A career objective is generally used in graduate resumes more experienced job seekers use a professional objective.
The resume objective should beA career objective expresses what you want to achieve in your career and which position you aspire to.
Your objective should include: your skills, achievements
Full Content
, the position you are seeking, the specific skills you want to learn and develop, the kind of company you would like to work for. These should be aligned to the job advert.
Your objective should be more what you can do for the employer rather than vice versa.
If the potential employer sees that your objectives are his targets then you have become a potential candidate, this is a good technique to quickly grab the attention of the reader.
Example Professional Objective
A lead role in the web software development team using Java and Apache.
Your academic year is underway; it’s now time to pay attention to your resume. Summer or graduation might seem like it’s far away, but your resume is calling to you, and you need to heed the call. Now is the time to get involved in activities that will beef up your resume experience section and to create a resume that will land you plum job interviews in the months to come.
When I say “create” a resume, I don’t mean treat it like an exercise in creative writing, however. You should never lie on your resume, exaggerate your past work experiences, or say you know how to do something that you don’t actually know how to do. Pumping up your resume with exaggerations is a quick way to flub an interview or lose your job.
Follow the tips in this article, and you will create a winning resume that will get you into top IT interviews.
The biggest issue with student or recent graduate resumes is lack of experience. I hear students complain all the time that companies only want people with experience. But how are students supposed to get that experience? The answer is jobs or activities outside of the classroom. Spending your time wisely will get you the experience you need to land a great job.
Quick quiz: What is more valuable—volunteering as a tutor in the computer resource center or working at the closest fast food restaurant? Answer: The volunteer job is your best bet for crafting your resume. Any job or activity that is related to IT is better than one that is not. And if you can get someone to pay you for your time, that’s even better. Either way, make sure you work hard at your job to ensure you end up with a glowing letter of reference.
On your resume, include a few details about what you did and learned during each work experience. (Remember, volunteer work is still work.) A few specific details per job will help you fill out your resume. For example, if you spent your summer in a PC technician job helping a local non-profit company get their new computers up and running, you should state some specific accomplishments, like: “Set up and installed membership and donation software on six computers,” or “Created a wireless network for 12 computers, two printers and a server.”
Make sure to select details from the work that most closely relates to the type of position you are applying. In the previous example as a PC technician you might also have trained people on how to use the software. These experiences can easily be highlighted if you’re applying for a PC training or help desk job.
If you haven’t already joined an IT association for your industry, do so. Not only does being a member of a respected organization look great on your resume, you can also use the organization to research jobs and network to find job prospects. Some organizations also offer scholarships or formal job placement programs.
Many IT professionals use a portion of their resume for a summary of technical qualifications. Even though you’re just starting out, such a section is still appropriate. You can list software and hardware that you are familiar with, and of course, if you have a certification or documented training you should include that information as well.
Thanks to online job sites, vast numbers of resumes may come in for one position. Companies often funnel resumes into databases, which they search later for key words or phrases that match the description of the job they are trying to fill. Make sure you include appropriate search terms in your resume. You can even add a keywords section, labeled as such, at the end of your resume. The keywords should include such items as job titles, technical terms which might include programming languages, operating system names, and names of software applications. The section will include nouns, not the action verbs you see in many resume examples.
Recruiters, managers and HR staff will also search through databases posted on major job sites, such as dice.com, to find candidates for jobs that have not been posted. Doing so helps them search for employees without attracting a lot of attention or an avalanche of unsuitable resumes. Unless your resume is on such a site, and posted at least in part as a public resume, you might miss out on some great job opportunities. If you’re concerned about identity theft, you can post everything but your name and contact information. To allow interested parties to contact you, set up and post a separate email account that doesn’t reveal your name.
If you decide to apply for a job you see on a company site, make sure to put your resume in the body of the email or mail a paper copy to the company. Many corporate email systems trash or reject emails that enter the system with an attachment. A follow-up letter with a copy of your resume is an effective way to say that you are truly interested in the job and might help move your resume to the top of the pile.
Crafting a resume that gets you where you want to go is not a do-it-yourself endeavor. Even IT professionals with decades of experience talk to someone more knowledgeable for help with their resume. In some cases, they even pay big bucks to “resume doctors” for this kind of help. However, chances are very good that you can get help for free at your campus job placement center.
Before you post, print or mail your resume to anyone, have someone check it for typos, grammar mistakes and readability. It is best to ask someone with knowledge of the IT industry—especially knowledge of the job for which you are applying. An IT professor will probably help you if you ask nicely and are considerate of their time. Someone at an IT organization might do it for you as well, particularly if you are a member of that organization.
