10 Tips For Writing A Winning Resume

Written by Shaun Fawcett


Your resume (or curriculum vitae), combined withrepparttar cover letter, arerepparttar 129629 master keys to openingrepparttar 129630 prospective employer's mind and door so that you can proceed torepparttar 129631 next step inrepparttar 129632 process -repparttar 129633 big interview!

RESUME WRITING TIPS AND STRATEGIES

Here are 10 valuable tips for anyone writing their own resume, or who is having someone else write one for them. These tips and strategies are an abridged version of what is contained in my new eBook, "Instant Home Writing Kit".

1. Keep It Focused and Businesslike

A resume should be specific and all business. Don't try to be too smart or too cute. After all, you are asking an employer to invest significant time and money by choosing you over many other similarly qualified people. Employers mainly want to know whether you are appropriately qualified and experienced, and if you haverepparttar 129634 ability to "deliverrepparttar 129635 goods."

2. More Than Two Pages Is Too Much

For students, recent graduates, or people with just a few years of experience, try to keep your resume to one page, two as an absolute maximum. Even a resume for someone with 20 years or more of extensive working experience, should not exceed three pages. In some cases, one or two "optional" pages can be referred to as "available upon request." These would be such optional annexes as a list of references or an inventory of recent projects and/or publications.

3. Get The Words and Punctuation Right

Make surerepparttar 129636 grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your resume are perfect. Any obvious mistakes will hurt your credibility. Also, be sure to keeprepparttar 129637 language clear and simple. If you draft it yourself, have someone with excellent writing skills do an editorial review and a careful proofread of it. If a professional prepares it for you, such reviews arerepparttar 129638 responsibility ofrepparttar 129639 resume preparation firm. Use an accepted English language "style guide" if you want to be sure ofrepparttar 129640 finer points of word usage, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, etc.

4. Read Between The Lines

Customizerepparttar 129641 resume to matchrepparttar 129642 stated requirements ofrepparttar 129643 job that you are applying for, without being misleading. Review and analyzerepparttar 129644 job advertisement carefully. Look for and itemizerepparttar 129645 key qualifications, skills, and abilitiesrepparttar 129646 employer is seeking. Then identify certain key words that are usually repeated in such ads. Make sure thatrepparttar 129647 wording and sequence of points in your resume reflect and address these "corporate terminologies" and "code words" as much as possible. When possible, studyrepparttar 129648 company's annual report and Web site, and weaverepparttar 129649 themes and terms found there into your resume and cover letter.

5. Make Sure It Looks Good

Use a crisp, clean, simple presentation format for a professional looking resume. Just a bit of simple line work and/or shading, done with standard word processing software will dorepparttar 129650 trick. If you don't haverepparttar 129651 aptitude for this, there is most likely someone among your friends or in your office who can help you achieve a professional presentation. If not, seek professional advice. It won't cost much for a good simple layout, but it will make a world of difference torepparttar 129652 product.

7 Secrets For Beating Writer's Block

Written by Shaun Fawcett


Most people can easily identify withrepparttar dreaded "writer's block". It is a well-known phenomenon that just about everyone has faced at one point in their lives.

I used to suffer from writer's block, big time! Thus, I know through personal anguish and suffering, that it is definitely not a pleasant experience.

Especially whenrepparttar 129626 due date for one's project or paper is getting closer byrepparttar 129627 day, andrepparttar 129628 boss asks you "how's that project going" every time you don't manage to avoid him/her when you're sneaking downrepparttar 129629 corridor.

WRITER'S BLOCK IS FEAR-BASED

Writer's block is a fear-based feeling. For whatever reason, many of us have this incredible fear of committing ourselves in writing whenever we are faced with a blank page or computer screen.

Fear no longer! I'm here to tell you that writer's block can be beaten!

Just realizing that writer's block is really an irrational fear that keeps us from putting pen to paper is halfrepparttar 129630 battle. It's actually a fear ofrepparttar 129631 unknown, often coupled with a fear of failure.

We secretly wonder just what exactly is going to come out of this pen/keyboard, and when it does, will we be revealing some kind of incompetent idiot who doesn't know what they're talking about?

Onrepparttar 129632 other hand, if we have donerepparttar 129633 proper preparation, our rational mind knows that we can do it just like we did it all of those other times before.

Unfortunately, fear often winsrepparttar 129634 day when it comes to writing.

As I stated above, I suffered from writer's block for many years and it was notrepparttar 129635 most enjoyable of experiences.

THE 7 SECRETS

Fortunately, somewhere alongrepparttar 129636 way I did manage to develop a few tricks to overcome writers block. Some are obvious, others are not.

Here are my personal hard-earned secrets for overcoming writer's block:

1. Don't Write Too Soon

Before trying to write, it is important to prepare mentally for a few hours or days (depending onrepparttar 129637 size ofrepparttar 129638 task) by mullingrepparttar 129639 writing project over inrepparttar 129640 back of your mind. (Just as athletes don't like to peak too soon, writers shouldn't write too soon either!).

2. Do The Preparation

Read over whatever background material you have so that it is fresh in your mind. I read through all background material carefully marking important points with a yellow hi-liter and then review it all before I start to write.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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