Have you been unemployed and job hunting longer than you care to admit? If so, it’s time to stop what you’re doing and make a few changes. Below are ways to keep your job search alive and sales resume writing tips from top online resume critique services.

Tips to Keep Your Job Search Alive

To end your joblessness, here are a few ways to make yourself standout and impress hiring managers as shared by top firms of online resume critique.

1. Keep yourself busy to fill the gaps in your work history.

Being unemployed shouldn’t mean you’re idle and doing nothing during the time you should be in a job. Then again, keep busy to make yourself sane and to prove you’re still active during your unemployment period.

Look for freelance or volunteer work, in or out your industry, that can add value to your resume. Likewise, hone your skills or improve your education by taking online or school-based classes.

2. Treat the search as a job.

Even if you’re busy filling gaps in your work history, never forget your top priority is to find a job. In addition, on top of your freelance or volunteer work, spend a part of your day job hunting. Further, devote a specific time to search job boards, LinkedIn, and other websites.

Other job search activities include resume editing, researching and attending industry events, and reaching out to employers and/or professional contacts.

3. Continue to expand your network.

Even if you have strong professional connections from earlier job(s), doubling your networking efforts to boost your hiring chances is still a good idea. Otherwise, use every avenue you can find, from online networking and joining professional groups to targeting companies of interest, and then contact them.

In addition, you can use your social media accounts to build networks or even ask for informational interviews. Tell everyone you know you’re available and what position you seek. In particular, you can contact recruiters, too, who specialize in your field because they can help you find positions unknown to you.

4. Help fellow job seekers.

In your job search, better stay positive and professional. Further, this includes reaching out to and supporting your fellow job seekers in your time of transition.

View your joblessness as a chance to learn more about yourself and others. Besides, finding a job and networking is a two-way street. The more you engage and help others, the more you’ll feel empowered in your search, gain credibility, and get help.

5. Expand your options.

If looking for a specific job title doesn’t work for the last six months, maybe it’s time to loosen up your job search criteria. Further, adjust your goals for and definition of success. Consider a wider range of opportunities, and open yourself to positions you may have ignored or rejected then.

6. Always follow up on your application.

Meanwhile, after an interview, send a thank you note to the hiring manager and a follow-up email when you don’t hear from him/her within a time frame. For sure, you don’t want to flood your future boss with daily emails, but being proactive will show your enthusiasm and interest in the job.

Tips from Online Resume Critique Providers

Once you reach the six-month mark, employers will notice your growing resume gap. You may get tough questions, too. Hence, now is the right time to tackle these questions and concerns by adjusting your resume. For most firms, that offer online resume critique services, these writing tips will help you boost your sales resume.

1. Contact Information

Your personal or contact info should be easy to spot in your resume. This section should have your name, address, and 2-3 methods of contact. These may include your cell number, home number, email account, and social media accounts’ URLs you’re comfortable to share, such as LinkedIn, with a hiring manager.

2. Qualifications Summary

For those with spotty work record and employment gaps, the qualifications summary section is an ideal way to start your sales resume. In particular, it lets you downplay your work history, and focus more on how you can gain from and add value to your target company.

Place this section right below your name and contact info. Further, since this part sums up your skills and experience, it should include 4-5 examples of the most relevant achievements to your target job.

3. Relevant Skills

The key to an effective skills section is to choose at least three relevant abilities to your target job first. Then, for each one, come up with 3-4 bullet points that will prove your talent.

When you add numbers that can instill confidence in the employer’s mind, you can meet what the job requires. Add at least one quantified bullet for each skill to grab the hiring manager’s attention.

Likewise, you can use jargons and keywords from the job post to connect with and pass most applicant tracking systems.

4. Relevant Work Experience

If you’re someone with multiple jobs in the last few years, recruiters may not hire you at once. Instead, they may see you as someone often fired by employers or one who loves job-hopping. Thus, listing every position in your resume can be overkill and may cause you more harm than good.

Further, your work history should go in the order of relevance rather than chronology. Highlight those that qualify you for the target position. Drop the ones that will get the least attention. Otherwise, if you have employment gaps, expect and prepare to discuss them in the interview.

One crucial technique is to list a record of your sales achievements under your work experience section. Under each employer and position, create a brief paragraph that highlights your responsibilities and place a bulleted list of your top achievements. Likewise, make sure they’re countable and go beyond just stating the results by describing how you achieved them.

5. Training and Certifications

Most firms want their people to master various sales strategies and improve their skills through seminars and training. So, if you already have them, flaunt them. Show you’re up-to-date and keen on honing your skills. These achievements will make you more appealing than those who have less training and experience.

6. Education

For a functional sales resume, the education section covers the basics. Unless your field relates right to your target job, just place the name of the university/college, city and state, degree you received, and year you graduated.

To Sum up Everything

An effective sales resume must ooze confidence, showing you as the job seeker that matches the needs of the employer. In as fast as 10 seconds, your resume must explain why the hiring manager must contact you, schedule you for an interview, and consider you for the post. So, before you use your resume, follow this guide or subscribe to a comprehensive online resume critique to learn the flaws in your job hunt tool and improve it.

Aside from resume writing, Resume Professional Writers offers free comprehensive resume review service. To get this feature, call us at 1 (800) 845-0586, or chat with our career specialists.

Sources: www.businessnewsdaily.com | www.thebalance.com | www.monster.com | careerprocanada.ca | www.themuse.com