Find your Passion

Before you can find your dream job; you have to find what is it that you love to do. If you do not like what you are doing, you will not be able to do it regularly, day in day out. Finding your passion is one of the most important parts of finding your dream job.

Refine your CV

Come up with a check list of industries and companies or organisations that you want to work for, and send them carefully targeted CVs. You need to show them how much value you would add to their business because you are passionate about what they do. Check press releases, news and trade sites for and developments. In this way you stand a good chance of pitching yourself into a tailor-made role, before it is ever advertised. Watch for emergent industries or trends where you won’t be up against candidates with eons of experience.

Keep your CV and skills Up to Date

If you are working in a stable job, you must keep your CV up to date so that you can respond quickly to fresh opportunities. Even more important than keeping your CV updated is to keep your skills up to date. Also consider any trade memberships that you have, and any courses, seminars or workshops that you’ve been on.  If you regularly blog or contribute to Social forums stipulate that as well in your CV. By remaining up to date with what is happening in your domain and industry, you will be ready to move on when a better opportunity arises.

Never burn your Bridges

When you leave a company, or drop a client, make sure that you do it without any hard feelings. You never know when you may come across a better job opportunity through your old contacts.

If you cannot find your dream job, create it

If you don’t seem able to find your dream job, you have the option of starting out on your own as a freelancer or perhaps a business entrepreneur. The two are not synonymous, but they both provide freedom that may not be available when reporting in to someone else. With freedom, comes responsibility and you would have to create your own income, however this may bring more fulfillment in your daily work, because you will be answering only to yourself.

Well, the process is straightforward, but now the waiting begins. If there’s one thing that we humans aren’t good at, it’s definitely waiting. We don’t like to wait for anything at all, and that means you’re going to have to really make sure that you can still that inner voice saying that you need to hound the interviewer about your application.

So, when is the right time to follow up on your resume? Well, the truth is that timberline is set by your interviewer. It’s not a secret, but many interviewees tend not to want to ask when the right follow up time is. Remember the interviewers have more than just you to think about. They have to also think about the many other resumes that have come in. They have to think about all of the other interviews that they’ve conducted. So make sure that you’re not expecting anything sooner than at least a week. However, in larger companies it might be even longer than that. It’s just a matter of making sure that you figure out what that specific company is looking for.

You also want to make sure that you keep your communications as polite as possible. Again, you really don’t want to look like you’re rushing for an answer. Even if you’ve got multiple companies waiting for you, you still need to make sure that you’re giving every interviewer the right to review things carefully. That’s really all there is to it — don’t let the delays keep you from looking for the perfect job!

Now, you might assume that we’re trying to be dishonest at first, and that’s not what we’re trying to say here. For starters, your employer is going to realize that there are gaps in your resume. There’s no getting around that. They will fill in the blanks themselves. You will need to make sure that you have a reasonable explanation for why you’re missing work history.

The best way to do this is to use a cover letter. You should always be sending a cover letter with your resume, but a lot of people get lazy. Now is not the time to get lazy — there are always people that are willing to go the extra mile when you won’t. Would you really want to be aware that the only reason that you didn’t get a job is because they didn’t feel that you could pay attention to detail? Believe it or not, employers are always looking for these types of things. So the best thing that you can do is figure out how to make sense of the time that you spent out of the workforce.

However, you might not have to make too much of an excuse pattern. You see, if you really think about it you can actually move into more of a holding pattern thanks to the stuff that you did do while you were gone. If you decided to take care of a sick parent or another family member, that actually shows a lot of take charge attitude on your part. It’s not easy balancing your needs in spite of taking care of someone, so if you can do that and make it, that’s definitely going to catch a lot of attention. What if you decided to volunteer your time overseas or even domestically? You will still need to make sure that you add that into your resume, or at least your cover letter. That’s because volunteering is still considered work. You might not have profited from it in terms of financials, but you still managed to make an impact. Don’t think about leaving that off. Employers like knowing that you contribute more to life than just sitting at home watching American Idol, which will what the assumption would be if you just had a big gap on your resume with no explanation. Employers know that the job market is uncertain, but that doesn’t mean that you have to despair — mix things up!

