How to Write a Resume for Self-Promotion

Your resume is self-promotion. Whether you are a highly paid executive or an hourly employee, you still have to sell yourself to get a job. If you learn to write a resume correctly, you should be able to get your foot in the door for an interview. Hand them a poorly written resume and you blow your chances for the job of your dreams.

Your resume should include contract information, an objective, employment history, education, and a summary, including any affiliations that will help you with getting the job. Lay it out as neatly as possible. Remember, your resume is a reflection of who you are.
Use good grammar and make sure your spelling is perfect. Have someone check it after you are done writing, for errors. Be sure it is respectfully written and something you would be happy for a prospective employer to read.

A resume is the time to show restraint. In these hard economic times, employers are inundated with many applications for one job opening. They don't want to spend the time or have the inclination to read your life story on a six or seven page resume.

A one page resume works great, however, it is acceptable to have two pages. Any resume longer than two pages will probably get tossed. Remember, an employer's time is valuable. Stick to the facts when you learn how to write a resume, so the perspective employer is not wasting his time. Don't include facts that have nothing to do with the job.

Never lie on your resume! Don't tell them you graduated college, when you did not. Don't say you know how to use a software program you've never seen. Lies always catch up with you sooner or later.

Make sure you customize your resume to fit the job. Each job is different; therefore, you need to tweak your resume to fit it. If you have experience in retail, you obviously push that on your resume for a retail or sales job. If you are applying to be a waiter, you may want to put the focus on something else. Tailor the resume to fit the job you are applying for.

Don't be afraid to push your successes. Make sure you tell about your past and current accomplishments. Make sure you have the facts to back up your story. If you increased department sales by 150%, make sure you let your perspective employer know.

Seeking for a job in SG, you can source a list of latest jobs at job bank Singapore.

A recruitment article by Dougles Chan - A recruitment mentor that speciliased in recruitment training and recruitment mentoring in Singapore and globally.

Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for your recruitment training and mentoring needs.

Resume Help - How to Write About Your Skills and Experience

Fact #1: Most resumes are boring. The average resume reads like an outline for a term paper. A,B,C, 1,2,3. BORING.

Fact #2: Most of us are not born writers and writing about ourselves is extremely hard.
So how do you outline all your great skills and assets in an interesting (if not exciting and dynamic) way? In this article we'll give you a resume sample to get you started. Let's begin with the basics and perhaps if you discover the "hidden writer" within you might work up to exciting and dynamic.

Professional Experience
The experience section is where you really get to shine. This is where you break out what you did for your last employer(s) and tell that prospective new employer exactly what an awesome employee you're going to be.

This is also where most people fall really flat. By just outlining job duties in a paragraph (typed letters, managed inventory, made coffee, ran errands, shot myself in the head from boredom . . . ) you are virtually guaranteeing that your resume will be put in the "round file."
Before you begin grab a pen and paper and do some real, deep down, thinking about your last job. Were you given goals to achieve? Did you exceed them? Did you do anything above and beyond? Where and how did you "stand out?" Did your prior job contain elements that the new employer is looking for? For instance, if you did the payroll for your last employer is the new employer looking for someone experienced in payroll?

Resume Sample Of A BAD Experience Section

• General bookkeeper for small construction company.
• Managed day to day activities and schedules.
• Reconciled books and did payroll. Paid quarterly taxes.
• Kept track of inventory and supplies.
• Paid bills.

Why is this bad? Because while you MAY have done all those things, you don't tell the employer how you stood out from the crowd! Lots of people have the skills outlined above. What can you bring to the job that someone else might not?

Resume Sample Of A GOOD Experience Section

• Maintained all accounting and bookkeeping records for multiple construction sites.
• Implemented new cost accounting and inventory control that saved the company $1 million dollars on one single construction site alone.
• Generated payroll for over 100 employees in 5 states.
• Maintained accurate books and paid quarterly taxes - that used to be done by professional CPA firm.
• Created new cost-accounting system that tracked all costs associated with construction site and saved company over $100,000 by eliminating duplicate reimbursements to construction sites.

Use action words and positive phrases. In the sample resume piece above "Saved, Implemented and Created" are a few action words an employer might look twice at.
At this point you're probably saying, "but I didn't do anything special at my job." Well, yes - you did (unless you're a slug, then I highly suggest you start thinking about how you might perform above and beyond at your next position). Most people get "writers block" when it comes to bragging about themselves. Don't be nervous. Take a breath and start thinking.

• Were you hired for one job and before long you were given 10 others too?
  • Why did they give you those extra jobs?
  • Were you were more efficient than your co-workers?
• Did you create a special tracking spreadsheet? Because you were more organized?
• Did you train any other employees? Even just through mentoring?
• Did you reorganize something or streamline it in some way?
  • For instance, A long, long time ago I reorganized an entire filing system and created a color-coded key for it. This saved people a lot of work trying to find the right files. You bet I mentioned that on my resume for future executive assistant positions!

