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Results tagged “resumes”

Job Calendar | Career Search Optimization Seminar

Paul Anderson of ProLango presents this free seminar about the hiring process from behind the scenes. Job seekers will learn about recruiting techniques, company blacklists, common job-seeker mistakes and how resumes are scored in a company's applicant tracking system. Register

Career Center | How to return to workforce after lengthy gap

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: For 18 years, I stayed at home to care for a child with special needs. My son now has an independent living arrangement, so I am in the process of looking

Career Center Blog | Cookie-cutter resumes don't cut it anymore

Job hunters obsess about resumes. And for good reason. There's so much to get right -- functional versus chronological, objective statements (pro and con), keywords, templates, references, font size, white space, action verbs, employment gaps, placement and style of bullets,

Job Calendar | Career Search Optimization seminar

Career Center | Is using a recruiter right for you?

By Kristin Kalning / Special to NWjobs When Andrew Edmond left his job last summer, he didn’t immediately look for another one. But when he was ready to get back out there, he went straight to his network of recruiters.

Career Center | Q&A: Stuck in dead-end job, hitting hiring wall

By Liz Reyer / Minneapolis Star Tribune Q: The job market has been picking up, and I've been sending out a lot of resumes, but I'm not getting invited to interviews. My current job has turned into a dead end,

Career Center Blog | Grapevine better bet than Vine for hiring success

I've gone on record before about saying that video resumes are not always the best job-seeking method for several reasons. Mostly it's because they worry HR people about potential discrimination lawsuits, and they don't present much more useful information beyond

Job Calendar | Career Search Optimization Seminar

Job Calendar | Career Search Optimization seminar

Career Center Blog | 5 resume tips for job hoppers

Here's a depressing truth: When hiring managers consider a resume, the first thing they look for is a reason to eliminate it. And yes, even today, when staying at a firm long enough to earn a gold watch is practically

Career Center | What employers want from job seekers

By Dawn Dugan / Salary.com The competition is fierce in today’s job market, and standing out in the crowd is more important -- and challenging -- than ever before. How do you know you’re giving employers exactly what they are

Career Center | Career makeover: Longtime IT manager must draft new career plan

By Lora Shinn / Special to NWjobs For 17 years, Barry Nichols was the IT manager at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Seattle regional office. But in 2012, the bureau office closed, forcing Nichols to look for a job for the

Career Center Blog | How to run your own job interview

It happens all the time. Job interviewers are unprepared. Or inexperienced. Or untrained. Or have poor social skills. In fact, many interviewers will appear to have never glanced at your resume. You may even arrive to find that they have

Career Center Blog | What to look for when choosing a career coach

While career coaches were almost unheard of 20 years ago, their use has grown rapidly over the past five to 10 years. Paid sports coaches have been around for a long time, but the profession of career coaching is still

Career Center Blog | Lesser-known job advice from former presidents

"The only thing we have to fear ..." "Ask not ..." The quotes are so popular and meaningful, we need only the first few words to conjure images of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy reading them in their

Career Center Blog | Resume buzzwords to avoid like the plague

"Goal-oriented." "Innovative." "Self-starter." "Dynamic." Are your eyes glazing over? Of course they are. Resume buzzwords are a turn-off for you as well as for potential employers. Buzzwords make your resume blend in rather than stand out. They are tired and

Career Center | How to handle awkward interview questions

By Joyce E.A. Russell / Special to The Washington Post As an executive coach, I receive many questions from people who want to make a good impression in their interviews. But sometimes applicants are unsure how to handle the awkward

Career Center | Get a free NWjobs.com career makeover

Is your job search stuck? Do you need help switching careers or networking effectively? If so, you may be selected to get free job-hunting, networking and interviewing advice from a trio of experts in exchange for having your story and

Career Center | 9 ways to make yourself more marketable in 2013

By Lora Shinn / Special to NWjobs Those pseudo-Mayan predictions didn’t come true, so you’ll need to prep for a new year. Why not make it one of the best so far, at least career-wise? Here are nine tips for

Career Center | 11 reasons you didn't get that job

By Aaron Gouveia / Salary.com You thought you nailed that interview, but weeks have gone by without a peep from the employer. Wondering why? Here's a list of common interview mistakes, one of which may have been your downfall. Arriving

Career Center Blog | Fill in those hollow resume adjectives with real results

"Hello, my name is Randy. I'm a creative person specializing in organizational efficiency and effective communication. I'm a motivated individual with extensive experience in journalism and have a proven track record of creating innovative solutions. In my previous positions, I

Job Calendar | Job Search Strategies workshop

This free WorkSource class provides tips on the value of labor market information and introduces other strategies like networking, informational interviews and utilizing the Internet to help locate jobs.

