Resume Guide Drawing

Want to rise far above the other 99 candidates interviewing for that dream job? When you focus on developing the traits listed below, you’ll be able to land a top notch career in just about any field.

Here are 10 top traits guaranteed to win over almost any hiring Manager and put you on the top of his or her hiring wish list.

1. Ambition. Employers are looking for someone who can hit the ground running, unless of course you’re applying for an entry level position. They look for an individual with the potential to produce quick results. In your resume and during your interview tell them how you’ve taken action and produced bottom-line results.

2. Personal Confidence. Employers want to know they can trust you to perform the job well. Make no mistake, their confidence in you will be influenced by your confidence in yourself. Be sure to speak with authority. Use phrases like “I can,” “I will,” and “I have.” Avoid saying things like “I think,” I would, and “I feel.” Express confidence in your eye contact, appearance, and posture. Talk about your winning track record of success.

3. Going The Extra Mile. Hiring Managers look for people who go above and beyond the call of duty. Make sure you let them know you’re willing to take on additional responsibility and that you do go the extra mile to achieve success.

4. Ability To Learn & Do The Job Effectively. It’s amazing how often people apply for jobs they are not qualified to do. Establish your ability through your resume by placing emphasis on accomplishments, results, and performance. Show your understanding of emerging trends and challenges.

5. Leadership Ability. True leadership is a rare and much needed commodity. Make sure to share any examples of how you took charge of a situation and worked with others to get the job done. Show prospective employers that you have the courage to take a leadership role, regardless of the type of job or position you’ve held.

6. Ability to Fit In With The Organization. We’ve all been subjected to an employee who’s never happy with anything, and who always finds fault with everyone else in the organization. During your interview avoid criticizing your former employer and never place blame on others for why things didn’t work out. Always demonstrate your positive demeanor and attitude.

7. Ability To Get Along With & Work With Others. Caring thoughtful people are getting harder to find. Be sure to give credit where credit is due. Say please and thank you. Give a genuine smile that says, I’m enjoying talking with you. During your interview, talk about team performance and the contribution of other members of your team. Show your willingness to pitch in and help as a team member. Be sure to share your involvement in company activities both social and professional.

8. Positive Upbeat Personality. If you want to stand out as a refreshingly different candidate, be sure to show up with high energy and a dose of enthusiasm. Determine to give the most enjoyable interview you are capable of. Others love to be in the company of an upbeat person. Enthusiastic people are very motivating and help others to perform with higher productivity. Be positive and pleasant and you’ll dramatically increase your chances of getting the job.

9. Ability to Communicate Effectively. Good communicators possess excellent written and verbal skills. Demonstrate how you use your communication skills to achieve objectives.

10. Integrity, Honesty, Reliability. Needless to say, in today’s world of corrupt corporate executives and untrustworthy employees, these traits send a powerful message to potential employers. Be sure to express your high integrity, professional ethics and personal moral values. If a potential employer wants you to compromise your exceptional values, you don’t want to work for them.

Be sure to touch on your proficiency in each of these character traits throughout your resume and interviews. Focus on what hiring Managers want most and you’ll easily make the top of their list.

Now, go get that job!

Copyright 2006 CareerSuccessTraining.com

For additional career success resources check out CareerSuccessTraining.com at http://www.careersuccesstraining.com

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1) Set aside some time, even if it’s just an hour every day looking for jobs. If you do it in the morning, it’ll make you feel better later in the day, as you’ll feel you are taking steps towards your job-hunting process. If you have a partner, they will appreciate it too, knowing you are making good use of your time.

2) Customize your resume for each job that you’re applying for, writing in greater depth about the skills required for the job. This will bring greater prominence and attention to the employer.

3) Make sure that you have all the buzzwords on your resume, as agencies mainly identify candidates through searches.

4) Follow-up by calling a dozen agencies each day, just to remind them that you are still available. Although your resume will come up when the agency does a search, so will hundreds of others, and you want to make sure that the agencies consider you first for jobs that have come in that day.

5) Monitor as many of the job boards as you can, and resend your resume each time a new job comes up that matches your skills, even if the particular agency already has your resume.

6) Keep your resume to 2 pages in length, as no one wants read a 10-page resume when they have hundreds of others to read. Make sure you have a summary of your skills on the front page. Remember that this is a sales document. If you want to impress further, make your resume a Brochure, as this will stick out from the crowd plus show that you work in a professional manner.

7) Show your resume to as many friends as possible for their comments, and ask agencies for their comments as well.

Send out a fresh online batch of resumes to extra agencies each week. More and more companies operate with Preferred Supplier lists, and if you are not on the books of the Preferred Supplier agency, you will not be considered. Therefore, it’s suggested that you be on the books of as many agencies as possible.

