CV Tips What Recruiters Really Want

CV Tips What Recruiters Really Want When pursuing a dream job, your CV will need to impress recruiters and show them that you are a  strong suitable candidate.  But what exactly do recruiters want to see in a CV and how do they need the information presented? StandOut CV has put together an infographic to show how recruiters really  assess your  CV, and the challenges they face in securing the best talent.  Once you know what their lens looks like,  you can adapt your CV accordingly to give them  what they need, and land more job interviews. The first hurdle! Firstly, you must persuade recruiters to open your CV.  Even the best CV in the world is useless if it sits unopened in a recruiter’s inbox.  To ensure that recruiters open your CV in the first place, you must include a powerful cover note to  tempt them in.  Keep your cover note short and sharp to save the reader time and provide a summary of how your  skills and experience match the job advert requirements.  Remember to address the recruiter by name and write in a friendly tone to create a good impression  and start to build a rapport with them. Recruiters scan your CV for relevant content Once a recruiter has opened your CV, the first thing they will do, is spend an initial 6-10 seconds  scanning the CV for the essential skills and knowledge.  This is initial scan is just to ensure that your CV has enough of the role’s candidate requirements,  before they invest the time read your CV in full.  If your CV doesn’t pass this quick scan, then it’s likely that the recruiter will close your CV down and  move on to the next one.  To ensure that your CV makes an instant impact when opened, make it easy to read and highlight  the skills that are relevant to your target roles.  Use a clear simple font, break text up, structure the pages well and make your relevant talents  prominent. Recruiters focus on your current role Your current or most recent role is by far the biggest indicator of what you are capable of at this  stage of your career; so recruiters will spend a lot of time studying this section of your CV.  They want to know things like: Your position within the organisation Overall goal of your role People you interact with (managers, suppliers, customers etc.) Tools/software used (IT packages, machinery, hardware etc.) Work produced (reports, websites, physical products etc.) Targets and achievements Write about your current role in great detail to give recruiters lots of information and show exactly  what you have contributed to your employer. Older roles can be shortened down and summarised  to save space on your CV. Recruiters look for numbers Facts and figures are excellent indicators of value for recruiters because they give an idea of the  scale of impact you have created.  So recruiters love to see numbers on your CV that quantify the results you have achieved for  yourself, employers and clients.  When writing your CV, try to add some measurable achievements such as: Generated 150 unit sales in 3 months Resolved 95% of complaints in 24 hours Cut department spending by 15% Recruiters scare easily Recruiters work hard to maintain good relationships with hiring managers and providing bad  candidates can seriously damage those relationships.  For this reason, recruiters are very careful about which CVs they recommend for positions.  Things like gaps in employment and sloppy formatting can be enough to worry recruiters into leaving  out of the shortlist.  Don’t give recruiters any chance to doubt you; ensure that your CV looks professional and has no  deal-breaking mistakes. Image: Shutterstock

