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Almost everyone I have spoken to with experience of recruitment has described with a sneer the really appalling CVs they have received. These people can generally do no better, believe me because I’ve seen their own efforts - but there is some truth to the rumours and it is the case that any half–way decent CV truly does stand out from the crowd of eccentric and underpowered offerings.

What can you do to prevent your CV embarrassing you? This article is about the blunders we all make and some ideas around why we make them. Generally speaking, these mistakes fall under two main categories:

1. Errors of Bravado
2. Errors Born of Fear

If you want to know how not to make these errors please see my article:
Top Tips on CV Writing

1 - Errors of Bravado

The candidate who makes these errors is like a driver who goes so fast they miss their turning. They do not think the world has any right to judge and select such a star as themselves, or they are simply sloppy and unprofessional, assuming their luck will always hold…

Truth stretching is the worst possible error. Seasoned recruiters can immediately feel whether or not a document has the ring of truth and they can easily check up on basic facts. If they pin you down at interview, should you get that far, you will be crucified.

Reverse truth stretching is something you should also be aware of: do not undersell yourself and if your testimonials or referees are likely to damn you with faint praise choose a source that can be relied upon to say something positive that reflects you at the right professional level.

Laziness is a cousin of truth stretching. The spell check will not find all your mistakes and the grammar check is useless because a CV has no conventional sentence-paragraph structure. You need proof reading, and again, and a few opinions and tests – before you come anywhere near the perfect CV.

Grammar all to pot: laziness shows most of all in the CVs of people who copy the Americanized template in their WP program and who don’t even bother to change the spell check to British English. And if you do not know what grammar is correct, get a book on the subject and compensate yourself for the discovery-method teaching that failed you at school. It should be Yours faithfully in a letter, by the way, unless you know the addressee well enough to use their first name, i.e. you have actually spoken to them.

Flashy CV designs are 100% guaranteed to hit the rubbish bin immediately. Unless you are a model or a customer-facing person or based in Singapore do not even think about using a photograph. Avoid text effects, colors, boxes and unusual fonts because the recruiter simply cannot process them. I have described the uses of a portfolio or multimedia CV in the article CV Types and Styles, which will also explain why other modern and traditional concepts work or do not work.

Follow this rule if you want your CV to succeed: keep the appearance simple because it is the quality of the content that resonates with recruiters and makes them want to meet you. No bravado will ever impress them – they have seen every gimmick in the book and they are sick of looking at them twenty times a day.

2 - Errors Born of Fear

Just as damning for the candidate is a CV that plays so safe that it gives out negative messages about your intelligence and ability to communicate. You may be feeling desperate or just cautious about your application but at some point you must shoulder the risk involved and go the extra mile to write a CV that makes you stand out.

The lemming approach never works. Lemmings rush to do the same as everyone else. They ask what should a CV be like in the hope of finding some perfect pattern that is bound to work. There is no such animal; being the candidate who gets the job is about standing out from the crowd, about being different in an acceptable and professional way. This individual gets the job that the safe players miss out on.

Unimaginative information architecture is a sure fire CV killer. If you want to appear boring copy your job definition using very short bullet points where most of them begin with the word ‘responsible for’. Straight in the bin.

Badly worded information comes from the half-baked attempt to make your CV interesting by adding in some ‘achievements’ without linking them to anything or by swallowing the Thesaurus to pump your CV full of ‘action words’. My article CV Types and Styles explains why this does not work and Top Tips on CV Writing shows you how to build the right approach.

Getting the level wrong will also condemn your CV to the waste bin, especially if you are trying to leverage an upward career movement. You will be judged on how you position yourself at the right level (which is why they so often ask for current salary as a shorthand guide). If your CV is meant to get you a management job but it dwells on minor skills or trivial details from the distant past, the look and feel will be more junior than the role you are after.

