Thursday, May 28, 2020

What are the Essential Qualities for Your First Resume

What are the Essential Qualities for Your First Resume Creating your first resume can be a challenging task. When you’re planning your first resume, chances are that you don’t have much work experience to list. How can you compensate for this deficit and convince potential employers you have a lot to offer despite this lack? Fortunately, there are quite a few ways to focus on your strengths, talents and non-work experience to still put together an impressive first resume. Making the most of your work experience: Very often, people composing their first resume worry that jobs they’ve held, such as part time or summer jobs, are not going to be impressive to potential employers. This is not necessarily the case, especially if you can frame your experience in a way that calls attention to skills that can translate from one work environment to another. When listing your previous jobs, don’t simply list the job title and description. Be sure to mention responsibilities that required you to work under pressure, interact with customers, show initiative or supervise other employers. For example, at many service jobs, more experienced employees are required to help newer employees learn the ropes. This can be phrased on a resume as “responsible for training new employees on company policy, operation of computer and customer service policies” -or whatever the specific tasks may have been. Academic and other non-work achievements: If your work experience is limited, you can emphasize your school-related accomplishments. This goes beyond grades and includes clubs, committees, athletics, charitable activities and anything else you may have been involved with in college. Make sure you list anything that suggests leadership skills or that is directly relevant to your career goals. Some examples of notable academic activities include sports teams, involvement with school newspapers or websites, offices you held or honor society membership. You should also list achievements and experience that you’ve racked up outside of school or work. This might include travel, volunteering, involvement with civic organizations or membership in community or religious groups. All of this type of experience tells employers something about you and your ability to commit and interact in your community. Emphasise  skills: No matter how limited your actual work experience, there’s nothing to stop you from listing your skills and abilities on your resume. Whenever possible, list specific instances when you have used these skills. This could be at a job, in school or in your free time. For example, if you’ve built a blog or two that has a professional appearance you could list “Website Design” as a skill along with a link to your website. Other skills you might list, if relevant, include social media, computer programs at which you’re proficient, foreign languages you speak or machines you can operate or repair. Even skills that are not directly relevant to a job you’re applying for can bolster your resume. If you are bilingual, for example, it shows that you have certain verbal abilities. If you are proficient at playing the piano, it reveals both discipline and creativity. The importance of honesty: Job seekers are often tempted to embellish the truth on resumes, otherwise known as lying. When you are creating your first resume, you may think your chances of landing a job will improve by bending the truth. You should resist this temptation, as employers are becoming more thorough about fact checking resumes.  Recent research  has found that almost 60% of employers have caught job seekers lying on resumes. In this age of social media and quick background checks, it’s harder than ever to get away with lies. It’s far better to be honest and present the truth about yourself in as positive light as possible. Lying, on the other hand, can not only prevent you from getting a job, it could harm your reputation. Make your resume professional and concise: Employers see large numbers of resumes. They don’t want long documents that take a long time to read. The  best resumes are one or two pages and no longer. You have many choices when it comes to style and layout, as long as it has a clean and professional look. You can find many resume templates online, either for free or at a reasonable cost. Make sure that all of the information on your resume is accurate and up to date. The following is a checklist of everything you must have on your first resume: Objective: If you want, you can list a primary objective at the top of the resume. You may want to change this and tailor it to different job applications. Contact Information: Name, address, phone number, email. Education: Including degrees obtained, honors, awards or affiliations. Work History: You can include part time, summer and work-study jobs if your experience is limited. Skills: Any skills that are related to your field or that reveal attractive qualities such as team spirit, creativity, discipline, intelligence or ingenuity. RELATED: Resume Etiquette: Dos and Don’ts Amy Klimek is an experienced HR recruiter and VP of Human Resources for ZipRecruiter, a company that simplifies the hiring process for small to medium size businesses. Prior to that Amy has held similar roles at Rent.com, eBay and US Interactive. For Amy, corporate culture isnt about dogs and free lunches, its about empowering employees and creating an enriching environment for people to excel.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Social Media Coordinator Job Description Sample - Algrim.co

