Simply Hired Blog

4 Ways to Set Yourself Apart from the Competition

In a world where thousands are competing for the same job you are, marketing yourself well could make all the difference. Although your education and background play an important part of the hiring process, having interpersonal talents could guarantee the desired position. In a sense, you are trying to sell yourself and your skills to a prospective employer. Hiring managers need to know how you will become an asset to their organization.

1. The Resume -

Your resume should be a single page outlining your skills and abilities for the position in question. Many of us have worked so many different jobs that the resume could look more like a short novella. The hiring staff only wants the information pertinent to the position. If you worked part-time and a fast food restaurant and are applying for a technology position, it can be left out without damaging your chances. Of course, many hiring managers will ask about the time in between jobs. This is when you inform them of the part-time work.

It is best to think of the resume as a data sheet of your abilities. At a glance, the hiring manager wants to be able to see if you are a worthy candidate or not without having to sift through all of the information. Keep the wording to a minimum and outline your skills in plain English. 

2. Confidence -

As it can alter many aspects of your life, confidence can be a great boon to have. However, too much confidence can lead to conceit. Having pride in yourself is one thing, but too much of it can make you come off as annoying and undesirable. If you have the skills and knowledge in the position in question, take pride in that aspect. Keep your answers to the point in an interview and mind your wording. There is a fine line between confidence and conceit and your sentence structure could make you seem more like one over the other.

3. Honesty or Opinions -

During an interview, honesty is always the best policy. Truthful answers are always more preferred to than simply blowing smoke. Many hiring managers can tell the difference simply by how the interviewee presents themselves during questioning. 

Try to keep you opinions to a minimum unless the interviewer has asked you for one. To some organizations, a person that is too opinionated could present a problem with authority later on. Keep your answers to the point and truthful and you will do fine.

4. Describing Yourself -

During the interview, you may be asked to describe some of your personal traits and work ethics. Even if there are areas in your life that you don't excel in, admitting to them can keep an interviewer's interest peaked. Explaining why those areas are not ideal to your own personal views and how you are taking steps to overcome them can score well during the interview. This shows the hiring manager that you're willing to accept responsibility for your actions and are taking measures to improve on them.

Give yourself praise when it's warranted, but don't be over-dramatic when explaining them. Remember, there is a fine line between confidence and conceit. Be confident in your abilities and explain how you would be an asset to the organization.

You don't have to lie to your prospective employers in order to score well with them. Most of the time they can see right through it and others would rather accept an "I don't know" answer rather than have someone outright lie to them. Your skills and knowledge are your greatest assets and having people skills can be greatly beneficial. When all is said and done, take a look at your accomplishments and see for yourself what sets you apart from the competition.

Paul and his wife Julie both spend quite a bit of time coming up with ideas, blogging, and researching all things related to childcare. They take care of all the necessary information related to www.babysittingjobs.com. He personally think his blog will help finding information on all things related to a babysitter. 

Top 20 Resume Writing Mistakes

Writing a resume may not be the most exciting document you will ever produce, but it could be one of the most important. It is your opportunity to introduce yourself to a prospective employer and demonstrate why you would be the ideal candidate to help the employer solve a problem by filling a need.

To present yourself in the best possible light, you will want to avoid the top 20 resume writing mistakes listed here.

1.  No clear objective statement

Tell the employer exactly what kind of job you are looking for by using a specific category or job title. Don't make the hiring manager guess at what you mean.

2. Not specific to the position you are applying for

The days of sending out general resumes are gone. The resume should be written so that it clearly indicates how your skills and abilities fit the position the employer is looking to fill. 

3.  Resume is not well organized

Make sure your resume contains the information that is most important to the reader set out front and center. Job titles should take precedence over dates. Unless you are a new grad, focus on writing your work experience first.

4.  Failure to showcase your most important skills

A hiring manager may only have time to skim over your resume before making a decision about whether to discard it or put in the pile of candidates who warrant further consideration. Don't make him or her hunt for the details about what makes you special.

5.  Taking up too much space writing about old jobs

If you worked somewhere 15 years ago, the experience may not be relevant for a position you are applying for today.

6.  Boring, cookie cutter template

While you shouldn't make your resume "out there," you can put a bit of imagination into it to make it your own.

7.  Writing with typos and grammatical errors

Your resumes should be letter perfect before you submit it to a potential employer. Make a point of going over it several times before you apply for any jobs. It may be helpful to have a friend review it as well.

