18 Reasons Why Your Resume Isnt Working

18 Reasons Why Your Resume Isnt Working18 Reasons Why Your Resume Isnt Working18 Reasons Why Your Resume Isnt WorkingApplying to federal jobs can be frustrating. If youre racking your brain about why youre elend getting referred, Best Qualified, or interviewed for federal jobs, its time to rethink your resume.In fact, there are 18 reasons why your federal resume could be to blame for your frustrating job search. Weve found that resume problems fall under three following categories Format, Style, and Content.Format IssuesYour resume is in a bullet format. Is your resume a laundry list of bullets that are unrelated and not targeted to a job announcement or job series? This format will not help the human resources specialists to determine your qualifications for the vacancy announcement.Your resume is in the old-school big lager format. This was popular for the Resumix keyword scanning system, which was eliminated in 2010. Now, actual humans look at your resumes, and they dont want to s ee large blocks of text.Wrong length. A federal resume should be 3 to 5 pages in length. Many people try to apply for a federal job with a 1 to 2-page resume that would not have enough details about your experience to determine your qualifications. Some people apply with a much longer resume that gives too much information for the human resources specialist to weed through to find your skills and abilities.Missing compliance information required by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Month and year and/or hours per week employers street address, city, state, zip code supervisor phone number yes/no on whether supervisor may be contacted. All of this information MUST be included in each job block on your federal resume.The profile/summary section at the top of your resume is too long and/or generic. A profile or summary of skills does NOT increase your application score. Your work experience, skills, and accomplishments must be anchored to dates in your Work Experience section, a nd all verbiage should be tailored to your target job. Do not include a list of generic skills that could apply to anyone.Style IssuesUse of passive voice. Are you using passive phrases in your resume, such as responsible for, duties include, assisted with, performed, provide, helped with, tasked with, recruited for, participated in, in addition to? These passive verbs create wordiness in your resume and show hiring officials that you are a merely a helper at work.Overuse of acronyms and technical jargon. No one but you, your supervisor, and your coworkers will understand your resume, even if the hiring officials are in your field. Too much discipline-specific acronyms and language creates an unreadable resume that gets disqualified.Overuse of I. This creates wordiness in your resume and distracts hiring officials from your duties, responsibilities, and accomplishments.Content IssuesYour work experience section simply does not match the target position. Read your target job announce ment from beginning to end. Make sure that youre actually qualified for the job. Contact the hiring manager (listed towards the bottom of the announcement) if youre not sure.The resume has NO keywords that match your target job announcement. Your must use the language from the target job announcement to write your duties, responsibilities, and accomplishments.The resume has no accomplishments in the work experience section. Hiring officials want to read about your unique contributions to your job. Including a list of accomplishments can demonstrate to hiring officials that you are a star performer and not just an average one.The resume goes back too far. Federal HR only wants to see recent and relevant experience. Remove job blocks older than 20 years. The federal resume is not a life history form or the old SF-171, which did have to include every job.Your Guard or reserves experience or deployment details are missing from your resume.You are changing your career, but your duties, r esponsibilities and keywords are targeted to your prior career. Your resume must feature only the skills that are transferrable and relevant to your target job.You are attempting to get promoted, yet the resume is written at the same professional level. The resume you write for a promotion must increase in complexity to target an advanced level of performance. The resume must feature the highest, most complex level of duties, as well as your best accomplishments to demonstrate that you are ready to move up and get promoted.Education history is not in reverse chronological order. Your current or most recent education should be at the beginning of your job block.Education includes nothing but the degree and the college name. Add a list of courses and/or descriptions of 3 significant projects.Training lists do not include classroom hours, the certification, and go back too far. Remove trainings that you took more than 10 years ago.Its pretty easy for a federal resume to go awry. But ou r tips can help guide you in creating a resume that gets you good results. Need Help?If you want customized support on your federal resume and want to avoid ALL of these problems, let us help you. Submit a Free Project Review. Well review your resume and write back with recommendations and a quote for our services. Kathryn Troutman is known as the Federal Resume Guru and is the developer of the Ten Steps to a Federal Job. She teaches hundreds of career counselors each year about her highly acclaimed methods of federal job search and has published dozens of titles, including the recent award-winning Students Federal Career Guide 3rd Edition.

