The Advantages And Benefits of Creating A LinkedIn Profile

No matter if you’re a current student or graduate or a high flying executive, a professionally written LinkedIn profile can help open up doors to opportunities and networks. Before LinkedIn existed, it was virtually impossible to connect directly with potential hiring managers, bosses or even other individuals who share similar job titles to your own.  With LinkedIn, not only can you create an online marketing profile but with a click of a button you can begin networking.

Creating a positive first impression:

When a hiring manager or recruiter first reads your LinkedIn profile, they will typically make their opinion of you within the first 20 seconds. A professionally written and completed profile that includes up-to-date information about your skills and experience will automatically get the reader’s attention. Including key achievements, examples of projects and value added skills towards the top of your profile will further maintain the reader’s attention and create that positive first impression. Don’t forget to include a picture. This will help to humanise your profile and put a face behind the name. Remember that your picture is a representation of you. If you are applying for a corporate position, a picture of you at 3 o clock in the morning holding a beer will not portray that professional corporate image.

Be Found:

Different companies are now using social networking such as LinkedIn when it comes to hiring or headhunting new talent. A good example is seen within the ultra-competitive credit card industry, where companies who often try to poach talented staff from their competition and the easiest place to find these people are via LinkedIn. Even if you’re not actively seeking a new job, just by having an account could change your career!

Network:

The benefits of LinkedIn are almost endless with no downside to having a LinkedIn profile. Get involved in forums, join groups and meet like-minded individuals like yourself. Best of all LinkedIn is totally free.  Job seeking is a tough business and applying for online jobs each and every day is a job in itself! From a job seeker’s perspective, LinkedIn is another tool that you can use to help get ahead when searching for a new job.

Don’t forget one important aspect. While the advantages and benefits of having a LinkedIn profile can help open up doors to opportunities that may never have existed previously, having an incomplete or unprofessional LinkedIn profile can actually have a detrimental effect and portray a negative impression of being lazy or having a lack of attention to detail. If you choose to create a LinkedIn profile (which I suggest) prepare it properly and utilise everything that LinkedIn has to offer.

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.redstarresume.com

RedStarResume are the Resume Writing Experts. Specializing In Over 35 Industries! – Turn your resume into an achievement based marketing documents in just 48-72 hours

Stand Out From The Crowd With A Brand New Professional Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile From RedStarResume

Is Your Professional Resume an Olympic Gold Medal

With the Olympic Games fast approaching, athletes from across the world will all be vying to be the very best in their chosen sport and take home a gold medal. In events such as swimming and athletics it is usually only seconds that separate first and last and with competition so strong, a tiny mistake can often be the difference between winning gold or missing out on a medal.

Just as an athlete will have to prepare and train in order to win gold, a job seeker needs to ensure that their resume is worthy of winning a gold medal! Although competition for a job may not be as fierce as competition for a gold medal, the same rules apply. A simple spelling mistake could lead to your resume being deleted and you missing out on your dream job.

Preparation is key for any athlete and the same applies for any job seeker. Going online and using an out dated resume template which you complete in 10 minutes will not stand you out from your job seeking competitors. Before you even begin writing your resume, you need to have an understanding of the type of positions you are going to be applying for, and the type of skills and experience that will be required for that particular position. With this understanding, you will be in a far greater position to target your resume towards the types of jobs you are applying for.

Market your Skills on Page 1 of the Resume:

Reports suggest that hiring managers spend between 10-20 seconds when first reading through your resume. In this short time you need to grab the reader’s attention. Introducing a qualifications profile or career summary is a great way to show off your skills to the reader within the first 2-3 lines of the resume. Rather than opening your resume with an objective statement (telling the reader what you want out of the job) -introduce a qualifications profile where you tell the reader the value-added skills that you can offer the business. From a hiring managers perspective which resume would you rather read?

