The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

by

7 Job Tips From Your Future Self

A couple of weeks ago, CNN published an article, “Six Tips From Your Future Self,” where the wise and elderly “You” offer life tips about managing your future finances and opportunities. I thought that I would take a hint from that article and offer job tips from a wiser, and older self. What would the older you say to the you now? I borrowed some of these tips from the article, and hope they will help.

 

1. Avoid prioritizing salary if possible

Job seekers with extended unemployment should seek professional financial planning. This will help you view money from a sober and balanced perspective. Desperate job seekers mistakenly look to salary to save them, and bad judgment follows. Discuss salary when it’s appropriate. Hint: It’s not the time in the first interview.

2. Take inventory of your deliverables

Before writing a résumé, evaluate and identify the skills that repair problems that an employer wants to address. Objectivity is a challenge for anyone, but for job seekers it is critical to establish a great first impression when talking to employers. Be sure you can deliver before you offer.

3. Seem relaxed at every important interview, meeting, networking event

It is hard to think and act when the blood pressure spikes. Calming techniques are useful at gatherings that a favorable impression is critical. It is rare that a high-strung individual impresses anyone positively.

4. Leave the party at home

Whatever way you like to party doesn’t matter as long as you leave it at home.  Even cigarette breath is offensive these days in any job-related meeting.

5. No hasty decisions

“Yes” or “No” could be the wrong answers. Are you asking questions at EVERY interview? Are you satisfied with the responses? Are you clear about the questions asked, and your answers? Beyond the interview, it is important to make well-informed decisions. If you are ever unsure, you have work to do.

6. Admit when you’re wrong

There is nothing wrong with changing you’re course of action, even it is the middle of another decision. Changing your mind is OK. Changing your course of action is OK too. It’s called humility.

7. Take control of your online profiles

Your activities online should lean towards business than pleasure. As an entrepreneur or a job seeker people will take in account who you are on-line as part of who you are as a potential business partner. Come across as you are ready for business, otherwise, you are leaving money on the table.

8. Ask for help (BONUS TIP!!)

There is a coach and mentor for everything, and many times it’s a great investment. If you can’t hire someone, then you really can ask opinions and advice of knowledgeable friends. You don’t have to go down the untraveled road alone.

Why not be the wise man now? It takes planning, researching, and careful implementation to be successful, or at least to appear wise.

Is there one more thing you would like to add to this list? Do you mind sharing it below?

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by

3 More Resources to Help to Correct Resume Grammar Errors

3 More Resources to Help to Correct Resume Grammar Errors

Most people want help to correct resume grammar errors. Last month, many people liked part 1 of my recommendations of resources helpful for proofreading to find, and correct grammar errors. A resume must be typo-free, and maintain perfect grammar structure. It’s hard to find someone who has a great eye for errors, so here are some more tools to help achieve (or at least closer to) an errorless document.

Read: Five Resources to Help Correct Resume Grammar Errors

Purdue Owl

image

Purdue Owl, run by Purdue University offers job seekers and students a versatile, but free tool. The OWL is largely self-directed, and useful as a practical and easy grammar checker. It offers the rules for formal writing, and covers an extensive range (if not complete) of grammar rules. I absolutely love that OWL provides Job Search writing advice with sections on writing for job applications, resumes, and curriculum vitae.

OWL recently launched a blog called “grammar gang, ” for anyone including job seekers can find tools, but the blog is not as useful and essential as the flagship Purdue Owl site. Note that the main site also teaches you how to fish (grammatically speaking) by including exercises to help you improve sentence creation, structure,  and other common grammar disorders.

CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARIES ONLINE

Any time you are writing important documents, a dictionary and thesaurus is a necessity. If you don’t have hardback or paperback versions, then consider the online version. What I love about this helper are the choices of American English, British English, and Business English.  I played around with the dictionary is spelling the British version of organized o-r-g-a-n-i-s-e-d, and the word appeared:

organize verb ( ARRANGE )

(UK usually organise) Click to hear the UK pronunciation of this wordClick to hear the US pronunciation of this word/ˈɔː.gən.aɪz//ˈɔːr-/ [T]

 

Definition to make arrangements for something to happen

They organized a meeting between the teachers and students.

