1. Solid Resume Resumes should be functional in content while being presented in a reverse chronological order. Take the extra time to verify all of the dates down to the correct months.
2. Be concise Clients will want to know what you did, where. Be sure to include specific projects, results, and any tangible financial savings.
3. If you did it, say so. Whether your experience is “hands-on” or managerial, make sure to indicate which. Always include specific numbers of staff supervised and what positions subordinates held.
4. Technical prowess Be sure to include the relevant hardware and software environments that you have worked in. Naturally, you should detail the various software that was utilized on your projects.
5. Know your rate If you are considering an interim assignment, it is important to have a pay rate narrowed down. Staffing firms and clients will want to see that you’ve thought this through.
6. Make arrangements to be available for the duration of the assignment. Accepting an assignment should be a commitment to see it through to the end.
7. Be accessible Many times our assignments need to be filled quickly. Help us help you by providing us up-to-date contact information. If we have to wait for you to call us back, you may miss out on the opportunity.
8. Research, Research, Research The more informed you are, the better you will interview. Review the company website, know their products, and get the particulars on the job from us.
9. Get to the meeting 10 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time. Nothing sets a more negative tone than being late. Walking in “on time” is late.
10. Wear professional business attire. Despite the recent move towards casual every-day attire, dressing in a professional business manner is appropriate for interviews. For men, this means a suit and tie, and for women, dressing in a suit, pantsuit, or equivalent is the way to go. You never get another chance at that initial impression. Make it count.
11. Expect direct questioning about your experience, motivations, and objectives. Ask us about these, we can be a great resource in preparing your presentation. Know the dates, reasons for leaving, and how to handle the comp questions.
12. Always remain positive. Attitude is everything and an upbeat, “can do” disposition wins out every time.
13. If at the end of the interview you are interested, let them know. It is much more convincing for that commitment to come directly from you.
14. References must be orderly and relevant. Your recent supervisors and colleagues are always best. “Friends” and “personal references” are not appropriate in an employment situation.
15. Follow-up Always send a thank you after the meeting. It will separate you from the pack and leave the professional impression that you would want.
Feel free to reiterate cogent points that were covered in your interview which demonstrate ability to solve their problem. Re-affirm interest in the position.
Five Embarrassing Workplace Moments
We’ve all experienced awkward moments at work, along with that feeling of alarm you get the moment you realize you just said or did something you can’t take back and that you know will elicit a reaction from fellow workers.
You swear you’ll never show your face around the office again. But time heals all wounds, even those caused by extreme humiliation.
How the situation is handled can influence its potential notoriety around the office. A faux pas managed with composure and wit won’t have the legs of one that is met with extreme shock and unrelenting uneasiness. As painful as it may seem at the time, you actually benefit from these awkward moments depending on how you recover.
Here are a few common work-related predicaments and suggestions on how to handle them if they happen to you!
1. You’re delivering a presentation and notice an obvious misspelling up on the screen for all to see.
What can you do? Come clean and confess.
Career coaches and etiquette experts agree that honesty is the best policy. “Confess and admit you’ve made a mistake”. “Don’t try to talk about it too much; you may end up putting your foot in your mouth.” Do your best to correct the blunder and then move on.
2. You’re in a meeting with the president of the company and other high ranking executives. You and everyone around you are distracted by the pangs of hunger emanating from your stomach.
What can you do? Apply humor.
Nothing diffuses a tense or embarrassing situation like a little quick thinking humor: “I guess after this meeting I’ll have to run to the cafeteria and have lunch.”
3. You meant to forward the racy e-mail to your friend. You didn’t realize your co-worker was accidentally added to the distribution list.
What can you do? Assign blame.
You could always blame it on technical difficulties, but experts suggest that no matter what caused the slip-up, you should immediately confess and apologize for the mishap. And hopefully you’ve learned not to e-mail any message or picture that you wouldn’t want to be seen by all.
4. Your boss overhears you making disparaging remarks about him/her to a co-worker.
What can you do? Apologize and start a dialogue.
Regardless if what you said about your boss is true, you must take the high road and own up to your behavior and then apologize for him finding out that way. This situation, however, could signal a chance to have an open discussion about why you find it difficult to work with him. It may end on a positive note if you are able to air your grievances in a professional way.
5. You ended a call and, after assuming the individual has hung up, you begin complaining aloud about the other person… only the call was never really terminated and the individual hears everything you say.
What can you do? Try to make amends.
With any luck, you realize the person is still on the line before you tear into them too much. But all you can do is stand by your remarks, but redeliver them with a softer touch. For instance, while you might have said: ‘Wasn’t that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?’ You can soften it with: ‘I was thinking we should revisit your marketing idea because I really don’t think it’s going to work.’
Top 10 Resume Mistakes
1. Never stretch the truth or lie. For instance, you might be close to earning an advanced degree or be ‘scheduled’ to receive a certification, but until you have it in hand, don’t claim to have earned it. Even small lies can be uncovered during background checks and eliminate you from contention.
2. Rush to send resumes: Although you might be particularly eager to apply for a position, be sure to take the extra time to proofread your resume carefully! Mentioning you are experienced in a specific are that is spelled wrong might be all it takes to eliminate you from consideration. Employers see typos, misspellings and grammatical mistakes as a sign you lack professionalism and attention to detail.
3. Include personal information: Your resume should be focused on the skills and qualifications relevant to performing the job. Leave off unnecessary information such as marital status, physical attributes or hobbies. Avoid links to your personal Web site. Inevitably, these might contain pictures or activities that might be deemed as inappropriate during an interview process.
4. Tell your life story: Hiring managers want to get a sense of your work history, but they might not read your resume if it goes too much beyond two pages. Keep the content concise and elaborate more on recent jobs than ones held earlier in your career.
5. Leave them wondering about specifics: Just as frustrating to hiring managers as giving too much information is giving too little. Noting that you “managed a team of people,” for example, doesn’t tell employers exactly what you did. Did you troubleshoot problems? Make key business decisions related to the expenses or spending? Supervise employees? Don’t rely on employers to make the extra effort to clarify vague wording or dates- most will not and worse, they will assume the worst.
6. Focus on form over function: Yes, appearances do count with resumes. The goal, however, is to create a document that is neat and organized. Adding fancy graphics or fonts that are designed to make your resume stand out, may end up working against you. Many companies rely on resume-scanning software that might not recognize unusual symbols or designs.
7. Send the same resume to every position: Always take the time to customize your resume for each opening. This means concentrating on aspects of your background that are most relevant to the position available.
8. Fill your resume with jargon: The Accounting & Finance world certainly has its share of acronyms and industry lingo. Although colleagues might understand this terminology, it might not mean much to human resources workers and others conducting an initial review of your resume. So, unless phrasing is commonly recognized — such as using “MS Word” instead of “Microsoft Word” — it’s best to spell things out or use plain English to avoid confusion.
9. Forget to use keywords: Optimize your resume for filtering software, which searches for keywords and evaluates how closely resumes match the preferred language. An easy way to determine whether yours includes potential target terms is to examine the job advertisement. A firm that seeks “treasury workstation experience” with “strong cash management” is likely to search for those phrases.
10. Try to be cute or clever: Even if you’re known for being the office comedian, it’s best to leave humor off your resume. Hiring managers aren’t looking to be entertained by resumes, and they might find your wording inappropriate or confusing. If resume writing isn’t your forte, it’s worth asking trusted colleagues, mentors, friends and family for their feedback on your document. They’ll help ensure you’re sending the right message to employers.