My review of Seth Godins new book, Stop Stealing Dreams

My review of Seth Godins new book, Stop Stealing Dreams Seth Godin just published an e-book about education called  Stop Stealing Dreams. He talks about how  schools stink, but that even though homeschooling appears to be a rational response to terrible schools, homeschooling is  inefficient and unrealistic  for most parents. When I first saw this, I was stunned. Seth has built a career on telling people how to push past the status quo. In his book The Dip, which is my favorite, Seth taught us all how to do something really difficult.   In his book Linchpin, Seth asked us if we are doing something that really matters or just talking about it. I can’t help thinking that Stop Stealing Dreams is his description of why homeschooling requires going through a dip, but he doesn’t want to do it. So instead of being a linchpin for homeschooing, Seth will be a naysayer. Seth is advocating the status quo: Lame-duck parent activists who delude themselves that their activism is meaningful. And people advocating for large-scale school reform without any blueprint whatsoever for how to educate such a wide range of students on such a large scale. This discussion is parental escapism. No parent, not even Seth, will solve the school problem before their kids are out of school.   Seth has kids. This book is his justification for not homeschooling his own kids. On the one hand, I like this because I know that if Seth feels like he has to justify it, then its true that homeschooling is going mainstream. But I’m disturbed because I adore Seth, and his book, The Dip, really changed how I think about my life. This moment in Seth’s career reminds me of when David Sedaris stopped being funny. Do you know who David Sedaris is? He’s an essay writer who is absolutely hilarious. His earlier writing, such as  Naked,  is about being an outsider: He was a not-famous writer, from a wacky family, and gay. It’s great material. But then Sedaris got famous, his funny gay essays  went mainstream, and he became one of the richest essayists in history, living in the South of France with his partner, and everything is great and there’s not a lot to write about. Melissa sent me a link to this ad for Mercedes. The ad blows me away because it’s full of creativity. There is the amazing idea for a non-emission car. Then there’s the idea of how to convey that car visually, in an ad. And then there is the video editor who created a really fun story. Watching the ad is fun because you feel that you are part of a huge creative blast of energy. That’s how I felt when I read Seth’s earlier books. That’s how I felt when I read Sedaris’s early writing. It’s very hard to be creative when you don’t need to be. Creativity requires a different kind of drive. It’s this drive: Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who is in and out of mental institutions all the time, but she can’t stop creating art. Her art almost always has dots on it. She does the art because she can’t stop. Seth has done one really big thing for the homeschooling movement: he has focused our attention on the real barrier, which is the ego. So many parents say they’d homeschool if they had more resources. Seth shows us that resources are not the barrier. Seth’s book is the rationale that parents with unlimited income use for not homeschooling. It’s clear to me that the real reason Seth is not homeschooling is because he thinks he’d be bored doing it. He has bigger fish to fry. He thinks it’s inefficient to spend his days educating his kids when he has such big ideas, and such a big audience waiting to hear them. I get it. I have that problem, too. It’s just that I’m not willing to cave to it. I’m going the scary route: I’m taking the dip. I know that schools suck. I know that kids are best educated in a way that is customized to the student. And I know that my career is going to suffer because I’m giving my kids this education. Do you know how David Sedaris started writing well again? He started writing about life as a rich person. Here’s a recent example in the New Yorker. It’s good writing. I felt good reading it. And I felt happy that Sedaris was able to shift himself to accommodate the issues he faced. I am hoping Seth will be like David Sedaris and Seth will find something better to do than tell people why they should push for maintaining the status quo. I don’t know what Seth’s next dip is, but I think it’s time for him to take one. I think the book about homeschooling is Seth’s admitting that he’s scared to do something new. He has too much to lose. But you don’t need to be as rich and successful as Seth to feel that way. Each of us feels that way when we are going to do something difficult. And, in the meantime, Seth makes the best argument for homeschooling yet: Smart people only argue against an idea when it’s clear that idea’s time has come.

Online Branding Platforms Face-Off - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Online Branding Platforms Face-Off - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career How many websites do you have an online presence on? Three? Five? Maybe even upwards of ten? While perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect you to eliminate accounts to simplify your online brand, it can be difficult to keep track of all of your profiles, particularly if someone is searching for you on a specific site. A plethora of platforms Obviously, a good old fashioned website that links to all of your profiles can help with this. However, there are other solutions out there that take a lot less setup time than a websiteâ€"and can help you manage your brand just as well. About.me About.me calls itself “a custom profile personal analytics dashboard.” Recognizing the problem with scattered identities across the Web, an About.me account helps you pull all of your information together in a single splash page. You can also view analytics and statistics pertaining to the amount of visitors your site receives, where they come from and what they do while on your page. Flavors.me Want to “make a homepage in minutes”? Sign up for a flavors.me pageâ€"no coding required. Make it your own by choosing your colors, fonts, background and layout and put all of your content from around the web in one place. Simple, fast and effective! Brand-Yourself Brand-Yourself stresses creating positive content about yourself that ranks highly in Google. Again, you can create your site in minutes. You can also use Profile Graders to evaluate your social media profiles. An advantage of Brand-Yourself is that you can manage your social profiles from within your Brand Dashboardâ€"making it easy to keep up with your different accounts without investing too much time. The Stats Section helps you monitor your reputation and suggest positive brand building activities to engage in. If you’re looking to improve your brand or create a positive online presence, the tools Brand-Yourself offers can certainly help with that. What’s your favorite all-encompassing branding platform? Do you use any of the ones listed above? Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of Come Recommended, a  content marketing consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010) and writes  career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.

