How to Update an Outdated Resume

How to Update an Outdated Resume If you’re back in the job market after years of employment, your resume probably needs a facelift. Your job experience may be extraordinary, but presenting it in out-of-date formats gives prospective employers the impression you’re behind the times. Today’s resumes are leaner and meaner than their old counterparts. They need careful formatting to get past prescreening software while remaining readable for real people. The modern resume, so often posted online, even needs to consider keyword placement and search engine results. Paper is Passé Paper resumes are for old folks. There, I said it. If you’re looking for work in today’s market, you’ll be submitting applications and resumes electronically. This means less time and money spent selecting the perfect paper for your resume and more time choosing the right fonts and formats. Font choice is more important than you’d think. Courier, for instance, looks like a typewriter font, and job marketers associate the font with out-of-date paper resumes. Many Gen-X employers take the same view of Times New Roman. The “best” font for a resume is, of course, a subjective choice. Look for a font that looks clear, crisp and modern. Possible options include: Arial Book Antiqua Calibri Cambria Helvetica Tahoma Size is also a consideration. Any font smaller than size 9 font is too small for easy reading, and no one’s going to squint to read your resume. Size 10 to 12 makes your resume much more readable. Save your resume as a PDF file. Job reviewers can open and read PDF files easily, and you avoid the risk someone will accidentally edit your resume. Email Addresses and LinkedIn Profiles Your resume should start with your name and contact information, but even this has changed slightly over the years. An email address is much more important now than your physical address. In fact, many people now list their name, city and state, cell phone number and email address, but leave out their street address. Safety concerns play a role here. Today’s resumes are routinely uploaded to LinkedIn and online job boards, where you have little control over who views your information. Most people prefer not to list their actual street address. Shorter is Better If you haven’t updated your resume for a few years, it probably needs pruning. Length is a significant problem for veterans converting a military resume for civilian use. The military resume reads as a complete history of the serviceperson’s career. Civilian resumes need to carve away unnecessary filler and only provide relevant information. It’s not just veterans who have this problem. Many older professional resumes include pages of detailed job descriptions. Instead, the modern resume favors bulleted lists of responsibilities and accomplishments over long, blocky paragraphs. When possible, describe your position in terms of accomplishments, which emphasize your productivity and resourcefulness. A list of responsibilities is all well and fine, but it only shows the resume reader what you should have been doing, not how you did it. How short should your resume be? This depends on your experience. A recent college graduate may only need a one-page resume. Experienced professionals can expand their resume to two pages, while those with more than 15 years of experience can get away with three pages. Don’t feel you have to shoehorn every last job in your resume. Information from a decade ago can be left out, unless it really highlights your skills and qualifications. Objectives Out, Key Skills In Resumes, like fashion, go through trends. Not so long ago resume professionals recommended leading into your job experience and education with an objectives paragraph explaining your goals and how they applied to your job application. I always considered the objectives paragraph rather pointless. A good writer could gussy this basic message up with talk of career goals, personal satisfaction, and self-improvement, but when it came down to it, the objective paragraph always had the same message: hire me. Which, of course, was a message implied by applying for the position in the first place. Thankfully, the objective paragraph didn’t survive the transition to shorter, more concise resumes. Today’s resumes replace objectives with a bulleted list of key skills and accomplishments. Think of this list as a quick overview of your resume for the benefit of the reader. Pre-Screening Considerations Online job applications can generate thousands of respondents, ranging widely in ability. Employers use prescreening software to weed out unqualified applicants. You can alter your resume to make it software-friendly. Humans scanning a resume usually look for verbs. For instance, if I was scanning a freelance writer’s resume I’d look for words like “wrote” and “published.” By contrast, most prescreening software looks for nouns. Software scanning the same resume, therefore, might look for “writer” or “publisher” instead of verbs. Describe your job history and accomplishments with both human and non-human readers in mind, and use a mix of verbs and nouns as keywords. Some resume writers include keyword lists at the bottom of their resumes, but it’s much more effective to embed your keywords within the actual resume. As an added benefit, choosing a mix of keywords for your resume increases the chance prospective employers will find your resume in job bank searches.

