Protect Yourself From Job Scams
You have completed your resume and you are proud of your accomplishment, but just before you start applying for the job that you desire, we would like to point out a few landmines that you should be aware of to protect yourself.
The biggest landmine to be aware of is scam jobs.
A word of caution there has been an influx of scam jobs and fraudulent jobs that try to con, swindle and take advantage of job seekers. Do your best to ensure that you do not send your cover letter and resume to fraudsters.
Here is a video with information on combating online job scams Making the Job Search Easier: How to Recognize and Avoid Job Scams This webinar/video from LinkUp discusses what a job scam is, who the targets are of job scams, what kinds of scams exist, what the signs of scams are, and how to protect yourself from being scammed.
Additional resources on how to protect yourself from job scams:
Example Of An Ats Skills Report
Depending on the program, the ATS scan also gives weight to your core skills. Based on the words you use and the frequency of each, the computer will parse your resume and generates a report that briefly explains to the employer how skilled you are. The screenshot below was pulled from our in-house ATS softwareâthe same tech big companies use to parse your resume.
Youâll see our ATS pulled information about computer systems , foreign language proficiency, and problem solving skills in addition to the industry and the core skill .
This information was generated from a resume submission, as opposed to a ZipJob professionally written resume, so other IT-related computer programs, degrees, and so on were not optimized for the ATS. Weâll talk about how to optimize your resume for ATS scans next.
Curious about what your resume says to an ATS? Try ourfree review.
How To Make Your Skills Jump Out In The Ats Scan
âYour skills section should be front and center, easy for both the hiring manager and the ATS program to scan quickly,â says Jennifer.
To find the exact words theyâre looking for, refer to the job description. The better the skills in your resume match the keywords, the better your chances are to pass the ATS scan and reach the hiring managerâs hands.
Read Also: Sending Resume Via Email Sample
Your Professional Accomplishments Portfolio
As you progress in your career, you will achieve both failures and successes.
Reflect on failures and learn from them as much as you can and at the same time take stock of your successes and things that you are proud of having achieved.
A good investment is to keep an inventory of your professional accomplishments, it could either be an electronic or hardcopy file or folder where you record and document positive recommendations that you have achieved, awards, honors, recognition, articles you have written, your publications, your biography, and copies of congratulatory emails.
Other records could include copies of speeches that you have given, important PowerPoint Presentations, catalogues, writing samples, performance evaluations, testimonials, reports, research papers, old copies of resumes and cover letters, prototypes, inventions etc.
Your professional accomplishments portfolio will be a constant reminder to yourself of the value that you offer and at the same time help you in developing concrete examples for achievements to include on your resume.
Your accomplishments are the evidence of your great skills and abilities.
Your accomplishments are the deposits that you have in your achievements bank account and you can withdraw from this account to add value to any new job, career, employer or business.
What Are Technical Or Hard Skills On Your Resume
When listing hard skills on your resume, include specific proficiencies and certifications. Front-end web developers, for instance, would report their level of expertise in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and other technologies the company lists in its job posting. A financial controller, meanwhile, might claim a strong foundation in GAAP or SEC reporting, and an administrative professionals resume skills could advertise a CAP or MOS certification.
Here are some hard resume skills for 15 in-demand fields:
Don’t Miss: Is It Bad To Have A Two Page Resume
Top Resume Skills By Job
Our team parsed over 8 million recent job descriptions to find the most commonly requested skills for each job type listed below. To find out more about this projectand which skills to include on your resumecheck out our skills reports.
Below youll find the most commonly required skills for:
Three Exceptions For Hobbies And Interests:
1. Your hobbies section is too short
If you have a couple of relevant interests or hobbies, you might want to add some less-relevant information. âListingâ one or two hobbies tends to look visually unbalanced, so add in your zest for cooking or passion for pottery. Continue to shy away from dangerous or controversial pastimes.
2. Your interests align with the company youâre applying to
If the company is affiliated with anything religious or political, showing your similar affiliations might be a good idea. Tread with caution here, though.
3. Your hobbies prove your work culture fit
Some companies value cultural fit very highly. If you find out that this company has an Ultimate Frisbee team and youâre the captain of your hometownâs recreational team, go ahead and list it!
Itâs okay to list out a few interests outside of your work life as it shows some personality and adds a human touch. Remember to make an effort and lead with something thatâs relevant.