Want a reason to jump out of bed in the morning Then find your Ikigai. Â

Want a reason to jump out of bed in the morning Then find your Ikigai.   How are we supposed to know what our true calling in life is? Especially when there is still so much to experience, knowledge to gain, and our dreams don’t seem possible. Picking something and saying ‘this is my thing’ seems a bit crazy. I’ve always struggled with the word ‘career’, it’s not an inspirational word to me, it doesn’t make me feel excited. But while researching into self-awareness a colleague introduced me to the Japanese concept of Ikigai. To start with it just looked like a nice infographic, that centres on pulling different life elements together. Yet the more I looked into it the more I began to see that it’s actually quite an empowering concept that made me really think about what I want to do and why. After all, Ikigai translates as ‘your reason for being’ it’s the thing/things that make you jump out of bed in the morning eager to start the day. Who wouldn’t want to think about how to get that? Let’s look at how to use the concept of Ikigai so you can start identifying your own. Everyone’s Ikigai is different. Some might find it through their work, others their family or hobbies. It isn’t about one thing usually but a combination of things that contribute towards a happy and fulfilling life. Most of us think our lives are okay but often feel that something is missing. Looking at your Ikigai can really help to show you how to make some positive changes to feel more fulfilled. What you can be paid for Straight off this quadrant brings us down to earth with a crash. It takes lots of dream jobs right off the table. Right? Not necessarily. In this model what you can be paid for can be as simple as having the means for basic living, it isn’t about accumulating wealth. It also pertains to other rewards, the satisfaction you get from certain activities. As long you have some means of supporting yourself financially and your activities offer you enrichment. What you are good at This kind of thing requires you to think broad, to think big, and to think back. Most of us would come up with a few lame things off the top of our heads, but that’s not the real, whole you. Often in life we take the things that we are good at for granted. We all have natural gifts that we don’t see because we’re too busy sweating it about the stuff we want to better at. So, step back and get some perspective here. What you’re good at isn’t just about tasks and activities, it’s about relationships, strengths and ability in all areas of your life. What do other people turn to you for? Why do you think that is? What’s easy for you? What were you good at as a kid? What can you just pick up and do even if you haven’t done it for a while? What you love This one can seem expansive to some and awkward for others. Essentially, it can be everything from people, interests, and activities to music, food and books. It could be about the way you prefer to communicate, or your feelings. If you have spare time how do you like to spend it? What in your life right now makes you happy? (Your course, job, family, hobby, project) What activities do you lose yourself in and forget about time and everything else? What would you like to do less of? What are your guilty pleasures? â€" there’s a reason why they make you feel good! What the world needs Wow, this one’s a biggie. Well, it might seem it on the face of it. If you’re passionate about creating an app, that say measures the authenticity of a person’s laugh, then like any serious entrepreneur you must identify, or develop, an audience for it. If you pour time and energy into something and nobody else cares about it (i.e. you can’t get money or recognition for it, and the world doesn’t need it) then despite all your hard work you won’t get a sense of purpose. The world needs things on many different scales, it needs genius researchers to cure disease, it needs inspirational teachers, its needs law and order. But it also needs kindness, and comedy, and cups of tea. Ask yourself these questions to start identifying what truly matters to you: What would you like to contribute towards changing? What do you want to be a part of? What are you always ranting about? Who do you want to help, and how do you want to help them? Your Ikigai, your reason for being, will change throughout your life as different things become important to you and you have new experiences. According to Ken Mogi, author, neuroscientist, and broadcaster: “Ikigai isn’t a grand target…it’s a spectrum of small things. The really big things might only happen once a decade, so life isn’t sustainable without small daily joys.” Find ways to squeeze more joy into your every day. Give yourself time and space to do the things you love with focus. Take the time to get to know yourself and let your own voice become your strongest influence by living your Ikigai.

