Jumpstart Your Job Hunt With a Quality Resume – Ultimate Resume Writing Dos and Don’ts

After years of working in the executive staffing and recruiting industry, collaborating with countless hiring managers and human resource administrators across various industries, I acquired a thorough understanding of what these individuals were looking for in potential job candidates. I began to see patterns, consistencies, universal tendencies, and I began to see just how important a good resume really is.

As a point of fact, hiring managers only spend around 15 seconds perusing over a new resume and they are really only looking for a couple of things when they do. They’re on autopilot, for the most part. They want to know:

1) Who have you worked for?
2) Have you had steady employment?
3) What notable achievements and recognitions have you had throughout your career?
4) What do you have to offer which will meet with their specific needs?

An effective resume will answer those questions with a minimal amount of effort and, as with any effective marketing tool, it will also leave the reader wanting to know more. You want to give them just enough info to prompt them into action. That’s when they pick up the phone and call you for an interview!

So your resume is your professional introduction. It’s your only chance to make a memorable first impression and I can tell you right now that if you do not take your resume seriously, then your resume will never be TAKEN seriously. It really is that simple.

Now, if you feel you are capable and qualified to write a compelling and dynamic resume, then by all means give it a shot. However, if you’re not extremely confident in your skills as a writer and/or marketer, I would sincerely recommend you hook up with a professional resume writer to help you craft the perfect resume for you. A seasoned veteran in these matters can be an invaluable resource. After all, I trust my mechanic to work on my car because he works on cars all day, every day. Well there are people out there who work on resumes all day, every day…so trust us!

For those who are convinced they have what it takes, this article should help you with some of the finer points. Although job markets and technologies are always changing, there are some things which are fairly universal and constitute the basic principles of a winning resume. To guide you along, I have compiled a comprehensive list of resume writing Do’s and Don’ts, complete with secret tricks of the trade as well as a collection of common mistakes people make. So pay close attention, take my advice into consideration, and you’ll be on your way to landing that dream job in no time!

DON’T

Misrepresent the Truth – Lying on your resume is never a good idea. You don’t want to start a professional relationship based on the misrepresentation of facts. Just as you would hope the employer is not lying to you about the job requirements, salary, etc, they expect you are not lying to them about your background and/or skill sets. It’s the decent and respectable way to conduct yourself and there is no room for dishonesty in the workplace because, sooner or later, these things always have a tendency to come to the surface. Remember: The truth shall set you free!

Use Slang or Jargon – You need to be as professional as possible in the context of your resume if you expect to be taken seriously as a professional. For this reason, you should avoid using familiar lingo, slang, or jargon in your resume. The exception to this rule is when using very industry-specific terminology to describe your particular skills. This can actually help to lend you credit as a knowledgeable individual and an expert in your field, but your such terms wisely and tactfully.

Include a Picture – Unless you’re a model or in a professional dependent on physical attributes, I always advise against putting your picture on your resume. In my experience, it can do more harm than good. So keep the formatting of the resume simple and let the hiring manager use their imagination until they call you in for an interview. Plus, your looks should have nothing to do with your professionalism or the credentials qualifying you for the position. In the business world (even legally), your appearance should have no value as a selling point for you as a competent job candidate.

Include Irrelevant Info (AKA “Fluff”) – If it’s not important, don’t add it to your resume. If you were a cook 10 years ago but now you’re looking for a job in retail management, don’t clutter up your resume with irrelevancy. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager and ask yourself what they would see as important. How does your background correspond with their needs as an employer? Anything else is fluff. Don’t add your hobbies to your resume. Don’t add your references (if they want them, they’ll ask at the appropriate time). And don’t include your high school education either. Finally, don’t be redundant and repeat yourself throughout the context of your resume. It’s OK to reinforce themes, but don’t push it. If your title has been Branch Manager at each of your past three companies, find a way to differentiate each of these positions and highlight your most notable accomplishments. Don’t just copy and paste the line “Managed a team of branch employees” three times. That will get you nowhere.

