Sunday, March 15, 2020

Is Your Body Language Keeping You From Getting the Job

Is Yur Body Language Keeping You From Getting the JobWe say a lot with ur bodies. When your spouse gets home from work, you can tell before they say a word how theyre feeling and whether or not they had a good day. If theyre feeling defeated and dejected, theyll walk with their shoulders slumped and head down. If theyre feeling confident and energetic, theyll have their head up and an easy smile on their face.It doesnt take the bonds of marriage or family to tell what most people are feeling at any particular time. Thats why body language is so important to job seekers. If you look nervous, uncertain, and/or lacking confidence, your interviewers are going to see it and will likely move on to the next candidate. Here are a few tips for maintaining good body language that projects confidence.Keep Your Posture OpenA lot of us cross our arms over our chests when we feel like we have nothing else to do with our hands. This closes you off from the person youre talking to dont do it. Practi ce standing with your arms relaxed by your sides. You dont need to do anything else with your hands. Just stand up straight and keep an open posture. The more you practice this, the more comfortable it will feel.Smile and Maintain Eye ContactWhen you meet your interviewer(s), dont forget to smile. Not only does this have a welcoming effect that shows youre friendly and approachable, but it also helps you feel relaxed. Studies have shown that our facial expressions affect our moods almost as much as our moods affect our facial expressions. In other words, the more you smile, the happier and more relaxed youll feel. This will help quell any nervousness you have during your interview.Finally, maintain eye contact. Practice this with friends, family, the cashier at the grocery store, and anyone you speak with on a daily basis. Eye contact shows trustworthiness and openness, but it can be difficult for some people. If you feel exposed or nervous when you lock eyes with someone in a posit ion of authority, practice making eye contact with other people wherever you go. Again, the more you do it, the more natural it will feel.The combination of an open posture, a smile, and good eye contact will set you unbekannt as someone whos confident, eager, and honest. Practice these as much as possible, and dont let your body language get in the way of your job search.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Wordsmithing Your Resume Tenses, Plurals, and Optimized Keywords

Wordsmithing Your Resume Tenses, Plurals, and Optimized KeyabsolutsPosted on October 11, 2017July 1, 2019 by Jon Shields If youre unsure whether to write your resume in past tense or present tense, traditional advice sides with common sense. If youre describing something in your past, use past tense.Managed, coded, designed, marketed.If youre describing something youre still doing in your current job, use present tense.Manage, code, design, market.Simple enough, right? Not so fast.If someone is actually reading your resume top to bottom, that advice is sufficient. But most large companies use software that adds a layer of complexity to your word choices that extends beyond past and present tenses. Every resume keyword must be carefully considered.Blame it on Applicant Tracking SystemsWhen you click submit on an online job application, your resume isnt usually zapped directly to a hiring managers inbox for review.Most large companies use an applicant tracking system (ATS) as an interm ediary. These systems can automatically rate applicants or allow the hiring manager to search for specific terms. The problem with that? The matching and search capabilities of most ATS stink.Many ATS bill themselves as an all-in-one human resources tool. Many can post job listings, schedule interviews, and onboard new employees alongside their core applicant tracking functions. When ATS companies try to do too much, applicants chose through the cracks.ATS companies dont focus a lot of effort into making search better because they sell the comprehensive solution, Jobscan CEO James Hu recently said on the CareerCloud Radio podcast. That becomes a problem for job seekers because search is leid great. Theyre often lost during that process.If a hiring manager searches their ATS for the noun analyst but you only have the verb analyze on your resume, they probably wont find you. Even worse, the same problem can arise if they search for the present tense manage but you only have the past t ense managed.Resume Keyword OptimizationJob seekers have to work around this. A major part of optimizing yourATS resume is figuring out exactly which search terms andkeywords a hiring manager is likely to use, right down to the tense or conjugation.The most direct way to do that is to look at the job description. By reviewing what a hiring manager asked for and how they asked for it, you can get an idea of which words theyll plug into the ATS after applications have been collected.Carefully read through the job description or use Jobscan to determine which keywords (in whatever tense or style) are used the most. Work them into your resume exactly as they appear.When Optimization and Traditional Advice ClashWhat are you supposed to do when using the optimized form of a keyword throws a wrench into the style or tense of the rest of your resume? This is a major frustration in the fight against ATS, as stated by several Jobscan users in a recent survey.Changing the tense of a verb just to satisfy an ATS often creates a resume that appears sloppy to a human reader because adjacent bullet points are in different word tenses, Darren W. told Jobscan. I need to make the change to get past the ATS, but end up with a poor resume when presented to a reader.It would be great if the system were more intuitive to understand plural use or, even better, different tenses in order to get an accurate read, said trb S. I often find myself creating awkwardly phrased sentences in order to satisfy the system.It is beyond frustrating that the ATS do not recognize various differences in verb tense and singular-plural variants, said Scott H. It forces the applicant to wordsmith and re-write sentences or entire sections to be counted as a match.Some users, like Joy S., are at a loss How on earth do you get your past tense resume to match present tense job descriptions?Wordsmithing Your ResumePresent tense keywords in past experienceIt might not come naturally to convert a past tense acti on verb like managed to manage or managing, but its possible without abandoning traditional advice. Simply move the tense to a different word in the sentence. For exampleCurrent motto (Past tense)Optimized KeywordNew motto (Past Tense)Managed team of 15 engineersManageBrought in to manage team of 15 engineersManagerServed as manager for team of 15 engineersManagingTasked with managing team of 15 engineersManagementExcelled in management role over team of 15 engineersUse the same thought process when converting between singulars and plurals or nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Dont just plug your optimized keyword into your old sentence. Instead, build a new sentence around the optimized keyword.Current Phrase (Past Tense)Optimized KeywordNew Phrase (Past Tense)Researched and implemented marketing strategiesStrategyShaped marketing strategy through research and implementation ofStrategizeRequired me to strategize, research, and implement the marketing planStrategistMarketing strategist t asked with research and implementation ofStrategicResearched and implemented strategic marketing initiativesTweaking job titles is OKIn many cases, hiring managers prefer candidates who have done the job before. With this in mind, the number one resume keyword is always going to be the job title for which youre applying.There are many variations of job titles based on industry, company culture, or experience levels. For example, you might be applying for a job as a front end developer but your most recent experience is as a front end engineer. If the job descriptions are practically the same, its not inappropriate to change the job title on your resume.Ask for helpIf youre struggling to figure out how to insert an optimized keyword into your resume, get feedback from a friend. Writing and wordsmithing might come easier to others than it does to you, and sometimes all it takes is a set of fresh eyes.When in doubt, use common senseAt the end of the day, my best advice is to put yourse lf in the shoes of the recruiter, Hu continued on the podcast. Would you be searching for this keyword? If the answer is yes, then it would make sense to include it in your resume.Facebook Commentswpdevar_comment_1 span,wpdevar_comment_1 iframewidth100% important

