Why should my company do an eNewsletter?

eNewsletters are a very effective way to reach your customers/clients.  Yes, I know with all the social media capabilities out there do we really need eNewsletters.  Twitter, Face Book, Google+, etc all send millions of messages out every day.  And there lies the problem with SM.  If you don't happen to be on your device at the time when the message/tweet comes through there is a good chance that your customers/clients will never see it.  Twitter and Face Book deal with such large volumes of data, that blink and you can miss it.

eNewsletters are directed at specific customers/clients with information directly related to their needs.  Which is why it is important to make sure that your eNewsletter is catchy and has information in it that your customer wants to read.  Even if they don't have the time when it comes in, it can be filed and looked at later.  

Think of your business and how you can help your customer.  An eNewsletter isn't just about advertising/selling something, although no one turns down that outcome.  So let's look at some companies whose customers can benefit from their eNewsletter:

• Financial Planners
• It's tax season, let your clients know about any upcoming tax changes
• RRSP - how to maximize your money
• Tips:  Organizing your tax information
• Landscapers:
• It's time to apply your weed/fertilizer
• How to separate your plants
• What herbs grow best in sun
• Retailers:
• Sales
• New releases of merchandise
• Real Estate:
• I have a couple of  Real Estate Agents who send me eNewsletters that I love, they always have handy household tips in them, ie "thinking of a winter vacation don't forget to change the hot water setting to vacation", etc
• Recruiters:
• Let your clients know about hot job markets
• Advice on resume writing, interview techniques
• Municipalities
• Updates to bylaws
• Town meetings
• Special presentations, ie Citizen of the Year
• New parks that are opening up

eNewsletter Criteria:

• It has to be catchy:  pictures, tips, good use of fonts and colour
• Retailers probably want to send out an eNewsletter every week, whereas Real Estate might work better on a monthly cycle and Landscapers could go quarterly.
• It can't be too big.  If I receive a newsletter that locks my computer or takes too long to download, I hit the delete button faster than you can sneeze.  
• Don't direct me to a website that then has all sorts of pop-ups.  I just want to quickly read your newsletter for any pertinent information that may benefit me.

There are some really good companies out there that can help you get started.  MailChimp and Constant Contact  are both geared towards small companies who want to do their own campaign.  They are a great place to start and also give you good analytics on how many customers actually opened or clicked on your eNewsletter.  eNewsletters are a great job to outsource and help you get going.  If you need some help feel free to contact us - Carlyn Services Inc.

Networking to find a Job

This week Twitter has had a number of chats on "How to Find a Job".  #HFchat (@HFChat - HireFridayChat) is every Friday at lunch hour and there are some great professionals on here giving out advice for free.  Another good one was #NPRtwitterchat which was on Thursday, not sure if this one runs all the time or not.

The key point in both these chats is Networking.  Get out there and Network.  Stay home and Network.  Be active on all your social media sites.  The 3 most important sites mentioned were:

LinkedIn/FaceBook

• Set a goal to connect with at least 5 new people a week
• Join groups and be active in them.  These groups can be directly related to your profession.  But also join groups that are interesting to you, this way people that are searching you will find out things that are a little more personal.  But be careful there are groups out there that could offend a possible employee.
• Post every day, it can be related to your profession or a "quote for the day"
• Connect with Companies and follow their job boards.  
• Companies job alerts come out as soon as they are posted, so be diligent in checking your account every day.

Twitter

• Set up a professional twitter account.  Keep your personal one separate.  Companies or company representatives don't need to know that you can drink 12 beers in 30 minutes through a funnel standing on your head
• Follow, follow, follow - 
• other similar professionals, 
• companies you might like to work for, 
• recruiters (they put their job alerts up), 
• interesting news stories - let your followers know that there are road closures, weather warnings, things happening in the world
• Retweet, Retweet, Retweet
• retweet the company info and the recruiters, everyone likes to be retweeted, before you know it you may have formed a relationship
• Post original content that you have found on the internet that your followers may find helpful
• Post jobs that don't fit you but your followers might be interested in

So the bottom line is be socially active, keep your accounts up to date, be professional on the accounts you are using for job hunting and have fun.  There are some great people out there and some interesting stories.  You will be amazed what you will learn as you use your accounts more.

Good luck job hunting!!!

4 Simple Resume Formatting Tips

As you are probably aware formatting resumes can be a tricky business.  Most recruiters take your resume and put it on their letterhead before they send it over to their clients.  It should be easy right.  ctrl-A to select the resume, ctrl-C to copy and ctrl-V to paste.  Voila!!!.  Oops, there are spaces all over the resume, in the middle of the lines, large white spaces in the middle of paragraphs.  There is no justification, some lines start at the margin and some are spaced over.  Maybe the client wants to print it.  Again big "Oops" if you haven't used proper formatting.  Just because it printed OK on your computer at home, doesn't mean it will when it is opened and printed at your recruiter/clients office.  Depending on the size of your resume, reformatting it could take up to an hour of time.  An hour that could be the difference between you getting the job or not.  So try these simple formatting tips to help keep your resume looking good.