Don’t Miss: How To Mention Typing Skill In Resume
Format Your Resume Properly And Write A Cover Letter
Here are some other essential items to consider when writing a resume:
- Section Headingsfor each of these resume sections, use distinct formatting on the section heading to separate it from the rest of the text. Make it 24pts larger and bold.
- Resume Templatesa professional resume shouldnt look as if it was styled in the 1980s. Choose a modern and professional resume template to be taken seriously for a present-day job.
- Resume Formatreverse-chronological, functional, combination, or technical? Formatting a resume right ensures that the most relevant and important information is just where it needs to be for the hiring manager to find it.
- Resume Fontsthe legibility of your resume is crucial if you want the HR manager to read it and the ATS to be able to scan it. Read the full guide about resume layout for more on this topic.
- Cover Letterhalf of all employers wont accept a resume without a cover letter. And that other half? Most of them still prefer it. So dont forget to include a resume cover letter.
- Resume Emailyouve learned how to write a great resume, but sending it correctly makes sure it gets delivered, opened, and read.
- Portfolioif you have projects, photography, or other work to show requiring a separate entity, by all means, include it! All you have to do is add a link in your contact info for personal projects.
Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.
How Do You Choose The Skills To List On A Resume
Heres the deal.
You know what youre good at. You know the things you grew up doing as a kid, or the things you learned in school , or the activities you did after school .
So you should already have a list of things that you would consider yourself proficient in.
This is a good place to start.
Here are the steps for choosing the right skills:
Read Also: Does Word Have A Resume Template
Top Soft Skills For Your Resume
There are tons of soft skills that you can include in your resume, but how do you know which ones to include? Here is a quick list of soft skills examples you should list on your resume.
Problem Solving Skills
No matter what the job is, eventually something will go wrong and employers want to know that youre capable of coming up with a quick and effective solution. In fact, there are jobs that are essentially nothing but solving problems for the company, the clients, or both.
Critical Thinking Skills
Being able to think rationally and thoughtfully is the basis of critical thinking. Employers want workers who can think through a problem or a project and determine the best steps needed. Critical thinkers come up with new and better ways to work, making it an invaluable skill to put on a resume.
Flexibility
Many organizations and industries covet employees who are dynamic and adaptable to every situation, or who have a natural ability to use a variety of methods and approaches in different circumstances to get the best end result.
Communication Skills
Whether its written or verbal, being able to communicate with your boss, coworkers, and clients/customers in all situations is very valuable. The better you are at it, the better results you will generate.
Teamwork
Most jobs will sometimes require you to work with other people at some point, and employers want to know that you can succeed in a team environment. Some jobs will prize this skill more than others.
Keep Your Resume Short And Direct
The No. 1 rule of writing a resume is to keep it short and to the point. The general rule is no more than one page unless you have a very good reason for it to be longer, like an extensive career or many highly applicable work experiences.
Your resume should target the specific job you are applying for. Sending the same resume off to every job you apply for will be a detriment.
“Don’t write a generic resume that could work for any job,” said Wes Lybrand, teacher and former assistant director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Career and Professional Development Services. Be sure to prioritize your skills and qualifications for each job you try to land. Your resume “should be focused, clear and concise.”
An easy way to keep your resume trim is to only include recent, relevant experience. While that yearlong first or second job might have taught you a lot about the field, it’s not always necessary to include every detail from your entire career history.
“If an experience noted on your resume is from prior to 2000, consider striking it,” said Jane Trnka, executive director of the Career Development Center at Rollins College’s Crummer Graduate School of Business. “The skills listed are probably not the most relevant to the work you are currently doing or plan to do in the future.”
Read Also: Add Gpa To Resume
Craft A Career Snapshot
More recently, career experts have urged job seekers to do away with the old “objective” statement and instead consider including a brief summary, called a “career snapshot,” at the top of their resumes.
“With the career snapshot, you present a branding statement that briefly explains your unique value as well as your skills and qualifications,” said Tomer Sade, founder and CEO of FACTORE. “This would then be followed by a few bullet points that highlight your experience and your accomplishments. Whatever you list here should be relevant to the position you’re applying to.”
“The top third of your resume is prime resume real estate,” added Lisa Rangel, an executive resume writer and official LinkedIn moderator at Chameleon Resumes. “Create a robust summary to capture the hiring manager’s eye.”
Think of your career snapshot as an answer to the question “how would you describe your work experience in one sentence?” The summary is an opportunity to sum up your most relevant and important skills, experience, or assets right off the bat.
