How To Choose The Best Resume Format

When designed properly, your resume can be a powerful component of your job search arsenal. When created carelessly, it could actually impair your job search. Crafting a poorly designed resume is one of the worst blunders a job hunter can make; unfortunately it is also one of the most common mistakes made. Think about it. Do you want the very first thing an employer evaluates you on to be less than effective?

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The easiest thing to do is just open Microsoft Word, choose a resume template and start filling in the blanks; that could be the start of your troubles. Those templates are great guides and look beautiful, but they may take you down the wrong path.

This article covers the three basic types of "resumes". Use this article as a guide to help select which resume format is best for you.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME
QUESTION: What is it?

ANSWER:
Hopefully, the name gives you a clue about the format of the Chronological Resume. It is simply an organization of job titles and corresponding responsibilities from your current or most recent position to the oldest relevant one you held.

QUESTION: How can I make it effective?

ANSWER:
Employers absolutely love this style of resume. When written properly, the Chronological Resume can be clear, straight-forward and most importantly, easy to scan. (Remember, hiring managers are notoriously short on time!) Since employers initially only give most resumes a quick once-over, being able to make a strong first impression is crucial. This format is direct and factual, which is a tremendous help to a person sorting through a slew of resumes.

QUESTION: Who should use it?

ANSWER:
Though appealing to employers, the chronological format is not for every applicant. Job seekers with a great deal of experience and a fluid job history benefit most from the Chronological Resume. However, people changing careers or lacking formal work experience (such as recent graduates) will find it difficult to create a resume in this format. They may find greater ease using the functional format discussed next.

THE FUNCTIONAL RESUME
QUESTION: What is it?

ANSWER:
The Functional Resume arranges your job history to highlight special skills and achievements. Great caution must be taken when using this format, because it can draw an unkind eye if done incorrectly.

QUESTION: How can I make it effective?

ANSWER:
The main complaint employer's have with Functional Resumes is not being able to match up skills with an actual job. Thankfully, this is an easy error to avoid. Every skill or accomplishment listed should have a company name and job description listed under it. Remember, the Functional Resume highlights your achievement, but employers still care about experience and dates. You can only benefit from a Functional Resume, if you use it in a way that meets 

Tips To Handle Employment Gap

Being unemployed is a difficult and stressful situation. To make matters even worse, the fact that you may not currently have a job can prevent you from finding a job. It is unfair, but true. Having gaps in your employment history are often an immediate turn off for recruiters and interviewers; however, with a little bit of creativity, you can make those gaps disappear.

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This month's newsletter explains the 4 steps to handling gaps in your employment history. Don't let being out of work keep you out of work.

These following four methods will be covered:

1. Find Real Gaps
2. Fill In Gaps
3. Dodge Resume Gaps
4. Mention Major Gaps

4 TIPS TO HANDLE EMPLOYMENT GAPS!
1) FIND REAL GAPS
The first mistake many people make is to assume the worst when it comes to being out of work. Not having a job does not mean you have an employment gap. There are many legitimate reasons for not working. These reasons can be addressed directly without any worry.

The most common explanations of unemployment that should NOT be considered employment gaps are:

• •   Attending school
• •   Having/taking care of children
• •   Personal health problems
• •   Serious Illness in the Family
• •   Being between jobs for a short period of time (less than 6 months)

2) FILL IN GAPS
If your bout with unemployment does not fall into one of the categories listed above, you most likely have an official gap in your employment history. Even at this point, you do not necessarily have to let a potential employer know about this gap.

By keeping busy while you are between jobs, you can turn a would-be gap into a learning experience. Consider using the following tactics to fill those gaps:

• •   Take a class related to your profession. Being in school accounts for your time off, and
      employers like to see people bettering themselves through education.
• •   Look for freelance or consulting projects. These jobs are not permanent, but they do
      ensure that you keep up-to-date with your skills. You can put this type
      of work on your resume as if it were any other kind of job.
• •   Volunteer for an organization. Getting paid would be ideal, but future employers are
      concerned with your work experience. To a recruiter, a volunteering
      position can be just as good as a paying job.
• •   Read trade journals. Though this method may not be something you put on your
      resume, it will help you stay current with the industry. Conveying the
      newest information possible in an interview shows that you have not lost your
      knowledge of the business.

3) DODGE RESUME GAPS
Not everyone will be able to find a creative way to fill the gaps in their employment history. If you find yourself in this situation, it is no longer an issue of proving your time was occupied. Instead, you should focus on the fact that you are still skilled and qualified.

