3 Steps to Writing Winning Career Documents

3 Steps to Writing Winning Career Documents We use writing skills to engage, inspire or persuade people in our personal and work lives. In a career transition or active job search, writing skills are under sharp scrutiny. Each transition task, whether it is completing self-assessment exercises, creating a resume, crafting a cover letter or preparing additional marketing tools requires focused writing â€" one that is targeted, has meaning for your reader and clearly outlines your value to the potential opportunity. 1) Strategy focus and purpose: Why are you writing? The purpose of your writing must be clear. Is it request for a networking conversation? Is it to apply for an open position? Is it to share research information with a decision-maker in your target company? Give the reader a reason to read your letter! What do you want the outcome to be? The clearer the intended outcome, the more effective the writing. A reader typically asks, “Why am I getting this letter and what do you want me to do with it?” Invite the reader’s curiosity with compelling reasons. Who is your audience? Different readers make different meaning from the same piece of writing. Is it someone from within your field of expertise? Or is it someone who will not understand the terminology used from your field? Or will your writing reach people beyond your intended audience? Understand your audience and tailor your writing in content, tone and language to meet the needs of your audience. 2) Style organization and design: Decide on the content Research the opportunity first. Second, identify and prioritize information according to importance and value to reader. Is your paragraph organized around one main idea? What kind of supporting statements can elaborate or explain your main idea? Are you using active verbs to engage the reader? Match the style to the document Understand industry writing standards for your document. Each document, for example resume, cover letters, memos or addendums have unique writing attributes. Can a reader find information easily where s/he expects to find it on the document? Are profile statements or headings clearly identified? Have you emphasized your main ideas using italics, boldface or underlining as appropriate? Organize the information Each document is typically divided into separate sections. Select information carefully for each section so that your writing flows quickly and easily. Use examples, charts, numbers or tables as appropriate to inform and persuade your reader. 3) Impact return on investment factor: Value offered The employer has a current and potential need. Can you solve business problems now and in the future? Use information and language that is future focused and clearly links your skills to the deliverables in the opportunity. Make a business case for hiring â€" What will you bring immediately? Why are you the right fit? How will you be productive and engaged in the employer’s culture? Create a picture Use succinct examples to create a visual image of your success stories in the reader’s mind. Pay attention to the tone of your letter. Is it personal, courteous and positive? Does it clearly communicate benefits to the reader? Follow-up plan Close strongly. Revisit your purpose and share a proactive follow-up plan with the reader. When will you call to schedule a time to talk? What else can you do to invite curiosity? Ask for the sale! Keep the communication simple, specific, conversational and inviting. Above all, keep it error-free. RELATED: 8 Steps To Writing Your Bio Like a Pro.

Great Tips to Get Your Resume Written

Great Tips to Get Your Resume WrittenHere are some of the best 44 resume writing tips that you should be aware of. There are so many people who still can't find a perfect resume. It may not have been updated for the latest trends and tools. It's just too hard to compare what you have on your list of previous work experience.The first thing you should remember is to know the kind of work experience you are looking for. Do you want it in the field or a better job? What kind of job is it? How old is it?The most common mistake is to check your paper for all the errors. You should check your skills according to your previous work. You can use this as reference. See how you match up and don't forget to highlight those skills that you can make good use of now.The next tip is to do a lot of information gathering. It means it doesn't matter whether you have a few years experience or a lot of years experience. Everything can be useful in today's competitive jobs market. So don't wait for the p erfect time to search for something.After that, try to find out what others expect from you and then put together your current skills. Then get more about the particular industry you are interested in. Find the things that you can include in your resume that will help you stand out in the crowd.The third tip is to prepare a listing of relevant information that you can include. You need to write down everything that matters in your resume. It doesn't matter if the things on the list are only written in the past or if they are directly related to what you can do for the company.Remember that you should be prepared for anything when you start looking for a new career. You should be able to predict the things that people expect. That's the way you will be able to write the things that you want to include in your resume. You should also be able to connect with the recruiter by telling him what you want to say about yourself.Finally, you should always write your own resume because there a re so many formats that you can choose from. It's up to you to choose the format that suits you.