Include a Core Competencies Section – I find Core Competency sections to be fairly worthless in a professional resume and I’ll tell you why: It doesn’t matter if you’re a waitress, an administrative assistant, a nurse, a teacher, or a sales executive – it doesn’t matter what kind of background you have – anyone can describe themselves as “Self-Motivated”. Anyone can say they are “Goal Oriented” and “Results-Driven” and everyone has “Strong Verbal and Written Skills” when they’re applying for a job. I can say with some degree of certainty that the majority of hiring managers and HR administrators skip right past a Core Competencies section and with good reason. The key to a successful resume is in SHOWING a manager how you are “Results-Driven” and “Goal Oriented” instead of just TELLING them! Your accomplishments speak volumes, let them do the talking. If you are going to include a Core Competencies section, make sure it’s unique and adds value. Again, vagueness will often work against you here because it cheapens the experience of reading your resume.

Rely on Templates or Sample Resumes – If you are surfing the web and looking for a good resume sample or template to use as a guideline for your own resume, make sure the sample you settle on is appropriate considering your background, the industry you’re in, and your career intentions. Because when it comes right down to it, different styles of resumes should be employed in different industries. By way of illustration, a computer programmer’s resume will vary greatly from that of a sushi chef. They both have very different skill sets which need to be highlighted in very different ways in order to be effective. If both those individuals tried to write their resumes in the same format, it would be a disaster. Hiring authorities, respectively, each have their own expectations and some resume formats are better than others at addressing those individual expectations.

Write a Novel and Call it a Resume – I repeat: Do NOT write a novel and call it a resume. Too many people make this mistake. They want to write this wordy, drawn-out thesis outlining their life story and their career aspirations. They have all these skills and accomplishments and they want to include them all in there somewhere, but the problem is most people just don’t know when to stop. Don’t be afraid to leave out some of the details and explore those further in the interview process. My advice is to highlight only those aspects of your background which are most applicable for the job, or types of jobs, you are planning to apply for.

Limit Yourself to One Page – In contrast to the last point, you may not want to limit yourself to a 1-page resume. A common misconception is that a professional resume HAS to be one page. However, that’s not really the case these days. I while back, before the miracles of technology, I may have agreed. But now that most resumes are being read on a computer screen versus on paper, there’s no need to limit yourself in such a way. Those who try to cram all their info on 1-page resume usually resort to smaller font and zero spacing. When viewed on screen, this is not an attractive format and it’s hard to read. Now, I’m not saying you should write a 20-page catalogue of your experiences, nor am I advocating the use of size 20 font. Instead, I would say 12-14 size font should suffice and I recommend you keep it at two pages. That leaves plenty of room to say what needs to be said. Of course, if you have limited experience then a 1-page resume will do just fine.

DO

Use Bullet Points – When it comes time to explain your experiences in your resume, use bullet points to outline your accomplishments. It is much easier to read and even easier to skim, which is what hiring managers are doing most of the time anyways. Bullet points draw attention to important information. They are also visually appealing and make the information seem more accessible to the reader. So keep them short and meaningful. Some people opt for a short paragraph explaining their duties and responsibilities, followed by bullet points highlighting their most notable achievements. This too is acceptable, just make sure to keep that paragraph very succinct and avoid any redundancies as well.

Have a Strong Objective Statement – Although this is a matter of some debate these days, I firmly believe a strong, concise Objective Statement can go a long way. First off, it immediately tells the reader what job you are applying for. That can be a big deal when you’re submitting your resume to a HR representative who has their hands full with many different job openings. Recruiters as well. And if you’re a senior manager, you don’t want to get thrown in the pile with the mail clerks, right? Not only that, but an effective Objective Statement will briefly summarize your qualifications so a hiring manager can make an instantaneous decision whether or not to keep reading. They do that anyways, so why not address their needs in the intro and add value by showing them what you have to offer right off the bat. Remember, I’m only talking about one sentence here. One sentence to market yourself. Once sentence to spark their interest. You don’t want to give the reader too much to think about, rather you want them to proceed on and read the rest of your resume. So grab their attention, establish your professional identity, show them your value, and let them move on to the good stuff!

