by Peter Lloyd for Job Hunting
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video at 30 pictures per second should be worth 30 times its length in seconds. But it’s not, at least in the world of video resumés. Just as you will see good and bad pictures, you can send employers a “Hire Me” video that will help or hurt your chances of landing the job.
And when a video hurts, it hurts a whole lot harder. But how can you not consider the medium? Today “video ads are booming. News sites are adding more video inventory to keep pace with the demands of advertisers,” writes Brian Stelter in the New York Times. So why not put the power of video behind your self promotion? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: employment, Job Hunting, job search, resume, video
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by Peter Lloyd for Job Hunting
The online job description is explicit. They want skills you know you have. But you have no evidence of applying those skills on the job.
How frustrating! when you know you can do the job, but you have no idea of how to convince your potential employer. It’s a cinch that other candidates will submit resumés that honestly claim they’ve done what the job description calls for. But what about the rest of us? We need jobs, too. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: interviewing, job search, resume
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by Peter Lloyd for Job Hunting, book review
Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?: A Crash Course in Finding, Landing, and Keeping Your First Real Job by Ellen Gordon Reeves.
Its very clever title promises that this paperback will answer frankly the more unconventional questions that tend to discourage and even stump entry-level job searchers. As the Introduction explains, “Nose Ring” is not about nose rings or tongue rings but about how complex hunting for a job can be today. Overall it should help its readers understand why we all need to be more innovative in our job searches. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Ellen Gordon Reeves, employment, resume
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by Peter Lloyd for Job Hunting
As we job seekers are often reminded, Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post reminds us again in Tiny Typos Can Add Up To a Big X On Your Résumé.
Michelle poses the question, “Should someone’s résumé get tossed in the trash if he or she mistakenly wrote ‘Graphic designer seeking no-profit career’?” I don’t know about the “no-profit” part, I wonder about the way Michelle spells résumé.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: resume
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by John Owens for Job Hunting
Michael Neece, president of Interview Mastery, suggests you have four objectives in a job interview:
1. Prove you meet the job’s requirements. You must make a case that you have the skills to do the job, including soft or “hidden” requirements such as an ability to learn new information quickly. You must do this for each individual interviewer; find out what’s important to him or her.
2. Communicate clearly. Get your key messages across. Confirm you’re understood accurately.
3. Build rapport. Get your interviewer to recognize you as an “ABC Company type of person.” It’s as simple as getting him or her to like you, and as complex as expressing your values in the context of the company culture. Rapport arises from those subtle clues, as well as from your demeanor.
4. Gather feedback. Get specific feedback from each interviewer at the close of each meeting with questions like, “What strengths do you feel I bring to this position?” or, “What concerns do you have about my background?” You won’t get feedback unless you ask in a professional manner.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
Not surprisingly, employers really like it when you listen. Not only listen, but also clarify the information back as to what you heard. Such as, “Just so I understand, you’re looking for someone with 3 or more years of sales experience. How do you see this experience being best applied to this role?”
Back up your statements with related, specific information. Instead of saying, “I do that all the time…so often in fact, I can’t think of a specific example,” quantify your statement with a story of achievement that outlines the situation, what you did, and what happened.
Convey your most important message. Answering questions with continual affirmation of your most important skills and abilities in relation to the employer’s desired skill set will reinforce your ability to meet the key aspects of the job. For example, if a salesperson’s message is “I regularly develop new business,” then he or she will want to mention “growing sales or developing business” several times during the interview.
Tags: resume, resume writing job tip
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