Wednesday 14 March 2012

First Job Interview: Leave a Big Impact

You have gone through a difficult time of collating information, building resume after looking up for some college student resume example, and finally, you have your 'big day' awaited. Interview is a big day and is challenging too. You need to be confident and sure about everything that you have to offer to the potential employer and not just this but also convey the right message at the right time. Following are some of the tips to help you face the big day confidently and also be able to leave a big impact on the mind of the recruiter.

Tips to Make a Big Impact in Your Interview

Whether or not it is your first interview, you will need to make a big impact to be noticed and grab the job. Here are a few tips for the same:

You have taken pain to develop a competitive resume, now that you have your first job interview scheduled, you should research about the employer, and the ways to prepare well for an interview. You being well prepared can help in leaving a lasting impression on the recruiter's mind.

You should do research to find out the frequently asked questions in an interview. Doing this will help you avoid being surprised and blank about the questions. Also, decide upon good rational and effective answers to such questions. Some questions can really be ice-breaking ones, come up with creative answers to set yourself apart from the crowd.

Be professionally dressed and carry copies of your resume. Generally, an interviewer will have a copy of your resume in his hand while interviewing you, but if there is panel, they may share the same copy. However, if you carry a few copies along, this will help the panel to refer to your resume information. It also implies your well organized behavior to the recruiter.

Towards the end of the interview, recruiter may ask you if you have any questions for him. Instead of saying no, do a bit research and ask some valid questions such as about the profile, responsibilities, etc.

Your objective for resume for college student about to graduate has been short listed for an interview. Refer the above tips to be prepared for your interview and also to make a big impact on the hiring manager's mind.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Resume: How to Well Present It?

Looking for a job? Your resume is the key to it. Many people feel resume writing is a daunting task. All of us will like to have the job offers in our hand for the most desired jobs, but for this, we need to have a well-presented resume in our  hand. As the job market changes, job-seekers  should change accordingly. By change, here I mean, you as a job-seeker need to change the way, how you present yourself to a potential employer.

Be creative while developing your sample student resume for college application, you can come up with different designs, unique presentation methods, incorporate inventive ideas to enhance your resume, to have the best possible job opportunities. Following are a few ideas for making your resume attractive to people reading it for their living. Nevertheless, there is no standardized format for a resume and hence, what works for a person may not necessarily work for others too. Let us discuss various factors of resume to work on, while developing a resume.

Title and Objective

Titling your resume may be good or bad, depending upon what you write as your resume title. Resume titles should be strong and descriptive to give a busy recruiter an immediate idea about your specialization and potential. For examples, 'Software Engineer, Java, SCJP Certified ', 'Non-IT Project Manager,  Health Insurance', 'Test Engineer, QTP, WinRunner'. Such resume titles can introduce you to a busy recruiter in a short while and help you stand out of the crowd.

Objective statement just like  resume title should be eye-catching. There are only two facts for your objective statements, either it attracts complete attention of recruiter or it does not attract attention at all. It is important to let your resume stand out by selling yourself, as this will help you proceed in your job search and help you to sell yourself during the interview. Ensure that you develop a unique objective every time you have to send a resume to a different field. It is important that the objective must be customized to suit to the field and the job applied for.

Resume Appearance

No doubt recruiters are busy people, and therefore your resume has to have the ability to  catch their attention. Career experts advice you not to do the same thing that every other person does, and at the same time ensure that you still follow the standard format of writing a resume. Changes such as using Georgia or Tahoma font styles instead of Times New Roman that almost each job seeker uses, is a smarter option to attract the attention of the recruiter.

Also, if you have to go through traditional offline resume submission, make sure the paper quality that you use is good.

Resume Length

This is a debating factor, and different resume experts have different opinions about the standard length of a resume. However, to answer it, I will say, let the resume length be so that it can include all the vital accomplishments, skills, education details to help you sell yourself to a prospective employer. Remember to include all the vital details on the first page of your resume.

Developing a resume is an intense task and not many people are good at it at their first time. However, if you are building your resume while referring to a sample college student resume, following above tips can give you a helping hand to come up with a well-presenting resume for a potential employer.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Beef Up Your Resume: A Few Fun Ways

Although, the word 'fun' can be contradictory to an act as serious as a job search, keeping a light mood and positive attitude while continuing with your job search can be helpful. Lack of experience, or lack of relevant skills can hold you back during your job hunting procedure. Many times job seekers underestimate their experience and skills and miss challenging opportunities that can land them in new and better jobs.

So, to make your way to a new and challenging job, apart from refining your resume and unremitting efforts to apply for jobs, spare some time to implement a few fun ways to beef up your resume. Beefing up your resume can help just any candidate to please the prospective employer with challenging skills. Many such beef up options, are for free or for a negligible price. Most of these activities involve socializing or meeting new people. This gives you an opportunity to meet people outside of your professional and social circle, and sets a path of new networking opportunities.

