I’ve already given advice on how to make a resume competitive by giving some real life examples of how I changed my friend’s resume. There are so many factors that go into a job offer: A killer resume and cover letter, a great interview, a satisfactory online reputation checkup, etc.

Last week, I went over how to manage your online reputation (including using a service to do it for you). I wanted to go over a few more ways to really tweak your resume. My last post on resume tweaking went over things like putting quantifiable results instead of qualitative results and using more precise language. This post will be a little more general, figuring you are about to apply for a job.

Get Your Resume the Attention It Deserves

I used to review resumes on a daily basis at one of my old jobs. I was directly in charge of hiring candidates for a supervisory role in a sales and operations position.

1) Format is everything.

The first thing a hiring manager sees before they even have a chance to learn about your qualifications is the format of your resume. Is it cramped? Does it utilize white space? Is the font incredibly tiny?

If I can’t read through your resume easily and quickly, I’m not wasting my time. It needs to be reader-friendly and attention grabbing.

2) Utilize keywords.

The number one rule of retail is location. The number one rule of internet search is keyword optimization.

Most resumes are added to a candidate database once they are submitted that allow a hiring manager to run searches and queries. If you submit your resume to a popular job board like Monster or LinkedIn, the same holds true.

Make sure to utilize keywords that are relevant to your work experience, accomplishments, and goals. So, Self-motivator would not be a powerful keyword to use, but Union Contract Negotiation would be very strong.

3) Tell me your core knowledge.

This is the perfect way to maximize what I said above in regards to keywords.

Have a small section dedicated to your core knowledge and key skills. This is the perfect way to drop a lot of industry keywords. Then, when you disperse the same keywords randomly throughout the resume, your keyword density increases and heightens your chances of being displayed in a search.

4) Introduce Yourself With Pizzazz!

Whether you have an introductory statement/objective, a cover letter, or an email with a resume attached, you need to create a lasting impact from the first second.

Your statement needs to be tailored to the job you are applying for, it needs to sell your best attributes, and needs to create an OOMPH!

If all of that is done well, I will read your resume. ;)

5) Tailor Your Resume

If you submit the same resume to every position you apply to, the hiring manager can tell. The resume should be a perfect fit for the job you are applying to.

List your duties at your previous job that are MOST applicable to the job you are applying for. Choose the accomplishments that are most suited for the job. Ignore the white noise.

6) Accomplishments and Contributions

When I said list the duties that are most applicable above, that should be if you have nothing else to say.

Ideally, you should list accomplishments and contributions. Business is about what you can do for me. What value would you add to my organization?

Pretend you are applying to my company to be a salesman. Knowing that you made sales calls is meh. But knowing that you made cold calls with a 25% close rate for an average sale of $3,400 is a whole other picture. The latter can be easily translatable to what you could do for me.

Which person sounds more hirable? The person who made sales calls or the person who closed on 25% of their customers for an average of $3,400 each? I think the choice is obvious!

7) Market Impactful Items Towards the Top

I read from top to bottom. Most people do. If you put the most powerful parts of your resume towards the bottom, you are lessening the chance of the hiring manager getting to that point.

You want to put your knowledge, skills, and abilities as close to the top as possible. Creating a powerful career summary and/or a core strengths section is a great way to grab someone’s attention using as little space as possible.

Marketing is Everything

If it isn’t obvious, a lot of this has to do with marketing. A person can submit two resumes with the same exact experience and one of them can go right to the garbage while the other goes to the top of the pile.

Using a format that is high impact, utilizing keywords and content positioning, and tailoring your resume can make all the difference.

If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to post a comment!

Multilevel marketing scams and Pyramid schemes are nothing new. However, the speed at which these scams can spread is getting quicker and quicker because of the proliferation of the Internet.

When you combine this fact with the state of the economy, it should be no surprise that scam artists are alive and well. Whether they are advertising to you on the Internet to buy a Google advertising cash kit or conning your grandparents into paying $2500 to get rid of their mortgage debt, a bad economy means good business.

Sniff This Out

Here are some of the most common promises a money scam will use to try and bait you.

Work From Home

I will hire my first reader that contacts me to answer my e-mails and respond to comments on my blog.

Before I get inundated with e-mail requests from people looking for a quick buck, this is not a real offer. However, I’m going to walk you through this article using this as an example.

When you read about an opportunity to work at home, you need to be cautious. REAL opportunities to work at home are few and far between. And in the few instances where you can work at home, you will usually be receiving a salary from the company you work for. This is referred to as telecommuting.

The phrase work from home is usually used as a hook to capture people’s attention. Do not fall for the bait. But looking back at my first sentence it’s pretty easy to see how people get caught up in the hype.

Make Substantially More Than The Job is Worth

To sweeten the original offer, I will pay my first reader that contacts me $3000 per week to answer my e-mails and respond to comments on my blog.

Oftentimes, a money scam will not only promise you the ability to work from home, but it will promise you a much more substantial income than what seems reasonable.

Before you get excited, you must ask yourself how they would be able to afford to pay you so much when much larger and more legitimate companies only pay a fraction of the amount.

Quick & Easy / No Work

To clarify your job responsibilities, you will be solely responsible for answering all of my e-mails and responding to all of my blog comments. I get about six comments per day and about 25 e-mails per day on average.

Whoa whoa whoa!! This job just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. At this point you can see how this scam develops to carefully hook you line by line. The job goes from feasible to unfeasible pretty quickly.

The promise of a quick and easy job where you make a substantial amount of money working from home is all too common. This should be a big red flag.

Operates on a Tier System

The best part about the job is that you get to try your hand in the sales aspect of my company. My company is one of the strongest brands in selling virtual assistants. You will have the opportunity to earn a large amount of money selling the services. I will train and mentor you all along the way.

Ah-ha, so now you see that a large part of your pay, if not all of it, will be based on a tiered sales pyramid. I’m not really hiring you to be my virtual assistant, I am just trying to get you to buy into the program so that I can get a commission. By doing so, I will increase my earnings and thus will increase the person above me’s earnings.

By definition, a tiered system operates on the premise that the base feeds the top. The later you get in, the higher probability you will lose.

Have to Pay to Get Hired

Oh, by the way… In order to be considered for this job you must send me $29.95 to cover the application and processing fees. If chosen, you need to Western Union me $99.95 for a secretarial package to get you started.

Usually this part is saved for last. In all of your excitement that you are about to get a job that pays thousands per week, you don’t think twice about paying a measly hundred bucks here and there. However, when is the last time you applied for a job with a Fortune 500 company and had to bring them a check to cover their expenses of the job hiring process. Never.

Unless you are 100% certain, a job that asks you pay to get the job should be a signal to run the opposite direction.

Stay On Guard

Part of smelling a money scam is remaining rational in the midst of what seems to be a great deal. Your greatest advocate is yourself and thus you must remain vigilant at all times.

Just take a step back and think rationally: Can MLR really afford to pay me $3,000 per week to be his assistant? And are virtual assistants really that profitable? Can I find any information on his company? Maybe even through the BBB?

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It seems as if everyone on this planet thinks that dealerships are always up to shady tactics. While most of them are, it’s better that you come prepared to a dealership, rather than not know anything at all, especially when it comes to the financing sector. I was lucky enough to ask my Uncle, who used to work at a car dealership a few questions involving the financing department, and he was more than happy to share his secrets on financing. Tips for Dealing with the Finance Guy I’m hoping that you can take these tips, and save yourself some money. 1) Never EVER tell them your budget If you’ve walked into a car dealership before, and you were going to get a loan, they probably sat you down, and [...] Continue Reading…