lifestyle and culture

There are few things more frustrating and disheartening than a seemingly endless job search, so what if there were some simple tips that could help your resume move to the top of a hiring manager’s pile? Whether your relevant training and experience are extensive or very minimal, your resume is your sales pitch—it tells those looking to hire what you can do, what you enjoy, and where you want to move in your career. It’s essential that your resume highlights your best attributes while avoiding any red flags or mistakes that could hold you back in your job search. If you’re looking to take your resume to the next level, keep reading for nine unspoken resume rules that you need to follow before submitting your next application.

1. Keep It to No More Than Two Pages
When you really want to show off your training and experience to a company, it can be tempting to list every job you’ve ever had or course you’ve ever taken, but that’s rarely a good idea. According to Indeed.com, most resumes should be no more than a single page, especially if you have less than 10 years of professional experience. Most hiring managers have mere seconds to skim over a resume and decide if you’re a good fit for the available role, so you need to make sure that all information they see is relevant. Avoid unnecessary filler words, remove outdated information, and keep your resume as concise as possible.

2. Tailor Your Resume to the Job
Although it may be easier if you’re applying for a wide range of job opportunities, using the same resume for every application may work against you. Hiring managers are looking to see that you have the skills and experience for the specific role they are filling, and that will look different for each and every position. The training and work experience that would be important for an accounting role is very different from those needed for a hospitality position, so identifying relevant skills and elaborating on those for each specific job is crucial to ensuring you stand out. This also means removing any work experience that isn’t relevant to the job you are applying for, especially if it is from more than five years ago. Keep it recent, and keep it relevant!

3. Don’t Let Spelling and Grammar Hold You Back
It may seem obvious, but ensuring you use correct spelling and grammar on your resume can make a big difference when it comes to whether a hiring manager takes your application seriously. Use Grammarly to check for mistakes, or ask a friend to edit your work. Avoidable errors on your resume imply that you rushed in writing your application, are not detail-oriented, or simply didn’t care enough to edit your work before sending it—none of which are the impressions you want to give to a potential employer!

Source: Color Joy Stock

4. Numbers, Numbers, Numbers!
One of the best ways to ensure that your experience stands out is by quantifying exactly what you did in each role. That means including numbers! Instead of listing a duty as simply “Customer Service,” say “Served up to 200 customers per shift.” Rather than writing “Posted on the company Twitter,” say “Managed the company’s presence across four social media platforms, building the online following to over 20,000 people.”

5. Name Hard Skills, Not Soft Skills
The skills section on your resume should be short and relevant, which means only listing hard skills! Hard skills are measurable abilities that are directly relevant to the job being applied for, while soft skills are personal attributes that describe employees as individuals. While soft skills like being hard-working, honest, and patient may have sounded good in high school, they are not measurable or objective, and shouldn’t be included on a professional resume. Instead, list hard skills that will jump out at a hiring manager, like your experience using Google Suite, Microsoft Office, Skype, or Zoom.

6. Use Action Verbs to List Your Duties
When it comes to listing your duties and responsibilities in previous roles, action verbs can make all the difference. This switches the language of your resume from passive voice to active voice and is a great way to highlight what you offer to a company. Lead bullet points with action verbs like “negotiated,” “managed,” “coordinated,” and “developed” to draw attention to your accomplishments and experience.

Source: Social Squares

7. Research Current Employees
If you want an insight into what a company is looking for, the current employees are an incredibly useful place to start! LinkedIn is an amazing resource to find the people already working at the company you’re applying to, and it allows you to see what experience and skills they list both at their current job and at their previous positions. This can be a great way to find out which training and information the business and hiring managers see as important, assisting you in highlighting your own skills.

8. Cut Out the References
Including references on your resume, or even the well-used phrase “References available upon request,” is a thing of the past! Not only are they not needed at the application stage unless specifically requested but a list of references takes up precious space on your resume.

