Resume Tips
More often than not, people feel overconfident and treat the approach a bit too casually. However, you should make sure that both the cover letter and the resume are well drafted, so that they make a lasting impression on the reader. They should be planned to stand out in content as well as presentation.
The Importance Of A Good First Impression
The First Impression is usually the Last Impression. In today’s highly competitive world, creating a good first impression is extremely important. This is where the resume plays a very important role in contributing towards success in landing a job. A resume is the most effective tool that can help you win a coveted interview opportunity.
How To Create A Good First Impression
Writing an impressive resume is an important part of your job search preparation. Keep in mind that your resume is indeed a catalog of your abilities. Here are a few steps on how to write a resume that will leave a lasting impression:
- It is very important to create your resume in a professional and appropriate format. There are two basic formats that are used – Functional and Chronological.
- When creating your resume, you can use the free resume forms that are posted on the Internet. However, be careful that your resume doesn’t end up looking like a cookie-cutter template.
- The two most important factors to keep in mind while creating your resume are correct grammar and proper punctuation. Using proper punctuation marks is vital for conveying clear and precise business messages. A resume that contains plenty of grammatical errors creates a bad impression. If you are unable to proofread your own resume, get another professional or a friend to do it for you.
- Make use of industry-oriented words that help you to come across as a highly knowledgeable and professional person.
- Most people think that a comprehensive resume that describes all their past and present achievements is the best way to showcase their skills and expertise. However, this is not true. As a rule, you only need to go back about 5-6 years. Unless you are a recent grad, that job you had in high school is probably irrelevant.
Whether or not you have a professional degree from a coveted institute and are on the lookout for an entry-level position, it is important to market yourself efficiently. Your main aim should be to display your abilities, skill, work experience, educational qualifications, projects, achievements and anything that might work to your advantage.
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution’s Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six
sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.
Work To The Best Of Your Ability
Whatever you do in this life, do it to the best of your ability. Whether you are in school, running for president, playing a game, or working on something, do it in a quality way. Don’t be someone who just does something to get by, or is waiting to clock out. Be at the top of your game, because even if nobody knows, you will know, and the universe will know, and usually someone higher up in your organization is noticing.
If something is challenging for you and you still do it well, the universe will promote you according to your ability. Time and time again, if you are pressing your boundaries and excelling at what you are doing, the universe is going to arrange a super opportunity to be presented to you. Whether you hold onto it, or let it slip through your fingers, is all up to you. If you are a mediocre worker, it is almost certain that you will not be able to perform to the level that is needed; but if all along you have been working to the best of your ability, and pushing your limits, you will quickly acclimate and excel at your new position.
Don’t take a promotion or opportunity for granted. Be like Michael Jordan, who was at the top of his game in basketball, even though he held numerous NBA titles, and MVP status, he was the ball player that spent the longest time on the court practicing his free throws and his lay-ups. He was the first on the court for practice and the last to leave. He has played at the best of his game for a very long time, and yet he didn’t take any of it for granted. He never tired of trying to excel, to challenge himself and his team members. He was always practicing his maneuvers, his passes and his ball handling, and even though he is the best, he is man without arrogance, and maintains himself as a gentleman.
Do not be like Bill Clinton, who became the president of the United States and then had an affair with an intern and afterwards said of it, “I did it because I could.” Every man can cheat on his wife, and every man can be in a position of power and abuse that power. But this is not working to the best of his ability. Bill Clinton is a mediocre person, because since he could abuse his position of power, he did.
Certainly you are learning what is right and wrong. You know that many people who are mediocre can become people of power and prestige, but just because they are there does not mean that they worked to the best of their ability to get there. Work where you are to your highest level of integrity and your talent, because God and the universe see you. When you are working to the highest level for which you are capable, you are like a shining bright star in this dark world. You become a clear example, a delight and inspiration to those that are around you, to your children and your friends, and even globally. You don’t know what door is being opened for you because of your work, your attention, the dedication of your time and energy.