You won’t find a better time than now to pay attention to your resume. Put together a body of experience that will make you stand out of the entry-level crowd. All it takes is a little advance planning, some effort on your part, and some help along the way.
The interview is the heart of the job application process, but the resume and correspondence will make the first and last impression
t's a sad but true fact that a poorly written resume, cover letter or follow-up letter will be nothing more than a brief source of amusement for a potential employer before it makes its way to the recycling bin. While silly typos and grammatical errors might provide some entertainment, they also reflect an inattention to detail on the part of the job candidate-an undesirable trait in any employee. Luckily, by following a few standard practices, your resume and correspondence can reflect a keen attention to detail and ability to excel in your chosen field.
Think of each piece of correspondence between yourself and your potential employer as a link in a chain-each individual link needs to be sturdy in order for the chain as a whole to be strong. The links in your chain of correspondence should include: a cover letter or a letter of inquiry, a resume, a thank-you letter and a letter of acceptance or refusal when appropriate.
All correspondence between yourself and potential employers should conform to a few basic rules. The number one rule to prevent your correspondence chain from breaking down under careful scrutiny is to keep it professional. All correspondence should be word-processed and printed on high-quality, 81/2ý x 11ý paper. Generally, resumes and letters should be one page in length. However, if you are a job applicant with several years of experience in your field, your resume can exceed the one-page limit if necessary. All correspondence should be proofread carefully for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
The letter of application can be a cover letter or a letter of inquiry. A cover letter is used if you're applying for an advertised opening within a company. The letter of inquiry is sent "blind" to a company that you are interested in working for. Instead of applying for a specific position that you know is open within the company, you will be inquiring after any open position. These differences will be apparent in the body of the letter (see the "Sample Cover Letter" and "Sample Letter of Inquiry" on the opposite page). However, the overall form and style of the letters are the same.
The opening paragraph of a letter of application should spark the interest of the employer. Use it to explain how you heard about the job or why you're interested in the company and identify your career objective as well. The middle paragraphs-no more than two-should broadly establish what skills you possess that would be a good fit at the company. Remember, your resume will highlight the details of your experience, so don't get too carried away explaining them in your letter. The body paragraphs are an opportunity to express your knowledge of the company and how you see yourself fitting into their big picture. To that end, refer the employer to sections of your resume that explain in more detail the skills the employer would find most valuable. The final paragraph should again express your interest in the position or the company. Invite them to contact you to set up an appointment, and explain your intent to follow up your letter and resume with a phone call on a specific date. And don't forget to tell the employer that you value their time with a statement like, "thank you for your time and consideration."
A resume is the main link in the chain of correspondence. It provides the employer with the facts they need to know in order to decide whether or not you are a viable candidate. Your goal when creating your resume is to give potential employers an honest representation of your skills. But you can mold it to reflect your most important strengths based on the individual needs or requirements of particular employers. Also, your resume will naturally change over the length of a career, i.e., education experience will move to the bottom of your resume after you've achieved several years of work experience. Some things should remain the same, however. The header should always contain your personal contact information: name, current address, telephone number and a professional email address (this is no time for slacker55@xyz.com to make an appearance).
The next section of the resume, your objective, should be short, very specific and should include a job title whenever possible. If you are sending a resume with a letter of inquiry you can use a generic title that fits your field of interest (i.e., programmer or civil engineer). Don't limit yourself by adding the word "assistant" or "trainee." The employer will determine the appropriate level of employment based on your resume.
As a recent graduate, the next section of your resume will be the education section. Always list the school's name, location, the year you graduated (or the date you expect to graduate), your GPA if it's a 3.0 or better and any honor's programs in which you were involved. If you haven't had much or any experience in the field for which you are applying, include a list of relevant coursework under your education information.
Once you've accumulated several years of experience in your field, the education section will follow the experience section. The education section will also shrink to exclude relevant coursework and GPA. In the experience section, there should be a small subsection for each position. It will start with your title, the company name, location and your dates of employment.
This information can be rearranged to start with the company name if you prefer to emphasize the company before your position within the company. Also include a list job duties and acquired skills-present this information concisely using action words.
Toward the end of your resume you should list your computer skills. A list of computer software names that you are familiar using is sufficient, but if the list stretches to four or five lines of text you might want to break it up a bit with subcategories appropriate to the software they describe.
