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5 things you should probably leave off your resume

entrepreneur.com

We are always being told what to include on our resume, but there are things we ought to leave off as well. More is sometimes just more - not necessarily useful, and some items can be exhibited more clearly and concisely, as well as projected more professionally.

As per The Balance, "Recruiters can take as little as thirty seconds to conduct an initial review of your resume. You should avoid cluttering your document with unnecessary information which might make it harder for the employer to find the most qualifying elements of your background."

Redo your resume by letting go of fillers and wording that doesn't represent the best version of yourself and your accomplishments. Potential employers will be impressed with you before they even meet you in person!

thriverecruits.com

An Objective

Many resumes start off with an objective, which usually consists of a generalized statement that nearly anyone would agree is sensible, but not specific. "I'm seeking to grow with your company," or "I will use my education and experience to excel at a new position," are not particularly useful or give any indication of how you'll add value to the business.

The Muse suggests an alternative. "Craft an executive summary or 'Who I Am' section that showcases your overarching value proposition and speaks directly to the stuff you know the target audience is going to care the most about. This is your chance to make it clear you're a strong fit."

This summary of qualifications, "encompasses your skills, abilities, professional expertise, and what makes you most suitable for the position," as per The Balance.

"Big" Words

Stick to the facts of what you have done thus far using simple and straightforward language that gets the point across clearly. Now is not the time to show off your broad vocabulary or former spelling bee champ internal word database. All this will do is become a distraction, making your resume harder to read, not to mention, borderline obnoxious.

According to The Muse, "Using non-conversational words doesn't make you look smart; it makes you look like someone who spends too much time in a thesaurus."

Let your background speak for itself. If you need to adorn your experiences with "bells and whistles," perhaps you need to rework how you layout your past responsibilities, so they reflect your work ethic and valuable skills and experience.

Insignificant Jobs

Depending upon how long you have been in the workforce, there may not be a need to list every job you've ever had. If you are applying for a senior-level position, those two months of scooping ice cream the summer after college aren't going to sweeten the deal.

According toU.S. News & World Report, "Short-term jobs raise red flags for hiring managers, who will wonder if you were fired, couldn't do the work, or had trouble getting along with co-workers. Plus, a few months on a job won't typically be useful in showing any real accomplishments or advancement anyway."

The Muse adds, "Unless something you did more than 12-15 years ago is vital for your target audience to know about, you don't need to list the entry-level job or internship you held in 1994. It's totally OK to leave some of the life history off."

Personal Info

While a resume is all about you, it must be related to work experience specifically. This is not your mini-autobiography. Not only can adding non-professional info be "TMI," but it may make your resume super-long and difficult to peruse.

For instance, asInc. suggests, "Don't list hobbies on your resume--save these for interview conversation. And any awards you list should be from community service or previous work." Even more importantly, "Don't include things like date of birth, ethnicity, religious affiliations (unless the job you're going for is somehow related), reasons for leaving your previous job, specific street addresses, or phone numbers of previous employers."

Additionally, "Unless you're applying for a job as a model or actor, photos of yourself have no place on your resume. Since your appearance has nothing to do with your ability to do the job, including a photo comes across as naive and unprofessional," notes U.S. News & World Report. The interviewer will have plenty of time to see your face if you are asked to meet in person.

Silly/Unprofessional Email Address

If you still have that same email account from high school or college made up from a nickname or something silly, stupid, or scandalous, now's the time to get a brand new professional email address. Start things off on the right foot without embarrassment or being passed over altogether.

As Inc. recommends, "[email protected]," may have been fun to use at one point in your life, but in the professional world, it's a miss.

And perhaps an even worse idea is to use an email address from your current place of employment, as noted by The Muse. "Nothing says, 'I job search on company time' quite like using your current work email address on a resume. Unless you own the company, it's poor form to run your job search through your company's email system."

If you still think your resume can use some fine-tuning and refreshing, let TopResume take care of your resume for you. Get a free expert review, career advice, or have them rewrite your resume for you. TopResume guarantees they will get you two times more job interviews within 60 days by signing up with one of theirresume packages.

Revamp that resume and get the job you're seeking. Good luck!

entrepreneur.com

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Taking a Lower Salary Can Pay Off In the Long Run

If you'd tell most people that accepting a salary that's less than what they'd hoped for would be beneficial, they would probably look at you in disbelief. Most of us work, in part, to get paid, and the bigger the paycheck, the better.

But there may be circumstances where the salary offer is not what you expected – it's lower. Before you nix the idea of accepting a lower-paying job, take these payoffs into account. While your bank account may not grow as quickly as you'd like it to, you can still be rewarded in other ways.

1. More Respected Job Title

There will hopefully come a time when your manager feels the time is right to promote you to a higher and more meaningful role within the company. But not every company has the budget to up your salary as well.

Accept the offer and gain more respect amongst your co-workers and clients. Show that you're in it to win it, and you have long-term aspirations within the company or in that particular field in general.

Salary.com notes, "It also allows you to negotiate a higher wage after a performance review, and to ask for more money when you start looking for a new job."

