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A CV is a sales document; it conveys succinctly the information of what you are looking for and why. Why you are qualified for such work and a story as to how you got to this point, covering your previous work experience, education, qualifications and interests.

I believe a CV should be a succinct story backing up a tag line about yourself. Often in interviews the main asked of the candidate is:

“Tell me about yourself”

This answer and the CV to back it up should be made as succinct, clear and relevant as possible to the position sought.

Obviously life is not as clear and simple as this and many of us have a complicated and confusing history in regards to work experience, education and life story, but effort should be made to make this as clear as possible in interview and on the CV. To present only the relevant facts to sell you most effectively for the post in which you are applying.

Profile

The profile should be a short sentence stating clearly:

• What work you are looking for
• What you have to offer (why you are qualified)

I believe in starting the CV with a profile. This explains to the employer or recruiter what you are looking for and summarizes all of the attributes that can be found in detail on the rest of your CV.

The recruiter will know what they are looking for and if your profile states this in summary then you are making their job a lot easier and they are more likely to put you in the “yes” pile, as they quickly check a large volume of CVs.

Remember the recruiter is human too, think how frustrating it is when you look at a website that is not clear and it is hard to find the information you need quickly. Now think of the recruiter who has to look through a large volume of CVs for any advertised positions, if they have to look at a large number and it takes too long for them to find the information they need from your CV they may not take the time to do so.

Work Experience

Work experience should come directly after the profile in reverse chronological order.

The first thing a recruiter or prospective employer will look at is the last job you have had and if you had the relevant experience or achieved something relevant to the job you are applying for in previous roles.

Do them and yourself a favor and put this experience where they can find it easily. I.e. your most recent job at the top and your previous roles below this.

There will always be gaps and times when you worked for a short time, temping, travelling etc. It is your call as to how to include these but remember your story needs to be made as clear as possible, so if you worked somewhere for a short time then make the story relevant as to why or consider omitting some jobs altogether. Maybe include one line with the dates and mention what happened, e.g. temping role, or went travelling between these dates etc. This answers the question quicker than leaving gaps and having to explain them in interview.

Education

Education should be also in reverse chronological order.

Other Qualifications

If you have attended any training courses or have industrial qualifications they should be entered here. Remember this is a sales document – list everything you have done here – sell yourself!

Interests

Qualify your hobbies and interests. Do not mention generic things such as ‘I like to go running’ without qualifying it as to what has been achieved. For example, it would be better to say: “I am part of the Harriers running club” – or “I recently completed the Great North Run”

Good luck!

When creating a resume, one of the most important aspects is the resume objective. Employers get hundreds of resumes whenever they place an ad for a job and unless you put down your employment objective in your resume, the document that you worked so hard to produce may end up by the wayside.

There are many different sample resume objective forms that you can use,. The resume objective is simply what you wish to accomplish by sending the company your resume. In most cases, the objective is to get a certain job. This should be clearly stated on your resume.

A sample resume objective for someone who wishes to become a paralegal, for example, can include a heading stating Employment Objective and under this heading should be the type of paralegal position which you are seeking. If you are seeking to be a commercial real estate paralegal, for example, this should be stated at this point.

Another sample resume objective would be for someone who is seeking a position as receptionist. Again, the Employment Objective would be listed as receptionist.

Suppose, however, that the person who seeks to be a receptionist is also going to school for a paralegal degree. He or she may be qualified now to be a receptionist, but upon completion of their studies, will want to seek employment as a paralegal. If this person is applying for a job at a law office, in addition to the sample resume objective there should also be a career objective stated. This could read something like this:

Although I am seeking the position of receptionist, I am currently enrolled in xxx college and expect to complete my paralegal studies in xxx. My career objective is to become a paralegal.

This will let the prospective employer know that in addition to getting a receptionist; he or she may also be able to get a qualified paralegal that will have knowledge of the law firm and can remain in the employ of the law firm for years to come. This may make the candidate a bit more desirable as it costs employers thousands of dollars to train new employees. http://www.careerberg.com

A good sample resume objective can be found within many different software programs that assist someone in creating a resume. The wording is all there, you just need to fill in the proper information. It is essential, however, that you put down an objective in your resume. It not only denotes professionalism, but lessens the confusion on the behalf of the employer.

Employment objectives and career objectives are two different headings on most resumes. An employment objective refers to the job for which one is immediately applying., A person just out of law school may apply for a job as an associate in a law firm. This is an employment objective. A career objective for the same person, however, would probably be partner in the law firm.