Even if no one notices how you work, or your level of focus, at the end of the day you will know. You can sleep easily knowing that you did it well. If this is the last day on this planet for you or me, we will be satisfied, and we will hear these words from God: “This is my daughter, or my son in whom I am well pleased. Come on home for your party.”
Every one of us gets lazy sometimes and just wants to take it easy for a while, but consistently we have to strive to work to our utmost talent, energy and dedication. If you are working to the best of your ability, don’t belittle what you are doing, don’t pressure yourself to be perfect. Recognize that you are doing your very best. Remember you still have to live this life with balance. Your family, your relationships, your work, your school, and special events all need balance. You need to maintain your balance too. Deep within you will know if you are working to the best of your ability or not. You will know if you need to make adjustments in your attitude, your work ethics, your behavior, etc. If you are working to the highest level of your ability, then let the negative thoughts go. If you did the best you could for someone or something, and it doesn’t work out, don’t put all the burden on yourself. H/she has responsible for his/her life just as you have for yours. Just remind yourself, “I did the best that I could,” and then move on. Be yourself, and be incredibly kind to yourself and others. copyright 2006 Yoga Kat
Yoga Kat teaches children’s yoga ages 3-6, 7-12yrs and Adults in NJ. The Author of the book DAUGHTER BELOVED and created a children’s affirmation CD and an adult affirmation CD. Available for speaking and reached at yogakat@verizon.net or 201 970-9340–COMING SOON -http://www.thecircleofpeace.com
Finish What You Started
This is an important lesson in your journey. It will set you apart from many others with similar ideas and passion. It will offer you breakthroughs and give you a profound sense of accomplishment. Many people talk the talk but don’t deliver. There are lots of entrepreneurs out there who have nothing to show for themselves but a bunch of unfinished ideas and dreams.
If possible, finish what you started. Don’t quit before you complete it, or let someone talk you out of your dreams, goals and what can become a reality. I repeat again. FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED. That doesn’t mean when something gets too hard you give it over to someone else and say “This is too hard, you do it.”
But if you need some expertise to complete it, there is nothing wrong with reaching out to someone who can assist you to get it done. Also finish the project with the best of your ability not half hearted. There are a lot of sloppy completed jobs out there. But it is not a sign of excellence. But here’s the thing, if achieving perfection is stalling you and it means that the project is not complete after many years, drop your perfectionist attitude and finish it.
On your second project you can incorporate more of what you wished to achieve in the first try. If you don’t complete and finish tasks you are going to have a ton of regrets in your life. “I could have-” I should have–” “This was a good idea, I don’t know why I didn’t do something with it-” –”If I can just get off my _ _ _ and get it done, I might have huge success.” “This could have been a huge best seller-” etc.
Do you have many uncompleted manuscripts, stories, films, great inventions, clever ideas that linger in your closet and file cabinets? When I turned 40 years old, there was this urgency in my life to FINISH SOMETHING. To get it out there to the public with everything I could muster.
I began to finish some projects. The sense of urgency drives me forward. I am now determined to finish every new thing that I start. You can have that same fervor to finish projects. Never mind if anyone likes it or what people may or may not think. Get it done. Let others wonder how you did it after it’s done. Start to complete tasks and stop wasting your time and life.
In case you didn’t know your life, work and energy is a limited resource. You only have this moment to work and complete it.
Have a different in determining when the project is actually complete. Don’t stop before the full project is accomplished. For instance, you have an idea and maybe an outline for a book, you write it, now you have to get it edited, and published. But you can’t forget marketing and promoting! You do an outline of an audio CD and you have to record it, produce it and market it! If you have a great idea for a song, why not determine how many songs are needed to create an album? That would be a finished project!!
I know that completing tasks can be daunting, but if you have the mind set to finish what you started, that discipline will solidify talent and ability that you have. You will emerge as a leader and doer. People will know that if you say something they will be able to count on you to accomplish what you say will be done.
