In my previous posts I’ve talked a lot about interview techniques, resumes and cover letters. But I’ve known many people looking for a job who are doing everything right in these areas and are still having difficulty finding a new job. In talking with them, I’ve uncovered several common job search mistakes and in this…
Before retirement, people tend to day dream about the years they’ll spend golfing, gardening, traveling and visiting love ones. What retirees may not expect, though, is the desire to return to the workforce after they’ve left. Whether you miss the interactions with people, the money or yearn to contribute to something you are passionate about,…
This post is the last in my series about resume cover letters. Here are some final tips to help ensure that your cover letter gives your resume that extra boost to make it stand out. If You Make Printed Copies, Be Sure They’re Attractive For those relatively few instances today where you’re actually mailing out…
You’ve spent time crafting what you thought was a pretty darn good resume, you’ve taken it out around town and online, putting it to the test. So why are you not being flooded with calls and requests for an interview? Believe it not your resume might be getting passed over without so much as a…
This post continues with my cover letter advice. Though it may seem that I’m going a bit overboard with all this advice about something this simple, I can’t begin to tell you how many really awful cover letters I’ve received over the years. The vast majority of cover letters I receive are generic and tell…
Your Gen Y kids were always playing with gadgets — sometimes to the point where it drove you nuts. While, that experience with technical gadgets and the fascination with social media may just pay off for some of these 20-somethings. Of course, because we are still not financially stable in 2012, getting one of those…
I’d like to talk a bit about cover letters, as it’s been my experience that this is one of the most overlooked things that people do when looking for a job. This is really unfortunate because I have to tell you that, as a hiring manager, I just love getting a good cover letter with…
Making a residential move is complicated enough, but relocating a business can be more than a challenge without proper upfront planning. Knowing how the move is to be conducted, understanding and disseminating the layout of the new location, and checking the status of the utilities at both locations are three things to keep in mind…
Working as a travel agent means that you’ll help other people to fulfill their vacation dreams. You’ll also get to learn more about many states and countries, and people will happily turn to you for advice. How can you become a travel agent? The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook provides some detailed information….
I’d like to talk a bit this time about automated resume screening software (also known as Automated Tracking Systems or Hiring Management Systems). With the overwhelming number of applications received in today’s tough job market, many larger companies are using these automated screening software systems. As a hiring manager, I typically see resumes after they’ve…
There are basically two different resume formats that you should consider. As a hiring manager, I’ve seen all sorts of different formats, some of them wildly creative and some of them virtually unreadable. By far, I (as well as most other hiring managers) prefer one of the following commonly accepted formats: the “Chronological” resume format…
In my last post I talked about common resume mistakes. This time, I’m going to drill down a bit further and discuss three specific items you should never include on your resume and why. First: any statement about a “job objective” or “career objective”. This is a rather large area of controversy among resume writing…