Career Center | Career makeover: Construction project manager retools job search

By Cody Ellerd Bay / Special to NWjobs For nearly 20 years, Rita Maese-Noaker had her dream job. A project manager for a construction company, she enjoyed working with tenants and property managers and seeing multimillion-dollar building projects through to

Career Center | Battling to get more vets in the workforce

By Becky Yerak and Cheryl V. Jackson / Chicago Tribune It’s one of the most disheartening statistics in the job market’s slow recovery. As the nation’s unemployment rate dipped below 8 percent in September, joblessness for post-Sept. 11 veterans was

Job Calendar | NSHMBA career and networking event

NSHMBA Seattle, a group dedicated to increasing Hispanic leadership in the Pacific Northwest, is hosting a career and networking event. For registration, instructions and more information, visit Eventbrite.

Career Center Blog | One simple way to increase your response rate

A woman came in the other day to meet with me. She seemed distressed and said she really needed to talk with a career coach to address a serious job-search problem she was having. When I asked her what challenge

Career Center Blog | When life gives you lemons, squeeze them into your resume

The current employment climate can create many unlikely scenarios on the job market. As candidates vie for a shrinking number of positions, they get increasingly creative in their tactics with hiring managers. For instance, there's the story of Greg Drevenstedt,

Career Center | Want to improve your speaking skills? Join the club

By Kyle Nagel / Dayton Daily News Membership in the communication-skills group Toastmasters International has grown, which officials say signals workers’ desire to stand out during in-person interactions. The organization reported an all-time membership high of 273,895 around the world

Career Center | Online hiring systems frustrate applicants

By Lorraine Mirabella / The Baltimore Sun The emailed rejection came as no surprise to Bill Skibinski, though the Abingdon, Md., resident believed he was more than qualified for the entry-level job he’d applied for online. After spending two years

Career Center Blog | When it comes to resume success, keywords are king

While nearly every expert continues to debate the recipe for creating a great resume, there's one rule of thumb that is almost universally agreed upon. In today's world, for your documents to make the cut in most organizations, you need

Career Center Blog | Leave no questions unanswered in your application

You've filled in all the online application boxes, wrote a customized cover letter, submitted work samples and sent in references. You even managed to toss in a few LinkedIn recommendations for good measure. It may seem like your job application

Career Center | Career makeover: Budding social worker gets help

By Lora Shinn / Special to NWjobs Amanda Saab knew in high school that she wanted a career in social work. Since then, she has interned at a hospital, earned a master’s degree, participated in community activities and gained professional

Career Center | How to pursue a job you aren't qualified for -- on paper

By Ken White / Special to The Washington Post Have you ever seen a job posting that looks like a great opportunity -- if only you met the qualifications? It may not be exactly what you “do,” but don’t let

Job Calendar | Resume clinic

Learn how to create a powerful resume at this free WorkSource workshop.

Career Center | Career Q&A: Freelancer wants success to show on resume

By Joyce E.A. Russell / Special to The Washington Post Q: I became a freelancer through someone else's choice when I moved to take a job, then was laid off. After struggling with being legitimately unemployed for about two years,

Career Center Blog | To stand out, focus on 'why' instead of 'how' or 'what'

The changing nature of today's job market has caused many job seekers to fiddle almost daily with their resumes to cater to specific audiences. From past work experience to lists of relevant skills to job-specific training programs, the variations of

Career Center Blog | Letter imperfect: The necessity of clear communication

Conducting a job search today requires not only great communication skills but the ability to impress prospective employers with your knowledge and experience. Unfortunately, these two qualities don't always appear at the same time in some resumes and cover letters.

