Monday, April 20, 2020

Writing a Professional Profile For a Resume

Writing a Professional Profile For a ResumeWriting a professional profile for a resume is very important. As a person who wants to get a job in a particular field, one needs to put their best foot forward in the process. This is why it is important to know what to write in the profile that you put forward.There are several tips you can follow to ensure that you have created a unique and personal statement of yourself. All you need to do is read the guidelines on the reference section of the resume, which goes hand in hand with the resume. You should use all these guidelines in writing your profile as well. Also, your personal statement of course should match with the job that you are applying for.The first thing that you need to do in writing a professional profile for a resume is to ensure that you include all the relevant information about yourself. In this section, you will put down all the details about your interests, educational and work experience, education and skills, and th e like. For instance, if you are an avid reader, then it would be helpful if you state that fact. This will make your resume more professional and helps a lot when you go through the reference section of the resume. After you have done so, you can also list down all the other interesting points that you would like to mention.The next thing that you should do is to create a document of yourself, which is very much in line with the role that you are seeking. The reason for this is that if you put down some factual information about yourself, the reference section of the resume would contain the same. It would help you if you used the resume templates that are available online. These are helpful in creating professional looking resumes and provide you with an opportunity to avoid some of the mistakes that people make while writing.The next step to take when writing a resume is to get into the details about the job that you are seeking. The information about the job is very important an d the reference section will need this information as well. However, you need to be careful with the information that you include. If you forget to mention the specific job, then it might not be listed correctly in the reference section. That is why it is important to make sure that you include all the information in the profile that you create.Besides the information about yourself, you can also write a detailed description of the position that you are seeking. In this section, you should put down all the things that you have been doing in the past and the projects that you have undertaken. You can also add in the contact information for those in the company who would be responsible for the promotion of your resume. In doing so, you will ensure that you have put down all the pertinent information that a prospective employer will need in making his decision.Writing a professional profile for a resume is something that should be done very carefully. It is important to know how to cre ate a profile in a way that makes it unique and matches the job that you are seeking. For this, you can use resume templates that are available online. These will help you in creating an attractive profile that is the best that you can have.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

5 Email Mistakes That Are Totally Avoidable

5 Email Mistakes That Are Totally Avoidable Email has been with us for well over 40 years, and in common professional use for more than 20 â€" but you’d never know it, if you went by how often most of us screw up while using it. Part of the problem is email’s ubiquity. If you work in an office, you probably have access to email most of your waking hours. Depending on the corporate culture of your employer, there might even be an expectation that you’ll keep checking email long after work is over for the day. The more we use a technology, the more comfortable we get with it … and the easier it is to make mistakes while our attention is elsewhere. The good news is that you don’t have to keep making the same email mistakes over and over again. For example, here’s how to stop making these: The Reply-All Apocalypse Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. There are really two kinds of Reply-All Apocalypse. The first happens when you send out an email to your team and every single person replies to the list. You can lose your whole day this way, and never make any progress. To lessen the chances of this happening, specify that you’d like everyone to reply to you separately, so that you can coordinate responses. Will everyone comply? Absolutely not. Will some people read it and think, “Oh, that’s right: these threads get annoying very quickly, and I should refrain from contributing to the problem”? Most likely, yes, and then you’ll get back some of your time. The second kind of Reply-All Apocalypse is potentially more deadly to your career, but even easier to avoid, because it’s entirely within your control. This is the one that arises because you replied-all when you meant to respond to only one person, typically the sender. The way you prevent this problem is by opening another email, and replying separately. Sure, you might cost the sender a few seconds in sorting time … but you’ll avoid saying something you shouldn’t. It’s also important to note that it’s a mistake to ever send anything via email that you wouldn’t print on a t-shirt and wear to the company picnic. If you’re embarrassed to have someone see what you want to write, rethink it. The Flowery Missive Emails occupy a strange space in professional communications. They’re not letters, but they’re not quick-hit messages, like you’d find on Slack or text. It’s no wonder that people sometimes get confused about what emails should look like. Keep in mind that the goal is to communicate quickly. You should be civil, sure, but you should also get to the point as soon as possible, and keep the message brief. The recipient will thank you. Skip: long blocks of text, unrelated thoughts, and redundancies. Include and place right up front: the question you need answered, the point of your email, or what you need from the recipient. Read More: Could ‘The Red Sneakers Effect’ Boost Your Career? It Depends. See Attachment (There’s No Attachment) Most email programs will warn you if you use a word like “attached” and there’s no attachment, but if you’re in a hurry, even that won’t stop your flying fingers from clicking “send” and moving on. To keep this from happening, add the attachment to your email before you write the body of the message. You’ll also probably be less likely to attach the wrong document. Read More: 5 Jobs for Night Owls Allow Me to Answer Your Question With a Passive-Aggressive cc: It’s important to keep your manager and teammates in the loop, but there’s a difference between including someone in the conversation, and throwing your colleague under the bus. If you don’t have an answer to a question, say so. Do not use a productivity tool to slow down productivity. You’ll lose your coworkers’ esteem and you won’t get anything done. Read More: Gen Z Will Hit the Workforce Sooner Than You Think The Email-Alert-as-Electronic-Leash If you’re still checking your email every time an alert goes off â€" or every few minutes â€" it’s time to rethink your approach. Most productivity experts advise checking email only a few times a day. Do so more often, and you run the risk of allowing other people to dictate your schedule and priorities, instead of considering many messages at once and determining which are most important for your goals. Of course, to pull this off, you’ll need your boss’s buy-in, but if she understands that your goal is to get more done â€" and if you provide another means of getting in touch â€" she’ll most likely be on board.