However, most resumes focus on time by addressing experiences chronologically. Consider using the following suggestions to draw attention away from your time between jobs:

• •   Don't distinguish between paid and unpaid work on your resume. This way you can
      have a seemingly continuous string of jobs, even if you volunteered for
      the sake avoiding an employment gap.
• •   Use only years (not months) when listing work dates on your resume. This can
      discretely cover several months of unemployment.
• •   Summarize what you did while you did not have a job. It may seem awkward to put this
      kind of information directly on your resume, but it is more important to
      let recruiters know you used your time wisely.
• •   Use a functional resume. Unlike the traditional chronological resume, a functional
      resume puts less emphasis on the timing of work experiences.
      Instead, a functional resume emphasizes skills, which employers care more about.

4) MENTION MAJOR GAPS
The last important step in handling employment gaps is deciding when to discuss them. Unless you can completely hide the gap, a recruiter will eventually spot it. If you are prepared to address the issue, you can avoid a potential disaster.

There are basically 2 schools of thought on this issue: address an employment gap in your cover letter or address it in the interview. Neither approach is wrong; neither approach is right. It is a matter of personal taste. Just consider these points before deciding, which approach you use:

• •   In a cover letter, make your explanation very brief. A one or two-sentence long
      explanation is enough. Details are not important.
• •   If a gap occurred a long time ago, don't bother mentioning it in a cover letter. Employers
      are concerned with your recent work, not something that happened 10 years ago.
• •   In an interview, still keep your explanation brief. The only reason to go into deeper detail
      is if you gained valuable experiences during your employment gap.
• •   No matter what, END ON A POSITIVE NOTE. Whether you address the gap in a cover
•     letter or an interview, state that you are ready and excited to get back to work. 

How To Negotiate An Increase

Sure, your boss or Board of Directors might call you in and offer you a raise, But chances are overwhelming that they will not. So if you want to earn more money next year than last, you will have to initiate the process yourself and use all your skills to pry loose a little extra.

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It's not easy to accomplish, however. In fact, annual increases in base salaries are averaging only 3%, the lowest amount in more than 20 years according to Christine Seltz, spokesperson for Hewitt Associates, a nationally known compensation consulting firm based in Lincolnshire, IL.

Fortunately, about two-thirds of the nation's employers offer incentive pay for top performers. If you can work your way into this type of program, you will receive extra pay or other benefits whenever you achieve specific performance targets. Depending on the specifics of your situation, these performance targets might cover just you or your entire team.

Either way, however, incentives can provide much bigger take-home pay increases than conventional raises. Hewitt Associates' surveys show that today's budgets for incentive programs presently average about 7% of the budget for base compensation (that is, salaries). This means incentives provide more than twice as big a pie as raises from which to cut yourself a juicy slice.

Here are some strategic and tactical tips on how to increase your take home pay in the coming twelve months.

Strategic Approaches

1. Determine your worth in the marketplace. Contact the competition, clip and save relevant employment ads, even talk to executive search firms. You might also look for references and facts in magazine articles and compensation surveys that support your idea that you should earn more. Be prepared for a happy surprise, especially if you have been working for the same company for several years. There is often a large discrepancy between your present salary and what the market says people with comparable skills and experience can earn. Many people simply do not know what they are worth.
   If you are already getting what the market says you are worth, do not give up on getting more.
   
2. Consider how to become more valuable to your employer. As business fashions and thinking changes, different departments become "hot" and are deemed worthy of fatter paychecks. For example, today marketing or finance might be better places to earn the big bucks than manufacturing or customer service. If you cannot switch career tracks so quickly, you still might be able to take on additional responsibilities or even discover totally new issues and projects that will make you more valuable to the company. Take advantage of the "cross training" mentality that is popular today. At the highest levels, employers nearly always prefer executives who bring a broad-based perspective to their work and the company's mission.
   If your present employer does not place extra value on a broader range of skills and knowledge, your cross-training efforts will still make you more valuable--to your next employer.
   
