It’s the first thing potential employers read, and it can set the tone for your entire resume. The objective you list on your resume can make the difference between “keep reading” and “toss it” in the minds of hiring managers, so it’s worth your time and attention!
Below are some tips on how to create an objective that’s accurate and engaging for the reader, along with what you need to consider before committing to an objective.
Write From the Employer’s Point of View
It’s your resume, so it makes sense that your objective should be about what you’re looking for, right? But as with so many things related to job hunting, the trick is to compose an objective that speaks to what the potential employer is looking for.
• Add value. The single best way to sell yourself—in your resume, cover letter, and any other application material—is to relate your ability to add value to a company. For example: “Seeking a marketing position where 20 years of experience can help advance the company’s goals.” Now, if you’re the potential employer, doesn’t that sound like a better deal than someone who wants to “put 20 years of experience to use.” To use for what? Use your first opportunity to “wow” them by revealing exactly how you can help the company.
• Avoid “me”-centric wording. Do you want to advance your career? Do you want to further your goals by moving up the corporate ladder? From the looks of most resume objectives, that’s important to almost every job hunter. But employers aren’t terribly concerned about what you want—at least not before you’re hired an prove invaluable to the company. Avoid objectives that talk include “my career” “I want,” and “offer me advancement.”
• Stay away from the clichés. Hiring managers see dozens of objectives every day that include the terms like “utilize my skills.” It looks lazy or, worse, like you don’t know what you’re doing if you can’t streamline it to reflect the job you want and exactly what you bring to the table.
• Take care with your adjectives. Chances are, you’ve made adjective mistakes in the past and didn’t even realize it. Listing your desire for a “challenging” job, for example, can’t help but cause potential employers to think, “As opposed to boring?” Or wanting to secure a position within a “progressive” company. Don’t most people prefer that over a stodgy company stuck in the 19th century? It may seem like a small thing, but your adjectives can speak volumes about you. Your descriptions can come off as trite or simply make the reader think, “duh...” Remember that every word counts.
Pair the Right Objective with the Right Job
There are so many variables within the job hunting process. But whether you’re applying for specific jobs, prospecting anywhere and everywhere, or attempting to pull off a significant career change, your objective will either help or hurt your cause.
• Be as specific as possible. If you’re responding to an ad for a defined job, make sure the hiring manager knows that when reading your objective. That doesn’t mean you should include where you saw the ad (“seeking the position advertised in the city newspaper”); rather the reader should understand through the words in your objective that you’re responding to the ad. Instead of a blanket “seeking a sales position at Company X,” say “seeking Account Management position for Territory ABC.” If you’re not applying for a job opening, see below.
• Leave it off entirely if you’re prospecting. Using an objective is a powerful way to open a resume and target it to the job you’re interested in. But if you’re applying for potential job openings at a specific company (without knowing the actual jobs you’re qualified for) or are using your resume to blanket an area (posting it on a huge online job site or handing it out at a career fair), skip the objective altogether. It will only serve to limit the number of responses you get. Let the rest of your resume sell your strengths and experience, and cross your fingers that you’re a match for an opening.
• Be precise with a career-change resume. When you’re changing careers, a great objective is even more important. If you don’t state your goal explicitly in the objective, the hiring manager may look over your resume and wonder why a graphic designer is submitting a resume for an accounting position. Make sure you say something like, “Seeking an entry-level accounting position where 10 years of comprehensive business experience can be applied to increase client satisfaction.”
Read resume writing service reviews of the top resume writing services.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Choosing the Right Resume Format
If you learned to write a resume more than 10 years ago, you may be thinking, “I didn’t know there were different formats.” That’s because until recently, most workers were pretty predictable: they stayed at the same company—or at least within the same field—throughout their careers. Few people switched careers, and they certainly didn’t switch careers the three to five times many workers today do.
Everyone learned how to write a chronological resume because it made sense. And it’s still a viable format for many people, but there’s a whole new world of possibilities out there. Below is an outline of popular formats and a listing of when they’re most useful.