It is essential to tap the intuition of the recruiter at the correct level, so that they take the time to understand the more complex and subtle messages you need to communicate. Dwelling on basic, trivial stuff and giving it visual prominence will detract from this mission. The skill here is what I call ‘messaging’. Do not claim to have ‘good communication skills’ but demonstrate those skills by your subtle communication. Do not say you are a team player but include evidence of teamwork in the way you describe your experience.

Example:

You are in name a logistics manager who has also completed some internal change projects that touch on senior areas of management and have enhanced your general business understanding. You would like to move up to a role with general management elements within a supply chain environment….

Do not claim you already are a GM; do not scour the universe for buzzwords and start exaggerating your part in strategic change. Do not just list the number of staff, the figures and the bare results. try to illustrate the process…

Demonstrate that your roles, projects, leadership and planning activities have included all the elements of general management and that you are part of a senior management team to whatever extent. Use your application letter to build on the evidence in your CV that you are ready for a promotion in terms of challenge.

Always be as subtle as life really is. Recruiters want the flavour of your story to come through. Get the level right. Be as professional in writing your own CV as you would in preparing a presentation for a major client. They are both marketing tasks with similar rules. Find those USPs and highlight them.

Interview Honesty
I know many Job Candidates who are enough skillful to the extent of job interview questionnaire. But I found many of them remain unsuccessful regardless how professional they are or how loyal they are.
You are hundred percent honest, No doubt about it. But how honest should you be when you are being interviewed for a job? Off course hundred percent but don’t mystify honesty with showing all your cards without utilizing the power of presentation. Nor does honesty mean volunteering your dark secrets – professed or otherwise - from the moment you walk through the door.
For far too many candidates, honesty is one extreme or the other. Either the candidate throws everything out there too early and unnecessarily or hides it because he’s defensive about whatever it is he doesn’t want to be honest about. Either way, it only causes trouble. Finding your ideal job does not mean giving all your control to the interviewing company.
Is there anything in your employment history that’s caused you problems in the past? Don’t come out with it. You’ll get no credit or gratitude for that. In fact, the only thing you’ll get in return is…..dropped from consideration. Instead, examine the conditions under which those problems took place and ask questions to make sure those conditions aren’t present in the job for which you’re interviewing. If they are, gracefully decline to continue the process.
Being terminated, returning to the corporate world after self employment, and being unemployed for several months are just three instances that put candidates unnecessarily on the defensive. Flip it. Find the positive. What did you learn from being fired? What are your positive characteristics aside from what happened to cause the termination? And by the way, are you absolutely sure the termination was your fault? If it wasn’t, don’t say that outright! The phrasing of your presentation can convey the same meaning.
Why walk into an interview crossing your fingers that they don’t find something out? How relaxed can you possibly be under those circumstances? And if they hire you and then discover the truth, you’re tainted, and everything else you do or say from that point on is suspect.
There’s one hard and fast rule that overrides any instance where you haven’t had to – or felt a reason to – provide what could be considered extraneous information. When you are asked a direct question, one usually designed to clarify, answer it directly, honestly and with a smile. Don’t lose your composure or get defensive. Handle it gracefully. Most situations aren’t the big deal so many candidates perceive them to be.
Keep the power within yourself. To find your perfect job, you need to know what you’re looking for. Your questions are designed to elicit that information, while your answers are designed to sell yourself, even as you’re processing what you’re learning. Remember, you have the power to make a choice too.

After many interviews I derived a conclusion, from my experiences which work for me and I hope will definitely work for every professional, about a key for a door which would tend to be closed.

Follow up Letter after Interview:
During every interview, you need to give the employer something to remember you by. After all, you are only one of many vying for the job. Always showcase your best qualities and skills. Be sure to leave the employer with the impression that they cannot afford to NOT hire you. They need you on their team. Help them to remember it by writing a follow up letter after interview.

There will be numerous interviews held for the position that you want. How can you stand out? Out of all of those interviews, how many do you think will be followed up with a letter? Not many. You can take advantage of other people's inaction by taking the initiative. Always follow up with a letter.