3. Feel good about asking for a raise, and do not worry about getting canned. "The threat of firing you for wanting too much is nothing but a psychological bluff," says Lawrence D. Schwimmer, author of "How To Ask For A Raise Without Getting Fired," now a top manager with Geneva Corporation, a San Francisco acquisitions and mergers firm. "Even a stupid boss knows the cost of hiring and training your replacement is much more than the raise you're asking for," Schwimmer counsels, "so don't weaken yourself by imagining the worst."
4. Phrase your request assertively, not aggressively. Leave out any "or else" threats, no matter how emotionally satisfying. This allows you to save face if your request is denied. You can take time to think things over, and either make plans to leave or make clear that you have decided you like your job and your firm so much you will stay and see about getting a raise later on.
5. Anticipate the objections, worries, or problems your request might generate, and incorporate the top three or four in your initial statement. Done right, this approach can "take the wind out of their sails" and make it harder for your employer to say "no." Be careful, though, if you bring up really powerful reasons for refusing you a raise, you might be providing the opposition with unbeatable arguments.
6. Set limits: Do not ask for a raise in general, but for a raise of a certain size. Do not allow an open-ended time limit on getting a response; ask to be informed within two weeks.

11 Commandments For Smart Negotiating

By Lee Miller

The job market is the best it's been in 20 years. The Commerce Department estimates that U.S. businesses will need to hire one million new computer scientists, engineers, systems analysts and computer programmers by 2005.

Yet graduates with degrees in computer science are being produced at a fraction of the rate needed. The Information Technology Association of America reports 190,000 current job openings for web experts and other information-technology specialists, and similar shortages are cropping up in other industries as well.

These market conditions provide a great opportunity to negotiate an excellent compensation package, but only if you understand how.

There are 11 basic commandments to help you negotiate the best possible deal when changing jobs, whether internally or with a new company. They are: 

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Be prepared. The more information you have about your market value and the prospective employer, the greater your likelihood of success. This is the first commandment because it's the most important. There's a wealth of information available on the Internet, at the public library and through professional associations and networking groups. Time spent learning how to negotiate and preparing for negotiations may be the best investment you'll ever make.

Recognize that employment negotiations are different. When the negotiations are over, you'll have to work with the person with whom you're negotiating. Moreover, your future success may depend on that person. So, while you want to negotiate the best possible deal, you need to do so in a way that doesn't damage your image. At the same time, the employer's primary concern isn't negotiating the least expensive compensation package it can get away with. Rather, their focus will be on getting you to accept the job.

Understand your needs and those of the employer. To be successful in this type of negotiation, you need to examine your priorities. What do you really want? Are you comfortable with a low salary and a large equity stake? Are you able to handle dramatic swings in income from year to year? Understanding your needs will also help you determine the type of company you want to work for. For example, a family-owned company may be able to offer a competitive salary and a large bonus based on results, but may not be willing to offer significant equity to a non-family member. A start-up company, on the other hand, may not be able to offer market salary, but will typically offer stock options. By recognizing what an employer can and can't do, you'll be able to determine what issues you should press.

Understand the dynamics of the particular negotiations. Sometimes you'll have skills that are in great demand. And sometimes, you may be one of several qualified candidates the company would be happy to hire. Sizing up the situation and understanding the relative position of each party will help you determine when to press your advantage and when to back off.

Never lie, but use the truth to your advantage. It's not only wrong to lie, but in employment negotiations, it's ineffective. If you lie during negotiations, sooner or later you're likely to be caught. Once you are, even if you don't lose the offer, you'll be at a tremendous disadvantage, and your credibility will always be suspect. On the other hand, total candor won't be rewarded. You're under no obligation to blurt out everything you know. You can determine what you want to say and how you want to say it, and try to put everything in its most positive light. One key element of your preparation should be to recognize areas of concern so you can rehearse how to handle them when they inevitably come up.

Understand the role fairness plays in the process. The guiding principle for most employers when negotiating is fairness. Within the constraints of their budget and organizational structure, employers usually will agree to anything that's fair and reasonable to hire someone they want. Appeals to fairness are your most powerful weapon. Thus, you should be able to justify every request you make in terms of fairness. For example, if other computer programmers in similar companies are being given sign-on bonuses, you should expect to be treated no differently. Your prospective employer will want you to accept its offer and feel that you've been treated fairly. Understanding the importance of fairness as a negotiating principle can make the difference between success and failure.

Use uncertainty to your advantage. The more information you convey to a potential employer about your bottom line, the more likely it will limit what you get. Before making an offer, a company typically tries to determine what it will take for you to accept the position. With that information, the prospective employer will be able to determine the minimum package it needs to offer. While they may not offer you as little as they can get away with, if you've divulged too much information, they likely won't offer you as much as they might have otherwise. By not disclosing exactly what your current compensation is or exactly what it would take to get you to leave your job, you'll force a potential employer to make its best offer.