How Your Job Title Affects Your Auto Insurance Payments - Classy Career Girl

How Your Job Title Affects Your Auto Insurance Payments Your job might not sound so exciting when you describe it to people you meet at a cocktail party, but a high-tech job others might not be so quick to understand might earn you lower premiums on your auto insurance. The amount you pay per month for insurance can be affected by a number of factors that may not be so obvious at first, but are worth keeping in mind. Unfortunately, insurers are quicker to favor certain professions, and in some cases, it doesn’t matter what you do for a living, but how you present yourself and your career. How Your Job Title Affects Your Auto Insurance Payments 1. Find the Right Job Title While few people would actually change jobs to save on car insurance, unless transportation is the main part of the job, it may be enough to simply tweak your job description. This doesn’t involve dishonesty, but it may simply require zeroing in and getting more specific. For instance, a freelance writer might not be as impressive as saying you are a financial or technical writer. This could be absolutely accurate if you write blogs on the stock market or personal finance or have composed software guides. Some insurers have different perceptions of who is high risk. According to a London Telegraph article, an insurance company charged a window cleaner over 12 times more in car insurance than a financial administrator of a school. While it is important not to lie about your occupation, because this would involve fraud, it is recommended to “tweak” job classifications if you can to secure a lower insurance premium. Since jobs tend to have various kinds of descriptions and it may just be a quick chat with HR to get on the same page, this may not be so difficult. 2. Skip the Commute If you are a real estate agent who drives prospective clients to view properties or do repairs and you need your car for your job, you will likely face higher auto insurance premiums. A clean driving record free of accidents and tickets is likely to help keep these premiums to a minimum, but insurers favor clients who drive less than average. If you have been wanting to pursue a work-at-home career, such as sales, marketing or writing, you may reap the benefits of lower auto insurance without a commute If you can show that your rate of driving is lower than the national average, your insurer may offer you a lower premium, since the risk is less. 3. What If You Need to Drive? If your car is part of your career, there are a number of ways you can lower your auto insurance premiums. In addition to your career, insurers will look at your credit score as a sign of reliability. Take a defensive driving course and add some brownie points. Insist that citations and paid tickets be erased from your record and select minimal coverage with high deductibles. Finally, take advantage of all the discounts at your disposal and keep shopping around for a better deal. Car insurance is a significant, although necessary expense. Look at ways your career affects your car insurance premium and think like an insurer when it comes to finding the best rate. Present your career in the best light and build confidence with the insurer so that he or she will view you as a safe bet. With a clean driving record, a solid credit score and a defensive driving course under your belt, you may be on your way to more reasonable premiums on your auto insurance.

How to Change a Career Not a Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Change a Career Not a Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career No surprise that in this economy more and more people are toying around with the idea of changing careers. For some, such a change represents an opportunity; for others, it may be a necessity because their industries are shifting, shrinking, or becoming extinct. The question my clients ask with more and more frequency is how to go about it. Regrettably, though, there’s no simple or one-size-fits-all answer, because each situation is unique. In other words, notwo people’s circumstances are the same. A career coach cannot make such a decision for a client; the answer has to come from the individual. A career coach can of course counsel, guide,and support the process. Let’s make sure we understand that I’m not referring to a job change. A career change is a radical changefor example, an executive with a finance background who buys a restaurant, or a manager at ATT, a very well-known communications company, who shifts into managing an adult community or a nursing home. Those are real-life examples of people who were successful at making those changes; I know them personally. So, the questions are, What drives the process? and What does it take to come out as a winner? Now let’s agree from the beginning that a career change involves significant risk. Not all career changes work out well. Decisions of this nature have at least two major components: the intellectual and the emotional. The emotional part involves the pain that a person endures and that strongly motivates and impels the person toward willingness to take a risk. The other component is the intellectual part, which involves, say, the person’s needor desireto make more money or the person’s disappointment with the industry, or with the nature of the current job, or with an intolerable boss who is apparently not leaving soon. At the core of the job-changing decision-making process are three questions that require concrete answers: What are the job-changing individual’s values? What does the job-changing individual have to offer a potential employer? What does the job-changing individual expect in return? Values have to do with one’s feelings about family, recognition, monetary rewards, security, promotions, belonging, commitment, loyalty, and so forth. The answer to the question regarding what one has to offer will be an analysis of skillssuch as marketing, presentation, sales, research, and data analysisand then identification of whether one has the traits that support those skills: is the person aggressive, independent, articulate, persuasive, logical, visionary? The remaining issue deals with what the person wants in return. This touches on environmental and cultural factors. For example, does the person like to work in small organizations or big ones? How does the person feel about leadership styles, corporate politics, company reputation, work/life balance, and flextime for new parents, for example? And how about critical matters like salary, health coverage, and investment programs versus the minimum levels of compensation and benefits needed? As you can see, a career change is loaded with complexities. My advice is to consult someone who is equipped to guide you as you navigate this maze. And a challenging maze it is indeed.