Women and Retirement The good, the bad, and the solutions

Women and Retirement The good, the bad, and the solutions Research indicates that women are still living longer than men. About five years on average. There are some good and bad points around how women are positioned for retirement as well as some solutions for improving their retirement readiness. With some planning and preparation, women can enjoy this advantage and retire in style. The Good They have investable assets. Nearly half of all individuals with at least $500,000 of investable assets are women. Their opinion counts. Seventy-nine percent of women feel their opinion determines family financial decisions. They’re powerful consumers. Women are estimated to control two-thirds of U.S. consumer wealth. They’re bringing home the bread. Mothers are the primary breadwinners in 40% of American families. The Bad They have lower retirement plan balances. With an average reported balance of $59,300, overall, women have lower retirement plan balances than men with an average reported balance of $100,000. They need advice. Less than half of Boomer women and only a quarter of Gen X women have consulted a financial planner for retirement planning help. They’re not taking advantage of available plans. Only 45% of the 62 million wage and salaried women took advantage of a retirement plan. Their futures may not be so secure. For women age 65 and over, the average Social Security benefit is $13,000. For men 65 and over, it’s $17,000. It may not be home, sweet home. More than 70% of nursing home residents are women. Living longer costs more. During retirement, a 65-year-old woman can expect 13% more in cumulative health care expenses than a 65 year old man. The Solutions for Enjoyable Retirement There are things women can do to keep retirement enjoyable for the long haul. Stay fit. Good health and physical condition enable you to do the things that make life fun whether it’s ecotourism travel or playing tennis. In the long run, it also works to keep the medical bills in check. Make a plan. The planning process enables you to visualize your future and set goals against which you can measure the progress of your retirement preparations. Get advice. Seek out and work with a knowledgeable expert who understands your unique needs and style.  

Why Employee Recognition is Topping the CEO Agenda

Why Employee Recognition is Topping the CEO Agenda To get the most out of your employees, you must keep them engaged at work. The question this poses however, is how can you achieve this? Employee recognition schemes are becoming increasingly popular in businesses and by making your staff feel more valued it can drive a significant improvement in their commitment and performance in the company. These schemes dont need to be pricey and can involve as little offering a bit of praise to your  staff, or publicly acknowledging hard work. The  benefits are likely to outweigh any cost in the long run anyway. This infographic by our friends at  Terryberry  outlines just how important employee engagement is for the success of a company and some simple cost effective ways that you can implement an employee recognition scheme in your organisation. Takeaways: Keeping your employees engaged can have a multitude of positive implications for the company. The results of good employee engagement can be an increased level of productivity at work, a lower turnover of staff and higher profits and customer satisfaction. Employee recognition schemes can help to achieve these results and 46% of senior managers consider them an investment, rather than an expense due to the positive outcome, and 41% of companies who use peer-to-peer recognition report higher customer satisfaction. As little as a 1% spend from payroll on employee recognition can see a positive influence on engagement, and praise and commendation from managers was voted as the best motivator for performance at work. A mere 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, so theres definitely room for improvement. North America has the highest proportion of engaged workers at 29%, followed by Australia and New Zealand at 24%. Some low cost ways to start employee recognition are acknowledging  hard working employees in a newsletter, thank you cards, face-to-face meetings to express gratitude and issuing awards to mark achievements. RELATED: Want Your Employees to Be More Engaged?

