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.

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.

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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Settling Successfully Into Your New Job

The euphoria of getting a new job can sometimes be overcome by apprehension about what comes next. After all, you're "the new kid on the block," and there's much to learn--about your new job duties and much more. But here are some things you can do to make the process go smoother. 

1. Dress for success. You'll want to look professional. Dress on the conservative side for the first week. Once you've got a good idea of what's appropriate and what isn't, you can adjust your style.

2. Be on time. You never want to start your new job by being late, so make sure you allow plenty of time for your commute. Plan the most direct route, but be aware of alternates in case of an accident or other traffic snarls. 

3. Get to know people. Be polite and friendly to everyone you meet, whether it's the receptionist or the general manager. Introduce yourself, smile and make eye contact. Make a positive first impression. Ask about your coworkers' interests.

4. Ask questions. From "Where's the bathroom?" to "Which tool do I use for this task?" It's OK to ask for help! Your coworkers will feel good about doing whatever they can to assist you. Let them. It's always better to have to ask the right way to do something than to try to figure it out on your own, mess up, and have to do it all over again.

5. Remember your place. You may feel "qualified" to tell your new coworkers that there's a better way to do something, but be patient. Every workplace has its own way of doing things. Never say "That's not how we did it at my old company!" (You're coworkers may invite you to return to your old company!) Be patient and become an accepted member of the team before you make suggestions for improvements.

6. Be careful about office politics. Pay attention to the grapevine, but don't contribute to it. Do not accept at face value what one employee says about another; form your own opinions based on your own interactions and judgment. Never complain about anyone at your old job or your new one. Figure out who has the real authority to give you work to do, and who is trying to take advantage of your newness.

Above all, keep a positive attitude, do your work to the best of your ability, and keep an open mind. Before you know it, you'll be climbing the career ladder and giving advice to newcomers!

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Catapult Your Career by writing an Effective Resume

“Just send me your resume and I’ll get back with you.”  Most of us have heard this line quite a few times in our past.  Fortunately, most of us have a resume.  But is your resume doing its job of representing you to prospective employers and ultimately getting interviews?

In a job market where layoffs abound and competition for jobs is fierce, our only contact with a hiring manager may be a 30-second scan of this important document.  But what is a resume?  In today’s job market the answer is clear.  It must be a powerful marketing tool.

Unfortunately for many a job seeker, this all important marketing brochure turns out to be a regurgitation of their job history.  Bullets drone on endlessly with “Responsible for this…” and “Responsible for that…” as the poor recruiter or hiring manager is bogged down into the mire of mindless boredom without ever really knowing what a great contributor the individual was.

The biggest key to a successful resume is to turn it into an accomplishment-driven document, quantifying each achievement as much as possible.  This is true throughout the entire resume. 

But what are the most common parts of a resume?  And how can each be used to market a job seeker?  Let’s break down this document and look at its individual parts:

The “hot zone”

When a recruiter or hiring manager first sorts a large stack of resumes they often scan the first three quarters of the first page.  This section is a “hot zone” that needs to be full of accomplishments that market your specific skills and abilities.  Aside from the obvious name and contact information, the hot zone is composed of two key areas:

• A professional summary
• A list of selected accomplishments (optional but an excellent marketing tool)

The Professional Summary

Gone are the days of the objective in a resume.  With a few exceptions, a summary is a more powerful intro to a strong resume.  Hiring managers and recruiters frankly don’t care that you are looking for “an upwardly mobile position in a strong company that will provide me with…”

The summary should act as a short commercial about YOU.  It should tell the reader what kind of position you seek, and answer the question “what makes you different or better than the other applicants for this position?”

The first sentence should effectively tell the reader what kind of position you seek and possibly even what industry in which your experience lies.  Listing the broad or generic title of the job you seek in this sentence is ultra-effective in giving a crystal-clear picture of your objective.

Identify yourself as a “Highly effective Software Developer/Programmer with extensive experience in…” or a “Thorough and accurate Accountant with a proven track record of success in…” 

The remaining three or four sentences should begin to paint a picture of your traits and skills directly related to the position you seek.  The summary will serve as a “road map” for the rest of the resume.  Remember to support the statements in your summary in the other portions of your resume.

Remember, tell not what you want the company to do for you; tell what you can do for the company! 

The Selected accomplishments

The next section in the “hot zone” is selected accomplishments.  Since past performance is a key indicator for future contributions, a list of previous successes can be the hook that scores an interview.

This portion should be a list of 3 to 6 selected accomplishments directly relating to the position that the summary indicates you seek.  These should be as quantifiable as possible.  Answer the questions: How many/much?  Which one?  To what extent?  What kind?

To get a better idea of what kind of accomplishments belong in this section, put yourself in the hiring manager’s place and try to see his or her point of view.  What kind of things would be important to you?  In most cases the answer boils down to the bottom line.  How can you save time and money?  Statements that show your success in saving time and money or implementing new process and procedures will be well received.

The Body

The next portion of the resume will be your professional experience.  List the companies you have worked for, your title and the dates of employment (year to year, exclude months).

One of the biggest pitfalls job seekers fall into in this portion is dryly listing job duties.  Employers are interested in achievements, successes, and contributions.  Even in roles where you feel you did not make contributions, upon careful consideration you may be surprised to find out how much of an impact you made.

Were you a supervisor?  Then you led and motivated a team.  If you were a cashier you were entrusted with money, were likely responsible for some type of ledger, and provided customer service.  If you received an award or were recognized for going above and beyond in these roles, that also belongs in the resume in this portion or in the accomplishments section.  Remember to quantify, quantify, quantify!