Finally, you will reach the final section of your resume-the activities section. Not too long ago, this section included personal information about hobbies, sports and personal interests. While this information is important to you, it is usually not important to an employer. Remember, they are looking for a candidate for a specific position in their company, and this is the one piece of paper that is going to give them the most information to make that decision. With that in mind, include association memberships, honor's programs (if you aren't going to list them in the education section) and any volunteer work you've done in the field.
When your letters of application and resume have done their job and you are granted an interview, you must follow the interview with a thank-you note. You will have a better feel for the company environment at this point in the process, so you will be the best judge of what form the thank-you letter should take. In some extreme cases, an emailed thank you is appropriate. For example, a fast-paced, casual, Internet company is a good candidate for an email. It might also be appropriate if you know that they will be making their decision in a time frame that won't allow a letter to arrive in time. Otherwise, you should break out another piece of that special paper, a matching envelope and a stamp.
The thank-you note is just that, a note. This is not the time to reiterate absolutely everything that has taken place in the process so far. It is the time to acknowledge the value of the employer's time and your continued interest in the position. Start with a paragraph thanking the interviewer for the opportunity to meet with him or her. Remember to include the specific position title and the date of the interview so the interviewer will be reminded exactly who you are.
The next paragraph should convey your continued interest in the company, and remind the employer of the skills you have that you think would be most valuable to the company. You can include new information is this paragraph, but it should be pertinent to the job. End the note with your gratitude, and mention that you look forward to hearing from them.
In most cases, the thank-you letter will be the final link in your correspondence chain. Occasionally, however, you will need to write a letter of acceptance. This link will be necessary, for example, if you have applied for a position in another state or country, and the employer can't easily invite you back for a second or third interview to make a face-to-face offer. It might also be necessary in a more traditional company where management likes to have written documentation in their employment records confirming employee's satisfaction with their job offer. Whatever the reason, if you are called upon to write a letter of acceptance, there are three things you must accomplish within the letter. You must confirm the title of the position and the salary. You must accept the position at that salary. And, again, you must thank them for their time and the opportunity to join their company.
If, for any reason, you are made a job offer and decide not to take the position, you might want to send a letter of refusal. Again, you want to be specific about the job title, although you don't have to mention the salary. You want to respectfully decline the offer and site a specific reason, (i.e., an earlier offer from another company). Remember to thank the employer for their time-you never know if you might want to apply for another position with the company in the future, so don't burn any bridges!
When up against scores of other qualified candidates for plum positions, students need to find a way to stand out in a crowded field. The best way is to present a work portfolio to prospective employers, contends Jake Newton, a senior recruiter at Seattle-based Aerotek, a technical staffing firm.
“Maybe one out of every 10 people I see uses a portfolio,” he says, “but the ones who do are miles ahead of the rest.” Newton describes one success story: A civil engineering student created a Web site showcasing his projects. The student was able to avoid sending employers a ho-hum resume, and instead emailed them a link to his online portfolio. “All the employers were blown away,” says Newton. He quickly scored a coveted placement, even though a more qualified candidate may have been hidden in the pile of text-only resumes in the employer’s in-box.
Martin Kimeldorf, author of the book Portfolio Power, urges students to consider using a portfolio. He calls resumes “a valentine to yourself” because they’re often too inner-focused and self-serving. “Employers don’t believe what they read in resumes anymore. Most of the time they don’t read them in advance, and even if they do, they don’t study them closely,” he says. “Employers ask for a resume, so interviewees feel like they have to go into an interview with one.” But a good work portfolio can provide visual evidence to back up your verbal and written claims of competency.
“A person with a portfolio has a major advantage,” says Kate Duttro, a career services coordinator at the University of Washington. She explains that we may be hardwired to remember pictures and narratives. “Anthropologists know that humans sat around the campfire telling stories long before they developed a system of written communication,” she asserts.
It’s a stereotype that technically oriented students are all introverts, but most people do feel a bit of social anxiety during the job hunt. A portfolio “makes it easier—especially for shy people—to express their personality,” says Kimeldorf. Because it’s a visual medium, a portfolio can “say” eloquently, what you may have a hard time putting into words, he adds.
A portfolio is a powerful tool for engineers and computer professionals. It can be housed online in a digital format, on a CD, in a slide show, or even in a funky VideoMaster format. A work portfolio is whatever helps you get an interview, job offer, wage raise or promotion.
What type of portfolio is best for you? Cynthia L. Baron, associate director of the digital media programs and multimedia studies at Northeastern University in Boston says, “A computer engineer shouldn’t show something like an artist’s portfolio. Unless you are a remarkably talented artist as well as a technical whiz, you’ll place yourself into the wrong competitive category. Generally, an on-line portfolio—or a browser-based portfolio presented locally—is your best choice.”
