Is it Ok to Change a Job Title on Your Resume →
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Resume key points include name, titles, companies, start & end dates, keywords, and education, and these may all be seen by an employer who may only spend 6 - 7 seconds scanning the resume to decide whether to spend more time.
“6 - 7 seconds”
Job titles are important because they allow members of your own and other organizations to know the type of work you do and your experience level. For example, if you are looking for a job, the job title is the most vital message initially seen on your resume and serves multiple purposes, but it needs to describe the duties you performed.
If your job title is unique and vague, consider adding corresponding traditional tags next to yours in parentheses on resumes and LinkedIn profiles, which will help match employers’ keyword searches.
A good time to consider the strength of your job title is each time your job changes by adding new responsibilities. For example, asking to change the job title or expand to include the additional burden will be an important way to show your job growth and track record on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
When is it Ok to Change the Title?
When job titles generally mean the same thing and are used interchangeably. Sometimes it makes little difference if your Media Manager, Marketing Manager, or Engagement Manager. Pick one that fits what you’re applying for.
If your job title doesn't accurately reflect what you do, consider labeling it to fit what you do.
If your job has changed, your official title still needs to be. Maybe you have taken on new responsibilities and or were promoted.
Even if you can’t change the title, you can add new or different duties that the title doesn’t reflect.
Proactive Management Style Requires Leadership and Vision →
Proactive management is a leadership style that emphasizes strategic planning and risk management rather than taking a reactive approach to situations and business goals.
“If you're proactive, you focus on preparing. If you're reactive, you end up focusing on repairing.” - Quote by John C. Maxwell Goodreads.
Proactive management can be applied to any industry through leadership that emphasizes planning and forward-thinking by seeking out new opportunities for the company and dealing with any threats or problems before they even emerge.
An article in the Journal of Business and Psychology Vol. 29, No. 1 (March 2014) by Diane M. Bergeron, Tiffany D. Schroeder, and Hector A. Martinez titled “Proactive Personality at Work: Seeing More to Do and Doing More?” states:
“that a “proactive personality is a stable personality related to taking personal initiative and behaving proactively.”
What employers and recruiters look at the 7 seconds they first scan your resume? →
When you have insight, you have a feeling, emotion, or thought that helps you know something essential about a person or thing. Understanding isn't based on hard facts or evidence; it has nothing to do with using your senses, such as sight or smell. Making a job change and making the right decision comes from feelings that may be connected to experience or observations.
Studies have shown that the average recruiter scans a resume for six to seven seconds before deciding if the applicant is a good fit for the role. To some degree, insight must be a factor in those few seconds. The same is likely true for the employer’s human resource department, but in that case, the resume may already have gone through resume scanning software (ATS), and they may not even see it at all. A report from Jobscan Research in 2018 said that at least 98.2% of Fortune 500 use applicant tracking systems.
Your resume has a short time to make a good impression and be considered worth looking further at, so an important question is what areas are looked at first.
There are a lot of lists of things thought most important, which are looked at first on resumes. Still, the ones that appear on all of them are your name and history: title, company, position start and end dates, title, company, position start, and education.
Your current title likely is a keyword that confirms you are the right match; if it is good news, use it in your cover letter and conversations.
Often the focus of the 7-second search is looking for keywords.
Too bad we can’t find and make sure we use that secret list of words. The reality is that the keyword list is different for each job. Studying the posting and seeing what is most important to the company about the job becomes essential. It may be the extent of knowledge about a candidate’s process or the insight into the use of products. When it seems clear, what is most important than asking what keywords come to mind is how the best keywords can be found.
First and foremost, employers want to know if you're qualified, but the job posting likely will identify which words focus on the qualifications.
Hiring managers spend most of their precious scanning time skimming through resumes to identify keywords that match the job description.
