Job Search Strategies - Resumes That Rock - Seven Tips For Creating a World Class Resume

By Jane Trevaskis

First, and foremost, remember than a resume is used to screen out, not in. It is used to reduce the foot-high pile to a manageable handful. And this function is usually performed by someone other than the hiring manager. So, your goal is to get past this step to the person who can actually decide to hire you. Most people create a resume at the beginning of their career and simply update it from then on. Now might be a good time to take another look at yours. Here are seven tips on how to best translate your accomplishments into a resume.

1. Start with a summary. I know you think of a summary as the ending of a document. Think of this more like an executive summary at the beginning of a proposal. Most importantly, it is the only part of your resume that is almost always read. It’s the portion where you talk about the scope of your career and those capabilities that won’t fit into a specific accomplishment bullet.

2. Focus on accomplishments rather than responsibilities. You want your resume to reflect the successes you have had throughout your career. It’s much more effective to say that you brought in 150% of sales goal than to say you were responsible for sales in the southeast region. Review your career and focus in on the Situation you were presented with, the Actions you took and the Outcome you produced.

3. Never more than two pages. Most people who see lots of resumes automatically discard any that exceed two pages. If you are a recent college graduate, one page is probably plenty, but more than two is a real no-no. The only exceptions are academia and organizations that are closely related to academia. Then it is frequently called a curriculum vitae (or c.v.) instead of a resume.

4. Make it easy to read. If it’s hard to read, most people won't even try. Beginning all sections of the resume with action verbs helps. You can find lists of action verbs specific to your profession from books in the career section of your local bookstore on just google the term “keywords” and you'll get more than you could ever use. People scan resumes, they don’t read them. Most people who read lots of resumes spend less than 10 seconds on the first pass through – and that’s the one when they reduce the number of resumes that will be read more thoroughly from, for instance, 100 to 10. So, scan your resume yourself to make sure that your points get across in a less-than-thorough read.

5. References available upon request – NOT. Everybody knows that references are available and, since you have limited space on a resume, you don't need to waste the space. But you do have to have identified at least six people willing to serve as a reference and be able to provide their names and contact information within 24 hours of a request.

6. Education. The degrees you hold are important but, if your major wasn't relevant to this opportunity, don’t mention it. If you are looking for a job in a technical arena and your degree is in art history, it's better to just skip it. And if your degree is more than five years old, the date doesn’t go on your resume. However, both the institution you attended and the degree you earned are very important.

7. Optional Sections and Addendum. The final section of a resume is where you put those other parts of your background that are applicable. This section could list certifications, memberships (both professional associations and applicable volunteer involvement), awards, military experience, or technical skills. If you have an overload of one kind of optional information (patents, publications, technical skills, etc.) it can become a one-page addendum that you won’t give to everyone. However, an addendum must focus on only one subject – it is definitely not a third page of your resume. One addendum per resume.

Now, take a look at your current resume and spruce it up with these tips.

With your permission, I’d like to offer you a free report: Action Verbs for Resumes. You can download it by going to http://www.acatalystinyoursuccess.com/Report_Action_Verbs.html

If you would like to hear more about resumes and the other tools you need to conduct a successful job search visit http://www.acatalystinyoursuccess.com/Career_Home_Page.html
From Jane Trevaskis and Success-Catalyst.com

Strategies to Evoke Life Response

By Garry Jacobs

Ordinarily, when we think of "success,” we envision a solid level of achievement that occurs over an extended period of time. Never does it occur to us that success can occur instantaneously, and even infinitely -- contradicting our ordinary notions of what is logical and possible.

Such instantaneous vast results can occur when we shift our consciousness to the positive. When we overcome our limiting behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, life outside ourselves tends to respond with sudden good fortune. Such wondrous occurrences are instances of what can be called as “Life Response”. With that in mind, here are several strategies to help you attract sudden and abundant success and happiness in life.

Accept the Given; That Which Life Puts Before You:
Life is constantly putting situations before us that we can accept, neglect, or reject. If we accept and take up these givens of life, sudden good fortune can come our way. Consider which aspects of your life you have been reluctant to embrace. Once you understand the cause, make the concerted effort to overcome your reluctance or hesitation. Watch life suddenly and abundantly respond thereafter!