There’s nothing like honesty, and if you can get an employer to focus on what you offer, they’re a lot less likely to focus on the things that you don’t have to offer. You see, the fact remains that you have to still convince them that you’re the best person for the job. If you decide to press forward, you should definitely press forward with confidence. You’ve got the experience, you’ve got the skill and you’ve got the attitude to impress the interviewer and get the job — why not look at it from this point of view? There’s just nothing to be gained from being negative!

Are you the type of job applicant that sends out tons and tons of resumes, hoping to hear something back and you never do? If you are, there’s no reason to keep applying to everything and anything that sounds promising. No, you are better off being more strategic about the entire thing.

When we say strategic, what we really mean is that you will want to try to network your resume around rather than just rely on job postings. Try to figure out how to reach out to key people and get them on your team. You want them to get to know you and trust you. If people do that, then they’re a lot more likely to actually help you with things that matter to you.

The biggest takeaway that you will need to learn is that if you really want to have a successful job research, you can’t get discouraged just because the phone isn’t ringing.

Keep in mind that in this uncertain economy, everyone is looking for a new job. Everyone wants to work in a great work environment. So as you find the employers in your area that really roll out the red carpet and strive to take care of all the employees in company, you will need to make sure that you learn the value of patience. The more people that apply for a job, the more work that the interviewer has cut out for them. For every applicant that they like, they have to do the due diligence work. That means checking references and looking up employer information. That’s a lot of stuff to deal with at one point, and it’s easy to get sidetracked when you’re really trying to get things done.

When you’ve completed an interview, it’s never a bad idea to make sure that you ask when a good time to check back is. This will let the interviewer know that you are interested in the job, but you want them to be able to have their space. If you badger the interviewer constantly, they’re going to end up choosing someone else on principle. They want to make sure that you’re going to be able to work with you, and if you’re too eager you throw off the wrong vibe. We’re not saying that you should never check in — if it’s been three weeks, you definitely want to let the interviewer, know that you’re still interested out of courtesy and respect. However, if it’s only been three days, you don’t nee dot panic.

So at the end of the day, you can’t get too worried about your resume. Waiting it out can be more profitable than if you were just to sit and think that you need to rush the process. Be patient and see where that takes you!

Now, we know what you’re thinking: you’re thinking that there’s no way that an employer can reject you on the basis of age. It’s illegal! They’ll get into so much trouble. Yet it happens anyway. Why does it happen — because there are ways to filter out people, even when it seems like they would be a good fit. It’s because you might not pass their skills test in another way, or you may have just rubbed the interviewer wrong. Many states have the right to hire “at will” so unless you can prove without a doubt that you weren’t given the job because you were considered too old, you’re not going to convince anyone to do anything for you.

You can take down some of the emphasis on age by simply limiting how far back you go on your resume. You don’t want to go all the way through a 20 year career if you can help it. Usually 7 years of experience if going to be good enough. In addition, you don’t have to list when you graduated from high school or college. If they want to fact check you, they can look up your name at the college and get verification that way. The more you can pass that initial round of resume filtering, the easier time you will have of surviving later cuts when manual eyes will take over from digital ones.

Another point that we want to make is that you should always be willing to show that you can keep up with the changing technology of life. Far too often people get older and they find that no one wants to hire them simply because they haven’t ever taken any real technical courses. It’s hard to get your foot in the door when you can’t demonstrate technical knowledge. Even when you think that the job in question doesn’t really mess with technology, you still nee dot ensure that you’re looking into it. Basic technical skills are the norm for just about every job and if you don’t have them and another applicant does, that can really put you at a disadvantage.

Make sure that you really look into all of your options as soon as possible — it’s the best way to go!

So, how do we get started? Well, keep in mind that there are really three steps that you need to take in order to really make sure that you can get your resume seen.