If Employers only spend 6 to 7 seconds scanning a resume then what about Job Titles? →
Resume key points include names, titles, companies, start & end dates, keywords, and education, and these may all be seen by a potential employer
who may only spend 6 - 7 seconds scanning the resume to decide whether to spend more time.
Job titles are important because they allow members of your own and other organizations to know the type of work you do and your experience level. If you are looking for a job, the job title is the most vital message initially seen on your resume and serves multiple purposes, but it needs to describe the duties you performed.
If your job title is unique and vague, consider adding corresponding traditional tags next to yours in parentheses on resumes and LinkedIn profiles which will help match employers’ keyword searches.
A good time to consider the strength of your job title is each time your job changes by adding new responsibilities. Asking to have the job title changed or expanded to include the additional burden will be an essential way to show your job growth and track record on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
How to Prepare for the Coming "Great Resignation" →
An article in Yahoo News by Erica Pandey on June 14th, 2021, titled “The Great Resignation”: Upwards of 40% of workers are thinking about quitting their jobs, makes some interesting observations and opens up a lot of questions.
The article asks, “What's happening: Workers have had more than a year to reconsider work-life balance or career paths, and as the world opens up, many of them will give their two weeks' notice and make those changes they’ve been dreaming about.”
The same article quotes the World Economic Forum, adding these thoughts to the subject.
41% of workers globally are thinking about handing in their notice, according to a new Microsoft survey.
A hybrid blend of in-person and remote work could help maintain a sense of balance – but bosses need to do more.
Junior workforce members, including Generation Z, are facing digital burnout.
As an experienced Career Coach, my thoughts about these predictions are heavily influenced by the time I spent working with hundreds of individuals looking for jobs throughout the Pandemic.
Changing Careers can be expensive unless you find where your skills and experience still fit. Don’t quit your job before you find a new one. Don’t just assume it will be easy to find a new job. Learn more about the “Informational Interview” and use it before you quit and during your search. LinkedIn is the perfect tool to use to look while still working.
Read a good book on job search strategies first before starting your search. I wrote a book and published it in September 2020 while the recent economic changes were fresh, so it is relevant and will help you.
Work Matters Insights and Strategies for Job Seekers in This Rapidly Changing Economy is available on Amazon in eBook or paperback
#thebigshift #workmatters #careers #theGreatResignation
Do the latest buzzwords for job seekers offer direction or just confusion? →
The word career change is so common today that it might be considered a buzzword regarding today’s employment situation. Career change is taking on a role that differs from your recent work experience. This includes involuntary changes driven by circumstances and changes pursued to improve quality of life, job satisfaction, or remuneration. Both big decisions and thinking of them as being labeled by a buzzword seem disrespectful.
Everyone, not just the job seekers, probably are wondering where we are really at with the economy and all the changes that have taken place.
Business articles on “Holistic” hiring and employee focus emphasize that the real focus, almost sacred, is on win-win situations. With the coming expansion of new jobs, this seems optimistic, but how do you get an exact fit for a job that hasn’t been tried and tested?
A new term trending is “Great Resignations.” This term is accompanied by other business articles suggesting that 25% to 40% of those holding or looking for jobs want to change careers. This seems like bad news for those looking and trying to find a fit for themselves or restaffing for companies—another example of labeling a problem before it has even been defined.
Will this term become a part of our buzzword vocabulary? It likely will continue as long as workers aren't paid properly. Job hopping may have a bad reputation among employers, but employees say it's born out of a lack of financial and emotional support at work.
Do “Buzzwords” help our understanding of the worlds we live in? Many buzzwords seem to focus on a segmented part of our world, which only means that the world's intent is better understood by those familiar with that segment. A question as to whether the use of buzzwords is just a shortcut to glossing over a subject or the inability to explain it seems implied.
For example, if the advice you get is to take a “deep dive” into the “customer journey” experience and draw conclusions about the “impact” on “ROA,” then are you getting any direction on where to start the process?
It depends on the “core competency” of the person asking the question and the one trying to act on it. That will probably require that “synergy” exist. (Forgive the author for this “tongue and cheek” “pun.”