Highlight your Achievements:

Your resume is your marketing document. Don’t be afraid to highlight your achievements, awards, skills and expertise. If you are a manager include how many people you manage. If you received a promotion or award, point these out in the resume. The more quantitative examples you can provide the greater. Remember that your resume may be competing against hundreds of other resumes. Although you may be the most qualified or the most talented, if you are unable to portray your achievements throughout your resume than you greatly reduce your chances of being selected for the interview stage.

Just as an athlete needs everything to go right on their day in order to win gold, a job seeker is the same. There is not one most important aspect that makes a professional resume but a lot of smaller details that goes into preparing a gold medal winning resume. Marketing your skills and highlighting your achievements will give you a strong advantage over your competition and help you stand out from the crowd.

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.redstarresume.com

RedStarResume are the Resume Writing Experts. Specializing In Over 35 Industries! – Turn your resume into an achievement based marketing documents in just 48-72 hours

Stand Out From The Crowd With A Brand New Professional Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile From RedStarResume

Resume Writing Tips To Stand Out From The Competition

If you are a current job seeker you no doubt have one more thing to stress about – writing the perfect resume. The resume is often regarded as one of the most difficult documents to develop. An effectively written resume will get the reader’s attention within the first 20 seconds. However, with such demand for jobs, 20 seconds is often too long to make an impact. You need to ensure that your resume makes an immediate and positive first impression.

It is an undisputed fact that if a hiring manager has two resumes sitting on the table, they are instinctively going to be drawn to the resume that is professionally presented and formatted in the correct way. No matter what the resume has to say, the first impression is already made. If both candidates share similar skills, education and experience, just take a guess at which resume the hiring manager is going to choose.

When you sit down to write your resume, remember one thing. Your resume is a marketing document. This document is all you have to prove to the hiring manager that you are the right person for the job.  Present a professional picture and make sure that you stand out above your competition.

10 Tips to Writing the Perfect Resume

Create a Qualifications Profile:

A great way to begin the resume is by creating a 2-3 sentence qualifications profile. Rather than an objective statement (telling the reader what type of job you want), focus on creating a powerful profile that highlights your value-added skills and qualifications. A hiring manager is interested in the skills and qualifications you are able to bring to this particular role, as opposed to being told about the type of job you want.

Include Keywords:

With the demand for jobs so competitive, hiring managers and recruiters can often receive upwards of 500 – 1000 resumes for one particular position. As such, many firms now use software programs as a way of performing “first round interviews”. Using selected keywords will ensure that your resume passes the first stage of selection and will not be deleted before a hiring manager has even had a chance to read your application. The best way to find these keywords is by simply reading the job positions. See what the company is looking for and make sure your resume is full of these keywords!

Provide Specific Quantitative Examples:

Hiring managers hate to read clichéd resumes. It’s boring and adds no value to your resume. Use quantitative examples as much as possible to highlight your experience and the value-added skills that you can bring to the job.

Target the Position that you are applying for:

As a job seeker, everything you include in your resume needs to reinforce the message to the reader that you are the right candidate for the position. Don’t waste time on information that doesn’t reflect your suitability for this particular position. Being a good skier and having an interest in tennis will probably not be relevant to the job that you are applying for. Focus your resume on the value added skills and experience that you have to offer. If the job requires management experience than provide these specific examples. Your resume is your marketing document so ensure that your document is marketed correctly.

Highlighting Achievements/Accomplishments:

Does your resume show off all the wonderful skills and talents that you have to offer? If you were the hiring manager would you want to employ yourself? If the answer is no, it’s time to have a serious think about rewriting your resume. If you wouldn’t hire yourself then why would a hiring manager hire you? Turn your resume from a boring resume into an achievement based resume focusing on highlighting achievement based examples. From a hiring manager’s perspective, would you rather read “strong communication skills” or read this statement backed up by an example. “Strong communication skills capable of projecting a strong, credible, articulate and engaging personal presence with experience in producing and creating PowerPoint presentations”

Error Free:

When you open your resume do you see the red or green lines underneath words or sentences? This is such a major turnoff to a hiring manager and will create an immediate unprofessional first impression. The easiest way to avoid this from occurring is convert your word document into a PDF. Not only will it enhance your professionalism but will also ensure that those ugly looking lines don’t occur!

