I decided this week to bake a double chocolate chip cake. It was so delicious and cooked to perfection that I only managed one piece before my friends had collectively finished off the rest of the cake. Before I baked the cake, I prepared the ingredients and even added in a few "extra" items to make my cake as tasty as possible. When it comes to resume writing the exact same process is required: Key Ingredients: Strategic Keywords Using strategic keywords throughout your resume is imperative for a number of reasons. Recent reports suggest 80% of companies use some kind of software or scanning program to search for candidate resumes. In today's society it is no longer good enough to target your job toward the role you are applying for - you also need to target your resume toward software programs that are now performing first rounds of candidate selections. In this technological world where applying for a job can literally take a couple of clicks of a button, hiring managers are seeing hundreds of resumes (sometimes thousands) for one particular job. As much as we would like a hiring manager or recruiter to read through our entire resume, this rarely happens. As such, using strategic keywords will help your resume rank higher and ensure that it passes the first test of being read by either a recruiter or hiring manager. Highlighting Achievements Resume writing and job seeking has changed a lot over the past couple of years. With new online networking sites such as LinkedIn being available and making it easier for a job seeker to network with a potential boss, highlighting your achievements on your resume and cover letter is more important than ever. When a boss or hiring manger decides to employ a new person to their staff, the first thing they want to know is how this person is going to add value to their organisation. Including basic duties and responsibilities is not enough to make you stand out as the perfect person for the job. You need to prove that you are the best person by highlighting your skills and achievements. Presentation and Format Your resume is the first impression a hiring manager will make about you. A well presented and structured resume that is written in a clean font will portray your resume in a professional manner and immediately give your resume application a higher ranking. Alternatively, a resume application that has spelling and grammar errors, different sized fonts, long sentences (as opposed to bullet points) and a lack of headings will not portray a positive image to the reader, and you won't look like the right person for the job. A lack of professionalism may even lead to your resume being deleted without even being read. No matter how good your skills and experience may be, once your resume is deleted, it will never be read again. In order to prepare the perfect resume follow these three main ingredients. Take time to prepare your resume and ensure that you give yourself every opportunity to succeed!

It seems that when people apply for jobs and don't receive job interview requests, they are quick to blame anyone or anything. I've heard job seekers tell me countless times that they applied for over 100 jobs online without receiving one single interview request. They tell me it's because of the current state of the economy or because the demand for jobs is far greater than the supply. While both of these reasons are true to an extent, companies are still interviewing and hiring. If you're someone who has applied to a large number of jobs but you haven't received a single interview request, it's probably time to start asking yourself those tough questions. Are you qualified enough? Are your job expectations realistic that you can actually get the jobs you are applying for? Too many times people waste their own time applying for jobs that they are not suitable for. I recently worked with a young professional with 2 years of work experience and no managerial experience. In terms of salary he was earning the market value for a person with his skills and experience. For an entire month he applied for different managerial roles - all paying salaries of double what he was currently earning - and he couldn't understand why he wasn't able to land an interview. While it is important to aim high, it is equally as important to be realistic about your skills and experience. If you're qualified for the job, is your resume letting you down? You may have fantastic skills, experience and achievements. You may even be the best person for the job. If this is the case, why are you not getting interview requests? When a hiring manager first picks up your resume, what they see and what they read will be the first impression they have about you. I recently worked with a candidate who just finished law school and was running into a similar problem. He was at the top of his class and as a recent graduate, he was now looking at beginning his career in one of the top law firms. Every job this candidate applied for was right for him. A recent law graduate seeking the best and brightest. The candidate sent his resume out to every law firm in the city and didn't receive one interview request. Even the smaller firms were not even giving him a chance. Here's what I saw when I took a brief look at his resume. The candidate had put his education and university roles on page 3 of the resume and had devoted the first 2 pages of the resume to the part-time jobs he had during high school and university. As such, by the time the hiring manager had read through page one of his high school work experience, the resume was being deleted before the most important part of the resume (his education) was even read. In today's society, reports suggest that a job candidate has 15-20 seconds to catch the reader's attention. By putting the most important information on the back page of the resume, the reader's attention was focused on aspects of the resume that were completely irrelevant for the candidate in getting the job.