Career Center Blog | Preparing vets for the bumpy transition to civilian job search

If the roaring hydroplanes and the screaming F/A-18 Hornets overhead weren't enough to remind you, we just enjoyed another Seattle Seafair this weekend. While strolling on the waterfront past the mighty U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships, I couldn't help

Career Center | Job sound too good to be true? Watch out for scams

By Susan Salisbury / The Palm Beach Post With millions of Americans out of work and looking for a job, the latest scam, which preys on job seekers, is particularly despicable. A West Palm Beach, Fla., woman contacted The Palm

Career Center Blog | Good grammar: Don't communicate without it

In college I was required to take an editing course as part of my major. It so happened that the professor who taught the course that year was known far and wide as the most strict, fearsome and unsympathetic editor

Career Center Blog | Adding resume 'interests'? Better make them interesting

During a recent chat via Facebook with a friend of mine, an acquaintance happened to mention how much his experience in the Boy Scouts of America has meant to him, even into his adult years. He even said that his

Career Center | One more resume thing to think about: QR codes

By Diane Stafford / The Kansas City Star Just when you think you have your resume looking pretty good, James Alexander suggests a Botox injection. Actually, he’s just using Botox as a metaphor for an infusion of youth. How so?

Career Center | Pinterest resumes: Should you get on board?

By Benny Evangelista / San Francisco Chronicle Pinterest is known as a popular online pin board for photos of fashion, food recipes, and arts and crafts projects, but it has also become a place to find creative job resumes. Not

Career Center | Baby boomers: It's not too late for a career move

By Carole Feldman / The Associated Press Think changing jobs is difficult? It can be even harder if you're a baby boomer. Although there are federal laws against age discrimination, some employers may be reluctant to hire older workers, concerned

Career Center Blog | Four ways to ease back into your job search

Not long ago, a friend of mine who's been at the same stable job since the late 1990s mentioned that the successive waves of layoffs at his mega-corporation in the last few years may soon reach his department. "It's been

Job Calendar | Workshop: Translating Military Skills to a Resume

The free, one-time WorkSource workshop will show job seekers how to translate military skills into civilian language for a dynamic resume.

Career Center Blog | Get your cover letter and resume in synch

Ask most job seekers which document they spend the most time on and they will likely say their resume. True, the resume is an essential element of the job-search arsenal and is deserving of much attention, but it is almost

Career Center Blog | Contact info: New rules for the modern job market

If you're a passing sports fan of almost any stripe, you've probably heard the name John Wooden. Coach Wooden, arguably the most revered sports coach in history, led the UCLA men's basketball team to 10 national championships in a 12-year

Career Center Blog | Three tips to rev up forgotten resume elements

The rise and near ubiquity of online resume-processing algorithms has done quite a number on the art of resume writing over the past few years. Almost gone are the days when an eye-catching font, a coordinated color scheme and a

Career Center | Career makeover: Marketing consultant seeks stability

By Cody Ellerd Bay / Special to NWjobs Mary Howell has never had a problem getting hired. In fact, she does it all the time. As an independent marketing consultant, the Seattle resident has made her living hopping from contract

Career Center | Avoid these common resume blunders

By Dawn Dugan / Salary.com A great resume can open a door, but an inferior one can just as quickly close it. Because a resume is likely the first glimpse of you that employers will get, make it an impressive

Job Calendar | Career Search Strategies 2.0

This full-day, free event provides job seekers with proven strategies for landing the ultimate career. Registration in advance required at Eventbrite.

Career Center Blog | How job seekers should manage the big "O": Overqualified

So you want a job. You need a job. You've identified some openings or employers that sound interesting, even exciting. Maybe you are contacted by some of these employers for an interview. There's just one problem: Based on the job

Career Center | Standing out: How to shine during job interviews

By Jeffrey Kudisch / The Washington Post It’s incredibly important to outshine your competition in all stages of a job interview. Here is some interview advice compiled from talks with top recruiters. Do your research. Make sure you have a

Career Center Blog | It's interview time: Do you know what your skills are?