Update yourLinkedIn profile and the new job title alone can open up new doors with exciting possibilities. So even though you didn't see an instant salary hike, with time, things will fall into place and quite likely into your bank account.

2. Better Benefits

A significant payment isn't always in the form of a direct salary. Benefits provided by an employer can be real money-savers that balance out a lower-than-desired monthly paycheck.

As per The Balance, "A company's benefits could easily outweigh the difference in weekly paychecks. Possibly the company has better health insurance, or offers on-site childcare for free." Salary adds, "Your salary might allow you to wind up breaking even—or even earning more than if you had to pay out-of-pocket for those items yourself."

Heck, they don't call them "benefits" for nothing!

3. Depends Where You Live

A paycheck in a remote town in Nebraska will go a heck of a lot further than it will in Manhattan. Location is a key component as to how much you should be willing to accept and still have a stable and satisfactory quality of life.

Perhaps a company will pay to relocate you to someplace where the cost of living is low. Not only will you gain new experiences and head out on new adventures, but you won't require as much money to have the things you desire. As Salary notes, "Making $80,000 in New York City but paying an exorbitant mortgage or rent could leave you poorer than if you took the same job somewhere else with much more affordable housing costs."

Additionally, if you already live in an area where the cost of living is lower than a major metropolis, don't compare average salaries across the country. As long as you can afford the way of life you're comfortable with, there's no need to squabble over a few extra bucks. Getting more for your money is a payoff in itself.

4. Work Remotely

When it comes to working from home part or all of the time, a reduction in salary will pay off in the forms of less stress and increased productivity. The lower salary will make up for itself in the now gone travel expenses, lack of need for an expensive work wardrobe, more time for sleep, and less interruption.

According to Salary, "Those who have a remote job can potentially save upwards of $11,000 annually on everything from commuting costs, office attire, and even lunches. So factor in those unseen but significant savings when you consider the salary on the table."

Working remotely can help one attain a more balanced way of being. As per The Balance, "Many people are willing to work for less payer if the trade-off is a better work-life balance, lower stress levels, a better schedule, or even a shorter (or no) commute."

Working from home is a dream come true for some and well worth a lower paycheck thanks to the many perks.

Don't give up your dream job, or at least a good one, based on salary alone. Keep these factors in mind when you're going through the hiring process and realize what makes "cents" for the time being.

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How to Hire a Manager You Can Trust

Small business owners are wise to be jacks of all trades. It's helpful to have a base knowledge of accounting, law, and marketing, even if their true passions lie elsewhere. And until they reach a certain breaking point, a single-person business is a smart way to keep down overhead and reap all the (eventual) profit. But what happens when entrepreneurs are working twenty-hour days and need twelve cups of coffee to stay alert enough to answer the phone? What they need is trustworthy employees and an excellent manager, so that they can focus on the stuff they were born to do.

The scary part is finding the right team. It's kind of like hiring a nanny to watch your young child for the first time. Are good references and a good interview enough to prove that your precious cargo will be in excellent care? A good manager will instill this trust almost immediately. Here are some tips on how to recognize a partner that will be with you for the long haul.

They don't flower you with empty and general phrases.

Job interviews, even though we might like to think so, are not representative of how an employee will behave at all times. Know that potential managerial candidates will be pulling out all of their tricks to get noticed. But it's up to a good employer to be able to parse conversation for disingenuous or negative words as well as body language. They could fulfill a number of generic "good" qualities like a high level of experience and creativity, but what will make them stand out is if they not only talk about their own accomplishments, but talk about how they want to help the company. They need to demonstrate familiarity with the history of your business and professional endeavors, and a specific interest in this sector (and you).

Empty phrases such as, "I was asked to do a number of leadership tasks at which I excelled" are yawn-worthy. A manager will not tell you how they will behave in this position, but will show you.

They also have to have a team-oriented spirit, rather than an individual one. According to Forbes's Jacob Morgan, the model is changing from a hierarchy to a level playing field: "In the past managers said 'jump' and the employees said, 'how high?' Now, the managers are jumping with employees." You will be able to recognize this ability in your potential manager if he or she mentions words like "we" and "team" instead of solely, "I." It's important that your manager is a leader, but also that he or she appreciates the importance of business development: that ultimately, your success is dependent on more than one person.

They share your ambitions and goals.

Your manager doesn't have to, and should not, be your clone. But he or she should share your business ethics and values, and see the same end goal. You want to find someone that will be on your side, though disagreement should not be seen as a negative. In fact, finding someone that will disagree with you on certain points can be a ripe opportunity to explore new avenues and test new strategies you couldn't have thought up on your own. We seek romantic partners that share our values but that are not the same as us. We should look at our business partners with these same criteria in mind.

If you are an employer that avoids confrontation, it will be a good idea to seek a manager that is direct and who efficiently (and peacefully) passes down concerns to employees. Know your weaknesses and seek out a person that will make up for them.

Sharing ambitions and goals for the company will allow you to confide in your manager freely, and perhaps even consider making him or her a business partner or successor to the business in due course.

