4 Ways to Perfect Your Resume in the New Year

4 Ways to Perfect Your Resume in the New Year4 Ways to Perfect Your Resume in the New YearThe start of the year is a time of renewed conviction to improve professionally, and many workers change jobs within the first several months of a new year.As you enter 2016, here are four things you can update on your resume to prepare for a possible career change this year. 1. Your career objective. I know. Implying that your resume has an Objective seems taboo per modern standards. However, even if you dont write Objective on your resume, it needs a professional purpose. You need to determine if you are targeting more of the same or looking to change your role, responsibilities or industry. Depending on your goal, your resume should clearly reflect how you are a strong contender for a specific role. Resumes without a specific purpose or objective do elend fare as well as those that are targeted. Remember, it is the job seekers responsibility to establish his worth if he wants to capture th e attention of a busy and distracted hiring manager. So, even though you no longer write Objective, your summary, the description of your previous positions and overall look and feel of your resume should be aligned with the change you seek. 2. Your layout. Once you have a professional goal in mind, reexamine your resume to see if the layout helps or hurts. For example, when you are a new college graduate, your college degree is most likely your greatest professional accomplishment and should be listed first. Fast forward a couple of years, and instead of listing your degree first, relevant work experience should lead the resume. Another cause for layout modification is a desired change in career path or industry. For example, lets say that you have been working as a sales person in the pharmaceutical industry and would like to start in project management in any field. You may need a strong summary at the top of your resume to convey how your sales role gave you opportunity to hone your project management skills. Or maybe you have gone through a rigorous project management certification program and would benefit from including a Skills and Training section near the top of your resume. Finally, everyone should view their resume on a mobile phone. You will be amazed at how little space you have to work with before the screen cuts off. It is critical that those top few lines capture the readers so that they are compelled to open the document all of the way or scroll down. Wasting half of the available mobile screen space on contact information is never a good idea. 3. Your impact. A typical resume is a list of duties. However, a powerful resume communicates the impact you have made in your roles, not just your tasks. Think about the business problems you have solved. Look for ways to quantify or measure your success. For example, does your role have an efficiency rating or customer satisfaction score? Do you process a high volume of something or perform with a low error or escalation percentage? Numbers make the reader feel that something is true and factual, not just your opinion. When you can include them, along with a well-written description of how you added value, a hiring manager is more likely to think youre a better hire than someone who has no visible track record. 4. Your errors. Once you have put the finishing touches on your masterpiece, print it out. Too often, people rely on on-screen editing to catch every error. Your eyes will catch more when you look at your document on paper. Of course, you can use the Reveal Codes feature to see all the hidden editing, such as spacing, but you should still print a final document. After your first review, walk away, then review one more time later in the day. It never hurts to ask a trusted friend to review as well. Make sure you pick someone detail-oriented with excellent command of grammar and punctuation. Ask someone who will truly take the time to read your resume. With those three extra layers of review, your resume should be ready for submission. Landing a new career is not easy for most. Taking time to examine and enhance your critical first impression your resume displays your professional commitment. It also makes it easier to be identified for a first interview by recruiters and hiring managers who receive hundreds of poorly matched or poorly written submissions. Heres to your success in 2016.

