Advanced LinkedIn Job Search Strategies

Many professionals understand the importance of LinkedIn in your job search and how to start pursuing job opportunities using this professional networking platform. Once you have these basics under your belt, you are ready to move forward to more advanced LinkedIn job search strategies listed below.

Note: Even if you are not actively seeking an opportunity right now, following these tips for branding yourself and increasing your visibility and credibility across your network will only advance you further in your career and prepare you when it is time for a new opportunity or career change.

1. Brand Yourself: It is essential that you know your unique value and communicate it effectively. To do this, identify your top three to five overlapping strengths that you feel will support your desired career direction. Now create/find a word or phrase that can become your personal brand and that represents these strengths. Develop a short pitch that can follow your brand, describing your strengths in more detail. Most importantly, feature your personal brand in your Profile Header and both your brand and your supporting pitch in your Profile Summary.

Pro Secrets - Your Sales Resume Objective

If you're in sales, there's good new and bad news. The bad news is evident in the daily headlines: unemployment 10%. Consumer spending down. Plant closings. Layoffs. The good news? You're in sales. Generally speaking, anyone who can drive money to a company will be safe during a recession. That axiom isn't bulletproof: if sales are down far enough, and your company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, all bets are off. Then there's the competition. If you think you can deliver sales to a company, there are 100 people in the wings who are saying they can do it even better.

Bottom line: if you're looking for a job in sales, your resume has to sell you to a cynical audience - recruiters and hiring officials who have heard it all and seen it all on paper. Your first shot at making a good first impression is...

5 LinkedIn Status Updates You Can Post Right Now

How awesome are LinkedIn Status Updates!? The opportunity to speak directly to your network is incredibly powerful, but sadly, still underused. Your LinkedIn network is made up of professionals who have opted-in to you, but if you don't share anything, they can't stay informed. They want to know what's going on in your professional world, and they are looking to you for information that can help them.

"But I don't know what to share!" I hear that all of the time when I'm coaching and training individuals on how to make the most of their networking on LinkedIn. So let's get tactical. Here are five different posts you can use immediately:

1. Tell your network about a professional event you attended.

Whether it's a conference, continuing education forum, or networking reception, tell your network where you are spending your time and what you are getting out of your activities.

I had great conversations and learned some new ideas at the 2013 International RockStar Conference!

Six Tips For A Better Engineering Resume

One of the most key elements of success in a job search is the resume and the engineering resume can often be one of the more difficult documents to develop. The engineering resume is the engineering job seeker’s primary marketing document that sells the product – the skills and experience of the engineer. To be effective, an engineering resume must grab the attention of the reader in 35-45 seconds. A good engineeringresume will extend that attention span to over a minute. A successful resume will prompt the reader to contact the job seeker. In effect, the success of the job search revolves around the effectiveness of the first step – the resume.

No one knows your background and experience better than you. Most engineers can get the basics of their projects and experience down on paper in a sensible fashion. What most engineers who write their ownresumes have difficulty with is making that sell to the reader. Here are six tips to help you make your engineering resume sell.

Chronological Vs Functional Resumes, Which To Choose?

Your resume is a marketing tool that should effectively sell your skills, experience, and educational qualifications to prospective employers. When developing your resume, there are two different types of resume formats you should consider: a chronological resume and a functional resume. Your decision to choose one format over another should be dependent on your career background and personal circumstances. The ultimate decision will be based on that format that allows you to most effectively present your qualifications.

Chronological Resumes

Q. What is a chronological resume?

A. In a chronological resume format, your employment experience history is organized in reverse chronological order so that your most recent job position is listed first. This type of format emphasizes your job titles and employers, as well as your dates of employment with each employer. Your responsibilities and accomplishments should be described in detail for each individual position.

Making your Resume Visible

By Pat Cann

There's a heap of 100 resumes sitting in the Human Resources Office. What's the difference that pushes a selected resume to the top of the pile and finally into the interviewing procedure? That's a truly good question. With so many folk applying for a similar position, making a great resume can feel very challenging. So how do you make your resume truly stand out?

Start by making yourself a real person. Call about an opening ahead of time and have two of good questions readied. Chatting to the recruiter and showing active interest is a neat method for folk to recollect you when they open the post. Just do not forget to call at a point when things should be comparatively calm - i.e. Not first thing on Monday, nor late afternoon on Friday. Email works in a similar fashion. You do not want your message sitting in the middle of lots of other messages and just getting lost in the fray.

How to End a Cover Letter?

If you want to find out how to end a cover letter, you need to be sure about your objective of writing. A cover letter is your marketing tool to bring home the one result you most desire: The job interview! To achieve your desired result, you need to conclude your letter by asking clearly and directly for the job interview.