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese 5 Important Rules for New Employees

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese 5 Important Rules for New Employees No one forgets their first job, just like no one forgets their first love. It's imprinted in our brains, part of what makes us who we are today. While many first jobs are tough -- who doesn't remember the boss yelling or co-workers giving us a hard time because we were young ? -- the situation being faced by young employees today is pretty difficult. There's little patience for workers who don't hit the ground running, which is one of the reasons I did this story for Gannett...Everyone has felt first-job jitters, but for todays new employees the nerves may be even worse as they face a workplace with high expectations and little patience for poor performance or bad behavior. Adding to the tension for new workers is the fact that colleagues and bosses often now doing the work of several people after layoffs in the last year -- have little time or resources to show them the ropes. The result can be a confusing and frustrating for inexperienced employees, who may not realize that thei r missteps may land them back in the unemployment ranks. Emily Bennington and Skip Lineberg, who often work with college students, say young workers often enter the working world unprepared, since theres often little preparation in the college classroom. Thats why these new employees may pull what others consider real no-nos such as claiming theyre bored at work, Lineberg says. They dont know that you never sit idle at work, staring aimlessly. If youre done with a job, you should get up and ask someone what you can do to help, he says. You never say youre bored but no one has told them that. Bennington says workers face a world often far different than what theyre used to. She says shes noticed that many young workers are uncomfortable communicating face-to-face, or even via phone. They feel much more comfortable texting or e-mailing, but she notes that business still comes down to trust and communication and that means you need to communicate in person. Notes Lineberg: Ive h eard some young folks complain when people call them on their phone. They feel like the other person is intruding on their time. They just want to get a text. In a new book, Effective Immediately: How to Fit In., Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job, (Ten Speed Press, $14.99), Lineberg and Bennington try to give new workers a leg up in the business world so that they dont make mistakes that could hurt their first-job success. Among their suggestions: Fridays are not for making weekend plans. Instead, use the last day of your work week to submit an update to the boss. In a concise e-mail, use bullet-points to bring your manager up to speed on what youve completed and what youre working on. Also outline your schedule and set goals for the upcoming week. Never send an e-mail when youre upset. The authors call these missives a nastygram and can backfire if you send a message in the heat of the moment. How to know you shouldnt send it? I f its after 10 p.m. or if youve been mentally composing it all the way home, through dinner and during your favorite television show, they say. If youre upset, write the message, but dont send it. Wait two hours and re-read it. If you still feel the same, try to talk to the person personally or on the phone, Lineman says. Daily pleasantries are required. You may communicate with friends mostly through text or e-mail, but in the workplace you need to look someone in the eye, smile and say something like, Good morning or You look nice today. Offering I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from you can go a long way toward winning over co-workers. Bosses want to hear bad news. They may not love getting the grim tidings, but its better to offer bad news sooner rather than later. Always communicate whats happening with projects or relay concerns they dont like having to ferret out information you should have been provi ding. Read the rule book. On your first day you were probably given a stack of paperwork to sign and shuttled off to human resources where you signed more stuff and were given an employee handbook. Read the handbook as soon as possible, including the small print. Thats where youll find company policies that you need to follow such as not using company computers for checking Facebook or downloading music. Violating these rules can get you fired before the ink is dry on your paperwork. What other suggestions would you have for new employees? Social Bookmarking