Top 5 Interviewing Tips for Experienced Employees

Top 5 Interviewing Tips for Experienced EmployeesTop 5 Interviewing Tips for Experienced EmployeesInterviewing can be nerve-wrackingeven for veteran employees. Whats more, if youve been in your job, company, industry or career for a long time and havent needed to do a job search in a while, you may feel pretty rusty when it comes to preparing for and navigating the bewerbungsbewerbungsgesprch process. As an experienced employee, your track record (if its strong) can certainly help pave the way to your next position. Yet even as a seasoned professional, wowing the hiring committee is still a key step to getting the job you want. Even the most qualified candidate must nail a series of interviews to be considered the best person for the job. If youre not up to date with interview protocol, dont leave your interview performance to chance. Brush up with these five advanced tips for seasoned careerists Open the door. The first step to a successful interview is landing one in the first p lace. With plenty of experience under your belt, you can outshine your competitors before the interview even starts by crafting an effectiversum. This is not a nice-to-doits a must-do. If yourrsumdoes not reflect your professionalism and your level in the industry, then past successful initiatives cant help you get the job. As an industry veteran, you no doubt have data to draw on that can help support the results you achieved. Cristin Sturchio, global head of talent at Cognolink Limited, suggests getting as specific as possible to showcase your achievements with numbers, percentages or dollar amounts. Made outbound calls to generate donations from alumni tells what you did, she says. Made 150 outbound calls to alumni that resulted in $12,500 in donations tells what you achieved.Once you have these data points nailed down in yourrsum, youll be able to speak to them in your interview as well. Make the link. Another essential component of todays pre-interview process is to utilize L inkedIn to full advantage. If youve been off of the job market for a while, its vital to catch up on the current expectation of most recruiters and hiring managers, which is to have a professional, updated LinkedIn profile. Marketing and branding strategist Karen Leland says that while its estimated that up to 60 percent of the Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn to check out candidates, the vast majority of job seekers have poor or insufficient LinkedIn profiles. To rectify this problem, Leland suggests drawing on information from the first point during your actual interview andhaving the following items in place beforehandA fully fleshed out summary section that shows rather than tells your valueAn up-to-date and professional photo At least 10 recommendationsKeyword-optimized headlines Demonstrate executive presence.A 2012Forbes article describes executive presence as the ability to project gravitasconfidence, poise under pressure and decisiveness. Communication skills comprise another area of executive presencehow you speak, how assertive you are and how well you understand others. Job seekers with ample on-the-job experience may trip themselves up in the communication department by trying to convey too much about their background. Executive coach Beth VanStory believes that to demonstrate executive presence, its important to answer questions concisely by creating an outline of your key messages. Experienced executives usually have a lot to say, she says. However, sometimes less is more. Its tempting to want to show everything you know and tell about all of your successes. But that approach can be a recipe for interviewer fatigue. Think ahead. If youve been committed to one role or organization for a while, your self-concept as a professional may be based solely on this role. But to move up and ahead in your career, its important to mentally prepare yourself for your next position. Michele Gorman, managing principal of Leveraged Potential, suggests that many interviewees dont think about where they are headed and thus make the mistake of marketing themselves with their current title and role versus branding themselves for the next move. It is important to define the next career move that you want and brand yourself appropriately, she says. Your answer to Tell me about yourself should reflect this new role versus your current role. To make this work, Gorman recommends thinking through the following questions prior to the interview and crafting your answers into a quick pitch that will resonate with hiring managers for the new roleWhat kind of professional are you? What level are you aiming for?What are your three or four keys areas of expertise that you bring to the new roles? What is something personally unique about you that you bring to the workplace? Understand your past. While your future is about the position to come, its still important to properly analyze and put into context key points from past positions. The longer you ve been in the industry, the more possibilities you have about which type of information to showcase during an interview. A good way to narrow your focus is to understand your own strengths and weaknesses so that you can match those against a new jobs particular requirements. Halogen Softwares senior talent attraction manager John Fleischauer advises reflecting on past successes and past performance reviews as part of your interview prep. What kind of feedback have you received from your managers and peers? he asks. Look for trendsfor example, repeat feedback that youre a great team player or very proactive. Take note of feedback youve received around both job-specific skills and soft skills. Interviews can cause stress and nervousness for even the most experienced candidates. Yet taking the time to get up to speed with advanced interview skills can help ensure that you shine like the industry expert you are.Robin Madellhas spent over two decades as a corporate writer, journalist , and communications consultant on business, leadership and career issues. She serves as a copywriter, speechwriter and ghostwriter for executives and entrepreneurs across diverse industries, including finance, technology, healthcare, law, real estate, advertising and marketing. Robin has interviewed over 1,000 thought leaders around the globe and has won 20 awards for editorial excellence. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Businesswomens Association in both New York and San Francisco, and contributed to the book Be Your Own Mentor Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success, published by Random House. Robin is also the author of Surviving Your Thirties Americans Talk About Life After 30 and co-author of The Strong Principles Career Success. Connect with her onLinkedInor follow her on Twitterrobinmadell.

