Resume Gift Voucher

Resume Gift Voucher

Some presents are just more meaningful than others. RedStarResume offer resume gift voucher packages that are not only thoughtful, but are ones that will positively impact someone’s career path. A professionally written resume & cover letter is the perfect gift for any student, recent graduate or potential job seeker.

RedStarResume are industry leaders in writing resumes and cover letters, and we have helped thousands of job seekers with staying one step ahead of their competition. If you know someone who can benefit from professional resume help, the RedStarResume gift voucher is the perfect gift!

What are BENEFITS to a RedStarResume gift voucher?


The perfect gift for any job seeker or recent graduate
Written from the recruiter’s point of view
Direct knowledge & experience with the methods for writing the most effective resumes
One year expiry date
2 -4 days turnaround time (under 24 hr option available)


How does it work?

Easy 3 step process
Choose the appropriate voucher
Fill in your details
A personalized voucher will be emailed to you. This can either be forwarded to your intended recipient or printed off to be presented as a gift

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

When Is The Best Time to Apply For Online Jobs?

The job application process is no doubt tedious and tiring for everyone. We've all been there - sifting through the various job ad postings, sending through resume after resume, and all we want to do is get the application process over with as fast as possible. Everyone tells you to at least take a few minutes to tailor your resume and cover letter to each job you apply for.

Personalizing your application materials no doubt increases your chances of getting a call back, but I'm also going to let you know that there is another way to increase your chances at getting that interview call, and it has absolutely nothing to do with who you are or with the quality of your resume and cover letter - it simply has to do with when you send through your materials.

I recently had a friend complain to me about getting no call backs at all. She had sent through personalized resumes and cover letters dozens of times and had not received one interview invitation. Sure, the job market is extremely tough in some areas at the moment, but to receive zero phone calls out of dozens was a bit alarming to me.

I asked her to show me her resume, and everything looked great. She told me about the sites she was applying through, and I saw no problem with that either. But she then told me about the application process itself, and this is where an important detail stood out - the time she was sending through her resumes.

Many job seekers, especially the already employed, use nights and weekends to send out the bulk of their applications, and this can sometimes put them at an immediate disadvantage. Anyone who's worked in an office environment knows that Mondays are usually extremely hectic. Everyone's trying to catch up on their emails and phone calls, and there usually isn't a lot of time to spare, especially on things that are not urgent, like reading resumes. The first thing most people do when reading emails is prioritize and figure out what needs to get done sooner rather than later - resumes, especially ones sent days ago, usually fall into the "later" pile.

The point is that you want to be sure that your resume and cover letter are noticed. Sending them through on the weekend not only puts your email toward the back of the line chronologically, but it also puts it among the spam messages that have filled up the inbox, and you don't want to accidentally get deleted.

Ideally, try to respond to job advertisements during the day, when someone is most likely to see it, let alone read it. If your only time to apply for jobs is on the weekend, at least try to send through your cover letters and resumes toward the later part of the weekend, preferably on Sunday evenings. You want your resume and cover letter to be one of the first things the hiring manager sees, not something that they see toward the bottom of their inbox that they will "get to later."

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

Laura is the Marketing Coordinator for RedStarResume, a business that provides resume and cover letter writing services for students, graduates and young professionals.

http://www.redstarresume.com

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Top 10 Resume Mistakes

Resume Killers

My philosophy is simple: Stick to the facts. If in doubt, leave it out!

Abbreviations
Avoid abbreviations! They are unprofessional and not universally accepted. Trust me; nothing looks worse on a resume than seeing sentences resembling the following: “duties included answering the fone and going 2 c clients.” This is a resume, not a text message. Make sure you use correct words and proper sentences.

Personal Information
Leave off anything related to hobbies or personal interests. If it doesn’t relate to employment it doesn’t belong on a resume. Information such as weight and height is irrelevant (unless of course you’re trying out for basketball team). I have seen resumes where people include their eye colour and comments about their skin (“glowing skin”). Do not give the reader a reason to eliminate you because of your personal characteristics. Again, stick to the formula – if it does not relate to the job it doesn’t belong on the resume.

Graphics / Artwork
People feel that in order to be noticed they need their resume to look like a piece of artwork. This perception is wrong and has the opposite effect of appearing unprofessional and amateur. At the end of the day, the employer only wants to see skills, duties, and achievements. He or she is not interested because your resume is shaded yellow with a butterfly in the top right-hand corner.

Negativity
Never, never, never be negative on your resume or cover letter (and most importantly, in your interview). If you left your previous job because you hated your boss, keep it to yourself. Do not try to explain this on your resume because you cannot explain those reasons in writing. Remember, a resume’s job is to promote and sell. Do not get eliminated immediately for being negative.

No Dates
DO NOT MAKE THE READER HAVE TO GUESS! This is such a killer on any resume. INCLUDE DATES. What years did you go to high school? How long did you go to university? When did you graduate? How long did you work at your current job?