5 Reasons Why MEAN Stack Development is a Must for Developers CareerMetis.com

5 Reasons Why MEAN Stack Development is a Must for Developers â€" CareerMetis.com Original Image Source â€" Depositphotos.comWith the heat of the competition turning up in the digital sphere, it has become all the more important to make use of cutting-edge technology to gain an edge over your competitors.To ensure that web applications serve their intended purpose while offering a great user experience, it is important to make use of development tools that can accommodate these features.At present, MEAN Stack is emerging as a technology that offers a highly competent JavaScript framework.evalMEAN is a free, open-source platform for creating dynamic web applications and it is widely being used for developing the latest web-based applications.MEAN stands for:MongoDBExpressJSAngularJS andNode.jsA large number of developers are enrolling for MEAN Stack web development courseto stay up to pace with the recent developments and make use of the powerhouse that is MEAN. It enjoys great favor for the development of mobile apps, which are a call of the present given that int ernet users are shifting to mobile devices.Some of the main reasons why you must undergo MEAN Stack web development trainingare:1) Uniformity at Client and Server EndsevalUsing MEAN, you can make use of similar JavaScript between the client and server end. This isomorphic nature allows the developer to switch between the front-end and back-end without the involvement of a third-party server.Due to Node.js, developers can open and run the application directly on the server. This feature cuts down on the requirement of specialists or masters of other languages.The time required to code in the different languages also gets saved. With MEAN stack, all you need is a JavaScript expert who can oversee the complete project from one end to the other.2) High FlexibilityGiven the involvement of three solid JavaScripts, MEAN stack offers a high degree of flexibility. Most importantly, as it has been mentioned earlier, usage of JavaScript throughout the project also ensures efficient code develo pment.evalFor example, if you have written your code in Node.js environment and would prefer switching to the AngularJS framework instead, the process is seamless over MEAN. Thus, you no longer have to make drastic changes to the code.3) Compatible with Cloud TechnologyCloud-based technologies have been gaining prominence of late. Thus, it is important to make use of cloud integration in your web applications.MongoDB adds a strong database system that is built to operate on the cloud. Integrating the database with the cloud allows cluster support over multiple servers and also enables automatic sharing.Thus, you can even develop, test, and maintain your codes on the cloud, which saves disk space and makes it greatly accessible. Additionally, once the application has been developed, you can easily host your application directly on the cloud.4) Budget-FriendlyevalStartups and small businesses find it even more crucial to make their mark in the digital space. However, such enterprises are normally faced with financial restraints that may act as a dampener.In such a case, MEAN Stack will come to their rescue. MEAN Stack is an open-source software, which means that its technologies are available at no extra cost.Additionally, given that MEAN makes use of a single language throughout the project, you no longer have to hire teams for various units. The company would need to hire a JavaScript specialist who can take on the task.Such a strategy would not only save the company’s time and money but shall also make good use of the business resources as you can hire the best expertise in the development field.eval5) Ideal for Real-Time ApplicationsWhether you are looking to develop a new and trendy social media platform or a stock trading dashboard of a broker â€" real-time applications have started to gain a stronghold in terms of popularity.MEAN makes use of single-page applications (SPAs), which bypasses the need for periodically refreshing the web pages as a response to server requests. Thus, you can include quick changes in real-time without constant page updates. The transformation will be subtle and elegant rather than appearing clunky.As a roundup, MEAN offers great benefits to developers. The availability of expansive libraries and online community support make it easy for even novices to get onboard.Further, MEAN technology is constantly evolving and improving to cater to their user base.A number of businesses are looking for MEAN Stack developers owing to its efficient and cost-effective nature. Thus, as a developer, gaining MEAN technological skills will definitely set you apart.

