Resume Archives - Page 10 of 13 - The Voice of Job Seekers

3 Skills to Showcase When a Resume Lacks Experience

You may be surprised to hear your resume lacks experience, but changing it is not as difficult a task as you may have initially thought.

The truth of the matter is that you can do various things to, in a way, pad out a rather empty resume and how it may very well increase your chances of getting that all important job.

Add experience by volunteering
One of the first things that you can do is to volunteer at various places for a short period of time and include it your resume. The idea is to let them see that you have kept yourself busy even if it was not in paid employment and can see you can deal with people, respond positively to instruction, and work in a team environment. This can help boost your resume and make more attractive to potential employers.

Get quality references for everything
When you lack career experience give a potential employer the chance to talk to people worked for or volunteered. Talk to people that know you personally. These references can be extremely useful in helping you state your case for working there. When you lack experience potential employers will contact them. Make sure that the people that are listed will tell people how wonderful you are to help you get that job.

Write a gushing report about yourself and your strengths
Finally, it will always be a good idea to showcase your various strengths and make sure that you sell yourself on your resume. This could potentially overlook your lack of experience when they see how confident you can handle the job. If you are applying for various positions in different industries, then be clever and rewrite this part for each resume you forward. Make sure that different strengths are mentioned for the industry you hope to work. By doing this, you can make yourself appear to be more attractive to a potential employer.

Hopefully you will now see that getting around the lack of experience in your resume really is not as difficult as you may have initially feared and as long as you take the advice that has been given here seriously, then there will be no need for you to fear handing over your resume when going for that job.

All that is required from you is to play to your other strengths and let them see why they should hire you in the first place thanks to being a fantastic person and not because you have so much experience that they simply cannot ignore you.

What volunteer work can you add to your resume? Please share in the comments section below?

About author: Miles Wiseman is a writer and blogger from Brisbane who takes particular interest in finance, business and employment. He writes about all the interesting things related to job search, career progress, etc.

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 Meghan Ivarsson

13 Keys to Write a Carefully Crafted Cover Letter

When crafting a cover letter one has to be perfect and to the point as what is reflected in your cover letter should get you the job you are applying for. Ensure the cover letter is clear, grammatically correct, concise and error free. Here are cover letters writing tips that will make you stand out from the crowd.

1) Attach a cover letter with each resume sent out

It’s always good to send a cover letter even if not requested by the employer. Your cover letter may make the difference between obtaining a job interview and having your resume ignored.

2) Target your cover letter

Check out the job posting and list the criteria the employer is looking for and make a comparison with the skills and experience you have. From there you are able to address your skills and qualifications that match the job description.

3) Provide quality evidence of your qualities

Pick out the top most qualities the employer is seeking in their job specification that you most likely posses and include in the resume.

4) Write a custom cover letter

Writing a custom cover letter at times can be time-consuming but in the end, the cover letter will show the hiring manager at a glance why you are the best person for the job as skills and experiences are included.

5) Start from a cover template

Use a cover letter template s a starting point which will help you create your own personalized cover letter a cover templates helps you take little details and fix them in your own personal letter.

6) Don’t rehash your resume

The cover letter should go hand-in-hand with your resume, therefore expand your resume the highlights of your background in relation to the job you are applying for should match.

7) Write simple and clearly

Make the first paragraph clear enough to sell you to the job. Write short and targeted letters that the employer can read and get what type of personality you have. Each letter should be one page or less and short paragraphs maintained. Finish the last paragraph with a call to action, request the hirers to contact you for an interview.

8) Relevant and brief

Ensure your cover letter draws the recruiter’s eye to relevant experience on attached resume and give him or her a positive picture of you. A brief and a straight to the point cover letter is an advantage as it will not take the managers much time knowing the type of person you are in just few words.

9) Personalize your letter

Write your cover letter and address it to the individual in charge of hiring. The individual is able to go through your cover letter and by reading it he/she will know what you really are targeting.

10) Use email for cover letters

Include cover letters in the mail and keep the message short. Send as attachment when the employer has requested for one. As sometimes cover letters are the ones preferred by the hirer.

11) Spell check and proofread

Ask someone to read your correspondence before sending it out. The other person can take note of important mistakes and correct you. It’s not always easy to note our own mistakes.

12) Sign the letter

Provide a signature at the bottom of your cover letter. This shows a strong signal for authenticity. The cover letter is the only paper needed to be signed.

13) Review cover letter samples

Take time to review cover letter samples that will enable you get ideas for formatting and content. Check to ensure that your letter explains how your skills relate to the criteria listed in the job posting. Reviewing other peoples cover letters will give you a guide on how to better your cover letter.

What challenges you writing cover letters? Let us know in the comment section.

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About Meghan Ivarsson

Meghan is a recent graduate and a freelance writer for Scholar Advisor, an educational portal that contains useful tips on essay format and styles, essay samples and writing guides. She regularly contributes article on education and career advice. Meghan lives and studies in the USA.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

IT Resumes: Getting Past the HR Gatekeeper

Editor’s note: IvyExec.com is a content partner of this blog who offers a guest article each month. This article is reprinted with Ivy Exec’s permission as part of an ongoing partnership as a contributor on The Voice of Jobseekers.

Basic and IT resumes at least in writing guidelines do not apply to Information Technology professionals; you have an audience, not a single reader, to keep in mind. To top it off, this audience does not speak your language.

Since a member of the IT team probably won’t even see your resume until it’s passed through a few rounds with HR, focus should be on your soft skills, ability to impact the bottom line, and how well-rounded you are.

To emphasize your team leadership and people skills, broaden your thinking about your work experience and tell us about any management experience (people, projects, etc.) and about any client interactions you might have had. Doing so will really take IT resumes up a level from an individual contributor level to a team player and leader.

Limit the use of technical jargon and acronyms that might not be related to your career goals; the “alphabet soup” will be a huge barrier for the resume and will turn off the reader. Use a detailed but tailored ‘Technical Skills’ section, this way your resume won’t require listing the technology used on each project. Leave out any technologies no longer in use which would make you seem outdated.

Expanding your soft skills demonstrates how your technical abilities have improved business in a language that speaks both HR and IT.