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Revitalize Your Resume!

Does your resume show how qualified and capable you really are? Learn to make it stand out from the crowd using simple and effective techniques from our job and career search expert, Emily Bardeen. Bring along a copy of your resume, even if it’s out of date, and an example of the kind of job you are interested in.

Participants will receive Emily’s e-book  Do This! Quick Resume Tips for Job Hunters in a Hurry.  Read more...

‘Tis the season of giving and I’m interested in knowing what gifts you’ve given yourself. Not the kind you buy.  I’m thinking kind of more like…..homegrown.

Like bravery, for example. This year, did you step out of your comfort zone in ways you’ve never done before? Or maybe persistence.   Do you find that now you just keep going when things are rough and not even think about giving up?

Perhaps you gave yourself the gift of focus  -  zeroing in on what’s really important to you  – and letting the rest go? Or how about patience? The calmness that comes when you accept that your timeline isn’t everyone else’s is a powerful gift.

Did you give yourself joy?  Read more...

What do you do when someone asks for help getting a job in your organization? Most people want to help. On the other hand, helping is risky. How do you help someone get a job but protect your own hard-earned political capital?
 
A friend of mine asked me this after her efforts to help a former colleague monumentally backfired. A VP who had been laid off from her previous company contacted her about an open position in her current firm. My friend’s actions to help him turned into a political disaster for her when she passed his resume on to her boss –and her boss was applying for the same position.

   Read more...

A woman of child-bearing age who couldn’t get pregnant in biblical times is like a person today who is able to work but can’t find a job.  Through no fault of their own, each loses their place in society and is at risk for losing their sense of self-worth.  

Hannah went through terrible times until she finally asked for help. The story of how God helped Hannah with her troubles gives hope to those facing the anxiety of unemployment. 

1 Samuel (1:4-20)

Poor Hannah! She wants a baby desperately, and yet she can’t conceive. Her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, has plenty of sons and daughters. As members of the same household, surely Hannah is expected to help care for the children. What a bitter pill to swallow.  Read more...

What do movie trailers and cover letters have in common?

They are both advertisements. And their goal is to persuade you to take action:

• Go to a movie
• Read your resume

Could you use a more persuasive cover letter?  Take some cues from Hollywood movie trailers and you’ll be getting five-star reviews in no time.

Keep it short and sweet

Producers know that there is a limited attention span for previews. A good movie trailer has to be short to get its message across.

Limit your cover letter to one page. A short cover letter lets the reader focus on your message, and reduces the tendency to skim or ignore your letter.  Read more...

Does your education appear front and center on your resume?

That may not be the best location.

At graduation, students are encouraged to put their education first on their resumes – and that’s good advice.  Education is a new graduate’s strongest asset. 

If you have experience, it’s a different story.  Throughout your career, you’ve developed more assets – skills, accomplishment, capabilities.  Education may no longer be your biggest strength.  It could even be a liability. When that happens - education does not belong at the top of your resume!

Put your Education Where it Best Supports Your Case

Emphasize a strong Education Section by locating it in the top half of your resume’s first page. Putting your Education above the fold gets it noticed by HR and hiring managers.   Read more...

The end of the Great Recession – are we there yet?   Half of our workforce can hardly wait. According to a recent survey by the Adecco Group North America, 54% of employed Americans plan to look for a new job as soon as the economy improves. You too?  That’s a lot of competition – if I were you I’d start now.

I’ve always tended to toward the “Lord helps those who help themselves” approach to things.  So please, help yourself to a few, proven strategies to get ready for when the job market improves:

Become the Ideal Candidate  Read more...

God invented word processing so that we can create a tailored resume every, single time we apply for a job.  I am absolutely certain of it.

In ancient times –  B.W.P. – (before word processing)  there was no “insert”; no “delete”; no “search and replace”. Imagine…an entire world without “undo”!  It was so sloggingly slow to modify a resume that pretty much everybody wrote one resume; end of story. 

Inexplicably, even in our modern, A.W.P. times, most  job seekers still use just one resume.  And it is easy to understand why. The thought of it is just so deliciously, temptingly easy: you write your resume once – and you’re done.    

Sadly, easy is one thing; effective is another.  Read more...