Writing a Resume No Experience Required

Writing a Resume No Experience RequiredA resume is one of the most important documents you will ever give to a potential employer. A good resume can help a person to land the position they want. Now, don't get me wrong, a resume can also be very damaging if done wrong. However, it's really all in how you write it.If you're considering going back to school to get a job, there's probably a lot of fear involved because you never thought you would be out of work. Whether you've been out of work for a few months or a few years, your resume can still be effective, provided you know what you're doing. And how do you know what you're doing?You need to know what a resume is and what it is not. A resume is a resume; it's not a resume that a certain job requires. For example, a CPA is not going to need a resume that has hundreds of words on it that explains how great they are at math, how much money they make, or how the company is lucky to have them.At least not at the beginning. A great resum e is going to tell about the education, skills, and experiences that are going to help you get the job. The first impression is the first impression, and it needs to be exactly the same for every job. So you'll want to avoid, or at least put in a 'no experience needed' section.There are plenty of ways to make sure you are a perfect candidate for the job that is being offered. One way to do this is to start building your resume from the beginning. This is the easiest way to avoid any mistakes in the beginning. It's usually very easy to check someone's resume with a quick glance at the cover letter. What's harder to check is the whole resume. Make sure you put as much detail as possible on your resume. Don't just throw it up in front of everyone. Get a few friends to look at it. Even better, see if you can get someone who is your friend to look at it and give you feedback. If they think there are some errors in it, give them the details. They can either fix it or pass it along to some one else who can.As you can see, even if you've never had a job before, you can still get your resume done the right way. You just need to be aware of what you're doing and what you're not doing. Your resume can really help you land that job you've always wanted. So get started!

How to Navigate Glass Ceilings at Work

How to Navigate Glass Ceilings at Work Last week the NFL announced that it had hired its first full-time coachâ€"Kathryn Smith of the Buffalo Bills. While most of us aren’t earning a paycheck planning gridiron strategy, plenty of workers landing high-profile jobs are breaking barriers on a regular basis. And, like Smith, they may be doing it in an environment that isn’t necessarily accustomed to their point of view. That’s a company’s loss. When an organization opens itself to minority and alternative viewpoints, “it leads to greater trust, transparency, creative thinking and innovation in the workplace,” said Kris Duggan, CEO of BetterWorks, which makes HR software to help companies set and track their goals. Even if you’re receiving support at the organizational level, though, meshing with the people you’ll be sitting next to and attending meetings with is crucial. Although fitting in at a new job is usually at least a bit stressful for everyone, it can be especially tricky for, say, the sole baby boomer in a department of 20-somethings or the lone Lone Star State native in an office full of New Yorkers. If you’re the only one at your job representing your gender, ethnic group, sexual orientation, religion, or age bracket, career experts say there are some steps you can take to ease your transition into the group. Read next: Here’s What Happened When This Company Tried Ditching Bosses “It’s a fine balance between highlighting your strengths and showing restraint with making radical changes,” said Joris Luijke, vice president of people at workforce training and development company Grovo. Here’s what he and others recommend: Take it slow. You might be looking forward to shaking things up, but don’t implement all of your ideas right off the bat. “It is important to take the time to listen to the team and observe,” Luijke said. “You don’t have to make many strategic changes in your first weeks.” Coming in with an openness to listen and integrate yourself into the group rather than superimposing your way of doing things onto existing systems will prevent your new co-workers from feeling alienated. Don’t be a know-it-all. “In today’s work environment it is common for a baby boomer to be working in a team of millennials,” said Blake Nations, CEO of Over50JobBoard.com. In that case, the most important rule is remembering that, when it comes to today’s workforce, age doesn’t always mean wisdom. “You may be more experienced, but consider everyone else as equals,” he said. Establish measurable performance goals. Schedule a meeting with your manager within the first week to discuss performance, Duggan said. “Get on the same page with expectations and aspirational goals, so differences aside, you know what real achievement and even overachievement look like in a tangible way,” he recommended. This is good advice for any new hire, but it’s especially pertinent if you’re concerned that your ethnicity or other attribute might prompt unspoken or unconscious prejudice. “Having a baseline of measurement… can help remove the performance biases sometimes held by managers,” Duggan said. Don’t feel forced to conform. “You may feel pressure â€" real or imagined â€" to defy certain stereotypes or expectations, but keep in mind that what got you to this position is your skills,” said CareerBuilder chief human resources officer Rosemary Haefner. If you sublimate who you are, you risk emotional exhaustion and burnout that can hurt your performance. Focus on your shared goals. “You have more in common with your new co-workers than it may appear,” Duggan said. “You are all working together towards the same vision,” he pointed out. While this won’t magically make differences disappear, the experts are unanimous: bringing your A-game and demonstrating what you can contribute to the success of your team or department will go a long way towards breaking down barriers.