8.  Fails to focus on accomplishments

The resume should focus on the results you were able to achieve for your employer instead of your job description. Include examples of how you were able to help the company increase revenue or save money, save time, or increase its customer base if you want to impress a potential employer. 

9.  Writing a resume that does not include keywords

A number of employers will use an electronic database to store applicants' resumes. Including keywords in your resume increases the likelihood yours will come up in a search when the hiring manager is ready to search for candidates for a particular position.

10.  Including a photograph or your birth date

This type of personal information should not be included on your resume. Employers cannot discriminate against you based on your age or ethnic background. This information would be apparent if you included a head shot or shared your date of birth.

11.  Limiting the resume to a single page

People who have been working for a few years (or longer) should have enough work history to fill more than one page of a resume. Two pages is standard for someone who has been working for over five years.

12.  Listing distracting facts that don't have anything to do with the job

You can list awards you have won on your resume, but make sure they will present you as a stellar candidate. If they don't relate the to job you are applying for, you are probably best to leave them off the resume.

13.  Choosing an unbusinesslike font

Keep the look for your resume clear and concise. This not the place to get artistic, unless you are applying for a position with a graphic design firm. You want to present yourself as a serious candidate for a position with a company. Stick to basic fonts only.

14.  Listing an inappropriate e-mail address

Your name@gmail.com is always an appropriate choice. Cutesy names are not a good choice when you are looking for a job.

15.  Writing about hobbies and extracurricular activities

A prospective employer may not be interested in what you do outside of work. Depending on how you like to spend your time, you also run the risk of offending the hiring manager before you get a chance at an interview.

16.  Listing your high school on your resume

Unless you are still in high school, you probably shouldn't include this information. List where you went to college or any vocational training you completed, though.

17.  Leaving lots of blank space on your resume.

Fill in the blanks with volunteer work or leadership positions you have held if you are looking for a first job. Don't submit one that only lists your education and employment objective.

18.  Inaccuracies in job titles and other details

Before you submit your resume, make sure that the details match your LinkedIn profile and your past employer's job titles, etc.

19.  Not customizing your resume for the position

Sending a generic resume will not impress a hiring manager. Take the time to customize it and make it fit the position you are applying for.

20.  Using a big font

This makes it look like you are shouting at the reader. Stick to a normal size font in your writing and focus on filling the page with great content about what makes you a stellar candidate instead.

Justin Maynard is a university professor and freelance essay writing specialist at Writemyessay4me. 

Beginning A Path: Three Stories of Career Change

Change drives not just businesses but all aspects of our personal and professional lives. Yet, we fear change. We prefer the security of our established lives and acquire great satisfaction in being able to control the overall shape and destiny of our future. Despite our aversion for change, unforeseen events and our own actions lead us in new directions and nudge us to explore previously uncharted frontiers -- often victoriously, though not always.

In this post, I will share three stories of change in the professional lives of three individuals. Their determination made all the difference.

A different mindset yields fulfilling results

Jane had grown accustomed to her consulting practice. She enjoyed the comforts of an enviable salary, comprehensive benefits, and a steady career growth. Despite the seemingly “I-would-steal-for-that-job” career path, she wasn’t truly happy with the work she was doing. Monday mornings were a drag. After doing a few coaching sessions, Jane came to the conclusion that although she needed the salary, she was sacrificing her passion for entrepreneurship.

Unable to give up the security of her excellent workplace, she had to seek another alternative. Jane decided to reorient her mindset and approach her work differently, as opposed to seeking a different career.

She adopted the attitude of a “business-within-the-business” and started doing her work as if she was a small business owner offering her consulting services to her employer. The new work style motivated her tremendously and she started engaging in extensive professional development and constant analysis. She started asking herself: “What is the ROI my employer gains from the salary given to me?” “How can I improve the ROI?” She was constantly trying to make the workplace better. Within weeks she started generating new programs, ideas, and strategies, one of which clicked with her employer.

She was promoted to a new role within a few months. She was to head a new division and the position would allow her to live her dream of being a business owner while at the same time enjoying the comfort and security of her job.

By reprogramming her mindset she was able to gain the fulfillment she was looking for and also drive her destiny in a new direction. 

