Your Cover Letter’s Impact

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC

                  Training Coordinator

Is your cover letter the weak link in your job search? Are employers reading your cover letter? Maybe not, if you’re starting it with that tired old opening that has been used since the dawn of cover letters. It goes something like this, “Please, accept the enclosed résumé as application for…” BORING!

Click here for to read an article that will give you some great ideas on how to have a more positive impact with your next cover letter.

IS IT MY AGE OR MY RÉSUMÉ?

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC

                  Training Coordinator

To answer the above question, if your résumé is giving clues to your age it could be a combination of age and résumé.

Click here to read an article that will help you fix your résumé so it doesn’t give those age clues.

How to Write a Résumé That Will Get You Interviews

Posted by:  Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
                 Training Coordinator

If you’re job searching the title of this blog probably got your attention. Your résumé should grab a potential employer’s attention that same way. Within 3 seconds of opening your résumé the reader should be able to see the value in hiring you.

 Read the article and then look over your résumé and determine where you can improve it. How can you make it a better marketing tool for your talents?

 
Click here for the article.

12 TOTALLY RIDICULOUS RÉSUMÉ MISTAKES

Posted by:   Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
                   Training Coordinator
 

Just the other day a client sent me an article about 12 totally ridiculous résumé mistakes. The article quotes information from a survey done by CareerBuilder.

Following is an excerpt from the article, “The survey asked almost 2,300 hiring managers nationwide what would make them automatically dismiss a candidate. Among the top responses were typos (61 percent), an inappropriate email address (35 percent), not listing skills (30 percent), and sending in a résumé more than two pages long (22 percent).”

 
To read the whole article click here.

Add This Secret Weapon to Your Résumé

Posted by: Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
Training Coordinator

I always love it when I’m talking to a customer and I learn that some information or advice we gave them in a workshop has proved beneficial to them in their job search.

In conversation with a customer at the end of a workshop today a woman told me she did something to her résumé that we told her to do. Afterward her résumé got her interviews and from those interviews she got three job offers. She told me that during her interviews with each of the three employers who offered her a position, they asked her about this information on her résumé.

So what was the secret weapon that got her three job offers?

She listed her volunteer work on her résumé. I know some of you are out there groaning and saying, “But I don’t have any volunteer work to add to my résumé.”

There is a way to fix that problem. Volunteer. There have been previous posts on this blog in reference to volunteering; however, I’m going to briefly list the benefits to you the job seeker.

One, it gets you out of the house where you can meet people. You never know who you’ll meet in a volunteer situation. Approximately 80% of the available jobs are found by word of mouth (otherwise known as networking).

Two, it helps you get practical experience and / or keep your skills sharp. Maybe you just recently got your degree in your field but you don’t have any work experience to go with it. Volunteering could help you get that real world experience.

Three, it shows potential employers that you’re not just sitting home watching television. You’re out trying to make something happen.

Four, if that organization you’re volunteering for has an opening for a paid position, you’ll be one of the first to know about it.

So yes, volunteer as part of your job search and when you do list it as experience on your résumé.

How to Land a New Job

Posted by: Darlene Duncan CWDP, JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
Training Coordinator

Recently I read an article from U.S. News & World Report. It reiterated so many of the things that we tell clients in our One-Stop workshops that I felt compelled to post a link to it here.

Click here to read the article.

How to Make a Potential Employer Love You

Posted by: Darlene Duncan. CWDP. JSS, CCC, JCTC, JCDC
Training Coordinator

In my never ending quest to find material for this blog, I recently came across an article with some wonderful advice about how to make a potential employer fall in love with you (as a job candidate).

The workshops presented at the One-Stops in Volusia and Flagler counties follow a great deal of what the article recommends. The writer has reviewed hundreds of résumés and conducted many interviews, so this information comes from an individual with a lot of practical real world experience in the realm of hiring.

Click here to read the article.