Other portfolio specialists say there is no best way; it depends on the context. “I differentiate between an online portfolio and an interview portfolio [which may be the online version presented as a print-out]. An interview portfolio is easiest on paper,” says Duttro, “otherwise you have to take a computer or find one.” He explains that recruiters don’t often search online for entry-level candidates, and that they don’t have time to visit an online portfolio before the interview. Duttro further cautions that if you decide to stick to a digital format, be sure you avoid these common recruiter turn-offs:
When creating a portfolio, you should start to compile a collection of samples that you can pick and choose from for each interview, Duttro advises. “Also, think about when you’ve used your problem-solving abilities or creativity to make things work better. If you apply for a job that requires you to put together a database, you can open your portfolio and pull out an example. You can say, ‘This was done as a project in class. My part of the project was ABC. We had one tricky problem, and this is how we solved it. Here’s what I did...’”
Make sure you’re confident about your collected items. They should be examples that you have deep knowledge of and that you enjoyed, otherwise, it’s not an honest portrayal of your personality and skills.
What if you don’t have many examples that illustrate skills or competencies that meet those standards? If you’re sure that you would be a good candidate for a job, go ahead and create an item that showcases your talent. “Show a spec job [project done ‘on speculation,’ without an assignment from a teacher or employer] that solves a problem you believe the company may want to solve,” advises Kimeldorf.
Monica Nucciarone, a career specialist at Pierce College in Lakewood and Puyallup, Wash., advises students to pack a portfolio with “a thank-you note or two, awards, certificates, recommendation letters, emails, evaluations, and any other example of work created that shows competency.” These pieces can be packaged with a title page, table of contents, and six to 10 pages of content. Each page should include a title, graphic and narrative summary.
Many job applicants are hesitant to toot their own horns, by including awards and accolades. But some recruiters now insist on such evidence, since they can’t always get references from employers. Many companies, fearful of lawsuits, will only provide scanty verification—”Yes, she worked here from x date to y date, her job title was z, and she’s eligible for re-hire.” So, if an applicant for a technical sales position claims to have been rated #1 in sales for a summer job, the recruiter may require proof. Some examples: a photo of the sales plaques hanging in the lobby, or an employee newsletter article about you, or the check stub that shows a big bonus for blowing your sales target out of the water. Don’t think of yourself as immodest for including such flattering material; you’re just being factual. “Always include evidence of your ability to do the job in question,” says Duttro. “If the testimonial letters and award certificates are relevant evidence of your ability to do the job in question, include them.”
You should also keep your portfolio authentic and consistent. Susan Emmons, professional practices instructor for University of Oregon recounts a time when she sat on a scholarship committee. They were extremely impressed with a particular portfolio sample, but passed over that applicant for the scholarship. The rest of the portfolio didn’t support the stellar sample, which was mediocre, and they suspected that the work wasn’t his own.
Besides keeping the quality of samples consistent so that no one piece jumps out, another way to establish authenticity is to show your train of thought or progression during various phases of the project. If you show the initial rough sketches, then a CAD drawing, and finally a photo of the finished piece, for instance, it’s easier to believe that you didn’t crib someone else’s design.
The best way to incorporate your portfolio into the interview is during the typical give-and-take of conversation. Some students, before actually pulling out their portfolio, are afraid that the interviewer won’t want to see their samples or will be bored by then. Not likely. “However,” Duttro warns, “don’t present the portfolio until a relevant question comes up. When it does, open it saying, ‘I have an example of that [skill being questioned].’ When finished, close the portfolio and wait for the next question.”
If you decide to show an online portfolio during the interview, practice until your presentation until it is smooth as silk. Bring your own laptop, and call ahead to make logistical arrangements. (They may not have wi-fi or an easily accessible high-speed connection in the interview room, for instance.) Carry printed pieces as a back-up in case you run into a technical glitch.
Provide interviewers with a sneak peek, if they have the time and interest to preview your online portfolio. “If you’re applying for a position in game design and you have a fully-functioning game or demo to show, send it ahead of the interview,” Baron advises. (Always download...never send attachments unless the interviewer requests it that way.)” This will give people the chance to see how you think,” says Baron.
