Organizing Your Resume So It Makes Sense Career Advice

Organizing Your Resume So It Makes Sense Career AdviceOrganizing Your Resume So It Makes Sense Career AdviceThe importance of a good, solid, professional resume does not need explanation. It is the single item that is meant to garner an employers interest in you. If you ever had a college professor tell you to write 8 pages about a light subject, you can feel pressured to be as wordy as possible. When it comes to your resume, you have the opposite plight you must reduce everything about yourself and your experience into a single page.Clearly, the content and length of your resume are important, but what about the organization? How you organize your resume is also incredibly important because there are different types of resumes, all of which are formatted differently. You must make various organization choices based on who you are, what you are applying for, and where you are in life. This may sound confusing, and that is because many people are confused by the organization choices. Let us explain it to you.1. Chronological ResumeThe traditional resume format, a chronological resume is a simple summary of an applicants education and job experience. It follows a present-to-past timeline, working backward. This is ideal for those that were educated and are experienced in the related field and are looking to organize their resume so that it demonstrates a pattern of growth and upward mobility. Your existing resume is likely in this format, though it might not be the best vorkaufsrecht for your needs.2. Functional ResumeAn alternative format, a functional resume underscores an applicants skills, work experience, honors, and accomplishments. These fields are arranged by the field or area of strength, like supervision, social media marketing, healthcare, or government work. This is an ideal resume type for those that are returning to work in their desired job field after several years of absence, have decided to begin working in a new career field, or have worked for a long time in the same field without much growth or promotion.3. Modified Chronological ResumeUsually the most successful format, a modified chronological resume involves the organization of ones professional experience in chronological order while highlighting relevant and impressive details with the same categorical organization of the functional format. This type of resume is laid out as followsA header that includes your name and good contact info1 or 2 profile sentences that express your overall experience and strengthsWork history in reverse chronological order, focusing on experience from the past 10-15 yearsEducation information, including institution names, your GPA (if it welches 3.0 or higher), honors, and relevant extracurricular activities (New graduates and those with less than 5 years of relevant work experience should place this info before employment history.)Building an organized, streamlined resume that will bolster your education, experience, and accomplishment s depends on the use of the proper format for you. We think you can certainly impress any employer with a solid, well-planned resume. You will rarely be in a small pool of applicants for any job position. When employers are narrowing down their list of people to interview, they will eliminate resumes that are poorly organized or unprofessional first, even if the content is impressive. Be sure you make it past that elimination every time.See alsoTop List of Resume Essentials

A positive approach to change (driving transformation through co-creation)

A positive approach to change (driving transformation through co-creation)A positive approach to change (driving transformation through co-creation)It doesnt make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. - Steve JobsOrganizations Are Not a Problem to be SolvedChange management has a negative reputation - its often seen as synonymous with a reorganization, downsizing, restructuring, merger, and more.However, the biggest dicke bretter bohren mssen with change management is the focus on whats broken - it approaches organizations as something to be fixed.Whats not working?The traditional problem-solving approach to change management - finding what is wrong and developing solutions to fix the problems - seeds a negative mindset. It makes people focus on whats broken. Time is spent rehashing issues and what caused them.After a while, the deficit-based view sucks everyones energy - there are blame and division rather than motivation and engagement. Teammates think they are doing everything wrong.We need a new paradigm. Organizations are not a problem to be solved - liberate the potential of your smart people.Appreciative Inquiry a Paradigm ShiftWhat would it happen to our change practices if we began all our work with the positive presumption that organizations, as centers of human relatedness, are alive with infinite constructive capacity? - David CooperriderChange is the lifeblood of an organization - its the catalyst for progress, innovation, and growth.Organizational change should focus on personal transformation, not on structure or processes. As I repeat over and over organizations dont change, people do.Appreciative Inquiry is an affirming way to create change - it seeks what is right in an organization. AI offers a life-centric approach to energizing people and move them in the direction of what they most desire.Appreciative Inquiry is a new paradigm in organizational change - a shift f rom the traditional deficit-based approach to one of abundance. Turn change into an open invitation - give every employee the opportunity to assume leadership responsibilities.Appreciative Inquiry is the co-evolutionary, co-operative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the relevant world around them. It involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a ordnungsprinzips capacity to apprehend, anticipate and heighten positive potential.This framework makes people acknowleuchtdiodege and value the existing capacities, strengths, and successes. It invites everyone to envision a brighter future. Open collaboration helps identify