You write thank you notes after you receive gifts or a kindness of some kind. So why not send a thank you note after an employer considers you for a job? If you're not sending follow up correspondence, you should start doing so without delay. Statistics show that following up improves the odds that you will be hired.

Now, before you become overwhelmed, you should know that a follow up note does not have to be elaborate. A simple thank you is all that is needed.

Your Letter Should Include
Always begin with an appreciative sentence. Thank the manager who interviewed you for the opportunity. Also include a few of your achievements that you want the employer to remember about you. Tell the employer again why you are the person they want to hire.

The follow up note is your opportunity to address anything that you felt was left unfinished during the interview. Talk about your skills and qualifications. Bring up comments that the employer said about you during the interview. This will help the employer remember who you are and keep you at the forefront.

Reiterate anything that is important. Tell the employer when you can start work. Leave them with the impression that you are very interested in the job and would be a great addition to their team. Steer clear of any confusing or contradictory points of discussion. If you have concerns, these are best discussed on the phone.

A follow up letter after interview should be mailed within 24 hours of the interview. Do not give them a chance to forget you. Competition is fierce. You need to stand out from the rest. A follow up note could give you the edge that you need.

Competition for jobs is always very tough in job market. A lot of time required and off course much investment to study the ads, customize your resume for the job and make sure it has the appropriate keywords, customize your cover letter and often deal with the uploading process as well. And after that you wait and wonder while time goes by.

If you're invited in for an interview, you have one key to enter in job room through interview door to tell them why you're the one to hire. Just one mistake, could be a lost for that key. Or just as bad, you get the job, but it turns out to be a nightmare working there, and you think "I wish I'd known how to find out these things on the interview."

First interview is actually for selling yourself, asking questions about the job and the company, qualifying their answers and yours, and making sure communication is drilled down to the essence of things. You want the right of rejection to be yours, rather than having them make that decision. And you're getting married after one or two dates, you better know how many defendants they want upfront. You need to know how to find out the real scoop and sell yourself concurrently.

Following are some tips and questions for the first interview which you should be well prepared prior to the interview
1) Do not scarier or nervous.
2) You should have clear goal for your own, and you should be well prepared of questions like these
"What are your career plans, and how does this job fit in"?
"Where do you expect your career to be in 10 years?"
3) What interests you about the position you’ve applied for?
4) How you manage your workload to meet conflicting deadlines?
5) Your strengths are most important for employer. You should prepare a list of your strengths and you should able to communicate well about your strengths. It will help you to better negotiate on your own terms.
6) Your weaknesses are also worth equivalent to your strengths for employer. Its a very tricky and tough question, not asked always but, when asked you should be prepared for it as well and let the employer know about your weaknesses along with its solution. For instance If you mention a weakness such as your lack of patience with people who don't do their share of the work, you should also mention that you keep this impatience to yourself and try very hard not to express it toward others.
7) Asking questions about Employer company?
You can ask company's organizational structure, their products and services, clientele, benefits for employees, training programs, bonuses and pay raise time period off course.
8) Why did you leave your last job? Is also another question which is always asked to ensure that whether the problem is at your side of your ex employer.
(This is not an opening to speak badly of your former employer. There is almost always a way of wording the explanation so that you do not sound like a "problem employee" and your former employer does not sound like an undesirable company.) Practice your answers to this question with someone who has interview experience. However, don't lie. If you can't say anything positive about your former employer, don't say anything. It could come back to haunt you.

Whether you want to find a new job, increase your salary, work fewer hours or get promoted, effective preparation can make achieving your goals easier - a lot easier.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. Be realistic
After thoroughly reading thousands of CVs i am sure that more than 90% people set career goals without really knowing how they are going to achieve them, or how long it will take. Make sure your career goals are compatible with your current abilities, and practical enough to reach in a reasonable amount of time. Also If your skills are not enough than what are you doing for achieving your set goal.

2. Dos and Donts Listing
Start by making a list of what you do and don’t like about your current career. Include everything from the basics, like whether your work-life balance needs improving, to more specific issues like whether your current employer encourages innovation, and use it to decide which areas of your career require attention and which don’t.

