Resume Writing Tips

Tip 1: CHRONOLOGICAL RESUMES

"Chrono" is Greek for "time," so it's no surprise that a chronological resume is organized by your employment timeline. Chronological resumes are the most common choice for job seekers -- and for good reason:
· They're easy to write. The organization is predetermined, so it's one less thing to stress over.
· Recruiters prefer them. A recent HotJobs survey revealed that 84 percent of recruiters prefer chronological resumes. So unless you have a darn good reason, you should stick to the chronological resume format. (We'll discuss the exceptions later this week.)
To create a chronological resume begin with your most recent experience and work your way back. For each job, list the name of the company, your title, where the job was located, your dates of employment and a few bullet points discussing your major achievements and responsibilities.
(from hotjobs)

Tip 2: Handling a gap in work history

If your employment gap comes up in an interview, explain why you were out of work simply and briefly. Don't go into a lot of detail -- unless you think the experience gained during the gap may help you get the job. For example, if you left the workforce to go back to school or to do career-related
volunteer work, say so. Regardless of your explanation, end it on a positive note: That you're ready -- and excited -- to get back to work (from hotjobs)

Tip 3: Networking Strategy - The best job hunting tactic available

Yes, it's true. Among other thousands of job hunting tips provided, networking is considered as the best job hunting strategy. If you ask any successful job hunters, they'd certainly agree that networking constitutes the best job finding strategy available.
Basically, networking is all activities involved in building your own employment agency. You do this by connecting to anyone who can bring you promising leads, or prospects. In a process, networking should be started, maintained and developed once it starts.
Try to make personal contacts with mentors such as teachers, former employers, friends,...anyone who can lead you to an interview should be contacted through networking.
Those who are already employed can make excellent use of networking because they can use their position to network with others who can offer advice, leads,...
Every business group, professional associations, service club, or club membership, is considered as effective operating networks. When you become a member, you inherit the network.
To produce an effective networking, it is critical that you must gain respect and support of several key people by providing them with some incentives, some kinds of benefits so they are willing to be supportive for you.
By ResumePromo.com Job Search & Resume Writing

Tip 4 - I don't know how to answer that question

If you get caught off guard by an interview question, stall. How you stall is the key. Saying, "That's a really good question," in a slow, measured tone is much more effective than, "Ummm. Let's see. Huh. That's a stumper!"
Don't make time for yourself by asking if you can "take a minute" or by coming up with a witty, tongue-in-cheek answer. This is not "Hollywood Squares."

If you need more time, politely ask the interviewer to clarify a portion of the question. This is a very effective strategy, because often the interview questions that stop job seekers in their tracks are too vague to be approached logically.
Asking for clarification can make a molehill out of a mountain. (from hotjobs.com)

Tip 5 - Master The Informational Interview

GET THE INFO YOU NEED TO SUCCEED
Want an up-close, insider's perspective on a certain industry or career? Get it in an informational interview. Also called a research interview, an informational interview is one of the most useful yet underutilized parts of a job search. During an informational interview, you can learn firsthand about an industry, career or company. You can also get personalized feedback on your skills and experience while making valuable professional contacts -- especially important for job seekers who are new to the workforce or changing careers.
INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWING DEFINED
An informational interview is a brief meeting (usually about half an hour) between someone researching a career or industry and someone working in that career or industry. The most important thing to remember about informational interviewing: Its primary goal is NOT to get you a job. Instead, the purpose is to gather information, which can then be used to make career decisions and conduct a successful job search. Informational interviews can give job seekers insight into the following areas:
· What a typical day on the job entails,
· What experience is useful for advancement in a particular career, · What educational background is helpful, · And, what rewards and challenges a given job presents.

CONTACTS ARE THE KEY
How do you find people willing to meet with you for an informational interview? Network, network, network. You probably won't get far by cold-calling Human Resources. Recruiters spend their time meeting with candidates about open positions. Most are too busy to meet with someone just to chat about careers.

