Building a resume through volunteer opportunities and hobbies

Many people shy away from placing volunteer work and hobbies on a resume. While they probably think that the work they do is important, they may also feel that a potential employer will not. Many worry that employers will view placing these kinds of tasks on a resume as the sign of someone who lacks any real skills at all.

However, quite the opposite can be true. If an individual is performing volunteer work on a regular basis or has turned a hobby into a nearly full-time job, these tasks can actually help you land the job of your dreams. Knowing how to explain these duties on your resume will show prospective employers the true depth of your skills and talents.

Volunteer Work

Most people know that volunteering can be a great way to network. You meet people from different industries and fields that you might not usually meet. In addition, volunteering often exposes us to tasks and responsibilities that are different from our daily routine. It is these new tasks that are learned through volunteer opportunities that can expand a resume.

For example, someone who is an accountant but who also volunteers in a nursing home on a regular basis is expanding his resume and his range of potential employers at the same time. By simply putting on his resume that he volunteers 15 hours a week in the business office of a nursing home, he has opened the doors to jobs that otherwise might be closed.

This individual can explain his accounting experience on his resume, but he can also explain that he understands the intricacies and details of maintaining financial records in a medical facility—which are often much more scrutinized than in some other venues. This piece of information would probably open up job opportunities working in the financial sector of the medical industry simply because this person already has a basic understanding of the responsibilities involved. Many employers look favorably on a person with prior experience because they require less on-the-job training.

Hobbies

A hobby may seem a little more difficult to work into a resume. The idea of tinkering with old cars in the garage may not seem very important at all. However, the skills acquired from fixing up and showing old cars might be just what your next employer is looking for.

For example, if you regularly fix up and show antique cars, you learn the internal workings of the cars. You also learn how to work within financial and mechanical limits to get the cars running. Finally, you learn how to show the car to other car enthusiasts—especially if you have ever won any awards.

For a person working in mechanics or engineering, these skills can be invaluable. In addition, for a person working in marketing or public relations, the idea of knowing how to present your cars and actually win awards can certainly show you understand the nuances of grabbing people’s attention.

While restoring antique vehicles may bring enjoyment on the weekends, it could also help you land a job that you had never even thought about. The trick to using volunteer work or hobbies on your resume is to know how to explain them.

Writing the Resume

When placing volunteer work or a full-time hobby on your resume, include it in your work experience like any other job. Put the work in chronological order, listing your title (if any), along with your duties and responsibilities. Also, if you have received any awards because of your volunteer efforts or hobby, be sure to list those.

The real key to making your volunteering or hobby experience a part of your resume is to do just that: make it a part of your resume. Do not be ashamed of your volunteer work. The experience it gives you may just be what gets you the job of your dreams.

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Beyond resumes: when you need a portfolio, and how to keep one

Getting your dream job means showing a potential employer how you can help expand their organization. While many people think that a well-crafted resume will do the trick, this often doesn't get you past the first interview. Depending on the type of job you hope to land, you may need more than a stellar resume.

Being able to show a potential employer a portfolio of your work can certainly be an impressive way to get your foot in the door. In fact, having a portfolio is considered a requirement for many jobs. Knowing how to keep a portfolio and knowing when to actually use one can give you a head's up for that perfect job.

When you need a portfolio

For many, the idea of taking a portfolio to a job interview conjures up an image of a guy in a suit carrying a large case into an advertising agency. However, there are many other types of jobs where a portfolio can be a good thing.

Certainly, any position in advertising or marketing requires a portfolio. Even if the position that you want is not exactly designing million-dollar campaigns, being able to show a potential employer that you understand concepts of marketing will give you a leg up. Also, showing a potential employer what you have worked on in black and white, rather than in words alone, adds substance and legitimacy to your prior experience.

In addition to marketing or advertising, any position where you are designing something—from arts to industrial design—truly needs a portfolio. Again, showing a potential employer what you have done, from designing the layout of a room to designing the details of a home electrical system, can be used to impress your next boss.