Social Media Coordinator Job Description Sample - Algrim.co Social Media Coordinator Job Description Template Download our job description template in Word or PDF format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Using Your Template Follow these instructions to use your new job description template Step one: Fill out all details in your job description template using the provided sample on this page. Step two: Customize your requirements or duties to anything special to your workplace. Be sure to speak with team members and managers to gauge what's required of the position. Step three: When the census of the team has agreed on the description of the work, add in a Equal Employment Opportunity statement to the bottom of your job description. Step four: Check with your legal department, management team, and other team members to ensure the job description looks correct before creating a job advertisement. Choose a job board that's specific to your needs. Related Hiring Resources Social Media Coordinator Cover Letter Sample

Thursday, May 21, 2020

I Never Knew The Importance Of Life Insurance Until This Happened

I Never Knew The Importance Of Life Insurance Until This Happened ‘Planning works where luck fails’-seems true in one’s real life. Since one cannot depend on his/her luck always, it is necessary to make plans. If one has a spouse, child or a parent dependent on them,   buying a life insurance is a good idea. Not because he/she is going to die but his/her loved ones are going to live. My father died when I was 10 years old. The whole family was in a great state of shock and depression. The accelerating expenses and lack of insurance adversely affected our lives.Me and my brothers education (who was 6 years old at that time) was almost off the track. Somehow with some external support my mother managed some funds for completing our education. Years passed and I joined college. I was good in studies and determined for my career from school time only. I wanted to become a Doctor. I was admitted in the MBBS Course. I also managed to get   a part time job in a call center to give some monetary support to my mother and brother. Jaya and I met in the college first time. We share the same set of values, habits and nature. Soon we became very good friends. Our life had taken a new platform and was running smoothly. But it  was a pleasant   afternoon when I received a phone call from Jaya that her    father  had died. Jaya is survived by her two siblings and her aged mother.   Soon,due to the sudden demise of her uninsured father, Jaya was forced to leave her college. She had to give up her dreams for the sake of her younger siblings. I was quite upset with all that what happened with Jaya and i could not do anything for her.Suddenly harsh thoughts started coming across my mind. what would happen if same thing happens to me tomorrow? How will my family survive? How will my brother continue his studies I kept thinking   about the consequences throughout the day and numerous sleepless nights. I was in a continuous search for a suitable means to secure my family.   One Sunday morning, I came to know about   term insurance plans, thanks to a close relative. Being aware about the ill practices undertaken today by insurance companies I immediately thought to google what actually is a term plan and how this can be useful to me. Term Life Insurance “Term life insurance plans” are one way to support your family in your absence. This is a pure risk policy. The insurance premium is lowest for such policies, because there is no savings component in the policy.   That is. at the end of the insurance period, if no claim has been made, nothing can be recovered from the policy. The low cost helps enable taking insurance to the level required to protect the goals and needs of the individual.   During the period of insurance, in the event of death of the insured, the sum assured will be paid to the beneficiaries. Highlights of term insurance plans Upon the death of the insured before the end of the policy term, the death sum   will be paid as the death benefit to the beneficiary The insured will bear affordable premium rates for the chosen coverage period. The frequency to pay the premiums (monthly, quarterly or annually) depends on what the insured has opted for . Excellent tax benefits are available as per the provisons and conditions of most income tax laws There are single life and joint life term plans. In joint term plans , the insured and his/her spouse are covered and in case of death of either, the death sum assured will be paid to the surviving member. In case of the sudden death of the couple , the entire amount assured will be paid to the beneficiary mentioned. There may be plan options which allow for return of all premiums paid,in case the insured survives till the the end of coverage Various Life Insurance companies have the term insurance plans that offer tailor made coverage options, freedom to chose benefits, flexibility to increase life coverage pertaining to your requirement,   lifestyle and needs, thereby giving you the opportunity to have customized term insurance plan just for you. After learning in depth about term insurance,   I felt satisfied and worry free that now, even if something happens to me tomorrow , my family will not be forced to give up their dreams as Jaya’s family did. I will even suggest Jaya to start earning as soon as possible and take a policy on her life also to support her family.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