Does your letter effectively ASK for the job interview?

If you answered no, remember this fact: A job-search letter that clearly and directly asks for the job interview will beat the socks off one that does not.

So how exactly do you ASK for the job interview?

There are 4 ways to effectively ask for the job interview while ending a cover letter.

For maximum effect, use these examples as the final paragraph.

Here are 4 examples of how to end a cover letter by asking for an interview.

Elements of a Good Cover Letter

No matter how stellar your resume might be, it should always come with its partner: the cover letter. And if your resume is really as good as it can get, then your cover letter should also be of similar caliber.

The cover letter is the formal expression of a job seeker's intent to work for a particular company through a particular position. It is the first method of correspondence between the applicant and the company so it is really a very important document. On the other end, when the companies open their emails and/ or go through physical applications, it will also be the first point of reference. In it, the applicant is expected to introduce himself, present himself fit for the vacant position and he must also let the company feel like they need him for the job.

A cover letter has five main parts: the Recipient (and his/her information), Salutation, Body, Closing Remarks and the Signature. Actually it takes on the form of any other formal letter; only, this one has a distinct use.

How to explain gaps in your resume ?

By Penelope Labram

Having a gap in your resume is no rarity. Plenty of people take time off at one stage or another, be it to care for someone else, go travelling or plenty of other worthwhile projects. It can even be an advantage.

When writing your resume, however, it’s important to present the gaps in your career in the right way. You don’t want to make a big deal of the situation, but at the same time you should avoid giving your recruiters the impression you have something to hide. Here’s some advice:

1)  For short gaps, change dates on your CV to years and not months.

In all likeliness, your future employer will not be too worried about a gap in your work history that only spans a short time. You can detract attention away from it, however, by writing your CV in the following format. For example:

5 Keys to a Strong Leadership Resume for Medical Affairs, Biotech, or R and D

Planning to leverage your business, clinical, and scientific expertise to pursue an executive position in medical affairs, R&D, or biotechnology? A compelling resume for these fields has evolved far beyond a list of technical skills and hands-on roles.

Instead, you'll need to prove your skill in bridging the gap among medical teams, executives, commercialization leaders, and marketing interests, incorporating a clear message of industry acumen and effectiveness (as well as revenue results).

Attract employers in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, biotech, or medical device industries by incorporating these elements into your leadership resume:

1 - Your strategic leadership capabilities.

Medical affairs or R&D executives, particularly Vice Presidents, combine commercial-side business meetings with a charter to supervise research strategy, manage clinical studies, and validate scientific claims supporting specific products.

How to Write a Resume for an Internal Job

What else would you want than to write a perfect a resume and post it so that you get amazing response? It's better to write a resume for an internal job yourself in the correct way and reap the benefits you want.

Remember you can only post a resume when you have followed the protocol and make it of apt use. If you are thinking that you shall decorate your resume on colored paper and make it "look" attractive, then trust me, it wouldn't work out.

The recruiters there are only interested to know what you have to offer through your work experience and qualifications. When you make a precise and to the point resume upload it on resume distributing sites and get your resume posted to multiple sites in a jiffy!

Your know-how

Well, first writing a resume is pretty easy, but what you have to ensure is to make it to the point and not seem preachy or bragging. Elaborate only on those criteria which require description and make your job profile suited to the requirements asked. Keep your Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) short and precise. You should always use the OF-612 format to write a resume and make the title always catchy and attractive.

Want To Know How To Get A Job? Read This

By Jan Brightley

It is possible to find employment, no matter what the economy. By following certain steps, you can find jobs that you are interested in and be hired for one that matches your skill set. Continue reading for some great tips and tricks for getting the job of your dreams.

Make sure you are properly dressed for your interview, even if the potential job is one that doesn't require dressing well. You will still impress the interview if you dress to impress.

Consider continuing education. At times, discovering the job you want requires that you expand your skills. If you don't want to stay in the same job forever, it is essential that you learn and grow. You can locate numerous classes online that can help you learn about new things during a time that works for your schedule.

Research any company that you plan on interviewing with. Demonstrating some personal initiative to learn more about the company can be very impressive to an interviewer. Often strategies like this can give you a leg up on other applicants. This helps you to stand out, increasing your chances of landing the job.

Watch your purchases if you're self-employed. Keep your receipts in the event that you might be able to use them at tax time. Getting organized can help you plan your finances.

What Your Resume Should Have For a Project Manager Post?

