Executive & Professional Resume Writing Services

How Much Education Should Be Listed on Resume?

This is one of the questions that is posed to me again and again…and it is a good question! Here is the answer: IT DEPENDS. I know. You would like a clear-cut answer.

But the reality is that when you set out to prepare a favorable candidacy via your resume you will use discernment and scrutinize your resume line-by-line, outweighing, repositioning, questioning, and editing so you influence and gain an interview.

The following question came to me via Twitter. Because Twitter limits your answer to 140 characters, you will find my reply below. (Great question!)

 

Question:

 

@artdeal

 

@resumeservice Hello I have a resume question. Should I list both my Associates and Bachelor Degrees?

 

Answer:

@resumeservice

You would always list your Associate’s Degree and your Bachelor’s Degree so as long as listing both is favorable to your candidacy. Now you may wonder, “how can multiple degrees not be favorable to my candidacy?”

Here are a few examples of when you would opt to not include your Associate’s degree if you have a Bachelor’s degree:

 

1. Your Bachelor’s degree major is in line with your career path but your Associate’s degree is not related in the very least. At this point, no need to divulge that you have taken up a different path before unless it can somehow add another favorable dimension to your candidacy. Remember, resume writing is about listing information that would be influential and about keeping content to the minimum necessary to persuade.

 

2. Your Associate’s degree is from a community college while your Bachelor’s degree is from a more impressive institution or a an Ivy league. I applaud those with a community college degree, so no hate mail please. My point is that you are shaping the most favorable and impressive image, so discard the unnecessary.

 

3. Your Associate’s degree was more than 10 years ago. Remember that this advice is if you have additional degrees. If your only degree is the Associate’s degree, list it no matter how long ago, but don’t include graduation date.

 

4. You never finished your Associate’s degree but transferred to a four-year college and completed your Bachelor’s Degree. No need to go there.

 

5. Your GPA was very low for your Associate’s degree but your performance was excellent during your Bachelor’s preparation.

 

Those are the ones that come to mind now. Feel free to add your own commentary.

 

As always, if any questions leave a comment below or at [email protected]

 

Rosa Elizabeth Vargas
Master Resume Writer

Twitter!? Can It Really Help Me Find a New Job? Part--3

THE VALUE OF YOUR TWEETS DURING A JOB SEARCH.

In the last two post I discussed how you should go about setting up your Twitter account to optimize it for job searching. Now, I would like to bring your attention to the actual tweets.

Don't tweet anything you would not say in person to your future boss! What goes online, stays online, forever. Too many people have brought on major trouble neglecting this tip. (Don't you become one of them.)

Stay on topic. If you are seeking a job as a Pediatric RN, stay on that subject. Tweet about an article you wrote, your thoughts on pediatric care, provide advice, ask a questions, and/or share a link. Don't start blabbering (tweeting) about the beach, the grocery store, your boyfriend/girlfriend. The idea is to demonstrate your expertise and passion in your chosen field.

Use keywords. Include words associated with your target industry. These tweets will become pages on the Internet and so be sure to optimize your job search for web 2.0 viral marketing. Adding a hash tag (#) to your keyword (nurse, CEO, etc.) will also help people find you. So perhaps something like this...

Sample Tweets:

#nursing advice: age-appropriate bedside care is important when dealing with #pediatric patients.

 

#sales: Consultative selling is the key to winning clients in a tough economy.

 

#web design: beautiful layouts that are also search engine friendly is essential for great #SEO.

 

Remember that you want to keep your tweets to less than 140 characters. I like to keep tweets even shorter in order to promote RTs. If someone does not have to edit your tweet in order to re-tweet it, then they are more likely to RT it! The more your tweets are re-tweeted, the more people will hear about you and learn you are job searching.

 

Useful information. Try to share information that would help others. This is how you will capture interest and new followers.