Learn a Language

Is English your first or second language? Are you bilingual or a multilingual? Even though, you may not be fluent in second language, but knowing the basics can be helpful. You can greet foreign clients in their first language and this can have great first impression.

You need not have finished language classes, but telling your employer that you are pursuing a language class can demonstrate your self-discipline and your aspiration to learn new things. Over a period of time you can attain fluency and awareness about a foreign culture. Language classes can be fun and explore socializing activities.

Volunteer

Do you think that volunteering is only a student activity and should be a part of college student resume example or any student resume example? If the answer is yes, you are wrong. Many experts say that volunteering is one of the best ways to land up a job by strengthening your resume.  You can also associate your hobbies with volunteering. You may schedule music nights at a local orphanage or old-age home and enjoy playing a music instrument of your choice. You can also offer services at charitable institutes.

Progress Technical and Other Skills

In this technical era, you need to be update with the top technical skills as employers want employees to be well versed with several areas such as technology, finance, communication, social media, and marketing. Not only this, but some 'fun' classes such as photography can be a great way to strengthen your resume.

Write

Writing may or may not be your cup of tea. However, if it is, many career experts suggest that you should write blogs and columns about your hobby or the industry of your interest. While you may enjoy expressing your ways through different mediums, you can also promote yourself as a competitive candidate in the job market.

In case, you are in the midst of an unemployed phase or are looking for career transition, you should beef-up your resume cover letter that can help you appear to be a competitive candidate. The above given tips can help you strengthen your resume. These ways are 'fun' and would be productive to land you a job.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Resume Lies: The Truth behind It

Each of us, will admit that at some or the other time, we have lied in the resume just to appear attractive to the prospective employer. The lies can further be segregated into several types such as fibs, little lies, white lies, and half-truths. However, regardless as to how well you justify a lie and whatever name you give to a lie, it is still a lie. Lies may be incorporated to falsify the information such as educational qualification or professional history. Being untruthful in a resume is a desperate measure to grab a job opportunity.

Nevertheless, job-hunters, who are stretching truths, concealing information or  making false claims in their resumes, are risking their job progress and a severe action can blacklist a candidate. Background-check concept to verify and cross check the information provided by a candidate in his resume strategy has become popular. With the Internet era, it is much easier too. All information is almost available on the Internet database and easily accessible to every employer. Some employers also employ third-party background check providers to do it on their behalf.

The Facts and the Fiction

Every resume has to be self motivated and for this every candidate has to promote self as per the job requirement. However, the question arises, when it becomes difficult to identify the hair-line gap between promoting self and falsifying the facts. As per many career experts and resume writers, it is very difficult to identify the gap between these two.

You should not be surprised to know that the impact of the resume depends on the industry and profession. A falsehood is more likely to be severely scrutinized for a financial executive than any other professional. This, however, does not make things any simpler for the people not from finance profession. Any little foolish fib can damage your reputation at the workplace.

Mention Only What is True

As per many recruiters and career experts, the most common resume lies are related to the education details, technical skills, employment dates, and the job titles handled at previous organizations. Nevertheless, these areas are the sensitive areas, which if you fudge them can cause severe damage to your professional career.

A myth about the resume lies is that people believe they can embellish their professional details related to the companies, which have closed down or out of business. But social networking sites can put a full stop to all your efforts and hopes.

Facts or Consequences

If you are still convinced about including some foolish fibs in the resume or embellishing your resume details, do it at your own risk. The fibs may be able to get you a job, but still haunt you with the thought of immediate dismissal throughout the tenure. So, give only the facts or it may cost you your job.

Until today’s Internet era, resume lies were taken quite casually. However, now with all information easily accessible to the employer through the Internet, it has become difficult to lie in the resume. If you are an accounting student and are building an accountant student resume or are pursuing cosmetology refer to resume for cosmetology student to develop your customized resume for job hunting. Nonetheless, remember one thing, - never lie in your resume, unless you are ready to face the most unpleasant consequences.

Friday 3 February 2012

Resume Critique: Top Resources

Your resume seems to be not doing well and is losing out on jobs. You may wish to take a second opinion on your resume. If you have decided to get a second opinion on your resume, you will need to find an appropriate resume critique. Resume critiques are professionals with expertise in resume writing or as a recruiter. So, you can refer a student resume format and develop your resume that is customized to accommodate your skills and compatibilities. Once, you have finished building our resume; ask a resume critique to provide advice on.

Resume Critique Resources

Professional Resume Writers
The profile is sufficient to talk on their behalf. Professional resume writers are aware about the mistakes that make their resume go to trash. Also, they are aware of the terms and phrases that can add value to your resume. So, you can get your resume verified from a professional resume writer and seek proper advice.

