In most cases, you'll apply for a job by emailing you résumé to a potential employer. Simple enough. It's the first set of things they'll learn about you and will make or break your chances of coming in for an in-person interview or be selected for an eagerly-awaited follow-up call.
If you get that far, it's surely the outcome you were seeking, but there's more. Even if you make it all the way to the finish line and are offered the job, next comes the nerve-wracking salary discussion. Fear not. You can instantly put yourself in a higher salary bracket by sprucing up your résumé to say, "Show me the money!"
Here are some tips to get the most bang for your buck with a résumé that stands out above the rest and let's your prospective employer know you're worth every penny. Make these changes and see the "change" in your paycheck!
Easy to Scan
While you need your résumé to include all the important points you want an employer to know, it's important that the high-level points are easily readable and quickly scanable at first glance.
As per Jessica Hernandez, Executive Résumé Writer as posted on LinkedIn, "Keep in mind that whoever reviews your résumé first will typically scan it for critical information. The first thing they'll look at it is your title/branding statement, bolded keywords, position titles, and dates. If they like what they see, they'll go through it again with a more-thorough read."
In other words, without getting right to the point clearly and concisely, you won't likely make it through round one. With no chance of having the final hiring manager see your résumé, your efforts will be wasted.
Hernandez adds, "Using a profile or career summary is gradually fading away. Instead, replace it with a branding snapshot or profile snapshot. Write the newsworthy information in short, impactful statements or with as few words as possible so they can get the facts immediately."
Money Crashersadds, "With dozens or hundreds of résumés crossing the desk of an employer, your résumé needs to be logical, concise, and easy to read in order to help the hiring manager or recruiter find the important information as quickly as possible. You have 30 seconds at most to grab their attention, and to get the company to put your résumé into the 'interview' pile."
Not only will this make your organizational skills and accolades stand out, but your ability to garner positive attention is an attribute employers look for. This type of go-getter, no-nonsense sensibility makes for a valuable employee that is worth their time and money.
For more detail on how to make your résumé easy to skim, check out The Muse's "12 Tiny Changes that Make Your Résumé Easy for Recruiters to Skim."
Spell Check and Format
Something as simple as a misspelling or a poorly laid-out résumé can be the difference from landing the job and missing out on something you're qualified for. Don't let laziness or carelessness interfere with your other redeeming and outstanding experience and characteristics. A hiring manager will take note of such easy-to-remedy errors and can deem you as absent-minded or irresponsible. But you do make it past the first test even with such errors, when it comes to salary negotiation, you'll put yourself in the "indifferent" box automatically.
Money Crashers notes, "Make sure your résumé does not have any grammatical or spelling errors before you send it to prospective employers. Use spell check, but also enlist a few friends or family members to review your résumé. Receiving a promising résumé riddled with errors frustrates hiring managers and recruiters. The résumé appears sloppy and hastily prepared." Not something that will give you any sort of edge when it comes to beating out your competition or negotiating your potential salary. Attention to detail is seriously valuable to any business.
As far as formatting goes, keep your résumé as concise as possible. Rid it of very old jobs that were short-lived and don't benefit your overall chances of getting this new job. U.S. News & World Report suggests shortening the résumé, "If your résumé is multiple pages, you might be diluting the impact of its contents. With a shorter résumé, you'll ensure that in an initial quick scan, the hiring manager's eyes fall on the most important things. Plus, long résumés can make you come across as someone who can't edit and doesn't know what information is essential and what's less important. As a general rule, your résumé shouldn't be longer than two pages, maximum."
That said, Money Crashers advises, "Don't sacrifice quality for brevity." If you have a world of noteworthy experience, share it. Just keep things as brief as you can while still getting the major details across. Be sure to keep your résumé updated and relevant as well as tailored to the job you want. Employers will know if you've sent the same exact résumé out dozens of times to different HR departments with no specific tweaks to show you've fine-tuned yours for their unique position. This minor, yet important attention to detail can give you the extra oomph when it comes to money talks.