Chronological Resumes
These are still the most commonly used resumes—first, because most people apply for jobs that are relatively similar to the position they currently occupy and secondly, because it’s the most commonly taught resume. Chronological resumes are perfect for showcasing your growth within a field of employment and progression up a career ladder. Use this format when you’re:
• Applying for a position within the same field.
• Applying for a promotion at the same company.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Objective, where you list a specific job you’re interested in, or an Interest section, where you list a few of your most marketable strengths.
• Next is the Experience or Work History section. In reverse chronological order, list your jobs, dates of employment, and significant tasks.
• Add your Education section third (assuming you’ve been out of school at least five years and have been building your career since then), and include any special training or certifications you’ve received.
• Finish with an Additional Skills list, where you describe abilities that may not be directly related to the job for which you’re applying, but are assets just the same (superior computer skills, foreign languages, etc.).
Functional Resumes
Functional resumes are the second most popular format because they can be used to both highlight and hide certain elements. This format is great for emphasizing a skill set and unique abilities. For better or worse, it doesn’t underscore the jobs you’ve held, so make sure you understand that before putting together a functional resume. Use this format when you’re:
• Switching careers or fields.
• Re-entering the work force after an absence (to stay at home with kids, an illness, etc.).
• Young and entering the work force for the first time.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Objective or Interest section. This is especially important with a functional resume, which may include information from several fields or careers.
• Next list all of your experience under different headings. For example: Sales Experience will include everything you’ve done in sales—from all of your jobs. Organizational Experience will include everything you’ve ever done in that category, etc.
• Third is the actual Employment category. In reverse chronological order, list your employer, dates of employment, and title. Don’t record job responsibilities—all of the good stuff will already be listed above.
• Now add your Education section.
• Finish with your Additional Skills section.
Technical Resume
As its name implies, a technical resume is ideal for drawing attention to a job seeker’s technical skills—a highly valuable commodity in today’s market. Done correctly, it also highlights stability. Use this format when you’re:
• Applying for a technical job and have lots of experience.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with a Profile section that lists your strengths and skill sets.
• Next add an Experience section that lists your jobs and associated responsibilities in reverse chronological order. (Because technical formats are geared toward technical industries, it’s assumed that you don’t need to hide career gaps or changes.)
• At the bottom, insert your Education section, and include any additional training, certificates, courses, etc.
Curriculum Vitae
Many people use “curriculum vitae” and “resume” interchangeably. But technically, a curriculum vitae is specifically used within the academic and research arenas. It’s a format that accents teaching, publication, and research experience. Use a curriculum vitae when you’re:
• Applying for an academic or research position.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Education section—even if you’ve been out of school for years. In reverse chronological order, list your degrees, where they were earned, your areas of study or research, and thesis topics.
• Next, in reverse chronological order, list your Practica section (for educators who also have a degree in areas such as psychology, as well as researchers) or Teaching section (for academic resumes). Both of these are the equivalent of the Experience or Work History sections of most job seekers’ resumes. If you need both a Practica and Teaching section, list the Practica first.
• Third, list your Research section (if applicable). Discuss what projects you worked on, under whose supervision, what the results of your research were, and any other highlights of your experience.
• Add your Publication section next, listing the journals in which your work has appeared.
• Finish with an Affiliation section followed by an Honors or Awards section.
Read resume writing service reviews of the best resume writing services.
Everyone learned how to write a chronological resume because it made sense. And it’s still a viable format for many people, but there’s a whole new world of possibilities out there. Below is an outline of popular formats and a listing of when they’re most useful.
Chronological Resumes
These are still the most commonly used resumes—first, because most people apply for jobs that are relatively similar to the position they currently occupy and secondly, because it’s the most commonly taught resume. Chronological resumes are perfect for showcasing your growth within a field of employment and progression up a career ladder. Use this format when you’re:
• Applying for a position within the same field.
• Applying for a promotion at the same company.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Objective, where you list a specific job you’re interested in, or an Interest section, where you list a few of your most marketable strengths.
• Next is the Experience or Work History section. In reverse chronological order, list your jobs, dates of employment, and significant tasks.
