Improve your image by improving your resume

   In continuing the Image is everything series, getting a job has a lot to do with your image, so it is only appropriate to talk about one tool that will help you get a job, your resume.

Next time you look at your resume, ask yourself if it makes you proud.  Your resume is suppose to be a advertisement about you, so if you are not impressed by it than how are other suppose to feel?

The object of a resume is to take the best things you have done that are relevant to the job you are applying for and emphasize them.  Only the most important points about your work experience should be on your resume.  This is why a lot of people suggest you should only have a 1 page resume.  If you have 2 pages, then you probably have content that is unnecessary to creating a great image about yourself.

Here are some tips that can help you transform your resume into making you great instead of just normal.

 

1. Be Specific when highlighting work experience/accomplishments.
1. Which sounds better? – “Work Duties included preparing tax returns” or “Directly interacted with customer’s during tax return preparation’s to ensure the highest customer satisfaction.”
2. If you worked above and beyond you work duties, say it.
3. Talk about your accomplishments at your job not your duties or responsibilities.  Everyone can perform duties which are just normal.
2. Highlight Summary with Bullets - Make it easy for the employer to read about how good you are.
1. Highlight any key points about yourself on the top of you resume under you contact information with a heading called “Summary”. It is a summary of who you are in a few points.
2. Awards, Leadership positions, relevant hobbies, specific work experience point.
3. Order of Importance
1. We all know how short of an attention span people have when reading something like a resume, so put important stuff first, like the summary.  After reading the summary bullet points they should have an idea about who you are and what you have done.
4. Use Verbs to describe jobs
1. Verbs tend to be stronger than nouns, so use words like “Managed, oversaw, supervised, collaborated” not “managerial responsibilities”
5. Resume Paper
1. This may seems obvious, but if you want to have an image of being professional, your paper better look professional.  Go to Kinko’s or UPS Store.

 

These are just a few tips on what I think are key to a good resume.  There are many more great tips that can be found on the internet. To find more website on resume improvement search “Improve your resume” on Google.

attitude, confidence, image, image is everything, Interview, jobs, resume, series, success

Hard Business and Interview questions with Image in mind

Continuing the Image is everything series today we talk about your career and answering tough questions.

We all know what it is like to sit down in front of someone throwing out questions that seem to be a trap knowing that there is a right answer and a not so right answer.

There is no reason why these questions should be frowned upon though because if you know what the person wants and you know what you want, then you just have to bring those two ideas together in your answer.  It is a combination of conforming your answer to the ideal answer and how you present yourself.

The most important thing is to stay confident with who you are.  Confidence and Attitude is the key to creating a good image and every question answered with confidence is that much stronger.

Now to answer the actual question, several things have to be considered.  First, how is my answer going to relate to the subject matter(getting hired, getting raise, etc.).  Second, always answer without judging yourself/others or limiting yourself.

SOME EXAMPLES:

What are your salary expectations?

Answer:  Salary is not my primary consideration.  Of course, there is an acceptable standard for (position) in this industry.  I’d be open to any reasonable offer.    OR  According to (National Salary Publications) my job is valued at (such and such Range) and considering my experience I feel I fall into the upper half of that range.

-NOTE:  These answers were straight forward and were not limiting.  It leaves the questioner with the choice of what is reasonable.

What are your weaknesses?

This is a tricky question, because you never should mention a true weakness.  It is more about turning a slight weakness into a positive.

Answer: “I am a perfectionist to the point where I spend time perfecting projects which aren’t always in line with what makes the company the most money at any given time.”  OR “I plan to improve my public speaking by taking a course this next year.”

What conflicts have you encountered and how have you handled them?

Remember to never judge yourself or limit yourself.  Also remember to focus on the subject matter which is getting hired.  Don’t be afraid to state an actual conflict, but show that you handled it in an appropriate manner.  Don’t ever be negative about the situation. Focus on how you positively handled the conflict.

Answer:  “I suggested that we work together to sort out our issues.  We listened to each others issues and decided together which ones were most important and which ones we can compromise on.  We looked for similarities in your goals and placed them first.  We collectively decided what to give up and what to keep, so that both of us felt like part of the solution.  We were both satisfied in the end.”

MORE QUESTIONS(External Links)

How to Ask for a Raise.

Tough Interview Questions and the Answers

How to sell Yourself

Answering Tough Questions about Loans and Banking

career, confidence, image, Interview, interviewing, questions, success, tough questions

TheAdamBox.com: PageRank of 4 and Goals for May

It looks like after all I will only be getting a PageRank of 4. Earlier last month, I saw how I was projected to get a page rank of 5 compared to everyone else that was going to get a 4, but with the inaccuracies of the prediction program it looks like I am in the same boat as every other blogger who started around February/March.  I think at one point Johnchow dot com was suppose to get a 7, but in the end he ended with a 6.  So when in doubt with PageRank, round down.
Getting up to a 6 level would be quite the feat, so I am not going to leave that as one of my goals in the near future, but I would love to increase my daily visitors and feed readers.  So I am going to set a few goals for myself this month.

1. Double my feed readers to 50
2. Increase my average unique visitors to 150.
3. At least two posts per day.

These are good for now as I need to learn to grow in strides.  Blogging is not always a success overnight more like success over years.  I am slowing down on monetizing my blog, because there is no point in monetizing a slow blog.  I need to focus on traffic before focusing on money.

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Dressing for Success (for men)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Image is Everything, today starts the first part of the series dealing with personal image in your career.

There are many books about creating first impressions and most of them will tell you that someone decides whether or not they like you within the first 2 minutes of meeting you.  So the key to success is to create an image that will impress within 2 minutes.  A huge part of this is physical appearance.  So how do you want to appear? Successful, playful, Joker, etc.

Think about the last time you saw someone wearing something kind of strange.  How fast did you think about what they were wearing from the time you first saw them?  Probably within seconds.  This is why dressing to a certain standard is an absolute must for success.  Thus the phrase, “Dressing for Success”.

Since how you dress is so important to creating success, it is often questioned what is appropriate dress for success.  The appropriate dress is what is the accepted in the business environment like it or not.

Every part of what you wear is crucial, so take each of these tips seriously or else it defeats the purpose of dressing for success.

BUSINESS DRESS Read more

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