9) Don’t rely strictly on agencies, but use your own contacts. Call up or email your old companies, bosses or fellow workers to see if there are any opportunities they might provide.

10) Get in touch with all the old colleagues that you are still in touch with to find out if they are aware of any work that may be going on at their companies. If you’ve lost touch with many of the people that you worked with, use reunion sites like NamesFacesPlaces to see if any old colleagues who might be registered could help you find work.

11) Find something else to do with your spare time, which may become useful in the future. Learn a new skill or build your own website. Once you’re back in work, you’ll wish that you had made better use of your time.

12) Attend networking events such as those organized by the PCG or the BCS. Perhaps you could organize a reunion or other event. Schedule a time to get together for drinks with colleagues who worked at a particular site with you. The people you invite will invite others and as they may have similar skills to you and may know of some work going at the companies they work for.

13) Look in on IT discussion web sites where you will find people with the same problems. Here you can learn and share advice. You may also get encouragement after talking to some people who were out of work but have managed to get jobs. Ask them how they did it.

14) When you finally get an interview, remember to prepare well for it. Make sure that you reacquaint your self with the subject matter. Ask one of your friends with similar skills to interview you first so you can better prepare yourself. There’s nothing worse than failing an interview that you feel you should have landed, due to lack of preparation.

15) And lastly, don’t give up. It’s difficult to keep repeating and doing the same things on a daily basis without immediate results, but your perseverance will pay off in the end.

Gerry McLaughlin has fulfilled every role in Software Development from Trainee Programmer through Systems and Business Analysis, Project Leader and Manager, Systems Manager and Chief Information Officer with a department of 80 people. Tens of thousands of IT Contractors visit http://www.ITContractor.com each month to keep themselves in touch with the market.

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It’s perceived to be one of the most difficult transitions in life: rejoining the workforce after an extended layoff. Maybe you were raising your children, maybe you were caring for a relative, or maybe you were downsized and had trouble finding a job. In any case, it’s a daunting proposition to pull out the business suit, polish up the resume and start looking for a job.

To be sure, it’s not an easy task, but if you prepare appropriately, and attack the search smartly, it’s not as intimidating as you may think.

With the right Mindset, the proper downtime Approach, and some specific Strategies, you can get back out there and land work.

The Mindset

You have a gap in your resume.

So what!

There is this obsession that having a gap in your resume is a horrible sin. It’s not. The fact is, it’s incredibly common these days. Layoffs unfortunately are an everyday occurrence. Work/life balance awareness has increased to the point where more people are taking time off for personal reasons.

Twenty years ago, the typical job situation had the male breadwinner getting a job out of college and spending the rest of his career working for one company until his gold-watch retirement party at age 55.

Those days are long gone.

There’s no need for you to be shy about the fact that there’s a gap in your resume. You are part of a large and growing population of job seekers that have taken time off for a variety of reasons. There’s no need to fret.

The Approach

The biggest issue that employers have with employees returning to the workforce is their perceived lack of being “out of the game.” Technology, industry trends, and job skills can all change rapidly over the course of a couple of years.

As such, you want to make sure that you can show your aptitude in some of these areas. Take computer classes, get involved with trade organizations, and stay abreast of industry happenings by reading trade publications during your time off. It does take some time, but not nearly as much as working full time.

Then when it comes time to interview you’ll be able to say something like, “I knew it would be important for me to stay current on my computer skills, so I took classes in the most recent version of Microsoft Office while I was taking care of a relative.”

The Strategy

Packaging your “gap” in a resume or on an interview takes careful consideration. Don’t try tricks like changing dates or writing about how you honed your managerial skills negotiating with three children under the age of 10. Recruiting Directors know what you do as a mom or as a caregiver. What they want to know is that you’re in the game and ready to contribute.

Of course it would always be ideal to be able to tell your story in person, but often you don’t have the luxury of meeting someone face to face. As such, the cover letter becomes a great tool to let a potential employer know about your resume gap and why it’s not a big deal.

Mention why you’re reentering the workforce now

“I had always wanted to return to the workplace, and now that my children are in school full-time, it’s the perfect opportunity.”

Talk about how you stayed in the game

“I wanted to stay involved in nonprofit as much as I could after our company closed our office, so I’ve volunteered at the American Cancer Society and took an online class in development.”

Ultimately it’s not going to be easy to get back out there. But with the right game plan, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think.

Good luck!

Brad Karsh is president of JobBound, a company dedicated to helping job seekers make the transition to work. Author of “Confessions of a Recruiting Director: The Insider’s Guide to Landing Your Fist Job” (Prentice Hall Press, April 2006), Brad is considered the nation’s leading expert on job searching. He’s been featured on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now, CNBC, CNNfn, and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fortune, and many others. For even more job search advice, check out http://www.jobbound.com

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