There’s no guarantee that even a full-blown printed or digital portfolio will make a powerful case for you. After all, the pages are still representational not actual touch-and-feel samples. Duttro recalls an out-of-work electrical engineer with special expertise in electric motors. “His outplacement consultant suggested that he take one of the really small motors along with him to interviews,” she says. “When he took the motor out of his briefcase and set it on the desk, the hiring manager immediately put his hands on it. They started talking colleague to colleague—it changed the tone of the interview.”
“I once had a student who never seemed to be on anyone’s short list,” remembers Baron, “even though he was technically savvy and hard-working. He presented his portfolio to me, and I understood why. He tried to show everything he’d ever done. I suggested that he eliminate all but two or three projects and get his presentation down to ten minutes. He grumbled but eventually agreed to try it. He starting getting callbacks, and soon landed a position. The moral: You have to respect an interviewer’s time.”
“Less is more,” Kimeldorf concurs. “Better that you show two startlingly good samples than 10 samples that bore me.” As evidence, he points to an engineer laid off from one paper mill and applying at the only other mill in town. He brought just two pieces of paper to his interview—before and after samples to show the manufacturing improvements he’d spearheaded. He got the job.
One of the advantages of having a physical work portfolio is that you can drop it off before the interview. Be sure to show up in person at a time when the recruiter is likely to be there—early or late in the day is generally best. Ask to speak to the recruiter briefly before leaving your portfolio. (You’ll likely get five minutes or so to introduce yourself and explain your interest in the position.) Do the same thing a few weeks later when you stop by to pick up your portfolio. You’ll have a leg up over anonymous applicants who only mailed an application. Recruiters see so many applicants they have a hard time keeping them all straight. So seeing you and your portfolio twice (in addition to any interview) will make you unforgettable.
One caveat: While it’s nice to leave a portfolio behind, cautions Duttro, “never leave any of your originals. If you plan to leave it behind, get good color copies of any originals, but still make arrangements to return to pick up the copy.”
“Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up,” says Baron. “Always send a thank-you email as soon after your interview as possible, with any URLs or additional info that the interviewer may have requested. Write it in advance and make sure that it is spell-checked so you can maintain a professional appearance.” A link to an online sample or portfolio is also good leave-behind piece, and easy to share with others involved in the hiring decision, she adds.
Plan to keep in touch—even if you feel like a pest doing it—until you hear one way or the other. Showing that you’re persistent (and consistent) could make all the difference.
But don’t pin all your hopes on any one opening, either. Keep busy with interviews, even if they are just informational interviews. “Take your portfolio around to people in the industry and have them evaluate it,” says Kimeldorf. “A portfolio is even better than a resume as a networking tool because it gives professional contacts (as well as friends, family, alumni, etc.) more to look at.”
There many strategies you can use to select and plan a career path, but perhaps the two most basic patterns are bottom-up and top-down.
Bottom-up career planning
Bottom-up career planning means figuring out how you can best take advantage of the career building blocks you already possess. It’s a low-level, objective method of planning .
Perhaps the simplest form of bottom-up planning is when you pass a store window with a “Help Wanted” sign, and you apply for a job there because it’s available and because you think it’s a halfway decent fit for you. A more complex method of bottom-up planning involves assessing your current needs (salary, hours, benefits, location) and qualifications (education, skills, experience) in order to figure out what line of work would best suit you. Then you might create a resume and start looking for work based on what positions you feel qualified for, or you might go freelance and/or build a business around your capabilities. In the back of your mind, you’re asking, “What kind of job should I get?” or “What kind of work am I qualified to do?”
Bottom-up career planning is pretty much the de facto standard. When people do any serious career planning at all, they almost always use a bottom-up strategy. The very act of creating a resume is largely a bottom-up process.
Have you ever taken one of those career assessment tests? That’s also a bottom-up process. In high school I took the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, which is a lengthy multiple-choice test that’s supposed to help you determine what kind of career would best suit you. It asks strange questions like, “Would you rather watch an opera, a political rally, or a fire?” Then it compares your answers to those of various career professionals in its database. The results tell you which careers are filled with people who think like you do, so I guess the assumption is that you’ll be happiest among your own kind. It seemed a bit Brave New World-ish to me. Incidentally, the top 3 matches the Kuder spit out for me were: (1) computer programmer, (2) forester, and (3) math professor. An unfortunate limitation of the Kuder is that it can’t recommend careers that don’t exist at the time of the test. I suppose forester is pretty close to blogger though; they both keep the trees safe.
After we got our results, I had a lot of fun ribbing an intelligent friend whose Kuder recommended bricklayer as his top career choice. For all I know he’s probably building web server farms today.