3. Check your motivations
While it may seem like a nice idea to follow other people’s career dreams for you, take some time out to think about what you really want. Is getting promoted to impress your friends worth working longer hours and spending less time with them? Check the motivations behind your career goals to ensure that you’re not pleasing others at your own expense.

4. Get organised
When it comes to successful, stress-free career goals, organisation is crucial, so it pays to identify the steps required to make things work for you. Revise your list of what you want to achieve this year and then use SMART goals to ensure that your ambitions are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

5. Know your priorities
In order to make the most of your time you'll need to work out which career goals you want to tackle first and which can wait. Things to think about include which career goals you can break down into smaller, more manageable steps, and in what order you should work towards each step to achieve your major goals.

6. Assume success
Think about how achieving your career goals will improve your life. Will being more dynamic result in a pay rise that will let you enter the property market? Or will learning to say ‘no’ result in more free time to spend with your family and friends? Take time out each day to visualise the pleasures you’ll gain from your success.

7. Take active steps
Remember, your career goals won’t happen by themselves. The best way to achieve them is through commitment, action and sheer hard work. Also, the more structured your career goals are, the greater your chances are of pulling them off, so, where possible, follow your plan to a tee.

8. Review your progress
With your career goals under way, it’s important to monitor your progress to ensure that when you're ready to move onto the next step in your plan, everything that needs to be done beforehand has been done. If you can, evaluate your progress weekly for best results.

9. Ask for help
Is your motivation waning? Enlisting the support of other people can boost your energy levels and help you feel more driven. Consider hiring a career coach, or if professional assistance is not an option, seek positive feedback from family and friends.

10. Celebrate your achievements
Finally, don’t forget to reward yourself for each milestone you reach. No matter how small it is, you're one step closer to achieving your career goals.

Right after financial crisis plays itself out across global markets, many of the job professionals became job seekers once again. And while it's only natural to feel apprehension about IT job security, some are discovering opportunity in the wake of unemployment. Following are To Do List if you lose your IT job.

1. Get Smart: Learn New Skills
2. Jumpstart A New Venture
3. Get In Shape
4. Spend More Time With Friends, Family
5. Volunteer To Help Others

A disgruntled job seeker sent a nasty email to the HR department of a company he interviewed at. It's understandable how dehumanizing a job search can be during a recession, but a negative email can only come back to haunt the sender. Believe it or not, HR managers know each other, and you can bet your life that emails like this get laughed at -- then emailed around.

Additionally, many companies are owned by a single holding company, so when you kill your chances with one HR team -- you automatically kill your chances with their parent company. At a minimum, the email will get filed under your name in the client's applicant tracking system, and you will be tagged as a jerk long after the HR manager has been eliminated in the next round of job cuts.

But there's good news: If you are a good sport about the hiring process, there's a potential benefit in that, too. Being civil to HR managers and recruiters spreads good karma. Really. So the next time you get rejected, send the HR manager a thank you letter or email saying ... "Thanks for the opportunity to meet with you. I'm so sorry things didn't work out. If your situation changes and you see an appropriate role for me, please let me know."

Consider these tips for staying on track and safeguarding your financial well-being and sanity during your time off. First, try not to panic. It's natural and normal to experience a period of grieving after losing a job. But don't let yourself dwell on worst-case scenarios. Instead, recognize that you're going to survive this, and focus your mind on productive solutions.

Second, remain clear about what you bring to the table. Negative thinking and speaking can hurt your job search. Most employers want to hire energetic, upbeat people. Rather than giving off an air of desperation on job interviews, be confident about ways you can help the employer succeed. That way your overall message will be, "Here's how I'm able to help you".

Third, be open to new kinds of work. If you've lost your job as a white-collar worker, you can harm your chances of finding employment if you're only willing to seek out the exact same type of work or the exact same pay. Consider working for smaller companies, and don't view service-sector or blue-collar work as beneath you - especially if money is very tight. After all, no job has to last forever.

