Resume Tips and Career Advice

June payrolls fell by 467,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was higher than the 365,000 jobs economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected employers would shed.

The BLS said job losses were widespread across the major industry sectors, with large declines occurring in manufacturing, professional and business services and construction. While the BLS called the 9.5 percent unemployment rate "little changed," the rate did climb from the previous month's rate, reaching a 26-year high. Still, the rise wasn't as steep as economists had projected. The number of unemployed persons (14.7 million) was little changed.

The job search just got that much more competitive. Get that resume together!

Read more over at DailyFinance.com

One look at your resume and you immediately know that your first job title isn't "Resume Author"... Who's is though? I would venture to say very few people. However, that doesn't prevent you from showing up with a resume that's at least presentable.

A common question I hear is "How long should my resume be? One page? Two Pages? Six???" There is no "right" answer for this, nevertheless, there are some guidelines you can follow.

Getting a job (or a promotion) is about so much more than just your resume and interview answers, your appearance and attitude play an enormous role also. As a matter of human nature people size each other up in a matter of seconds, forming opinions about you that might be difficult to change later (you never get a second chance to make a first impression!).

So be sure that whether you're going in for an interview at a new company or hoping to land a promotion at your current job you look and act the part that you want, as well as the part you already have.

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So for many workers, like myself, we've never gone through a major downturn in our careers. As a result, our short-sightedness has put us in a difficult position of being strapped financially, which makes life pretty rough. How are you cutting back costs and stretching your dollar?

For us, our first stop is cutting out unnecessary expenses. Think about it, people can spend up to $60 per month on cable / satellite TV alone. Do you really NEED HBO? Or for that matter, do you really need cable TV at all? Cutting back temporarily while you're still in the midst of job searching can create a longer runway to find the right gig, rather than the necessary gig.

Along the same tip, we've started clipping coupons. Spending half the money for a full load of groceries is more than doable, though admittedly for single people, the savings don't add up as quickly as they do for larger families.

What's your dollars and cents savings? How do you lengthen the job searching runway so you end up with the right gig, rather than any gig?

It's easy to get frustrated with job hunting online. So many postings and applications to keep track of, and most of the time you never even hear back. Just remember that online applications do in fact work. They're not always fast or easy, but they may just be the ticket to your next job.

It will likely take more effort than a couple of submissions, but if you effectively use your personal network, and make sure you are qualified for each job, you stand a good chance at landing a job online.

Here are 5 great tips for successfully landing a job online:

Tip #1. Try to make a connection within the company you are applying to.

• Exercise your personal network to get an internal reference or find out what is going on with the job online.
• Connect with some local staffing firms to see if they work with the company on a contract or permanent basis.

If you're looking for a job, you probably see hundreds of job postings online every day. Considering people continue to lose their jobs every day as well, this doesn't make much sense. If you've submitted your resume to many of these postings, I'm sure you share the sentiment that many of my candidates do. "Should I really even mess with submitting my resume to online job postings?"

The answer to this question is yes, but there are some important things to keep in mind before you do:

• Many postings are automatically populated to the web from staffing firm web sites, or corporate web sites. What this means is, some of the positions may be closed or "dummy postings" for companies to network with candidates for jobs they see on a regular basis.
• Some companies are required, by law, to pursue every avenue available to hire a qualified candidate. This means they must internally post a job and post it for the public to view, before they can hire anyone for a specific position. Consequently, a hiring manager may have to post a job for a required amount of time, even though they have already identified someone to hire for a newly created opening.

Many companies hire directly off the postings they post online, and many staffing companies do in fact have the positions that they post as well, so don't be completely discouraged by postings online. This info is useful to explain why you might not hear anything back from those countless submissions.

In a job market that's growing more competitive every day, having an effective, impressive resume that stands out from the crowd is key. Looking to fine tune yours but not sure where to start? No worries, our Resume Rescue series is here to help!


Employers skim over resumes so fast it's surprising anybody ever gets a job, usually it's about 5 seconds or less for each one as they get sorted into the sought after "take a closer look" pile or the unfortunate but common "paper shredder and then trash bin" pile.

So you only have 5 seconds to catch a manager's eye, what to do? No, neon paper and sparkly ink is not the answer, but you should use the power of effective titles. Tell them what they need to know and they'll want to read more. So don't say simply "Accountant," but something like "Management of A/R and A/P and Recordkeeping" instead. See? Already they know so much more about how awesome you are.

Ever lied on a resume?

Statistics show that as many as 40% of us have -- that's almost half! So what are we all saying when we stretch the truth in an attempt to land a job? Employers say it's usually one of these:

• Stretching dates to cover gaps in employment
• Claiming to have a degree that you don't
• Inflating job titles and/or previous salaries
• Exaggerating technological/computer skills
  
• Claiming fluency in a foreign language (being able to count to 10 does not make you fluent!)

Just remember: while putting a little white lie or two on your resume might seem pretty harmless (you're a catch of an employee, right? Why not make it look that way on paper?) most employers and HR reps are onto the scheme and if they catch you in a lie, no matter how small, your entire application is likely to end up in the trash bin.