What Happens When You Do Everything Right in an Interview, and the Hiring Manager is Nuts - Work It Daily

What Happens When You Do Everything Right in an Interview, and the Hiring Manager is Nuts - Work It Daily By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Dawn Rasmussen “Emily,” a client and a friend of mine, recently had a rattling experience. She applied for a job for which she was eminently qualified, and executed everything flawlessly throughout the entire job application and interview process...including doing her research on the company, preparing interview questions of her own, writing thank you notes, and then politely checking in on the status of her application to show just the right level of interest and enthusiasm for the position. But when she made it to the second round (after having charmed the first-round interview panel), she found herself sitting in front of a company vice president who the final decision-maker…and someone who also was clearly off of her rocker. From inappropriate personal items on display in the VP’s office to mention of being under the influence of a painkiller, to a rambling tirade that lasted 45 minutes of the 55-minute long interview, Emily found it difficult to get a word in edgewise to connect her background to the position opening. The conversation with the VP bounced all over the place, and it was clear the VP had some serious personal mental issues. The whole ‘interview’ ended up being a monologue from the VP, and at that point, Emily realized it was best to resign herself to letting the VP take the conversation where she wanted to take it…which was apparently all over the map. This whole situation was incredibly discouraging for Emily. She was fired up, had great ideas to take the organization to the next level, had gotten the buy-in from the staff from the first-round, and was ready to hit the ground running. Everything was electrified with the “YES, I can do it” vibe. Yet it was clear that there was one problem the department was not able to deal with… The VP was nuts. And sure enough, in a follow up call to HR a week later, Emily was told the VP had said she was going to get back to Emily personally (but did not)...and the HR person sympathetically told Emily the VP had selected two other candidates for a third round, and suddenly, had gone in an entirely different direction in terms of candidate requirements (at this point, the HR person had a tinge of irritation in her voice). Crushed, Emily hung up, trying to figure out what to make of the entire experience. So what do you do, when everything is game, set, and match: and then the loose cannon arrives on the scene and blows everything to bits…and there is NOTHING you nor anyone else who is your advocate can do? First, you cannot control the situation. As frustrating as it is, that person-obstacle is immovable and they are in a position of authority which you cannot change. You are only responsible for your conduct, and if you execute everything flawlessly, then you’ve done everything expected and demanded of you. Beyond that, there is absolutely nothing you can do to influence or shift opinion, and to attempt to do so will only result in it reflecting badly on you for circumventing the person in question. Second, you need to let it go. Look through the entire experience and determine what the take-aways are…is there anything you could have done BETTER? It’s okay to examine what happened, what the clues were, how you responded, and if there was anything else you could have contributed differently â€" but you ultimately cannot dwell on it…you’ll drive yourself crazy with the ‘what ifs.’ Decide what you want to learn from the experience and integrate it into how you want to present yourself in case this same kind of situation presents itself again. Then let it go, and concentrate your efforts on your job search efforts. Don’t devote your energy on something that is now in the past…instead, focus on your future. Third, you wouldn’t have enjoyed working there anyway. Sure, it’s easy to adopt this attitude, but think of it this way…how many of us end up in a dysfunctional workplace that ends up eating up our productivity time by us ‘kivetching’ to other employees about a particular problem or person? If you are experiencing a disconnect in the interview and can easily see through personal issues and personality problems of your potential future boss, what do you think it would be like on a daily basis? Most likely, it won’t improve from there…I always say you are interviewing employers just as much as they are interviewing you. If the employer is that bad in an interview, what do you think they will be like as your boss? The interview is supposed to be when everyone is on their best behavior! And, as part of evaluating a job opportunity, no matter how much you need the money, you should weigh the mental cost of working with supervisors with control, anger, or personal issues. A healthy workplace could be more desirable than a bigger paycheck served up with a whole lot of angst. And chances are there’s someone in your social or work circle that ended up going to counseling because of an unhealthy work environment. The key to get beyond these excruciatingly disappointing interviews where you knew you had it ‘in the bag’ but got derailed by someone who isn’t in their right mind is to understand the boundary lines between what you can and cannot control, and to do what you can do to the best of your ability. If it doesn’t come to fruition, then there wasn’t a fit, and you need to move on to the next opportunity and put your energy into more productive efforts. Tweet Share | Did you enjoy this article? Read more articles by this expert here. CAREEREALISM Expert, Dawn Rasmussen is the president of Portland, Oregon-based Pathfinder Writing and Careers Services, which specializes in mid- to executive-level professional résumés. She is a frequent professional speaker and writer on career management topics and teaches résumé writing and other job search strategies at several local community colleges and universities. Dawn is also the official “Get the Job” columnist for One+ Magazine, a trade publication distributed to over 26,000 meeting professionals worldwide, and Talentzoo.com, a job site for creative and marketing professionals. She is a frequent professional speaker on career management topics while also volunteering her expertise to help unemployed workers at the Oregon Employment Department with free classes twice a month. CAREEREALISM.com provides the best career advice from proven career experts on a daily basis. How do you find a job today? You get career and job search help from us! 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