Identify goals to move to the next level

Phil was a business analyst at a leading pharmaceutical giant. While his work was helping him make ends meet, he wasn’t really growing in his career. Since almost three years, he had not progressed. The stagnation appeared to be a major cause of dissatisfaction at work.

After much soul-searching he realized that he was not working toward a clearly-defined goal. He had left the promotion decision to his employers who had no idea what he wanted.

Further introspection revealed that Phil was passionate about brand management. Now that he knew what his interest was, he developed a clear plan to achieve that goal -- a detailed roadmap with small baby steps that were to be achieved within three years.

Phil voluntarily started taking brand management classes, offered to work with a mentor in brand management (on his own time), collaborated with the brand team on ad hoc projects, and started initial discussions with potential brand management teams. He revamped his resume with a clear brand management focus and pitched his proposal to a senior director. Under his instructions, Phil participated in numerous branding projects while at his lower position. After nearly two years of hard work, he moved up to a brand management role and eventually landed a new job at a global biotech firm.

Networking facilitates success

It is very difficult to accomplish any task single-handedly, but if you have a strong team of supporters and wonderful allies, change is easy.

Amy realized this at the beginning of her journalism career. To achieve her goal of becoming a journalist, she joined a trade association and started volunteering at the association. From meetings to events, she was omnipresent. Her participation in industry events, constant online networking, and extensive collaboration with peers within her industry helped build a strong rolodex of top decision makers. If she didn’t know a key person, she at least knew someone who knew that executive.

She soon landed an internship at her dream company and eventually became a full time journalist.

Networking was a major change for an otherwise shy Amy. It meant pushing her boundaries a little and extending her reach beyond her comfort zone. The results were very encouraging, though.

Nimish Thakkar is the CEO of DontSpendMore.com, a site that helps consumers save hundreds of dollars every month, and the owner of ResumeCorner.com.

Improve your Employability with a Foreign Language

Foreign language skills can improve the employability of a candidate significantly, even if the desired job does not specifically require a second language as a skill. The possession of a foreign language represents the ability to dedicate oneself to an endeavour and also exhibits a wide range of skills such as analytical ability.  

Why is that so? 

In today's global economy, the demand for potential employees to possess alternate language skills is higher than ever before, as an increasing number of foreign governments maintain their relationships, expand businesses opportunities and pursue international development. This phenomenon is not simply the reserve of large businesses as those of a smaller scale branch out into multilingual enterprises in an effort to increase revenue.

In this context a particular focus is placed on an employee’s soft skills (interpersonal communication skills, etiquette, negotiation skills etc.) as it is these skills that, when combined with a foreign language, make for a successful multilingual business enterprise. This is because knowing how to speak a foreign language is not a guarantee of successful business technique and does not ensure that the customer invest their trust. Instead a myriad of interpersonal skills become necessary as, just in a native language, if you speak in a wooden and awkward way and frequently need the customer to reiterate their concerns and requests they will very quickly lose respect and trust. This ultimately would lead to the loss of business or at least reduced opportunity.

What languages ​​are useful?

Basically, any foreign language can improve the employability of a candidate if they can display the ability to communicate effectively, naturally and confidently with business partners and customers. Many countries, such as Germany, teach English from an early age and encourage the students to retain their skills for future use in the wider world. Having the pre-existing ability to speak English is a valuable asset for foreign business candidates as it allows them to easily perform courses such as Business English in order to improve their ability to communicate in corporate terms.  

Many foreign languages are considered as holding more employability than others due to the relative rarity of a candidate possessing them as well as the level of intricacy the language holds. A great example of this variety of language is Japanese; as it possess an entirely different set of characters/symbols to the Latin script most westerners are familiar with (3 main scripts to be precise). In this sense, possessing a foreign language can be seen as a unique selling point and may provide a critical edge against potential competitors – regardless of whether or not they actually use the language you possess.

It may be beneficial to target employers that have enterprises related to the languages you know. For example, an engineering firm with projects in England and France would most likely look upon you as a much more valuable asset to the company if you possessed French as a second language than if you did not.

How languages ​​can be learned? 

A much larger emphasis is being placed on second languages in England, with educational reforms promised by Education Secretary Michael Gove to include the provision of second language lessons from the age of seven. This marks a move away from the tradition of teaching languages at secondary schools and illustrates the acceptance of a child’s increased ability to absorb some forms of information at an early age. This notion is not new however, with many European countries significantly lowering the age that pupils begin to learn a language. Some, such as Spain and Belgium, have dramatically lowered the age to three years old in a bid to equip their citizens with a vital tool both in social and occupational pursuits.