[+ to infinitive] UK She had organized a car to meet me at the airport.

(Definition of organize verb (ARRANGE) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

I was quite happy that the checker differentiated intuitively between the British and American versions without stalling or returning an error.

Cambridge mobile app versions are predominately for iPhone and iPad users. Cambridge has separate apps for the dictionary, grammar, challenges, and other choices for “…a small price.”

The Grammar Blue Book

This is a site I stumbled on accidentally and appears competent compared to the Purdue Owl site. It’s comparable because of the way it provides quizzes to help you develop your grammar acumen, and its practical grammar applications for different types of writing such as resumes, and cover letters. The Grammar Blue Book site offers a paid subscription version, and of course, a book. It does not have a lot of interactive tools, but it provides guidance detailed enough to make a difference.

Finally, there are some traditional strategies that cannot be replaced. I try different strategies, and different eyes to accomplish this tedious task. I miss words and forget how many people I am talking to just like everyone. There are just a few of us who throw caution to the wind, and send our first draft resume. Get the best help to correct resume grammar errors!

The best man made proofread strategies are not new:

  1. Read out loud
  2. Read backwards
  3. Print out what you created
  4. Proofread small paragraphs at a time
  5. Proofread over several days, several times each day
  6. Two additional sets of eyes, preferably English-degreed individuals

Do you have other suggestions? Do you need help to correct resume grammar errors? Do  you disagree? Please comment below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by

This 43 Year Old Job Seeker Fired Her Friends First

Diane is a 43-year-old job seeker and client that I see now and then. Diane in intentional, organized, and a bit of nerd. She is in no rush to find another job, even after leaving her nursing position, as her boss stated that her services were no longer needed. Unlike many who are let go, she was at peace leaving a job she loved.

Diane was not short on support from her best girlfriends, although, it wasn’t the kind she desired. Toby, one her best long-time girlfriends said, “Girl, I would be upset if that were me. I would cry, scream, yell, and be depressed. They were so wrong in firing you girl.” Toby could not comprehend that Diane left amicably.

Diane celebrated her departure, and never mourned the loss of her job. She visited family, served them, loved them, and cared for them. She works out, got in shape, and looks at least ten years younger. She was taking care of herself.

Another best girlfriend Charlie said, “Diane, how can you be so calm when your child is in college, and you don’t have a job? Girl, aren’t you feeling desperate about now? Shouldn’t you be hitting the street? Shouldn’t you receive unemployment by now?” Charlie couldn’t comprehend that Diane is at peace, and has moved on.

Diane had some savings and is quite secure with her situation. She even joked that only her parents and I understood her goals. Everybody else seems more desperate about Diane’s situation than Diane.

Diane and I have very relaxed coaching sessions, even once when she was on vacation in Miami over the phone (by the way, she was on vacation by herself).  Diane determined to step-up her job search– when Diane was ready (she was on vacation by herself).

Sharon was Diane’s lifelong friend, also a nurse was hired and let go by the same doctor a year before Diane left. Sharon said, “Girl, I am suing this man for everything he has! I am going to make him pay! He was wrong! He hurt my career! We should sue him together!” Diane listened to her friend rant about revenge for several days. She called me a couple of days later to request an emergency coaching session over the phone.

Diane: I decided that I need to make three major changes in my life before I start job hunting.

Me: Three? (At that moment, I thought she was going to cancel the rest of her coaching sessions)

Diane: Yes. I am searching for three new friends. I have fired Toby, Charlie, and Sharon. Can I do that?

Diane has since employed new friends, and she has stepped up her job search efforts, as a happier job seeker.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.