Five Lethal Job-Hunting Mistakes

Job-hunting takes enthusiasm, concentration and a great attention to detail - not to mention an effervescent manner (even if that's not your usual nature) and infinite patience. As long as you're expending so much energy on getting a new job, you'd hate to think any of that exertion might be wasted. But these five job-search missteps can knock you out of the game - watch out for them! employee

1) Using a juvenile email address or phone message.

Now is the time to ditch that "partygirl109" or "buffdudexx7" email address, immediately. Get a free email account from hotmail, and come up with an adult-sounding handle. Same goes for your voicemail: get rid of the cute kids'-voice messages and funny Groucho Marx tapes. This is for real.

2) Using an electronically challenged resume.

Get your resume in shape, in three versions: hardcopy (looking professional, fitting the page, and printed on decent paper); plain text, to be sent in the body of an email message; and a Word document, likewise printable and readable and formatted to the page. A junky resume leaves a terrible impression. job vacancy indonesia

3) Skipping the research.

As soon as you apply for a job online or via a print ad - or a friend, for that matter - do at least enough research to know what business the company is in, who its competitors are and where it does business. If the phone rings and you're clueless as to the company's business priorities, don't expect to fare well on a phone interview.

4) Being hard to reach.

If there was ever a time to keep your cell phone charged up, it's when you're job-hunting. NEVER leave a work number (unless it's your own company) or a friend or relative's number on a voice message for a prospective employer. Use your own numbers, and return calls promptly - same day, if you can. vacancy
5) Lying on your resume.
It's terribly easy for employers to discover falsifications on your resume, and it won't matter how long you've been with the company when the truth comes out: if you lied, you're fried. Tell the truth.

Career Education: How It Can Propel Your Career Forward

Ongoing career education is something that can help separate from you other job searchers and in some cases might help to win you the job.

As a recruiter, I have worked with companies who won’t hire people without a university degree. In some cases, they specify the type of degree needed but in other cases, the company doesn’t care what the degree is in as long as you have one.

In other words, a lack of education can cost you. And you might not even realize it if the company doesn’t publicly admit this policy but simply lets their recruiters know about this particular form of screening.

When planning your career, education can certainly have an impact on your success or lack thereof.

Here are some ideas regarding various levels of education that might help to determine your long-term success in the workplace.

University/College Career Education

As mentioned above, some companies you apply to might require a Bachelor’s degree or college diploma and some might not even tell you up front that this is the reason you are being rejected. If you haven’t achieved this level of education and feel like it’s holding you back, you can do something about it. If you have a job, furthering your education through evening classes or online university training can be difficult to balance but it can be done. The long-term positive impact on your career can really make it worthwhile, too.

Post Graduate Career Education

If you have already have a university or college-level education, you might find that a further level of education can help take to a much higher level. Not only can a Masters degree or PhD level take you to a higher level of compensation – depending on your industry and existing level of experience of course – it can also help to project you to more senior positions that might otherwise be unattainable. If only getting such a degree was as easy as writing about it…Certainly, attaining a Masters or PhD level degree requires a special kind of person, a dedicated career-minded individual who no doubt clearly sees the value of education.

OK, let’s say that anything related to degrees or diplomas is just not an option for you. There are still plenty of great career education options you can look at: employee

Industry-Specific Career Education

A good example of industry education is the various platform-specific designations that Information Technology professionals can attain in areas such as computer networking, routers, wireless and Internet technologies. Often these designations will not only separate you from candidates who don’t hold a designation, it might be a requirement for actually applying for some jobs. Other examples of people who hold industry-specific designations are registered nurses and certified trainers. vacancy

Skills Training Career Education

There are a number of options you might consider such as computer training, presentation skills training, project management training, financial management training and assertiveness training just to name a few. If you can think of something about yourself that you’d like to improve, you can probably quickly find a course or some sort of training to take. Plus, taking training courses – especially if your employer pays for it – is a great way to keep active and network with others who might help your career. job vacancy indonesia

Do You Have This Key Element in Your Resume?