But for yourself, it is necessary for building confidence, strong self esteem, a sense of pride and understanding of your personal strengths, talents and discipline. Once you achieved something, no one can take that accomplishment away from you. Whether it is your school work, after school curriculum, a group project, or a research project, or your own brilliant idea, you will feel ecstatic when you did it to the best of your ability and others start taking notice.
But let me remind you again, nobody will ever notice anything if you have all these unfinished, albeit great ideas scattered around your room, closet, filing cabinets, or filling notebooks, etc.
Determine to finish what you started. Some projects are more urgent than others so make them the priority. For an example if you don’t finish high school or get your GED you will never get into college. If you need to pass a certification test to enter into a profession, you must finish and complete that certification process satisfactorily before you can be admitted. You won’t be a MD if you don’t finish medical school and then pass the medical tests or your internship at an area hospital. Everything is relative to what you wish to accomplish in your life.
If you can’t finish an assignment, very shortly the assignments will begin to dry up because bosses will know that you are unreliable. If you wish to be a professional athlete and you don’t finish your first competitive match up, you can’t move on to the next round.
Many times we don’t finish projects or ideas because we start to get intimidated first by the undertaking, and second by what others might think of us, and thirdly by our own doubts or thoughts of unworthiness. We shelve the project in the idea stage many times simply because we talked ourselves out of it. Find those things that you are really suitable for and focus your energy on these. This will help you to finish what you set out to do, because you will have passion, devotion, and drive for what you love to do. Many times you have to dig really deep within you for courage and the discipline to complete one thing or everything.
But it will be worth it in the long run both financially and emotionally. You will feel complete inside with each project or goal that you undertake to it’s fullest and get done.copyright 2006 Yoga Kat
Yoga Kat teaches children’s yoga ages 3-6, 7-12yrs and Adults in NJ. The Author of the book DAUGHTER BELOVED and created a children’s affirmation CD and an adult affirmation CD. Available for speaking and reached at yogakat@verizon.net or 201 970-9340–COMING SOON -http://www.thecircleofpeace.com
Discipline–A Good Business Strategy
If you have self-discipline in your work, and towards your goals, you will accomplish everything that you set out to achieve. It is not easy to become self-disciplined, but the rewards are great. There are many areas in your life where you can be self-disciplined.
You can be disciplined with your thoughts. Do not let your fears carry you away. If you have thoughts of worry filling your head it chokes out productive and solution-filled thoughts. Discipline yourself so that any time a thought of worry or fear comes in, you stop it immediately.
If a thought shouts at you, “This is useless,” discipline yourself to shout back and continue on with your work and your goals until you have achieved what you want.
You need to practice self-discipline with your words. Stop negative words from flowing out of your mouth all the time. If you have the impulse to say something negative, close your mouth. Even if you did say something negative about yourself or another, cut yourself off in mid-sentence and don’t say one more word. Change your words to positive. Correct yourself immediately. Be self-disciplined in your evaluation of yourself.
Really look deeply at yourself. If you don’t like who you are, or the results you are getting, take steps to change your behavior, change self-defeating patterns, and discard what is not working. Be honest, and thorough with your self-evaluation. If you can’t be honest with yourself or you really can’t see yourself clearly, ask for help, and then really take in others’ evaluations. Listen carefully to at least three close people and then use truth that all of them tell you.
It is not easy to hear the truth and to acknowledge it fully. But if you want change it is because you don’t like YOU as you are now, and you MUST change to feel better inside.
Be self-disciplined in your actions. Do what is necessary now; don’t put it off because it probably will never get done. Write down your goals, and check them off one by one. Don’t be led off-track by an undisciplined person. Most people want to accomplish great things in this life but they procrastinate when it comes to doing the nitty-gritty work: exercising, learning, planning, writing, phoning, and pushing through when you don’t see any results.
I speak from experience, as one who didn’t finish, often procrastinated or was intimidated by some task. I like myself much better when I’m disciplined and you probably will, too.