• Add your Education section third (assuming you’ve been out of school at least five years and have been building your career since then), and include any special training or certifications you’ve received.
• Finish with an Additional Skills list, where you describe abilities that may not be directly related to the job for which you’re applying, but are assets just the same (superior computer skills, foreign languages, etc.).
Functional Resumes
Functional resumes are the second most popular format because they can be used to both highlight and hide certain elements. This format is great for emphasizing a skill set and unique abilities. For better or worse, it doesn’t underscore the jobs you’ve held, so make sure you understand that before putting together a functional resume. Use this format when you’re:
• Switching careers or fields.
• Re-entering the work force after an absence (to stay at home with kids, an illness, etc.).
• Young and entering the work force for the first time.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Objective or Interest section. This is especially important with a functional resume, which may include information from several fields or careers.
• Next list all of your experience under different headings. For example: Sales Experience will include everything you’ve done in sales—from all of your jobs. Organizational Experience will include everything you’ve ever done in that category, etc.
• Third is the actual Employment category. In reverse chronological order, list your employer, dates of employment, and title. Don’t record job responsibilities—all of the good stuff will already be listed above.
• Now add your Education section.
• Finish with your Additional Skills section.
Technical Resume
As its name implies, a technical resume is ideal for drawing attention to a job seeker’s technical skills—a highly valuable commodity in today’s market. Done correctly, it also highlights stability. Use this format when you’re:
• Applying for a technical job and have lots of experience.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with a Profile section that lists your strengths and skill sets.
• Next add an Experience section that lists your jobs and associated responsibilities in reverse chronological order. (Because technical formats are geared toward technical industries, it’s assumed that you don’t need to hide career gaps or changes.)
• At the bottom, insert your Education section, and include any additional training, certificates, courses, etc.
Curriculum Vitae
Many people use “curriculum vitae” and “resume” interchangeably. But technically, a curriculum vitae is specifically used within the academic and research arenas. It’s a format that accents teaching, publication, and research experience. Use a curriculum vitae when you’re:
• Applying for an academic or research position.
To format this type of resume:
• Start with your Education section—even if you’ve been out of school for years. In reverse chronological order, list your degrees, where they were earned, your areas of study or research, and thesis topics.
• Next, in reverse chronological order, list your Practica section (for educators who also have a degree in areas such as psychology, as well as researchers) or Teaching section (for academic resumes). Both of these are the equivalent of the Experience or Work History sections of most job seekers’ resumes. If you need both a Practica and Teaching section, list the Practica first.
• Third, list your Research section (if applicable). Discuss what projects you worked on, under whose supervision, what the results of your research were, and any other highlights of your experience.
• Add your Publication section next, listing the journals in which your work has appeared.
• Finish with an Affiliation section followed by an Honors or Awards section.
Read resume writing service reviews of the best resume writing services.
Writing a Student Resume
If you’re still in college, chances are you haven’t had the opportunity to hold down many impressive jobs in between late-night studying and late-night socializing. So if you’re putting together a resume for a potential employer, you may wonder how in the world you can create something that will get you hired for that coveted internship or even a part-time job at your favorite music store. The key is to play up your strengths and include items that make the most of your background, education, work experience, and interests. The following tips will help you craft a student resume that will make you stand out from the crowd.
• Put your education front and center. Assuming that your work experience is pretty limited (two summers of waitressing doesn’t qualify as extensive work experience—unless you’re applying to be a waitress), you need to place the education section of your resume at the top. If you have a great overall GPA, make sure that’s in big, bold letters. If your major GPA is far superior, include that number instead. Lacking much real-world experience, potential bosses have to go by how well you applied yourself to your studies to try to predict how well you would apply yourself to their position.
• Point out honors and awards. These may not matter 10 years down the road when your career is in full swing, but right now they may hold some sway—kind of like a stellar GPA. If you’ve received any awards or honors (Dean’s List, Sophomore Journalism Award, French Student of the Year, etc.) make sure you compile that list in an “Honors” section.