Many people are hesitant about putting down career objectives on their resumes. It makes them feel foolish as if they are shooting for the stars. Nothing can be further from the truth. Most employees want to hire people with some sort of ambition. It is not foolish to say that you want to be partner of a law firm when you are an attorney; it is more foolish to say that you are content with staying an associate and never moving up the ladder.

It is important, therefore, to put employment objectives as well as career objectives, where appropriate, on your resume. If you are going to school to become a nurse and have applied for a job as a secretary, it is not necessary to put your nursing career objective on your resume as this may cost you the job. A career objective should only be included on a resume if it adds to the employment opportunity which you are seeking.

To find a good sample resume objective, take a look at some of the resume building tools online or in some resume building software. All of the information that you need to find a good sample resume objective can be right at your fingertips. Remember to be honest in what you are hoping to achieve. You do not have to get too wordy, either. A good sample resume objective can be as simple as saying that you want to be a receptionist.

Too many people have let themselves become dependent on others and as a result of this, they no longer believe in their own power to get things done, or are simply out of touch with that side of themselves. When you lack confidence in your own power to get things done, you will find yourself unhappy, unsuccessful and desperate for a way out. Unfortunately, most normal people, not seeing any easy way out, will give in and settle for a life of dependency, simply because it’s easier. It’s amazing how people would rather settle for mediocrity and inferiority than make a little extra effort to rediscover their independence.

The one thing I have learned we need to get clear in our minds is that, it is not the situations we are facing that make us feel bad; it is the way we choose to view them that makes us feel as bad as we do. When we spend our lives viewing the world through these grey tinted glasses, what happens is we eventually lose confidence and develop the classic “inferiority complex”. The world is full of these so called “problems” and it is only human nature to focus on them, hence giving them more power than they deserve. In order to develop your self-belief you must first stop focusing on your problems, which incidentally, may not be “problems” when looked at from a different perspective.

Change your attitude towards life and the fabric of your existence changes. The famous psychologist, Dr. Carl Menninger once said, “Attitudes are more important than facts.” I wholeheartedly agree with that statement purely because with the right attitude, anyone can make something of themselves. For example, take two unemployed men going for the same job position, one who believes in himself and is confident of getting the job; and the other who has zero confidence and self-belief. Despite them both being equally qualified, the man with self-belief is hired. Why? Well, because when you believe in yourself, your subconscious mind floods your conscious mind with positive thoughts, ideas and solutions, whereas if you have no confidence in yourself, you get nothing except negative thoughts and blankness. Consequently, the interviewer saw the confident man’s eagerness and belief in his own ability and wanted him on his team.

Believe in yourself and don’t beat yourself up when you make mistakes, as mistakes are our Teachers and nobody who did anything of note did it without making mistakes. Your attitude determines what your life will have to offer, don’t make the mistake of allowing your circumstances to determine your attitude otherwise you will never grow and must surely settle for a life of mediocrity.

Some of what I am about to share, was shared with me, from a friend. I share it with you as a friend. Enjoy this as we enter into the oldest New Year in history!

This year could have been one of those crucible years for you. A crucible is a place or set of circumstances where people or things are subjected to forces that test them and often make them change. When facing these crucibles, it is so important to maintain a ‘Yes’ attitude. People have different ways of expressing a yes attitude. Everyone has their own belief structure. Mine is, “Lord, change me and make me wiser, smarter, braver, kinder, and humbler. Make me more like You!”

I believe next year could be a year that will produce strong leaders, which have gone through the crucibles, and are now ready for the future, facing it with confidence, whatever it may bring. Adversity always prepares us for abundance. Trials are forerunners of victories. The test of misunderstanding makes way for promotion.

Whatever you have faced this year, understand it was to prepare you for this New Year. Let your hand take a firm grip on this coming year. Forgive yourself and others for whatever was not done just how you thought it should have been done, and let it go. Reach forward and take hold of the coming year with a firm grip of faith and say, “This year will be a great year for me.” I recommend starting each day with a declaration like, “This day will be a great day for me, whether I understand it or not, it will be good for me!”

You are a leader with the gift to cast vision and bring vision to fulfillment. Have faith to re-engineer, re-structure, and make changes in your business that may so far have been mediocre at best. Cast a vision that is imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, and flexible. Communicate faith and communicate with confidence. You are a leader and leaders create vision, strategies, and a great future.

Remember, an ineffective vision is sometimes worse than no vision at all. Pursuit of a poorly developed vision will discourage a team for sure. Make this year a year of ‘faith possibilities’ that become your reality.