Self-discipline means doing something like exercise when you don’t feel like doing it. Writing on something when you don’t really see the direction that the work is taking; working diligently on your project even though you don’t know if it will succeed, or what its outcome will be. Putting yourself there day after day even though you are tired; keeping yourself fired up when there is no one there to encourage you; taking the time and energy to master something new. Make the steps to transform your life. And do them over and over again until you are where you want to be.
We are all disciplined in some areas of our lives. I used to teach a couple of men and women who were completely disciplined when it came to going to the gym to work out. They would run, rain or shine, and then would go to the gym for two hours no matter what. Those same students were incredible drinkers and partiers. They would stay out drinking and partying until 4:30 in the morning and then feel horrible with a hangover for the next day or two because their discipline was limited to only certain areas of their lives.
If you wish to make any substantial changes in your life, you need to be disciplined towards your new goals. Change does not happen overnight, especially if you are coming from a lower place to a higher place emotionally, financially or spiritually. If you wish to have money for the down payment of your house you can’t keep charging on your credit card all the time.
You have to be disciplined with a savings program and a not- spending program until you have what it takes to make your dreams a reality.
If you have dreams of being someone creative, like a painter or a writer, but you don’t know the first thing about painting or writing, you must discipline yourself to the learning and the doing of your craft. Put yourself into a self-learning and mastery mode. Read everything that you can on your new craft. Buy appropriate tools towards that goal, and then use the tools.
A writer becomes good by writing and writing, and editing and editing. An artist becomes good at painting by observing and painting and working with colors, and painting as much as she can.
When you are learning a new trade, be disciplined also in the control of judgmental thoughts. Do not condemn your efforts. Keep practicing, keep improving. If you don’t know how to improve or to work properly go to classes with a professional. But don’t let the classes be your only work. Work on your own. Encourage yourself with your thoughts, “You can do this. You can figure this out.” Also visualize yourself further down the line, when you are making a good income with your new profession, working in your own space with joy and ease and comfort. That is very important in the transformation too. Know where you are going and what you want to achieve. But be disciplined towards your goal every day.
If you disciplined yourself and did something for only thirty minutes per day, but you did it every day for ten years, you would become very good at what you were focused on. Thirty minutes or an hour per day: that is not very much time when you think of the lifetime we live on this planet, but you could accomplish a lot with that thirty or forty minutes a day, doing the same thing year after year. Turn off the TV for one hour and suddenly you have an hour free.
Let’s say that with that hour, you meditated for thirty minutes per day and with the other thirty minutes you wrote every day. You would be a very calm and peaceful person, and you would have a lot pages written on your story or your autobiography.
It takes a commitment to change, and a commitment to yourself and to the discipline. If you want your body to change, you must be disciplined in your exercise and your eating. I know it may sound obvious, but you have to practice discipline to achieve the results that you are seeking. No one can be disciplined for you. You need to do the work and you will see the results. Be disciplined to see all phases of a project before you begin, break down the steps and the tasks and be disciplined to do each of the steps diligently. One big project can be broken down into several little jobs or sections. When you have finished all the little jobs that you have determined, your project will be completed also. You can accomplish a lot if you learn to become a disciplined person, and follow through, and do things consistently.copyright 2006 Yoga Kat
Yoga Kat teaches children’s yoga ages 3-6, 7-12yrs and Adults in NJ. The Author of the book DAUGHTER BELOVED and created a children’s affirmation CD and an adult affirmation CD. Available for speaking and reached at yogakat@verizon.net or 201 970-9340–COMING SOON -http://www.thecircleofpeace.com
Passion Is Your Fuel
Passion is your fuel. It motivates you to press on. It propels you up the mountain of your dreams and goals. Have a passion for life, for people, for animals, for your causes and your convictions, and you will be nearly unstoppable.
Be a champion for those who have great needs and can’t do anything about it themselves. Speak with passion, teach with passion, lead with passion, love with passion, play with passion, and enjoy with passion. Someone who is passionate is intriguing to watch and to listen to. They are usually energizing to be around. They put great care into each and every detail of what they have passion for.
