Saturday, March 14, 2020

How and When to Bring Up Personal Issues When Applying for Jobs

How and When to Bring Up Personal Issues When Applying for JobsSo youre applying for jobs, but you have some serious needs based on personal considerations youre pregnant, or have kids, or require a particular kind of flexibility in order to maintain your work/life balance. Or perhaps youre moving across the country, or you need to have a position somewhere close to your partner. You name it, youre probably struggling with finding the right time to bring it up. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Here are three stages in the job process and an outline of how and when to bring up personal issues when applying for jobs. Happy huntingIn Your Resume Cover LetterSay the company has boasted about their super-casual work culture and flexible hours. Youre allowed to work at a beanbag and take three-hour lunches as long as you get your projects done. Or they have a fantastic family leave package and youre planning to have a kid soon. Youre secretly doing a happy dance, but you really shouldnt show it. At least not yet.Saying how important flexibility and leave and casual scheduling might be to you could be interpreted by a hiring manager as a red flag in a cover letter. Ahoy This guy is lazy and doesnt really want to do the job Save it for much later in the process. Or just be glad you found this opportunity and keep the celebration to yourself.During an InterviewThe good news is theyre already interested. The bad is that you could easily blow it by asking about any of the above with too much eagerness or glee. Its mucksmuschenstill not the time to say, Hang on how many personal days do I get? Or So I get how many weeks off for maternity leave?Stick with convincing them that youre the most qualified candidate for the position and an asset to the company. Render yourself indispensable and then take advantage of the sweet perks this company can offer. When you get to the point in the interview when youre invited to ask questions , you can casually inquire about the work atmosphere or culture, but thats about it.During NegotiationYou got the offer Yes Now is the time. If youre, say, pregnant, or moving in a year, or in need of Friday mornings off to watch your kids, this is the ideal stage to broach the subject. Theres no right time, really, and youll probably be dreading it. But take a deep breath and say how delighted you are about the offer, then say you just have one small complication you wanted to make sure you addressed up front.If you get to such an advanced stage, however, you should make sure youve got the right read on the company. You wont make any friends by asking for things the company just cant or wont provide. Pick your marks and shoot straight and steadily for them.

Monday, March 9, 2020

How to Improve Your Resume with Focus and Consistency - Jobscan Blog

How to Improve Your Resume with Focus and Consistency - Jobscan BlogPosted on October 23, 2018October 22, 2018 by Landre Larouche Many websites offer advice on how to improve your resume via fancy fixes and attention-getting flourishes, but its the simplest details that make critical differences. Your resumes path to the yes pile lies in your ability to master the fundamentals. Take a step back and ask yourself what is really necessary.Still getting your resume together? Check out these articlesResume Sections What You Need and Where You Need Them6 Steps to Writing Your Resume Work Experience52 Resume Tips to Transform Your Job SearchTo improve your resume, go back to basics and tighten up the seemingly insignificant aspects of your application. This includes demonstrating focus and being consistent with your content.How to improve your resumes focusFocusing your resume means knowing what is appropriate and relevant for a given industry or position.You should let this kind of profess ional discernment drive your resume writing process from the beginning to the end. This concept encompasses everything from the content to the form.For example, the type of language youll use and the level of detail youll provide will change from one industry to another. The saatkorn thing applies to your resume formatting, layout, and style. Make sure you research your industry thoroughly and review successful resumes for you to follow.Here are some ways to focus your resumeNarrow down your content to align with your desired positionNothing is mora annoying to recruiters than a candidate who lacks focus and understanding of what the position and the company entail. Review every aspect of your resume asking, How does this make me a good fit for this specific position? If it doesnt, consider removing it.Make sure youre using the appropriate language and tone for the jobDont hesitate to get a little technical if its called for. When you review your resume, make sure you replace every vague word for more meaningful terms that resonate with people in the industry. For example, instead of writing increased online sale by 15%, write increased web traffic conversion rate by 15%.Shine a light on your past accomplishmentsCarefully pick the achievements that show your ability to overcome the challenges at the job youre applying for. Its better to expand on fewer relevant accomplishments than selling yourself short by mentioning everything youve ever accomplished.Read More39 Accomplishment Examples for Your ResumeThe Simple Formula for Identifying Your Key AchievementsChoose winning keywords for your position and industryChoosing the right resume keywords is a game changer in many industries as it will help you pass through applicant tracking systems (ATS). Focusing on exact keywords found in the job description may help you rank higher in an ATS. Jobscans resume optimization tool analyzes your resume against the job description to show which keywords you need on your re sume. Delete any clutter and words that dont matterThis advice cannot be overstated respect your readers time.Strictly limit the information on your resume to the minimum necessary, or information key to helping the recruiter make an informed decision about your candidacy.Some ATS even use something called signal to noise ratio when analyzing the content of your resume. The higher percentage of words in your resume that relate to the job description, the higher you can rank. Filler could land you in the no pile.How to improve your resumes consistencyOnce your resume fits your industry and desired position, you need to make sure your resume fits itself. Pay attention to every detail. This kind of minutia will strengthen your credibility and boost your professionalism.Proofread your resume for typos and grammatical mistakesTypos and grammatical mistakes speak so much about your rigor and professionalism that most recruiters will shamelessly dismiss you if they find them in your resume .There are many online tools out there (like Grammarly) that can help you proofread your resume for spelling and grammar. Ask friends to take 10 minutes of their time to give you a hand spotting the last few errors in your resume.Make sure your spelling, sentence structure, and usage are the same throughout your resumeSometimes there are several ways to express an idea or a concept, so make sure that you use the same one throughout your entire resume.For example, if you wrote increased profit margins by 50% over a 4-month period, dont write increased customer base by 40 percent over a six-month period somewhere else in your resume (% to percent and 4-month to six-month).If you use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma), use it everywhere.Say their last position they were there from 10/12/2010 until 11/1/2017 but in the previous company the person said from November 2, 2008 until January 3, 2009, a recruiter told Jobscan. Thats misformatted in the way the dates are conveye d. I know thats a very nitpicky thing, but Ive had candidates not move forward in the process because of something like that.Consistency is your best policy.Make sure your resume is easily skimmableTry to read your resume as fast as you can, skimming from one section to the other. What do you take away?If recruiters cant get a sense of who you are by only skimming your resume, then all your hard work was in vain. It was proven times and again, recruiters spend just a few seconds looking at your resume before they make a decision.Jobscans resume optimization tool checks for things like sentence and bullet point length to ensure that recruiters can easily skim your resume.Need help getting started?Start by scanning your resume with Jobscans resume optimization tool for a checklist of missing keywords, ATS insights, recruiter preferences, and other resume best practices??Facebook Commentswpdevar_comment_1 span,wpdevar_comment_1 iframewidth100% important