Make sure that your resume well represents your skills. The way that you tell your story could make all the difference. Highlight skills you have that are wanted in that particular job. In the interview, know how to articulate your skills and experience. Practice with a an associate, friend or career counselor.

Do your research and be prepared to show an employer that you have done your homework about the company. Use the employer's Web sites and hunt down published articles about its business. Be able to tell the employer why you want to work there and what makes you a great match for its organization.

Network effectively. Carry your networking business cards all the time. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job, and also have them network on your behalf with people they know. Be flexible with your salary stipulation and geographic job-location preferences. In this tight job market, you may need to move to the job and take even less money than you think that you deserve.

Posting your resume in a public database can dramatically increase its visibility -- but it also increases the possibility that your current boss will see that you are job searching. The last thing you need to have happen when job searching is for your employer to accidentally find out that you're looking for a new job. It could jeopardize both your current position and future references from your employer.

When you don't want your current employer to find out that you are job hunting, there are steps you can take to keep your job search confidential. Here are some suggestions on how to effectively job hunt on the sly, so that the wrong person doesn't find out that you are looking to make a move.

Do not use your work email address for job hunting. Don't use your employer's computers or phone system. Be careful on how you post your resume. For example, if you post your resume on Monster, you can make it confidential and your contact information and references won't be displayed. You can block your present company's name by entering an end date of present for your current position. Other sites offer a similar services so be sure to look into it and investigate your options before you post.

What is a Sample Resume
A sample resume is resume that has the proper format suitable for your type of job. Depending on whether you are a fresher or experienced person and whether you are looking for a job in marketing, finance, technology or BPO, you will need to use a specific format for your resume. A good resume sample shall have the format that is best suited for you.

Moreover sample resumes have indicative points like how to capture your educational achivements, how to demonstrate the different aspects your job etc. Hence resume samples help you think about different points that you should include in your final resume.

Why to use sample resumes
Resume samples should be used as a starting point for the preparation of your resume. They make the process of preparation of your resume more efficient as you do not have to worry about the formatting. However do not send out the sample resume verbatim to HRs. That is the biggest mistake you can make.
A really good sample resume
Observe the usage of 2 column header to preserve space, usage of bullets in the the resume sample. Also see how I made important points bold to attract the HR persons attention to those points.
Write to me at zainansari@live.com if you want the word copy of this resume sample.
Danger of using Resume Samples
Be careful while using a sample resume to prepare your own resume and guard against the following potential issues.

1. Everyone else is using the same resume format The problem happens when you pick up the first sample resume available on Google. To avoid the issue, use other search engines like yahoo or msn. Better still pick up an image result and prepare your resume using that. I know it is comparatively difficult. But that is what ensures that no one else will use this resume format.
2. You forget to change some information on the sample resume like father's name or residential address. The solution is to mark the entire resume red before you start. So if you do not change any information, it continues to be in red. I have discussed many more resume mistakes that may be resulting in you not getting the interview calls.


In this site we shall provide you with

* A number of really good resumes for your use
* Advice on how to select the best resume suitable for you
* Common blunders that people make while using resume samples and how to avoid them

Personal Branding

Personal branding is the process of marketing and selling yourself as a brand in order to gain success in business/jobs. Personal branding is a continual process just as knowing yourself is a continual process. As you grow, so does your brand. The need for personal branding arises from the fact that globalization has increased competition in the workplace. As the wheat is separated from the chaff, if you are left standing, you are left standing with others of good caliber. The playing field is now that much more challenging since your competition is as good as, or better, than you.

"If we were to classify people based on aptitude, they are As, Bs, Cs, and Ds. Because of globalization the Cs and Ds have been outsourced. They're gone. All that's left is you. You are now in competition with a bunch of As and Bs. You are now clamoring for attention amongst a talented group of people. How do you now get noticed? How can you shine and be recognized for additional opportunities? How can you be successful when everyone around you is just as talented, or more so, than you? If everyone around you is capable and of A or B caliber, how do you compete with that?"