BP Internship and Co-Op Opportunities

BP Internship and Co-Op OpportunitiesBP Internship and Co-Op OpportunitiesBP provides people all over the world with transportation fuel, energy to meet all of their heating and lighting needs, as well as retail services and products for many of the everyday items used each day by millions of consumers. BP is considered one of the worlds leading international oil and gas companies that exist today. BPs Internship Co-Op Program Students may choose to participate in either BPs internship or co-op programs where they will be given hands-on work assignments to complete in their chosen field. BP offers the opportunity to work alongside professionals who will teach them how to approach and solve problems on some of the issues the company faces each day. BP takes its internship and co-op programs seriously and strives to create a working partnership between the company and its students over the course of the time each student spends working at BP. BP feels that the time each student sp ends working with the company will help determine the course of potential future career possibilities if both agree that it seems to be a good fit. The experience students get while working at BP will make a major contribution to getting their career off to a good start. BPs Co-operative Education Program BPs Co-operative Education Program provides a valuable and unique experience for students to alternate between working and completing their academic requirements. Students participating in the Co-operative Education Program often begin working during their sophomore year. During this time students get the chance to see what its actually like working for a company and learn the knowledge and skills required to be successful once they get hired into an organization. As part of the Co-op Program, students will receive supervision and guidance and will be provided with an individualized work plan while assigned to specific projects. Completing the projects provides students with ex posure to challenging opportunities that crop up daily in a regular work environment. Treated as regular employees, students will receive frequent performance evaluations and untersttzung by BP supervisors and mentors who hope to teach them what they need to know when entering a new career. The Co-op program is available for chemical and mechanical engineers as well as procurement majors in BPs refining area. BPs Internship Program Students participating in BPs Internship Program will be given hands-on experience in their career field of interest. Internship opportunities are available primarily for students majoring in the following fields engineering, science, and business. Check with the Career Services Office at your college to find out if BP representatives will be coming to conduct interviews at your campus. Both summer and year-long internships are available. Careers in Engineering, Science, Business Engineering There are many types of engineering jobs available. At BP, those who specialize in automotive, civil, marine, mechanical, and chemical engineering are deemed to be most in demand. Other types of engineering students are also welcome to apply.Science Students majoring in chemistry, geosciences, petrophysics, and environmental science are in high demand at BP. Chemists hired on are expected to keep BP at the forefront of creating fuels and products that will last longer and do a better job. The role of the geoscientist is to find new stores of oil while its the environmental scientists and petrophysicists that ensure that the removal of the oil is done safely ensuring no damage to the sites ecosystem. Business As in any business, there are many individuals at BP whose primary focus is to make the company run smoothly and ensure that it increases its profitability as it continues to rise above its competition. Business professionals involved in trading, finance, commercial applications, and procurement and supply chain management can all find rewarding careers at BP. BPs Technician Internship Program BPs Technician Internship Program works primarily with community and technical colleges around the country. These internships allow for the company and the student to evaluate if future full-time employment would be recommended. Students in the Technician Internship Program will be given specific projects to complete and will be trained and mentored directly by BPs experienced technicians. The Technician program offers available opportunities in all major areas of BP for process, production, instrumentation, electrical, and mechanical technician students. Select candidates need to be enrolled in a recognized technology program and must be in good academic standing. Students must be self-motivated and possess strong leadership and communication skills. Students can apply for the internship opportunity prior to completing their first year of college however, the first year of the program must have been completed befor e the internship actually begins. BPs Upstream and RM Graduate Development Program BP strives to stay on top of the latest developments in order to keep ahead of its competition. Thats why BP seeks bright and talented to students to come and join their team. BPs Upstream and RM Programs provide on-the-job learning for students to develop their practical skills and confidence in working in a professional environment. In addition to training required to be successful on the job, BP also provides coaching to help students further develop their soft skills through training in communication and improving on their ability to do formal presentations. Learning these skills will help make students successful no matter what type of environment they are working in. Benefits BP offers an excellent competitive wage for students to help pay their education expenses while still attending college. BPs Co-operative Education and Internship Programs are also what the company uses as its prim ary source for hiring when seeking to add additional future full-time employees. Qualifications All candidates must be in good academic standing when applying for BPs Co-operative Education or Internship Program. Candidates must be self-motivated and also possess excellent communication skills and a proven record of strong leadership skills that will assist them in taking full advantage of all the program has to offer. BP Careers and How to Apply BP offers excellent jobs for bachelor, masters, and Ph.D. candidates. BPs Careers section lets you see the types of positions and opportunities that are currently available, along with the application and selection process. BPs Future Leaders Programme is an excellent way to jump-start a career and make the transition from college to the real world a positive experience. All new graduates and students seeking internships must complete a self-assessment questionnaire and application form online. Select candidates may then be called i n for two rounds of first interviews (technical and personal) prior to making it to the final interview stage.