opportunities and entwurf how to get there.The premise is simple every system, human and otherwise, has something that works right already - build on those strengths.The Positive Core of an organization is mostly unrecognized - it makes up the best of an organization and its people. Its often a hidden and underutilized sou rce. The Positive Core is the collective strengths and existing assets that help design and build the future.Appreciative Inquiry replaces the negative, critical, and spiraling diagnoses commonly used in organizations - it focuses on whats working instead.What Drives Change? The Five PrinciplesWhen work becomes play, and play becomes your work, your life unfolds. - Robert FrostOrganizational culture is a co-construction - its shaped by language, stories, practices, and relationships. The quality of that system defines how balanced, creative or productive an organization is. Culture can lift people or let them down.The foundation of Appreciative Inquiry was developed by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva. Its based on five principles Constructionist, Simultaneity, Anticipatory, Poetic, and Positive.AI leverages the power of storytelling - words create worlds and images inspire action. Language and visualization play a crucial role to understand the present and see the future respectively.Inquiry creates change positive questions drive positive change. AI invites us to lead with questions.Appreciative Inquiry The 5-D CycleWe cant ignore problems - we just need to approach them from the other side. - Cooperider WhitneyFocusing on whats working sounds counterintuitive at first - people must learn how to approach problems from the positive side. We grow in the direction of what we persistently focus on. Focusing on the positive creates a long-lasting appreciation mindset.Building on whats already working helps integrate both the old and the new - they dont need to compete against each other. People start seeing change as an evolution - they shift from an either-or to a yes, and mentality. Rather than focusing on what needs to be fixed, people leverage the best of what has been and what is.Appreciation Inquiry is the act of recognizing the best in a team, an organization or community.It uses questions to uncover whats working - it acknowledges and amp lifies the good, instead of ruminating on whats wrong.Heres a brief description of the five phases.1. Define - What is the topic of inquiry?It is important to define what the system wants more of - thats the topic of inquiry. Definition is the starting point - it helps clarify the area of focus of any change initiative.The guiding question to sto of the process is What generative topic do we want to focus on together?The first phase defines the purpose and ambition for the project - the end outcome should solve for this phase. The cycle is a continuum - once the team goes through all stages, a new topic of inquiry starts the process all over again.2. Discover - Appreciate the best of what isThis phase is an open conversation to find whats already working. The more people can directly get involved, the better. Everyone is invited to participate, that doesnt mean everyone will volunteer.The Discover phase helps reconnect and acknowledge past successes, strengths, great ideas and moments. Its not a celebration of the past - we are looking for learnings that can be applied in the present and future.The bewerberinterviews and analysis help understand and make sense of what is discovered at both an individual and collective levels. The interview approach is open, human, and inspiring - its a dialogue, not a survey. A safe space is essential for people to speak candidly and openly.Focus on finding, emphasizing, and illuminating any factors that have led to the best in a given situation. What gives/gave life to the organization?3. Dream - Imagine what could beAI brings an interesting tension - we appreciate past successes, yet we are encouraged to challenge the status-quo. The Dream phase is about imagining possibilities - people visualize what could be or needs to be.The Dream phase leverages past achievements and strengths identified in the Discover stage. People dream where they want to see the organization in one, five, and ten years from now. The entir e team can project whats best for the company into their wishes, hopes, and aspirations.What could be? Collectively, the team visualizes the desired future state.4. Design - Determining what should beThe Discover phase is about collecting stories the Dream one is about creativity. In the Design Phase, we want to bring the two of them together - the best of what is plus what could be help design what should be.The entire organization works on creating an ideal scenario. The team focuses on identifying concrete and actionable ideas. They craft provocative propositions and organizing principles in which the positive core is alive in every strategy, process, decision, system, and collaboration.People are invited to challenge everything. In the book Appreciative Inquiry, the authors mention an experience working with a partner organization of Save the Children in Zimbabwe. The articulation of the future was simple Every person in Zimbabwe shall have access to clean water in five years. However, the above dream demanded a large design shift to move away from a traditional hierarchy to a new form of organization based on a network of partnerships and alliances.How can it be? Define how the dream would look like.5. Destiny - Creating what will beTo make the Dream come true requires a different approach to the traditional planning-monitoring-and implementation. The power of Appreciative Inquiry lies in stepping back - to let the organization emerge on its own terms. Leading change is more like a revolution than a structured and pre-defined roadmap.The concept of change as an open invitation goes well beyond people sharing stories or providing ideas - you let your employees take over. Theres no more effective way to create engagement than to grant autonomy, as I wrote here.Invite people to construct their future - freedom and ownership create a more significant commitment. Trust