The best advice I give job seekers is to set realistic job expectations. Too many times candidates cause themselves heartache and misery because they have unrealistic expectations when applying for jobs. Yes, it's true you need to aim high, but aiming too high can just lead to a longer time of being unemployed. I recently met a candidate who told me they had applied to over 100 banking jobs, but had not received a single interview request. The first thing I did was review his resume as a poorly written resume is usually the reason behind 90% of failed attempts at securing interviews. The resume is the first impression a hiring manager has, so if there's something fundamentally wrong with it, it doesn't matter how good your qualifications are if the resume is never going to be read. This time, however, his resume was very well written. His achievements were highlighted and the resume was structured and well presented, so I was quite confused as to why he was not getting a single interview. As a job seeker with 2 years of relevant work experience there didn't seem to be a reasonable reason why this candidate should not be getting interviews or job offers. The next thing we did was sit down together and analyse the jobs he had applied for, and there was the answer. Within 60 seconds it became obvious why he wasn't getting any interview requests. With 2 years of experience and on a base salary of $50,000, he was applying for senior roles with base salaries of $80,000-$120,000. With many of the jobs he didn't even tick the essential requirements on the job description such as minimum years in a manager position. Not only was he wasting his own time by applying for these positions, but he was also causing unnecessary stress and anxiety in the meantime. I encourage candidates to strive for bigger and greater jobs and to seek out higher salaries, but just remember to be realistic in your job search. To be a manager or in a senior role takes experience and it is very unlikely that a company will hire an outside person to fulfil a role without the relevant experience. The more likely scenario is the company will promote within the company. Go for gold and strive to succeed, but just remember to be realistic with your job expectations.

Getting ahead in the workplace comes down to many different factors. Your skills and values you bring to the job are of the upmost importance. If you can't deliver in your job it doesn't matter how nice you are as the company won't want to keep you on their payroll. There are, however, other things you can do to help maintain a professional image and make you stand out in your work environment. Dressing for Success How you dress and how you look says a lot about the person you are. If you come to work with a shirt hanging out and dirty shoes, you present an unprofessional image of not caring. No Looking smart will create a positive image about the way you work. One of my colleagues shed light on this point when he compared two employees under him that were competing for a promotion. One of them dressed every day in a nicely pressed suit with a tie and perfectly polished shoes. The other wore the same worn suit and same tie nearly every day. Furthermore, his shoes were not polished and his hair was in a mess. Both of them had equal skills and their work was first-rate. When my colleague needed to promote one of these men he went with the man who looked the more professional. As he told me, "Who I promoted was a reflection on me. At the end of the day, it was a pretty easy decision." First impression in the work environment First impressions count and in the work environment it is important that we portray the right impression every single day. Understanding your working environment is the key, and this should drive you in the right direction. If you work in a professional organisation such as a law firm, for example, and you have large tattoos on your arms, rolling up your sleeves at work is probably not the best idea. Keeping your tattoos covered while at work would probably be advised. The same goes for piercings. The opposite is also true - if you work in a more creative environment, then showing off your tattoos at work would be acceptable and wearing a suit would be deemed inappropriate! Conclusion The key to dressing professionally is understanding your working culture. Dressing for success will make you feel like a winner, but will also send the right image to those around you about your professionalism and attitude.

A lot of people find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to formatting the content on their resumes. Is it better to list your education first or your professional experience? Like most answers, the answer to this question depends entirely on you. People who list education first on their resumes typically have little to no work experience or are recent graduates, and this is usually the proper way to formulate your resume. Education will never hurt you on a resume, so if you're applying for a job and have little to no work experience, it's probably best that you include your education first. You can further boost your resume by including any educational awards you've received and you can also list courses you've completed that are relevant to the job you're applying for. On the flip side, if your work experience far outweighs your education, it's probably best to include this first, but it's entirely up to you to decide. It's important to keep the job you're applying for in mind when deciding how to construct your resume. Are you applying for a position as a marketing director, for example, and you have 15 years of experience in a similar position? If so, this should be one of the first things a hiring manager sees on your resume. The most important thing to remember, however, is that both education and professional experience are equally valuable in their own right. If you're concerned about which to list first on your resume, you can include both of them in your objective statement to make sure that they are both noticed straight away.