6 Habits of Highly Productive Copywriters CareerMetis.com

6 Habits of Highly Productive Copywriters Whether you are hunting for a reliable writer, creating copy for your own business, or working as a paid copywriter; you undoubtedly already know that time is money.Some copywriters find it hard to fit in all the research, writing, and editing they need to in order to have a real impact on exposure/sales.evalHow do some of the most productive copywriters get it right? What’s their secret?The Secret to Productive CopywritingIn order to get work out on time and ensure that the content is of high quality and of interest to the target audience, copywriters have to incorporate a few niche habits into their lives Have you ever sat down to write something when you are feeling hungover, tired, or overly stressed out by a hectic lifestyle? Chances are that you wouldn’t be able to get many words on paper A copywriter expresses his/her creativity through writing and this means that self-care is not only based on taking care of your body, it also requires taking care of your mind.Self-care f or the mind can include things like meditation, breathing techniques, taking up a hobby Copywriting requires consistent work. You cannot write a blog or article once and think it will be enough. Content needs to be regularly created, refreshed, and updated. A great copywriter is always on the ball, but how do they achieve that high level of consistent self-motivation?Below are a few tips:a) Prepare for the hard days.Some days are hard for copywriters, especially when self-motivation just doesn’t turn up as expected. You need to plan ahead for these days. On days when you are feeling the most motivated and productive, take note of what exactly motivates you. Perhaps it’s a strong cappuccino or a certain playlist.Have these on hand for days when motivation is lacking. Also, ensure that you have motivational boosters easily at hand. This could be a self-help book with quotes from celebs you respect or even an award or note of praise you received for hard work and motivation in the past.b) Set the scene.Create a space that naturally makes you want to write, write and write some more. If you try to create content in a bland room that puts you to sleep, you aren’t going to feel motivated. If you sit down on the couch to write content for your blog/website and the television serves as a constant distraction, you aren’t going to get anything done.Or your content may lack the pizazz that it needs. If you work in an office, set up your desk space in a way that makes you feel comfortable and inspired. If you are writing content at home, create a space for writing that really works for you.c) Have a daily/monthly schedule.It is common in the content marketing world for writers and content specialists to have a monthly schedule. On this schedule, bulk content is split up between the various days of the month, allowing for some free days, just in case. If you have a schedule to stick to, it makes the workload more manageable.At the end of each day, read through the list of tasks and content you are expected to focus on the next day. This helps to mentally prepare for what’s coming. While some content marketing teams use Excel spreadsheets to schedule work, others make use of scheduling apps, such as Asana and Google Calendar.3) When Productive Copywriters Get on a Roll, They Keep Going.If a pro copywriter has 5 blogs to write and is getting things done at a rapid pace 4) Brilliant Copywriters Know How to Harvest Content Ideas.One of the biggest tasks of a copywriter is coming up with content ideas. With no ideas, it can be hard to breeze through the workload. If a copywriter is provided with a broad list of concepts and keywords and has to come up with their own titles and subtitles for a post, it can become tough. The most productive copywriters are always on the lookout for great content ideas. No one wants to read the same old content just reworked over and over. Just as much as consumers want to read something new and interesting, copywr iters want to write it.With that in mind, where do copywriters find their content and where should you look for new and interesting content ideas that really pique the interest of your specific target audience? Where to get great content