Here are 16 encouragements for 2011

1. Keep it simple in vision, strategy and all communication.
2. Build with the team you have, not the one you dream about having.
3. Speak words of positive faith to every circumstance.
4. Repeat, repeat, repeat; your vision, goals, and purpose.
5. Empower your team to action. Don’t be a barrier to the future.
6. Break out of all limitation boxes.
7. Believe for and ask for more resources.
8. Celebrate all short-term wins.
9. Provide evidences that sacrifices are worth it.
10. Fine-tune the vision and strategies every year.
11. Don’t give in to cynics and resisters. Move forward.
12. Build momentum one good decision at a time.
13. Work at turning neutral people into active supporters.
14. Building a successful business is a long road. Don’t take short cuts.
15. Eliminate unnecessary organizational baggage.
16. Build a culture in your business of servant hood and believing in each other.

Commit these encouragements to your memory for the coming year and you will quickly move towards obtaining, for your very own, a positive, victorious, ‘yes’, attitude!

When you hear the names of “Hitler,” “Elvis,” and “Mozart,” some kind of image comes into your mind. Perhaps you see a monster, a hero, or an artist. These pictures come into our minds as a result of the legacies left behind by these well-known figures. They have all died, but their legacies live on.

In our current age, we see information grow, move, and change rather quickly. New technologies develop overnight and last year’s toys are in a landfill. In this kind of temporary, throw away culture, we are in jeopardy of considering only that which can be seen and experienced in this moment. But each one of us will leave a legacy. We will influence the next generation, whether family, students, or neighbors. http://www.careerberg.com/

As we consider what kind of legacy we will leave behind, let me suggest seven ways to leave a strong legacy.

Define yourself.

That is, determine your own identity and purpose in such a way that you could easily and quickly articulate your answer if asked the question of what you’re all about. If you don’t know what you’re doing on the planet, it will be hard for anyone to learn from you or emulate you.

Focus on others.

The people who have had the most positive impact on history aren’t necessarily the great warriors or wealth-builders. They are the givers. The primary influencers and change agents are always those who are more focused on the needs of others than their own. Examine your life to decide if you’re giving a proper portion of your time, your talent, and your treasure to the enrichment of the lives of others.

Identify potential students.

I’m not challenging you to start a school or offer a college course. Rather, I want to challenge you to figure out who is watching you. Someone is learning from you whether you realize it or not. If you have kids, they are definitely picking up their values from your example. If you word around others, it’s a guarantee that they’re observing your work ethic and skill set.

Set aside time to teach.

Decide that you’re going to mentor someone, and perhaps a small group of people. Intentionally go about spending time with them, pouring your knowledge and experience into their lives. Invest the time you have in this life. http://www.careerberg.com/

Visualize your legacy.

Having a vision for the future is great, and having goals is good too, but have you ever stopped to try to visualize what the world will look like after being affected by you? If you were suddenly removed from all of your social circles, how would people remember you? How would they live out your legacy? Envisioning the answer to that question goes a long way in charting our course in life.

Leave a legacy daily.

When we focus solely on the long-term, we have a tendency to slack off in our efforts. We assume that we’ll get it right someday. But if you truly determine to leave a legacy everywhere you go, every day, then the sum total of your life will be a powerful testimony to others in time to come.

Understand that your legacy matters more.

That is, your legacy is far more important that many other frivolous pursuits. There isn’t anything at all wrong with enjoying life, unless our enjoyment of life threatens our legacy. If our actions, beliefs, and behaviors could set the kind of example that would cause others to lose their way, we should back up and re-evaluate our direction.

Life is short. It’s shorter for some than others. So determine to, as Steve Jobs would say, “make a dent in the universe.” Leave a mark and let it be said of you that you lived a life worth following.

The act appreciating or praising an individual for what he/she has accomplished is one of the most potent weapons used for accomplishing greatness in life. It is not only just optional, but compulsory to praise people for a job well done.

In this article, I will be sharing some of the techniques used in utilizing this wonderful tool of praise and how it can be properly implemented for effective result to be achieved.

Immediately
Whenever we receive gifts, complements or help from individuals who love or cherish what we are doing, it is important that we praise them for their good gestures. The process of praising people for their good deed may sometimes be left undone due to so many factors, but it is very important to carry it out immediately after they render such good deed. We may never have an opportunity to thank or praise them for the positive things they have done in our life. so the first key to utilizing the tool of praise is to ensure that we complement the individual immediately we notice their good deeds. http://www.careerberg.com/

When you do not deserve it
There are numerous occasions in life when some wonderful favors are bestowed on us even when we don’t merit it or asked for it. Imagine a situation where you are desperately in need of some urgent cash and someone walks in to drop a huge amount of money on your desk. You may never have the resources to pay back such a wonderful gesture, and the best we can do in such a situation is to praise such kind gestures.

