Top 7 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Hired

This is a great article from the "The Top 7 Business Website"
(http://www.top7business.com/)

Top 7 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Hired By Joel Sussman



It would be a lot easier if hiring decisions were totally based on one's resume (unless, of course, you're right out of college). The reality of it, though, is that the successful candidate is often the one who interviews the best. Here are some tips to help you make it to the final cut.

1. Visit the web site of the company you're going to interview with. Almost invariably, one of the first questions out of an interviewer's mouth is: "So tell me what you know about us." If you stumble through your answer, consider yourself eliminated from the running.

2. Be ready to rattle off your strengths and accomplishments. This is one of the main things an interviewer wants to know, so make sure this information is fresh in your mind.


3. Do you have any weaknesses? Everybody does; but only applicants who want to be eliminated in the first round of interviews will reveal a weakness that could, in any way, affect their performance in the job they're applying for.

4. Don't even hint at any personality conflicts or disagreements you might have had with your present or past bosses. Interviewers often are predisposed to side with former managers. If the question comes up about whether you've been involved in conflicts at work and how you handled it, it's highly recommended that you portray yourself as the peacemaker, the conciliator, and the diplomat.

5. Put a positive spin on your answer to the question "Why do you want to leave your current job." One of the many impressions you don't want to convey is that you're a job hopper.

6. Be ready for variations of the following questions "Why should we hire you?" "Convince me that you're right for the job!" "How do I know you can handle these new responsibilities?" "I have 25 more people to interview. What skills or qualifications do you have that make you stand out?"



7. Leave for the interview early, so you can have plenty of time to get lost, get back on track, creep your way through road construction, crawl through traffic jams, fix a flat tire, and arrive at the interview early. You'll want to have a few moments to fill out any necessary forms, compose yourself, and make a quick, last-minute grooming trip to the bathroom.

Joel Sussman is a business writer and Internet publisher who has created a online resource called "Career and Job Interview Strategy Center". Visit http://www.geocities.com/optimalbiz for helpful articles, downloadable manuals, and other job hunting tools.

Cheers,
The Singapore Head Hunter

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Tweeter: @stantan

Skype: stanleytan1000

Resume Writing Tips

Your resume is your marketing tool and should be visually pleasing. It should make the reader want to read on. It should have a simple and clean structure and is easy to read. As far as possible, try to make your resume symmetrical, balanced and uncluttered.

There should be uniformity and consistency in the use of capital letters, bullets, boldface and underlining. For example, if a period is at the end of one job's dates, a period should be at the end of all jobs' dates; if one degree is in boldface, all degrees should be in boldface.




A resume's first impression is most important. It should therefore be visually pleasing and appealing, to be inviting to the reader.

Ensure that there are absolutely no errors: typographical errors, spelling errors, grammatical errors, syntax or punctuation errors as well as factual errors.

All basic information is included. A resume must have the following key basic information such as your name, address, contact numbers and your email address at the top of the first page, a listing of jobs held, in reverse chronological order, educational degrees including the highest degree received, in reverse chronological order. Additional, targeted information will of course accompany this.

Listed jobs should include a title, the name of the firm and the duration of your stay with the firm.

Preferably, a resume is targeted. A resume should be targeted to your career objective, to the next step in your career. You should be clear what your career goal is, what the ideal position or positions would be. Then you should figure out what key skills, areas of expertise or body of experience the employer will be looking for in the candidate. Format the resume structure and content around your career objective target, proving these key qualifications.




Make sure that your strengths are highlighted. Focus on your strongest and most impressive traits. Make careful and strategic choices as to how to organize, order, and convey your skills and background.

Make sure that your resume has focus. A resume needs a focus to help the reader understand immediately. Think of the resume as an essay with a title and a summative opening sentence. A focus may be as simple as the name of your profession ("Financial Controller," "Marketing Director") centred under the name and address; it may be in the form of an objective or it may be in the form of a summary statement.

Try to use power words. Use the most active impressive verb you can think of for each skill, accomplishment or job described.

Cheers,
The Singapore Headhunter

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stanleytan1000

Skype: stanleytan1000