Choose the Right Format – One thing you need to remember is that there is not one universal formatting methodology because, in truth, there is no cookie-cutter way of writing a resume. What works best for one person may not be best for another. Some people will benefit from a Chronological resume whereas that format may be detrimental to someone who has jumped around a lot in their career. The only thing I can suggest is that you do your homework. Know the different types of resumes (Chronological, Functional, Targeted, and Combination) and know the distinct merits of each. Then make an informed decision as to which style is best for you. If you are surfing the web and looking for a good resume sample or template to use as a guideline for your own resume, make sure the sample you settle on is appropriate considering your background, the industry you’re in, and your career intentions.

Cut to the Chase – Don’t waste time…get to the good stuff. As I said before, a hiring manager will most often skim, scan, and glance over a resume. Keep in mind that they have specific questions in mind when they review a resume for the first time and they expect specific answers. One of the most important questions they are asking is: “Who has this person worked for in the past?” For this reason, I always suggest that serious job seekers highlight their experiences first and foremost. Right below your one-sentence Objective Statement you should transition into and Experience section. In this section you should list your past employers, the years you worked for them, your job titles, and a brief description of your duties there. Of course, this may not be the best approach for some people. If your background is heavily dependent on your academic experience, then you may want to jump into that first.

Focus on Your Target – My reasons for saying this are as follows: An unfocused resume sends a very clear message that you are unfocused about your career. And a hiring authority doesn’t want to see that. They want to see that you have career goals and that those aspirations correspond with their needs as an employer. So keep in mind that a customized resume, modified for a specific position, is always preferable to a generalized and vague resume. If you’re serious enough about a job then you should take the extra time and effort to tailor a resume to that job’s requirements. I assure you your efforts will not go unnoticed.

Be Articulate and Grammatically Exact – In my humble opinion, it’s of the utmost importance to be eloquent within the context of your resume and to make sure you’re using proper grammar and syntax. For your current job description, use the present tense. For past jobs, use past tense. This seems like a no-brainer, but again you’d be surprised at how many people make this mistake. Being articulate can go a long way as well. Most hiring managers will consider it a plus if you can convey your level of intelligence in your written communications. So don’t be afraid to break out the thesaurus and make sure you have someone else edit your resume before you send it out to potential employers. That’s imperative!

K.I.S.S. – A wiser man than me once made this bold statement and it’s extremely applicable when writing your resume: Keep It Simple, Stupid! Too many people make too much of an effort to “stand out from the pack” and in doing so they may unwittingly be hurting themselves. In some professions, such as the creative design field, it may be advantageous to show your originality and imagination, but in other business fields this kind of flamboyancy in a resume is unnecessary and can actually be injurious to your cause. In terms of formatting, the same holds true. I have found that people tend to have much more success when they opt for an uncomplicated formatting style. Some people still want to get all jazzed up with pictures and text boxes and funky font, but that’s just fluff. It’s noise. It is irrelevant to the purpose of your resume, which is to sell yourself through highlighting your skills and accomplishments. And hiring managers see right through that!

Take Your Resume Seriously – As previously stated, if you don’t take your resume seriously then your resume will not be TAKEN seriously. If you choose not to work with a professional, then at the very least have an impartial third-party edit it for you and give you some constructive feedback. This is for your own sake. What happens when you accidentally type “Manger” instead of “Manager”? Do you think Spell Check is going to bail you out? Whatever you do, don’t send it out to potential employers without having someone else look it over. Some people just need to swallow their pride because when it comes right down to it, you may be the best at what you do, but if you don’t write resumes for a living then chances are there’s someone out there more qualified to write your resume than you are. Please consider that if you’re serious about being taken seriously!

So there it is…everything you need to know about writing your resume. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and feel free to contact me if you ever need any assistance. I’m here to help!

LinkedIn Traffic Secrets – 5 Simple Steps for High Quality Daily Buyer Traffic


Don’t chase after traffic. Discover where the traffic is already going and get in front of it. Then redirect the traffic where you want it to go, directly to your profit centers.