Enter/Return Key

• This key should only be used at the end of a paragraph.  NOT when your sentence gets to the end of the line.  It is amazing how many people force a new line to appear by using the enter/return key.  MS Office magically knows when you are approaching the right hand margin and will automatically move down to the next line for you.  Try it, just keep typing and amazing a new line will appear.  By the way the enter/return key is normally located on the right hand side of the keyboard, above the "shift" key.  

Tab Key

• The enter/return key helps format your right hand margin.  The tab key helps justify your left hand margin.  The tab key is located on the left hand side of your keyboard, usually just above the "caps loc" key.  Use it for new paragraphs.  Tab in the first line, if the second line doesn't automatically tab in, then take your cursor move it to the second line and hit the tab key again. From then on your whole paragraph will be tabbed in.  It will be stopped as soon as you hit the enter/return key.  So keep in mind they work in tandem with each other.

Bullets

• The Bullet Key is located on the top toolbar.  If you are doing a list use this key, it will automatically put in the bullet and set the margins so that all your points will line up the same.  It can be a little trickier than the other keys so practice.  Simple bullets are not hard to master.

Space Bar.

• Don't put in multiple spaces to line up your document/resume.  The space bar is used to tell MS Office what is happening.  It separates words, it appears after a comma, not before the comma.  When you put two spaces after a period it tells word that the sentence has ended and word will automatically capitalize the next word.  

Try these simple formatting tips.  Not only will it save you time, your resume will look more professional and be much easier to read.  If you still can't figure it out, then use a professional.  It is a worthwhile investment to have it done properly.

Things not needed on your Resume

Sending off a resume with all of our new technology has good and bad side effects.  It is great for us, see a job, apply for a job.  No stamps, no envelopes, no paper, no expense.  Click and your resume can be sent to an amazing number of companies.

For companies, this can create a mountain of emails for the hiring managers and recruiters.  So keep in mind that Hiring Managers don't have time to read a 20 page resume.  So let's look at some simple things that can help keep your resume to 3 pages.

Get rid of:

• Objective - totally obsolete nowadays.  Your objective is to get a job.  As soon as you send someone your resume they know what your objective is.
• References available - again totally superfluous.  If they are going to offer you the job you better have 3 good references
• Logos, Pictures - they take up way too much space on the resume and can also make your resume slow to open and cause it not to line up properly.
• Personal Info - like age, marital status, number of children
• Interests/Hobbies - these are things that can be brought up in the interview to break the ice.  But always be careful when mentioning your interests or hobbies.  Applying for a job at an investment company and telling them that you spend every Saturday at the race track or the casino might not give the positive impression you want.
• Unnecessary Bullets 
• Ability to multi-task
• Work independently
• Able to work in a team
• Good time management skills
• Extra Lines/Words - "Title:  Programmer/Analyst", "Company:  Royal Bank of Canada"  take out the words Title and Company, they are not needed
• Company Information - If the company is IBM then there is no need for a description, but if it is a small company that no one has heard of then put a small description in, but keep it small.  One or two lines, you don't need a whole paragraph
• Quotes - I definitely don't need to know what Socrates or Gandhi think about your love of working is.  So leave them off.

I was working on a resume the other day and the candidate had an 18 page resume.  The first job he worked at was only for 9 months and he had 2 pages of bullets.  blah blah.  Streamline your achievements to items that are pertinent to the job you are applying for.  At the interview we can discuss more detail.

Hope this helps and 

Good luck Job Hunting  O:)

A New Year, A New Job, A New Career, Where to Start

2013, a new year.  Maybe you are still looking for a job or you feel like a change.  Whatever the reason, new years, new seasons tend to encourage us to start looking at lifestyle and goal changes.  As in everything I do in life, I make a list.  Whether it's in a little notebook or on your iPad, start jotting down things that can help you in your job hunting or career change.

1. Update your resume.  Always have your resume ready to go.  You never know when or where you will hear about the perfect job that you have been looking for.  It could be at the coffee shop, lunch with friends, on the internet (job boards, twitter, facebook, LinkedIn).  Have a good look at the format:
• is the font easy to read (arial, tahoma), minimum 10 pt, black (for most professions:  IT, Finance) 
• keep the format simple:  profile, education, experience
• take out the superflous information:  hobbies, references, pictures, age, etc
• get rid of any fancy boxes, they don't copy over properly and things can be missed
• use tabs and returns, not spaces for formatting.  If you aren't sure how go on to google and take a quick lesson, basic formatting is really quite easy and will save you a ton of time in the long term
• make sure your contact information is up to date and shown on every page
• save as a word document
2. Update your on-line profiles.  Set up new on-line accounts.  Don't have a twitter account, then get one.  Network with your contacts.  Send out a quick "Have a great 2013, btw I am looking to change my career" or "Thinking of changing my career to ... any advice on courses or places to apply".
3. Look at the jobs you have been applying for and be truthful with yourself.  Do you need another certificate or upgrading of your skills, then maybe now is the time to do it.  
4. Check out the job boards and the business section of newspapers, etc to find out what is happening out there.  What's HOT, what's NOT.
5. Volunteering is a great way to meet people and show off your skills.  There isn't a lot of competition in volunteer groups, they are made up of people who want to help other people.  So let them know that you are looking for a job or planning on changing your career.  And to top it off volunteering is good for your self esteem and makes you feel great.