If someone said to you in an interview, "Tell me what you're good at," what would you say? Hopefully now you've banished the hackneyed "I'm a people person" response from your interviewing repertoire and have focused on providing more detailed

Career Center | Spring grads: Boost your chances for job-hunt success

By Diane Stafford / McClatchy Newspapers Graduating soon? Congrats! Reality check: Are you in a serious job search yet? It’s past time to compete with your classmates for jobs. The job market has been poor for the last three years

Career Center | How to overcome a criminal record when job hunting

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Q: My son is 22 years old and will be graduating from college in a year with a degree in accounting and finance. When he was 20, he was arrested at school and convicted

Career Center | Career makeover: Ex-construction worker aims to switch gears

By Cody Ellerd Bay / Special to NWjobs There’s a lot in Jared McGlinchey’s academic life that he’s proud of. He was an editor of his high school and community college papers, competed on a debate team that ranked fourth

Career Center Blog | Four ways to invigorate your job search in 2012

According to the rash of December predictions of job trends in the Seattle area, this coming year is expected to be just as difficult for job seekers as the previous one. As a recent Manpower survey showed, the Seattle-Bellevue area

Career Center | Picture it: Drawing can help job search

By Michelle Goodman Special to NWjobs Want to stand out in your job interviews? Use pictures. That’s the advice of Dan Roam, best-selling author of “The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.” Roam’s latest book,

Career Center Blog | Cover letters: Go big or go home

Long, boring cover letters: time of death, 2011. While there's still some dispute about the exact role that cover letters play in the modern job-search process, the prevailing wisdom is that the good old-fashioned cover-letter format, as we've known

Career Center Blog | When describing work experience, show, don't tell

Creative. Organizational. Effective. All of these are great words you would want associated with your previous work experience. But do you want them on your resume? Not necessarily. According to the online networking site LinkedIn, those three adjectives are what

Career Center Blog | How to use hand-drawn pictures to ace an interview

Want to stand out in your job interviews? Use pictures. That's the advice of Dan Roam, international best-selling author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Roam's latest book, BLAH BLAH BLAH: What to

Career Center Blog | Erasing unsightly blemishes from your resume

In most cases, the more experience you have on a resume, the better it looks to hiring managers. But are all experiences created equal? Not always. Have you had several jobs that only lasted a few months? Were you ever

Career Center | How to handle short-term jobs on your resume

By Marie G. McIntyre McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I would like to know how very brief jobs should be handled on a resume. My most recent position was eliminated after I had been there only eight weeks. If I include

Career Center Blog | Job skills gap is sometimes a matter of perception

When looking for a new position, it's important for job seekers and hiring managers to be on the same page. Managers must clearly state what responsibilities they are looking for in the position they are offering and candidates must demonstrate

Career Center Blog | The diminishing returns of resume tweaking

Guy Kawasaki. Ever heard of him? He's an influential venture capitalist and thought leader operating out of the Bay Area who authors one of the top blogs in the country. Several years back, he wrote a blog I'll never forget.

Career Center Blog | Acting vs. interim: Which works better on a resume?

When writing a resume, there are some words that can always help you, such as "completed," "managed" and "achieved," which let the employer know you've accomplished something concrete and measurable. Then, there are the words that de-emphasize actions, such as

Career Center | Tips for project-management techies

Q: I just moved from Beijing to Seattle with my husband. I am currently seeking project-management or vendor-management positions in the Internet/travel industries. Any suggestions for networking opportunities or job-seeking strategies? — T.V., Seattle Kristen says: Seattle is one of

Career Center Blog | Part-time is still better than 'no-time'

When an employment search drags on for enough months, many job seekers turn to part-time work to help pay the bills and fill in gaps in their resumes. This may be a financial necessity for those with mortgages to pay

Career Center Blog | Resume 'updates' should last all year long

So here we are on the edge of the big first weekend in September. Do you have any major plans? Reassessing career goals? Adding new skill sets? Emphasizing major job-specific accomplishments? Wait, did you say you were barbecuing instead? No,

Career Center Blog | Why applying online first is a waste of time

I recently gave a presentation called Career Search Optimization to professionals in transition, emphasizing the need to become more strategic if they want to find their ideal job. Many, if not all, job seekers are so focused on advertised openings

Career Center | Where to get a resume review

Q: I am employed at a Seattle-area technology firm. I have a solid résumé and have worked for the last nine years as a procurement professional. I am thinking about looking for other opportunities in the area, and I would

Career Center Blog | Video resumes: Handle with extreme care

For job seekers looking to stand out from the crowd of other applicants, it's sometimes helpful to show off your creativity by trying a new technology or displaying your skills in an unusual format. This has led to a rise