Do not make the person reading your resume have to ask these questions. The minute this happens, your resume is going to one place—the trash bin! Make sure your resume flows and you have no gaps in your dates. If you took a year off to go travelling, include this. When you include dates DO NOT just include years. For example, “I worked at McDonalds from 2006-2008”– what does this mean? Did you work for 3 from January 2006 to December 2008, or for a little over 1 year from December 2006 to January 2008.

Long-winded
Long long long long long resumes are boring!!!! If an employer sees an extremely long resume, they will immediately develop a negative frame of mind. Remember, resume readers tend to have little patience, especially when they need to read 100 resumes. You do not gain extra brownie points for writing the longest resume—enough said!

Lack of achievements / highlights
I never understand how people get this wrong, but so many times people fill up their resumes with irrelevant information, and they leave off the most vital part of a resume—showing off your highlights and achievements. Think about it—most people who apply for the same job can all do the standard day to day duties. So what separates the good resume from the bad resume? It’s the one that includes achievements and highlights. It includes how they were an asset at their previous job. Employers want to see not that you just worked and did a good job, but that you added value to the company. Leaving off your achievements is the best way to get your resume tossed in the bin. Alternatively, including value-added achievements is the best way to get your resume put on the top of the list.

Irrelevant information
Everyone is proud of achievements they have accomplished throughout their life. Finishing second place in the 100 metre sprint final in my first year of high school was a great thrill, but is it relevant on my resume? Does it add value to it? Use common sense when including “extra information.” Receiving your CPR certificate is relevant when you’re applying for a job that requires this, such as a lifesaver or swimming instructor. It isn’t so relevant if you received your CPR certificate 10 years ago, and now you’re going for a job as a CEO.

Grammar mistakes and typos
People read this point and think, “Obviously my resume isn’t going to have spelling mistakes and typos.” I can tell you from experience that 1 in 5 resumes will make this vital mistake. When an employer has 100 resumes, the first 20 are eliminated because of grammar mistakes or typos. These mistakes are glaringly obvious on a resume. Make sure you use spell-check, but more importantly, re-read your resume. Even give it to someone else to read over.

Fluffy
You may think that using words such as “diligent,” “meticulous,” or “industrious” to describe yourself may make you sound smart, but unfortunately they are seen as “fluff” words. Focus your resume. A fluffy resume is going into the same place as a resume which has incorporated any of the above points – the trash bin!

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com
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Your Cover Letter is just as important as Your Resume!

Unless you are being recruited by a family member, friend, or close acquaintance, every single hiring manager will want to look at your resume before they call you in for an interview.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a cover letter accompany your resume EVERY SINGLE TIME you send it in and to make sure that it’s tailored specifically to the job you’re applying for.

Think about it from a hiring manager’s point of view. They can receive hundreds of applications for a single job position that they need to fill in just a short amount of time. On top of their regular job duties, they need to sift through all of the applications and find the top 5% to call in for an interview. It’s just not possible for them to look at every single person’s application. So what do they do? They narrow down the field by using the easiest and fastest tool they have – first impressions.

Let’s relate this to a different topic – sports. You’re a coach and need to “recruit” the best players possible for your team…

You’re coaching a soccer team and need to pick 15 members for your squad out of a potential 100 and you only have 2 hours to do so. It’s impossible to take a good look at every single player’s skills in only 2 hours, so you need to quickly narrow your search before you can study the players further. In order to do so, and without knowing anything about the players, you’re going to rely on your first impressions to make the first cut.

Take a look at the players standing before you – are they all wearing proper soccer attire and equipment? Do they look excited and enthusiastic about being here? Think about it – if there’s someone dressed in a soccer uniform and cleats and another one wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and sandals, one of them definitely appears to be more interested in joining your team than the other. Building on that, and only considering first impressions, one looks a lot more capable than the other. While there may be a hundred explanations for this difference, it really doesn’t matter when you have a limited amount of time – the ones who don’t look interested are not going to make the first cut.

Consider the above situation and think about it from a hiring manager’s point of view. You have 50 applications before you and you need to call 5 people in for an interview. You have a limited amount of time to decide, so you need to eliminate some applications quickly. What can we see without even reading the details of each application? Some have cover letters along with the resume and some do not. The applications without cover letters are a little bit like the people showing up to soccer tryouts with jeans and no equipment. They make a terrible first impression – they don’t appear as interested as the other ones, so why should anyone bother with them?

Applications without cover letters are always the first ones discarded. The presence of a cover letter shows a genuine interest in a job position because you actually took the time to write it. The current economic climate is not exactly one that is overflowing with jobs; it’s not like companies are hiring for the sake of it. Make sure you show a hiring manager that you have taken the time to merely write a letter to show your interest in their job position. If you don’t bother showing an interest in them, the hiring manager will have no interest in you.

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

The Job search market can be a tricky place to navigate. Whether you are just starting out, moving up the ladder or changing your current situation, RedStarResume have all the resources to help improve your chances of success. http://www.redstarresume.com/