Tag Archives: Job Opportunity

By Gavin Redelman

Resume Writing Tips to succeed in a tight job market

It’s an undisputed fact – today’s job market is tighter than ever before. During this period of economic strife and instability, competition for the best jobs is extremely stiff. Job stability seems practically non-existent. Turnover rates are at an all-time high, given the number of layoffs and agency closings. Millions of individuals are unemployed and clamoring for employment regardless of skill level. Whether you are a doctor, a chef, an engineer, a secretary, housekeeper or even a resume writer, individuals from all walks of life struggle to retain their current positions since the economic future is not promised.

But what route should you take if you yearn for a better opportunity or are even without a job right now? How can you ensure that your name is at least known to companies looking to fill positions? One way is to hire a resume writing expert to help ensure that your resume / CV goes to the top of the pile.

Let’s look at it in a simple way. If you want to build a new house, you can go online, research how to build a new house and go out and buy the materials to begin building your dream house. However, as building anything is probably not your expertise and you want the house built properly the first time, it makes sense to call in a professional builder who has all the expertise and experience in building homes. The same is true of the resume writer. You can easily pick up a pen and paper and write a resume, however a resume writer can do it a lot more effectively and professionally because they have the experience, knowledge and skills in the art of resume writing.

The first stage of building your professional resume includes starting off with supplying the information that you wish to have printed on your document. This includes the obvious, such as your basic information (name, address, phone number, city, state and zip code). You should also be prepared to have a chronological listing of your past and current employment (if applicable).

It is important to have an idea beforehand of how you’d like to word your list so that your job duties don’t sound mundane or discredit your actual tasks. Never simply state that you were just a “cook” if in reality, you were a culinary arts service person!

Make sure your resume includes targeted keywords that leave no doubt that your past employment was productive. Stay clear of the ordinary, eliminating redundant phrases such as “typed letters”, “filed documents” or “bussed tables”. Yawn!

Most importantly, you need to use achievements throughout your resume to highlight your skills. You need to turn your basic duties into “accomplishment statements” and, if possible, use quantifiable results to the duties you have performed. A successful resume will highlight achievements rather than focus on responsibilities.

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!

During the last decade, RedStarResume has successfully written hundreds of professional resumes for candidates across the globe. From the student or entry level position to the CEO, our unique, custom-made resumes are written specifically to match the goals and desires of our clients and to help them land jobs.   Expert Resume Writers #1 for resume writing and Cover Letter Services

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

By Debra Wheatman

There are many reasons why people choose to relocate. You may want to be closer to family and friends. Possibly you have dreamed of a warmer climate or a place where you can go skiing every weekend.  Regardless of what your reasons are, finding a job in a new city has its own share of challenges.

The first thing you should do is research. Relocating can be challenging. Different locations have their own unique culture. You want to ensure that you will be happy in your new ‘home.’ Visit the location – and do this more than once. Get a feel for the climate, people, and overall setting. Visiting the local Chamber of Commerce will likely yield some interesting findings. If you know people who live in the area or have previously resided there, conduct your own set of interviews. The information you learn will enable you to make a well-informed decision. Of course this is assuming that you are relocating for your own reasons. If your employer is asking you to relocate, research is still an important part of the equation, as you have a decision to make: do you or do you not want to go?

Create a solid list of potential targets that would be a good fit for your expertise.  While you are at it, make a separate list of area and national recruiters who may be of help.  Before contacting potential employers in the area, be sure to polish up your résumé and create a compelling cover letter that briefly explains your reason for making a move.

If you are in a high demand profession and your skills are hard to come by in the region, larger firms may pay your airfare to the interview and provide you with a relocation package. It is certainly a negotiation point during the interview process. That said, if you are set on relocating, relocation assistance is obviously not a ‘must have.’