Get Your Wisdom Right Here

So many online entrepreneurs chase after traffic. Even veteran online entrepreneurs get caught up in this potential trap.

Chasing after traffic is especially dangerous for the beginning online entrepreneur. They throw money after traffic by buying traffic before they know what they are doing.

This can lead to lots of money going out with nothing to show for it.

Listen. I’m not against paid traffic. I use it.

I just strongly recommend that you create a proven system that takes a new person from prospect to customer before you pay for traffic.

Especially since there are so many great ways to get high quality buyer traffic for

Let’s Look at This the Right Way

Your mindset about traffic is critically important. When you view traffic the right way you are much more likely to do traffic the right way.

Before we talk about what the profitable traffic mindset is, let’s talk a bit about what it’s not.

Profitable traffic is not a one time event.

I hear this often as an excuse for not being successful with traffic online.

“Well, I tried to get traffic like they said. I create a (fill in the blank) to get traffic and nothing happened. This traffic stuff doesn’t work!”

This traffic stuff does work, it just might be you didn’t work it right.

Driving consistent, evergreen buyer traffic is a life long task. I’ve been at this full time for almost 10 years now. I still make creating new traffic one of my daily revenue generation rituals.

The correct view is for the long haul, getting immediate, long-term and evergreen buyer traffic.

While looking at traffic the wrong way is one of the common traffic mistakes, there are 3 other big profitable traffic mistakes you need to be aware of and avoid.

Mistake #1

As with lots of online success, there’s this myth about traffic. The myth goes something like this:

“Well really good traffic is for those people, and I’m not one of those people.”

On the surface it’s the magical thinking that profitable traffic and the success that comes with is just something that magically happens to a chosen few. And you are certain you are not one of the few.

This is at best a glorified excuse for failing, even for not trying at all.

At worst it’s a story some are committed to believing, because they are very committed, almost wed, to the notion that success is for other people, not them.

The reality is that every single one of those people who are enjoying successful traffic started with ZERO TRAFFIC.

Then they got the first person, then another, and then another and so on. They were willing to do the necessary things and work for the traffic they said they wanted.

Implement the correct and current strategies for building traffic, work at it, and you’ll enjoy lots of evergreen buyer traffic.

The bottom line is that building traffic works when you work, and when you work it right.

Mistake #2

Here’s another big profitable traffic mistake: relying on only one source of traffic.

Many entrepreneurs do this silly thing around many issues in business. This mistake is so prevalent in fact that master marketer Dan Kennedy has said:

“The worst number in business is 1.”

Back when I was a therapist in private practice I build many sources of referrals, which is the same as traffic offline.

When I started writing a weekly relationship column for the local newspaper that quickly became nationally syndicated my practice exploded with referrals. I was full with a waiting list and was filling up the practices of colleagues as well.

It was very, very tempting to stop nurturing other long term traffic sources and to not build any other sources of referrals.

Knowing the worst number in business is “1” I continued to nurture all my other traffic/referral sources and build new ones as well.

I wrote that weekly column for the local newspaper for 10 years. When that column, a major referral source, ended I was not panicked or affected at all because I had continued building additional sources of referral.

The bottom line online is you want to make building traffic a life long daily pursuit so that you have multiple streams of traffic coming in from multiple sources.

Mistake #3

Once you get good at generating consistent traffic it’s very easy to believe you can then go do the rest on your own.

And you will be able to do some.

The reality is that the profitable traffic game online is ever changing. It’s really too much to try to keep up with on your own.

For this reason and many more I will always have a coach and always be a part of a mastermind. I always want to have another set of trusted eyes on my business.

Other people whom you trust can always see the things you can’t see, simply because it’s your business and you can get too close to be able to see all your options.

The bottom line for you is to always have trusted eyes on the traffic generation part of your business.

The Power of Profitable Traffic

Remember when I said don’t chase after traffic, find out where the traffic is going, get in front of it, and then re-direct it exactly where you want it to go?

And where you want it to go is your profit centers like your blog, your opt in pages, your product resource pages as well.