5 ways to add visual impact to your workplace this year

5 ways to add visual impact to your workplace this year You probably already know the importance of working in a place that, quite simply, looks good. Attaching importance to this kind of thing wouldnt necessarily reflect superficiality on your part; you might have already noticed how, say, color and layout can affect your working habits. What you might not be so sure of, however, is exactly what types of changes would be most effective. Here are some simple but effective ways to make your workplace that little bit prettier. Let there be light natural light, that is The adverse effects of poor lighting in the workplace can too easily be underestimated. Inadequate lighting has been linked with headaches, fatigue, stress and anxiety. In one research report cited by Forbes, 80% of office workers deemed good lighting crucial to them in their workspace. However, 40% were daily dealing with uncomfortable lighting, while 32% said that improved lighting would increase their workplace mood. Fortunately, exposing workers even to just 13-15 minutes of natural light can release endorphins. Create overlap zones If you want to encourage spontaneous collaborations between your workers, you might not have to insist on the potentially distraction-ridden environment of an open-plan office. Instead, you could consider setting up what HubSpot calls overlap zones. These would be spaces that are not only designed for work but also where employees are especially likely to run into each other during the day. Consider where your workers tend to go as they move around the office. Make it easy to be green You can make a green, lean, workplace machine ahem by adding plants and greenery to your office. According to research, you could be rewarded with a 15% growth in employee productivity. A green office communicates to employees that their employer cares about them and their welfare, psychology professor Alex Haslam has commented.   Office landscaping helps the workplace become a more enjoyable, comfortable and profitable place to be. Use complementary colors Around the internet, its not difficult to find a wealth of information about the effects that particular colors are said to be capable of bringing in the workplace. You would be excused for wondering which theories are firmly rooted in truth and which arent.   It would be fair to say that various contexts can influence a particular colors effect. You could benefit from opting for complementary colors. Green, for example, can work well in hospital settings because it complements red, which staff might often see on medical equipment and blood, as Work Design Magazine explains. Use similar colors in the right areas You shouldnt rule out using various shades of the same color, assuming that the workplace in question would suit this approach. In a swimming pool complex, for example, varying hues of blue can have a calm but focusing effect.   Thats ideal for athletes who could regularly use the building. Still, given the many dos and donts of workplace design, its reassuring that Maris provide luxury office design for businesses uncertain what approach they ought to take.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

