Two more emails that I have recieved: How to write a winning resume....

Here are two more emails that I received that shows some additional tips on what people are doing while they are waiting for their potential offers:

I have been unemployed since February. It is difficult to find meaningful work in my geography and I do not have the funds to relocate. The newspaper has barely two pages of ads on Sundays. The online postings receive so many applications that it is difficult to get noticed. In order to earn money I have been doing on line piece work type jobs. This includes Amazon Mechanical Turk as well as freelance jobs through at Elance. As a result I am about to market my self locally as an online virtual business support person. I am going to post on local boards as well as contact local offices. The experience I have gained doing this piece work might be transferable to a broader customer base.

Dani

I'm 25 and unemployed. I have no post high school education and don't plan to get any yet. What I've been doing is a combination of two things. First of all, I've been trying to find little ways to make a buck here and there online. I've done work for with the Mechanical Turk and I'm looking into things like Adsense and any other potential money makers. I figure that my spare time is better spent making SOME money than doing nothing. The second technique is really very easy for me, and I imagine it would be for most people who have curious minds. I've basically just been following my bliss and using my free time to surf internet bulletin boards and tutorial sites for information on any and every hobby that I take an interest in. I try to focus on do-it-yourself type material, and I often find that many of the little projects that I've initiated have a decent potential for profitability. I've also learned, after years of bulletin board hopping, that almost anything that you can imagine someone wanting to do has a D.I.Y. following somewhere on the 'net that is more than willing to teach you whatever it is you want to know about it!

Samuel

Samuel and Dani both show they are using other options even though they seem small, can make money online.

Here are some tips for a writing a amazing resume. Sometimes taking a new twist on a resume can freshen your skills without having to do any major work.