How to Become a Financial Advisor

How to Become a Financial AdvisorHow to Become a Financial AdvisorTo fill their ranks of financial advisors, the majorWall Streetfirms at one time would run extensivefinancial advisor trainingprograms. These programs were mainly for recent college graduates. However, many of these programs have been dismantled to save costs. Entering the field thus is becoming more difficult. Instead, firms increasingly rely onrecruiting experienced financial advisors from competitors. Education Requirements A minimum of a bachelors degree is expected for a financial advisor. Coursework in finance, accounting, or economics is helpful, though not required. Strong quantitative and problem-solving skillsare vital, but so are verbal and sales skills. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree can increase your chances of employment, depending on the firm and the situation, as might a degree inlegal studies or law. Becoming a Financial Advisor When securities firms do train new financial adv isors, they usually seek experienced financial services industry professionals, who are looking for a career change. Moreover, becoming a financial advisor often requires intensivenetworkingaimed at finding an established individual practitioner or a team willing to take on an apprentice, to help in serving or expanding theirbook of business. Also, cultivating an influentialworkplace sponsorwith influence and the right connections can be a ticket to entering the financial advisory field from other positions in financial services. Previous certification and experience as a financial plannercan be especially useful background for someone interested in making the transition tobecoming a financial advisor. Indeed, a growing number of financial advisor teams and practice groups are seeing the value in bringing financial planning specialists on board as members. Note that many financial advisor practices, including those in the employ of leading securities firms, effectively develop into family enterprises, with children or other relatives of the founder or lead advisor being brought in to assist with, and eventually inherit, the practice. Certification Becoming a financial advisor requires passing the Series 7 exam offered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA) and meeting continuing education requirements. You must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm, such as your employer, to sit for the Series 7 exam. In some firms, for certain senior financial advisor positions, and in some states, one or more additional credentials may be required.