Top-down career planning
Top-down career planning means getting in touch with who you really are at the deepest level (either soulfully or mentally, depending on your preference) and figuring out the best way to outwardly express and share that core value with the world. This is a high-level subjective method of planning.
A very simple form of top-down planning would be to say, “I really resonate with the concept of courage, so I’m going to make a career out of being courageous.” But of course you can delve much deeper into your values, character, and other soulful attributes to come up with a more detailed career concept. In the back of your mind, you’re asking, “Who am I really?” or “How can I best share my core, innate value with the world?”
Top-down career planning is much less common than bottom-up. Top-down is sometimes seen in artistic fields like music, art, and drama, but even then it’s rare to see it executed consciously. For example, deciding to be a musician because you love music is still bottom-up. Deciding to express peace because you recognize that the core of your being is perfect stillness would be top-down, and composing peaceful music would be one of many media you could use for that.
Many people have done top-down exercises such as clarifying their values or writing a mission statement, but they rarely take the process far enough to actually develop those core ideas into a full-time career. This is why you see people with mission statements like, “I want to use music to teach people unconditional love and compassion” who work in retail sales.
Bottom-up vs. top-down career planning
Bottom-up career planning starts with the practical, low-level, physical aspects of a career. It regards things like salary, qualifications, security, perks, and potential for advancement as the most important elements to get right. Once you have those things in place, it’s up to you to do the best you can to enjoy it.
Top-down career planning starts with the high-level, spiritual and emotional aspects of a career. It regards creative self-expression as the most important element to get right. Once you have an outlet for creatively expressing the real you, you then work through the practical issues of developing your skills and generating income to meet your physical needs.
Both strategies have their strengths and weaknesses, so a balanced approach seems wise. I wouldn’t recommend applying both strategies with equal weight, however. I think the best career planning combo would be about 80% top-down and 20% bottom-up.
What would this 80-20 combo look like? It means that you’d invest the bulk of your career planning efforts into figuring out who you really are, getting in touch with your core values, and deciding what it is you really want to express to the world. The result of that would basically be a statement of purpose that deeply resonates with you. Once you have this, you’re really 80% of the way there.
For example, Erin knows that she’s all about compassion. She’s very clear about that. She knows that no matter what the physical form of her career looks like, it has to be centered around the expression of compassion. Otherwise she wouldn’t be expressing her true self. She’ll never be happy and fulfilled in a career that isn’t a strong fit for expressing and sharing compassion, regardless of her qualifications, how well it pays, or how otherwise perfect it seems. Given that she knows this, she can continue with the top-down planning process to drill down into exploring different ways of expressing that, such as by blogging, offering intuitive readings, helping people in the forums, etc. As soon as she got clear on the core value she needed to express, it wasn’t that hard for her to get the low-level pieces in order, including developing her skills via education and practice and finding a sustainable way to generate income from her work.
When I first met Erin back in 1994, however, she was working as a secretary. She held many secretarial positions before that too. Why? Mainly because she can type 90+ words per minute. If she kept going with that bottom-up approach, she might have eventually progressed to being an executive assistant. That would have been a great fit for her qualifications and experience, and it would have met her physical needs just fine, but secretarial work would have been a very weak outlet for expressing her core value of compassion. Interestingly, her typing skills now serve her very well as a blogger.
If you put bottom-up planning ahead of top-down planning, you’re putting the cart before the horse. That approach just won’t yield the right level of clarity. It’s not a good way to consciously build a fulfilling career. It’s like looking at the ground to explore the stars.
I see the results of excessive bottom-up planning in my email inbox every week. People who center their career paths around their qualifications, skills, and salary requirements so often end up miserable — or at the very least disillusioned — even when they seem to be thriving from an objective standpoint. It’s rough when people succeed in getting what they asked for, only to realize they asked for the wrong thing. After 10-20 years, they’re dying inside while their souls are screaming for them to just stop and quit everything… invariably to move to a career that will serve as a better outlet for their creative self-expression.
Just because you can do something and get paid well for it doesn’t mean you should. Don’t confuse your medium with your message. You’ll be much more fulfilled if you pursue a career that allows you to express your true self as fully as possible. Then educate yourself, practice, and build your skills to get good at compatible forms of expression until you can abundantly satisfy your physical needs. That may take some time, but if you’re really expressing your true self, the process should be fun and enjoyable.
Your optimal career is simply this: Share the real you with the physical world through the process of creative self-expression. In order to do that, however, you must first discover the real you. But it makes no sense to choose a medium for self-expression (i.e. a traditional career), such as being a doctor, writer, or entrepreneur, until you first determine what it is you’re going to express.