They can relate to and inspire their team.

A manager is only as good as how much respect he or she has. That means, a manager cannot work in a vacuum. Having "people skills" is not enough for someone that will stick around for long. He or she has to connect to their team so that they feel always encouraged and motivated to perform. By employing concrete deliverables and making informed decisions, a manager can both increase the efficiency of his or her team and make meaningful relationships.

According to Aaron Schwartz of Modify Watches, "empathy" is one of the most important qualities when looking for an exceptional manager. He says, "Strong managers work well with their teams to set priorities, and then encourage their direct reports to go execute them...It's critical that a manager cares about her team—and that the team knows this—to keep everyone positive and working together." And we all know that a happy group of employees is one ingredient to a successful business.

Hiring a manager is a huge job, but the rewards will be fruitful. Knowing that you can trust someone to take care of the daily tasks while you map out the future of the business is an invaluable resource.

For more on how to get there, click here.

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5 Types Of Employees You Need For Your Small Business

If you are putting together a tight staff for your small business, it's important to have the right mix of employees you can count on. Of course, each member of your team needs to be well-suited for their specific job at hand, but it's key to have a potpourri of personalities and skill sets to create a workplace ambiance that jives while saving you time and money. With these 5 types of employees on the roll, you'll be secure in knowing the job will get done and your small business will become a well-oiled machine that will get better and better with every move these people make both individually and as a team.

The Showman

You may be the boss, but it's important to have another person on the team who is a born leader too. Investing a little more in someone who's well-seasoned and can teach other staff members the ropes is highly valuable for the bottom line. The "showman" will be able to take charge, yet offer advice and direction to the rest of the group with strategies that have worked before. Think of the showman as you're #2 guy or gal, so if you're able to spend a little more salary-wise to get this person on board, the payoff will be worth it. Entrepreneur backs this up, "Having an employee that wants to share their knowledge with others can take a load off small-business owners' minds. It can eliminate the extra cost of hiring outside trainers and offers a layer of institutional knowledge that only people on the inside of a company possess." According to Salary.com, "Leaders are excellent for successfully taking charge of projects or teams. Talent is one thing, but you need someone who can harness that talent and manage it to achieve the best results." Let the showman show you what they've got, and he or she will help the team rise to the top.

The Sponge

Whether an intern or newbie to your general field or the workforce as a whole, it's always a plus to have someone on your team who's eager to learn and prove they've got the chops to get ahead. The "sponge" is always ready to listen and apply what they've absorbed to good use for the company. As long as there is passion and drive, the sponge is one of the best types of employees to have on the force, especially if they grow with the company. When you have invested in a person who's craving knowledge and not trying to outdo the others just for the sake of it, you've got a diamond in the rough on board. This person may help you out financially if they've started at the bottom, but if they help make the company stronger, it will pay out for you both in the end. As Entrepreneur notes, "They want to continue learning, whether it's on the job, through extra training courses or even graduate school. This type of attitude is something that can rub off on other employees and perhaps inspire them to further their education in some way." When the whole team's inspired to be the best version of themselves, you're bound to achieve.

The Wearer of Many Hats

While having dedicated employees who are experts in their area of specialty is crucial, there's always room for that special someone who's great at lots of things and is willing to pitch in when and where it's needed. Versatility is a hot commodity for a small business thanks to the problem-solving capacities and usefulness the "wearer of many hats" beholds. Bosses can save time and money by putting their minds toward the sweeping business needs and let this person handle the minutia of day-to-day necessities. Entrepreneur confirms, "People who can dabble in several different areas of the company – pinch-hitters – can be immensely valuable. Small-business owners can become overwhelmed at the sheer amount of work to do at various points throughout the year, with limited staff to tap into to get it all done. So, with others to juggle some of the duties, owners can focus on growth and strategy."

The Cheerleader

When a bunch of people are working for a small company, things can get rough. There is often so much to do, and at times with limited resources. Morale can dip without that perky person keeping things cheerful and in perspective. Sometimes the company owner is swamped and cannot give that 'pat on the back' to everyone for every milestone reached. While the "cheerleader" may not make or save money directly, by keeping the team energized, production will stay on track and positivity will prevail, making employees happier with their atmosphere and willing to go the extra mile. And this will make you money in the end.

The Creative One

In our overly technological world, "techies" are highly sought after for all types of small businesses, and for good reason. Every company wants to stay ahead of the curve on what's new and trendy for plugged-in consumers. That said, don't leave out the creative types. These out-of-the-box thinkers can help make your company stand out from the rest with innovative ideas and interesting outlooks on projects and plans. As Salary.com says, "Companies need creative individuals to assist them in navigating the ever-evolving world of technology. Companies can't afford to rest on their laurels these days, and the innovators are the ones who propel everyone else forward." So be sure to blend your team with those who use different sides of their brain for smart ideas for your company. It only takes one brilliant idea to make your small business explode!

Make sure your small business staff includes these 5 prominent types and you'll be covered when it comes to your demanding needs as you navigate through new steps in the business world.


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