Survey says if you live with your partner this is what you complain about

Survey says if you live with your partner this is what you complain about Survey says if you live with your partner this is what you complain about So you’ve been dating a long time, had discussions about money and religion, met each other’s families, and of course, you love each other and can see a future together. Maybe it’s time to take the next big step â€" wait, not getting married, that’s crazy! We’re talking about moving in together. Sofary.com surveyed over 900 people about living with their significant others about the good and the bad about shacking up.Why make the move? We felt ready: 73.6% It made it easier to see each other: 45.7% To save money on rent: 28.1% One of us needed a new housing situation: 20.2% Millennials were more likely than any other generation to move in together in order to save money on rent or because one of them needed a place to live.Sixty-one percent said their satisfaction with their relationship increased after moving in with their partner.Over time, though, that satisfaction leveled out based on how quickly or slowly they had pulled the trigger on shacking up together.   Of those who had decided to live together too quickly, 53.1% were dissatisfied with their relationship. (Not everyone’s ready to share a bathroom in the early stages of a relationship.)And of those who felt they decided to live together at just the right time, 82.9% were satisfied with their relationship.Domestic turmoilOnce a couple is happily ensconced in a home (or tiny apartment) together, reality â€" and complaints â€" quickly hits.On a more hopeful note, 50% of married couples say that tolerance of your partner’s habits and quirks gets easier after you move in together. (Just be sure to clean up after yourself).Feathering the nestPurchasing furniture and new decor is a ritual for moving in with a partner. About 58% of a shared apartment’s furniture is purchased after a couple moves in together, and men spent about $600 more on furniture and decor than women. (Women spent $4,964, and men spent $5,624.) Still, 19% of women felt they hadn’t spent enough on furniture and decor, while 16% of men felt they had overspent. Yet another place to agree to disagree!The furnishing of a new shared home best illustrates the importance of compromise. As a man surveyed by Sofary said, “She wanted a rain lamp; I think it’s a 1970s piece of decor that’s tacky but she had to have it.” And so they bought the rain lamp, and all is peaceful on the home front.

Air Force Specialty Code Explanation

Air Force Specialty Code Explanation Air Force Specialty Code Explanation In the Army and Marines, an enlisted job is called MOS or military occupational specialty. In the Navy and Coast Guard, an enlisted job is called a rating. But in the Air Force, a job is referred to by an Air Force Specialty Code, or AFSC. Its a five-digit alphanumeric code for enlisted Air Force personnel, four digits for officers, sometimes modified  with  additional characters for more precise identification. Air Force AFSCs: A History When it split from the Army in 1947, the Air Force continued to use the MOS system to  describe its jobs. This changed in 1993 when it introduced the current system used today in a major restructuring. This allowed the Air Force to streamline its workforce somewhat; the number of enlisted jobs was trimmed from 203 to 176, and officer jobs were reduced from 216 to 123. Heres how the AFSCs break down. Meaning of Characters in AFSCs The first number in the AFSC is the career group. There are nine Air Force career groups. Operations is Group 1 and includes jobs such as aircrew operations, cyber warfare, intelligence, remotely piloted aircraft (drones), and weather. Maintenance/Logistics is Group  2 and includes aerospace maintenance, logistics, and missile and space systems maintenance. Jobs in Group 3, Support, include cyberspace support, civil engineering, and security forces. The Professional career group, Group 5, includes paralegals and chaplains, while Group 6,  Acquisitions, includes contracting and financial management. Special Investigations is Group 7, and Group 8, Special Duty Assignments, is used for specialized jobs like instructors, couriers, and training leaders. Special Reporting Identifiers is a designation for temporary status, such as a trainee, prisoner, or someone in a group that is otherwise temporary. Its career Group 9. The second digit is a letter that identifies the career field. The third digit is a number indicating the career field subdivision, also known as the job functional area. Skill Levels in AFSCs The fourth number in the AFSC indicates a persons skill level. For example, someone with the AFSC 1A051 has a five skill level. An individual receives the 1 (helper) skill-level when they enter technical school for the AFSC. Upon graduation from technical school, they receive the 3 (apprentice) skill level. Airmen are normally awarded the 5 (journeyman) skill level after a period of on-the-job training and correspondence courses, or CDCs. Depending on the job, this process can last anywhere between 12 and 18 months. Staff Sergeant and Craftsman Skill Levels Upon promotion to Staff Sergeant, individuals enter training for the 7 (craftsman) Skill Level. This level ?of training includes more CDCs, more on-the-job training, and for some jobs, a 7-level technical school. Once promoted to E-8, the person receives a 9 (superintendent) skill level. The final digit (numeral) indicates further job division within the same functional area. Specific skills (such as the type of aircraft) are designated by suffixes, such as A or B.