When you have their attention
It is important to thank or praise an individual when their attention is not divided. In such circumstance, they would get the full benefit of such appreciation and the point will be well driven home. Praising an individual when he/she is neck-deep in a task may achieve little or no effect.

Alone
There is nothing as important as praising someone who has done something special in your life. I once praised my wife for her delicious meal and home keeping while we were both alone some months back, and I could see from her expression the joy it brought to her life. When we are alone with those who have brought happiness and joy to our life, it is important that we utilize such opportunities to praise them. The privacy will add some special effect to the event. They will get the message better than when we appreciate them in the midst of the crowd. http://www.careerberg.com/

In implementing the act of praising people for their good works, it is not compulsory that we accompany such acts with gifts or monetary rewards. The spoken or written word is powerful enough to accomplish such task and if properly conveyed can achieve more than we ever imagined.

These career advancement tips are not instant solutions to your career challenges. They are work values you can practice to help you advance in your career.

You have just left college and started on your first job. Although you know what your role is at your work place, you are also eager to make an impression. Remember that when you practice these career advancement tips, the results are not immediate. You will only begin to see their values when you start to internalize and act upon them naturally.

1. Heart
If you want career advancement, then do everything fueled by the heart. While your brain provides the knowledge, your hands and legs provides the skills, and your heart provides the passion. Fuel every task with passion.

When you work full heartedly, your quality shows. Someone who has the skills and knowledge but do not have the heart to complete the given task can only do a good job. To do a great job, you not only need skills and knowledge, you need heart. http://www.careerberg.com

Perfection comes when passion meets skills and knowledge. Approach your work with all your heart and you will advance in your career, successfully.

2. Heed
Many freshies I have come across and worked with are very excited to demonstrate what they know and learned in school.

However, they forget that sometimes experience is needed to complement what is learned in the academic world. As a freshie in the workplace, you need to take heed of what your seniors and bosses advice you. Pay careful attention to what they are trying to tell you. Some things only experience can teach you. The finer points of any industry can only be learned when you take heed of advice from elders in the industry.

3. Hunger
Have the hunger to know more and learn more. Have the hunger to want to go further and do more. If you want to advance in your career, always be hungry for relevant skills and knowledge. Always be hungry for excellence in your work. One of my ex-bosses used to tell me, when you do a good job, you earn your salary and your current position. When you do an excellent job, you give me reasons to give you an increment and promotion.

The hunger to want to do more and do better quite naturally makes you competitive advantage in your unit. People will notice your constant pursuit of excellence and that will make them want you to work for them and keep you on the team. You increase your value to the company. This is one of the career advancement tips I continue to practice till today.

4. Hindrance
As a freshie, you lack experience at work and you will find a lot hindrances. These hindrances coupled with your eagerness to demonstrate your prowess at work will frustrate you. Some challenges and obstacles are real. It could be related to your lack of skills and knowledge to complete a task.

You may perceive yourself to know how to do the task but in reality you may not be equipped to do so. When faced with hindrances, seek help. Do not be egoistic to not do so. No one knows everything. When you seek help you learn a new skill. http://www.careerberg.com

Some hindrances are more people oriented. They can be difficult colleagues simply testing your patience. When I was a freshie, how I approached this hindrance was to see it as a rites of passage. They want me to give them a reason for respecting my input and my work. When faced with such colleagues, practice patience. In extreme cases, you can seek help from your immediate boss.

As cliché as it sounds, hindrances only serves to make you learn more if you view them positively.

5. Humor
To balance off the career advancement tips of heed, hunger and hindrance is humor. I can still remember some of my personal experiences related to these career advancement tips. Imagine how stressful it can be when they all happen together.

Imagine the stress of having to deal with this situation – You are supposed to take heed of advice and remember it, especially when it is due to a mistake. You need to be hungry for excellence. You get hindrances from colleagues because you are new. In addition, hindrance to complete some tasks due to the lack of experience. How do you deal with it?

One of the best ways to deal with all these is to have a sense of humor. Laugh at yourself a little. When the going gets tough, laugh. While you need to be serious with your work to increase your chances of career advancement, it doesn’t mean you cannot relax. Sometimes you have to say – it’s only work. Having a sense of humor allows you to minimize the stress at work.

These are the 5 quick yet important career advancement tips a freshie can practice at work immediately. With constant practice, you can make it a habit and it would seem effortless before you know it.

Career planning is not an activity that should be done once and then left behind as you move forward in your jobs and careers

Instead, career planning is an activity that is best done on a regular basis. You may already know that the average worker will change careers many times over his or her lifetime. http://www.careerberg.com

That is why, it is never too soon or too late to start your own career planning.