What to keep in your portfolio

So, now that you realize that a portfolio may be what you need to land that dream job, you need to figure out what to keep in that portfolio. Knowing what is important for a portfolio will ensure that your portfolio looks professional, which can only serve to make you look more professional.

If you are doing anything where you design on paper, from being a writer to designing brochures or print layouts, you definitely need to hold on to everything you create. Now, this does not mean that everything you have done should be placed in a portfolio for display. This simply means that keeping all of your work will allow you to choose relevant examples of your work and tailor your portfolio to each situation.

If your profession requires you to work in the realm of 3-D, then having pictures of your work is a must. Take pictures of each job with a good camera. Showing employers a photo is not enough. Make sure that the photo is in focus, and that the image is pleasing to the eye. Don't make others have to turn the picture around and upside-down before they can figure out what they are looking at.

How to Display the Portfolio

Now, you know that you need a portfolio, and you have kept examples of your work. The final thing to be done is put together a professional way to show your portfolio. Even if you have examples of work that would impress the harshest critic, if it is displayed in an unappealing way, all of your trouble can be for nothing.

If your portfolio consists of print samples, the best way to display them is by mounting them onto hard black cardboard. Each piece should be mounted in the center of each board. Each board should be the same size regardless of what is displayed. This will create a uniform and professional look.

If you are using photos to show your experience, the same thing goes. However, each photo should be blown up to a size that can be viewed by everybody at once. You do not want to be passing individual photos around a room.

Of course, a more modern, trendy way to display your portfolio is on a web site. Using a web site can be great because a potential employer can easily visit your site even before they decide if they want to call you for an interview.

If you are going to use the web site, however, make sure that the design is professional and pleasing. A great portfolio can be made null and void by a bad web site layout. Also, if you use a web site, be sure that you use a domain name (www.something.com) rather than lower level web space (www.something.com/myspace). It will be easier for a potential employer to view and even remember a domain name—and it will look more professional.

Now that you know how to make and use a portfolio, get out there and let a portfolio help you land your dream job!

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Job interview tips

Job interviews are often thought of as a grill ‘em in the hot seat ordeal that leaves applicants squirming and writhing. And they should be. No matter how easy-going the atmosphere, don’t fool yourself. That interviewer is always waiting for the wrong answer. The sooner she hears it she can get on with the next interview. Don’t be dismayed; she wants to hear the right answer. That’s when her job will be done.

Once past the initial screenings of cover letters and resumes, the employer knows what your assets are. That’s why you’re here. Now is the time for a more detailed look—to feel out how you might fit with the company and the position. Are you a team worker? Can you solve problems? Are you in it for the long haul? Whether these questions are asked directly or not, it can take as short as two seconds or as long as two hours will answer them.

To ensure your success there are a few things you absolutely must do and a some things that shouldn’t be done under any circumstance.

Do…

…Dress for success. Professionalism is always key and showing you know how to present yourself professionally speaks a thousand words. Even if the environment is more casual than your best Sunday dress, it doesn’t hurt to don it. Doing so says you believe you’re worth a million. This doesn’t give you the license to over do it. Gaudy, flashy, or cutting edge attire can lose jobs.

…Keep the vibe positive. When asked why you are leaving your present job, don’t start to complain about mindless job duties, chatty co-workers and your bossy boss. Instead, highlight the positive aspects—you’d like to explore new challenges, learn new skills and broaden your horizon. Honesty is obviously important and you’ll want to use that to your advantage.

Don’t…

…Be cocky. Arrogance is a huge red flag. You may think it points toward self-assurance, but that’s far from the truth. Cocky behavior is disrespectful and self-centered. It demonstrates disinterest and his rarely well received. Instead, recognize your shortcomings. You don’t have to play them up, just admit you have them.

…Say “I can’t” unless you truly can’t. An employer wants to be assured that you can handle the job. There are plenty of people out there who have the drive to discover how they “can” and that’s a lot more attractive. Physical limitations and personal convictions are the only good excuses for “can’t”. If you should choose to say it, be prepared to get passed up.