How to make $500,000 a year and have no savings

How to make $500,000 a year and have no savingsHow to make $500,000 a year and have no savingsA paradox of being a white-collar, high-earning professional as your salary grows, so do your needs. Childcare, mortgages, car payments. Pretty soon, its easy to become subject to lifestyle inflation instead of the office coffee, you prefer the artisanal cold brew instead of the discount airline, you splash out on business-class seats. The cramped old apartment gives way to a sprawling house, and instead of the old car, you have a new Land Cruiser and the kids take every kind of lesson.All of this feels like living within your means, because $500,000 is a lot of money by anyones count. But by the end of the month, much less the year, it becomes easy to be left with nearly nothing.Personal-finance blogger The Financial Samurai delved into this question with a look at several families who have $500,000 a year in gross income. (Spoiler alert he uses the breakdown to pitch his own financial plan ning services).His breakdown explains why even high-earning Americans back themselves into living paycheck-to-paycheck - imitating 76% of the country, where people make a fraction of six-figure salaries.Heres the most striking chart, as shared by Josh Brown, the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management.These are the expenses for a family that lives in New York City, where housing costs are among the highest in the country. (For instance, this couple paid $1.5 million for an apartment that is only 1,700 square feet - large square footage for the city, but relatively small compared to houses at that price in the rest of the country.)As you can see, the couple is saving barely anything theyre maxing out their 401(k) contributions, but theyre very short on ready cash.What can we draw from that? Its tempting to judge how this couple decides to live, with what some might dismiss as firstworldproblems the expensive house, three vacations a year and luxury cars leuchtdiode one commenter on Twitt er to say, theres so much fluff in this budget its ridiculous. This couple is choosing everything but saving.Thats absolutely true looking at your budget, cold-eyed, shows your priorities, and this couple does not consider saving a priority.As the Financial Samurai puts it, the couple will need to work for 93 mora years given their savings rate is so low.That said, its rare for others to do better, regardless of income. Two economists, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, found recently that the top 10% to 1% of income earners in the U.S. save only 12% of their (large) incomes.The bottom 90% of earners, the economists found, barely scrape together under 5% of their incomes in savings.Most Americans have no emergency savings at all, across a range of incomes. There are many factors for that, including stagnant wages for the middle class the American middle class hasnt had a raise in 15 years, noted 538.com. There is also rising student-loan debt, which has ballooned to $1.2 trillion and rising costs including housing and more expensive consumer goods.Still, its pretty chilling to see how easy it is to feel like youre living within your means when in fact, your large income is a high-wire act carrying you from year to year, but if you lose your job or face unexpected expenses, it all gives way pretty quickly.What that means if youre earning a lot but blowing all your money now, you will be tethered to your job and your paycheck, and you wont be able to make the career choices you want. So, before your next salary negotiation, make sure youre not wasting your money first.

Unknown Facts About Best Free Resume Templates

Unknown Facts About Best Free Resume Templates Best Free Resume Templates Ideas Theres no need to be concerned about the technical aspects like hosting or preserve the site etc. 3. When looking for the very best expert info about 55x5 Method you will see plenty of suggestions and useful information here. The largest benefit of posting a resume online is it also makes all of your private information visible to everyone. Now a great absprache of businesses have develop the idea of uploading free resume online. Want to Know More About Best Free Resume Templates? Naturally, the advantage of a resume builder is you dont need to do each of the work yourself, which makes it a speedy and painless alternative. Though your companys designers and developers are the ones actually accountable for the design and development stage of the item, its your job to monitor the full procedure and make sure that it stays in accord with the vision for the item. So, its a nice concept to have an innovative website to impress your customers. Perhaps youll receive a notion of ways that you can better market yourself, you might meet somebody you can begin a new company with, and youre going to receive notifications on industry-related workshops and socials. The Tried and True Method for Best Free Resume Templates in Step by Step Detail Introduction Submitting your resume online is beinahe and easy and is done in three distinct ways based on the agency with whom youre submitting. Theres an outstanding supply of writing online resume. Work is usually repetitive after you learn the procedures, but there are lots of distinct tasks that must be done following strict guidelines and creating relevant documents on the way. You use a resume template if you wish to accelerate the practice of resume writing. The absolute most evident advantage of using free software is that theres zero cost involved. A superb case of efficiency might be the variety of emails processed daily or similar documents. You should figure out what your company requirements, and give it to them even if they dont let you know what it is. Some businesses may explain to you how to send your resume. Whatever They Told You About Best Free Resume Templates Is Dead Wrong...And Heres Why If youre applying to an www development position make sure that you emphasize your internet development abilities. Putting Your Resume Online There are a few techniques to acquire your curriculum vitae online. Such websites are also full of an assortment of cover sheets together with letters. There are lots of places to get templates for nursing CVs including our on-line service ur service features nursing CV writing and in addition to help with developing Curriculum Vitae for RNs throughout the world. Your name must be slightly larger in font size than the remaining part of the text on your application. All you will need is a professional resume template in word to get going on the proper note. Make sure you save your resume in the appropriate format to guarantee the greatest possible probability of succeeding. To select the correct resume format sample is dependent on which kind of position you are trying to get. Naturally, the sample files will enable you to understand the layout of the document. Locate a resume format on the internet that you prefer and stay with it. You also need to choose one with the most suitable format. If youre interested in developing a portfolio website to where it is possible to host your resume, take a look at my guide to create a portfolio site. Start to seek out great resume templates online so that you are able to start to compose your own resume. If youre looking for free resume templates, youre at the most suitable blog post. The ideal way to do so is to use an Executive Resume template. If your resume does not include specific info or key word content regarding the job youre applying for. If you would like a work really need a job which youve got to go level five with your work hunt. On internet you may search any sort of job in any country wherever you would like to do job. If youre intent on discovering a fantastic job, simply do it. Top Best Free Resume Templates Choices People have diverse scope of needs on account of their different educational and practical experiences. Seeking a job is a competitive business which is the reason why you need to exert your very best effort to be noticed. A good deal of individuals are looking for jobs. The majority of us have okay jobs. Most people that are looking for jobs have a tendency to type a general resume. They would never even think about doing such an unglamorous job.