3 Simple Social Media Tips Could Equal Job Search Success CareerMetis.com

3 Simple Social Media Tips Could Equal Job Search Success Last year, 54% of hiring managers elected not to hire a candidate based on their social media profiles. But how do you make sure you’re part of the 46%?The worlds of social media and careers are more intertwined than ever â€" whether you use social media to find a job, your boss is keeping tabs on what you’re up to outside of work or potential employers browse through your profiles before deciding whether to hire you.And it’s the third area which we’ll be looking at today.evalAccording to a 2017 report, 70% of employers use social media to screen potential candidates before deciding whether to hire them, which is a 10% increase from last year and a massive 60% increase from 2006. And they’re not just checking out your holiday pics.Though it may seem like a cursory glance at your Facebook page might seem like enough to ward off peeping employers, it pays to properly go through all of your online profiles with a toothpick. But that’s easier said than done.Let’s go through some handy tips and techniques that will leave your digital footprint squeaky clean without taking up all of your waking hours.1) FacebookevalThe first port of call for your social media cleanup should be the privacy settings on Facebook.Whilst at first glance it may seem like a pretty all-encompassing page to ensure you retain your privacy, you’ll have to scour a few other nooks and crannies of Facebook to have peace of mind. But let’s start here.You’ll find your privacy settings Facebook is constantly introducing new features â€" and the good news is that in recent years they have given you much more control over who sees your posts.It used to be that you had to go through every single post to adjust the settings, but nowadays that can be done in a single click.The wisest thing to do when preparing your profile for a potential employer is to simply limit your posts â€" both past and future â€" so that only your friends can see them. Make sure only ‘Friends’ can see your future posts and then click ‘Limit Past Posts’ to revert any old public posts back to friends only.But posts on your timeline are just one small part of your total Facebook activity.evalClick ‘Use Activity Log’ and then ‘Activity Log’ to review all of your recent actions on the platforms, and whether they were public or not. This will include comments on page posts, new pages you’ve recently liked and, well, just about everything actually.Whilst I wouldn’t recommend going through every single action you’ve ever done on Facebook, you should use this as more of a guide for future posts so you can be aware of who can see all of your hilarious comments beneath news articles.Now head back to Privacy Settings, and this time navigate down to ‘Public Posts’ on the left-hand menu. Here you’ll be able to allow only friends to follow you and also limit the way that any person on Facebook can both see and engage with your public posts.However, the most useful feature he re is the ability to view your public timeline â€" which is exactly the view your prospective employer will have of your Facebook profile if they choose to view it.Here, you can fine-tune the changes you’ve already made to make sure you’re presenting yourself as professionally as possible to any peeping toms.The final thing is to remember that people can always see your current profile picture and cover photo â€" so it would be wise to change these to sensible ones That makes a whole lot of sense, with public discussions on Twitter being one of the features that define the platform. On the flip-side, this does make it even more difficult to audit your Twitter account in the same way as Facebook, and it’s a platform where some high-profile people have been caught out on over the years.Whilst 20-year-old Scottish MP Mhairi Black’s old tweetswere mostly immature, harmless tweets that were pretty atypical of a 14-year-old As you can see, it’s not nearly as far-reaching as Face book’s settings, and for the purposes of this article, the only setting which is relevant is the very first one: Tweet privacy.This automatically sets your account to private and protects your past and future tweets, but it’s perhaps not an ideal option for people who still want to use the platform as normal.It’s perhaps the ‘nuclear option’ for anyone with worries about what they tweeted years ago, but really this might be best used as a temporary option whilst your job hunt and clean up your Twitter.If you don’t have a huge catalog of tweets and want to quickly browse/delete any that might not be deemed so professional, you would be best off using an external tool such as Tweet Deleterto easily get rid of multiple tweets at the click of a button.It’s pretty self-explanatory to use, so head over there if you want to set about deleting your tweets.Unless you’re a high profile celebrity, it’s pretty unlikely that anybody is going to spend hours and hours going throu gh every tweet you’ve ever posted, so be sensible and thorough but don’t spend every waking hour cleaning it up. It’s just not necessary.3) LinkedInLinkedIn is an interesting one, as although it is generally the most-vetted social network by prospective employers, it’s also the one which has the least chance of having questionable old content hanging around on there.It’s a train of thought which is supported by this piece of research, which reveals that 64% of employers view a candidate’s LinkedIn profile as part of the recruitment process â€" making it the most popular social media platform that employers check.So in this case, we should be using our LinkedIn audit as a chance to show off your positives display your professional credentials rather than hiding away old tweets and Facebook posts.I could write a whole other article on how to fill out your LinkedIn profile, so when you’ve logged-in you should simply follow their internal wizard to make sure your profile is 100% complete and filled out with education, experience, skills and everything in between.When you navigate to LinkedIn’s privacy settings, you should go the opposite way to other social networks and make everything as public as possible.Let employers see what you’re doing and let them contact you easily. They have actually introduced some new features quite recently to make yourself even more approachable to recruiters â€" so you’re in luck!Whilst you’re going through the list of privacy settings on LinkedIn, remember to make yourself as visible as possible, I’m going to pick out one of those new features: ‘Let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities’. Make sure the ‘Yes’ option is selected, and then click ‘Update career interests’.Here you’ll find some invaluable tools for ensuring maximum discoverability of your profile.You can add a note to recruiters to let them know what type of work you’re looking for, add in potential job titles, locations , types of jobs (full-time, part-time, freelance, etc.) and even the industry and size of the company you would be interested in.Not only does this ensure that recruiters can find you more easily on the platform, but it will also mean that you’re less likely to be offered irrelevant jobs in faraway places.I should know â€" I was once approached by a recruiter on there for a job as a sales advisor in Walsall â€" a tiny and not-so-nice town in England. I’ve never worked in sales and never intend to, and when they asked if I wanted to relocate from Barcelona to Walsall you can probably guess what my answer was! (Sorry Walsall â€" you’re alright really).SummaryAlmost 7 times more employers vet a candidate’s social media profiles than they did 10 years ago, and it has become an essential part of the recruitment process.However, in some of the examples highlighted above, I have shown how even politicians and professional footballers have been caught out and punished further down t he line for not adequately cleaning up their social media profiles.The thing is with social media, you don’t necessarily have to write anything offensive on Facebook or Twitter over the years for employers to take note.It could just be immature posts, a poor choice of words or an ill-conceived online spat that you might have been dragged into.You never quite know which employers will penalize you for past indiscretions, so the best option is to follow these steps and take every precaution to ensure your dream job opportunity isn’t taken away from you.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Reference Check Myths That Can Cost You The Job