NOBODY just sits like a lump and does only what they are initially hired for. We always take on extra jobs. Problem is that after a while we are so comfortable doing them we forgot that we weren't originally HIRED to do those.

So, think hard about what you started out doing and what was added to your position and think about how you can "brag" about it.

SKILLS
Skills can be broken out in two ways. You can use them to brag about yourself more by stating things you've achieved. For instance:
Successfully managed 15 accounting employees processing over $1 million dollars a day in billing.

Or you can actually list your skills:
o MS Office

o QuickBooks

o Photoshop

o ABC Accounting Program

And then list your certificates:

• HR1 Certificate
• Certified bookkeeper through the ABC College of Accounting

Education should be kept simple:

• If you have a college degree then don't list your high school. That's implied.
• Spell out the name of your college. With the hundreds of colleges out there it's impossible for everyone to know their initials. Plus it just looks more professional.
• DO NOT exaggerate or lie about your education. Most companies hire professional background checking companies and you WILL be found out.
• You do not need to put the year you graduated down (this gives them a hint at your age) but you may have to list it on the background check information if you're hired.
• DO NOT list your GPA - unless you're fresh out of college and the job you're applying for is in the field you studied.
• DO NOT list college clubs or activities unless they apply to the job or show some sort of leadership ability (for instance being on the student government or donating your time to, or founding a charity)
• Be careful to not list any political activities you might have been involved in. You never know the politics of the person you'll be interviewing with so don't give them an opportunity to exclude you before interviewing you.

So that's it in a nutshell! I hope these resume samples have helped. Now sit down with a pad and paper and put your thinking cap on! You know you were a stellar employee, now all you have to do is make your resume show it!

Please keep in mind that these lessons are for the person just entering the job market or in entry-level or lower-level management. If you've been in the workforce for a while and are on the rise in your field then you definitely will want to consider hiring a professional resume writing service. It's well worth the little bit of out of pocket expense to hire a professional resume writing service that will help you customize your resume to stand out from the crowd. Visit our site for some recommended professional resume writers.

Searching for a job in Singapore, you can get a list of latest jobs at jobbank Singapore.

A recruitment article by Dougles Chan - A recruitment mentor that speciliased in recruitment training and recruitment mentoring in Singapore and globally.

Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for your recruitment training and mentoring needs.

Free Resume Form

There are several ways to achieve the look you want in your resume. If you are having trouble putting your words and experiences on paper, then maybe you need the help of a free resume form.

Free resume forms can be found by doing a simple search on the world wide web. By using key words, such as 'free resume', 'resume forms', you will find an abundance of websites and information that will be able to bring everything into perspective for you.

Not only do these websites provide you with informative and useful content, they also have templates and fill in the blanks to make writing your resume much easier.

Some of the forms provided will ask you to tell a little bit about what skills you can bring to the table. List prevalent information such as; your past work history, your current work history, your qualifications, and your general expertise. This is the place to share your best assets with your employer. Remember, this is the first paragraph they will read, make sure that you can 'wow' your future employer with at least some good introductory and writing skills.

A free resume form also will allow you to enter in your exact skills that will send an optimal statement to the employer. For example, if you held a management position at a company where you were in charge of quality assurance. Highlight your on-the-job skills and any training experience you may have received in the past.

If you were in elementary teacher, focus on your skills that you inhibit relating to helping others succeed. Showcase any accomplishments or special awards you achieved during your career. Highlight any programs you created or integrated in your classroom also any developments you may have led to bring better structure to your students.

Another benefit to using a free resume form is you are able to list any objectives such as your past employers, past educational details, and the dates which you were involved. The free resume form will simplify and bullet this information into a concise, chronological order, and organized format.

Making sure you keep your resume free form slang words and words that have no meaning toward your resume need to be avoided.

Be sure your information is accurate and that there are no spelling mistakes, this is a turn off to the employer and you will not get the job.

With free resume forms, you are able to utilize all of the benefits that it has to offer you so you are able to look successful, and achieve the perfect written resume.

Looking for a job in SG, you can get a list of available jobs at jobsbank sg.

An article by Dougles Chan - A recruitment mentor that speciliased in recruitment training and recruitment mentoring in Singapore and globally.

Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for your recruitment training and mentoring needs.

College Grads - How to Size Up Headhunters

Just as in any professional field, the recruitment industry has it's ups and downs. Some recruiters are fantastic at what they do while other, to put it bluntly, are not. Variations in the quality of companies and the people that work for them are standard, regardless of the industry. However, recruiters have the added responsibility of being able to affect someone else's career. Especially when dealing with recent college graduates who are just beginning their professional lives, recruiters have an enormous amount of influence and should tread carefully in the decision making process.