4 Interview Questions that Will Improve Your LinkedIn Recruiting

4 Interview Questions that Will Improve Your LinkedIn RecruitingEvery recruiterhas their go-to list of interview questions when assessing candidates. These queries have been tested time and again to show how much they can discover about job seekers. But most of them presuppose that you know very little about the partie youre interviewing.Today, however, you have access to a lot of information before you talk to candidates thanks to sites like LinkedIn. And if youre planning on using LinkedIn recruiting, you need to develop a new set of interview questions.By catering your questions based on what you learn on LinkedIn, you can take your candidate interviews to the next level. Instead of getting to know job seekers, you build a stronger, mora in-depth relationship. Here are four of the best job interview questions to ask when LinkedIn recruiting1. How do you know X?When youre researching a candidate on LinkedIn, pay attention to your mutual connections. Talking about how you both know this person will act as a good icebreaker to get the conversation started.It can help to share a story about you and the mutual friend. This will relax the candidate and give them insight about who you are as a person.If the candidate knows your connection through work, even better. Ask them to talk about a project they worked on together and how the job seeker felt they worked as a team. After hearing how they describe the connection, compare it to your own observations so you can assess the candidates people skills and awareness of others.Use mutual connections to break the ice when LinkedIn recruiting.Click To Tweet2. Why are you passionate about your listed causes?When LinkedIn recruiting, its imperative to prioritize candidates with a complete profile. The more information they provide upfront, the better. Still, one section many job seekers overlook is listing their volunteer experience.From a recruiting standpoint, knowing how and where candidates volunteer paints a deeper pi cture of who they are. It reveals a different side of their work experience, as well as what theyre passionate about. This is why its important to bring up their volunteering during the interview.Start by asking how they found out about the charity and what spoke to them about its mission. Listen closely to their answer because it will give you insight into whether your companys mission will also motivate and resonate with the candidate.3. What would X say are your best and worst skills are?LinkedIn users can request recommendations from anyone in their network. This allows you to see multiple perspectives about what the candidate is like in the workplace. Additionally, in the interview, it lets you assess the candidates self-awareness.For example, you may read a recommendation from the candidates former manager that praises their ability to take direction and receive feedback. If the candidate, however, says their manager would describe them as a leader, theres a disconnect that ne eds to be investigated further.LinkedIn recommendations can tell you more than a candidates skill set.Click To Tweet4. Where do you stand on X?Active LinkedIn users will share and comment on content on the platform. By looking at what a candidate has recently engaged with, you get a glimpse into their professional interests and opinions.Read what articles theyve posted or even written to find one that delves into an industry trend or controversy. Then think of follow-up questions for the interview. Make sure the questions are open-ended. This will ensure that the candidates answers are deep and reflect their view of the industry.Pay attention to how articulate they are, as well as how knowledgeable they are about important topics. What they say will give the best look at how well they could perform at the company now and in the future.