job seeker Archives - Page 2 of 2

Clean Up Your Resume

When looking for a job, your resume is the first impression you will give to a potential employer. Essentially a summarization of your professional self on paper, your resume is a reflection of your skills and past jobs. That being said, your resume should be clean and organized in order to provide the best possible first impression to employers. We want to help you spring clean your resume, so try these tips to tidy it up!

Watch the Length: A resume should not exceed one or two pages. If your resume does, try sizing down or changing your font. Go no lower than 11 point font, however. Decreasing the size too much may decrease your resume’s readability. Also, try shortening down sentences. There is no need to be overly verbose when only a word or two would work just as well.

Remove Fluff: Only include the most relevant and recent jobs and skills in your resume. You may have an extensive list of past jobs, but not every single one needs mentioning. You can tailor your resume depending on what type of job you are applying to. For example, you may have worked in the oil industry previously and are applying for a position in another oil-related company. When submitting your resume to this company, include your past oil job. But if you are applying to a job in another field, perhaps remove it if other previous employment is more related to the job you are applying for.

Organize: Your resume should be easy to read and in logical order. Begin your resume with your name and contact information which should be bolded or in larger font than the rest of your resume so it catches employers attention and is easier to find. Instead of having bulky paragraphs with your information, try using bullet points. Easier to read and less intimidating than long paragraphs, bullet points will help make your resume look clean and simple. Also, make sure to list your past employment in chronological order, going from most recent to oldest.

After you’ve completed your resume, always proofread it, carefully checking to see if it flows well. Maybe have another person read and edit it, as well! When you are ready, submit your resume to us here and we can start your job search!

Spring Cleaning Social Media

Believe it or not, when searching through potential job candidates, employers do check personal social media accounts. Regardless of if you have an award-winning resume or stellar references, unprofessional social media posts could be the deciding factor between being hired or not. We’ve compiled some tips for cleaning up your social media, hopefully helping you turn it from personal to professional.

Facebook:

With both personal posts and photos available for perusing, Facebook is a great place to start your spring social media cleaning. First impressions are important, meaning the first things employers will see when reviewing your profile is your profile picture and cover photo. Go through these images, deleting anything an employer would find unprofessional: photos showing alcohol, various stages of undress, inappropriate gestures, and offensive terms or slurs in comments should be deleted. Next, visit the privacy page located under settings. Facebook’s privacy settings let you customize who can see your posts. The default setting is that everyone, regardless of if they are your friends on Facebook or not, can see what you post. We recommend changing this setting to “Only Friends”, meaning only your friends on Facebook can see your posts. Chances are, employers will not be your friends on Facebook during the job search, nor will they add you. Next, review your Activity Log. All activity on Facebook is compiled here; take a while to go through these posts, deleting anything inappropriate.

Twitter:

Like Facebook, Twitter accounts have a profile picture and cover photo. Make sure these pictures are appropriate. If they’re not, change them. Though it may be a tedious process, personal tweets could contain compromising content. Take the time to check for and delete any unsuitable tweets, including those with bad language or crude images.

LinkedIn:

Because of its professional nature, LinkedIn is much easier to monitor than Facebook and Twitter. However, to reach your maximum professional potential on Linkedin, it’s important to make sure your information and job experiences are up to date. Exercise some self restraint on what you post, however. There’s no need to post every job and skill you’ve ever had, rather list the most important and recent ones. Consider using a headshot for your profile picture. If you don’t have one, it may be a good idea to have one taken professionally. If you decide that you would rather take one yourself, make sure it is done well. Dress to impress, stand in a well lit area against a solid colored background, and ask a friend to photograph you from the shoulders up.