A new year, a new job, a promotion.  Be ready when opportunity knocks.

Happy New Year everyone.

and

Good Luck in your Job Hunting

5 easy to correct Resume Mistakes

How hard can it be to write a resume? You'd be surprised how many resumes I see everyday with these 5 errors that are so easy to correct.

Stop using First Person/Third Person. 

• Your name is at the top of the resume, the last thing the recruiter wants to do is read that "I did this" or "I was".  The only thing worse than this is "John did this" or "Mr. Smith did that".  Your name is at the top of the resume, it doesn't have to be in the body of the resume.
• Replace the nouns with ACTION WORDS.  Completed, Increased, Decreased, Improved, Mentored, Trained - to name just a few.  There are a number of websites out there with 100's of action words to choose from, try this one if you're stuck ActionWords

Aging yourself.

Age discrimination happens.  Make sure you don't fall into the too old pile of discarded resumes. You need to get to the interview stage before hitting the reject pile.  So a couple of simple things to do

• If you graduated before 1990, leave the date off of your degree/diploma.  Just put in the school and your program
• Any positions more than 20 years old, list under a blanket "Previous Positions".  List these companies and positions, but leave off the dates.

List your Achievements not your Duties/Responsibilities:

Your duties/responsibilities are basically the job description.  Employers want to know how you excelled at your duties, "what did you achieve while in this position".  

• Get rid of the line "Duties include" or "Responsibilities include".  Don't even put down "Achievements include".  Just list your achievements.
• How did you go above and beyond your duties/responsibilities.  
• What did you do that improved the processes?
• Did you find problems within the system that you were able to correct to increase productivity?
• Did systems run smoother because of your attention to detail?
• Did you help your employer to:  save/make money, save time, attract/retain customers, improve customer service.

Not tuning your Resume to the Job Posting:

Before sending out your resume, fine tune it to the Job Posting.  If the job posting is looking for specific details then make sure they are in the resume and easy to find.  Don't bury things on the 3rd page that are critical to the posting.

• Profile:  This is a great place to list specific qualifications and skills that they are looking for:
• Five years experience working with Java, J2EE in the financial industry.
• Education:  if they are looking for a degree or certification then put it on the first page where they can see it at a glance.  
• Technologies:  again if they are asking for specific technologies then put it on the first page under a "Technology" category. 
• Key Words:  It seems to be key words are all resume writers talk about nowadays.  They are that important.  So use them, read the job posting and use it to help fine tune your resume.

Layout - keep it simple

• Profile, Education, Technologies, Experience.  These 4 headings cover everything you need on your resume that an employer wants to see/read.
• Use a clean and professional layout.  No boxes, no pictures, no logos.  Employers scan 100's of resumes a day, the last thing they want to do is have to find key information in amongst all the pretty graphics.  
• ATS systems don't necessarily look for MicroSoft logos, but they will look for MCSE, MicroSoft, etc.  If you just put the logo in, it may get overlooked.
• Converting documents from different systems can leave off information if it is not in a simple format.  I have seen boxes in Word get copied over to Lotus Notes without the information inside the box.  Usually you put this information in the box because you feel it is important.  Well guess what, it wasn't copied over and now can't be found by the search system.
• Clean, white background, black type, bold, CAPS, italics (if you have to).  
• Easy to read font - tahoma, arial, 10 pt, no smaller than 12 pt (think of the reading glass generation)
• Yes I know the above sounds boring, but it is effective.

Good Luck Job Hunting

Is a Self Employed Contractor Resume different than a Permanent Employee Resume

Self-employed contractors resumes can be very different from a permanent employee. The major differences are in the number of positions they have over their lifetime, especially if they are a government contractor.

Contractors could have 4 or 5 different positions in a year, so over a 10 year span this could be a lot of positions. It's important that potential employers realize that you don't hop around from one job to another.  You are a contractor, you probably have your own company. So the first thing you do is put your positions under either a "self employed" heading or "your company's name". This shows stability and dedication in your career.

Check out my infographic below and see if it helps you set up your resume. And don't forget the rules for all resumes:

• keep the fonts the same, nothing too fancy or too small
• no pictures or logos
• stay away from tables and boxes they don't copy/scan over very well
• use ACTION WORDS
• Achievements instead of duties
• send it as a word document