Another way to make your resume shine and avoid making it sound like a job description is to present your bullets focusing on the problem you encountered, the action you took to solve it and the good results that came about from your actions.  This method, referred to as the PAR method, will show that not only have you done XYZ job but that you have also made positive contributions in your role.

Education/Professional Development

The final portion of the resume should list education and any other pertinent information about you such as continuing education, seminars and other classes you have attended, professional organizations and affiliations you are a member of, and civic involvement (if related to the position you seek).

When listing education, the last degree completed should go first.  There is no need to put the dates you attended.  Also, if you have completed a college degree, High School is assumed and is not necessary to list.

Personal information does not belong on a resume and should be omitted.  Hobbies, gender and a physical description (except in VERY rare and specific instances when it relates to the job) never belong on a resume.

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Executive Resume Writing – Moving Beyond Accomplishments

There is a major difference between conventional resumes and executive resume writing.  Accomplishments are usually the center point of a conventional resume (i.e., indicating how much money was saved, how sales increased, what processes were proposed, planned, initiated, implemented, or streamlined).

 

Executive resume writing, on the other hand, has more than one focus.  It alludes to the executive’s ability to drive profits (accomplishments) and the capacity to lead (that is, to blend various “soft” skills) an organization.

 

Successes are easier to hone in on. The result is clear, often quantifiable. After all, either you penetrated a market or you didn’t, or either you were a top-performer or you weren’t.

 

It is harder to capture emotional competencies on paper, to indicate who you are, what you stand for, how you relate to others, how you affect change within an organization.

 

When executive resume writing - a list of accomplishments does not suffice.

 

Employers expect more, and since your resume is an introduction to your full qualifications, you must incorporate what you have done as well as provide a notion of how you influence others.

 

This information must be presented in a concise and compelling manner given that your resume is your most important marketing tool.

Moving beyond accomplishments

Coupled with a track record of financial success, good leadership is the single most important factor in the survival of an organization. Because of this, executives who point out the following “soft” needed skills on their resume are usually the ones invited to an interview. 

 

They show that they have the intangible qualities that promote the growth of the organization.  These are the elements in question:

• Visionary – An “idea person” that challenges traditional ways of conducting business, and is willing to take on calculated risks. Demonstrated ability to think strategically, act tactically and have the strength of character to motivate others to buy into his or her ideas, concepts and values.
• Professional Integrity – A person who understands the value of honesty, accountability and trust in a business environment.
• Charisma – Knack for captivating an audience, having a presence that commands respect and has a natural ability to hold the interest of the listener.
• Emotional self-control - Someone who anticipates challenges and overcomes those that are unanticipated.
• Effective use of inner resources – A person that trusts his or her gut instincts and takes the initiative to drive change.
• Flexible Communication Style – The ability to assess a situation, and react to it appropriate
  
  
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A Good Account of Yourself?

by Steve Holmes

Does your CV promote your professional assets or it is another boring list?

1) issues with structure and design
2) issues with content
3) solutions to these issues

1) issues with structure & design

Some CVs follow the US template from a WP program, which looks unoriginal, fails to carry structured information and usually relies on disembodied lists titled "Profile", "Objectives", "Achievements" or whatever.

The idea is right, to summarise what you are offering, but it really must be as sophisticated as you are, not the same old rubbish about you being a proactive self-starter and team player, cringe….

Many CVs follow an archaic British concept from the days of typing on stencils, huge left-hand margins, no attention to design or typesetting to make the document attractive

Are you trying to say that you are so inept with your WP program that you can only type in the default 12 point Times Roman that inevitably takes up 3 pages or more, that you are so useless with margins and paragraph styles that you cannot even fit your own CV to an attractive page?

2) issues with content

If your information has no overall plan and poor decisions have been taken in terms of what to give priority to, what headings and heading styles to use, how to prioritise information…. This tells people that you don't think clearly.

If the information is stale and skimpy, often culled from job descriptions or assembled in an unstructured list…. This tells people that you cannot communicate.

If the information falls between two stools because it attempts to be effective by quoting results and trying to paint a picture of roles as opposed to mere chronology but these things are not done well enough…. You look mediocre.

3) solutions to these issues (outline concepts)

Think of your CV design as a workspace, a framework for communication.

• Obviously you lead off with your name, but do you need all those personal details or can they be relegated to page 2?
• Succinct introduction? Write it last when you know what your USPs really are.
• In your case, what is most important? Work record? Technical skills? Education? Potential in a new career? Whatever it is, this is what demands prominence.
• What else needs to be included and what simple heading style will work?

You now have a framework.

Marshall your basic information so that it can be placed within that workspace.

• USPs: list the main points you need to get across; these might be: experience, track record, training, skills-mix; methodologies, change programmes, what it takes for a new type of role in a new sector. This mix will be summarised in your application letter and it can help to roughly draft that first.
• Evidence: the rest is basically corroboration: be ruthless with irrelevant facts; summarise detail (they can ask at interview); build the job/role narrative to arouse interest.
• For each theme that you are working with (or each job you are describing), briefly.
• Create some context: company scenario; situation you first encountered; changes.
• illustrate your involvement: roles, levels, structures, visions, plans, implementations, initiatives, very briefly described.
• offer your results, which can go way beyond targets and figures; your new product saved the company from ruin; you gave a not-for-profit organisation a national profile; you revolutionised the way the company's business structures....
   
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