Reference Check Myths That Can Cost You The Job They can’t say that about me, can they? Despite the job seeker’s need for good references, many candidates take little time or effort to ensure that their references are portraying them in the best possible light. Oftentimes, this oversight occurs because of incorrect assumptions about how references (and reference checking) work. Jeff Shane, president of reference-checking company Allison Taylor, helped me clear up some myths about reference checks that could derail even the most promising career. Myth # 1 Companies are not allowed to say anything negative about a former employee during a documented reference check. The Truth: While many companies have policies that dictate only title, dates of employment, and eligibility for rehire can be discussed, reference persons frequently violate those rules in providing bad references about former employees despite company policies. Approximately half of Allison Taylor clients receive a bad reference, regardless of the fact that many companies have strict policies in place prohibiting negative references. Myth # 2 Former employers direct all reference checks to their Human Resources departments, and those people wont say anything negative about me. The Truth: Most Human Resources professionals will follow proper protocol during reference checks. However, if HR indicates that a former employee is not eligible for rehire â€" or left under unfavorable circumstances â€" this may be toxic to the job seeker’s prospects. Also, many potential employers choose to call former supervisors who are far more likely to volunteer candid feedback about the employee. Myth # 3 It’s best to have my employment references listed on my résumé and distribute them together. The Truth: Your references should be treated carefully and with respect; you don’t need companies that may or may not have a real interest in hiring you pestering your employment references. Keep your references separate from your résumé, and only provide them when requested. Better still, have a list of your references readily available (in the same format/font as your résumé) to be given to a prospective employer. Myth # 4 Once a company hires me, my job references really do not matter anymore. The Truth: Not all companies finish background and/or reference checks before you are hired. Many employment agreements and contracts include a stipulation that says the employer can hire you with a 90-day probation period. During this time, they will not only evaluate your job performance but, in some instances, will do background and reference checks. Myth # 5 I sued my former company and, according to job reference laws, they are now not allowed to say anything. The Truth: Unfortunately, employers violate job reference laws and severance agreements every day. You simply have too much to lose if you assume that your former employer will honor appropriate protocol. Many people discover the error of their assumptions the hard way by losing out on the perfect job because of reference issues. Check your own references before you provide them to employers to ensure you can address potential problems before they cost you the job. Join Dana Manciagli’s Job Search Master Class now and get the most comprehensive job search system available!

Friday, May 8, 2020

Get the real scoop on where you want to work! - Hallie Crawford

Get the real scoop on where you want to work! I wanted to share this website with you as resources for you career search: Glassdoor.com This site can be very helpful in your career search. Assisting you in learning what its really like to work at the organizations youre interested in.  It can give you a behind the scenes look at the company based on the anonymous reviews provided by their employees. *Keep what they say in perspective however. People who go on  sites like this could be the most disgruntled employees as opposed to the happiest. So you have to realize that you may be getting a one sided review. But finding themes in what they are saying CAN give you some insight into what its really like to work there. If people are saying the same thing over and over, there really could be some truth behind what is being said. Certified Career Coach P.S. For more career help and resources like these, be sure to sign up for our Free Monthly Newsletter  that is specially designed to help you in your career direction.