First and foremost, you will want to make sure that you’re focusing on keywords that make sense for your industry as well as the position that you’re trying to go for. The last thing that you really want to do is find yourself being unable to get anything done because you’re not focusing on the keywords that make sense for your field. Since we’re talking about an electronic resume, you have to realize that you’re going to be in the stack with everyone else, and it’s the keywords that are going to stand out. For example, if the job description says that the requirements are that you can type fast, or that you know Microsoft Office inside and out, those are going to be both keywords that you want to emphasize. It’s tempting to just not care about the whole thing, but that will only lead to not getting the job at all. You don’t want to be left behind on the filter pile just because you left out a valuable keyword

From here, you will want to still make sure that everything you list on your resume is correct. Because it’s an electronic resume, it’s going to be very easy to quickly check to make sure that you’re telling the truth about everything happening. If you’re not willing to do this, then you shouldn’t even waste your time. The days of being able to get away with lies on your resume are long gone. In fact, you shouldn’t even bother to lie on your resume. Even if you’re not caught in the interview and you do get the job, you will just end up exposing yourself when it’s time to do something at the job and you don’t know how to do it. Yeah, at first people might feel the need to just teach you, but if you really want to put your best foot forward, you’re going to need to make sure that you stop thinking about lying and start telling the truth.

Finally, you will want to make sure that you’re looking over your resume carefully. You might think that you have everything spelled right and formatted properly, but it’s better to really give your resume a second look. That’s going to be the only way that anything gets done, so don’t forget to include this step. If you’re someone that hates proofreading, it might be beneficial to take your resume to a trusted friend.

Overall, getting your electronic resume done isn’t going to be difficult. It’s just a matter of pushing forward and getting started today.

First and foremost, you really want to make sure that you have the most honest and straightforward resume possible. You have to step back and really think about what a resume really represents. It’s the key to the interview, not the key to the job. Now, this might be the temptation that pushes you into adding those little details that you think will never be checked, but there are a few problems with this approach.

To start with, you have to realize that those little details are going to be checked eventually. Yes, you might land the interview and you might even be able to give a good enough performance to get the job that you’ve been wanting. However, is it really worth it when you know that there will come a day where you will be given a task that you should be able to handle…and you can’t handle it?

Now, the natural reaction here is to swear up and down that this day will never come. You’re right — it’s possible that the day will never come. However, these days as companies start asking more and more of current personnel instead of hiring new people faster, you will have to do things that may or may not be in your normal job description. If you put down that you’re proficient in something that the company desperately needs, you could find yourself having to take care of business — even to the point where you’re the lead person on a project!

When it’s discovered that you lied about something, even something that seems minor to you, you are essentially putting a sign on your body that says that you are someone that is not trustworthy. Every business regardless of industry needs trustworthy people.

Instead of going down this road and facing all of these potential consequences, it’s better to look at your resume strategically. Throw out the need for embellishing your resume by thinking about all of the things that you really are good at. If the list doesn’t seem as long to you as it should be, don’t stress about it. There will be a company that is going to pick you up for the skills that you really have, rather than the skills that you think you should have.

Every organization knows that there is a level of training that is to be expected. They aren’t expecting you to be perfect — just honest. If there’s a layer of honesty there, then there’s a perfect foundation for life — which is exactly what you should be aiming for in the first place!

Employers don’t want to waste time on an interview just to have their salary offer turned down, so they screen out resumes with high salary histories. On the other end of the scale, they might assume that a low salary history goes hand-in-hand with limited experience, so they screen those out as well—or worse, offer you a salary lower than they would offer someone with a high salary history. If asked for your salary history, acknowledge the question but tactfully avoid answering it. For example, if salary history is requested on a written application, simply write, ‘Will discuss at time of interview”.

But what do you say when asked over the phone or in person? A short, “I’m not comfortable discussing that,” will sound pretty dodgy, as if you have something to hide. Instead, try, “There’s so much more to job compensation than a dollar amount. I’d prefer that you get a full picture of what I can bring to the table as an employee before discussing salary. What I’ve received in the past doesn’t typically affect my negotiations with a new employer one way or another.” Put this in your own words so you sound natural saying it, and practice in front of a mirror or with a friend.