Clean Font:

Make the reader’s life as easy as possible by using an easy to read and professional looking font. Wired looking font not only looks ugly but will detract from the professionalism of your document.

Be Concise and Succinct:

Use bullet points to emphasise your skills and experience. Long drawn out sentences are boring to read and when a hiring manager is staring at a table full of resumes, they do not want to read long winded sentences. Ensure that you are able to catch the reader’s attention immediately and portray the professional image that is required.

Power Words:

A great way to make your resume stand out is by including action words throughout your resume. A clichéd resume is boring to read and can lead to the reader losing interest in your application. Strong action words will further highlight your skills and expertise.

Demonstrate Flexibility, Adaptability and Innovation:

In my experience employers want to hire individuals who can demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and innovation as well as a passion for wanting to gain further knowledge and experience. Remember that an employer wants to know that you are going to bring value to the organisation. Your job duties will change constantly and you need to be able to demonstrate that you are a forward-thinking self-starter with vision and desire to implement innovative solutions to any problem that may arise.

Final Thought …

Job seeking is a cut throat business and in order to succeed your resume needs to be 100% right, and it needs to be presented and formatted professionally and correctly. When you apply for a particular job you only have one chance to succeed. Make sure that you give yourself every opportunity to get that new job!

 

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.redstarresume.com

RedStarResume are the Resume Writing Experts. Specializing In Over 35 Industries! – Turn your resume into an achievement based marketing documents in just 48-72 hours

Stand Out From The Crowd With A Brand New Professional Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile From RedStarResume

Preparation is Key to Job Searching

Job seeking can often be a lonely and frustrating business, but if you organise yourself properly, define what your preferences are and what goals you would like to achieve, then, it can make the job searching process more enjoyable.

Whether you’re looking for a job or a change of career, the approach should be similar and there are certain things that should be in place before you start on your path to finding suitable employment. Too often people jump straight into sending out their resume for every job under the sun. This approach is not just wrong but can be a total waste of time. Preparation is key to job seeking and those that prepare properly ultimately come out ahead.

Job Preparation and Research:

Before you even begin to start thinking about applying for jobs, ensure that your professional resume is up to date and that your cover letter is targeted towards the jobs and industry you are applying for. Focus your resume on highlighting achievements and the value added skills that you can bring to the organisation. Remember that demand for jobs is ultra-competitive and when potential hiring managers may receive in excess of 500 resumes for one position, your resume needs to be perfect in order to stand out from the crowd.

Once your resume and cover letter are ready to go, you need to decide exactly what type of work you want to do and where your skills are best suited. This will make the job search process more straightforward.

Focus your job search:

There are many different tactics you can implement to search for jobs. Don’t get stuck into only applying for online jobs because they are easy to apply for. Create profiles on different networking sites such as LinkedIn. A LinkedIn profile is a fantastic way to attract recruiters and potential head hunters. You can also use networking sites to find job vacancies, network with hiring managers and meet other job seekers who are in the same shoes as you.

Remain Positive and Focused:

Job seeking is not easy and can often take a long period of time. Rather than sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring, utilise this time to learn a new skill. (Have you ever wanted to learn a new language?) Perform community service or even just try to improve your health. The more you focus on the negative the more depressed and stressed you will become. Set out a certain amount of time every day to job search and spend the other time in the day doing something else.

Having a common sense approach to your job searching will make it easier in finding suitable employment.

Adopting a flexible approach, a willingness for work and a good attitude will give you more leverage and help in your quest of finding the ideal job.

 

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.redstarresume.com

Stand Out From The Crowd With A Brand New Professional Resume, Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile From RedStarResume:

Specializing In Over 35 Industries! – Turn your resume into an achievement based marketing documents in just 48-72 hours

Did you know?

The RedStarResume resume layout and design presentation has been highly praised by recruiters, hiring managers and career experts from across globe!