The Benefits and Advantages of Server Virtualization

The Benefits and Advantages of Server Virtualization The Benefits and Advantages of Server Virtualization If you’re the administrator of a system where users need to be separate from one another and from the original server, a cheap and efficient way to do this is by creating private servers through a process called “server virtualization.” Server virtualization is the idea of taking a physical server and, with the help of virtualization software, partitioning the server, or dividing it up, so that it appears as several virtual servers, each of which can run their copy of an operating system. In this way, rather than the entire server dedicated to one thing, it can be used in several different ways. Advantages of Server Virtualization Saves money on IT costs. When you partition one physical server into several virtual machines, you can deploy, operate and manage multiple operating system instances at once on that single physical server. Fewer physical servers mean less money spent on those servers.Reduces the number of physical servers a company must have on its premises. Regardless of company size, it’s always a good idea to save space.Cuts down on energy consumption since there are fewer physical servers consuming power. Thats especially important, given the trend toward green IT planning and implementation. Creates independent user environments. Keeping everything separate is especially useful for purposes such as software testing (so programmers can run applications in one virtual server without affecting others).Provide affordable web hosting. When dozens of servers can fit on the same computer, the supply of servers is increased for virtually no additional cost. Types of Server Virtualization There are three different kinds of server virtualization: Virtual machine model (or “full virtualization”): Based on the host/guest paradigm, use a special kind of software called a hypervisor. Administrators can create guests with different operating systems.Paravirtual machine (PVM): similar to full virtualization, also based on a host/guest paradigm. Can also run multiple OSes.OS-level: not based on the host/guest paradigm. Guests must use the same OS as the administrator/host, and partitions are completely separated from one another (so problems in one cannot affect any others). Careers in Virtualization Some of the server-virtualization-related positions you may come across on employment websites may include: virtualization engineervirtualization architectserver virtualization systems administratorcloud virtualization engineer Major Players in the Server Virtualization Arena: VMWareMicrosoftCitrix;Red Hat. The Future of Server Virtualization Understand that virtualization itself is not a novel concept. (Computer scientists have been making “supercomputers” for decades.) However, virtualization for servers was only invented in the late 90s. It took a while to catch on, but in past years especially, the growth of server virtualization has been explosive. Companies realized they were wasting resources, and virtualization technology was adopted by most as a way to consolidate their business’ technical operations. These days, server virtualization is more of a basic requirement than an advanced concept. With that in mind, specializing in server virtualization as a career move may not put you in high demand on its own (although it is continuing to evolve). However, being familiar with implementing virtualization can set you up for whatever’s coming next. Note: updates have since been made to this article by Laurence Bradford.

