Don’t Use that Verb, Use These
After having written more than 10,000 resumes and telling people constantly that there are more verbs out there than managed and developed, I decided to put pen to paper (or let my fingers do the walking on the keyboard in this case) to give you some help with other verbs. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with managed or developed. The issue is that when writing a résumé, people use them all the time – I mean in every line. You want to engage the reader, not help the person lapse into a coma. I realize that these don’t exactly correlate. I want to give you some ideas. Without further ado, here is a list (albeit a short list) of alternative verbs that you should consider.
Making Time for the Interview
I cannot begin to tell you how many times my clients and friends talk to me and ask my advice about interviewing. Of course you would expect this given what I do for a living. What I mean is, they need guidance about making time to interview; yes, they don’t know where to fit it into their hectic schedules. For those people actively looking that are not presently employed this is not an issue. Many of the people that seek my advice are working; they cannot find time during their hectic workday to get to interview. At some point, we have all been in this quandary – how to conduct the job search when there is seemingly little to no time to actually TRY and get another position.
Writing a Resume When You have Been Out of the Workforce
If you have been out of the workforce for some time and are now planning your strategy for reentry, you will definitely need a resume that highlights your key achievements (even those that were some time ago) to ensure that you are positioned appropriately.
Dressing for the Interview
After sending out all of those letters and networking like crazy, you finally got the interview. You are prepared. You have your resume printed on good paper; and you have studied your background so you don’t have to play the total recall game. You won’t worry about being able to match Charles Nelson Reilly with Gene Rayburn looking on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_Game . The big day is coming – what do you wear? You know the company is a casual place to work. Do you dress up, down, or somewhere in between?
So, You Want to be an Investment Banker?
You have completed four years of college, taken all of the finance and economics classes you can stand and gained some practical work experience within the finance industry in the hopes of working for a boutique or well known bulge bracket firm. So, what can you really expect? Here is some information to help you break into the coveted investment-banking arena:
Negotiate THIS
Negotiating is an art, no doubt. Done correctly it will lead to victory. Done poorly it could lead to failure. When it comes to negotiating salary and other benefits in the workplace, nothing makes people more uncomfortable. He who talks money first loses as they say. Why? Well, it’s because the minute you reference your previous salary, the other side has a distinct advantage. If you reference a desired salary, you may put yourself in a position where you downplay your worth; alternatively, if you present too high a number, you will not be considered for the opportunity.
This blog's author, Debra Wheatman of Careers Done Write, provides executive career services including resume and cover letter preparation, job search / interviewing strategies and professional branding including how to effectively use LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media in your career.
Visit CareersDoneWrite.com to learn more about how we can put your career in gear with interview catching resumes and professionally written career documents.