1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event
Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year -- more often if you feel the need or if you're planning a major career change -- and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career -- what you really want out of your career, out of your life.
By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction -- and you'll be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.
2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning
One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path -- whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends -- will help you plan for the future.
Once you've mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course -- and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?
3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants
Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life -- not just in your job -- that you feel most strongly about.
Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.
Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.
4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies
Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you're not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it's not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.
Think you can't make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn't until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.
5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments
Most people don't keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it's time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments -- keeping a record of them -- is not only useful for building your resume, it's also useful for career planning.
Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.
6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills
Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don't see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it's much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.
For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills -- such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information -- skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.
7. Review Career and Job Trends
Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.
A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow -- or next year. It's important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.
8. Set Career and Job Goals
Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.
A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change - and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.
9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities
It's somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.
Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities -- and then find a way achieve them.
10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities
One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.
Of course, if you're in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths -- and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.
Final Thoughts on Career Planning
Don't wait too long between career planning sessions. Career planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in this article, you'll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies ahead in your career -- and in your life.
Nick VanDerWalt
Academic Dean
Hult International Business School
Managers seeking to enhance their careers, or even simply stay in employment, are faced by challenges no other generation has faced. The rudimentary human requirements of self fulfilment and even ensuring the continued ability to provide families with a basic standard of living have become far more complex than ever before.
Full ContentSocial, business and political structures have reflected this change and we can no longer look at the precedents set by the previous generation. For the first time managers are facing a level of ambiguity in all they encounter from the organizational structures to the skills they must possess and the technologies they must use in their day to day activities – office technologies that were not even dreamed of a decade ago.
By avoiding or failing to participate in further education, such managers are simply ruling themselves out of the career market at a time of increasing competitiveness for jobs resulting from the global financial crisis. However, simply taking a few courses to provide some relevant skills is not sufficient.
Such skills become rapidly redundant in today’s environment – sometimes in as little as six months Rather, aspiring business leaders must learn how to manage ambiguity resulting from change. Global organizations take familiarity with basic skills for granted. What they look for first and foremost is the ability to manage in a changing environment. Associated with this, they look for people of integrity and principle who can also operate in a global business environment and then finally, they look for the skills.
Perhaps the greatest reflection of this is the level of investment people are prepared to put into their own education and the depth and breadth of the education they seek. Such leading US business schools as Harvard, Hult, Stanford and others that are in the top rankings of such publications as the Financial Times and the Economist attempt to provide this. Hult through its global staff drawn from the faculty of the world’s leading universities, its rotation of students through its campuses in the US, Dubai, London and Shanghai builds on it students’ cognitive abilities to lead through change, to build global relationships and operate in an environment that will create huge opportunities for them.
For those who wish to be competitive in today’s job market, there is an imperative for continuing education. Without it people will sink below the waves of turmoil created by change and the continuing instability of the global markets. Career management and continuing education is today’s imperative for managers to retain their jobs and realize their aspirations for themselves and their families.
Mr. Nick van der Walt is the Academic Dean at Hult International Business School in Dubai. He has held senior positions in industry, academia and the community as chief executive, director of companies in the energy and services sectors, and trustee of charitable trusts. Having served in these roles, he has extensive corporate and educational experience in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Australasia. Professor van der Walt has also consulted to the boards and senior management of some of the world’s leading companies. His research has been published extensively in leading international academic journals and he has also served as the Honorary Consul for South Africa in New Zealand appointed by President Mandela. Professor van der Walt’s outside interests include sailing and squash.
To learn more about HULT International Business School and how it can accelerate your career click here.
Searching for a new job can be an incredibly tedious procedure. In fact, it can be the toughest ‘job’ you’ll ever have prior to landing that dream job! It can also get very stressful – given the preponderance of job applications one has to fill out, go through a series of interviews, and then finally, play the much-dreaded, ‘waiting game’. Regardless of your qualifications, personality and past work experience, you might face a lot of trouble finding just the ‘right’ job for yourself.
Nowadays, online job searching is one of the most effective ways to find the right job. It makes your life and job searching a lot simpler. Online job search is well established, rapidly growing and very helpful to employers and jobseekers alike. It saves you from a lot of hassle, cost and stress associated with the traditional way of job searching.
You should never wait around for an opportunity to come knocking at your door. It’s important to get through the door before your competition.
