Top 7 Clichés That Should Be Nowhere Near Your Resume

Top 7 Clichés That Should Be Nowhere Near Your Resume When proofreading your resume, what do you look out for? Naturally you’ll be on the hunt for misspelled homophones, and of course you’ll endeavour to eliminate any errant punctuation marks. You’ll almost certainly make sure that the formatting of the document is standardised, and if you’ve got any sense you’ll double check those vital contact details. But how likely are you to sniff out those clichés you’ve stubbornly relied on? Who wrote your resume? Read through your resume again as if you were the employer and start to gain an impression of the person who wrote it. Does the resume clumsily clamber from one stock phrase to the next, creating the impression of someone who searched for a template and filled in the blanks? If you got bored reading your own resume it’s time to start making the English language work for you. Those clichés might be easy to fall back on, but they’re acting like weeds, getting in the way of you actually demonstrating why you would be an effective employee. These are 7 that should be nowhere near your resume. Passionate   The biggest resume buzzword of the past decade has to be ‘passionate’. If you absolutely insist on using the word at least make sure you’re not passionate about something silly like ‘working in teams’ or ‘meeting deadlines’. What about the role People are passionate about Showing how passionate you are about something by truly are passionate about the what the role entails this should come across in your application when you mention ‘Excellent oral and written communication skills’   If anything, this phrase shows your communication skills aren’t up to scratch because you’re relying on one of the most ubiquitous resume clichés in existence. The quality of your written communication skills will speak for itself, while you can hint at your impressive oral capabilities by mentioning meetings you’ve chaired, talks you’ve given or how you’ve handled tricky situations with customers. ‘The ideal candidate’ Deciding where confidence ends and arrogance begins can be difficult â€" is it before or after proclaiming yourself ‘the ideal candidate’? It really doesn’t matter though, because if you really are an ideal candidate you’ll demonstrate it by providing evidence that your knowledge and experience aligns with the demands of the role. If you’re not an ideal candidate simply writing it on your CV won’t make it so; in this case you’d be better off explaining how any of your perceived shortcomings can be overcome. ‘Work well independently or as part of a team’ Few things are more frustrating for an employer than a candidate trying to cover all their bases. Someone who claims to ‘work well independently or as part of a team’ might as well be saying ‘please, please hire me, I’m desperate and I’ll do whatever it is you want’. Instead, demonstrate why you’re so effective at working on your own or give examples of when you helped a team succeed. ‘Dynamic’ The last time I interviewed someone who described themselves as ‘dynamic’ I was met with a blank expression when I asked him what he meant by the term. Even if you’re able to recite the dictionary definition to your employer, a better use of page space will be detailing how you improved processes in the workplace, or the steps you’ve taken to independently develop your knowledge and skills. ‘Highly motivated’ If the fruits of your motivation merely allow you to confirm you are motivated you will come across as lazy and uninterested. Rather than resorting to this overused word, highlight what about the role will inspire you to fulfil your potential. ‘I enjoy travelling…’ If you run a weekly book club, or play instrument to a high level feel free to draw attention to this, as they will require qualities that employers are seeking. Having said that, generic interests presented with the sole purpose of making you appear to be a human being â€" reading and travelling are two of the biggest culprits â€" are a waste of space. The exception to the rule… Job hunters aren’t the only ones at fault when it comes to regurgitating out of date clichés. Recruiters, HR staff and small business owners in charge of the hiring can all be guilty of rehashing the same old irrelevant corporate speak. So if the job you’re applying for has advertised the fact they want someone who is ‘passionate’ about data entry or has ‘excellent communication skills’ it’s probably best to play it safe and confirm you have those qualities they’re looking for in those very words. Are there any other times that using a clichés in a job application is acceptable? Have I missed any killer clichés that shouldn’t be anywhere near resumes? Or perhaps I’ve committed a cliché crime of my own somewhere in this article? Please use your excellent written communication skills to let me know… Author: This post was written by Dan Luxton at Liftstream.com, the executive and managerial recruitment company specializing in Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Life science sectors.