As adults, however, the options are still wide and freely available to those dedicated to learning a language. There are a plethora of second language courses and night classes for anyone wishing to expand their language skills, many of which offer employer recognised certification.

One great way of learning a language or building upon the knowledge you already possess is to immerse yourself in the culture of the language and absorb it over time. Studies have shown that when cut off from speakers of your native tongue you are much more likely to begin picking up phrases and developing an ‘ear’ for the new language. Immersing yourself in another culture is also a great way of absorbing certain elements of a language and culture that cannot be fully taught in a classroom. An example of this situation is that in Germany it is considered to be rude if you ask indirect questions because they are considered to be misleading or unclear. An English example of a direct question is “Where is the toilet?”, whereas the indirect version is “Could you tell me where the nearest toilet is?”. The indirect question, whilst appearing more polite in English, could imply that the recipient is unable to assist or not authoritative in their field. The example given may seem arbitrary and unlikely to offend anyone, but in the business sphere this could reap serious consequences by implying that your colleagues or business partners are unable to perform their jobs or are unfit for their tasks.

Retaining learned languages

If you have a language or are in the process of learning one then do not squander it later in life by neglecting it! This valuable tool can be forgotten in the same way as nursery rhymes from our childhood are pushed to the back of our minds and eventually forgotten, only to be remembered in snippets. You must continue to practice your skill as much as possible in order to keep it fresh and useful to you. Just imagine getting a job interview and stating you possess a language skill that you learnt several years ago only to be quizzed on the language! 

This article has been written by Matt Chappell on behalf of iCarhireinsurance.com. Matt regularly writes about employability issues and currently enjoys learning French as a hobby.

How To Finally Reach Your Peak

At the beginning of December, my 13-year-old daughter told me that she wanted to switch to a private prep school after Winter Break.  The alternative school she was attending was no longer challenging her and she wanted more structure – a place where she could feel a sense of accomplishment.

After a few days at her new school, she told me how happy she was and that she felt that it was the perfect fit.  I asked her about friends. She told me that she found some great girls to hang out with and that they were not in the “popular group.” 

I had been in the popular group in high school.  I was a cheerleader and dated jocks.  As hard as I tried, I always felt outside of the circle.  It was a huge distraction from my schoolwork to try to keep up the façade of someone who was cool and confident.  I wasn’t a mean girl, so I was often the one who got “the treatment.” 

My daughter and I discussed the pros and cons of being popular in middle school and high school and we concluded that it was not the time to hit your peak.  It was only the beginning of a long journey – one where the early years should be about creating a strong foundation for all that was to come along. 

I’ve peaked three times in my life.  The first time was in college when I was president of my sorority.  The second time was in the mid-90’s when I was mentored by the legendary Brandon Tartikoff and branded new networks for Sony Pictures Television in Asia.  The third peak in my life is happening right now. 

How did I once again get to the top of the mountain after being in a valley?  I decided to wake up every morning feeling excited about the day ahead. I trusted that I was being supported and loved by something greater than me.  As a result, opportunities just flow to me without me pushing.  Here are five ways you can reach your peak:

1. Write a vision statement and use it as a North Start to guide your career. My vision is “To be the most sought after authority on brand creation and reinvention.”
2. Don’t let your circumstances define who you are.  Know that whatever is going on in your life is happening for you, not to you.
3. Wake up every morning with gratitude in your heart. Thank the Universe for three things in your life that are a blessing.  Enjoy being where you are.
4. Put yourself out there.  Network with intention.  Tell everyone in your sphere of influence your mission and vision for your career and ask for their support.
5. Say YES to opportunity.  Follow-up the day you are asked or feel interest.  Don’t put up roadblocks or come up with excuses.  Read the signs.  Just go for it. 

Whether you peaked early or late in your career, make that climb again without longing – only the satisfaction of knowing you deserve to be at the top.    

Robin Fisher Roffer, founder and CEO of Big Fish Marketing, is America's leading personal brand strategist for executive level career professionals. She's the best selling author of 3 books including The Fearless Fish Out Of Water: How To Succeed When You're The Only One Like You. Discover Robin's secret formula for igniting your career with a personal brand at 8 Steps To Igniting Your Personal Brand.