Recruiters
Recruiters have the hang of reviewing numerous resumes every day.  Hence, recruiters can be good critiques to analyze your resume and its value to the potential employer. Recruiters know what a potential employer looks for in a resume. Referrals from your friends and acquaintances can help you locate a recruiter to give advice about your resume from a critique’s point of view.

Career Coaches
People involved in career coaching have tremendous experience in reviewing resumes and assess its ‘big-picture’ as well as a detailed image. Nevertheless, unless a coach trains a senior executive, he may not have an idea about the requirements a person looks for while scrutinizing your resume.

Job Fairs
Job fairs are becoming popular now days. It is a one-platform job market that mutually benefits recruiters as well as job-seekers. Numerous job fairs provide resume critique services, either on paid or free basis.
The critique services can be provided by career coaches, professional resume writers and Human Resource representatives. These critiques review your resume and give expert assistance by marking up mistakes in the resume and suggesting improvements.

Did you refer to some student resume samples before building your resume? And are you now thinking of getting the resume reviewed through a resume critique? This article discusses a few top resources for resume critiques. You may choose a particular critique source and avail his services to make your resume error-free and competitive enough to open new doors of opportunity for you.

Monday 30 January 2012

Resume Tips for Professionals

Resume writing is an overwhelming and daunting task for many professionals as it requires immense thought process to go in; however, not investing ample thought to build your resume may cost your resume being rejected. It is therefore, suggested that you go through material available over internet or in the market to learn the techniques for building a winning resume.

Students can refer various resume cover letter available over the web database. This can give you a starting push to get going with building your customized resume. If you are a professional candidate with relevant experience and looking for opportunity to receive an interview call, you can go through the professional resume writing tips discussed below.

How to Write a Result-Generating Resume for Professionals

Profile Summary
Being a professional, you are expected to brief the recruiter about your professional competencies. Hence, include a profile summary into your resume that briefs your prospective recruiter about what you have to give to the organization, your strengths and skills.

While giving the details, experts say that you break the section into professional, technical summary as suitable and career summary skills that can highlight your personal traits and soft skills. Also, a bulleted list can be easy to read and able to grab better attention than one written in a paragraph style.

Focus on Accomplishments
One of the reasons, for your resume being un-read can be unnecessary details of projects that you have worked on. Rather what interests more to an employer is what you accomplished while being employed with every organization or while working over every project. However, while giving details of the results you achieved, ensure that you are succinct while including every accomplishment.

Customization
This is utmost important. Referring to a professional student resume, you cannot build your professional resume. Ensure that you should look close to a ‘tailor made’ candidate for the position applied for. A ‘one size fit to all’ attitude in your resume can land your resume to trash bin of the recruiter. So, beware and customize your resume to appeal to prospective employer.

Format
You are professionals and hence you are expected to take your resume pretty seriously. Make sure that the resume that you build should be uniformly formatted and has a professional appearance. The font size and borders included should make the resume more-readable and not the vice-versa.

You, being a professional are not new to the task of resume building. However, if it has been really long since you last built your resume, then here are a few tips to help you make your resume a winning resume. Do not forget, if you have to face the fierce competition in the job world, your resume should not have silly ‘typo’ or grammatical mistakes.

Thursday 19 January 2012

7 Tips for Hobbies and Interests Resume Section

The hobby and interest section of the resume is one of the important sections in your resume. It provides the employer with some more information about the candidate where he is able to get an idea of the applicant’s area of interests. The section describes your personality and your ability to work. This will help the employer to decide how you can be important to the organization.

The hobby and interest section is a common section in most resumes. Thus, if you omit this section in your resume, the recruiter might ask for the same. So it’s better to include this section in your student resume sample. Also, the interviewer may ask you, one or two questions about your hobbies. Thus, prior preparation of these questions might help you during the interview.

Following are some of the tips for writing hobbies and interests section in your resume:

• Write hobbies and interests that relate with the job position you are applying for.

• Be honest while writing the hobbies. The interviewer might ask you various question related to the hobbies you write.

• You must be authentic and must be able to discuss your interests. For example, if your hobby is trekking, you must be able to tell something about it, for example, your last trekking experience.

• Be unique in describing your hobbies. For example, if your hobby is reading books, then be descriptive and write the type of books or name of the author.

• Be short and avoid giving redundant information

• Show that you are an all rounder by specifying hobbies that include social, physical and mental qualities

• Avoid writing hobbies like sleeping, eating, playing, etc. They create a bad impression on the interviewer.

While you are writing about your interests, make sure you write the interests that are related to your job profile. This shows that you like the work and would perform better on the job.

The above tips for writing the hobbies and interests resume section will help you to write an effective resume. It will also attract the recruiter’s attention and help in getting your resume selected.