Tips on How to Use a Resume With Picture

Tips on How to Use a Resume With PictureMany individuals, who are searching for a job, consider a resume with picture to be an important and helpful tool. The picture on the resume can help convey information about an individual. The recruiter will be able to see what he or she is being shown when they look at the photo. In order to create a good photo, one must be organized and self-confident.Before a professional photograph is taken, the person who is hiring will want to understand his or her interests and hobbies. A picture that shows a person, who is interested in sports may not be very professional looking. In this case, the photo should be the opposite of what the person does.In order to create a good picture, a person must take into consideration the theme and overall look of the company that is employing him or her. One can make use of the website at free resume services. This will give one an idea about the professional image that will be conveyed to the potential employer. With the picture at hand, it will be easier for a person to think about how to properly dress the person who is to be employed.A picture will let a person know what the role would be. If the person is hired for the position of a manager, then he or she should dress in a business suit or a dark suit. Also, one should put on a pair of white tennis shoes to go with the business suit.When creating a professional image, a person should choose the colors and type of clothing accordingly. There are many people who wear a two-tone color combination, which does not look good on them.A person who is to be employed as a receptionist should look at his or her pictures. This will tell the person what the job would entail. For instance, a black and white picture may show a person working at a desk, while a picture of a man and woman might show the couple sitting at a table. Also, a person who is going to be employed as a teacher should look at his or her picture for ideas on what to wear and how to pose to get the desired look.Also, a person who wants to have a professional look can always hire a photographer. The most experienced professional photographers will be able to draw out the best images from a person's profile or portfolio. A professional photographer can also enhance a person's image by selecting the right photographs and giving the best editing techniques.Although a picture is important to convey a professional image, a person should never get too wrapped up in what the picture says. It is important for a person to remain self-confident and ready to express his or her ideas.

12 Rules to Giving Negative Feedback

12 Rules to Giving Negative Feedback Sadly, looking after your team of employees does not just mean offering encouragement and turning out a regular paycheck. It also means you need to give some negative feedback from time to time , if you want to keep them on track and help them reach their full potential. It’s never easy to negatively criticize another human being, but with tact and good intentions it can turn out positively for them, for you, and for your business. Let’s have a look at some of the techniques you can use to turn that bad performance around. Create a culture of feedback Criticism from out of the blue can catch people off-guard. If you offer negative feedback only when things are going disastrously, your team is going to associate feedback with disaster. Instead, try establishing a culture of feedback up front. Create regular feedback sessions, and be clear with your staff from day one that both positive and negative criticism will play a part of the process. That way, nobody feels like they’re being singled out. But be patient. Feedback is a skill like any other â€" whether you’re on the giving or receiving end. It may take a few weeks before your new system runs smoothly. Allow for two-way traffic If you’re the boss, you probably know best whether your employees are working as efficiently and productively as they should. However, if there is a problem with the way they are working, they may already be aware of it â€" or even know of some underlying reason that you haven’t noticed. Begin each feedback session by giving your crew a chance to self-criticize. Get their side of the story first, and remain open to changing your mind before you launch into your own feedback. This way, everyone gets a voice and you ensure that they are changing from within, and not just as a cosmetic fix to impress you. And finish each session by asking for feedback on your feedback. That way, you know if you’re being helpful or hurtful â€" and how to improve next time around. Structure your feedback We’ve all heard the idea that negative feedback should be alternated with positive feedback to prevent morale from sinking. But unfortunately, this approach is so well known that today’s workforce sees right through it. If you give positive feedback for the sake of it, your employees will soon come to distrust all of your feedback. But if you know what you want to say before you enter the room, and you take the time to arrange it into an order that encourages growth and positivity, it doesn’t matter if most of what you say is negative. The important thing is not to be positive, but to be specific. Explain the tangible effects of poor performance and direct actions that can be taken to improve. Set goals and targets It is not unusual for people to feel hurt when they are negatively criticized, even if the criticism is justified and tactful. Of course, you should be careful to keep the feedback professional and not to dwell on the characteristics of an individual that may be impairing their performance â€" but all the same, you can’t always help it if someone takes things personally. What you can do, however, is to set specific targets for improvement. You are less likely to hurt anyone’s feelings if your qualitative criticism is balanced with quantitative evidence. Facilitate self-help It’s easy to slip into parent-child roles if you use feedback as a means to pull rank or assert your authority. A colleague who improves only to avoid getting in further trouble is not going to be an asset to your team. Instead of making demands, lead by example â€" and instead of giving instructions, share techniques. If you identify a problem between two or more members of staff, don’t intervene by solving the problem yourself, but rather try to arbitrate and help them to solve the issue together. You can also help prevent problems arising by encouraging your staff to give each other feedback when appropriate. This new guide to giving negative feedback by Headway Capital  breaks the process into 12 easy to follow steps. Integrate it into your office workflow, and you will soon sense your entire team flourishing together. About the author: John Cole  is a digital nomad and freelance writer. Specialising in leadership, digital media and personal growth, his passions include world cinema and biscuits. A native Englishman, he is always on the move, but can most commonly be spotted in Norway, the UK and the Balkans.

