The Three Fs of Resume Writing

The Three F's of Resume WritingThe three F's of resume writing is: Force, Funny and Frugal. These three F's should be the backbone of your resume.Force is the need to catch the attention of the employer, as this is the only way they will see that you are not a robot. Funny is the easiest one and can be used in most resumes. Frugal is the hardest to use, but is also necessary. Frugal is the side that is most overlooked when it comes to resume writing.Frugal is something you can do when you are looking for a job. This may seem to be the least creative on a resume, but it really isn't. Think about this, when a company advertises a position in the newspaper, they do not just go for the person who offers the highest offer.The real person that will get that job is the one that is willing to pay the true average salary that will fit in with the budget. That can easily be found on a resume with frugal resumes.If you are going to include a frugal line in your resume, then make sure that you p ut it in the end of the paragraph. Make sure you still have a reason for the position and what you can do for the company. You don't want to put down the salary or the company. This would be considered being too ambitious and looking for a job that can't happen.The frugal part is all in the ability to capture the employer's attention. It does not need to be fancy or elaborate. Just write what you can and you will look more impressive, not having to put the best in the resume. Aslong as you can apply the three F's in the resume, you will land that dream job and you will be proud of yourself.Resume writing is all about finding a balance. You have to find the best balance to make the most out of each and every section of the resume.