Tweet your resume in moderation. I understand that your intention is to find a job via Twitter. Yet, don't promote your resume with every other tweet. Hold back and tweet it once a week and ask others to RT (re-tweet) it for you.

It is just one tool. Remember that Twitter is one way for you to go about networking and trying to create your own job opportunities. Don't sit back and wait for someone to magically tweet a great lead for you. Just like your resume, cover letter, and other career marketing tools--it is just one channel.  

 

 

As always, if you have any questions, email [email protected]

You can also follow me on Twitter

Rosa Elizabeth Vargas
Master Resume Writer
www.careersteering.com

 

Twitter!? Can it Really Help Me Find a New Job? -- Part 2

Welcome back! In the last post I began to write about using Twitter as a job search tool, which means building your brand as an expert in your target field, providing useful information via your tweets, and following the right people (recruiters, employers, job search coaches, online career sites).

The idea behind that last post was to explain why Twitter is an effective job search tool; but, again, it depends on how you use it! It could work—it could not work—it’s really all up to you! If you did not catch the last post, please take some time to read it.

Assuming you know by now that Twitter is a microblogging site, I will get right to getting started.

 

Really, Think Before Choosing Your UserName:

If you are using Twitter to job search, please use a professional Username. Perhaps your real name (you think!?) or at least a word associated with your target industry. For example, you could create something such as, Manager-marketing or Lucy_SalesAgent. The reasoning behind this strategic Username selection is that your Username will actually become the URL (uniform resource locator / web address) for your Twitter account and so you want your Username to have strong SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

• First, you want to establish your presence and brand online as an expert so that you strengthen your candidacy for a new job. By using an industry-relevant URL / Username, you are beginning to do just that.
When an employer searches your name in Google, your Twitter account will be produced with an industry keyword next to it ( e.g., sales, management, 3d Artist), lending even more credibility to your expertise. 

My Twitter account reads Rosa E. Vargas with the username (and keyword) "resumeservice." See below.

 

• Second, someone could stumble upon your Twitter account just by chance by searching for the industry keyword you have chosen as your Username (sales manager, operations manager, real estate agent in Denver)--why not strategize?

To better understand why this would work, you would need to understand a bit about SEO and keywords, which is a very comprehensive topic. For now, just know that all the pages you create and publish online are visited, logged (cached), and saved forever by Search Engines and these pages are sorted, cataloged, and produced to internet users based on the words (keywords) found on your online page. 

A great post to read on this topic is 8 Twitter Power SEO Tips for Job Seekers by Susan P. Joyce.

• Third, those interested in following you on Twitter can make an informed decision and you want to influence them to follow you. (It helps if your UserName is associated with a topic that interests them.)

 

Whatever You Do, Don’t Create an Unprofessional Username:

If you can’t think of any keyword or buzzword in your industry (highly doubtful since you are an expert) use Your First Name and Your Last Name. If your name is already taken by another Twitter user, add a number or a job title to your name. Keep it simple.

Side Note: Twitter will ask you for your Name and a Username. In this post, we are discussing the Username. Please use your birth name when asked for your name, so that employers can find you when they google you. Control your online image.

In the next blog post, we will discuss optimizing your Twitter bio so that employers, recruiters, and others in a position to help you can recognize you are job searching, identify the industry you are targeting, and understand why they should forward your information (resume or phone number) to decision-makers.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me at [email protected]

Rosa E. Vargas
Master Resume Writer
Jobsearch Consultant

www.careersteering.com

Twitter!? Can it Really Help Me Find a New Job?

I hear you; it all depends on how you use it. Everything you implement in your job search campaign (a resume, cover letter, Linked-in or Visual CV account, interview strategies, and Twitter) is a tool and it will take you as far as you strategically position it and maneuver it. Don't ever sit back and wait for any tool on auto pilot to produce a job for you!