2020 Highest Paying Jobs, Best Companies and Fastest Growing Industries to Change Jobs

2020 Highest Paying Jobs, Best Companies and Fastest Growing Industries to Change Jobs 2020 Highest Paying Jobs, Best Companies and Fastest Growing Industries to Change Jobs 2020 Highest Paying Jobs, Best Companies and Fastest Growing Industries to Change Jobs January 23, 2020 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas Leave a Comment Change your job with Career Coaching 360 Want  to change  jobs in 2020? Now is a great time for a career change with currently 7.3 million job openings in the US, and an incredible 1.4 million more job openings than unemployed job seekers as reported in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (known as JOLTS.)  In fact, the unemployment rate remains at a 50-year low hovering at 3.5%. As a leadership coach inside a Fortune 100 company for the past 3 years, as well as having my own private practice as a career coach for the past 10 years, I have been writing about Bouncing Back After a Layoff and helping professionals pivot, re-brand and advance their career. Every year, I provide my clients an environmental blueprint of the job market to help them  change jobs faster and easier.   Below is a list of references and insights for the highest paying jobs, best companies and fastest growing industries in 2020. What are the highest paying jobs of 2020? Investopedia’s 25 highest paid occupations in the US for 2019 shows that healthcare dominates the salary ladder (anesthesiologists claim the top spot at an average $267k annual salary), and corporate chief executives are the next highest paid profession with an average $200k annual salary. Glassdoor recently published this report, 10 high paying jobs with tons of open positions. If you’d like some job security along with high pay, the LinkedIn 2020 Emerging Jobs report shows there is substantial job growth and hiring in job roles for artificial intelligence, robotics engineering, data science and engineering, customer service, behavioral health, and cybersecurity. US News published 100 Best Jobs based on jobs with high pay, plus strong job growth and challenge, manageable stress and work/life balance.   The three top spots go to software developer, statistician and physician’s assistant. One of the hottest career trends right now is having a side hustle. Bankrate’s survey of 2,550 adults reveals 45-percent of American workers have a gig outside their primary job, and 27-percent are more passionate about their side gig than their primary job.   Check out Business Insider’s 7 best side hustles to earn 6-figures or more in 2020. CNBC published highest paying freelance jobs of 2020 where you earn $90k or more, and Money.com featured the 20 highest paying job skills for freelancers. Looking for less stress in your life?   Business Insider identified high paying jobs for people who don’t like stress and includes environmental scientists, astronomers, mathematicians and various college professor positions.  Business News Daily published Top 10 most and least stressful jobs. If geography is a primary factor in your job, then check out the highest paid job in every state in 2019 by MarketWatch, and ZipRecruiter’s 10 hottest job markets in 2020. Indeed identified a terrific list of heroic civilian jobs in high demand such as environmental engineers, social workers, firefighters, nurses and others who serve the public. What some fun in you work?   How about being a Lego master builder, brew master or toy creator featured on  cool jobs that pay well by Moneywise.   Also check out 10 fascinating jobs you never knew existed by RD.com such as Walt Disney imagineer, B-B-Q restaurant tour guide and sea urchin diver. 2-year degree jobs with salaries as high as $80k are listed in in this study by US News World Report, “10 community college degree jobs that pay $50k or more.”  The best jobs for trade school graduates published by thebalancecareers.com and US News highest paying jobs without a degree are great resources. Since we’re on the topic of high paying jobs, if you want a high pay and not sure whether to invest in getting a college (or advanced) degree, you may want to read “Education and Lifetime Earnings in the United States” by Christopher R. Tamborini, ChangHwan Kim, and Arthur Sakamoto. This study reveals that men with graduate degrees earn approximately $1.5  million more in median lifetime earnings than high school graduates (women earn $1.1 million more.)    Men with bachelors degrees earn approximately $900,000 more in lifetime earnings than high school graduates (women with bachelors degrees earn on average $630,000 more.) What are the best companies to work for in 2020? Is money the only driving factor in changing your job?   I teach my clients that making a higher salary may be a priority, but what about the environment where you work?   What kind of company culture and values are important to you? Glassdoor conducts loads of  research  and published best places to work in 2020 based on the quality, quantity and consistency of employee reviews. This is a great way to get a sneak peek inside companies that are interested in you and learn about their culture, management style and work/life balance.   Fortune’s 100 best companies to work for is based on employee reviews, company perks and opportunities for innovation. If you love innovation and enjoy solving problems, designing products or launching new technologies, then check out Forbes’ list of the world’s most innovative companies.   Forbes lists also include America’s best employers for diversity, the fintech 50 and the world’s top regarded companies. If you want more meaningful work Fortune’s list “change the world” spotlights 52 companies across the globe that are doing well by doing good things for the planet and society.   Indeed’s top rated workplaces for veterans spotlights Keller Williams Realty, the FBI and Northrop Grumman based on more than 200-million ratings on Indeed. If you’re craving more freedom and flex time in your schedule, you may want to work for one of the Top 40 companies to watch for flexible jobs in 2020 by FlexJobs based on the analysis of more than 52,000 companies. Also, here is a cheat sheet of companies that are hiring, or most likely to be hiring 100 Fastest Growing Companies by Fortune and based on 3 years of performance with regards to revenue, profits and stock returns. What are the fastest growing industries? PayScale’s “Economic trends: reflections on 2019, predictions for 2020” report reveals that finance, healthcare, energy, retail, construction and real estate will be high growth industries in 2020. When you change jobs, keep in mind that just because you have a job in a specific niche doesn’t mean that you must work in that specific industry.   In other words, if you work in IT, it doesn’t mean that you have to work in the IT industry. There are all kinds of industries and companies that need experts in IT, finance, sales, HR, marketing, communications, PR, customer support, legal, administrative, business operations, management, leadership and other fields. In fact, I’ve successfully upleveled my own career four times by switching industries. Finally, another tip I share with my clients who want to change jobs is if you’re looking to make an immediate career change, then go for jobs that have less competition. How can you know which industries have the smallest pool of job applicants?   One of the references I use is this nifty little cheat sheet published by Indeed, “Industries where it’s tougher to find talent” which reveals that education, health services, financial and manufacturing industries have a lot of blue ocean and tough time finding qualified job candidates. CNBC took it a step further to add pay information in their article, industries with the highest share of job openings and how much they pay. I hope these resources help you land a new job where you feel fully empowered and appreciated. Sherri Thomas is a leadership coach inside a Fortune 100 company, as well as Founder/President of Career Coaching 360.   She has helped more than 1,000 executives and professionals pivot, re-brand and advance their career. As a leader helping organizations build diversity and talent management programs, Sherri has spoken at conferences and events across the world including the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Bali, Haiti, Israel, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Ireland and Kenya. Her award-winning book, “The Bounce Back personal stories of bouncing back higher and faster after a layoff, re-org or career setback“ was named 2013 Best Career Book by the Indie Book Awards. Her first book, “Career Smart 5 Steps to a powerful personal brand“ was previously #3 on AMAZON’s TOP 10 LIST for personal branding books. Download “15 Clever Ways to Get More Job Offers” free video training at CareerCoaching360.com

