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Many people ask me for resume advice from time to time. We all want to have a competitve advantage over our competition. One of the major problems that I see many candidates make when it comes to their resume is that they build their resume blindly. At best, they take their old resume and add just add the most recent employer.

Besides targeting your resume to a position before you sent it, there is another important activity that you can engage in.

Observing an Accounting Resume Sample

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Many people get quickly discouraged when it comes to making a resume. While it does take time, there are a few important principles that can make the process much easier.

Do a research online about resume tips and you will find a lot of conflicting advice. People that argue for and against objective statements, career accomplishments, and listing references. The truth is if you can get a few things right on your resume, you will be just fine.

How to Make a Resume That Gets Results

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What makes a successful accounting resume? The sooner you can speak to your target audience the better chances you will have at getting your foot in the door. Many job searchers fail to realize that the goal of a resume is to design a marketing brochure that sells you. It is not meant to be a long, boring job description that lists out every possible job duty that you had on a daily basis.

A hiring manager is going to scan your accountant resume much like you would a marketing brochure. Make it easy for them to see your best skills and get more interviews.  

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Writing your own resume can seem like a daunting task in the beginning. Many people decide to outsource the entire process from the outset. The truth is that writing your own resume is not as difficult once you have some basic guidelines established. Taking a little bit of time in the beginning to really understand what makes a resume stand out can not only save you time but money as well. Of course you will need to decide which is more important to you: your time or money (because you will need to spend one or the other).

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The longer I am in the recruiting business the more I am convinced that the most important thing in a job search is a face to face interview. Some may argue that it is about who you know or the experience you have gained, but I have seen plenty of examples of people less-qualified getting the job over the better candidate on paper.

That is why in your job search you need to really understand the art of interviewing and avoid bad job interviews altogether. Today’s topic may seem a bit silly to discuss, but I have a few important angles to bring up that I believe are relevant.

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I hope that through these recent posts you are beginning to see and understand some of the more common interview mistakes that can lead to bad interviews . Many of these mistakes fly under the radar of the average job seeker as they do not even realize that what they are doing is actually hurting their chances and not helping.

If you have missed the first few fatal mistakes that lead to bad interviews then go here for a recap:

Fatal Mistake #10:  Providing too much information
Fatal Mistake #9:  Trying to answer a question that you do not know an answer for

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pic by psychbird on flickr.com

Most people view resumes as a necessary evil and I can completely understand why. A good resume takes thought, some creativity, an ability to “sell yourself” and some basic marketing principles. Yet, the resume is so vitally important. As I have said before, the resume must evoke an emotion in the eyes of the reader and compel them to pick up the phone an give you a call. Your resume really is a marketing piece at a very basic level.

I want to share with you what I believe are the top 7 resume blunders. Trust me, I have seen them all over the last eight years as an Executive Recruiter. In fact, I have a “running” Word document that I add to on a weekly basis anytime I come across a funny, unusual, or bizarre item on a resume. One day I will share it with the world and you will not believe what I have seen on resumes.

Anyways, back to the purpose of the blog post. If I were to take all of the blunders I have seen I could place them into 7 basic categories. I would encourage you to take time to measure your resume up against these blunders and be sure that these are not true about your resume.

TOP 7 RESUME BLUNDERS

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Have you ever been frustrated with how your resume looks when you have to cut and paste it into a text box in order to submit your resume online? Well, I know it frustrates many people and they mistakingly believe that nothing can be done. Well, there is a way to make the presentation of your text version resume look stellar.

I am going to share with you a simple 7 step process to submitting a winning resume online. This might be a bit technical so I would encourage you to poen your current resume now and follow along. Once you do this task, you will never have to worry about doing it again. Here we go!

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Probably the single biggest challenge that job seekers face is getting their foot in the door. I hear this time and time again from candidates of mine. They are convinced that if they can just talk to a human being (hiring manager) that they can win the job. This seems like a huge obstacle to overcome in the day and age we live in especially with so many companies utilizing online job postings.

Job searching has become de-humantized (just made up the word!). With automatic replies that your resume was received and pre-formatted rejection letters that just need your name inserted and the other removed, there is no doubt that job searching lacks a human touch.

Well, the good news is there are ways to get your foot in the door, but you have to have two things working for you. These two things can be summed up in answering one question. The question may seem simple but if you can answer this question than you have accomplished your goal.

Here is the question:

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We have been discussing on this blog on how to utilize Linkedin for your career. You can use these techniques I share with you to grow your connections fast on Linkedin. If you are new to Linkedin and would like access to my network you are welcomed to send me an invite. My profile can be found here:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/JonathanMilligan

These last two techniques that I am about to share with you will grow your network fast. You will be at 500+ connections on Linkedin within weeks if not days. Now I am sure you are asking the question: “Why do I want to be connected to so many people and possible even people that I do not know?” Well, I cover this in more detail in my book (you can gain free access to it on the right), but basically you must remember Networking 101.

The six degrees of separation does exist. You are just a connection or two away from someone who can solve the problem you are now facing. Alright, now let’s get right into reason #3 and #4.

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You have 7 seconds to grab the reader’s attention with your resume. Does that frighten you? Well, read on because I am going to share with you some tips and strategies that can help you stand out from among the competition and give you a competitive edge. I have also included a 7 minute audio podcast version of this topic that I highly recommend that you listen to.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Basically, there are 3 tips that I am going to offer you that will help you to pass the 7 second test.

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Have your resume written by someone in the trenches!

We, Recruiters, live and die by resumes that get results. Let me share with you a little bit about how the recruiting process works….

1. Recruiter submits your resume to the Hiring Manager.
2. He follows up with a phone call to discuss the candidate’s resume over the phone.
3. In order to secure an interview, the recruiter has to overcome some initial objections to the resume.
4. The goal of the recruiter is to have the least amount of objections as possible.

Bottom line:

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I am increasingly amused while reading current resumes. I know that in today’s competitive workplace you need to stand out and I am the first to say that a resume is a place to brag on and embellish accomplishments. However, we are seeing a blurring of

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