How to Write a Resume For Technical Skills

How to Write a Resume For Technical SkillsThe type of skill required to write a resume is very specific. Skills required to write a resume are very different from skills required to be a skilled and qualified technical writer. A good technical writer is one who can write resumes that identify the person as a skilled and experienced professional. Here are a few steps to help you create a solid resume.Technical skills in resume writing are important because the type of professional looking resume that you will be able to produce with technical skills. Technical writing resumes should be crisp, clear, and professional. Technical writers must have excellent command of the English language. By understanding the language it is easier to create technical documents.Technical writing resumes should also be able to show the applicant is knowledgeable in their field. Technical writing skills require that the resume writer be able to read and understand technical documents. This requires the abi lity to pick up on terminology, grammar, style, and specific details of the document.Technical writers must be able to know the difference between technical and non-technical resumes. A technical resume is different from a non-technical resume. Technical resumes must clearly identify the professional position that an applicant is applying for.Other information that will be added to the resume is also information that the applicant needs to know and understand. The information provided will be a little more detailed than what an applicant can get by reading an entire page of the resume. A technical resume needs to be well organized. A technical resume is one that contains enough information to allow an employer to understand the abilities and skills of the candidate.Technical writing resumes should be written in Microsoft Word, plain text, or HTML. They should be printed out and scanned. These skills can be learned and used in other careers. Technical writers often have years of expe rience in a specific industry.Technical skills are taught at technical writing schools, and college programs. The time spent in learning these skills is a great investment because they are the skills that will always be in demand. People who learn technical skills always find employment. Technical writers do not get tired or frustrated when they are writing resumes for technical skills. They get things done and never get bored.If you are a skilled and experienced technical writer you can always find jobs writing resumes for technical skills. The most important thing to remember is that you should be an enthusiastic writer. Make sure you have a knowledge of the technical document writing methodologies that can be used for technical documents.

Stop obsessing about working hours - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Stop obsessing about working hours - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Ive written a lot about the obsession companies have with tracking and increasing employees working hours based on the myth that working more hours leads to better results. But the clearest and most concise commentary on this comes from Zach Holman of American software company GitHub, who puts it like this: Hours are bullshit! I could not agree more. Stop focusing on hours worked and start focusing on results delivered. And realize that there is not a linear relationship between the two. Read more about what makes GitHub an awesome workplace here. Related posts Top 10 reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster. Top 5 new rules of productivity Don?t let The Cult of Overwork ruin your work life. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Job Action Day 2013 Transitioning from Military to Civilian

Job Action Day 2013 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Maybe you know a Veteran or maybe you are a Veteran.  This post is to help the thousands of ex-military job seekers connect with advice and ultimately employers to aid their transition into the civilian workforce. Please, share this with people you know.  JOB ACTION DAY 2013: MILITARY-TO-CIVILIAN The focus of Job Action Day 2013 is to provide a wide variety of advice, tools, and resources for all types and ranks of transitioning military to help sharpen career focus, strengthen resume development, and bolster job-hunting techniques resulting in better job offers, and a smoother transition. Job Action Day 2013, the sixth-annual initiative spearheaded by Quintessential Careers, includes expert and empowering articles, tips, and blog posts that give transitioning military-to-civilian job-seekers information, ideas, and concrete steps that you can take to make your transition successful. This years Job Action Day post is filled with over 25 articles covering everything from resume advice to starting a business. Here is short contribution! Networking Sites for Military LinkedIn is, by far, the best social network for professionals seeking work.  This post by Steve Levy, is incredibly helpful in helping understand HOW TO use LinkedIn to find people you served with!  (By the way, Steve is a Veteran and talented recruiter, so his advice fits perfectly!) How Heroes Should Be Using LinkedIn on Recruiting Inferno. But did you know there are social networks specifically designed for military personnel? The  number one source of external hiring  comes from referrals- not job boards! So rather than focus only on job postings, I am recommending these tools which focus on relationships. Rally Point Service-Connected Together We Served Unite Us Vet Friends