Quantify Your Work
Along with showcasing your previous experience and education, if possible and applicable, highlight how you helped your prior employers make money for the company and the impact your hard work made. This will immediately show the hiring manager that you've got the goods as well as the know-how to make a positive change for their company. Knowing that you have the capability to make money will be an incentive for the employer to give you a higher salary, thanks to the returns they can expect from having you on their team.
ASME, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers recommends to, "Include and highlight specific achievements that present a comprehensive picture of your marketability. Quantify your achievements to ensure greater confidence in the hiring manager and thereby generate interest percentages, dollars, number of employees, etc. Work backwards to quantify your accomplishments by asking, 'If I had not done X, what could have happened?'"
Hernandez agrees, "Share a challenge/situation/problem, the action you took to address it, and the result. Write the result by sharing how it positively impacted your employer or client. These statements make an impact, tell a story, and give the reader context. When writing your career history it's best to lead with the result/impact to the client or employer because this is usually quantifiable."
Along with quantifying your work, include other aspects of your life that can show the hiring manager that you have the skills and history to help take their company to a new level. Perhaps you've served as President of a debate team or lead a Scouts' troop to aid in making the community better.
It's also wise to include other skills that give you more of an advantage vs. others up for the job such as special tech or coding knowledge, an accounting or artistic background, or public relations experience. Your unique and marketable qualities will make an employer open to paying a higher salary for a person with versatility.
Are you ready to make your résumé top-notch? The effort to update and perfect this valuable document is well worth the better salary it will help you obtain.
Every time payday rolls around, I’m on top of the world. Jeff Bezos-level rich - even though I’m anything but. And then somehow the very next day, rent is due.
The cycle continues. The next payday, bills for my apartment. I find myself without a surplus of savings since I just moved and newly-furnished my apartment completely.
Even more terrifying is the looming presence of the holiday season. Halloween’s officially over and before we know it, hello Thanksgiving…and then there’s Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s. It’s insane.
I’ve been feeling very British lately. Not in a Union-Jack-obsessed, “Keep Calm and Carry-On” way. I went through that phase in 2012 with everyone else… no thank you. And it’s not even a surge of patriotism catalyzed by the Queen dying — I’m firmly team Diana and team Meghan.
Now that fall is officially here, the holidays will sweep in and I’ll have to contend with the fact that I won’t be spending them with my family in the UK. I went home to London earlier this year, so there’s not much left in my travel budget for another trip across the pond. A few domestic jaunts might be in my future, but the closest I’ll get to England this winter is watching Love Island and Love, Actually.
So in that spirit, I’ve been filling my days with content from my favorite Brits. I’m listening to all the old British rock bands I grew up listening to, patiently awaiting the new Arctic Monkeys album, and rewatching anything with Michaela Coel in it. I even shipped myself an order of British Baked Beans, so you know it’s dire.
I’ve also been watching British YouTubers like Grace Beverley — my favorite. Generally, I only go on YouTube to watch Vogue Beauty Secrets and AD Open Door videos. But I’m so glad I stumbled on Grace. Her content is a mix of London lifestyle (what lured me in), relatable entrepreneurship, and mindful productivity. I’m not a hustle-and-grind-girlboss, but as a creative person in a 9-to-5, I need all the help I can get to stay plugged in. So, the video “how to be really really really productive without getting overwhelmed” changed my approach to WFH.
Grace outlines her own productivity method: the to-do table. Instead of making a simple to-do list, she divides her tasks into a table that anyone can follow. As someone who’s survived with to-do lists for years, I recently implemented Grace’s method, and it’s revolutionized my workdays.
how to be really really really productive without getting overwhelmedwww.youtube.com
I follow her routine to a tee. Here’s how it works:
Essentially, she divides her daily responsibilities into four categories: quick ticks, tasks, projects, and non-negotiables.
- Quick Ticks: Actions that take less than 5-minutes
- Tasks: To-do’s that take up to 30-minutes. Probably don’t take too much brain energy.