Building a Winning Resume

• Would you buy a product from a salesperson who didn’t know what he was selling but had a specific price? The notion of “keeping your options open” is a misguided approach to job hunting, managing a career and, especially, resume writing.
• A prospective employer should know in the first two to three lines what type of position you’re looking for and in the first 10 to 15 lines the greatest benefits you can bring to the role.
• Having two or three resumes with different targets still allows for an effective, manageable search. It also allows you to focus on different skills for different job titles you may be pursuing. If you’re unable to narrow your target on your resume, focus on assessing your skills and career research, not writing your resume at this time.
• Being able to identify with your audience is a crucial skill, not just in resume writing and job hunting, but in business in general. This allows you to present your skills and experience in the most advantageous light and remain focused while preparing your resume.
• When you scan your resume, are you brimming with confidence? Can you defend every word in an interview? Is every claim truthful, credible or substantiated in some way? If you can’t answer “yes” to each question, go back for a re-write.
• I’ve yet to meet a candidate who thought he was stupid, but declaring “I’m smart” only gets you ridiculed on your way to the circular file. Your resume should show your intelligence in how the information is organized, phrased and formatted.
• Using appropriate jargon can help if readers will understand the terms. Industry jargon on a resume will help you connect to the technical recruiter faster.
• Is your resume effective when scanned quickly, at moderate speed or word-for-word in a detailed manner? To achieve maximum impact, it needs to succeed at each level. Read sentences aloud to look for mangled grammar and wordy phrasing.
• Some writers, especially those who spend days preparing their documents, need outside observers to evaluate their resumes. Some professional resume writers offer free consultations, and some recruiters will also help by taking a look at your presentation with a critical eye.
• This advice is common sense but many writers frequently fail on this point. Their presentations are poorly formatted, organized or written. Documents are scanned top to bottom, left to right. Information appearing first is presumed to be more important and influences what follows.
• Bold type, italics, capital letters, numbers and bullets stand out more than ordinary print. But without highlighting, nothing will seem important.
• This section is the first and most important section of your resume’s main text. In your first 10 to 15 lines, you should let a prospective employer know what you can do and why you’re good at it.
• Coming immediately after your heading and contact information, a well-written profile puts a positive spin on every entry that follows and eliminates the need for a separate objective.
• Typical headings for a profile section on a resume can include: “synopsis,” “profile,” “strengths,” “profession,” “specialty,” “key skills/qualifications,” “highlights,” “summary,” “expertise” or “focus.”
• An effective profile will include your skills and/or experience. To be credible, a profile requires a focus on specific, verifiable claims. Almost every item should be substantiated or self-evident.
• This is the “holy trinity” of resume writing. Don’t shortchange yourself out of concern for length. Your resume should be as brief as possible without doing a disservice to your candidacy.
• To present your accomplishments effectively, cite specific figures in their proper context. They’ll add credibility, highlight specific items, and show where you fit into the big picture. Although this may seem counterintuitive, figures make a resume more readable.
• Decide if you’d hire yourself, if you were the interviewer. If the answer is yes, start circulating your resume with confidence and expect success.
• List your technical knowledge first in an itemized fashion. Use as many buzz words as you can conjure up which reflect your work and training experience. This will satisfy the visual curiosities of hiring managers and OCR scanners conducting key word searches.
• List your qualifications in order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you’ve already done what you want to do in a new job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn’t your most recent job.
• Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
• Begin sentences on a resume with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
• Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Be sure to thoroughly “sell” yourself by highlighting all of your strengths.
• If you’ve got a valuable asset which doesn’t seem to fit into any existing components of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume segment, perhaps as “Other Relevant Qualifications”.
• As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting five years or less experience should fit on one page. More extensive experience can justify usage of a second page. Consider three pages for a resume (about 15 years or more experience) an absolute limit.
• Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use “I” or other pronouns to identify yourself.
• Leave all needless items off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, citizenship, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, and irrelevant recreational activities. Also avoid using a second mailing address (“permanent address” is confusing and never used), references, reference of references (“available upon request”), travel history, previous pay rates, previous supervisor names, reasons for leaving previous jobs, and components of your name which you really never use (e.g. middle names).
• If you go by a different name than your “legal” name, put the name you use on your resume instead. It’s better for you and the interviewer if you get started with the right name from the moment you meet. You can always list yourself as “M. Robert” if you want to be completely accurate.
• Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. Get a third and fourth opinion if you can.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalization on your resume. Proofread it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes.
• Laser print your resume on plain, white paper. Handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet printing look pretty cheesy, and the ink can smear. Stick with laser prints.
• Don’t waste your money on special bond paper, matching envelopes, or any color deviances away from plain white or off-white. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any special paper efforts.
• The word resume comes from the French word “resumer” which means to summarize. So the exact purpose of a resume is to summarize your experience, knowledge, and accomplishments. Therefore, you must avoid being too wordy. Say exactly what you mean in the least number of words possible.
• The length of your resume is important. Resumes should be from 1 to 3 pages long. Don’t be tempted to make your resume longer than 3 pages, even if you have a lot to tell. Remember, a resume is supposed to be a summary. A resume that is too long simply will bore the reader.
• The objective is one of the most important parts of a resume and should not be overlooked. It informs potential employers that you are moving in a certain direction, relates your work preference(s), and serves as a focal point from which to review and analyze your resume.
• Your resume objective should be brief, clearly stated, and consistent with the accomplishments and demonstrated skills as documented on your resume. If you are considering more than one professional goal, you should consider developing more than one resume, each presenting a different objective.
• The profile is an alternative to an objective statement on a resume. It gives you the opportunity to present your strengths at the very beginning of the resume.
• Never overcrowd your resume. Leave some “white space” so that important points can appear to pop out. Never submit a resume with handwritten corrections.
• You can highlight sections of a resume by using a different typeface or size or by using “bullets.” If possible, use larger letters for the headings used in the separate sections of the resume.
• Never try to be too fancy by using wild colors, cute graphics, and so forth. Don’t be overly creative. A simple, straightforward, factual resume will do nicely. Make it stand out, but stay conservative.
• Make sure that the punctuation is correct. And make sure that all of your columns line up. See that all of your facts are correct. Potential employers will note all inaccuracies and wonder why they appear in your resume.
• If you’re seeking a faculty, research, clinical, or scientific position, you will need a “CV” or Curriculum Vitae. A CV is a little more formal in format than a resume, usually two pages (or more, if you are highly experienced). It’s a detailed listing that usually includes publications, presentations, professional activities, honors, and additional information. A Curriculum Vitae is often much longer than a resume.
• Don’t be modest. Many of us are hesitant to put down just how much we have done, or how good we are. We grow up being taught not to brag, but this is your chance! A resume is like a sales prospectus, and you are the product. Make sure you don’t leave out the good stuff.
• Talk about what you’ve done that shows how good you are. The statement: “Effectively managed a diverse population of 30 computer professionals to become a cohesive working team” is effective; “Am excellent with people and have great managerial skills” is not. “Consistently exceeded production quotas by 30 to 50 percent” is effective; “Am very good at getting a lot of work done” is not.
• Keep it honest. You want to say as much as you can that’s positive about yourself, but remember, if the resume works it will get you an interview with someone who will probably be looking right at it during that interview. Don’t ever put in anything you can’t defend, justify or comfortably explain.
• Presentation IS important. While the content of your resume is the most important thing, the visual appearance can make a big difference. If your resume is packed with great information, but appears crowded and hard to read, a busy executive might just not take the time to go through it with the care it deserves.
• Use the appropriate amount of space. If you’ve been in the work force for five years, and are applying for your second job, using a two page resume would not be helpful. No one wants to look through a lot of padding. On the other hand, if you’ve been working for twenty years and have lots of experience and several jobs, trying to compress it into one page will never do you justice. In that case, forget the so called “experts” that say to put it on one page, and use the space you need to get the job done right (and get the job!).
• If you’re on a simple career path, and your last job is the most relevant experience to your next, a standard chronological resume is generally best. This lists your employment from last first, and puts your experience under each employer. However, if you are changing careers, going back to something you used to do, or have a scattered work history, then a functional resume will probably serve your needs better.
• Make sure it’s right! As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If your prospective employer is getting dozens (or even hundreds) of resumes, unless you can get their attention, it doesn’t matter if you are the most qualified applicant, they’ll never know it. Even if you do get the interview, if your resume is mediocre, that interview will start with you having an uphill battle to counter a weak first impression.
• Take the time to get your resume right! If you can’t do it yourself, then seek assistance from a professional who can give you that extra edge. Many successful, talented, and creative people, who are excellent in their professions, still choose to have help with their resumes.

I will be back tomorrow for some more tips and keep those stories coming.