Here are some additional tips to help you with your move:

1. Read local business journals and review industry associations to determine opportunities and / or possible avenues to facilitate your networking efforts. I recommend checking out the local newspaper to learn about local happenings and things taking place in the community.
2. Go to LinkedIn groups. Run a search to see if there is a local group in the city you seek. Send a request to the group leader to see if he/she will allow you to join. You can then ask questions and engage people to advance your search and research efforts.
3. Identify local chapters of professional organizations and contact the area president, vice president, treasurer, etc. They can provide you with a different perspective and further enhance your understanding of things going on in the area, in addition to companies that might be hiring.
4. Using the list you made, identify C-level hiring managers from both national and local area companies; reach out the them to let them know you are in the market. You might be able to set up some informational interviews.
5. Be prepared to go back and forth several times to coordinate everything and find a place to live. If you are set on your new location you might need to relocate first and then identify a position that meets your needs.

Don’t risk resigning, especially if you have key responsibilities that necessitate your sustaining your current salary. You might want to continue to develop some relationships in the new location and make several interviewing trips to enable you to identify and ultimately accept a new role that meets with your personal and professional goals.

While relocating can be a challenge, if it is something you really want, you will ultimately find your way. With due diligence and some extra leg work, it may be just the thing you need to do to take your career to the next level.

Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community offering a free inside look at jobs and companies with access to millions of job listings. Glassdoor enables employees, job seekers, employers and recruiters to simultaneously see – for the first time – unedited opinions about a company’s work environment along with details on salaries, company reviews, CEO approval ratings, job interview questions and reviews, and office photos as well as career advice.

By John Sumser

Things have really changed. Knowing exactly what you want is more important than ever. In the last generation, you could “parachute” into your new job . Today, it’s a guerilla war… clear, focused, targeted and opportunistic.

While you weren’t looking, job hunting became a direct marketing exercise.

“Who you know” matters less than “who knows you.”  The transition between one job and the next is a matter of how quickly you can acquire and harness attention. You are now required to know what you want and where to get it. You are in charge of manufacturing your own luck.

Huge volumes of unwanted and indistinct resumes mean that you have to simultaneously stand out and look like you’re not trying to be seen. That is the essence of a guerilla job hunting campaign.

Have you noticed that it gets harder to make sense out of the world every day? The Internet created explosive growth in information sources. Each offers an opinion screaming for your attention. Survival depends on choosing among the sources.

Information overload affects everyone. Our organizations know more and more about themselves. They are less and less able to utilize that knowledge.

The workplace contains members of four generations. Differing preferences for differing communications technologies drive the vast gulf between them. Collaboration and file sharing, the favorite tools of the young, look like cheating and stealing to their elders. The ever present texting and social networking seem rude and unproductive to the technologically illiterate.

Several things make the workforce older with each passing day. The United States (and the entire industrialized world) produces fewer offspring than it takes to keep population constant. As a result, the average age of workers in the economy rises continuously. More elders stay at work. Changes in finance, housing and pensions raise the real retirement age. The differing generational perspectives cloud the certainty needed to make productive decisions.

New technology flows relentlessly into our lives. Cell phones became ubiquitous in under a decade. Universal Wi-Fi dominates public spaces including your car. Computers merge with phones to create an omnipresent connectedness. Old media dies. New media replaces it. Disruption and change define the era.

Amid all of this, we find our work.
The orderly processes of the last generation are evaporating as quickly as newspapers. Old industries disappear while new ones explode on the scene. Looking for work means finding people we want to work with. It means helping them find us.

Guerilla job hunters stand out from the crowd with purpose. The goal is disarmingly simple. Identify and build relationships with the kind of people who either do what you want to do or want you to do it. Let them know you are available, better than competent, creative and persistent. Demonstrate your value. Demonstrate it again.

The problem is always the opportunity.
Today, so much has changed, from demographics to technology, that getting simple things done can be confusing. An environment like that rewards people who are clear about what they want. It pays big benefits to people who persist. Environments with great potential are confused and noisy. You are on your own. Exhilaration, autonomy and self direction are now the necessities, not the consequences.

You find your next engagement by being distinct from the noise.