• Highlight experience gained through classes. Say you want to nail down an internship at a publishing house. List classes that have prepared you for this opportunity and the skills you’ve gained through outstanding class work. If you took a PR course and learned to write killer press releases, put that fact in your resume. If a Professional Writing course taught you how to compose professional acceptance and rejection letters (for all of those manuscripts at the publishing house), list that proficiency.
• Include your part-time jobs. Logging 15 hours a week at your local coffeehouse isn’t typically a ladder to an accounting job, but your can put a positive spin on experience that may not seem relevant. Think about what your responsibilities were, and list those instead of a cold, hard job description. For example, did you help train a fellow barista? Were you in charge of totaling receipts from the day’s sales? Did you develop a new menu that better highlighted the coffee products? These responsibilities include elements of HR, accounting, and marketing. Think creatively, but make sure it can all be verified by your previous employer.
• Sort through your hobbies and volunteer work. Hopefully by now you’ve been involved with at least some volunteer work. Whether that means conducting a fundraiser for your fraternity or sorority or finding time to tutor kids in your favorite subject. Whatever your experience, turn it into something potential employers can use. If you coordinated a bake sale for your sorority, translate your results into numbers that demonstrate a job-related ability. For example: “Under my leadership, this endeavor raised profits by 50% over last year’s totals.” And if you haven’t spent time on volunteer work, make sure you put that at the top of your to-do list—soon!
• Emphasize your skills. This includes both “hard” and “soft” skills. By the time they get to college, most students have a thorough understanding of a variety of computer hardware and software, which is critically important in any workplace today. Describe your familiarity with technical applications—especially those that relate directly to the job for which you’re applying. Just as important today are “soft” skills such as interpersonal skills, conflict resolution skills, and teamwork skills. You can list these alone, but it’s more effective to include a one-line account as well. Under teamwork, you may say, “Worked effectively as part of a four-member team to write a proposal to bring a soccer program to campus.”
• Make sure employers are able to reach you. If you have a temporary address on campus, as well as a permanent address, add them both to the top of your resume, along with both phone numbers, your cell number, and your e-mail address. You want potential employers to be able to get in touch with you whether you’re home for the weekend or on campus.
Read resume writing service reviews of the best resume writing services.
• Put your education front and center. Assuming that your work experience is pretty limited (two summers of waitressing doesn’t qualify as extensive work experience—unless you’re applying to be a waitress), you need to place the education section of your resume at the top. If you have a great overall GPA, make sure that’s in big, bold letters. If your major GPA is far superior, include that number instead. Lacking much real-world experience, potential bosses have to go by how well you applied yourself to your studies to try to predict how well you would apply yourself to their position.
• Point out honors and awards. These may not matter 10 years down the road when your career is in full swing, but right now they may hold some sway—kind of like a stellar GPA. If you’ve received any awards or honors (Dean’s List, Sophomore Journalism Award, French Student of the Year, etc.) make sure you compile that list in an “Honors” section.
• Highlight experience gained through classes. Say you want to nail down an internship at a publishing house. List classes that have prepared you for this opportunity and the skills you’ve gained through outstanding class work. If you took a PR course and learned to write killer press releases, put that fact in your resume. If a Professional Writing course taught you how to compose professional acceptance and rejection letters (for all of those manuscripts at the publishing house), list that proficiency.
• Include your part-time jobs. Logging 15 hours a week at your local coffeehouse isn’t typically a ladder to an accounting job, but your can put a positive spin on experience that may not seem relevant. Think about what your responsibilities were, and list those instead of a cold, hard job description. For example, did you help train a fellow barista? Were you in charge of totaling receipts from the day’s sales? Did you develop a new menu that better highlighted the coffee products? These responsibilities include elements of HR, accounting, and marketing. Think creatively, but make sure it can all be verified by your previous employer.
• Sort through your hobbies and volunteer work. Hopefully by now you’ve been involved with at least some volunteer work. Whether that means conducting a fundraiser for your fraternity or sorority or finding time to tutor kids in your favorite subject. Whatever your experience, turn it into something potential employers can use. If you coordinated a bake sale for your sorority, translate your results into numbers that demonstrate a job-related ability. For example: “Under my leadership, this endeavor raised profits by 50% over last year’s totals.” And if you haven’t spent time on volunteer work, make sure you put that at the top of your to-do list—soon!
