How To Write An Effective Resume -- Step TWO

Step Two:

Psychological Preparation.

Winning the fight for a new job isn't easy, as you no doubt know already. You need to have every asset in your corner. Here are eight timeless tips for job hunters. If you think about them before you ever start your job hunt -- and keep them in mind as you proceed -- you'll find them extremely helpful:

· Ask for help. The fact is that most people have jobs regardless of the economy, and people are changing jobs all the time. Ask people for help! Ask those you've worked for or with both in current and previous jobs, ask people in your circle of friends, ask those you do business with. Do NOT be shy -- everybody goes through this! It's called "networking" . . .and the fact is, it's the way most jobs worth having get filled. (More on networking elsewhere in this brochure.)

· Admit that you're fallible. Nobody is perfect, and none of us is immune to making mistakes. When they happen in a job search and you deny it, you're hurting your ability to succeed. When you make a mistake, stop and acknowledge it to yourself, decide what happened and why, and figure out how to prevent it from happening again. Everybody makes mistakes -- the key is to recognize them and learn from them. (The Numero Uno mistake: not treating your job hunt as a full-time job!)

· Stay focused. Distractions are everywhere. . .family, friends, leisure activities, a car that needs washing, a faucet that drips. Your full-time job is looking for a full-time job! YOU are your boss -- be demanding of yourself, so you perform well in this job and in the paycheck-producing job which will certainly follow. IF by chance you decide to go into your own business . . . focus will spell the difference between success and failure!

· Do it right. In any job, there are always plenty of chances to take shortcuts. Yet history clearly tells us that doing a job right the first time is clearly better than doing it wrong, and wasting time doing it over. You are your own client when you're hunting for a job for yourself -- as well as your own boss. The very least you can do is treat yourself fairly: don't cut corners! (If this sounds repetitious -- it is. It's important enough to be repeated repeatedly....)

· Give yourself credit for progress. Although skill in the job-hunting process plays a major role in landing a job, other factors also are at work. One is timing -- simply being at the right place at the right time. Another is luck -- finding out as you and the interviewer meet each other that you really hit it off, share common interests ...whatever. Even if you have a terrible interview -- and that's possible, despite your best efforts -- recognize also that job hunting is in part a numbers game, and every rejection puts you that much closer to success. If someone decides against hiring you, have sufficient faith in yourself to say: "Boy, did that person miss out on a good bet." Do NOT say: "I'm a failure! I'll never amount to anything! I'll never get a job!" Etc....

· Don't be someone you're not. Pretending to be qualified for or interested in a job you couldn't care less about is dumb. There's a chance you'll con an employer into hiring you (a slim chance), but any employer worth working for will find you out in a hurry, and out you'll go -- complete with a tough-to-explain gap in your employment history. Don't fake it. It's not fair to potential employers, and it does you no good either.

· Conversely: be yourself. Everybody has some redeeming qualities (well, almost everybody). Know yourself well -- know what qualities others like in you, and think about which of those qualities are important to potential employers. Just as you are the best qualified to write a resume that works, you're the only person in the world who knows yourself well enough to sell yourself in an interview: the only one! Knowing what you have to offer can make you feel at ease in an interview, and can make you able to focus on delivering evidence of those qualities and qualifications to your future employer.

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· Finally, orient everything you say and do in an interview to the needs of your potential employer, not to yourself. For example, telling someone who is interviewing you that you've fixed 600 television sets in two days during a convention at a hotel is pointless if you're applying for a job baking tuna casseroles. Get the point? If you've always loved to cook, learned how to tell ahi from mahi-mahi when you were six years old, and cooked Grouper for your entire block at your town's First Night celebration, that's relevant! More on Interviewing later in this article.

Go To Step Three