Reverse your Wanting Attitudes:
The majority of the problems we encounter in life originate in our wanting attitudes. However, if we reverse ourselves and make them positive, life can suddenly and abundantly respond. Consider the negative attitudes you have towards other, and towards life itself. Then make a concerted effort to overcome one or two of the most problematic ones. When you do so, the infinite potentials of life will rush to your doorstep!

Make the Full Effort:
We normally believe that putting out a certain amount of physical effort will produce a commensurate result. Though, this is of course true, there is also another perspective. It is that if we give in to life and make the necessary full effort -- expending all of our energies -- life will take over and complete the work in no time. As situations arise, consider where you can make a greater effort. Then take up that work in full. Thereafter, notice if life supports your effort with sudden good fortune.

Increase Your Psychological Strength:
Inner, psychological strength is an important determining factor in your ability to succeed in life. We have seen that those who are strong succeed; while those who are weak fall back or fail. We have also noticed that if you make the effort to exercise strength in areas where you have demonstrated weakness in the past, life can suddenly and abundantly respond. Think about ways you have been, or are currently expressing psychological weakness in your work, in your relationships, or in other areas of your life. Consider what was, or is at the root of the problem. Now come up with a plan to exercise your strength, and then carry it out. Watch as life responds miraculously thereafter!

Increase Your Level of Organization:
At first glance, “organization” does not seem like a very exciting topic for discussion. However, our own experience is that there is no faster way to attract success than by adopting a higher level of organization in life. There are a number of ways to organize yourself -- through higher levels of cleanliness and orderliness, by further systematizing your accounts and records, by organizing your time through a to do list and calendar, and even by organizing your thoughts, ideas, and concepts for greater logic and clarity. Such efforts at higher organization have a tendency to attract sudden good fortune Consider various areas of life where you can raise your level of organization, and develop a plan for improvement. Then make the full effort to carry out your plan. Watch life suddenly and abundantly respond from all directions!

Increase Your Knowledge & Skills:
In an ever more complex, technology-driven society, it is important to have the highest levels of knowledge and skills. Raising either will not only increase your capacity for success in your work, but the effort itself can attract sudden good fortune. Consider the critical skills that you lack in work or other areas of your life -- including the technical skills required of your job; as well as interpersonal skills, such as listening, writing, presenting, communicating, capacity to work through problems, decision making, and so forth. Then develop a plan to upgrade them, and carry it out. Watch as opportunities open up for you from the most unexpected quarters!

Take Responsibility in Life:
Throughout our lives, we are confronted by situations and circumstances that challenge our sensibilities. It is how we respond to these challenges that often determine whether or not we truly achieve in life. Those who take responsibility accomplish and grow as people. Those who blame others, or otherwise ignore the symptoms, achieve less and stagnate. By moving to a deeper level of consciousness, we can begin to perceive that everything occurring around us -- including the negative situations and circumstance that come our way -- are a direct reflection of our own inner condition. If we then “take responsibility” in such situations by discovering and then reversing the corresponding negative elements in our selves – i.e. in our false actions and behaviors, and in our limited attitudes, opinions, and beliefs -- life outside us can suddenly respond with great fortune.

Give Objects, People Greater Attention:
Everything in life -- including people, objects, stocks of inventory, and money -- respond positively to attention. Consider which individuals and what objects around you require more attention, and then come up with a plan for improvement. When you implement your plan, not only will the objects of your attention blossom before your eyes, but the infinite potentials of life can suddenly rush to your doorstep.

Grow by Giving:
The happiest people have one characteristic in common –- they are continually giving of themselves. While most of us are fully absorbed in our daily concerns and routines -- driven by our own needs, desires, and ambitions -- the happiest of people literally lose themselves in the feelings, thoughts, and aspirations of others. Shifting your focus to the concerns of others has this extraordinary capacity to attract freshness and wonder.

Apply Personal Values in Your Life:
A value is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful to you. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work, self-reliance, and punctuality, to more psychological values, such as concern for others, and harmony of purpose. Other examples of personal values are openness, tolerance, honesty, loyalty, perfection in work, respect for the individual, and family feeling. Applying personal values in the details of our daily lives generates a great power for success and happiness. Think about two or three important personal values that have shaped your life. Now develop several strategies to recommit to them. Or, come up with one or two new values, and fully implement them in each of your most critical daily activities. From that point on, life will continually be fresh, and filled with meaning and wonder.