ideas is one of the secrets that most content specialists keep to themselves.Below are a few great places to start:Your customers. Yep! You actually need to read your customer feedback and see what sorts of questions are being asked. Answer those questions with your content!Customer complaints. Some customers leave complaints with online reviews, social media posts, and comments, or directly to your phone or email. You can use these complaints to your advantage by writing content that clarifies issues, provides how-to advice and generally answers all the questions unhappy customers might have.Online polls. Use your social media pages and your website to find out what your target audience wants to hear about.Check out the searches done on the website or blog being promoted. When browsers visit a website, they type certain words and phrases into the search boxes. There should be a record of these searches for you to take a look at. A lot of the searches will provide some great topics for new content.Investigate your social media followers. No, this isn’t nearly as creepy as it sounds. You don’t want to “troll” anyone, but you kind of do. Use your follower’s list to click through to your supporter’s profiles to see what they are talking about and what they are sharing. This can provide some great content ideas.Read through the blog comments on competitors’ posts and the posts of other relevant industry professionals. When a consumer reads a blog, they will leave comments in support of it or asking more questions and commenting on things they disagree with. This can provide content idea gold for content marketing teams.Check what people are searching for on Google. There are over 6 billion searches carried out on Goo gle each and every day. Some of those searches are bound to be relevant to your industry and business. You can use various apps to see what people are searching for.eval5) Great Copywriters Know the Power of Short Breaks.The most productive copywriters out there know when to take a short break. Even if the workload is heavy and the hours of the day seem to be stretching well past 5 o’clock, a strategic break is absolutely essential to overall productivity. A copywriter who wants to be as productive as possible will take a walk away from the computer at least every hour. It isn’t a long walk, but just a break from the intensity of the job and a few moments to stretch, relieve tension in the body, and then get back to work is a game-changer.How to take short breaks effectively:Get up, stretch and walk away from the computer/desk.Make a cup of tea/coffee or enjoy a glass of cool water.Take a few deep breaths and even a few stretches to relax and relieve tense muscles.Ensure that yo u do not check your email, talk about work, or get yourself involved in additional work during this break.6) The Most Product Copywriters Create a Strategy Before Writing.If you have ever watched a professional copywriter hard at work, you might wonder how they manage to just keep whacking away at the keyboard as if their brain is just filled with knowledge. That’s not really the case. A seasoned copywriter knows the importance of creating a strategy for a piece of content before working on it. How can you do this? Well, it’s fairly simple…evalFirst, jot down your content title and brainstorm for a minute or two.Write down every possible subheading you can include in your piece. Head over to Google and do a search on the topic. Check out the “people also ask” section on the Google search result to get some additional sub-section ideas to add to your piece.Now it’s time to start the layout.On the screen, in the editor of your choice, place the main title and the subtitles in the order that you feel they should be featured. If you have any ideas while you are doing this for each section, make a quick note under each of the subheadings.And voila â€" you are not ready to start writing the “meat” of the content piece. This greatly simplifies and speeds up the writing process.ConclusionIf you are looking for a copywriter, the habits above are a good starting point when recruiting.If you are handling your own copywriting or writing content for someone else, incorporating the abovementioned habits of productive copywriters can really help you to “up your game”!