…Build yourself up to something you aren’t. Be honest with yourself. Be realistic if you aren’t qualified for the position. Fudged facts on your resume and raving reviews about your minimal technical experience might get you the job, but they won’t keep it for you. You’ll get more kudos for admitting your lack of experience than for not filling expectations.

…Don’t have stage fright. It’s definitely okay to be nervous; a new job is a big deal—especially when it’s the one that you want. But this is your time in the spotlight. Sit back and enjoy the barrage of questions. More than likely the interviewer is trying to find out how you function under pressure. Show you have what it takes to fill the position by staying confident, keeping cool and thinking your answers through.

These tips are meant to be just as flexible as your employer would want you to be. Adapt them to suit your personality and needs, and then use them to nail your next interview. Remember the interview is your opportunity to interview the job. Don’t be afraid to the ask questions that will help you to decide if this position is worthy of putting in two-weeks notice.

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Career choosing and that great job

There are many things to consider when choosing a career. Professional career counselors explore some basic areas using a plethora of tools to help people make a choice that is right for them. By exploring these areas people match careers with their interests, values, goals, and career preferences. The Career Fitness Program (4th ed.), offers some insights into this process

When looking at a person’s interests it is important to look at the career theorist John Holland’s system of career inventories. Holland breaks interests into 6 types. Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An individual would likely take an interest inventory, and would be assigned a three letter code based on the six different interest categories. These codes will help the individual search for careers that match their interest type. Thus, the person would actually have a job that is known to be interesting to people with matching Holland codes.

Exploring values is part of choosing a career. A value is a belief that challenges your thinking when you face conflict. Values are those things that often make us mull over our choices and struggle with decision making. Values come into play when we struggle to decide if furthering ourselves at our job is more important than spending time with the family. As a person learns what makes him/her happy; this knowledge effects the career decision making process.

Goal setting is extremely important in careers. An exercise used by career counselors is a goal sheet that examines where a person would like to be in 5 years, in 10 years, and at the end of their life. This helps to identify t he person’s needs through the lifespan. It is good to set long term goals for careers, and look at the small steps needed to accomplish these long term goals. Ultimately, the individual breaks the goal down into weekly objectives, or small tasks, that will move the career seeker to the ultimate long term goal.

Career preferences refer to the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator. This is a personality assessment tool used by corporations and counselors alike to determine preferences of a person’s nature. These include:

Extroverted vs. Introverted

Sensing vs. Intuition

Thinking vs. Feeling

Judging vs. Perceiving.

The MBTI (MyersBriggs Type Indicator), Developed by Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, might be administered to an individual to determine their 4-letter code. This code is helpful in determining which careers compliment an individual’s personality. The personality codes are researched thoroughly, and charts with least/most favored careers for each personality type are available. These help a person identify the career that is an essential match to their own personal traits.

Looking at different areas of our lives, and combining information about needs and desires are all part of this process called career development. It is important to take time and use the tools available through community colleges, guidance counselors, public employment agencies, and private career counselors. Career discovery, and personal discovery are interchangeable. Learning about what job will best suit your needs will most definitely yield information about personal growth. It is an exciting and demanding process that can bring forth life changing outcomes.

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Job applications: what can you safely hide from a potential employer?

These days, it seems everyone is keeping their eye out for good employment. Especially while employment is sparse, one wants to make himself seem as the most eligible and promising candidate to a prospective employer. How does one go about doing this?

Of course you will need an impressive resume. How impressive should your resume be, though? Should it be so impressive that it even impresses you; because it’s not actually yours?? Should you twist some “small” facts to make yourself look better- assuming that the boss will never find out?

Although this probably seems very tempting to fudge some facts on your resume, (instead of your GPA being a 3.4, you make it a 3.9, figuring that the future employer will never actually follow through and look this information up) most would ensure that being dishonest on your resume or in an interview is VERY discouraged, in any way. Even if your employer “doesn’t ever find out,” you will most likely always be worried that he will, and it might even affect your work. Also, work ethics are a big thing today, and even though your resume might seem more promising to the employer, maybe your employer is really looking for ethical workers more than workers who got all A’s in college! Ethics is a big subject in today’s workforce, and if you can bring something like honesty and integrity to your place of employment, you will probably be even more valued than you even thought!

