stay sane/ How to Build Trust with your resume

Dec. 22 Stay sane: I was going through my emails and I found this Alberta Job Centre newsletter they emailed me on Nov. 9, 2011.  It’s called “Stay sane while on the Job- hunt.”  Here it is:

So you’ve been unemployed for a while now, and you’re tearing your hair out with boredom and frustration.
Read our tips on how to stay sane and motivated while looking for that dream job:

Get Temping

Taking a temp job will solve a myriad of woes. It will get you earning some money, keep you occupied for a few days, and help fill in the dreaded “gap” in your resume. Also, there is always the chance that the employer you’re temping for will like you and offer you a full time opportunity, or you may become aware of other positions in the company that you could apply for.

Gather together all your letters of recommendation

Put all your letters of reference, nice emails from past bosses, certificates, testing scores and anything else that makes you feel good about yourself into a binder. On days when you’re feeling low, pull it out, and remind yourself how great you are!

 Get a Hobby

Find an activity that will keep you busy and keep you motivated to get up each day. It doesn’t have to be expensive; try running, hiking, knitting, at-home workout DVDs, reading library books, photography (you could start a photo blog and share it with friends and family!), painting, or scrapbooking (your local dollar store will have fantastic cheap art supplies!). Also, check out the website www.meetup.com where locals who are interested in similar things can find each other and go on planned activities, often for free! And of course there’s always many volunteer opportunities that would love to have you helping out!

Plan your day as if you were at work

The worst thing you can do is treat every day like the weekend (although tempting as it sounds!). You need to give yourself structure; get up at a set time, get dressed (moping around in sweats or pajamas will not keep you motivated!), spend the first few hours of the day on the job hunt. Check specific websites each day for new postings, follow up with employers with whom you have applied to, update your resume and customize cover letters to each job you apply for, phone a few people from your phone book each day to
check in and remind them that you’re still looking for work. Have a checklist of things you need to accomplish each day (even doing the laundry and getting the groceries will help you feel like you have achieved something).

Chill Out

Some days you may have “one of those days” where you freak out because you’re not getting any bites. But just take a deep breath, remind yourself that you won’t be unemployed forever, and tomorrow will be one step closer to having that job. Enjoy the time you have off – see it as an opportunity to do all the things you never had time to do when you were working!

https://www.albertajobcentre.ca/career-advice/stay-sane-while-on-the-job-hunt/

How to Build Trust with your resume: This is by Michael Howard on the Alberta Job Centre e-newsletter I received on Nov. 2, 2011:

Most job-seekers like to list skills on their resume. In fact, most experts suggest listing skills on your resume. The problem with simply including a skill set is that the reader has no reason to believe you. You could say that you’re an expert in hiring, training, sales management, payroll control, visual presentation, and loss prevention, but that doesn’t mean the reader will trust you just because you say it. That’s why it’s important to back up those statements with proof in the way of accomplishments.

Most people think of accomplishments in terms of financial results like the following:

• Grew sales 6% per year between 2007 and 2010.
• Surpassed sales target by 8% in 2010.
• Increased average transaction from $22.00 to $27.50 in 6 months.

Those types of accomplishments are very important to include. However, any type of impact you had on the company can be stated as an achievement, and that can help build trust with the reader.

Let’s use an example. Say you want to highlight the fact that you’re skilled in hiring, people development, loss prevention, and new store openings. Many job-seekers include those terms in a skills section like this:

CORE COMPETENCIES

Hiring – People Development – Loss Prevention – New Store Openings

Many job-seekers also expand on the terms themselves by stating what they can do for a potential employer:

• I excel in hiring the right people and can ensure your store is staffed appropriately.
• As a proven leader and developer of talent, I will train and coach your staff to perform up to their potential.
• I will minimize inventory loss by developing and implementing strict controls in the store.
• I am capable of opening multiple new stores simultaneously, while meeting all budgets and project schedules.

Either way, the reader will see no reason to trust you based on those statements alone. They may very well be true but since almost everyone portrays themselves as a miracle worker on their resume, recruiters and hiring managers are rarely convinced. Rather than stating how you hope to use those skills in the future, show how you’ve used them in the past:

• Hired 15 store managers in the past 5 years; 14 are still with the company.
• Mentored and developed 3 district managers for promotion to regional and national positions.
• Reduced inventory shrink from 2.4% to 1.2%, 3rd out of 55 stores and well below the budget of 2%.
• Opened 16 new stores in 4 states in 2010, all on schedule and under budget.

After reading statements such as these, the recruiter will reach the conclusion that you are in fact skilled in hiring, people development, loss prevention, and new store openings. A certain level of trust will have been established, and that will go a long way to improving your chances of getting called for an interview.

https://www.albertajobcentre.ca/career-advice/how-to-build-trust-with-your-resume/

My opinion: This is a good article to show people on how to be more results-oriented on your resume.  You need something measurable on your resume like with specific numbers.

Jan. 7 Job interview: I haven’t done job interviews from Sept. –Dec. 2014 because of school and I was sick in mid Dec.  I had 3 job interviews in 2 days.

Food services: I did a job interview for food service position at a post- secondary institution.  I had done job interviews there before.  When I went there yesterday, it was kind of hard to find the building.  

Pros: 

1.      I can get there by taking 2 buses.

2.      I can do the job.

3.      The pay is good.

4.      Good job security because it’s at this big company.

Cons:
 

1.      I guess because it’s food services and I’m making a lateral move from my restaurant job.

2.      It’s a casual position.  It’s not an on-call position.  They will give you a schedule every week, so if you have another job, you can work around it. 

3.      There are no benefits because it’s casual. 

I feel ambivalent about this job.  There is nothing that makes me give a definite answer.  It’s kind of up in the air in right now.  There are a lot of applicants and the hiring process is by looking at the applicant’s flexibility, availability, and experience.

Jan. 9: The other day, he called to ask if I can get to work at 7am instead of 8am.  It takes some effort to get there at 7am.  I would have to wake up at 5:30am and leave at 6am to get there on time.  I wake up at 6am to get to work on time at 8am.

It’s Friday and they’re supposed to call me by now if they were to hire me.  They didn’t call.  That’s fine.