Retail Jobs That Pay More Than Minimum Wage

Retail Jobs That Pay More Than Minimum Wage I always find the correlation between good hourly pay and and strong customer service to be interesting. It seems the better taken care of the employees are (making decent wages and getting good benefits), the happier they’ll be at work. With that in mind, here are 11 places to work that not only have an average hourly pay rate over $10, but also offer pretty nice perks to boot. 1. ALDI Grocery Chain The ALDI grocery chain offers a very competitive salary and benefits package. According to Glassdoor.com, associates make on average $11.88 an hour, with store managers making in excess of $60,000 annually. They also offer a very good medical and dental plan for all full-time employees. The 401K contribution match at ALDI is dollar for dollar match on the first 5%. Additionally, part-time employees with at least 25 hours are eligible for medical/dental benefits. 2. Costco A job at Costco Wholesale has always been in high demand, and when you delve into their salary and benefits package, you start to understand why. The average cashier at Costco earns a very competitive $14.63 an hour and a stocker earns $13.34 hourly. Their excellent benefits package, which includes dental, vision, and medical, is available to both full and part-time employees. Full-time workers are eligible after 90 days of employment and part-timers after 180. More cool perks include Sunday overtime which starts at about $17.50/hour and a 401K program which matches your contribution at $0.50 for every dollar, up to $1,000, for your first year. Throw in a stock purchase plan that waives all fees and commissions and Costco can be a very lucrative place to work. Read More: 7 Employer Benefits That Can Leave More Spending Money in Your Pockets 3. HM Fashion HM hourly employees come in at about $10.95 per hour with a strong benefits package to both part-time and full-time employees. The fact that they offer medical and vision plans to ALL employees is what makes HM stand out from other clothing retailers. They then go one step further and offer perks like pet insurance, 401Ks with company match, life insurance, Metlife auto insurance, plus a liberal 25% employee discount on all in-store purchases. You’d be smart to add HM to your “must-apply” job list. 4. IKEA The Swedish furniture and home décor company known as IKEA can be a financially rewarding place to work. Their average pay for sales associates averages a solid $11 per hour. Also, if you work more than 20 hours per week, you’ll qualify for health benefits. All employees will qualify for a 401K plan (5% match), paid time off and a generous 15% employee discount even on clearance and “as-Is” products. 5. 6. Lowe’s and Home Depot I think it’s fair to group both Home Depot and Lowe’s together, as their salary and benefit packages are quite similar. The average customer service associate at Lowe’s earns a respectable $11.05 an hour, while Home Depot pays about $11.40 per hour. Both home improvement warehouses offer benefits packages that are fairly solid for full-time workers, but are quite expensive for part-time workers. As a matter of fact, part-time employees at Lowe’s have to pay for their entire first year health plan and 40% thereafter. Read More: 8 Terrible Work-From-Home “Jobs” You Should Avoid 7. Nike Store Nike Store employees are paid on average slightly above $10 an hour. Their benefits package is what makes them stand out. While full-timers are offered medical and dental shortly after employment, part-timers with at least one year of employment under their belts are offered a very competitive health coverage with a reasonable $1,000 deductible. Once your deductible is met, Nike will pay for 80% of any accrued medical costs. All employees are also offered a 15% discount toward the purchase of Nike stock. They also encourage their employees to buy Nike gear as they offer a 30% discount at the Nike Outlet and 20% off all purchases at NikeTown. 8. Nordstrom The average sales associate at Nordstrom makes about $11.70 an hour plus commission, which starts at 6.75% but can vary by department. Some savvy Nordstrom sales employees have even earned upwards of $1 million dollars annually. While it appears Nordstrom offered health benefits to part-timers at one point, this no longer seems to be the case. Only full-time employees are eligible for medical and dental these days. Also, all employees score a 20% discount on Nordstrom merchandise, and 33% when you reach management level. Not too shabby. Throw in a competitive 401K plan with company matching, and they are one of the most solid retail jobs going today. 9. REI Co-Op Hourly sales associates at REI make $11.40 on average, but it’s their commitment to employee satisfaction that’s remarkable. For example, on Black Friday last year, REI was one of only a couple large retailers that closed their doors and told their employees to stay home and spend time with family. They even offer workers two paid days off per year, called “Yay Days,” to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. They also offer a competitive benefits package that both part-time and full-time employees are eligible for. On top of that, all employees get a 50% discount on REI-branded products and 30% on all other brands. Toss in one of the better employee 401K plans, with 6% matching, and REI might be a smart place to apply. Read More: 22 Websites That Will Pay You to Write for Them 10. Trader Joe’s Right off the bat, Trader Joe’s is a highly desirable place to work as hourly employees make around $13.50 an hour. They are also one of the only grocery chains that offers health and dental benefits to part-time workers who work at least 30 hours a week. Work less than 30 hours a week, and they’ll cut out the medical coverage. Throw in a free gym membership after six months of employment, a 10% employee discount, and it’s no wonder that Trader Joe’s employees typically have smiles on their faces and a kind word to exchange with shoppers. 11. Whole Foods The average hourly rate for Whole Foods employees is a couple dollars less than Trader Joe’s at about $11.50 an hour. While expensive for part-timers, if you work at least 20 hours a week, you’ll be eligible for a high-deductible medical plan. They do beat Trader Joe’s when it comes to their 20% employee discount, which is a nice money-saving perk. Also, they have some cool employee perks like paid time-off, massage therapy, language classes, and even yoga classes. Update: This story has been updated with information on part-time worker benefits at Aldi.