Be creative. Consider the value of the total package. Look for different ways to achieve your objectives. Be willing to make tradeoffs to increase the total value of the deal. If you're creative, you can package what you want in ways that will be acceptable to the company. You'll also be able to find creative "trades" that allow you to withdraw requests that might be problematic to the company in return for improvements in areas where the company has more flexibility. That way, you can maximize the value of the package you negotiate.

Focus on your goals, not on winning. Too often in negotiations, the act of winning becomes more important than achieving your goals. And it's also important not to make your future boss feel as if he's lost in the negotiations. You'll have gained little by negotiating a good deal if you alienate your future boss in the process.

Know when to quit bargaining. The one sure way to lose everything you've obtained is to be greedy. There comes a point in every negotiation when you've achieved everything you could have reasonably expected to gain. While most companies will want to treat you fairly and make you happy, few companies want a to hire a prima donna. Being perceived as greedy or unreasonable may cause the deal to fall apart. Even if it doesn't, you'll have done immeasurable harm to your career. This brings us to the 11th and most important commandment:

Never forget that employment is an ongoing relationship. Job negotiations are the starting point for your career with a company. Get too little and you're disadvantaged throughout your career there; push too hard and you can sour the relationship before it begins.

Important Tax Tips For Job Seekers

That dreaded date is approaching very quickly. April 15th is just around the corner, which means it is time to file those tax returns. When economic conditions are tough, the last thing anyone wants to do is pay taxes. Luckily, you could be better off than you realize.

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There are some very favorable rules embedded in the tax code for job seekers. When dealing with taxes, sometimes it pays to be between jobs.
This article briefly discusses some of the possible tax benefits for the unemployed. These are just tips that you may want to look into, please talk to a tax expert before filing your return. Don't pay more than you have to!
The following topics will be covered:

• 1. Basic Tax Deductions
• 2. The Big Bucks
• 3. Playing It Safe

1. Basic Tax Deductions
Many of the costs associated with a job search can be deducted from your income. As long as you are not entering the job market for the first time, searching for work in a different field of employment, or returning to work from a long spell of unemployment, many typical job search costs are tax deductible. Individually these costs can be small, but they can add up very quickly. Eligible expenses may include:

1. Phone calls and faxing fees
2. Costs for typing, printing, and mailing resumes
3. Employment agency fees
4. Ad space in newspapers, trade magazines, or on web sites
5. Traveling costs for job interviews (This does not just include airfare or public transportation. The costs of driving to an interview can be deducted on a mileage basis.)

The list continues on, but you get the picture.
The 2 most important things to remember are:

1. These expenses are only deductible if you itemize them.
2. Only job search expenses exceeding 2% of your adjusted gross income are tax deductible. (please check with a tax expert on the finer details)

2. The Big Bucks $$
The deductions don't begin and end with your minor expenses. As well as the small costs of printing, postage, etc, large expenses associated with the job hunt can also be deducted. The two primary "major expenses" are as follows:

1. EDUCATION - If you went back to school before taking a new job, your educational expenses can be curbed with tax deductions. Based on your adjusted gross income, you could be eligible for deductions of up to $3,000.
2. MOVING - Once you have finally found that new job, some of your moving expenses may be deducted for tax purposes. The only eligible expenses are ones that your current employer did not already cover. Furthermore, moving costs for a new job are only deductible if your new place of work is at least 50 miles from your old home. If these requirements are met, things like packing costs, mileage expenses, parking fees, tolls, and lodging while traveling are all tax deductible.

3. Playing It Safe
Tax deductions can be very tricky and very tempting. The worst idea you could get into your head is to start being a risk taker when it comes to your tax return. You may not always get caught bending the truth, but if you do, the IRS will have very little sympathy. Deductions related to the job search may also raise a bright red flag to the IRS. These types of expenses tend to get examined more thoroughly than others. So as you file your return, keep these things in mind:

1. Don't get creative and try to pile on expenses that are not truly exclusive to your job search. For example, a new suit may be needed for interviews, but its usefulness is not strictly confined to your job search.
2. Save your receipts. In the case that your deductions do draw suspicion, you can save yourself a lot of pain, time, and money if you have proof of all your expenses.
3. CHECK WITH AN EXPERT. We here at Worktree.com are job search experts, not tax accountants. Before you file a return with new types of deductions, it would be smart to get professional advice.