Project manager is quite a demanding post because regular reports and updates regarding the project should be forwarded to the client. Aside from that, the project manager is also responsible for the manufacture, production, quality, and sales of the products. Furthermore, relationship with the people you will lead is also a big factor for a successful output. Therefore, wanting the position is one but creating a resume for such an application is partly the key for you to get the chance of getting it.

Firstly, your resume should start with your personal information. In here, your complete name, complete address, and contact numbers should be placed. An e-mail address would also be helpful especially now that more business matters are transacted online. This will serve as the heading of your resume.

Make Your Resume Killer-Proof

How to avoid mistakes that fold your resume into a paper airplane and get them shot out of the job search.

The job market world is awash with resumes. You can't afford to accidentally get yours shot down in flames. Here's what Recruiters and Hiring Managers say are instant resume killers; their reaction to them; and why they take an immediate pass on resumes with these preventable mistakes. You need to arm yourself against these killers.

Resume Killer #1 - Difficult to read: busy, dense, long, poor font, no bullets, burying good information in the resume; using the wrong resume format for the candidate's experience

Hiring Manager Reaction - Why bother, I've got plenty easier to read

Quick Fix: Plan what you want to say in your resume and then plan how to best format it prioritizing your information and using bold, bullets, brief paragraphs

Resume Killer #2 - Critical information missing or inaccurate resume experience

How to Tailor Your Resume to What the Employer Wants

When you are one of hundreds of resumes to be reviewed, most recruiters and hiring managers only spend about an initial 30 - 60 seconds on each resume.  If they don't see what they are looking for in that time, they will move on to the next resume.  If, however, you provide information that is easy to decipher right at the start of your resume, they are more likely to continue reading about your background.  The key is to provide the right information in an easy to read format.

Let's face it, it's convenient for you to maintain only one resume and shoot it off to every position which you see on the internet. But what if you're doing yourself a disservice?  By taking a few moments to tailor your resume to what the employer wants you could get yourself noticed and get your foot in the door. 

First of all, print out a copy of the job description that is posted for the position.  In the job requirements section of the description, highlight the specific requirements.  Here is an example for a Software Engineer:

How To Make a Career Change After Age 50!

Make your career change after age 50 happen with the right career change strategies.

Every day individuals over age 50 are making successful career changes. So what you thought might be impossible, could be a relatively easy transition. The critical factor to get right is a well thought out and researched career plan. This will make the career change, quicker and as smooth as possible. We are all living longer so a midlife career change could result in working in a new career 20 years or longer. It could be a much easier journey if you were working in a career that you enjoyed and were challenged by the every day activities of the job.

The fastest growing job hunting group are the candidates over age 50. The smart employers have learned they benefit greatly by hiring reliable, hard-working and experienced people beyond age 50. So although the present employment climate is not the best, mid-career candidates have a range of advantages over the younger candidate. If you carefully analyze your skills you'll find many are transferable to other unrelated careers. Leadership, project management, team building, communication, skills in operating computer related systems and software, budgeting, marketing and customer service are just some of the transferable skills that you will find are desirable qualifications in changing to another career.

Guidelines to Write an Airline Resume

Airline industry is a vast industry that opens a huge gateway to exciting and rewarding career opportunities. It offers employment to a huge number of people with an assurance of growth and excitement.

The industry requires various personnel for different needs and post. Good number of personnel is required for ground service for controlling traffic, crewing, monitoring performance, planning routes, managing the entry and exit of passengers, and also for ensuring smooth operations of the aircraft. Then for flight crew workforce is required in the form of training captain, co-pilot, flight engineer, and command pilot. Further to that, there are people needed as flight attendants, aircraft engineers, cargo managers, air traffic controllers, marketing personnel, catering manager, aircraft cleaner, aircraft manufacturer, and the list goes on.

With so many open options to a lucrative career opportunity, many are entering the world of airlines. If you too wish to enter the field in search of a rewarding career, then start up with an effective airline resume.

How to Write a Great Career Change Resume

Are you on the market for a new job? Looking to switch industries? The most important step in the career planning process is to have a great resume - you won't get the job if your resume isn't good enough to get you in the door. Below are five tips that will help you create a dynamic resume:

1. Emphasize specific accomplishments. With today's competitive job market, it is not enough to say that you managed 50 people. In addition to listing your title and duties at each job, include your accomplishments. Did you win any awards? Did you land any big clients? What did you do to make your department or organization better? What problems did you help your clients solve? You have many skills... how did you apply those skills to produce results? Be specific!

2. Utilize an executive profile section. Make your resume stand out by telling the reader, at a glance, about your background and skills. Use this information, often as bullet points, at the top of the resume. Show the talents you have that relate to the needs of the targeted company. Don't brag... just be factual about your experience and your strongest attributes. Get the reader interested in learning more about you.