The 3 types of traffic you want to build are:

1) Immediate traffic

2) Regular traffic

3) Long-term/evergreen traffic

Results Now Mini-Workshop

Now let’s get you some traffic with your content, shall we?

The steps are simple really:

Step 1 – Choose a specific topic in your niche – Interestingly enough, the more specific you can make the topic, the more buyer traffic you will pull.

Cast too wide a net and the less high quality traffic you get.

Cast a specific targeted net and the more high quality buyer traffic you get.

Step 2 – Come up with the 3 most common mistakes most beginners make around that specific topic. These can also be mistakes everyone makes, beginners and veterans alike.

Step 3 – For each mistake talk about how the mistake is made and what it looks like, how easy it is to make. You want to avoid making your prospect feel bad for making this common mistake.

Step 4 – For each mistake include what to do instead. You are not giving away the farm here, just offering one small tip.

Step 5 – Include a call to action to visit one of your profit pages and get your content out on Social Media, your blog and LinkedIn.

Major congrats! You’ve just created and shipped an Evergreen Traffic Machine that will bring your immediate, regular and long term evergreen traffic.

Profitable Genius Tip

“An evergreen traffic machine a day sends buyer traffic your way.”

I promised you a “traffic genius tip” and here it is:

You want to make creating your evergreen traffic machines something that you do daily. While that may sound like a lot, when you see the results it will feel much easier.

As you’ll see ETMs come in all forms – some as simple, quick and easy as an info-graphic, along with some that take a little more time such as blog posts, articles and videos.

Building ETMs is one of my DRGRs – how’s that for alphabet soup?

Said another way – creating evergreen traffic machine to build waves of highly qualified buyer traffic is one on my Daily Revenue Generating Rituals. I recommend it becomes one of yours too.

The Cost of Quality Green Web Hosting: How Much For What?

The Cost of Green Web Hosting

The world wide web (W3) is a vast frontier for those within whom the web-preneurial spirit burns brightly. To open a brick and mortar business on Main Street is going to cost a pile of capital, and in this economy, who wants a second (or third) mortgage to roll the dice and fund a new gift shop downtown.

The web, on the other hand, provides all the tools you need to build and grow a business for just a few bucks a month. And, each year, the W3 becomes a more robust marketplace. In 1999, fewer than 10% of us purchased goods or services on line. In 2010, it’s projected that 60% of us will make at least one purchase on line – and that number is only going to increase. Want proof?

Take a look at your local newspaper, The Morning Rag. It ain’t what it used to be. Print, delivered to your newspaper tube, is in its death throes with advertising dollars (that’s where the money is) down 25% in ’09 alone, while the web saw a 15% increase in revenue dollars. The point? Advertisers go where the buyers go and a 40% spread from traditional print outlets to an easy-to-build, easy-to-use web site is clear evidence that buyers are employing the web more and more to buy everything from clothes to carpeting to refrigerators.

And even if you do have a store front in town, web users employ digital assets for everything from comparison shopping to snagging a printable set of directions to your store from your web site. The integration between real and virtual marketing has proved to be a boon for small, local businesses thanks to the development of local search.

Type in to your Google search box “pizza” and your zip code and see what pops up. You’ll see a Google map with pushpins showing the location of all the pizza places in town. Move your cursor over any push pin and a complete description of that pizza shop pops up with address and telephone number so you can call in your order. (Hold the anchovies, please!) And the pizza shop owner makes another sale.

So, whether you’re a budding entrepreneur selling grommets by the kilo or a well-established, local business, the world wide web is your oyster. It’s how you’ll grow your business to profitability faster by reaching the very people who are looking for you, your products and service offerings.

And all for $10 a month. You can’t beat that with a stick.

The Cost of Quality on the W3: Lots for Cheap

There are free web hosts, low-ball web hosts and quality web hosts that deliver a satchel of freebies for less than $10 a month – the cost of a couple of fast food lunches.

Now, you could go with a freebie but, as in all things, you get what you pay for. Free web hosting companies place their ads on your site, and you have no control over what’s going to appear. In fact, the host may actually place ads for competitors on YOUR free web site. So NOT cool.