Career planning is not a tedious activity, not something to be dreaded or put off. It should be an activity that should be liberating and fulfilling. There should be goals to achieve in your current career or plans for beginning a transition to a new career.

As a whole, career planning should be a rewarding and positive experience.

Here, then, are some tips to help you achieve successful career planning.

1. Make career planning an annual event.

Many of us have myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning?

Find a day or weekend once a year and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career — what you really want out of your career, out of your life.

By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction. You will be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.

2. Map your path since last career planning

One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning.

While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path will help you plan for the future.

Once you have mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course. Note why it looks the way it does.

Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?

3. Reflect on your likes and dislikes, needs and wants

Change is one factor of life. Everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life that you feel most strongly about. http://www.careerberg.com

Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.

Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career.

Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.

After all this has been done, you will see that the time given on your career planning is a time well spent.

Many organizations are facing some tough times right now. Here in the UK the scale of the deficit in public finances is resulting in what many see as fairly radical changes in areas like the public sector.

As someone who spent a significant part of their career in the public sector, I know just how much of a challenge it can be. So what are some of the key things to making change?

Key 1: Acceptance
In my experience, one of the first keys to making change is an acceptance that it needs to happen. Unless you can get to a point where there is a degree of acceptance that carrying on doing nothing is not an option, nothing happens. http://www.careerberg.com

Key 2: Communication
Everyone has their views, perspectives and ideas on what should and what should not happen. As a result, communication is a lot about explaining what and why and also listening to the ideas, worries and concerns of others.

Key 3: Realism
Of course you can always take some immediate actions that will deliver some short term benefits. However, ultimately you want to be making change that is sustainable. Achieving the latter takes time and there needs to be a degree of realism. Remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

Key 4: Involvement
People who are part of the organization and who have been part of it for a long period are very attached. Involving these people in the change process is vital. The involvement of these people or otherwise can really make or break the change process.

Key 5: Courage
Making any sort of significant change is going to need leaders who are willing to make the big calls and decisions. This ultimately means putting the interests of the organization, its customers and users, rather than personal survival, at the forefront. Sadly, it is often a lack of courage that results in things not happening.

The Bottom Line: Change is an inevitable part of the modern day business. So what do you need to focus on to achieve success?
http://www.careerberg.com

Principle #1
A leader must be visionary and not a wishful thinker. Being a leader is all about setting goals and having an aim. These goals must be accurately set for proper attainment. You move from the known to the unknown. This is what keeps you focused.

Principle #2
A leader is one who spots a problem and also solves the same problem. You are there to offer solutions when issues arise with you special techniques and knowledge. Learn to be grounded in what you know. This makes you stand out.

Principle #3
A leader is one who is pro, developing his skills and expertise. Be properly informed about the necessary things that are of interest to you. Let the things you know and do be based on the foundational establishment. Let you anchor be rooted deep down.

Principle #4
A leader is a reader! As a leader you must be coordinated. You can’t afford to be lazy, but you must be up and doing. You plan yourself and ensure you discipline yourself to keep to the set targets. The ability to put two and two together makes you unique.

Principle #5
A leader must be a fast thinker. Accurate reasoning and high display of knowledge keeps you going. A leader maximizes opportunities when they come knocking. You must be a creative and active personality, who occupies the greatest and most important position in your field.

Principle #6
A leader must believe he can do it. Don’t limit your abilities and strength. Learn to cultivate the positive attitude regardless of you present strength. Never feels discouraged when faced with tough challenges, but brave up to conquer.

Principle #7
A leader is not a mediocre who lacks an exceptional quality and ability. He doesn’t operate within the level of moderate and inferior, nor does he believe in working in average. He strives for excellence and optimized achievement.he is a total optimist who believes in getting the most out of anything. He modifies things to achieve maximum efficiency, not middling with things.

Principle #8
A leader sees a disappointment as a challenge to be faced. He attacks from the convinced side. He moves with a great and excessive confidence when pursuing a set target. He is always tending in the direction which naturally or arbitrarily is taken to indicate increase, progress and onward motion.

Principle #9
An effective leader must have integrity and morally sound. An undivided, unbroken completeness and totality must be found in him. He says a thing and keeps to that which he says. Not easily influenced or convinced, yet having in mind the best interest of the people he leads. He builds trust and excellence in the people he leads, making him more efficient and effective.

Principle #10
As a leader you must worthy of trust. He must be trustworthy, taking responsibility for his conduct and obligations. What he does must be in conformity to reality and actuality. He must be consistent with fact and reality. He must be worthy of being dependable, having a genuine and reliable display of action.