Take Action!

 

Time to put all this information together and define Your ideal next job.

1. What is Your Ideal Job Title?
2. What Industries do you Want to Target?
3. How Long are You Happy to Spend Commuting Everyday?
4. What Salary Are You Worth doing this particular type of job, within this Industry?

• It's important to be true to yourself on this point, and only use words that accurately describe who you are, your values and the way you like to work.
• If you want some ideas on what employers want, have a look at the adjectives they use in the job advertisements.
• Record these words and consider if they reflect who you are.
• If you find it difficult to describe your personality, we suggest a personality profiling exercise.

Think of Times when your Values, Character or Behaviour had a positive result for the companies or clients you have worked with.  This information will be used to form your achievements! 

• Easy going, someone who can relate well with people from all different types of cultures and backgrounds.
• Interested in helping the customer or stakeholder achieve their goal.
• Passionate about the core values that the product or service standards for.
• Innovative in thinking about better ways to do things
• Confident in their own work that they don't need constant supervision
• Common Sense to make decisions that will have a positive impact on the organisation and the customers needs.

• What was the task and what was the ideal outcome of the task or project?
• Why was it a difficult task?  What made this a challenge for your or the rest of the team or stakeholders?
• How did you overcome the challenges or obstacles that were presented to you?
• Who did you report to and who was affected by the outcome or end result?
• Where did this take place? 

Tell the reader:

1. When this happened,
2. What job you were working in, and
3. What company you belonged to at the time.
4. The details of the money you made or saved, or how your efficiency saved the company time.

1. List 15 Companies you came into contact with when you were doing your 2 last jobs.  If you wern't working with companies, who were you working with?  Maybe you were a Member of an Organisation, or Consumers, or Students?
2. Once you have listed out the main companies / people you were dealing with, write out the industry that they belonged to.  If they were consumers, define them into some category Eg  Soloprenurs starting out, First time Parents, Retirees with Money Troubles etc.
3. List 3 things you learned about these companies / industries / people.  This knowledge could be useful to the next organisation, and if you clarify what you know, it will be easy to promote this in your resume.  This information can go under the skills summary, or you can weave it in 'key responsibilities' or 'key achievements'.

1. Have you had to deal with any disasters or crises, and how they helped the company?
2. What were 5 of the biggest disasters or potential disasters that you faced?
3. What tasks did you do to overcome these disasters?
4. Who did you have to negotiate with or liaise with to bring about positive results?
5. What were the steps you took to analyse the problem?
6. What was the end result of this?  It has to be positive!

1. You want to use the key words that your top 3 jobs are using, both within the job advertisement, and through their websites.  If you haven't done so already, go through and highlight the main skills requested in each job.
2. Now combine them into skills sets, eg Stakeholder Management, Complaints Resolution and Finance Administration.
3. Try to encapsulate your most relevant skills in 18 - 21 key points.  They should be formatted into 2 or 3 columns like the example in the above video. 
4. See also the resume templates that come with this online program, and simply use one of the templates that you like the look of.

Writing Your Employment History

1. Read over the information you have gathered in Steps 2 and 3 and summarise the main points that describe your employment history with each job.
2. There should be about 8 - 10 key areas of responsibility that are listed for each job, and they should all be skills that are requested in the job advertisements you are targetting your application towards.
3. Use short, succinct statements of no more than 2 lines per bullet point, this makes it easy for the reader to scan through and get a general overview of your main job functions and scope of responsibility.
4. Your current job is used in the present tense, your past jobs are used in the past tense.

1. Get a blank piece of paper, and think about the job you are in, or the one that you were most recently in.  Jot down all the times there was a crisis situtation, one that you were part of, and that you helped to resolve. 

Eg Emergency Situations concerning People's Safety, Handling the Damaged caused from the Floods, Power Shortages, Software breaking down, Union Strikes or even a Client who need work done Urgently

 

 

Ideally these companies will somehow be linked to the next company you wish to work for

 

 

Give specfic information about the types of products and services involved, the types of clients - and which industry they belonged to - , the amount of stock or sales involved - Give general information about the scope of the Peak Period.

 

 

Eg Changes in Legislation, or internal procedures, change of products or computer systems etc

1. You might have done alot of great things for your former employers, but we don't want to hear all of them n your resume.  The recruiter will only want to hear about achievements that show competency in the skills, knowledge and experience that are required for the job they are advertising.
2. You do need to keep a list of ALL of your achievements in a file so you never forget them.  Each of them will probably be called upon at some time in the next 5 years as your career develops and you find you want to start specialising in a particular field.
3. Keep a copy of this on your computer and print it out, just in case your computer ever crashes.    

1. When you first started at this company you now work for, what were a couple of areas where you identified blocks to efficiency workflow or service delivery standards?'
2. 'When you first started in these positions, what were the main areas you identified as problematic, what type of environment / situation did you walk into?'

3. What were the obstacles and challenges that made it difficult to success in achieving such a positive outcome?

4. What was the economy like, the culture like, the work environment like?

C - Challenge

 

A - Action

 

 

R - Result

Think about how your boss would answer the questions when asked to be a referee.

How would they ask the questions:

1. What is the best part about having Ben on Your Team?
2. What are 3 words that You would use to describe Ben's Work Style?
3. What are the compliments your customers have given about Ben's feedback?

1. List your degrees, graduate courses and professional development you've done in chronological order.
2. List all relevant information including in-house training and courses done externally.
3. Cull out all courses that are not relevant to the job.   Be careful not to look too overqualified. 

You won't get penalised by not disclosing you've done a Masters, it could actually work in your favour.

 

It takes 5% more effort, and this is why most people won't do it.  You've just got to find the time to tailor every resume and cover letter you send out.  The recruiters and hiring managers will see you've put the extra effort in, as soon as they start reading the documents, and they will then realise that you are really interested in this particular role.

• Highlight the Key Words and Most Requested Skills and Experience in each of the Job Advertisements
• Then Tailor the Resume so that it Highlights Your Most Relevant Skills, Knowledge And Experience.
• Tailor Your Cover Letter in each Application so you outline why you are interested in the opportunity and what particular skills and experience you believe will be of benefit to this company.