Tips On How To Write A Restaurant Manager Resume Sample

Tips On How To Write A Restaurant Manager Resume SampleA restaurant manager resume sample that showcases your skills and abilities is vital if you want to land a position. After all, these resumes will be used by many different people who are applying for different positions in the future.This means that it is essential that you understand how to write a restaurant manager resume so that you can get ahead of the competition. This is because in this competitive world we live in, one of the first things that people look at when they are hiring someone for their position is the manager's resume.So you need to have a good restaurant manager resume so that you can make an impression. You need to know that you have a lot of power when it comes to the quality of the information that you put on your resume. It is essential that you understand the importance of writing a resume.When you are looking for a manager resume sample you need to keep in mind that not all resume examples are created e qual. There are many professional restaurant manager resume samples out there that are out there for a reason. You need to understand that there are things that you need to look for in a resume. This is important in order to help you see what you should avoid as well.In the beginning you should start with a template that has been created by someone who is very familiar with what you need to do. This will be a good first step. Once you have chosen a template then you need to take some time to really read through it. This will give you an idea as to what it is going to look like.You also need to focus on what it is that you should include. The resume needs to show you have the ability to handle the job that you are applying for. It should highlight your strengths and display your abilities in areas that you feel would be advantageous. This is how you want to make an impression on the employer.Your experience as a chef is important. Showcase that by including your job history as a chef . You also need to make sure that you make sure you include your cooking skills on your resume.By taking the time to learn what you need to do with a restaurant manager resume sample you will find that it is not hard to come up with one that is effective. So make sure that you do this so that you can make a good impression on the employer.