Examples of Buzzwords
Synergy.
Return on investment.
Customer journey.
Deep dive.
Impact.
Ballpark.
Core competency.
Visibility.
Holistic
So when you add up all these buzzwords, the conclusion as to their actual value in communication could be more precise. They can be used, to sum up, but they also can be used to cover up. Your choice of buzzwords doesn’t matter nearly as much as your understanding, and you plan to act on that understanding. Decide what you want to do. Listen carefully to those you meet while working on the plan, and don’t be discouraged if your result isn’t felt to be a “holistic” experience by the company.
8 tips that can help you stay relevant in the workforce. →
Here are eight tips that can help you stay relevant in the workforce.
Know How to Use the Tools You're Supposed to Use.
Go to Trade Shows.
Keep Up With the Latest Industry News.
Understand Your Clients' and Customer’s Needs Better.
Know What Makes Your Competitors Successful.
Stay Social: Be easy to be around
Specialize in Your Area, Not Everything.
Join in conversations and listen.
Businesses and organizations must remain relevant in the marketplace. This means staying functional, innovative, and up with the times. This gives them a competitive advantage, but it won’t happen if the people working there don’t stay relevant.
5 Top Business Skills Plus 1 →
Top 5 Skills plus 1
All 5 of these skills could be included under Leadership Skills. They are all Soft Skills. Companies want employees who can supervise and direct other workers.
Negotiation
Problem-solving.
Leadership.
Organization.
Perseverance
Ok, but the #1 skill is “Integrity.”
The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet, said: “We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don't have the latter, the first two will kill you because if you're going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.” (Jun 29, 2021 quote)
How often do you see INTEGRITY MENTIONED in an article about finding a job, interviewing, or best job skills? Some might say in answer to that question, "Zero, that is just a given.” Is it? Is an excellent sales record, first place in production, or another skill more important than integrity?
Is anything more important? Of course not!
Training is ongoing in your career if you want you career to be ongoing →
When you decide to start a business, you need to be sure that you are trained to do what the company will be doing. As your business grows, you need to be sure that you are prepared to use the latest newest approaches. It would help if you were retrained when you feel burned out in your business.
Training and development refer to educational activities within a company created to enhance the knowledge and skills of employees while providing information and instruction on how to perform specific tasks better.
Sometimes the best training is what you do yourself to stay up to date. Talking with suppliers and observing competitors can teach you a lot.
Training that most businesses focus on are:
Technical or Technology Training
Quality Training
Skills Training
Soft Skills Training
Legal Training
Team Training
Managerial Training
Safety Training.
A nicer
A better word for the need for training is that you need to be a “Student of Your Industry.”
What is the difference between a job and a career and why is knowing important? →
A job can be just working to earn a paycheck, and your current position in those cases has nothing to do with your last job or your next job.
A career means that each of your jobs, experiences, and training programs is helping you advance in pay or responsibility. The sequence of employment you have built on each other makes the next job more valuable if you use good career planning.
People often want to know if they can easily change jobs in midlife, and the answer is that it is easier to change jobs than to change careers.
The fundamental difference between a job and a career is your attitude about your work. People who want a career are always thinking about their long-term goals.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, Beethoven composed music, and Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,
“Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
Quote by Martin Luther King Jr.
Why sales Jobs require both soft and hard skills →
Sales skills are hard and soft skills that help a professional successfully sell a company's goods and services to third parties. Organizations that base their business on clients or customers buying their products or services rely on sales professionals to generate transactions constantly.
Hard selling skills are easier to teach and measure and have to do the technical side of a product. Product knowledge is needed as an understanding of why the product works.
Soft skills are sometimes harder to define, but they include how effectively the salespeople relate and communicate with others, especially customers. Critical soft skills have emotional intelligence, communication skills, charisma, confidence, and more. Selling is so people-centric and emphasizes the human element in services.
