LOOKING for a JOB - Step 4: Innovative Resume

Consider creating an innovative resume "live on line" with Prezi or SlideShare for an eye catching and job catching approach. This might work for a graduate school application, residency application, internship, apprenticeship, or even as a studio assistant at a teaching program. It should reflect your creativity, innovation, digital skills, and willingness to try new technologies effectively.



Here are two eye catching examples.
A Prezi resume made by my daughter. Yes, she did get a job. No I didn't help her with this, but I definitely need to learn how to do Prezi, too.

 

 

Here is a sample resume on SlideShare.

How I landed a job with Slideshare from Emiland

Harriete Estel Berman 

RELATED POSTS:

LOOKING for a JOB - The Year After School Step 1: Take a digital class.

LOOKING for a JOB - Step 2: Facebook Privacy, Join LinkedIN

Looking for a Job - Step 3 Work on Your Resume

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LOOKING for a JOB - The Year After School

LOOKING for a JOB - Step 3 WORK on Your RESUME

LOOKING for a JOB - Step 3 WORK on Your RESUME

Work on your resume. That sounds so simple, but it takes some time and repeated reviews. Ask your friends and parents to proof read and critique each edit. Improve, edit, improve, edit, improve.

This is true for seasoned professionals, too. Your resume is the foundation for grant applications, social network profiles, and opportunities. It never fails that the request for your resume happens on the busiest days. Be prepared!!!!!!!!!!!
 
  One "speling eror" on your resume raises a red flag about your abilities and attention to detail; two errors and your job prospects diminish considerably. Obviously, if you don't care what your own resume looks like, employers will think this sloppy attitude will carry over to your job performance. You won't get hired.




Make sure your resume includes the keywords for the job you are looking to find. Posted on a job board or sent to a online job posting, it will most likely be scanned electronically for a keyword search. Use the "lingo" for your field and future job.

Use the free resume websites that are available online for formatting. Many fields have customary styles that do not translate to other media.

Your resume should be no more than one page.
Start on this today.
Take a couple of days to keep reviewing and improving.

Consider adding the fact that you are taking a digital skills class to your resume. Taking a class will look really good. Sorry to say, but do not include "workshops" on your resume. It looks like filler.

Harriete Estel Berman

RELATED POSTS ABOUT RESUMES:

Resume - Ready, Set, Go!

Ingredients for success - your resume.

Posted Job Opening - What a Successful Response looks like!

Resumes - How much is too much info?

 

 

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LOOKING for a JOB - The Year After School

LOOKING for a JOB - Step 2: Facebook Privacy, Join LinkedIN

LOOKING for a JOB - Step 2: Facebook Privacy, Join LinkedIN

If you are looking for a job, internship, residency, applying for graduate school,. . . clean up your Facebook profile immediately. If you want to save those photos of you drinking, hanging out with friends, Conga line dancing, etc. or photos of destination evenings, cats, or poodle pictures -- then change your privacy setting on every photo to Private.

This isn't just the advice of a mother or mentor, a recent article in Business Week came out after my post...so I added it here for further validation. The article says,"Yet despite all the advice and warnings to be cautious with social media, job applicants continue to get burned by their online profiles." 

Here is another quote, this time from the book Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant. The quote is from Howard Lee, the former head of South China at Groupon and "one of a growing number of people who use social media to catch takers."

"Nowadays, I don't need to call in to a company to find out about someone's reputation. Everyone is incredibly connected. Once they make it past the technical rounds, I check their LinkedIn or Facebook. Sometimes we have mutual friends, or went to the same school, or the people on my team will have a link to them." Lee explains, "You can understand someone's reputation at a peer level pretty quickly."

Any photo that reveals less than professional behavior, "TMI" , too much skin, drinking, etc. has got to go, go, go. NOW. Immediately.

Edit your profile picture to an interesting appearance of a professional character. Consider that everything may be viewed by your potential employer whether you want them to or not.

Edit your personal information to represent a more professional identity with current information. Consider including your internship experience and volunteer work.

