once it arises in a phone interview, how do you handle the delicate fact that you live 500 miles away?

“If you get confronted with that on a telephone interview, stop, take a deep breath, and ask them a very specific question. That question is: ‘What’s the most important thing about this job?’ Then let them answer. It won’t be where you live!” says Perry.

In response to the employer, say, “Do you know what? I agree with you, and it really doesn’t matter where I live. So, let’s take this to a conclusion, and make sure I’m right for you and you’re right for me. Then we’ll have this whole discussion on how I get there. I’m sure we can work that out, and it’s not going to cost you any money,” says Perry, who has negotiated more than $150 million in compensation himself.

How can relocation not cost the employer any money?

“You negotiate that into the compensation package. You can do that in a one-time signing bonus or a forgivable loan, to name two examples,” says Perry.

Moving is more an issue in your mind than the employer’s. “You have to realize that any corporation bigger than 100 people has a budget of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 for moving someone. And it pales in comparison to the value they’re getting by hiring the right person,” according to Perry.

Now, go out and make your own luck — even if it involves an out-of-town position.