A poor recruiter will pressure a student into taking a job that holds little interest for them, simply for the sake of making a placement and receiving a payment. When this is done, it leaves the students open to job jumping, thereby lowering their value on the open market significantly.

When asked by a new client as to what we look for in a candidate, the first thing I tell them is "someone with employment stability." Regardless of whether a company is going through a recruiter or hiring on their own, nobody wants an employee who has bounced from job to job. This is basic risk management as it takes time and money to properly train an employee. If they leave, you are not left with much. With this being said, here are some reasons as to why recent college graduates should avoid working with recruiters.

1. Unless it is a large retained contract, there is no money in recruiting recent college graduates. Since headhunters get paid on a percentage basis, 25% of $30,000 is not very much. It may sound like a lot, however, with the expenses and time it takes to recruit college graduates, it amounts to almost nothing. As a recruiter, you are going to have to make a lot of quick and dirty placements in order to make any money.

2. Too many firms endorse resume writers, resume exposure and career coaches. This is not needed for recent college graduates as part of what they paid for with their education was career counseling via a career services center.

3. Why can't they find the talent their clients are seeking elsewhere? Do their clients not know that colleges exist? Why doesn't the client just go to the school themselves? Seemingly, most colleges use career posting systems where you can reach out to multiple schools at once.

After all, people don't refer to recruiters as "headhunters" for no reason. As a client, I would be weary of using a recruiter whom I paid $7,500 to just post it on college career sites.

4. Recruiters often lure in college graduates with inflated projections of how much money they can make at commission based jobs. Many companies looking to hire entry level candidates en masse try to get away with not paying a base salary and having their employees work solely of commission. This is robbery, and a waste of a hard earned college education. Do not work with recruiters who are willing to partner with these types of companies.

5. As a recent college grad, you should pay careful attention to the direction you want to go in with your career. You will have plenty of opportunities to make money, so don't get sucked in by the prospect of a few extra thousand dollars a year. It is better to take a temporary position to pay your bills while you intern at a company you truly love and start to work your way up the ladder.

If you are finding for a recruitment consultant Singapore job, you will need to obtain the CEI certification to be qualified to operate as a license recruitment consultant in Singapore.

Get Hired As A Legal Secretary - How To Write A Covering Letter

The truth is that most recruiters are extremely pressed for time and have to scan many covering letters quickly. They will look for key words and assume that candidates making no mention of their specific legal experience are unsuitable. This may be untrue but the resume doesn't get read and candidates fail to make the recruiter's shortlist. This article will explore the best techniques to write a killer covering letter and land a job as a legal secretary.

Why A Professionally Written Covering Letter?
It can be tempting to pay a firm to write a covering letter for you. If you have been firing off lots of resumes and hearing nothing back, there may be an issue with your writing style, layout or content. The cause is hard to determine as recruiters who trash your resume on account of the covering letter will never contact you with reasons; they are up against tight deadlines to get short-lists created. Don't just hire anyone to write your covering letter. It can be a great investment but you should demand to know what experience the writer has. You should inquire whether they have any knowledge or understanding of the legal industry and as for referrals of satisfied customers.

What Do You Want?
Although a professionally written letter can help; does the writer ask you what you want from your career? How will they help you write a covering letter to find the best job for you if they don't know your particular strengths? Do they even ask what sort of environment you want to work in and the area of law you are most interested in? Any writer who fails to ask you this basic information should be given an extremely wide birth; they may be a great writer but their covering letter writing service won't help you land your dream job.

How To Build Your Covering Letter
To improve and update your current covering letter you should begin by working on the opening paragraph as this is all some recruiters ever bother to read. You must skillfully find a way to outline your specific legal experience and make sure that you accentuate your expertise in the exact skills the job is advertising for. Remember, the recruiter has pored over writing the best job advert in order to find the perfect candidate. They expect a potential candidate to match the job description very closely; re-read the advert to get a sense of the key words the recruiter might be scanning for.

How To Get Shortlisted
You should always use keywords that refer to the vacancy you are applying for. Keep this advice in mind when writing your covering email as well. You want to let the recruiter know, as succinctly as possible how your experience and expertise makes you a perfect match for the job. You need to be as brief as possible to catch the recruiter's attention and leave them in no doubt that your resume is one to investigate further. When you send your covering letter to a recruiter, it won't be the only one they read that day, but if you follow these tips it will certainly grab their attention.

If you are seeking for a recruitment consultant Singapore job, you will need to obtain the CEI certification to be qualified to operate as a license recruitment consultant in Singapore.