Most books on resume writing are terribly out-of-date. Although well intentioned and filled with other good information, most have not been updated for the job search realities of today. Surprisingly, few resume books will even mention what I am about to tell you today.  

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Your resume will be seen by many eyes, including electronic. The computer will "score" it by the number of keywords (also known as "buzzwords") the employer will find most relevant.

If you don’t account for this, your resume will stay locked in some database, never to be seen by anyone while you sit waiting by the phone for the call that never comes. vacancy

Put a "Keyword Competencies" section in your resume.

The solution for the electronic gatekeeper is to include a special section called "Keyword Competencies". This is, quite frankly, just a catch-all bin that you want to use to ensure that every relevant keyword is covered. You want to focus on the words most likely to be used by either a Human Resources staffing employee or a recruiter. They search resumes by keywords. The greater number of relevant keywords you can include, the higher relevancy score your resume will be given.

The easiest way to do this is to include a separate section that lists all the relevant keywords pertaining to your career and skills. This section should best be listed at the beginning of your resume to introduce the skill sets you possess early on from an interviewing standpoint. Psychology plays an effect here, too. Try to include no more than 75 keywords.

For example, if you were a Java Programmer, your "Keyword Competencies" section might look something like this:

"Java, Visual C++, perl, ticl, application development, visual basic, Windows NT/XP, programming, GUI, html, project management, layer 2, BSEE, etc". employee

The idea here is to put in as many relevant, searchable keywords that describe your potential job title, technical skills, management or organizational skills, relevant software and/or mechanical abilities and expertise. Include anything that might be important to the particular job.

Resumes: Ten Mistakes to Avoid

Whether you’ve been downsized, are looking for a career change or are just starting out, your resume speaks volumes about you. If your resume doesn’t make it past the first cut, you’re doomed; no matter how qualified you are. Below are ten common mistakes to avoid when putting your resume together. Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression. job vacancy indonesia

1. Multiple pages – You need to be concise. Keep it to one page and one page only. If you can’t highlight your talents on one page, you’re giving the message that you are unorganized and tend to go on and on.

2. Fancy paper – If your skills don’t speak for themselves, then your fancy paper isn’t going to make a bit of difference.

3. Fancy font – Same as above. Don’t try to set yourself apart with a different font on your resume. Set yourself apart by being uniquely qualified. 

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4. Irrelevant info – No one really cares that you were a singing waiter if you’re applying for an accountant job.

Sidenote: I hope you're finding this to be useful. It's an important topic, but finding quality information about it can sometimes be a challenge -- which is why I chose to share this particular article with you. Please read on...

5. Outdated information – Does it matter than you had a newspaper route and were on the high school cheerleading squad 24 years ago? No, not in the least. Leave it off.

6. Typos and misspellings – You would think this is an obvious one, but you’d be amazed at the number of resumes received with big blaring mistakes.

7. Falsified information – Greatly elaborated credentials are the same as lies. Do not list diplomas, certifications, affiliations or awards that you did not earn. Just don’t do it. It’ll come back to bite you in the butt. 

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Do More than Expected to Get Ahead

One of the best things you can do to increase your career advancement opportunities where you work is to do more than expected.

It's often not enough to just do a fine job and expect promotions now and then based on longevity. So find opportunities to show you can handle more responsibility or different duties than those in your job description.

Here's one example from my own personal experience. I had a great job as the executive assistant to the general manager. But I often didn't have enough to do to keep me busy. I hate being bored, and I enjoy writing. So I began writing articles and submitting them for the employee newsletter, even though none were solicited. 

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The editor liked what I wrote, and every article I submitted was accepted and published. Readers even began looking forward to my articles.

One day the editor left for a position with another company. Having already demonstrated my writing talent, I was asked to apply for the job. I had to go through the standard hiring process and compete with other applicants, but because I had volunteered to write articles, the hiring manager had first-hand knowledge of my capabilities and I was hired. Not only was this a promotion, it was a move into a position that I found much more challenging and rewarding. 

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So look around and take advantage of opportunities to do more than expected. You'll enjoy more job satisfaction, help others, and -- just maybe -- get rewarded for your efforts!

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