How to Become a Magazine Writer or Freelancer

How to Become a Magazine Writer or Freelancer How to Become a Magazine Writer or Freelancer A career as a magazine writer can be rewarding and fun. You get to meet and work with interesting people, learn about new topics and craft fascinating stories that readers enjoy. It is also very competitive and a job that requires diligence and patience. Once you see your name in print for the first time, you will know that your hard work paid off. Getting a break in the magazine world is not easy, but it is possible for any talented writer. There are many magazines- from large to small- that rely on great writers to give their readers what they want. It is an exciting career, and there are a few ways to approach it.   What Magazine Writers Do Magazine writers are essentially ?journalists. They find, research and write stories that interest readers. The kind of journalism that magazine writers focus on varies greatly from journalism for other publications, such as daily newspapers and blogs.? With few exceptions, magazine writers often produce feature-oriented pieces. Some magazine writers focus on smaller stories, while others produce long-form, or narrative, pieces. It can include exclusive interviews with sought-after subjects and celebrities that can be several pages long. It is increasingly common that magazines need stories for their online publications as well. Some of these stories never make it to print. Instead, they are published solely on the magazines website. Full-Time and At-Large Full-time positions as magazine writers are some of the most coveted in the print media world. Some lucky- and of course talented- writers take positions as staff writers for magazines. Staff writers usually work in the office and have more of a 9-to-5 schedule.   Other magazine writers have official affiliations with magazines and may have at large titles like writer-at-large or editor-at-large. It typically means that they get assigned a certain number of stories for a set fee. These positions often require no time in the office. Freelance Life Due  to the nature of magazine writing, many magazine writers work as freelancers. Some have cushy at-large positions, while others live assignment-to-assignment.  Freelance magazine writers who don’t have steady gigs- i.e., stories for a certain section that magazine editors regularly assign to them- can find it stressful to chase assignments constantly. Some full-time freelance writers find success pitching stories, but many rely on editors to assign them pieces. The key to being a top-of-mind writer to editors is producing good, timely work. Sending them a scoop now and then doesnt hurt either. What Defines a Story Every editorial staff is different, and quite often a magazine will give first priority to regular contributors. Once you get in with a magazine, they may send out a regular call for stories to their entire pool of writers. It will be a list of topics they are interested in, and each writer can choose which story they want to take on for that particular issue.   How to Get a Job College or Experience: A college degree helps, particularly a bachelors in journalism or a related field. If you want to write for magazines, a solid education in writing, composition, proofreading and fact-checking will help significantly. For the right individual with drive and talent, a college degree is not always necessary. Experience and a long list of published articles can also get your foot in the door of some magazines.Get an Internship: Many magazines offer internships, and though they are often unpaid or pay very little, they can offer valuable experience. These positions will give you insight into the publishing process and look good on your resume and CV. Magazines will often give former interns a chance to write for them in the future as well. Read Magazines: It is important that you gain an understanding of the style of magazine journalism. It is different than writing for a daily newspaper, and the best way for you to familiarize yourself with it is to read. It is often called learning your market, and it is essential, particularly if you wish to focus on niche topics such as beauty, fashion or technology. Through this research, you will learn about story length and format and how magazine writers capture a readers attention.Start Writing: Writers need samples of their work and practice honing their skills. The best way to do that is to write and write often. Give yourself assignments and write sample stories, pick up a side gig with a local publication or do some work for a blog. It will create a body of work that you can show editors when sending queries.? Develop a Niche and a Style: Every writer has their own voice, and many choose to focus their career on a certain topic. While you may start off as a generalist, finding a niche that you love to write about is good on many fronts. It keeps you motivated and allows you to concentrate and gain authority on a certain topic. It will also show editors that you are dedicated to the topic and give you industry contacts that will be helpful for future stories. A niche doesnt have to be extremely narrow, either. An entry-level tech writer may not focus just on the Windows platform alone, but rather on the broader scope of computers, software and the business of technology. Many writers will concentrate on broad topics like politics or business, food or lifestyle, entertainment or sports.   Persistence is Key: The magazine world is very competitive, and it can be frustrating at times, especially when you have ten queries to editors out there and have received no response. Try not to get disheartened. Persistence will keep you motivated, so send out those queries and pitches and wait for editors to respond. If you dont hear from an editor after a few weeks, send them another pitch or send that story you really care about to another editor (be careful about sending it to too many editors all at once). The magazine editorial process can be very slow at times and after persistence comes patience. Love the Deadline: Deadlines are key to any writers success, and it is vital that you make every deadline you are given. It can be easy to procrastinate and put off a story until the last minute, but you need to think about the quality of your story as well. A writer who consistently misses deadlines will get a reputation, and that can significantly affect your prospects in the future. Learn to love deadlines and consider them essential to your career.