Friday, March 6, 2020

The Basic Facts of Best Resume Summary

The Basic Facts of Best Resume Summary The New Fuss About Best Resume Summary Everyone knows that when browsing for work, the very first task you will need to complete for a possible employer is, Send a copy of your resume. You always need to set yourself aside from the remaining part of the applicants as long as its for the proper factors. Employers dont wish to waste time reading lots of meaningless babble. Most employers utilize computer scanners in reviewing resumes so you need to make sure which youre only writing words that are associated with the job. The Number One Question You Must Ask for Best Resume Summary You may want to look at a qualifications summary which we outlined in last weeks postbut if you simply need to have a summaryhere are a number of examples to help you begin. Now imagine if this SAME resume had had a summary statement on top clearly outlining why youre the ideal candidate. If you do decide to move forward with a resume summary statement, be sure t o take care of it as your own private highlight reel. You need to have five objective statements. The major advantage is it helps your resume stand out. After assessing your skills, you will probably have a lengthy list of things you could include. The very first thing that you want to do is go back and examine the job that youre applying for and determine your intended audience. Additionally, look at the subsequent additional blurbs you may want to grow the conclusion of your professional overview to further clarify your intent and value. Our resume builder will provide you with tips and examples about how to compose your resume summary. Normally, you can opt to create References on request. 1 A resume summary is a brief, snappy introduction paragraph that gives you a summary of your very best work. The format of your entry-level college-graduate resume will be dependent on the info youve got to work with. What You Can Do About Best Resume Summary Beginning in the Next 5 Minutes The absolute fruchtwein important consideration to remember when it has to do with a staff accountant resume is that you have to be in a position to accept any accounting task the moment it ought to be carried out. On the flip side, the moment the work applicant has strong experience, there isnt any need to depend on the academic training any longer and it doesnt need to get mentioned. As a student, you may not have much work experience. As soon as you determine the skills you need to concentrate on, do some research and see whether they line up with job requirements listed for the positions youre seeking. Make certain your resume destroys that average with a good format. Based on who you ask and the way youre using it, summary statements can be an entire waste of space or an overall game changer. Some jobs require a certain quantity of travel on a normal basis. You must think about writing a bit more different resume within different jobs, a modern resume template will be quite useful in doing this.