Not Sure What Your Resume Skills Are Try This
Whether youve been doing the same job for a while or have no experience and are looking for your first opportunity, it can sometimes be challenging to articulate the specific skills you possess. One of the easiest ways to figure out your top skills is to create a brainstorm list to break down the skills you use to complete your most common tasks.
Start by listing the tasks you complete daily, weekly, or monthly. Then walk through your process for each task and make a list of the skills involved to complete each one. For example, for the task of, say, writing an article, the skills required might look like:
- Researching
- Collaboration with Team Members
- Punctuality
Once you create your brainstorm list for each task, you can identify the most valuable skills. This is a good place to start when selecting your top resume skills. From here, you can add or remove the skills from your resume based on the specific job you are applying for.
Also Check: Applying To Two Different Jobs At The Same Company
Turn Up The Volume With A Video Resume
One bold way of cutting through the job competition is by complementing your traditional resume with a video resume.
You can let your oral communication skills shine through as you talk on a video. You also get a chance to show your unique personality.
In addition, you can showcase examples of projects that you have worked on in the past or perhaps even show some real examples of your skills in action. It is best to keep the video presentation short no more than two minutes.
A word of caution however, videos can be very subjective. Moreover if your video quality and sound is not good it could work against you.
A good professional video could be expensive to produce. On the flipside, the cons of a video should not discourage you. Look for a friend who is good at shooting videos and find a room with good lighting.
You can get good video editing at freelancing websites at an affordable price. If you can afford professional video production then go for it.
Thoroughly read and understand the job posting and ensure that you are addressing on your video what the job requirements are asking for.
Once your video is ready you can include a private link to your video on your resume or cover letter with a brief explanation of what the video is about.
Recruiters will be likely to click to your video even if it is just out of curiosity. This will give you an opportunity to stand out from the competition, and perhaps even initiate a personal connection with the recruiter.
Personal Project Relevant To A Job:
For example, lets say you hosted a bake sale in your neighborhood and are now applying for a job as a cashier at a grocery store. You could explain that while selling your baked goodies, you practiced your customer service, money handling, and food service safety skills.
Example of how to list a personal project in a resume:Summer Bake Sale Hosted a summer bake sale in my neighborhood every weekend from April to August 2018. Created and handed out flyers, took and fulfilled customer orders, handled cash payments, and home baked all products. Skills learned include customer service, money handling, and food service safety.
Don’t Miss: How To List Relevant Coursework On A Resume
Name And Contact Information
At a minimum, your contact information section should include your name, phone number and email address. Depending on the type of job youre applying for, you might also include a link to an online portfolio or professional website.
An example contact information section might look like this:
A common practice is to use your name as the title of the page, formatted so that employers can easily identify your name and contact information first.
Related:
Writing Resume Job Descriptions
For each company you have worked for, you will want to provide your title, the company’s name and location, the years you were employed, and a short summary of your responsibilities and accomplishments.
Avoid making the mistake of simply listing tasks. You want to use this section to highlight your abilities and accomplishments. Use resume action words and focus on demonstrating that you helped the company solve its problems and achieve its goals bonus points if you can do so with a dollar sign attached. These highlighted achievements will pop on the page if you separate them, using bullets, from the descriptions of your work responsibilities. Its also a smart strategy to boldface dollar figures, growth percentages, or other key accomplishments.
You May Like: How To List Own Business On Resume Sample
Knowledge Of Specific Computer Applications
Hard skills include technical skills such as computer applications, software, and overall digital literacy. Even if youâre not applying for a job in IT, you should include the computer programs youâre familiar with in your resume skills section if they are relevant to the position.
Listing your exposure to virtual tools like Slack, Hootsuite, or Asana shows that youâre tech-savvy.
Being tech-savvy has all kinds of good connotations like being smart, adaptable, and up to date. Plus, if the company uses any of these tools, it wonât have to spend as much time training you and that means it has saved money.
Choose your computer-related strengths and place them in a resume skills section. If youâre short on program and software knowledge, consider adding other computer skills like your words per minute rate.
In general, you shouldnât include Microsoft Office on a resume. At this point, itâs expected that office workers know how to use word processors. However, if youâre heavily experienced in Microsoft Excel, you can mention your skills in the relevant experience section by explaining how you used it. Better yet, include some numbers to illustrate your point.
Example of using numbers to showcase skills in your experience section:
-
Implemented inventory management system using Microsoft Excel to track shipments and deliveries, saving an estimated 3 hours and $250 per week previously spent on redundant orders.