*)Great Job Resumes: The First Step To Landing Great Jobs

How important are Job Resumes in Securing the Perfect Job?
The function of outstanding job resumes is to get the attention of your potential employer. More than simply a listing of your accomplishments, education, skills and experience; a job resume is the first point of contact you have with the company with whom you are seeking employment. No matter what skill set you bring to the table, if your resume isn’t effectively presented, you may find it difficult to locate work. In the reverse, if you haven’t had a lot of experience, a polished resume that presents the talents and ambitions you do possess can secure you a job with unlimited potential for growth. Before setting out to look for a new job, make sure your resume presents the skills you have to offer in the best possible light. Many employers will not even offer an interview to prospective employees with lackluster job resumes.

Types of Job Resumes:

Job resumes may be structured in several different ways to focus on your best qualities, while downplaying your limitations. Today’s employers are looking for innovative employees that will bring value to their business. Submitting a standout resume is one way to express your individual abilities and ambition. Different types of job resumes include:
* Reverse Chronological Resumes – These job resumes focus on your employment history by listing your previous employment starting with your latest position. Chronological resumes detail your growth as an employee and are best suited for people who have a strong employment background and documented experience. Educational information and additional skills are typically noted at the bottom of these job resumes.

* Functional Resumes – The functional resume gives less resonance to experience and highlights, instead, the skills that you have to offer. Functional resumes generally list your stellar qualifications at the top of the page, while providing some details of how the skills were obtained—including school and work experience—towards the latter half of the page. Skill-based resumes are the best choice for workers that are new to the job market, or have not worked in quite some time.

* Combination Resumes – A combination resume takes the focus on skills from the Functional resume and merges it with the employment history, for a complete package of your qualifications. These job resumes present the most well rounded details and can be used by almost anyone to effectively gain employment.

*Seeking Professional Help for Writing Job Resumes
If you’re not certain of the resume choice that’s right for your qualifications, or if you just want the best possible resume, you might want to seek the help of a professional resume writing service. For a minimal fee, professional writers can formulate top quality job resumes that can be used to market your skills. A resume writing service will present your personal employment history and qualifications in a manner that will stand out to potential employers. It’s really a small investment to make for a profitable future at your new job.


*)by: Paolo Basauri

Wall Street Shakeup Changes the Job-Search Game

By Joe Turner, for Yahoo! HotJobs

The recent Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch sell-off are just tips of a much larger iceberg that will have far reaching economic implications for all of us in the United States. Tens of thousands of layoffs in and beyond the financial industry will signal more sober times as companies across the country will be forced into rethinking their future hiring plans.

Investors are primed for even more bad news. For example, how the untold costs of Hurricane Ike will hit the insurance and energy industries. Further drops in the stock market and other economic losses will also likely occur in the weeks ahead.

One fact seems certain. All of these circumstances will combine to have huge ramifications for job seekers. The combination of a failing economy along with rising unemployment will require individuals to take a fresh approach to their job search.

Referencing the most recent economic crisis, Neil McNulty, principal recruiter, McNulty Management Group states, "The game has changed, but the rules remain the same: Now, more than ever, job seekers need to change their mindset from looking for 'openings' to looking for 'opportunities' ... and opportunities are borne out of crisis and chaos, and exist even in the worst economy."

This means that you, as a job seeker, must look beyond job postings and move into marketing yourself to the managers of the companies and organizations who are experiencing problems that you can solve.

Action Steps:

1. Change your mindset from a passive job seeker to an active problem-solver. Don't just rely on the Internet to find job openings. Scour the marketplace to identify the hidden jobs that aren't advertised. Get yourself in front of people who are receptive to a problem-solving approach rather than one of "Will you hire me?"

2. Talk "results" rather than skills. Stop thinking of yourself as just an assortment of job skills and focus on results that employers want to buy. See yourself as a product to package and market, and then create your own marketing campaign to find your desired job. This includes having a state-of-the-art resume, and sharpening your interviewing skills.

3. Think and talk in terms of Return-on-Investment. View yourself as a mini Profit-and-Loss center for an employer. Be prepared to talk the language of money and demonstrate ways you have helped to positively impact the bottom line of your past or current employer. This means demonstrating ways you've helped make money or save money for your employer or their clients. As employees, we all touch money, though some of us may be closer to it than others. All of us must find ways to prove that we make or save money, and be ready to indicate that in short "sound bites" when we get the opportunity.

Joseph P. Kennedy said many years ago, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." That statement is just as true today as it was then. In this tough economy, whether employed or not, we all share something in common. We all have to get tough, and we all have to get going.

As a recruiter, Joe Turner has spent the past 15 years finding and placing top candidates in some of the best jobs of their careers. Author of "Job Search Secrets Unlocked" and "Paycheck 911," Joe has interviewed on radio talk shows and offers free insider job search secrets at jobchangesecrets.com.