To sell a product, you usually need to understand the technical side of the product to help the customer see what he wants the product to be available. Then to finish the job and help the customer understand that the technical benefits will not only be the ones he wants but that the product offered is desirable and the right product requires soft skills in presentation, communication, and instilling confidence.
Be prepared with good questions in your Job Interview →
Go prepared, don't think you can bluff. Make sure your questions show that you understand the company and the job. Find out as much as you can about the company before the interview.
4 Most Important Questions to Ask
Ask early in the interview about one or two of the most critical aspects of the job role in the interviewer’s opinion. This will allow you to answer other questions and show how you can provide what is most important.
When you ask a question, conclude your reply: Does that give you what you need? Did you get the answer to your question? Would you like another example?
Before the interviewer wraps up and has run out of time, ask: I want to make sure that you get everything you need to make a good decision. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss? $
As the meeting wraps up, ask: When can I expect to hear back? If I don’t hear back by then, would it be okay to follow up with you?
The #1 Reason people quite their jobs →
A poll of over one million workers in the US by Gallup found that leaving a bad manager was the number one reason workers quit, and 75% of those left the job voluntarily because of their boss and not the job itself.
Another essential reason is common sense: the desire to move to a new level in your career is a common reason for leaving a job.
A recent Pew Research Center Survey showed that low pay (63%), a lack of opportunities for career advancement (63%), feeling disrespected at work (57%), and childcare issues (48%) were the most significant determinant for employees quitting their jobs in droves.
Of course, it is better to find another job first, but sometimes quitting, even without a backup job, is just necessary. When your current job is toxic, you might need more time to devise a plan before getting yourself out of there.
The Hardest Job You Ever Will Have is finding a job →
When you have insight, you have a feeling, emotion, or thought that helps you know something essential about a person or thing. Understanding isn't based on hard facts or evidence. It has nothing to do with using your senses, such as sight or smell. Making a job change and making the right decision about your next job can be one of the most challenging jobs you will ever have, so approaching it with some career insight is a positive goal.
Needed insights can come from taking an inventory of your current and past job skills. Understanding more about the business you work for help. What is the industry called? What other enterprises service that industry. Who are your company’s suppliers and customers? What direction is your company going? Are the needs for the products growing or shrinking?
“A job for most of us is more than just how we make a living. It shapes how we see ourselves, as well as how others see us. It gives our days structure, purpose, and meaning. But in a rapidly changing marketplace — reshaped in recent years by technology and automation, and devastated in 2020 by a global pandemic that has left millions out of work — finding a job has become exponentially more challenging.”
(Quote above from Work Matters: Insights & Strategies for Job Seekers in a Rapidly Changing Economy)
Get up, give it your 100% effort and find that job but first, ensure your insights into your work are up to date.
#unemployed #unemployment #jobsearch #career #job #employment #findajob #findingwork #jobseekers
Almost half of all jobs lost during pandemic may be gone permanently →
Almost half of all jobs lost during a pandemic may be gone permanently, was the title of an article written by Maurie Backman on July 29, 2020, in USA Today. The article starts:
“The COVID-19 outbreak has done a number of the U.S. economy, plunging it deep into a recession and sending unemployment levels skyrocketing. Jobless claims reached a record high in April, and while things improved slightly in May and June, new restrictions could increase the unemployment rate in the coming months.”
Many will need to learn new job skills and look closely at what works in finding a job under these new conditions. Informational interviews using video networking like Zoom will enable those searching for an opportunity to connect and ask questions.
It will only get more challenging as more and more people see more and more competition for the same jobs.
This site offers sections on Career Development Insights, Career Development Education, Career Development Essays, Job Interviewing, and Using LinkedIn.
It will be a long time before things look like they did before COVID-19, if ever.
If you want to get a yes to your question find someone to ask who is authorized to say yes →
Don’t waste time asking for something from those who are not empowered to say yes.
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