Surviving Adult Children

Surviving Adult Children I came across an interesting press release about a new website for parents who are dealing with immature adult children, called SurvivingAdultChildren.com. It sounds funny that there is now a support group for parents whose adult children still live at home with them, but as weve heard it is more and more common for Gen Yers to come back home and sometimes never leave. This is an interesting debate for me, because it is one I can see both sides of. To illustrate the websites purpose, there was a video that shows a mother vacuuming, and then her 26 year-old son comes out at noon and basically says Im still sleeping Mom! Can you stop that!? Oh and can you help me with my car payment and cell phone bill this month too?   Eek!! Now that I do NOT understand! But the point is that there is enough of this happening in America for there to be a whole community created around it. According to the website, adult children who are living at home are causing a serious financial strain on their parents. It also says that some parents are afraid to let go out of fear of rejection, losing contact with grand children and even physical abuse. Seems a bit strange, no? So my boyfriend and I got into this debate yesterday as we both have friends and relatives who still live with their parents. Luckily none of our friends or family are like the 26 year old in the video though! Both of us also lived at home for a while after graduating college and felt it was beneficial to get us started. Here are a few of my thoughts on the topic: • If youre living at home so you can buy more purses, shoes and clothes that is not cool. • If youre living at home to save for a down payment on a condo/house, that is awesome! Just make sure you are really saving that money instead of taking your third trip to Vegas this year. • If you are unsure about your career path or how long you will be at your current job, it might be smart to live at home so you arent locked into a lease.   Just remember that eventually you will have to take a risk and decide on something! • If you live at home, you should pay rent and utilities to a money market account so that you become used to the financial burden and budget that living on your own will require when you DO move out. I would prefer if you couldnt touch or see this money market account so you cant tap into it. Remember, when you move out, you cant borrow back your rent/mortgage payment. • Make sure you are working towards an established goal otherwise before you know it the months and maybe even years will pass you by and you will have nothing to show for living rent-free. • If you are living at home to pay down debt, put your debt payments on auto-debit from your checking account so that each month a pre-determined chunk of your income goes towards those. Dont wait for the bill to come and decide how much you feel like paying this month otherwise you will never get rid of it.

Preparing Your Resume For a Writing Business Trip

Preparing Your Resume For a Writing Business TripWhen you are preparing your resume for a writing business trip, you will need to be sure to do the proper preparation. For starters, you need to remember that a writing business trip is essentially just that - a trip. Once you get on the plane, you will not be able to use your resume as a strategy tool, since it won't have much of anything to write about.A good way to prepare for a writing business trip is to keep things simple. It would be great if you could write a lengthy, 3-page resume for a writing business trip that would get you hired. However, the truth is that there really isn't a reason to go over three pages when you are flying to the same destination. In fact, you can probably make it work with two pages.The key is to set aside enough time to devote to your travel time and then to concentrate on what you will need to include on your resume for the next part of your job hunt. If you are in a rush, you will find that you miss important information or errors. This will make it difficult to get hired in the first place.So when you are writing your business trip resume, the best way to prepare is to try to go for a loose structure. One page at a time, or one per page, or whatever works for you. If you need to make a presentation, make sure that you document this correctly in the beginning so that you will be able to refer back to it later.Just because you are going on a one-minute business trip, does not mean that you cannot do the things that you normally do at home. You still have to be efficient with your day-to-day activities. So start out by writing down your personal hygiene habits. From there, you will be able to add in things like 'elevated heart rate' and write a few sentences as to why you may be experiencing these feelings.You should also make a quick online search on what you need to include in your resume for a writing business trip. You can find out a lot of great advice here as well. What yo u don't want to do is spend an hour or two reviewing your resume. Don't do it because you are trying to make sure that you have everything included, but rather because you don't want to waste valuable time.Keep in mind that if you want to get hired for a writing business trip, you will need to follow the rules that apply to every other type of resume. Try to include all of the important information on your first page. Then, on your second page, you can talk about the accomplishments that you have already achieved in the past year.Finally, try to highlight any skills that you may possess for the writing business trip. Write them down on your resume as clearly as possible. After all, if they are listed on your resume, they will be needed on your business trip.