• Emphasize your skills. This includes both “hard” and “soft” skills. By the time they get to college, most students have a thorough understanding of a variety of computer hardware and software, which is critically important in any workplace today. Describe your familiarity with technical applications—especially those that relate directly to the job for which you’re applying. Just as important today are “soft” skills such as interpersonal skills, conflict resolution skills, and teamwork skills. You can list these alone, but it’s more effective to include a one-line account as well. Under teamwork, you may say, “Worked effectively as part of a four-member team to write a proposal to bring a soccer program to campus.”
• Make sure employers are able to reach you. If you have a temporary address on campus, as well as a permanent address, add them both to the top of your resume, along with both phone numbers, your cell number, and your e-mail address. You want potential employers to be able to get in touch with you whether you’re home for the weekend or on campus.
Read resume writing service reviews of the best resume writing services.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Data Recovery Services
Your PC’s hard drive first started to make strange, whizzing and whirring noises, and then finally, when you tried one last time to start your PC, it happened. The hard drive crashed. Or perhaps you attempted to reformat or partition your hard drive and discovered that you wiped out some very important files. Or maybe you just deleted those files by mistake. Unfortunately, you didn’t back up your files on a regular basis. What can you do? Is there any way to get those files back?
Enter data recovery…
Data recovery is the process of retrieving or extracting data from a storage device (such as your hard drive) that cannot be retrieved by normal means. Depending on the type of event that caused the files to disappear – a physical storage problem, a logical storage problem, or both – there are various ways in which one can go about resurrecting files that were thought to be gone forever. A hard drive crash, where the hard drive itself mechanically no longer works, is an example of a physical storage data loss. The other preceding examples, as well as file corruption and damage, are examples of logical storage data losses. Data recovery procedures can restore lost or damaged files for both types of data loss in many cases.
Data recovery services
If you are like the average PC user, you may not be comfortable with trying to recover your data on your own. Including the stress caused by losing those precious files, the idea of retrieving the data on your own can be quite intimidating when you do not possess the necessary expertise. Fortunately, there are companies that can help with your data recovery efforts. That’s right –your honeymoon photos and last year’s tax return may not actually be gone for good.
Do I really need to hire a data recovery expert or service provider?
This is an important question to ask yourself since the cost of these services may be prohibitive. Also, the more urgently the data is needed, the more money you can expect to be charged. Depending on the type of data loss or damage event – physical or logical – you might be able to resolve the issue yourself with very little expertise. There are some utilities that come with your PC’s operating system (i.e. chkdsk for Windows, fsck for Linux, and Disk Utility for Mac OS X) that can potentially repair logical data damage and loss. There are also software programs on the market that you can use to recover your data to another storage device even if you cannot run any of the OS’s utilities.
For physical data loss or damage, the solution is not quite as easy to implement. It involves actually handling the hard drive and other components in addition to analyzing the logical structures. In these situations, it is probably best to contact a data recovery service provider or expert. These specialists are highly skilled at diagnosing, recovering, and assisting in the further prevention of data loss or damage.
How is my data recovered from my damaged hard drive?
A data recovery service provider will have its experts first determine what happened to the hard drive in order to define the appropriate recovery process. The diagnosis involves the specialists extracting data from the hard drive in a clean room and at a very low level of data granularity, typically as bits of data. They will use their own software tools or techniques to modify the file system on the hard drive manually in an effort to determine what data can actually be recovered. This process can take one day or even 2-3 days to complete. Once diagnostics have finished, the data recovery service provider can tell you what data can be recovered and provide an estimate of how much it will cost to do so. And similar to having your car repaired, you must give the company approval to begin the data recovery process. Upon the recovery of the lost or damaged files, the specialists can either burn the data to CD-ROM and send it to you or upload it to a server and give you access to download it.