Target a Job Market
The most important thing for searching a job is to target a job market. It will make your job search a lot simpler and will also help you make important decisions throughout your job search. Additionally, it will help you prepare a more focused CV that will get more attention from relevant employers. Remember, your chances of getting a job are higher if you get noticed by fewer employers who are looking to hire people with your background rather than blindly applying for all sorts of jobs that do not match your background. Once you are able to define your target market, you can define your objective or career goal.
Keywords
You need to do a bit of homework before you start looking for a job online. Most Employers prefer to use Searching techniques to pinpoint their set of candidates. Large job sites such as ROZEE.PK offer employers with “CV Search Tool” that works in principle the same way as the Google, or any other search engine.
Employers, basically type in the keywords that they assume would fit in their desired set of candidates and the most relevant resumes are pulled up from the database. It is very important to use the right “Keywords” in your resume to get noticed.
Employers may also choose to use ROZEE.PK’s “Advanced Searching Techniques” like specifying experience level, university name, age, etc. to further narrow down their search results. But typically, they choose to run a broader search. Therefore, it is extremely important for you to have your CV include all the keywords that describe your skillset and your professional background.
Employers judge your resume through keywords because they help to surface your CV over others that might not have used those Keywords. Make sure you use the right keywords, so that you can make a good first impression when the employers read your CV. If you build your resume with the right keywords, you are improving your own chances of getting a good job. If you ignore this, your resume might remain unnoticed to all the Top Employers.
Make the Perfect First Impression
Your first impression is your “Resume” to an Employer. You should give a lot of importance to a resume before you start looking for a job. Whether you like it or not, fact remains that appearance does count, so your resume should look good and sound good.
Make sure you have completed the writing and editing, double-check all data and make sure that format is consistent. ROZEE.PK also provides a feature called “CV Wizard” which is a lot of help to people who are unable to build a professional resume.
ROZEE.PK has recently introduced “Career Services”, through which you can get a professional resume and cover letter made by an Expert, which will dramatically improve your chances of being interviewed. For more information, visit: http://rozee.pk/careerservices/
Importance of an Updated Resume
It is quite frequent a case that job seekers have old CVs uploaded on ROZEE. Please make sure that you have the most up-to-date resume set as your “Default CV”.
Jobseekers should update their resume on regular basis with relevant accomplishments and new job duties. As soon as you have acquired a new degree/certificate, don’t forget to add it to your profile.
Professional Summary:
Your professional summary is also an important asset. At ROZEE.PK, whenever an employer views the resume, he can see a brief synopsis of the candidate and it creates an impression of the candidate in the mind of an Employer. Your professional summary should stand out.
Research and Explore Career Options
Uploading a professional resume is not the end of your job search. You need to be constantly on the lookout for jobs that match your background. It is very important to conduct an effective online job search. Take your time and explore career options. Once you are done with choosing a career field, start targeting Employers. You can use the keywords depending on your objective. The first thing you need to do is to determine your search criteria. Try using job titles combined with your specific skills or expertise.
For this you need to visit ROZEE.PK on a regular basis. Additionally, you can opt for email alerts at ROZEE.PK which will inform you about every new job opening that meets your criteria. The more well-defined your job criteria, better the matching. However, keep in mind, more detailed search criteria also means less job matches.
You can also narrow down your job search so that you can view only job openings that meet your interest. ROZEE.PK provides you the advantage of customizing your job search. Possible criteria are job location, expected salary, category search or employment type. This will help you find more opportunities and you won’t have to spend hours and hours on job searching.
Virtual Job Fair
Advancement in technology lead Job fairs to go virtual too due to which more job-seekers and employers are finding each other online. While conducting an online search, Virtual Job Fair is the best possible way to interact with the employers directly. Jobseekers can listen to presentations, visit booths, leave resumes, participate in live chats and gather information from recruiters.
Develop a Contact Network
It is very important to develop a contact network for job search. It can open doors that might otherwise remain closed. Your network can also consist of family members, friends, classmates, professors and electronic discussion groups.
Follow-Up and Record Keeping
The most important thing in job searching is follow-up and keeping the records. Maintain a record of all the jobs that you have applied for. Also, keep the record of all the interviews you had so far and follow up with them. If you fail to maintain such information you might lose valuable contacts and opportunities to find a good job.
Don’t Give Up
You need to be persistent and confident when looking for a job. Job search can also discourage you at times but it is very important that you keep looking for it until you find the right job for you. Patience should also be a factor on your job search.
One friendly advice is that you should never give up. Searching for a job is hard. It may take more time than you expected but eventually the right position will come.