Aside from being unethical, say your employer DOES find out that you lied on your resume. If this does happen, it is quite obvious that you will most likely be fired, and it might even become hard to find a job in your area of expertise, if your employer talks to any managers in your field and mentions to them what you did. This is really a lose-lose situation for everyone, unfortunately.

What if you really do want to seem the best candidate, but you are not happy with something in your academic or employment past? For example, say that you graduated with a 3.0, but you were disappointed in yourself because you did not attain a 4.0 like you wanted to. Most resumes do not “need” your GPA on them, so you don’t have to put that on there. Most likely, your future employee will not even ask what your GPA was. This is not lying, because you are just not even mentioning it. However, if your future employer DOES ask what your GPA was, it’s best to give an honest reply. For example, you should tell him the truth that you made a 3.0. Again, lying will never get you anywhere, except maybe kicked out onto the street. Most employers will understand about your GPA not being what you dreamed it would be, and as long as you prove yourself at your job, will not really care, usually. Also, they will be very impressed that you were truthful with them. Your grades and GPA and all of your academic past are not the only things that get you a job. A lot of the time, your personality shines through at interviews, and this is sometimes key to what will get you a job! You can most likely find a way to hide your nervousness- but even if you can’t, usually your future employer understands that interviews are a riveting event, and somewhat nerve-wracking for most people. It really is best to just be yourself, try to relax and this is also the time to toot your own horn (about things that you are really good at! You don’t have to flaunt your weaknesses- in fact, this is the wrong time to do that).

A huge mistake concerning lying on your resume or in an interview is saying that you have skills that you don’t actually possess. This is huge!! It is one thing to not mention things that you were not great at; that’s understandable to not want to flaunt that on a resume or at an interview. However, purposely selling yourself as a huge computer programmer knowing every computer program in the world is a big, huge, fat mistake!! If you do put this on your resume and then you get an interview, the interviewer will most likely ask you questions about these programs, and want you to do some examples of this programming for him. If you do not actually know these things, you will end up looking like a fool. Even if you do pass the interview somehow, once you work at the company and get asked to do things which you have no idea how to do (and there’s just no way that you can pretend to know how to program computers- you either know, or you don’t, and you will be looking at a blank computer screen), if you cannot do them, the company will find out that you lied, you will be fired, and will be very embarrassed. It was not worth the lying.

What it really comes down to is that in interviews, you really want to sell yourself. Sell yourself, though, not someone else, or the skills that you wish that you had, but don’t really. You don’t need to tell the employers about your past failures, your bad grades in high school, that you re-took math 101 in college. You’ve grown, you’ve learned and you’ve matured. If anything, the interviewing process is the time to toot your own horn, and sell yourself to the future company!

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How to write a resume that lands you the job!

A resume can be defined as a "chronicled account of your academic and employment history" that is of interest to potential employers. Since your resume is your initial contact with any employer, it can either make you or break you. You need to present a good impression in order to get the best chance at the job!

The first step in writing an effective resume is to make a rough draft of it. You'll need to first write down your personal information. This information will include your full name, home address, phone number with area code, cell phone number, (if applicable), and email address. This information will be included in the heading of your resume.

The second step is to write down your employment objective. Your "employment objective" states what type of position you are looking for. It also lists some of your talents. You may choose to write is as simply as, "Human Resources Manager" or "Entry Level Data Operator." However, these examples don't give the potential employer much information. It would be better to make your objective more detailed. A good example would be, "Seeking a position as a Human Resource Manager in a growing organization where my excellent supervisory skills can be utilized."

The third step is to make a list of every job that you have had that pertains to the position you are applying for. Mark down the employer's name, street address, phone number, the name of your supervisor, and a description of your duties. Use descriptive words when you describe your duties and talents. Instead of saying, "my organizing skills", say, "my efficient organizing skills", for example.