Here's who you SHOULD hit up for contacts:
· College alumni associations,
· Professional/industry organizations,
· Former colleagues and coworkers,
· Family and friends.
YOU CAN NEVER KNOW ENOUGH
The key to a successful informational interview is preparation. By preparing, you demonstrate that you appreciate -- and respect -- the interviewer's time. Know the basics about the interviewer's industry, company and specific position. Prepare a list of questions, avoiding those with simple "yes" or "no" answers in order to keep the interview conversational and informative. And, be sure to take your resume, portfolio and business cards to informational interviews just in case the interviewer volunteers to distribute them to his or her contacts in the industry.
REMEMBER, IT'S STILL AN INTERVIEW
An informational interview can seem more informal and casual than an interview for a specific job, but it's still an interview. And smart job seekers treat it as such. Dress appropriately, arrive 10-15 minutes early and bring copies of your resume. In short, do all the things that interviewers expect. Be assertive in asking questions, but don't dominate the interview.
A traditional interview is about what you can offer the interviewer. An informational interview is about what the interviewer can offer you (in terms of knowledge).
Finally, be sure to send a thank-you note after the interview, even if you don't normally send one. It's the polite way to recognize someone who's been generous with their time and knowledge.
(from hotjobs.com)

Tip 6 - I am going to be late for the interview

No matter how much you prepare, destiny still occasionally throws you a wild card. Your car breaks down ... you get splashed by a bus ... your alarm fails to go off ... you're going to miss your job interview!
Take a deep breath. Collect your thoughts. You're about to place a very important phone call. The recruiter will want to know why you are running late and a realistic estimate of how long it will take you to (safely) get to the interview. The recruiter will also be looking for a courteous apology.
The call might sound like this: "Hi Mel. This is Vic. I have an 11 a.m. interview today for the editor position. Unfortunately, my car has broken down. I should be able to get there in 25 minutes if that's OK. I apologize for the inconvenience and I wanted to inform you as soon as possible."
Recruiters tend to be more accepting of incidents that fall under the "couldn't be avoided" category. If you live in New York like I do, traffic and bus drivers who speed up when they see mud puddles fall into this category.

Keep in mind that the recruiter is under no requirement to delay or reschedule the interview, but if you are polite and courteous, odds are you'll get a second chance.
(from hotjobs.com)

Tip 7 - I forgot to bring along copies of my resume

According to a recruiter colleague of mine, this happens far more often than you might think. The key is to acknowledge it upfront and give a practical excuse -- one that avoids the perception of laziness or lack of forethought.
"I just wanted to let you know that I planned ahead to bring copies of my resume, but my printer didn't cooperate. It broke down on me. I can e-mail you a copy after the interview if that's OK."
And it should be OK. Chances are the recruiter will have a copy of your resume on hand. (Make sure you get e-mail addresses from all the interviewers who would like you to send them a copy of your resume.)

(from hotjobs.com)

Tip 8: Effective Way On How To Post Your Resume On Job Sites

It’s today internet era, so taking used of your own computer to work for you, search for opportunities, most of companies nowaday has their own websites, job opennings hence, put up on website too to attract candidates.

Some of the websites are dependable, but some are not, the tricky thing is not to waste your time and effort with low profile websites. This is not hard if you know how. Go for job site that are similar to monster or hotjobs site structure. Go for English language job site, why? It’s the standard, it’s global characteristic. Quick tip to grab the most reliable job site: Perform your search at www.alexa.com using keywords like ‘job opportunity’, ‘job search’, ‘job service’… Lots of site would show up, pick about 20 leading site (20 highest rank by Alexa ranking).

Once you know which website to go for, post a resume there. Now, there’s another tricky thing to make sure that your record is viewed and clicked. Just imagine this, in a vast huge records of applicants, don’t you think recruiters will click on each record one by one? No, I don’t think so. This is a time consuming process for recruiters. Save their time, increase your chance.

So, how to increase your chance to make sure that your ad will stand out among that huge ads??? Observation, use your judgement, use your common sense. But I can give you one of strong tip here.

Most of the job site give the recruiters who paid to surf looking for applicants the first 5 to 7 lines summary of the resume, that’s there, if you want your ad standing out, take use of the first 5 to 7 lines here if you don’t want your ad look all the same as others, and is buried in that whole bunch of words…and no one will even care to give your ad a click.

Input your resume under different categories, say, if you wanna job in pharmaceutical industry, try to insert your resume under other catergories like consumer products, hotel industry, telecom…, this would not be much relevant at the beginning, however, recruiters sometimes might give you a call as they would find your profile fit for their friends organization or for their own organization.

Remember, increase your chance by increasing the number of views and clicks…make your ads stand out, make your ads clicked and viewed. That’s the key.

“Stuff your resume with strong keywords”, why this? Just imagine if you’re a recruiter, you come to a web site to search resumes, how you would find out the targeted resume? Beside the basic search tools the website provides, normally, recruiters’d input some queries using advanced search tool to narrow down the targeted results, recruiters’d get to a smaller list using ‘keywords’ to reach for that targeted resumes. Think which *keywords* recruiters would type in?
by http://www.resumepromo.com