Follow the Process of Growth and Accomplishment:
Normally, when we make progress, it is a result of our response to the pressures and challenges of life. This is for the most part an unconscious form of growth. Conscious growth, on the other hand, takes place when we self-conceive that which we want to become. We consciously grow when we aspire to accomplish something, organize the details of our vision, and then carry it out until our vision becomes a living reality. Consider taking up a new opportunity, or developing a new skill, or making a major change in your career, or adopting an important personal value in your life. Begin by envisioning what you want to accomplish, and from there establish the major goals to achieve that vision.
Then organize the goals into practical strategies and plans of action. When you systematically carry them out -- supported by your highest high skills, your most positive attitudes, and by making the full, persevering effort -- the infinite potentials of life will suddenly open up before you!

Use the Power of Spirit:
Though we can take up any of the above strategies, there are often extenuating circumstances of life that are beyond our control. The net result is that despite our efforts, we may find ourselves short of our goals. However, by utilizing the power of Spirit, you can bring these random conditions under your control -- enabling life to fully cooperate with your efforts at improvement. This can occur by opening to the spiritual Force that is there in the atmosphere before undertaking any activity Before you undertake any major activity, open yourself to the Force. Ask that its Light and Power come into the work or activity you are about to embark on. Later on, when you consider the progress you have made, you are likely to be astonished at the wondrous results that came your way. That is indicative of the vast power of the Spirit in our lives.

Garry is an American consultant on management and economic development with with international experience in Western and Eastern Europe and Asia, especially India. He is coordinates development of Human Science wiki, a portal applying principles of consciousness to all fields of human activity. For the past 35 years he has worked with the The Mother's Service Society, a social science research institute based in India applying spiritual principles in economic and social development, global governance, peace and security, management, psychology, education, literary criticism and spirituality. He served as Member Secretary of the International Commission on Peace & Food (ICPF) from 1989-95. He is Fellow and Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science, and Chair of its Committee on Peace and Development.
He is also partner in Mira International, a California business consulting firm and co-author of two books on the process of corporate growth. http://www.humanscience.info

Top 5 Link Building Expert Strategies

By Paul R Krenke

Link Popularity is a greatly misunderstood subject among webmasters and online business owners. The major search engines have developed complicated algorithms that rank web pages for relevancy and quality. In determining relevancy, the search engines tend to measure on page factors such as relevant content. For determining quality, the search engines have moved towards inbound links and their quality as a measure of a website’s importance.

The rise of link popularity, as a measure of the links pointing to a website, is founded on the belief that great sites will naturally attract many links and content poor sites will have difficulty attracting any links. While Google is the front runner in giving importance to link popularity, other major search engines such as Yahoo, MSN and AltaVista have also given importance to link popularity, making it a critical component of your search engine strategy.

1. High Page Rank – While Page Rank has been somewhat discredited among the elite of the search engine optimizers, the fact remains that Page Rank is by far one of the most viable methods of determining the importance of a web page. Page Rank remains an important, but not a defining element towards establishing link popularity.

2. Permanent Links – Google puts a small restriction or penalty on new websites. This penalty, in part monitors the “age” of the inbound links of a website. This draws on the importance of getting permanent links to increase your link popularity. It will work on eliminating your Sandbox penalties while maintaining the reputation you have built.

3. Site Quality – The quality of a website, as determined by the search engines, is a major factor, along with Page Rank, in establishing the importance of a link.

4. Reciprocal Linking – This is definitely the fastest way to get a ton of links pointing to your website. As long as your link directory is broken down into themed categories, you should most definitely trade links with the other website. You should always trade links with another website no matter if they:

• Have a PR0 page. If you trade links with them, chances are, they’re also actively building links, so this PR0 page will soon be a PR3, PR4, and even more.

• Over 30 links on a links page. Any link will help your rankings, as long as the website you’re exchanging with is not banned. (Gray Google Page Rank).

5. Natural Link Building - The building blocks of site to site linking, as search engines understand and define it. Search engines justify using link popularity as a ranking tool with the idea that good quality sites will naturally attract links.

Learn more about our Link Building Strategies at http://www.semelite.com/linking.aspx