Get Pushy
A great résumé is muscular, fast and loud. Get with the program
By Dawn Klingensmith
CTW Features
In today's saturated job market, your résumé should not only stand out, but it must also practically sprout wings, take flight and make a perfect landing on the decision maker's desk. Then, it should grow vocal chords and shout out why you're the perfect person for the job.
Does your résumé command such attention? If not, harness your chutzpah and heed the following advice.
Apply immediately. "As soon as you come across a job opportunity, send your cover letter and résumé," says Robin Ryan, author of "Winning Résumés" (Wiley, 2005). "It used to be that employers waited until they got a whole bunch of résumés. Not anymore." There are so many applicants that, at a certain point, employers stop looking at incoming résumés and choose from among the early birds.
Include a cover letter. And don't lose your reader with the first sentence. Too many résumés start out with some variation of, "I am applying for the job I saw on your Web site." It's a bore. Start with a powerful summary of the skills you'd bring to the job, Ryan says.
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WORKING CLASS
SUMMER READING: CREATIVITY IS HOT
"If you think you have what it takes to work at a truly unique company, we'd love to hear from you. If you were one of those children who only and always colored inside the lines, this company is probably not the place for you."
By Leslie Whitaker
CTW Features
Dear Readers,
This year, my summer reading list focuses on creativity. Instead of exploring art in a literal way - how to quilt, how to paint - why not look into upping your creative quotient for use 9 to 5? My reading recommendations focus on books that focus on how to think creatively and put breakthroughs to work. As you can see from the quote above, lifted from a corporate Web site, creativity is a sought-after trait in today's job market. Business expert Charles Landry explains why: "Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways to gain an unfair advantage over the competition."
Tapping into your unique insights will make your workdays more enjoyable and it may be precisely what your manager wants to see. If not, you might consider moving to a place that values creativity, for those are the organizations more likely to survive and thrive in the future.
"Five Minds of the Future" by Howard Gardner (Harvard Business School Press, 2007)
Harvard education professor Howard Gardner is best known for his theories about how we learn. In his latest book, he focuses on five cognitive abilities that he believes have recently emerged as essential to success: mastery of a major school of thought or a professional craft; the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines; the ability to uncover and clarify new problems and phenomena; appreciation for differences among people; and fulfillment of one's civic responsibilities.
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Business Plan 411
Launching your own business? Write before you leap.
By Bob Lankard
CTW Features
“It’s a good time to start a business,” claims Rhonda Abrams, syndicated columnist, author and speaker who specializes in small-business topics. No, Abrams has not been asleep for the past year. She knows we’re in recession. But she claims history is on her side. After all, giants such as Procter & Gamble, Disney, Alcoa, McDonald’s, GE, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft Corp. were all started in tough times.
Hard times eliminate one of the big deterrents to starting a business: a safe job with benefits. Abrams points out that the economic disruption that takes place during a recession creates just the sorts of opportunities that entrepreneurs find inviting.
Kelly Services, the Troy, Mich.-based workforce management company, found that 26 percent of U.S. workers work as “free agents,” – individuals freelancing with or without the support of a temporary staffing agency, including independent consultants, temporary and contract employees, and entrepreneurs and business owners with or without staff. That’s up from just 19 percent in 2006.
If you are contemplating going into business for yourself, think – and write – before you leap. An essential step in starting out on your own is writing a business plan. This is a task that frightens many would be entrepreneurs.
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Low Raise
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By CTW Features
Base salary increases for 2009 are expected to drop below 3 percent, the lowest in 32 years of tracking.
Source: Hewitt Associates Dec. 2008 survey of 640 large companies
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