You can also write it in a cover letter if necessary. Never feel awkward about withholding salary history. Withholding will hurt your application far less than providing a misleading salary history out of context. If your resume and cover letter are appealing, withholding your salary history will rarely inhibit a prospective employer from offering you an interview. And once you’ve got a successful interview under your belt, salary negotiations are sure to go smoothly.

Sadly, in the ageist society we live in it is not advisable to put in your date of birth if you are over 40. If you want to add any more details about yourself, why not add them to the additional information section. Using this section also allows you to get quickly to a real hook – either your education or your work experience.

There are a few options in this section. If you think it would help you get the job, you could also mention whether you have a clean driving license, for instance. Remember though, you don’t want to take up too much space with this section, and you want to make a crisp start with your CV and get onto the stuff that will get you that all-important interview.

Education

The debate is where to put your education. Maybe the simplest answer is to decide how important the person reading the CV will think it is. If you have been Managing Director of a multi-national company, maybe your seven GCE ‘O’ level passes aren’t that crucial? Traditional CV advisers have always stressed that education should come up front in a CV. However, the more experienced you are the more likely you are to relegate your education to almost the last item on your CV. Of course, if you are just leaving school or college then your education is very important and it should be at the beginning of your CV. The judgement on this is really yours. The main problems people have with putting together their education sections are:

- how much detail to put in about the education
- how to set this section out.

The detail

In this section don’t be shy to put all your qualifications at school. You don’t need to give the grades for GCSEs if you went on to do ‘A’ levels. Don’t give details of exams you failed. The key here is to put down all the qualifications you have, because it’s likely to impress. You may then want to add a separate section where you list your training. All too often people tend to downgrade the value of training, but to many employers the training you have received is every bit or even more important than your formal education. After all, the employers who trained you thought it was important enough to spend money on, so why shouldn’t other employers?

So put down here every training course you have attended and any certificates you have. Today’s modern organization values training, so use this opportunity to tell them about what courses you have done. Do try to leave out irrelevant certificates and awards like the fact you earned a fire-lighting badge in the scouts or passed your cycling proficiency test.

The layout

This section often looks messy because people are left with a large block of text with both their place of education and their qualifications. A way of counteracting this is to break the section up into easily definable chunks. So, you might have a section headed Places of education, which lists the schools or colleges you went to, and where they are. Don’t mention your primary school here. You can then have a separate section headed Qualifications. Again, contrary to normal advice, we think a good idea is to start with the most recent qualifications you have. So if you have a degree, start with it and then work backwards.

The following check-list gives some ways of finding out more about the company you might be sending your CV to:

- Companies will send you annual reports, prospectuses and customer information leaflets – but watch the delivery time if you’re up against a deadline. Documents like these can give valuable insights into what the company thinks and the way it works. You may even find from the documents that you have done work in a similar kind of area, and this can only help your cause and strengthen your CV. Staff magazines are also good because they give you a better idea of the company culture and the way it operates. In fact, some staff magazines tell you more than almost anything else, certainly about the atmosphere and what the place is like to work in.

- The public library keeps directories on business and the public sector. These are often split into areas of interest, for instance media, retail, finance and so on. In these directories you will find details of what the business is, where it operates, and its size. Ask the librarian and check the reference section. You can also visit specialist libraries like the City Business Library in London, which has lots more in-depth detail about companies.

- The media is a good source. Check all local press coverage and you may well find stories about local employers that can help you again to tailor your CV. On the other hand you may well find references to problems which may make you think twice. You may also find stories about recruitment drives and community involvement which could help you shape your CV.

- Every trade or profession produces specialist magazines aimed at people working in that trade or profession already. Again, the library can help here. These can make quite interesting reading and they can certainly give you a way of finding out more about a particular company, or at the very least about the sector.

- Don’t forget the informal network: friends, relatives and contacts through your leisure activities and hobbies can give you a great insight into local employers. Someone who already works there can give you a lot of low-down on the kind of place it is to work. These people can also help you to tailor your CV to the way they think will help get you that all-important interview.