Use a 30-60-90 Day Business Plan For Job Interview Success

Candidates are always looking for an edge in job interviews, and they try to gain that edge in different ways: crafting a killer resume, dressing for success, practicing interview questions and answers, researching the company, building a brag book, or even practicing positive body language.

However, one thing candidates often overlook, or never even consider, is creating a business plan for interviews. Simply put, this type of plan is a short one-to-three page document that states in as little or as much detail as necessary what a candidate will do in the position that he or she is interviewing for.

To write a personal business plan correctly, you have to take the time to think out the position, your goals, and the company's goals. You have to research the company and your specific desired position in it, analyze what it takes to be successful, and write what is, essentially, a "to-do" list for yourself. This list should take the form of incremental goals, ideally organized into a 30-day plan, a 60-day plan, and a 90-day plan. It is a lot of work to do before you even know if you're hired, but this kind of effort will set you apart from other job seekers and absolutely get a hiring manager's attention. Not only that, but it will increase your chances of success once you do get the job... because you've already mapped out how to be successful.

The 30-day part of the plan is the easiest to put together. In your research of the company and your discussions with the recruiter you are working with, you should discover what the company's training plan looks like-how long it takes and where you receive it. So most of the items in your 30-day plan should be along the lines of attending training, mastering product knowledge, learning specific corporate systems, traveling to learn your territory (if you're in sales), meeting other members of the team, or reviewing accounts.

The 60-day part of the plan usually includes more field time, customer introductions, reviews of customer satisfaction, fine-tuning your work schedule, and getting feedback from your manager.

The 90-day part of the plan is the "getting settled" part of your new job. It should include things that take more initiative on your part: landing your own accounts, scheduling programs, or coming up with new ways to get prospects' attention (again, if you're in sales), as well as continuing to get performance feedback and fine-tuning your schedule.

Keep in mind, these examples are extremely generalized. The more specific you can be in your plan, the better. Research the company and the position, even if you've done the same kind of work for years. Your business plan doesn't have to be long and complicated, but it does have to show that you've done your homework, analyzed this job, and thoughtfully considered how you can best serve this particular company. That's the edge that will get you hired.

If you are finding for a recruitment consultant Singapore job, you will need to obtain the CEI certification to be qualified to operate as a license recruitment consultant in Singapore.

Hunting Recruitment

Headhunting has long been seen as the undercover arm of recruitment. Much of the work is secretive because companies using this technique often don't want to alert their employees, competitors or shareholders to their intentions. Headhunted candidates are handpicked, by a management recruitment consultant so it's a costly and time-consuming business generally reserved for positions paying more than £40k. Traditionally, a proven track-record has been vital and most inquiries have come from personal contact and word-of-mouth recommendation. But online recruitment is blurring the edge between headhunting and conventional recruitment.

The growing number of candidates storing their CVs in online databases means it is now simple for recruiters to brand themselves as head-hunters but do they actually deliver this service? True Head-hunters operate by target lists, name gather routines, research & networking to unearth the very best often from the competition!

If you want to improve your chances of being one of the chosen few, there are plenty of things you can do to raise your profile:
• Consider contacting a headhunting consultancy or management recruitment business to see if they have any relevant executive search jobs/roles waiting to be filled.

• Drop hints to friends, contacts or even suppliers that you could be persuaded to change jobs.

• Get your name on any PR being conducted by your company. Potential employers could pick up on it.

• Start networking and increase your profile at industry events and conferences. Self-promotion is a vital skill.

• When asked who you know for a job, have a serious think as this favour may come round to help you.

Head-hunters or Management recruitment consultants are usually pretty forthright when they contact you, immediately outlining the opportunity. Ask them to call back at a more convenient time if you're at work, as a conversation of this nature would be quite hard to keep discreet. It's a good idea to have a face-to-face meeting with the head-hunter before any interview with the company so that you can get a full job description and receive answers to any other questions you have.

Being headhunted can bring more money, benefits and promotion prospects, so if you are approached, make sure you get the best deal:

• Let the head-hunter make the first move; you may underestimate your worth.

• Look carefully at the total package.

A higher basic salary is attractive but make sure you do not lose some of the benefits you're currently enjoying. Once you have received an offer you're happy with, you may decide to use it as a bargaining tool with your current employer. Tread very carefully; you do not want to antagonize both your current and prospective employers. Once your current employer knows you want to leave they will never forget, often sidelining you for important projects, promotions etc...

Not only that but when you except a counter offer, your current employer maybe be retaining your skills until they can replace you, they may even use a head-hunter or management recruitment consultancy to replace you discretely.

If you are seeking for a recruitment consultant Singapore job, you will need to obtain the CEI certificate to be qualified to operate as a license recruitment consultant in Singapore.