Top 5 Job Application Mistakes to Avoid

In the entire span of your adult life, you may have filled out many job applications. However, it is possible that you have made some very common mistakes. No, completing an application is not rocket science. However, there are certain rules of etiquette that apply and there are specific ways to phrase things in order to sound like a more appealing candidate. Below are the top five job application mistakes that you can easily avoid.

1. Not Following Directions – Something as simple as “Last Name First” can be easily overlooked by an applicant. However, employers notice when you do not follow instructions, as it may reflect on your ability to follow instructions on the job.

1. Spelling Mistakes – If you are completing a job application by hand and do not have the convenience of a spellchecker, then stay away from big words you aren’t sure about. Not all of us are spelling bee champs and there is nothing wrong with that. However, spelling words incorrectly on a job application looks unprofessional.

1. Scribbling Out Words – If you are completing an application in person, you will only have one chance to get it right. (Asking for another application because you “messed up” is not a good idea.) If you misspell a word or make a mistake, do not fret. Instead, you should draw a clean, horizontal line through that word. Never scribble things out in a messy fashion.

1. Incompletion – Always hand in a complete application, leaving no blanks on the form. Employers would not include these questions on the application if they weren’t important to them. If some questions do not apply to you, simply add “Not Applicable” or “N/A.”

1. Using Negative Phrases – For obvious reasons, employers regard phrases like “I quit,” “I was fired” and “I was terminated” as red flags. If a job application asks for your reason for leaving, simply add “Job Ended” if you were fired.

Avoiding the common mistakes above can greatly increase your chances of being short listed for a position. Even if you have perfected a professional resume, some human resources departments insist that applicants complete a job application. Therefore, you should take the same care when filling out an application as you did when creating your resume.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on the subject of becoming a pediatric nurse. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

Writing a resume - where to start. Part 4

Writing a resume using this easy approach will now let you focus on the last two remaining pieces, namely: the summary statement, and your achievement statements.

So which do you approach first?

Here’s my suggestion: since your summary statement is a distillation of all your achievements, start with your achievement statements first.

Once you have all your achievement statements written, you’ll find writing your summary statement easier.

Remember, your achievement statements need to start with a powerful action verb (full list here) and include a numeric measure of that achievement (e.g. 20% improvement or doubled sales etc…).

Each achievement statement will tell the reader what skills you used, and it’s when you look back over all these skills you’ll see common themes emerge. This way, when you write your summary statement it will be aligned with your achievements.

But what if you wanted to write your summary statement first, and then write your achievements? that’s ok., just make sure that your summary statement speaks to your achievement statements and vice versa.

What I mean by that? probably best if I use an example:

Say your summary statement speaks to you being a great supervisor, when you write the achievement statements, they need to show your skill in supervising others and the achievements you and the team had.

One last tip, don’t feel constrained to just write one achievement statement, or summary statement for that matter, write as many as you want to describe the same thing. You can always pick and choose which ones to use later. For now, just write as many as you can.

Writing a resume - where to start. Part 3

As you’ve probably gathered, the approach I’m using in this series (part 1 here, part 2 here) is to build up to the more difficult pieces and to leave them till the end.

The easier portions of your resume you can add easily, and will help with the writing more difficult elements (e.g. achievement statements and summary statement). We’re not quite finished with the easier items yet there are still some others we can add.

Depending on the type of work you do there maybe specific skills you always use and employers are looking for. These are the tools of your trade, or the software/hardware you work with and know. (for example, Ms Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access etc…).

If you can list four or more of these items, then you can include these Key Skills or Technical skills on the resume too. It’s usually a good idea to put these in a section of their own, so they stand out. Putting the section at the top of the resume makes sure it’s one of the first things the reader sees.

Rather than just including everything in a list, think about formatting them in two columns like this:
Example

Ms Windows	Word
Excel	Powerpoint
Access	Outlook

Or if you have items that can be grouped together consider using the Technical Skills approach where you group your list of items:

Example

Languages:	C, C++, C#, VB, Java, JavaScript, J2EE, XML, HTML
Web Technologies:	HTTP, ASP, CSS, AJAX
Databases:	dBase, SQL Server, Oracle, MS Access, Sybase, MySQL
Operating Systems:	MS Windows, UNIX, Linux, OS/2, Solaris

Writing a resume - where to start. Part 2

So you took the plunge and started writing your resume.

You’ve added the easy stuff such as your:

1. Contact information
2. Education
3. Employers
4. positions and dates

So what do you add next?

How about some supportive information like places you’re a volunteer, or are a member.
These are fairly easy to add, you may not actually have any to add, which is OK.

When you’re going through the list of possibilities, keep in mind only list those that bolster and support your resume and the type of position your applying to.