your people. They will build the necessary partnerships to get there.What will be? Demo cratizing leadership turns every employee into an agent of change - people focus on the positive and make the impossible happen.Practicing Appreciative Inquiry1. RolesThe role of leaders is to become a change catalyst - they sponsor and create the right conditions. Leaders are responsible for planting the seed and nurture the best in their team. Though leaders are champions, they participate as equals.Consultants help introduce the process and train employees as agents of inquiry and facilitators. They also design the overall process and facilitate the implementation until the internal team can take over. In time, consultants continue to help and overlook further implementation in close collaboration with internal teams.The Core Team stewards internal implementation - consider them the go-to-guys for anything related to AI. They are responsible for identifying the topics (define), manage interview guides and process, and encourage an everyday practice of Appreciative Inquiry.Last but not least, Participants are both interviewed and can conduct interviews. They help review stories and share best practices within their teams. They contribute throughout the whole process with stories, dreams, solutions, and action.2. Liberating powerAI is about democratizing change - it liberates power and unleashes human potential.Here are the six conditions recommended by Cooperrider and WhitneyFreedom to be known in relationships Peoples identities form and evolve in relationships. AI levels the playing field by bridging the gap across hierarchies.Freedom to be heard Open conversations dont just give people space to speak up - everyone is committed to listen to everyone else.Freedom to dream in community Leaders must encourage people to unleash their individual dreams and build a larger, collective one.Freedom to choose to contribute AI reconnects people with their most profound purpose - people feel reenergized and determined. People contribute because they want to, not because they are forced to.Freedom to act with support When everyone is listening and caring about each other, the desire to act increases - the system stimulates people to actively participate.Freedom to be positive Culture is the behavior we reward and promote. When negativity is no longer omnipresent, people re-learn to focus on positive conversations.3. Forms of EngagementThere are various ways of implementing AI. The chart below summarizes eight different forms in which you can apply Appreciative Inquiry in your team, organization or community.A Whole-System Inquiry involves the participation of all the stakeholders - employees, customers, vendors - all the parts co-create the Dream.An AI Summit is a large-scale meeting process that focuses on discovering and developing an organizations positive core. Participation is diverse and includes all the companys stakeholders.Its an exciting experience - an AI Summit unleashes tremendous power and enthusiasm driving holistic engag ement.As Cindy Frick, VP, Organizational Development of Roadway Express said, Appreciative Inquiry is the philosophy that is allowing us to engage the hearts, minds, and souls of our people - all of our people. Only when we do that, will we achieve breakthrough performance.As an example, this is what a 2-day AI Summit session could look like.4. Watch OutsAppreciative Inquiry is not perfect, just like any other method.The emphasis on the positive can quickly turn into overlooking the flaws and weaknesses of an organization. Here are some of the key watch outs as highlighted by research by Egan and LancasterDifficult interpersonal situations may be overlooked and remain unidentified as challenges to the success of the group or organization.Feelings of anger or frustration may not be voiced and may become barriers for some employees.Dissatisfied organization members may retreat and withdraw from the process because they are unable to feel included by the AI approach.Having said so, th ose flaws can be corrected. The beauty of AI lies in encouraging open conversations and co-creation. Here are some tips to overcome the watch out mentioned aboveAvoid groupthink - expert facilitation is critical to making sure tensions are encouraged and that all stories are heard. Promote positive dissent.Address whats not working - the same way traditional change management approaches focus on the problem, you want to avoid an idealistic, positive outlook. Leveraging on positivity and strengths doesnt mean being naif or blindsided by whats not working.Promote Psychological Safety - create a space for open dissent, not just to see the good. Tensions keep teams at the top of their game. Positivity doesnt mean avoiding conflict, but not focusing all the energy on the problems.Use Positive Inquiries to solve whats broken - AI doesnt dismiss problems, it uses a different lens to evaluate them. When they arise, they are validated as live stories and then reframed as a positive inqui ry. For example, the problem of high employee turnover becomes an inquiry into magnetic work environments. Or the problem of low management credibility becomes an inquiry into moments of inspired leadership.Practice makes perfect - Implementing any new method requires mastery, not just knowledge and understanding. Learning to drive a car, doesnt turn someone into a Formula-1 driver. Thats the problem with the Design Thinking craze. Everyone became a so-called expert, as I explained here.Putting It All TogetherYour team doesnt want to be managed and told how to change. Remember Steve Jobs words. If you hire smart people, let them tell you how.Appreciative Inquiry is about leading change instead of managing it. A paradigm shift is necessary to encourage people to co-create organizational transformation.Through powerful questions and open conversations, AI uncovers and acknowledges the positive in any organization. All stakeholders are invited to dream and co-create a promising future .Improve Your Change FitnessDownload a free copy of my guide 7 Ways to Improve Change Fitness.This article first appeared on Medium.

