Resume & Career Resources

Tip #1: Read up on proper grammar

Nothing screams “unprofessional” like a resume with poor grammar.  As a resume builder, you have to give attention to this area… or get eaten up by the competing applicants.

If you have a hard time writing with proper grammar, I would suggest one of three things:

1.  Hire a professional resume writer (Expensive and effective)

2.  Buy a “resume builder” software (Cheap and effective)
Tip #2:  Read up on writing sales copy

To get a job you have to sell yourself to the employer.  Simple as that… however, more than one resume builder completely ignores this fact.

When it comes to crafting your cover letter, or writing up the content for the resume itself, you’ll be well served to know a thing or two about writing sales copy.  And learning to write sales copy isn’t as complicated as it seems, either. Really, you’ll only need two books: Scientific advertising by Claude Hopkins, and Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples.

Read those two, and you’ll be ready to write a cover letter with some teeth and a killer resume.  Won’t cost you much either; you can pick up both online for less than $20… and the salary increase you’ll likely see justifies the investment.

Tip #3: Read up on the most common formats

The format of your resume will either lock in the attention of the hiring manager, or repulse them.  This is why it makes sense to use tried and true formats that hiring personnel are familiar with.

The two most common formats are chronological and functional.  Doing a search on Google will yield you more than enough information on both of them to craft a compelling resume.

Alternatively, the resume builder can use software to structure the resume for them.  Most resume writing software these days include templates that one can leverage to save time and cut the learning curve.

Tip #4:  Read up on the job position you’re after

A major key of getting the position you’re after is doing research around it.  Before you fire up your word processor to write up your resume, you should know everything about the company, the industry and most importantly the position you hop to fill.

Start with the advertisements for the job to get a feel for what they’re looking for.  Next, go to the company website to understand who they are and what they do.  Use a service like mantle.com to get more in depth information about the company.  Finally, do a search on Google News to pull up any recent announcements or relevant news.

As you can see, the process of becoming a good resume builder isn’t easy, but it is simple.  The above tips will cut your learning curve, but it is only the beginning.  You should follow up reading this article with further research about how to craft a killer resume.

And remember: Getting your resume to A+ quality takes some work. Hard work.  But don’t let that discourage you… the bump in salary, responsibility and prestige more than warrant the initial time investment.

With the Internet, making more money in your career is as simple as following a few field tested steps. If you’re a current job hunter and want to make more cash in your next position, then listen carefully…

Resume Banks

The Internet affords the opportunity to get your resume in front of hundreds of employers, and the click of a button. Resume banks is the key.  In a nutshell, online resume banks are websites where you upload your resume from your computer.  Employers seeking talent for a particular position search these job banks for qualifying resumes and then set up an interview.

There are hundreds of resume banks to choose from, and it makes no sense to limit yourself to only one. Instead, the resume builder should upload their resume to as many resume banks as possible.  Each resume is like a hook in the water… the more you have, the higher your chances of catching a big one.

Craigslist started as nothing more than a San Francisco based site for upcoming events in town. That was back in 1995, and since then Craigslist has become the world’s biggest online system that acts simultaneously as an online classified ad, resume bank, job board, and event notification system.

And to use it is completely free.

The resume builder can stir up some interest by posting their resume to Craigslist.  Keep in mind that Google does index the pages on Craigslist, so a potential employer may stumble across your resume while doing searches on Google.

Another use for Craigslist: the job board.  Craigslist has different job boards for all major U.S. cities, and many other cities across the globe.  You can scan for appealing advertisements and then send your resume directly to the advertising company.

Market Research

It’s often said that knowing the position you want and the company you want to work for is 90% of the battle.  With the advent of the Internet, doing the background research has never been easier.

Using a website such as Mantle.com, you can pull up detailed company information at the click of a button.  This includes contact lists, company revenue, number of employees and more.

Using a website such as Hoovers.com, you can pull up competing companies, recent news, and even cashflow analysis.  All of this information will come in handy when crafting your resume.

Industry Research

Picture this: you’re a professional typewriter operator.  The personal computer has finally reached a point where it is small and economical… making mass consumption all but inevitable.  How do you avoid career disaster?

The answer is industry research.

After doing a bit of research on the industry as a whole, you’ll know if your target job position is a dying opportunity.  Just as important, you’ll have the information to get in front of rising trends to make more money.  More times than not, this is simply a process of learning a new skill or two to complement the skills you already have.  Simply knowing these two things puts you in a position to profit handsomely, in the form of a higher salary.

And doing industry research is relatively easy to do.  Simply use the step by step guide on Virtual Pet and you’ll have more than enough information to work with.

In conclusion

The savvy resume builder knows that getting a higher salary or securing better benefits comes down to using the right tools.  The Internet is one such tool, and also the most powerful. Want to make more money? Use the Internet… it works.