Friday, April 10, 2020

The Benefits of a Video Resume - Your Career Intel

The Benefits of a Video Resume - Your Career Intel While the video resume has not (as of now) overtaken its traditional, printed counterpart, it certainly is a great addition to one. Consider creating a resume video so that employers and/or recruiters can see your face and personality shine through as you speak to the camera and give this brief introduction to who you are and why you’re a good fit for the position at hand. It should not, however, feature you reading your resume. The biggest challenge with video resumes is that a lot of people are camera-shy. But look at it this wayâ€"even if you are afraid to be on camera, this is not live television! You can practice and redo it over and over again until you’re happy with your resume video. I encourage those having a hard time getting an interview to add a video component as a bonus. In addition to the video, you should have an expert or hiring authority review your resume. I helped a gentleman that was unemployed for a year due to a lay-off. He told me that he didn’t receive one response. Within a week after making changes to his resume, he started receiving calls and interview requests. A video resume may shed some light on who you are. The goal is for the hiring authority to see and listen to how you communicate. Here are a few tips to get your started creating video resumes: 1. Where should your video resume live? Consider a video platform, such as Vimeo, where you can apply some privacy setting so that only those you give the link to can view your video resume. Include a link to your video on your traditional resume. As with all online content, make sure the video is something you wouldnt mind sharing with other, though. You never know whose eyes will see it.  2. How long should it be? Important: Your resume video should not be more than 1 minute. In fact, it might be better off being closer to 30 seconds. Hey, just think of all those TV commercials out there that deliver their message that quickly. Its possible. A too-long video can lose a busy recruiters interest. 3. How many video resumes should I create? I suggest you create a different video for either every job you are apply for (to really target your messaging) or at least make it relevant to the target industry and job category. You wouldn’t want it so broad that the same message is created for both a marketing career in the healthcare industry and a marketing career in the beauty industry, for example.  4. What should I wear? This will depend somewhat on the career you are going forâ€"concert producer and advertising executive require different attire. However, always look clean and neat, and err on the professional side of things. When in doubt, dress up, not down. 5. What should my background be? Unless you are an artist and want to showcase your work in the background, for example, keep your video resume background as neutral as possible. Record it in a quiet place without any background noise that can distract from you, the main character!  6. What should I say? Don’t just describe your jobs. This is actually your time to bragâ€"humbly and confidently, not arrogantlyâ€"about your accomplishments. Focus on an elevator pitch that tells why someone should hire you by providing past results. For example, if you were in sales, you may include I’ve had a consistent 12% increase year after year; if you are a manager, you might say, I’ve saved the company XX dollars over the course of my term by doing X, Y and Z. Have a question about video resumes? We’d love to hear from you! Feel free to post a comment and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.