How to Find Legitimate Work at Home Opportunities

How to Find Legitimate Work at Home Opportunities Insider Tips for Finding the Best Remote Jobs    The evolution of technology has made work-from-home jobs more and more common. Thanks to apps, tools and platforms like Google Hangouts, Skype, and Slack, many companies run successful businesses in which employees work-from-home, from co-working spaces in different cities, or from anywhere with good  WiFi  and a decent environment.     Ten years ago, a search for “work from home (WFH)” jobs would more likely lead you to a scam artist than to a legitimate opportunity. Today, the landscape has totally changed but have your job search tactics changed along with it? Work from home, remote opportunities are out there you just need to know where, and how, to look. Alison Doyle, founder and CEO of  CareerToolBelt.com, is a “FlexWork” expert and offers these tips for finding flex and remote job opportunities.   1 Remember these keywords â€" “completely distributed” or “100% distributed company” and search for them.      Research “completely distributed” or “100% distributed” companies, and you’ll find a list of organizations that don’t even have a main office. Their employees work from different locations all around the world.     While many of these businesses are start-ups, others are established, medium and large companies and all offer remote employment opportunities. Bookmark their “Careers” pages and check in regularly.   2 Use job search engines dedicated to WFH jobs.     Though you can always search the mainstream engines with the keyword “work from home,” job search engines like  FlexJobs  are teeming with remote opportunities and are vetted to ensure the quality and the legitimacy of the position. FlexJobs  especially is a great resource to find telecommuting positions with established companies like Aetna, Amazon, Microsoft, Dell and many more, whereas  WeWorkRemotely  tends to focus more on the start-up, tech scene.   3 Tap your local market.      In some cases, employers are more willing to hire remote or work-from-home staff if they know that their employees are physically accessible if absolutely necessary. This is especially true with freelance or contract positions. Filter local listings with keywords like “remote,” “flexible location,” or “work-from-home.”     If the listing doesn’t specify a location and the job sounds like it could be done remotely, you could always ask if remote work is an option. Though keep in mind, this could jeopardize your chances of getting the job, so if you really want the job regardless of whether or not WFH is allowed, it may be best to hold off on the question.   4 Search niche career sites. You’d be surprised by how much traction you’ll get by searching niche sites that focus on specific fields. On  Idealist.org, a non-profit employment opportunity website, you can find multiple work from home, flexible location jobs and you can filter specifically for these positions. MediaBistro.com  also offers the option to search for WFH jobs, as does  GoodFoodJobs.com, and many others.  Angel.co, which is a job search engine for start-ups, is another great place to look.   5 Don’t just job search from home build (and tap into) your network.     When it comes to work from home job opportunities, networking and referrals are more important than ever. After all, an employer has to have more trust established at the outset than they would if their employees were co-located and could be supervised at an office. Tap into your network and try to find out if you have any connections to companies that hire work from home or remote employees. If you live in a city, keep your eyes open for work from home networking events.     You might even consider buying a day pass to job search from a co- working space, where you are bound to meet entrepreneurs, employees and other people in a flexible work situation.   6 Be smart about how you use freelance sites.      If you’re looking for freelance work, it’s very easy to find work from home, remote gigs. In the freelance economy, that’s generally how the workplace works. The downside is that these may not be continuous opportunities and may not pay well. Of course, this depends on your field, but since many of these jobs are easily outsourced, they do not offer great compensation. However, if you search specifically for ongoing or contract-based positions, you’ll have better luck. If you land a client you particularly jive with, nurture that relationship as it could evolve into a more permanent position in the future. Join Dana  Manciagli’s  Job Search Master Class  now  and get the most comprehensive job search system available! #JSMC #careeradvice  #flexwork  #workathome  #freelancing  @AlisonDoyle  @DanaManciagli

Resume Writing For Teaching Jobs

Resume Writing For Teaching JobsWriting a resume for a teaching job is a relatively easy task to undertake. However, when it comes to the contents and information on a resume there are some things that need to be given more attention.In simpler terms, this article will be about how to write a resume for a teaching job. Now, just like any other type of job, teaching jobs also require you to have some basic things about yourself. As such, this article will be about how to write a resume for a teaching job based on the contents of your resume.Now that we know that there are many aspects to a teaching job, I will first give you a general idea of what kind of qualifications and skills you should have for this type of job. As an example, if you're applying for a job as a personal assistant at a bar, then you should have a good knowledge of the principles involved in psychology. In other words, you should have experience in psychology. Also, if you want to apply for a teaching job, then you should have a good degree in the subject of teaching. The point here is that, no matter what the position, you should always have some basic knowledge about the subject.Moreover, it's best that you would have some experience with different fields of study. For example, if you're applying for a teaching job, then you should have some knowledge of a few subjects in the science or social sciences. You should also have a basic understanding of history. Again, this doesn't mean that you have to be an expert on every field of study, but at least you should have some general knowledge of them.Of course, if you already have this general knowledge, then I suggest that you should take advantage of the time and resources that will be provided to you in applying for the teaching job. However, ifyou don't have the knowledge, then the only other thing you can do is to take courses on the subject of teaching. But of course, this isn't something that you should do unless you already have a good de gree in the subject.Then, in order to have more time to do some learning, make sure that you don't choose the teaching job that comes with the most teaching hours. In other words, when you're applying for a teaching job, be sure that you're applying for the one that gives you the least amount of teaching hours.Lastly, make sure that you do the research and read up on the right resume format for the teaching job that you're applying for. In other words, if you're applying for a teaching job that requires a PhD, then you should prepare a PhD resume. It's important that you look for a teaching resume format that will fit you.Indeed, writing a resume for a teaching job is quite easy. Just remember that, since it's a teaching job, your main goal should be to help the employer to get his job done.