Top 8 Job Search Trends For 2015 - Work It Daily

Top 8 Job Search Trends For 2015 - Work It Daily It’s that time of year when experts and surveys report trends for the New Year. Drawing key evidence from William Arruda’s Personal Branding Trends for 2015 and LinkedIn’s US Recruiting Trends: 3 Must-Know Talent Acquisition Trends for 2015, here are eight critical job search trends you will want to leverage to maximize your career this year. 1. Social Networking Continues To Dominate Social media skills continue to grow in importance throughout the labor market, not to mention in recruiting itself. LinkedIn reports that recruiters’ use of social networking increased a phenomenal 57% over the last four years, which means passive and active job seekers simply cannot afford to ignore this trend. When you combine that with the fact that 46% of US companies source talent via social networks, it becomes imperative that job seekers boost their social networking skills and the amount of time they spend on networks such as LinkedIn. It’s interesting to note that only 14% of US companies utilize staffing firms to find candidates, while only 38% of global companies source candidates through social networking and 32% do so through staffing organizations. 2. Job Search Outsourcing Emerges With personal outsourcing on the rise a la Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Work Week, more and more job seekers are employing private services domestically and internationally to manage portions of their job search for them. While job seekers cannot outsource interviewing and salary negotiations, they can outsource some networking activities, as well as social media marketing, company research, direct mail campaigns, and relationship management 3. Video Recruitment On The Rise Video has been increasingly in popularity for years now, and is fast approaching the point where job seekers need to seriously brainstorm ways to utilize it in their searches. Seventy-five percent of recruiters are already using video for recruitment purposes. If at all possible, find or create a short video (less than two minutes in length is ideal) to attach to your LinkedIn profile, for example. Use your video to showcase your career brand, experience, and history of achievements. Alternatively, focus on one or more of your key accomplishments to date and share it in CAR (Challenge-Action-Results) form. 4. Mobile Computing Drives Innovations As mobile device traffic grew 81% in 2013, it continues to drive the preference and need for short, lean text in job search-related communications such as emails, cover letters, resumes, bios, and LinkedIn messages. Cover letters, for example, should be shorter than 250 words and resumes are trending toward shorter summaries, paragraphs, and achievement bullets with less text density than was acceptable in the past. All of these same documents should be designed in mobile-ready formats. This means that any included photos, images, or graphs/charts should be suitable for mobile consumption. 5. Thought Leadership Via Content Development The launching of LinkedIn’s blogging platform offers job seekers an exceptional branding and thought leadership opportunity which eliminates the need for a separate personal blog. You can and should seriously consider publishing your original content or posting repurposed content via this platform to help drive more traffic to your LinkedIn profile. Keep in mind that LinkedIn profile’s have long claimed very high â€" typically top 10 â€" Google rankings, so you can expect your LinkedIn blogging content to help you attract the attention of more recruiters, companies, and hiring executives. 6. External Talent Opportunities Increasing One of the biggest shifts underway in the US economy is the movement toward outsourced employment. A survey by AICPA and CIMA revealed that 33% of respondents say at least half of their organization’s work force over the next five years be external talent in the form of consultants, contractors, freelancers, and outsource providers. The smart job seeker will take heed and begin preparing now. Collect experience marketable via consulting, contracting, or freelancing and start cultivating resume-enriching opportunities. 7. Companies Of Different Sizes Source Talent Differently It’s long been smart to customize your job search strategy based on your target companies, but now it’s more important than ever. LinkedIn’s recruiting research demonstrates that there are key differences between how small versus large companies source candidates. Smaller organizations focus on the passive recruitment of talent (32%) and only 13% prioritize diversity recruiting. Large companies, on the other hand place more emphasis on diversity (24%) rather than passive recruiting (20%). By taking these factors into consideration as you plan your job search strategy you can potentially attract more opportunities and shorten your search altogether. 8. Passive Recruitment Vital Seventy-two percent of US companies recruit passive talent, while only 61% of global firms do so. According to LinkedIn’s research, 75% of professionals are passively seeking new careers. These facts underscore the importance of being ready to jump on top of career opportunities at a moment’s notice. As most certified resume writers will tell you, too many job seekers don’t optimize their resume’s content and career branding until they launch their search or are several months into one. By the time you need a resume it’s too late to create an exceptional one â€" start well in advance to identify your career brand and quantify your career achievements. Leverage as many of these trends as you can in your passive or active 2015 job search to gain every advantage you can. With the US economy heating up and more job seekers entering the market every day, you will want to employ every advantage you can to achieve the shortest possible search. And if you really want to maximize your career success in 2015, check out these X LinkedIn opportunities you could be missing out on. Related Posts QA Quick Tip: Include Keywords In Your LinkedIn Headline Your Essential LinkedIn Guide: Harness The Awesomeness LinkedIn Cheat Sheet: 5 Tips For A Professional Profile About the author A 15-time, award-winning resume writer, Cheryl Lynch Simpson serves mid-career to senior executives as a credentialed resume writer (ACRW), LinkedIn strategist (COPNS), and Get Clear, Get Found, Get Hired (G3) coach. Like her advice? Check out her website, ExecutiveResumeRescue.com for a complimentary copy of her popular Polish Your Profile LinkedIn presentation, or follow her on Twitter!   Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. 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