9. Use a Cover Letter to Explain Gaps
A lot of people are scared to address gaps in their resumes, but they shouldn’t be! A 2020 LinkedIn survey found that Americans feel embarrassed (24%), uneasy (23%), and ashamed (15%) about disclosing they are currently unemployed, but especially since COVID-19, it is very common for candidates to have at least short gaps in their employment history. If you have gaps in your resume, regardless of the reason, the best thing you can do is be honest about it. Rather than shying away, use a cover letter to highlight that you took time for yourself to grow and focus. From taking a course online to building a professional network, use the gaps in your resume to your advantage, and don’t be afraid to explain your time off to a hiring manager—it might just work in your favor!

Yes, Manifesting Works—It Helped Me Land My Dream Job More

It’s no secret that Mondays can be stressful. The term “Sunday scaries” even describes the uncomfortable feeling prior to the start of a new week. I, for one, have struggled for a long time with this. I’ve spent many Sundays overthinking the tasks and responsibilities I have waiting for me on Monday, often putting a damper on wonderful weekends spent with friends and family.
Luckily, there are ways to prevent the Sunday scaries before they even hit, and there are even ways to prevent Monday morning from feeling like a frantic scramble to the finish line. The trick? It’s all in how you spend Friday afternoon. So get ready to sit back and fully enjoy a well-deserved glass of rose on Friday evening—because we’re diving into the five things successful women (and now you!) do on Fridays so that Monday isn’t a nightmare.

1. Prep Your Monday, Before Monday
Successful women know that remaining a step ahead in work and going the extra mile is what will set them apart, but as the week comes to a close, it’s normal to have tasks that spill over and become a “next week” item.
Before you log off on Friday, take the time to organize your Monday (and the rest of the week for that matter). Review your email, messages, calendar, any big meetings from the week, and your overall to-do list every Friday before you leave the office. From there, map out the following week and bake in time for meeting preparation, follow-ups you need to handle, reminders you have in your calendar, things you have to do, and things you want to do. When doing this, make sure to add in things like walks to coffee mid-week when you know your mind will need a mental break.
When I do this, I like to take it a step further and connect with my internal teammates about items for the following week so that we are already aligned on what needs to be done—saving us time and energy on Monday so that we can jump right in. This way, I leave for the weekend already confident that I have the following week managed and under control.

2. Get Meeting Preparation Handled
If I know I’m walking into a Monday with calls of any kind, I like to take extra time on Friday to prepare these in advance. I ensure agendas are ready, notes have been made, and I know exactly what needs to be done Monday morning in order to fully prepare.Knowing what I’m walking into on Monday helps meetings go smoother and helps me rest easy Sunday night knowing that Monday morning isn’t going to be a fire drill. Win-win!

3. Clean Your Physical Space
Before you jet out to catch up with friends on Fridays, ensure your desk or workspace is tidy. Walking into a neat and calm space on Monday morning will help ease your mind. Pro tip: Set out a nice candle, cute notebook, and your favorite coffee mug for Monday morning.

Source: @alainakaz

4. Clean your Digital Space
Maybe more important than your physical workspace is your digital one.Before I log off on Fridays, I do my best to organize my email inbox, desktop, downloads, and other folders that may have started adding up during the week. I file items appropriately and get rid of what I don’t need.
For email, I use folders and labels to ensure my inbox is as organized as possible for when I walk in on Monday, so that when I’m trying to rack my brain about where things left off, it’s already right there, organized in front of me.

5. Reflect On Your Week
At the end of the day, all of this preparation will only truly pay off if you take what happened during your current week and apply it to what is next. Take a walk for 5-10 minutes on Friday afternoon and think about what worked, what didn’t work, where you want to shift focus the following week, and what additional skills you want to learn. Add key goals you set for yourself or areas you’d like to improve into your weekly plan and add things to remember to sticky notes in your workspace so that when you come in Monday, there is no question about what you’re going to do.

15 Sunday Rituals to Set You Up for an Amazing Week More