You'll also need to include awards, achievements, and accomplishments for each job. And, don't forget to mention any professional memberships you have that run parallel with the job you're applying for.

The fourth step is to mark down your education. This would include high school graduation, business colleges, technical schools, universities, et cetera. You don't need to include any education that doesn't pertain to the current position you're after.

The fifth step is to make a list of all of your skills, talents, and professional strengths. These could include organizational skills, supervisory skills, et cetera. This section is very important, so, leave no stone unturned! Can you program a computer? Are you efficient at certain computer programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or Corel's Quattro? Are you good at negotiating? Selling? Writing up proposals? Think of all of the skills that you possess and mark them down. Remember to use descriptive words to describe them too!

This section will be listed as "Professional Skills" on your resume. It will come before your employment history and your education.

The sixth step is to make a list of references and reference letters that you have. Before you use a person's name as a reference, you should check with them to make sure it's okay to do so. If you're at a loss for names, why not ask your minister, friends, and neighbors? If contacted by your prospective employer, these people will need to tell him or her about your character.

Ideally, a resume should be no more than two pages long. So, if you can fit a list of three names and their contact information, (street address and phone number) in your resume, that's fine. If not, then place this important section on your account. But, instead of making a list, simply write, "References Available Upon Request" beside the heading.

Finally, you'll need to proofread the information you have collected. Make sure the sentences aren't too long. Make sure that your resume is not too wordy. Be as descriptive as possible! Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors too.

Your header comes first, then your employment objective, skills, employment history, education, and references. But, if you have more education than employment history, emphasize that by placing it first. On the other hand, if you have had more jobs than class room learning, then emphasize your employment by placing it first.

Print your resume out on professional looking white paper. Stay away from flowered paper, smiley faces, and other "cutesy" tricks that will make you look like an amateur! Good Luck!

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Successful job hunting: cross-country position finding

Finding a job cross-country may seem challenging, but it is not very different from finding a job in your own city. As long as you use the resources available to you- the internet, newspapers, job sheets- and have a strong resume, you will be able to find a job anywhere in the country.

The Resume

A good resume will take you far in the job hunting world. Whether this is your first job or you are just looking to change careers, it is important to spend time tweaking your resume. Having a general resume with basic information, such as accurate contact information, past work experience and your qualifications is a great idea. Make sure to include the fact that you are willing to travel. When looking for a certain job, you should include information specific to that field. For example, if you are looking for a job in information technology, be sure to include any web design skills or applications that you know.

The Web

In order to find any job, one first has to find out where the jobs are. The Internet is a great tool for job hunting. There are many sites with job postings from around the country, so you should definitely look into subscribing to one of these sites. Browse their listings for job that interest you, and find out information about the companies. The descriptions of these jobs may be very general, so contact the employer to find out the type of person, or the skills they need for the job. Many sites also offer an option to post your resume on the site, this way employers can look for you.

Newspapers

Newspapers are a great source for job information. Every city has a major newspaper with an employment section. If you are looking for a job in another part of the country, there are usually free Employment Guides in grocery stores or newsstands, which list jobs from other states. These are great to have, and to get at least every month, to see new postings.

Networking

Friends, co-workers, family members and acquaintances are a great starting place in job hunting. It could be easier to find a job in a different state or even country, if you know someone in the work force there. It is very important to keep in touch with people who could help pass along job opportunities. Meeting people in the field in which you would like to work is also an excellent way to find out more about the job and make connections in that specific field.

Once you have found a job that you are interested in, contact the employer to fax or email your resume. Use this as a chance to find out more information about the job and, if possible, to set up an interview. Find out information about the city where the job is located. Is it a place where you could live for a long period of time? What type of housing is available? If you have children, or a spouse, find out about the school systems, and whether or not your spouse could also work in the city. Some employers will cover travel costs and other expenses while you are visiting the city in which the job is located. Find out whether the company will cover relocating costs, or if they offer housing services. Now you’re ready to travel to see if this is the job for you.

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