Career Center Blog | Where to get insider information for submitting your resume

In my last column, "Where you come from matters," I talked about the importance of identifying employers' preferred sources for submitting your résumé. How and where you apply to the company makes a difference; many employers deal with hundreds of

Career Center Blog | Where you come from matters

Let's talk about where you come from. I don't mean your hometown, your country of origin or your last job; I'm talking about the source of your résumé in a company's applicant tracking system (ATS). It could mean the difference

Career Center | Demystifying the concept of resume keywords

Q: Can you clue me in to the magic world of keywords? Where does one find the secret list of these powerful, masterful and (potentially) door-opening slayers of those who would otherwise say “no”? My assumption is that they are

Career Center | NWjobs Career Makeover: Targeted approach restores job seeker’s confidence

By Cody Ellerd Bay Special to NWjobs Since she went through a NWjobs career makeover, Kelli Derum has made a major change in her job-hunting strategy: She stopped applying for jobs. Having worked as a project manager, technical writer and

Career Center | I’m sending lots of résumés, but getting no interviews

Q: I have been looking for a new job in human resources/employee benefits for the past five months. I’ve been with the same company in the same position for almost four years, working exclusively with pension and health and welfare

Career Center | NWjobs Career Makeover: Mother of two re-enters job market after years away

By Cody Ellerd Bay Special to NWjobs Julianne Hake was amazed by all that has changed in the job market in six years. The Seattle mother of two, 41, gave up her job as an account executive with Satori Software

Career Center Blog | Let employers know how innovative you are

For much of the last couple of years, the economy has slowly climbed out of the deep hole of the Great Recession and returned many corporate balance sheets into the black. However, most of the multitudes who were laid off

Career Center | Build your brand before launching your job-search campaign

By Dawn Dugan Salary.com One of the best ways to articulate your skills, experience, knowledge and overall worth in today’s competitive job market is to create a personal brand that helps you stand out from the crowd. According to management

Career Center Blog | Want a job? Stop sending your resume (until you learn a few tips)

For the last three years, the biggest complaint I hear is, "I'm frustrated. I'm still putting out resumes daily with no response." Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Are

Career Center Blog | Networking events shift into high gear for 2011

At the halfway point in February, the networking events around the Puget Sound region are now back in full swing again. Many organizations are holding their first meetups of the year as hiring managers begin looking to fill positions for

Career Center Blog | The top 10 words to banish from your LinkedIn profile

On NWjobs, we give a lot of advice on how to get the most from LinkedIn (examples here, here, here, here, and here). But I don't think we've addressed in how to improve the written content on your LinkedIn

Career Center Blog | How to write a great bio, from the author of 'Bye-Bye Boring Bio'

I recently interviewed Nancy Juetten, author of "Bye-Bye Boring Bio," on what it takes to write a great bio. Professionals in transition can benefit from a well-written bio in their social media profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter), the summary section of

Career Center Blog | How to write a stellar resume, without paying for it

Not all job seekers have the money to invest in a professionally written, high-quality resume. What's worse is that with today's sophisticated applicant tracking systems, a well-written resume won't get you that far, anyway. Each resume must be customized to

Career Center Blog | Forget shopping -- 5 things you can do to advance your career today

Want to make sure you have a place to land should your current position unexpectedly evaporate? Or do you just hate your job, plain and simple? Then don't spend Black Friday waiting on checkout lines, scouring the web for bargains,

Career Center | How to make the most of LinkedIn, the business social network

By Miguel Helft New York Times News Service Joanna Wiseberg began Red Scarf Equestrian, which makes handbags and other luxury goods for horse lovers, two years ago -- just as the economy plunged into recession. Nevertheless, Wiseberg was soon meeting

Career Center Blog | Controlling job-seeker mood swings via networking

Welcome to the holidays: The season of the Uncontrollable Mood Swing. It's known as a time filled with joy, family and peace, but it's also the time of darkness at 3 p.m., miserable weather and shopping stress. No to mention

Career Center Blog | How to find a job in the federal government

According to Where the Jobs Are, federal agencies will be hiring more than 270,000 workers for mission-critical jobs by the end of September, 2012. Most federal hiring will be concentrated in five professional fields: Medical and Public Health, Security and