The low-ball web hosts – the ones that give you a little disk space and their best wishes – might cost $3-4 a month. Not bad, but what do you get for your measly few bucks. Not much, and if you don’t know HTML code from an area code, you won’t get very far very fast, even though you save a few pesos each month.

A Competitive Marketplace Keeps Prices Down – Good For You

So what do you get when you go with a quality host? Well, a larger bill each month – but not by much. A quality hosting company charges less than $10 a month – $6 more than the low-ball sites. Six bucks more. So what do you get for that extra few bucks?

  • More disk space – sometimes 2-3 times more disk space.
  • More bandwidth for faster interactions with site visitors.
  • A tool kit that includes templates (thousands of them), a free shopping cart and checkout, a blog and bulletin board module that bolts on to your site with a click – seamlessly.
  • 24/7/365 toll-free customer service. Call any time. Somebody’s working on their web site somewhere day, night and in-between.
  • Easily accessible tech support. It’s nice to talk to someone NOW when you’re having a problem, or just have a simple question. And when problems do arise (they do, sometimes) you want your trouble ticket handed off to a techie and you want the problem fixed – yesterday. Like it never happened.
  • Uptime. If your site’s server is off-line, your business is off line. And, if you happen to get spidered while your site is “down,” guaranteed you’re going to get slammed by Google. Search engines don’t send users to inaccessible sites. So what do you look for? How about an uptime that exceeds 99.9%? How about uptime of 100%? You’re site is always up, even when the power is down in your server location!
  • Server-side security. The freebie hosts don’t pay a whole lot of attention to server-side security. They make they’re money placing ads on your site. And those low-ball sites have to cut corners somewhere and that somewhere is often server side security.
  • A quality host employs numerous layers of security to protect your digital assets: hardwired firewalls, algorithmically encrypted anti-spyware and anti-virus software, caged servers, locked server rooms and back-up power generation.
  • Hand holding. Probably more important to the first-time web site builder than the long-time vet of the web wars for site recognition. A quality hosting company recognizes the value of YOUR success. That’s how a good hosting company builds a solid client base, reducing operating costs. It costs 10x as much to find a new client as it does to keep an existing client happy so smart hosting company management takes your business seriously.
  • You got a question in the middle of the night? You need someone to walk you through the migration of your current site to a better quality host? Well, you want a human to answer the phone and help you plan your strategy, whether building from scratch or moving an existing site uptown.

Starting to get the picture? Yeah, you can save a few bucks and go with a free hosting service, but you won’t be happy after a few months. You also won’t see the site traffic that ultimately leads to web success.

Or, you can go with the cheapie sites but be prepared to install your own multi-layers of security software. You’ll also pay a few hundred bucks for site building software – money that could be used to market your start-up. Oh, and don’t expect a toll-free number for customer or tech support. These low-tiered hosts usually respond by email only. (Not so good when your site has vanished overnight and you don’t have a clue why.)

The bottom line is your bottom line. Web hosting is a highly competitive market segment. There are thousands of hosts from which to choose. But a quality hosting company is based on a client-centric corporate culture, recognizing that the success of its clients will, in the end, determine the success of the web host. It’s just, plain smart business.

The fact is, for a few extra bucks a month – chump change – you can partner with a hosting company that’s as interested in your on-line success as you are. These companies recognize that their long-term success is tied to the success of your web site. In effect, your web host becomes a partner in your web-based growth to profitability. These web hosts have clients who stay put.

These are the site owners who form a stable client base for the web host.

These are the site owners who recognize the value delivered for the cost of a couple of double bacon cheeseburgers.

Spend those few extra dollars and don’t be pound wise and penny foolish. You get what you pay for with web hosting.

In fact, you get a lot more than what you pay for when you choose a quality web host. Go with quality if you truly care about your business.

This is the one place YOU don’t have to cut corners, so pay the few bucks and get a bag o’ benefits for that small change. Success on the web is far from guaranteed, but you increase your chances for success when you pick a quality green web hosting service with which to partner.

Give yourself a break. Give yourself every advantage. Give yourself a better chance to achieve success on-line.

It’s money very well spent.

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