NEXT: Join LinkedIn. Use the free option. Don't spend one penny. Construct your professional profile. ADD your work experience,  internship experience and volunteer work. Make every part time job or educational experience sound good. Even unrelated job experience shows responsibility. For example: A lifeguard job shows responsibility and reliability, etc.

Did you double check your spelling?

BTW -- Did you find a digital class yet?
If you don't have a job, take two classes.
Harriete Estel Berman

Books listed on blog are often affiliate links. Clicking on the link or purchasing a book may provide this blog with revenue to support this information.

 

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LOOKING for a JOB - The Year After School Step 1: Take a digital class.

If you just graduated from college, and your local community college is starting it's summer session . . . 

Take a class especially a class in digital skills.  EVERY employer wants new employees to know the latest in digital skills.

If there is no community college near you, take an online class or find a free class. Don't wait. Your future employer will be impressed that you just graduated but you are learning new skills.

Every EMPLOYER out there will be looking for a person to be well versed in current technologies. They want and need people to do the things they can't do themselves because they haven't had time to learn. A diversity of skill sets in a tough economy makes you a more appealing candidate for employment. Small business will want help with their websites, social media presences and more. This opens the door for opportunity and may give you that slight competitive edge.

What are YOUR digital skills? This is what a prospective employer will want to know for every job.  Every new job out there seems to leverage some digital skills. If you aren't capable to proficient in several software applications related to your field, learn them now. Become more versatile or become an expert.

Do you know more than one of these applications?  CAD, Solid Works, Inventor, Auto Cad, Rhino, T-Splines, Z- Brush, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, In Design, WordPress,Web Design, HTML, CSS, accounting, Excel, PowerPoint, and many others.

I can hear the excuses now. You don't need to take a digital class because you want to work in the studio of a jeweler, sculptor, or artist. Well, guess what? Every single job skill you bring with you is a plus.

I wouldn't even consider hiring a person these days without multiple digital skills in Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, video editing and a CAD program. That is my minimum, my voice of experience, and what I hear from local employers. This is the future.

Harriete Estel Berman

P.S.Check out Lynda.com for online digital software class. I have used them a lot. You can work at your own pace, and on your own schedule, 24 hours a day. They offer a free trial which is how I started so many years ago.

These are affiliate links.

PPS. Taking a workshop is not the same as taking a class. It isn't the same on your resume either. And in the current economy, I am specifically recommending a digital skill learning a software program.

LOOKING for a JOB - The Year After School

Recently, I have heard from a number of young people looking for a job.  They are all recent graduates. It sounds like a familiar story as my own children both recently graduated from college. They were also looking for jobs and found them!

So with this issue in mind, I thought I'd run a series of short posts with my recommendations, tips, and advice. The posts will be short and frequent. Finding a job is a situation that is difficult to overwhelming....even in the best of circumstances.

First clarification before I begin is that I think there are two issues.  

1)Looking for a job.

2) The first year after college.

The topics do get mixed up.  After four or more years of college students graduate with the anticipation of finding a job and simultaneously a direction for life,  but with the tough economy the mythical "yellow brick road" clearly dictating a direction isn't clear.

Am I kidding? I think it is more like hiking through the wilderness and there are absolutely no trail markers at all.



It doesn't help that your education actually doesn't provide job skills. Looking at this realistically, no matter what your major, or interests, very few students graduate with  marketable skills or much work experience. Art students,  engineers, or cognitive science degree...?  All you really have for sure is youth, inexperience and character.

Are you a hard worker? Time to prove it. Finding a job is hard work perhaps the hardest job you will ever have.  The first year after college is difficult. Developing a direction for life is a process, but it helps to get started.

Each day the post will take a topic and create some focus for finding a job & transitioning in the first year after school to a direction. 

Here is a list which I will expand on in future posts.

• Social media
• Web presence
• Resume
• Finding a job the high tech
• Finding a job low tech (my favorite since I have ample evidence it works.)
• Networking old and new
• Building skill sets that employers want.
• Interviews.
• Money
• Mentors
• Much and more...

What are you questions?

Share the topics you are looking for in the comments or write to me directly.

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Harriete Estel Berman