Working With a Finance Consultant

Working With a Finance Consultant Working With a Finance Consultant Many accounting and finance organizations need the help of talented professionals with specific subject matter expertise to contribute to or manage complex projects. But often they don’t have the budget - or the ongoing need - to hire these individuals on a full-time basis. Bringing in a  finance consultant or another type of interim management professional is an effective way to fill these skills gaps as needed.   In fact, engaging a finance consultant is a strategy many businesses are employing. A Robert Half Management Resources survey found  more than half (57 percent) of CFOs plan to bring in financial consultants for finance and accounting projects. Organizations are also anticipating working with project professionals for initiatives around business systems and performance improvement, taxation, risk and compliance , and finance optimization. Although hiring a finance consultant or project professional can be a logical staffing solution for many firms, managers need to take steps to ensure these arrangements will be successful - both for the business and the consultant. Here’s how to do just that:   Communicate the details of the project Managers need to make it clear from the start what the company wants to accomplish. Good communication is pivotal. Lack of clarity around goals can undermine a finance consultant’s productivity and leave that person feeling detached from the organization and its objectives. Fitting into the workplace culture , collaborating successfully with other employees and understanding expectations are crucial if interim professionals are going to achieve the objectives set before them.   Consider the consultant's professional goals Professionals often develop new skills and broaden their professional experience by pursuing project work. And many accounting and finance professionals become consultants specifically because they seek diverse assignments  and a  wide range of work experiences. Clearly show how opportunities with your firm can help them advance their professional development.   Leave the door open for full-time hiring Having a skilled interim management professional become a full-time hire can save time and resources  if your firm decides to add staff in the future. You’ll be able to secure talented professionals who are already familiar with the expectations and unique culture of your firm, which means they can start contributing to the business faster - and, likely, with less training.   Working with a finance consultant can be an effective way for firms to operate at full capacity when internal resources are limited or otherwise insufficient. But this strategy is only effective if the business leaders know how to integrate these professionals seamlessly into the work environment. Can your organization benefit from engaging the services of a finance consultant? Answer the five questions in this Robert Half Management Resources blog post to find out.   Related Posts: Tips for Team Building When Your Team Includes Consultants and Interim Staff How project consultants can turn your business problems into wins â€" 3 case studies CFOs Most Likely to Tap Financial Consultants for Finance and Accounting, Business Systems Projects