Some things to consider when selecting a data recovery service provider
The most important thing to remember is that it is possible that your data cannot be recovered, even by data recovery service experts. They may be able to recover some but not all of your data, or maybe none if the hard drive is physically and mechanically damaged beyond repair. However, data recovery service providers can at least determine this for you, and a professional company will quickly inform you of this and not charge for anything but the diagnosis.
Given this knowledge, you should now see why it is critical to back up any files on your PC that you deem important so you can minimize the chances of ever needing data recovery services. Particularly if you have a small business, it is even more critical to back up EVERYTHING on your PCs and servers. But when you have done all that you can to protect your files and still suffer data damage or loss, be sure to call upon a data recovery services provider. These companies are your best bet to getting back the files and data you can no longer access.
Atlanta data recovery
Houston data recovery
Seattle data recovery
Boston data recovery
New York data recovery
Enter data recovery…
Data recovery is the process of retrieving or extracting data from a storage device (such as your hard drive) that cannot be retrieved by normal means. Depending on the type of event that caused the files to disappear – a physical storage problem, a logical storage problem, or both – there are various ways in which one can go about resurrecting files that were thought to be gone forever. A hard drive crash, where the hard drive itself mechanically no longer works, is an example of a physical storage data loss. The other preceding examples, as well as file corruption and damage, are examples of logical storage data losses. Data recovery procedures can restore lost or damaged files for both types of data loss in many cases.
Data recovery services
If you are like the average PC user, you may not be comfortable with trying to recover your data on your own. Including the stress caused by losing those precious files, the idea of retrieving the data on your own can be quite intimidating when you do not possess the necessary expertise. Fortunately, there are companies that can help with your data recovery efforts. That’s right –your honeymoon photos and last year’s tax return may not actually be gone for good.
Do I really need to hire a data recovery expert or service provider?
This is an important question to ask yourself since the cost of these services may be prohibitive. Also, the more urgently the data is needed, the more money you can expect to be charged. Depending on the type of data loss or damage event – physical or logical – you might be able to resolve the issue yourself with very little expertise. There are some utilities that come with your PC’s operating system (i.e. chkdsk for Windows, fsck for Linux, and Disk Utility for Mac OS X) that can potentially repair logical data damage and loss. There are also software programs on the market that you can use to recover your data to another storage device even if you cannot run any of the OS’s utilities.
For physical data loss or damage, the solution is not quite as easy to implement. It involves actually handling the hard drive and other components in addition to analyzing the logical structures. In these situations, it is probably best to contact a data recovery service provider or expert. These specialists are highly skilled at diagnosing, recovering, and assisting in the further prevention of data loss or damage.
How is my data recovered from my damaged hard drive?
A data recovery service provider will have its experts first determine what happened to the hard drive in order to define the appropriate recovery process. The diagnosis involves the specialists extracting data from the hard drive in a clean room and at a very low level of data granularity, typically as bits of data. They will use their own software tools or techniques to modify the file system on the hard drive manually in an effort to determine what data can actually be recovered. This process can take one day or even 2-3 days to complete. Once diagnostics have finished, the data recovery service provider can tell you what data can be recovered and provide an estimate of how much it will cost to do so. And similar to having your car repaired, you must give the company approval to begin the data recovery process. Upon the recovery of the lost or damaged files, the specialists can either burn the data to CD-ROM and send it to you or upload it to a server and give you access to download it.
Some things to consider when selecting a data recovery service provider
The most important thing to remember is that it is possible that your data cannot be recovered, even by data recovery service experts. They may be able to recover some but not all of your data, or maybe none if the hard drive is physically and mechanically damaged beyond repair. However, data recovery service providers can at least determine this for you, and a professional company will quickly inform you of this and not charge for anything but the diagnosis.
Given this knowledge, you should now see why it is critical to back up any files on your PC that you deem important so you can minimize the chances of ever needing data recovery services. Particularly if you have a small business, it is even more critical to back up EVERYTHING on your PCs and servers. But when you have done all that you can to protect your files and still suffer data damage or loss, be sure to call upon a data recovery services provider. These companies are your best bet to getting back the files and data you can no longer access.
Atlanta data recovery
Houston data recovery
Seattle data recovery
Boston data recovery
New York data recovery
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