Leaping into the job market can be a very scary thing, particularly if you do not have any work experience. Looking at job ads, you are constantly seeing requests for resumes, previous work experience, qualifications, and more.
If you are a student or a first-time job hunter, these expectations can make you feel unqualified. However, it is really quite simple to write a solid resume, even if you do not have much or any past job experience.
When You Are Ready to Quit Your Job Without a Parachute
We have all been there. The moment when job stress, office politics, lousy management, lack of promotion, overwork, and boredom all gets too much. The perceived wisdom is that you should never quit your job until you have something definite to move on to. The advice is that no matter how much you need to resign – stick it out until you have something in the bag.
By now, it is no secret that more and more companies are utilising technology to help them assess the increasing number of job applications for advertised roles. But should you be worried about Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)?
You may have heard the term ‘sales and marketing’ used to describe how a company promotes itself to its desired audience. However, sales and marketing are not simply for the business world. Creating a clear value proposition for yourself can help you to better market yourself to employers. Your personal value proposition needs proper sales and marketing to highlight your worth to a potential employer.
So, you have reached the end of your nursing education, and now your focus has shifted toward the bewildering amount of job applications and their specific requirements. Healthcare jobs are one of the most in-demand positions. However, there are more and more people targeting the very positions that you have spent the past years studying for. Whether you have decided to aim for a graduate program, or to work as an enrolled or registered nurse, you will quickly discover that having a professionally produced nursing resume and cover letter at the ready is your surest bet to securing the position you want.
If your resume is not working, no one will tell you. Nobody is going to ring you or email you to say “It’s not you, you’re awesome, it’s your resume that that’s letting you down.” The fact is they will simply ignore your resume, or you will get the standard ‘on this occasion, your application has been unsuccessful’ letter.
Employers want workers who can see the big picture, solve problems, are good communicators, and team players. These are known as ‘soft skills’. The truth is, ‘hard skills’ – the technical abilities that you bring to the role – can be taught.
There are so many times in life where, in order to get on, we need to sell our key achievements. The fact is, very few people feel comfortable blowing their own trumpet. No matter how good you are at what you do, many of us feel awkward spelling it out in a way that says “Hey, look at me, I’m awesome!”. But there are certain pivotal moments where it is absolutely the right thing to do. One of them is your resume.
Your resume serves one purpose and one purpose only – to get you ahead of the pack in front of a recruiter and land an interview. Resumes tend to follow a conventional pattern – the candidate’s details, a short list of personal strengths, a list of qualifications, career aspirations, a rundown of the work history with key responsibilities, some referees, and that is it; job done. But most likely, job not won. Why? One reason could be that you did not adhere to the STAR format.