What You Absolutely Need to Know to Score a Job at Salesforce

What You Absolutely Need to Know to Score a Job at Salesforce What You Absolutely Need to Know to Score a Job at Salesforce If you work in sales, live in the San Francisco Bay Area, or keep on top of the latest tech trends, odds are you’re familiar with Salesforce . But even if none of those things applies to you, there’s still a good chance you’ve heard of the company behind the world’s #1 Customer Relationship Management platform. With over 150,000 customers, a revenue of 8.39 billion dollars in the 2017 fiscal year, and offices on six continents, the company has certainly built a name for itself. But Salesforce hasn’t just earned a reputation as a strong business - it’s also consistently been recognized as an incredible place to work. The company has made Glassdoor’s list of Best Places to Work in the U.S. seven times since 2009, and the list of Highest Rated CEOs every year since the award’s inception in 2013. With an overall company rating of 4.2 out of 5, a 98 percent approval rating of their CEO Marc Benioff, and 86 percent of employees willing to recommend the company to their friends, Salesforce is highly attractive to job seekers. And Salesforce, for their part, knows how to treat those interested job seekers. On top of their many other accolades, Salesforce was just named among the top five Best Places to Interview in 2017. Want to be a part of this hot company? Glassdoor’s Emily Moore recently chatted with Ana Recio, Senior Vice President of Global Recruiting at Salesforce, to get the inside scoop on what kind of candidates the company’s looking for, which questions you can expect to be asked in an interview, and what the best interview answers she’s ever heard were.   Ana Recio: A great interview experience for a candidate is when they feel really well prepared. They know what to anticipate and have context for the role that they are being interviewed for. They understand what the goals of the role are three months, six months and nine months out. We prepare our candidates in multiple ways to have a great experience by providing them with demos, videos, competitive information and product positioning, all while seeking to understand what motivates and inspires them. We ask candidates to consider their successes, their failures and to be able to articulate why this role makes sense for them in their career journey. On the flipside, we make sure that our hiring managers are prepared to speak to candidates and we do that by reminding our hiring teams that our candidates are also interviewing us - that they have lots of choices, and that we need to both speak to our value proposition on why Salesforce is a great environment as well as demonstrate it during the interview process. We often ask our hiring teams not to hyper focus on candidate assessment, but to speak about their personal journeys with candidates; why Salesforce has been impactful to them and their careers. Talk about what milestones they [achieved] and what they have learned and share that through an anecdotal conversation versus an interview format. Ana Recio: Honestly, it’s just really a matter of timing for most candidates. It may be that we don’t have the right role for them right at that very moment, but we’re growing and hiring like crazy, so it really is just a matter of time. Often the role is filled by an internal individual because we really do try to promote our employees first and consider our employee base before we extend an external offer. Because this often is a factor, I advise candidates to continue networking . The right role will materialize. It really is just a matter of time. For candidates trying to transition into the software industry, we advise that they hone in on their applicable skills or try to get more experience in a particular domain. This could be done sometimes with exposure to our products via volunteering at a non-profit that uses Salesforce, or by attending our world tour events or Dreamforce events. It’s all about networking, learning, and becoming part of our ecosystem, so when we do call that candidate back in the near future, they’re prepared and they’re ready to shine. Ana Recio: We’ve all had work challenges when projects didn’t quite go as planned. We want to know about what would they do differently in retrospect. This is a great question because it unveils a candidate’s humility, honesty and ability to reflect and analyze a situation. We also like to ask, what do your colleagues say about you? Which can often elicit funny and illuminating responses. What is your greatest strength? What are you most proud of about your current [role]? Who was your best boss, and what did they give you that has shaped you today in your career? What is next for you, and if you stay where you’re at today, will you get that? We may ask people about how they overcame challenges in pursuit of a goal. And we always close with a gentle reminder on how the opportunity at Salesforce is going to help advance their career. Many recruiters on my team like to ask what motivated a candidate to respond to them when they reached out. This gives us a little insight [into] what the candidate is looking for in their next career step. We ask candidates to describe the type of projects they worked on, the scale of those projects, what collaboration was involved as well as the outcome. Salesforce is very much a team sport , so examples of collaboration are important. We always ask of course, why do you want to work for Salesforce? That is always enlightening as well, because it often highlights what inspires them: our scale, sophistication, collaborative culture, or perhaps a desire to give back to the community, which is really paramount to our company’s values. We always ask what people’s career aspirations are in three, five, ten years, and where do they see themselves at Salesforce in this timeframe. That is also a great opportunity for us to say, “We could help you get there, and here are the tools, r esources and path.” Ana Recio: Some companies are known to ask [questions like] “How many gas stations can you find in California?” We don’t have those types of questions… we’re really into storytelling, and we want individuals to tell us their career journey and what inspires and motivates them. We try to engage in a conversation versus a hardcore assessment. We don’t readily employ those kinds of knockout, bizarre questions that candidates don’t really know how to answer. Ana Recio: I couldn’t agree more. As an interviewer, I’m always like “What is the purpose of that question?” If we want to show our personality, [it’s] better to do it in a more congenial, authentic way versus in a way that feels like we’re tricking the candidate. Ana Recio: I asked a candidate once if there was one thing that they could do differently to become more efficient and more collaborative in their work environment what would they do? It made me laugh -  he said that he would attend more happy hours with his teammates. He wasn’t being funny, he was serious about it! He said because that is where you build relationships and get to know people and you’re able to speak in a little bit [of a] less formal environment. He felt that while you’re going out for lunch or spending time with people outside the office was really the best way to become more efficient and to get things done. I actually had another individual who in an interview process had been asked, “What would be your biggest challenge if [you] took the role?” Somebody said “containing my excitement” which I thought was also pretty awesome. I know that that individual was absolutely sold, and to this day always tells me it was true, that has been his biggest challenge at Salesforce because it’s such an exciting place to be. Ana Recio: I also had a candidate once who we asked if she was ready for her interview… and she responded with “I stay ready,” which was also a great answer… Anybody who is that witty needs to be at Salesforce. The recruiter thought it was great. Ana Recio: Ohana means family, and that is the foundation of our values. We ask for examples of teamwork and collaboration and how candidates have worked towards collective goals. Candidates [should] demonstrate that they’re a part of a larger community - a family - so [we look for] those themes in their responses and if they have a desire to make an impact both internally as well as in their community. It is always great when candidates are able to speak to our values, understand what resonates with them the most [and] provide personal examples of that type of contribution. We’ll ask candidates for examples of their Ohana spirit; for example,  if they’re passionate about giving back to the community or promoting equality. Those values, along with teamwork and collaboration, are really important to us at Salesforce. We ask lots of questions and prepare interviewers, but we also prepare the candidates too. We make sure that candidates understand our values so when they walk into our environment, they’re ready to give relevant examples and to shine.