Here are some suggestions for additional supporting information to add:

1. Membership and Affiliations
   
2. Volunteering
3. Publications
4. Licenses
5. Certificates

Writing a resume - where to start.

The news has been full of recession talk over the last few month, and you may already have started to think about taking steps to be ready, just in case.

If all you’ve done to date is thinking, CONGRATULATIONS! it’s a good start, at least you’re not burying your head in the sand about things.

I bet the first thing on your list is to update your resume.

And I bet (double or quits) you haven’t quite gotten round to start writing your resume yet.

Sure it’s a big job, it’s important, but let’s face it, cranking open Word and writing your resume just doesn’t motivate you.

So how about you do it in some nice easy steps - no need to stress yourself about having to get it all done in one go.

So here’s my suggestion:

Start with the basic stuff you don’t need to think too much about, like your contact information, your education, the employers and the positions you’ve had. That’s pretty straight forward, right?

When you add your information to the Resume builder in Isabont, The resume is broken down into sections, adding your information is as simple as filling in a few boxes.

So go right ahead, sign up for a free account in Isabont and start writing your resume the easy way.

Does this mean I’m famous now?

Bruno Langlais from Intruders.TV interviewed me the other week.

Here’s the link Http://us.intruders.tv/Simon-Clay-Michael-Founder-of-Isabont-a-web-organiser-for-job-seekers_a208.html

All that glitters is not gold…

After a 6 month stint as an independent contractor doing recruiting/sourcing work, my neighbor and good friend, landed what seemed to be the best job ever. Work from home 75% of time, flexible working hours, good salary and benefits, established and small dynamic recruiting firm, expansion plans aligned with industries she wanted to learn. All in all, pretty darned perfect.

Without going into the sordid details they parted ways at the end of last year, after 6 months.

Chatting with her the other day about it all, it seemed obvious that the signs to “RUN AWAY - FAR FAR AWAY” had been there even before she started.

So how come she didn’t see the signs at the time, or was it something else?

It turns out it was a lot of somethings.

What was interesting was the “I knew that!” realizations she was having while we were chatting. These were things she knew about herself, but didn’t know she knew. Or at least hadn’t acknowledged them about herself.

The good news is that during all this time, she had still managed to keep in contact with some key contacts, and after only two weeks had another position lined up.

I’m sure there are many lessons she’ll take away from this, though the two that were immediately obvious were:

Don’t stop networking, a little is better than none at all.

If she had taken some time out to really think about what makes her tick, what she really likes doing and in what environment / situation, she could have saved herself a lot of time and anguish.

Most of all she wishes she’d taken a cold hard look at herself and the new job, and not the glitter.

Easier to find the best matching jobs

A neat improvement to let you know about.

We’ve upgraded the Job leads section. When you first access the page you now get all the new jobs in one long list.

If you’ve got more than one RSS feed set up, all the jobs are merged into one list sorted by the newest first.

To see just the results for one of the feeds, click the feed name on the right hand side.
The right hand side now acts as a filter for the new jobs listing.

If you have large number of job boards you’re tracking, using the filter lets you select a smaller set of matching jobs in case you don’t have the time to go through the whole list.

We got all the jobs - Indeed we do…

More news…. (we can’t contain ourselves?)

Yesterday was the announcment about the exciting changes to the Resume Builder.

Today is about the improvements we’ve made to the Automatic Job Leads section. Simply put, we now have all the job listings from major job boards, newspapers, associations and company career pages - Indeed we do.

How can we do this? - well we’re including jobs listing from Indeed. It’s easy to set up - as you can see above, just enter two fields and you will get all the jobs they’ve aggregated, and any new jobs automatically

If you have some Niche job boards your following (and they’re not included with the indeed jobs), you can still add them too. Just add their URL and we’ll go and get the feed for you.

There’s no limit to the number of job site feeds you can add

Just think how much time you’ll save and jobs you won’t miss, by not having to go to all those job sites individually.

See how easy it is to set up, check out the VIDEO

Or go right ahead, Sign up and try it for yourself.

Writing a resume just got easier

We’ve made writing a resume and cover letter even easier !

You told us you liked the simple to use forms and wizard approach but wanted to see how your resume looked as you’re writing it.

We’re excited to announce the NEW Resume Builder has been totally redesigned to do just that.

• You’ll still enter your details in the entry form, then click Save and
• Isabont formats the data in the style you’ve chosen so you can instantly see how it will look in the finished resume.
• Choose one of the other styles and the Resume builder changes too.

It’s like having the benefits of a word-processor without all the hassle.

But wait, that’s not all… (funny, I never thought I’d ever use those words !) you can now create and download a resume for FREE !

Yup, that’s right, we’ve made some changes to the Free subscription, and now you can write a Resume and Cover Letter and print/download them.

Want to see how easy it is, check out the VIDEO

Or go right ahead, Log In and try it for yourself.