- Projects: Long-term list items. These help guide your priorities, even if you’re not crossing them off in one day.
- Non-negotiables: Pick 3 things each day that you must get done. This is how you’ll truly measure success.
With everything written down and sorted, next address your schedule. Meetings, deadlines, and time blocks — whatever works best for you. Write it down. Then make a pact with yourself to stick to them.
This way of categorization provides a roadmap for prioritizing your day — making you far more productive. Have you ever spent the entire day on small tasks and then suddenly realized you hadn’t moved the needle on any task? Or do you spend way too much time on tasks that aren’t a priority? No more. With your non-negotiables laid out, you know what to laser-focus on and what to dedicate energy towards.
Also, it pays to know your working style. I’m not a morning person. Yet, I have to be up and at ‘em super early. So, first thing in the morning, I march through my Quick Ticks to warm me up. I set a time limit, so I can knock out some easy wins which is totally inspiring. Then I move on to bigger things without lingering on emails or admin. For others, it might be more helpful to tackle the big things with all that early-in-the-day brain power earlier.
Grace has great tips on avoiding overwhelm and burnout. My favorite is taking more intentional breaks rather than scrolling through social media. I call this scrolling “productive” because I’m “coming up with pitches.” Oh, the lies we tell ourselves. It’s more productive in the long run to giving my brain a break with non-screen related stimuli.
Grace’s solution? Set a timer to read a real, an actual book. I’ve never thought of this. It’s a genius way to check off some books on my TBR and kickstart my creativity. After reading a good book, I’m completely inspired to write. So having books near my desk helps me step away from the computer during my lunch break for an actual reset. (And yes, the current books I’m reading are by British authors: Assembly by Natasha Brown, and Love in Color: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold by Bolu Babalolu.)
In my pursuit of switching out my WFH set-up and getting my life together, I’ve engineered my workstation for success. With my new WFH essentials and Grace’s productivity technique, I’m revitalized for work — despite the fall blues and my melancholy about the pending holidays.
Here are the things getting me hyped for work and helping me crush my Grace Beverley-inspired to-do tables — no lists in sight:
Southwest Airlines Sale 2022
Pack your bags — Southwest Airlines is having a major sale! Fares are as low as $59 one-way if you book by October 3rd.
This end-of-summer super sale is a game-changer for your travel plans through the end of the year. Summertime travel gets all the glory. But why not take advantage of your long weekends, holidays, and PTO this fall. You’ll be surprised at how much travel you can fit in. Keep the fall/winter season exciting with domestic trips that give you all the excitement without breaking the bank. All thanks to Southwest.
Here’s the breakdown:
Where can you go?
You’ll find discounted tickets to and from most airports. Sale fares apply to cross country travel, and even Hawaii, Mexico, and the Caribbean! Whether you’re visiting a new city or revisiting your last beach vacation, this sale has fares to make your travel dreams come true.
What do the fares cover?
Southwest Airlines has multiple fare tiers, each with various benefits. Wanna Get Away fares start at $59, while Wanna Get Away Plus fares start at $89. You can also find great deals on Anytime fares, which offer priority boarding and express lanes. Then there’s Business Select tickets for a luxe experience at an affordable price point.
Do you have to be a Southwest Rapid Rewards member?
You may think these sale fares are too good to be true. Is there a catch? Do you have to be a Southwest Rapid Rewards member to access them? You’re in luck — anyone can attain these fares for a limited time.
But, insider tip, you should consider signing up for Southwest Rapid Rewards. With a free sign up, you earn points and miles with each trip you take. And with this sale, each dollar you spend on these discounted tix can stretch super far until you eventually earn free travel. The only thing better than a sale is free stuff.
So pack your bags and brace yourself for those chaotic airport lines. Everyone’s hopping on this deal so get on it. Don’t miss out — grab your sale tickets by October 3rd!
I’ve been browsing the Southwest Airlines site, checking out flights and dreaming.