The Trio Every Worker Must Read

The Trio Every Worker Must Read Linchpin,  Crush It  and  Trust Agents  ... just finished them all.   What a perfect trio.   Youve heard me say   that the world of work is changing.   These three books helped me understand that better and studied how social media is involved in the change. The tools available to us all right now make it easier to do what we want to really do. Multiple Income Streams and Portfolio Careers Portfolio careers will most certainly be on the rise as we move forward.   At least having multiple streams of income, rather than one traditional job seems to me to be the safest career management practice. Trust Agents and Crush It helped me understand how anyone with a passion and determination can make this happen. Business Is Changing The traditional business models have morphed. This has made it easier to enter the world of being a solopreneur.   If you read Trust Agents and Crush It you will understand why and how! If you are interested in owning your career, you owe it to yourself to take in these three books!

How to Handle an Intimidating Boss

How to Handle an Intimidating Boss Challenging Corporate Environment I have a guest blog to share a tough lesson but important to share. Enjoy! Coach Wolfgang My first real job out of college was at a small manufacturing plant that made labels for products like Nyquil, Aleve and Gulden’s mustard. I worked there for 3 years but it wasn’t until a few years after I left that I realized I had a bad boss! In fact, I had more than one. In hindsight, I dearly wish I could go back in time and stand up to my bad bosses and defend my work. What I really wish is to show them that I’m not a push over and that I’m not intimidated by their tactics. Challenging Corporate Environment You see, the owners of the company and even some of the salespeople would routinely yell at me and push me to compromise my work for their purposes. I created customer quotes based on manufacturing and material costs. If those quotes were inaccurate or overpriced, they would let me know about it. Once, my boss ripped up my quote in front of me and threw it back at me! Pushing Back the Right Way I was stunned and didn’t know how to react. Deep down I was intimidated and just wanted them to like me. I thought the path to win their acceptance was to give them what they wanted. Now, years later, I realize what I should have done: earned their respect by ignoring their yelling and standing behind my choices. For example, I knew that if a customer wanted a label that was “flood-coated” with fluorescent ink then we would have to run our press slower. This, of course, leads to a higher cost and a more expensive quote. If one of the owners yelled at me because I chose a slow run speed I should have explained my rationale instead of just saying, “Okay. Well, I’ll go change the speed.” How to Handle Yelling Unfortunately, I can’t go back but I can help others find their confidence and push back against a bad boss. It’s not easy to separate emotion from a conversation when one person is yelling and trying to intimidate you. Here are my steps for dealing with those situations: Realize that your emotions are high. Pause before you answer and think about your response. Separate the emotion and extract the argument your boss is using. Repeat his/her argument back to them, if you need, to show them you understand. Calmly state your position confidently. Don’t raise your voice or respond emotionally. If you need to regroup, respond with, “Let me look at my work more closely and get back to you in a few minutes.” Prepare your counter-argument and re-engage your boss. Better yet, bring some ideas to help your boss achieve his goal. If your boss really starts yelling then calmly state, “Please stop yelling otherwise I will walk away and we will have to resume this conversation later.” If that doesn’t work, walk away. Don’t blow up, make accusations or call your boss names. Your boss may not even realize that he/she is out-of-line so don’t be the first one to step over the line. You can handle yourself in these situations while still being respectful. You don’t have to like your boss but you need to be able to work with her/him. Your boss may not like you either but your goal is to earn respect and always put the company ahead of anyone’s personal wishes.