A passionate musician plays a piece over and over until it is perfection for her and the audience. Each sound is perfectly crafted and resonates purely, hauntingly, and brilliantly. Every song on the album may not be perfect, and sometimes it misses the mark, but we recognize the passion and are moved by the story told, how it was done and perhaps why it was done.
Passion draws people in, and to you. They want to be part of that passion. They want to be motivated as you are. They want to touch that passion, and embrace it. Passion lifts people up to a new level, which they can feel for themselves and from you. Passion encourages and whips new energy into people and projects. Everyone wants to feel passion for something.
When you come to roadblocks in life, your passion is what brings you beyond each and every halt. When there is passion involved, you have a need to move forward, and reach beyond every expectation towards the fulfillment of dreams and goals. If you become stopped in life, and if you have passion for life or for an aspect of your work, dig deep within yourself to find what really motivates and captivates you, and then find brand new aspects of your passion or your love that you had not seen before. You find new doors to open; you gravitate towards other passionate people. You create new paths with your passion and deep desires.
A person who does not have that passion can wallow in the low points of her life, and have great trouble finding the meaning of it. You must give meaning to your own life. You must discover the passions of your life and work. Most times, passions in your life develop slowly. You start by doing things that you enjoy doing: cooking, painting, photography, performing, etc. When you find a certain aspect that you are really enjoying, spend more time doing it. Learn about it, develop your interest and your knack for it, and find ways to become more involved with your hobby or pastime.
When you start to become passionate about something, then you want to spend as much of your time as you can by being in and around it. You want to learn everything that you can about your that aspect. You want to be with other people who have your same interests and passions. Their passion and love fuels your passion. Remember, small things can become big dreams if you are passionate about them. Take care of the small details with the same care and regard as if it were a great big event and you will move up the mountain with a steady sure foot.
Passionate leaders recognize passionate people, and the details of passion, and they hire and promote passionate workers, and create openings for those people. You can be passionate about anything. And remember that anything becomes something to the right person. Small or large, if you are passionate about it, you can see huge results; your passion can take you to great places. You can make your living by doing what you love to do, if someone wants to pay you for what you love to do.
If you can’t find a boss that loves what you do, you can be your own boss. Start your own company if you are passionate enough about what you are doing. Either way, your passion will open a new door. Other people will become aware of your passion and your services. There are many customers out there for your services; you just have to find, target, and market to them.
That is not always easy, and sometimes it is very difficult when you are creating a new niche market. But if you can sustain yourself and grow and develop your client base you will create the flow that you want and need, to lead the life that you desire for yourself.
Many times you cannot do it on your own, and that is when your passion will lead you to a partner or a team with your same passion that can help you. Now you can do it together as a team that is as passionate for your goals as you are. You and they become stronger as you work together. Your goals may change a little bit, but the same underlying passion is still there and is being fed every day by your team. What you thought was impossible on your own has now become a possibility and you are rewarded for it.
Your life, and their lives, begin to be satisfying. It is thrilling when you begin to watch your dreams become realities, and you can all share in the victory together. Now the team has developed a reputation of excellence and passion. You will see that more creative and energetic people are drawn to the team because they like what they are seeing. Because of that, your team will be able to do more than they could before, and do more awesome projects. Your team will be able to scale impossible heights in a very short period of time, and perhaps you will reach the greatest pinnacles of success that you have ever dreamed about.
So have passion, take risks, step out in faith. Live a passionate life, and you will attract other passionate people, and you will fulfill your dreams. Tell yourself “I embrace the fullness of my life.” Do it. You won’t regret a minute of your life that way. copyright 2006 Yoga Kat
Yoga Kat teaches children’s yoga ages 3-6, 7-12yrs and Adults in NJ. The Author of the book DAUGHTER BELOVED and created a children’s affirmation CD and an adult affirmation CD. Available for speaking and reached at yogakat@verizon.net or 201 970-9340–COMING SOON -http://www.thecircleofpeace.com