You build a personal brand and sell it. You sell not just yourself, but your brand, to your superiors, or clients in the case of contractors and consultants.

The same reason people buy Coke instead of Pepsi. The public perception of the company's product is created and marketed in such a way as to enhance the product, or even be the product. Soda is soda, pop is pop for those of us with less-sensitive taste buds. The similarities end, however, when you compare Coke versus Pepsi. Even taste tests are meaningless; it's the brand that sells it.

Checklist

1. Know what you want
2. Be able to articulate what you do
3. Elevator pitch
4. Be positive
5. Have a blog / website / MySpace, or other online presence
6. Business card
7. Multiple e-mail addresses
8. Phone
9. Signature
10. Logo
11. Personal logo
12. More than one resume
13. Mentor
14. Networking outlets / contacts
15. Wardrobe style
16. Multiple IM accounts
17. Alias
18. Mantra
19. Speaking and PowerPoint template
20. Passion

Let's start with some brief definitions.

Checklist Definitions

1. Know what you want: Identify what you want, and start walking toward it.
2. Be able to articulate what you do: When someone asks what you do, answer them immediately with a clear, concise, and confident response.
3. Elevator pitch: Be able to describe who you are and what you do in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
4. Be positive: Be positive.
5. Business card: A 3x5 piece of paper or mini-CD that has your personal contact information clearly printed on it.
6. Have a blog / Website / MySpace, or other online presence: Get your brand online.
7. Multiple e-mail addresses: Get more than one e-mail address.
8. Phone: Get a phone.
9. Signature: Your signature is who you are, your title, and your contact information. You should put this on everything you touch.
10. Logo: A visual image that positively identifies your brand.
11. Personal goals: Set goals for yourself that help you reach what you want.
12. More than one resume: Customize your resume to the potential employer or client.
13. Mentor: Find a guru and have them teach you.
14. Networking outlets / contacts: Continually develop your network by attending industry meetings and conferences.
15. Wardrobe style: When you are going to be near people who you wish to sell your brand to, dress to impress.
16. Multiple IM accounts: Get more than one IM account.
17. Alias: Obtain a positive nickname.
18. Mantra: Collect sayings that enforce your brand.
19. Speaking and PowerPoint template: Speak about what you do and have a hot-looking PowerPoint template to show.
20. Passion: Love what you do.

I want a job. I am not sure about the pay even i don't bother to read the required skills just let me in.

Is this your volley of fire against the current job crises scenario?

Let's admit it: This is one of the tough time we ever thought of. There are more job-less skilled applicants than ever before, trying to grab the limited seats over the industry globally but most of them failed.

I have learned from my professional life that,

Instead of counting jobs, Count on yourself for truly understand your skills first then JOB will count you.

Many job applicants have a basic question in their mind. Is their any tip on how you can stand out from the crowd and win the job away from the competition?

My article is not about the Job crises or Job Tips. My article is all about Professionalism and i am sure Once a person become professional he don't need the tips and even he don't care about the crises. How? let me clear.

I strongly believe in professionalism and professionalism, and they can attained by thinking positively. Following are some points which i have learned from my professional life since last 7 years of job experience.

• Always attached with your profession.
• Always try to achieve the maximum perfection in your profession.
• Ability to express that your skills are most perfect and relevant for clients/employer.
• Never underestimate the market.
• Learn and implement the market standards quickly and efficiently.
• Your name will be a sign of profit in the term of monetary standards instead of a merely waste expense.
• Think clearly and establish your goals
• Spend lot of time in research
• always define the scope, never make lists of uncompleted tasks with daily basis additions such tasks can never be completed and worthless in case of late completion.
• Time is money, waste it and it will waste you.
  
• Say no to reinvent the wheel, pick existing one and work onwards
• Work with dedication and loyalty
• Never compromise the quality

These are some i have learned. I know this list might be uncountable and i have picked very few, but i am sure you will share your experience as well and let me think about some more proficient points.