Leaving Old Jobs off an Application vs Including Them

Leaving Old Jobs off an Application vs Including ThemLeaving Old Jobs off an Application vs Including ThemDo you need to include every job you ever had on a job application?What if theres not enough room to list them all? How about when some of the jobs you have held arent relevant to the positions that you are applying for now? When job applications are zugreifbar, there may be space to list an unlimited number of past positions. On other applications, you may only be able to list a certain number of jobs. How many positions should you list? And, whats more important quality or quantity? Which Jobs to Include on a Job Application There are strategic reasons to include - or exclude - certain past jobs. As a general guideline, you should focus on crafting your work history to best support the specific position you are applying to. If you have an extensive work history, it will be more difficult to represent your experience in an easily digestible form. At the same time, youll ha ve more vorkaufsrechts as to which positions you choose to include. Candidates with limited experience will not have as much leeway since theyll need to present at least some evidence of past employment. The exact number of jobs to include on your applications will depend on your personal situation, but here are some suggestions to help you to decide on how to represent your unique work history in a job application best. Here are some tips for deciding how many jobs to include in job applications. Read the Directions Very Carefully Look for indications of whether employers make statements like list all past jobs. In these cases, you will be limited to following directions and should include all positions that fit within the available space.Leaving out jobs, particularly during your recent work history, could be grounds for rejecting your application. In the case where you have many jobs in your distant past that are not relevant to the job for which you are applying, you could s ummarize your employment during that period. For positions more than 10 to 15 years in the past, for example, you could say, Worked in a variety of retail services positions from 1990-1995, details available upon request. Listing All Positions for a Certain Time Frame Some applications will specify that you list all positions for a certain time frame, like the past 5 or 10 years. In a case like this, you should cover all positions in that segment of time, but you can be selective about what you include in years prior. Regardless, make sure you find a way to incorporate all jobs that show evidence of critical skills or knowledge bases. If youve left out jobs that you had outside of the employers timeframe, for example, and those positions are irrelevant to the current position, you can write something like, Highlights of additional employment provided below. Complete work history available upon request. if there is a place on the online application for additional information or n otes. Keep It Short Be brief when describing irrelevant jobs that you are forced to include, or jobs that are from the very distant past. Instead of detailing duties that arent impressive, make other points.If you held an evening job at a restaurant, for example, you might say Worked extra hours to expedite the repayment of college loans. If applicable, you should also highlight promotions, awards or key successes. That way, even if the work isnt relevant, you can at least make a point about other aspects of your candidacy. Pick and Choose Which Jobs to Include If you arent directed to provide your entire work history or all positions within a certain time period, limit the number of positions to those jobs most relevant to the position youre applying for. However, be sure that you arent creating gaps in your work history. You Can List More Than Your Work History Applicants with a limited number of non-related experiences should try to incorporate volunteer and co-curric ular roles. If the employer doesnt have a special category on their application for volunteer experiences or activities, then include these experiences within the employment section. Label them appropriately, so it is clear that the positions were unpaid. For example, you could list volunteer activity as Volunteer Event Coordinator, PTA or Fundraising Volunteer, American Cancer Society. Dont Create an Employment Gap Some candidates are reluctant to leave off less pertinent positions because it would create gaps in employment but dont want to include less impressive jobs.In this situation, one option is to leave these jobs off and use the comments or additional information section to provide an explanation. This approach will make the most sense if you have an easily understandable rationale for taking time away from your career or downshifting to a less relevant, or impressive position. Perhaps you were taking courses, raising a child, or caring for a family member. Keep in mind that your cover lettermight also be a place where you can account for any disturbances in your work history. Keep Your Work History Honest Its important to portray your employment history in the best possible manner.If you can closely match your experience to the employers requirements, youll have the best chance of getting hired. However, its even more important to keep your job applications honest. When you sign (on paper or online) a job application, you are attesting to the fact that what you have listed is accurate and truthful. Employers can, and do, verify the information that job applicants give them.If your application isnt honest, it can cost you a job - either now or at any point in the future.