Twitter Micro Summarized: Twitter is free and it is a micro blogging tool. Micro, because you can post short messages (tweets) of 140 characters to be exact. Although, "What Are You Doing?" is the question above the box in which you insert your 140 characters / tweet -- I like to think of the question like this instead, "What do you know and what can you share (links, advice, audio files, etc.) that is of interest/value to others?" 

Really think about this, you can post/tweet about irrelevant and mundane activities that will lead you nowhere in your job search or you can utilize these 140 characters to:

1. Establish yourself as an expert in your industry; 2. Provide vital information to others; 3. Network, follow career professionals and recruiters, and respond to career opportunities!; 5. Announce your new resume or on-line portfolio.  You decide; they are your tweets.

 

How to Use Your Twitter Account to Job Search

Establish Yourself as an Expert: Develop your online Twitter bio by promoting your key qualifications such as years of experience. Name the industry you are targeting. Make sure your bio announces you are job searching. (How else will they know?) Additionally, your tweets should always include industry keywords, because each tweet becomes a new page in Google and you want to optimize your ability to come up in topic-related searches on the web.

Provide Information to Others: Who are you talking to when you send out a tweet? Well, every one that will follow what you are saying.  What should you tweet? I say, imagine you are speaking to your new boss and providing information that will help her/him and will demonstrate how perfect you are for a position in that  company. You also want to answer other tweets and offer free (yes, free) information on the topic you are so qualified in.

Network: Find other Twitter folks to follow, respond to their queries, engage in micro conversations, respond to your followers with a follow back, send direct messages, create a #followfriday list. (On Fridays, recommend other people to follow on Twitter.)

Here is a list of recruiters you can follow on Twitter. (This is the kind of valuable information that comes your way when you follow the right people on Twitter. Via @DarrylRMSG). 

Announce Your New Resume: Once you have gained a good following, announce your resume with a direct link to it. Don't overdo this. Although you are on Twitter to job search, you don't want to annoy every person that follows you and lose their interest or worse -- convince them to unfollow you. Self promotion in moderation!   

So now that you have an idea, set up your Twitter account, then follow me @resumeservice and follow these career professionals (101 Twitter Career Experts: list compiled by Online Job Search Expert Susan P. Joyce). You should also check out my list of people to follow on Twitter.

Know that major online job boards can also be followed on Twitter such as Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Indeed.com, Simply Hired. Just Google your favorite online job board + on Twitter and follow them. (You can do the same for companies you may be interested in working for -- many, tweet!)

How to Optimize Your Twitter Account for a Jobsearch

Subscribe to this blog as next time, I will offer you more detailed advice on how to optimize your Twitter account and tweets for job searching. For now, let me touch upon just a few more things, just in case you get going right away.

1. Choosing Your Twitter Account Name: Keep it professional, career or industry relevant.

2. Include a Picture! Don't be shy: Although you are job searching, this is also a social networking site. Besides, no matter what hang-ups you have about your looks -- interviews are still face-to-face!

3. Don't Protect Your Tweets: How will I be able to decide if you are tweeting interesting and vital information? You are asking me to follow you before I even know what you are talking about. Besides, what are you hiding?

4. Be Selective with Your Tweet Topics: Remember that every tweet you send out becomes a Google page and will remain in cyberspace forever –- so don't talk about things that will come back to ruin your reputation or employability (yes, I made that word up!).

5. Want to Connect with Friends via Twitter?: Keep your Twitter account for job searching professionally branded. If you want to connect with friends and discuss more personal topics, create a personal account and tweet whatever you want, but use a nickname or pseudo name for that account. You want your professional account to be the one to come up in Google when someone searches your name! Right?

I will elaborate on the above five points in the next blog post and bring up a few more. As always, if you need assistance, please email [email protected].

 

Rosa E. Vargas
Certified Resume Writer
Master Resume Writer
Job Search Consultant

www.careersteering.com

 

*** Topic-related post:

8 Twitter Power SEO Tips for Job Seekers

The Beginner’s Guide To Finding A Job With Twitter | JobMob