Tag: business

Top 4 Resume Hacks

Writing a resume is one of the first and most important steps in the job application process. The task is daunting, and most applicants don’t even receive an offer for an interview. The following hacks will help ensure that your resume has the best chance at making it to the top of the stack.

Tailor Your Resume to Each Application

Don’t be one of the many people who send the same resume to every open position. Remember that recruiters can tell when a resume hasn’t been tailored to a position. Instead, take time to customize your resume. A good way to do this is to read the job description and required skills very carefully. Make sure you that emphasize those skills in your resume and highlight any key words mentioned in the job description.

Many organizations now use robots to sort through all the applicants’ resumes, and only the ones who directly match the keywords receive interviews.

Use Numbers to Measure Success

Back up your statements with quantifiable evidence. Don’t just include that you led a team or wrote reports. Be specific! Include how many people you were responsible for and how many reports you wrote each quarter. Did you cut costs? Great! Include the percentage of money you saved. These numbers give recruiters a much better picture of your skills and what you’ve accomplished. Always choose to be specific instead of generic. This extra effort will make a big difference.

Format Your Resume Correctly

Recruiters prefer resumes that are easy to read. Don’t use fancy or complicated fonts. Stick to classics, like Times New Roman and Cambria. Colors simply aren’t necessary, and there is no need to clutter your resume with pictures or charts. Save your resume as a PDF. That way the format won’t change if a recruiter downloads or prints the file. The grammar and punctuation in your resume should be flawless. Triple check it if you have to. After all, this is the first impression that a recruiter will have of you, so even small mistakes will hurt your case and make you appear ill-prepared.

Have Someone Else Edit

Seek out help. Writing a resume is not a task you have to perform alone. Have fellow professionals look over your resume and suggest edits. Even if you’re an accomplished writer, it can be easy to accidentally overlook small mistakes. It can also be difficult to determine your best qualities yourself.

Spend extra time tailoring your resume to match important keywords, quantifying your accomplishments, formatting your document correctly, and having an extra person help you edit. The extra steps will help your resume and application get noticed!

Originally published on AlvinHopeJohnson.com

Mentorship: the Best Method to Accelerate Small Business Growth

Over the years, many studies have been conducted to help entrepreneurs find the best methods in which to build their businesses and accelerate growth. One of the most consistently successful methods is mentorship. This method is not only powerful but is an extremely effective strategy to employ within a company to avoid failure, increase workplace happiness, optimize recruitment, boost revenue, and attract investors to name only a few. 

Mentorship is a two-way street. Being fully present and committing to the lessons learned are essential in a mentor-mentee relationship. Studies have shown that 30% of businesses without mentorship fail in one year and 50% will fail in five years. But how exactly can something as simple as mentorship help a business thrive? 70% of mentored businessesnot only succeed but thrive after over five years. Here are a few ways in which incorporating mentoring into a company can help it succeed. 

Identifying Weaknesses

When starting your business from the ground up, it can become easy to have tunnel vision and overlook critical opportunities that could take your business to the next level. A mentor can give an objective opinion based entirely in fact. Mentors should challenge the established norm and seek better ways for you to conduct your business. Remaining stagnant in an ever-changing work environment can be detrimental to your business and strategy. 

Expanding Your Network

To grow a business, investors need to know your company exists and has merits that are deemed safe to invest their money in. A mentor brings in a new network of connections, such as contractors, clients, industry leaders, and investors, with them and can introduce you and other co-workers to highly useful professionals. The more business professionals you have in your circle, the more you can learn about a wide variety of aspects that may affect your business in the present or future. 

Boosts Recruitment and Promotion Prospects

Companies that implement mentorship into their culture become much more desirable for potential employees. By giving employees the opportunity to increase their skills and potentially obtain a promotion to a position that will boost their careers, the company can increase workplace happiness and employee retention. A recent study showed mentoring increase pay raise prospects by 20% and promotions by five times the standard rate. Mentors are also more likely to receive promotions as well. 

Increased Employee Confidence and Skillset

Mentoring can happen with any group or pair regardless of age or position within a company. Mentorship is often a learning experience and an opportunity to grow personally and professionally for all parties involved. Managers/leaderscan learn new skills and how to become a more effective communicator. Employees learn how to communicate their needs and ambitions and ultimately acquire new skills that are essential to their goals. Ongoing education and mentorship increase confidence, skills, and performance levels which can only have a positive impact on a company’s growth, especially in its formative years. 

Increased Revenue

Due to the increased performance levels, workplace happiness, and newly enhanced skillsets of employees, companies often experience increased revenue as a direct result of incorporating mentorship into their culture. Analyses have shown that, on average, businesses increased their annual revenue by 83% when using mentorship hand-in-hand with their business strategy as opposed to 16% for those who did not. 

Almost every startup and small business can massively benefit from mentorship in some shape or form throughout their growth process. Few companies succeed without this key tool, and as a result, more companies are incorporating this method to increase their competitiveness within their markets. Whether your company chooses to utilize this method frequently or on a yearly basis, the results and data clearly show your business will positively benefit from mentorship.

Originally published on AlvinHopeJohnson.net