Good Evening Folks,

I honestly lost touch with this blog almost eight years ago. This started as a pet project of mine that I was doing on my off time. Since my last post, I have continued in the Workforce field and went on to get my master's degree. I have worked with many employers and jobseekers throughout the years.

Now, revisiting the site and seeing that there have been views and even one comment thanking me for my help. I will restart this blog with new information including current job trends, interview techniques, and news about the workforce during these new times that we live in. I'm also going to make changes to this blog as it is due for a needed makeover. Please continue to visit this site periodically for updates. Thank you for visiting and your support.

Sincerely,
The Employment Fitness Zone

Resume Outline and Sample

The Resume - Work Experience

Ok, now if you have been following this blog series, you should be up to the Experience section. Now this is very important. The reason this section is so important is because this is where you highlight your job duties from past jobs. When the employer reads your resume, they want to know, what you did at your last job. They might also want to know how you did what you did at your last job. 

For all those who don't have any previous work related experience, please skim to towards then end of this posting for assistance on your situation. 

When you get to the section for your experience, you must make it known that them employer is about the read the Experience section. This is what it start to look like:

Experience:

or

Work Experience:

or

Professional Experience:

For the following example, we are going to use just plain Experience.

"

Experience:

The EFZ Store                                                               New York, NY

Customer Service Representative                                 1/10 - 11/10                                 

• Assisted customers with over the counter transactions.
• Answered customer inquiries in regards to store sales, policies and merchandise.
• Balanced registered at the end of each shift on a daily basis.
• Opened and Closed store as required by store manager.

"
To be continued....

Need Resume Help? Now, you can call me.

Below is a link to our help services. Please call and leave a detailed voicemail with a time that you can be reached and a representative will call back to assist you.

The purpose of a resume - To use or not to use an objective...

To continue off of the last post, which objective should you use? If you don't remember, here is an excerpt from the last post. 

"Which one should you use?

Objective: To obtain a position where I can utilize my skills and experiences.

or

Objective: To obtain a position as a Personal Trainer with Pump Yourself Up Gym Corp."

If you are looking to get into the job market for the first time after college or graduate school, we recommend that you use an objective specific to the employer and the position in which you are applying to. An objective can't be as general as stating that you want to utilize your skills and experiences for growth in their field. When you send out your resume to the employer, it has to be personal to the employer. The objective is the first thing that the employer reads when they want to get to know a potential employee and find out what he or she truly seeking. If you haven't guessed yet,  Objective: To obtain a position as a Personal Trainer with Pump Yourself Up Gym Corp  is the correct answer. 

For those who already have some full time experience in the job market: Today, the objective is an optional and rarely used part of your resume. Why do we say that? Today's professional job market is looking for those employees that can do the job and then-some. As you continue to read, you will learn what to use in place of the objective.

The objective has been replaced by a Summary of Qualifications and Skills. What is a Summary of Qualifications and Skills? A Summary of Qualifications and Skills is a very short summary of your resume with a mix of your skills inserted. This eliminates the skills section of the resume because it's included in the summary. The summary is located at the top of you resume right under your name and contact information. 

What does a Summary of Qualifications and Skills look like on a resume?

It looks a little some like this:

Summary of Qualifications and Skills:

• 12 years of experience in banking. 
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint. 45 WPM
• Bilingual in English and Spanish
• Experience with diverse populations. 

Do you get the "jist" of what the Summary consists of? You are pretty much combining the most important parts of your resume and summarizing them into a quick view for the employer. This assists the employer in looking through 50 to 100 resumes at a time. 


Your resume should start looking something like this:

John Doe

123 Happy Street

New York, NY 12345

212-555-1234

john.doe@mymail.com

Summary of Qualifications and Skills:

• 12 years of experience in banking. 
• Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint. 45 WPM
• Bilingual in English and Spanish
• Experience with diverse populations. 

Now, it shouldn't be exactly like what is portrayed because it is your resume and it is under your discretion what you put in you summary but it should look really similar to it. 

Remember if you have any questions about anything that is posted, please feel free to leave comments. 

Up next: Work Experience...

Purpose of a Resume - The address.

Okay so you are applying for jobs by sending your resume out to employers but you haven't received any responses back from the employers. Do you think that they are just not responding or is there something wrong with your resume.

80% (my personal opinion) of the time, it's your resume. How is your resume structured? Are there words misspelled? Is there an inconsistency with your format? Is it personal to the employer? These are questions you should ask before you send out that resume to the employer.
First let's start by looking at the resume from top to bottom.
Does your resume have your full name and full address?
Usually addresses on resumes are structured in this format:

John Doe

123 Happy Street

New York, NY 12345

212-555-1234

john.doe@mymail.com

As you see the address is a full address. Employers like to see a potential employee's mailing address for mailing purposes. The address doesn't have to be your home address but it should be the best way to contact you via mail. Try to stay away from P.O. Box addresses. This may be unlikely in today's age but employer's may want to contact you via mail.

The next point I want to address is the phone number. The phone number that you put on your resume should be the best way to contact you. You don't have just use your home or cellular phone number. You can use both numbers, if you feel it's necessary. If you are the type of person that changes your number often, please keep your resume updated.

The last point that I would like to make is the e-mail address. Everyone, I repeat everyone must have an e-mail address. I feel that it's not even an option to put it on your resume. Employers are using the convenience of the internet to look for potential employees. When you find a job opening online, you usually have to e-mail or submit the resume tot he employer. Once you submit the resume via electronic format, you might receive a confirmation of your submission or you'll get a response directly for their HR representatitve in regards to your submission. The employer's rep. might even choose to contact you directly via e-mail.
Please make sure your e-mail address is professional. Professional, meaning, don't use sexychick23 or thuglife86 as your address. A professional e-mail address should stay away from all the indirect innuendoes or personality traits. I would recommend that it should consist of a combination of your first and last name with a number i.e. john.doe22 or jdoe22 or johnd22.

The format and structure of your address is under your discretion but make it easy to understand.

Which one should you use?

Objective: To obtain a position where I can utilize my skills and experiences.

or

Objective: To obtain a position as a Personal Trainer with Pump Yourself Up Gym Corp.

To be continued...

NY1.com - Employment Report 10/17/2010

By. Asa Aarons

"A new program at Baruch College seeks to teach people how to create a job rather than find one. NY1's Asa Aarons filed the following report.

Can't find a job? Create one. That's one message coming from the Baruch College program "Assessing Opportunity: A Business Assistance Forum." It included classes on things like using social media to start or expand your business. The forum is one way the college is reaching out to both established and new members of the business community.

"Folks who are thinking about starting a business, folks who are in business, folks who are struggling, folks who are doing well. We have all services that will be important to your business," said Monica Dean of Baruch College.

Entrepreneurs draw their inspiration from everywhere. Take Peter Passante and his wife for instance. They started Positively Organic baby clothes after his wife gave a homemade gift at a baby shower.

"The woman who received the gift loved them and also all these other women at the baby shower loved them too and started asking her to make them either clothes for their baby or stuff to give at other baby showers," Passante said.

The clothes are made from pesticide-free cotton and other natural materials.

Jennifer Brown of the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, which encourages growth and creativity to thousands of businesses in that area, says she is quite optimistic about what she is seeing.

"Entrepreneurial spirit is at its highest as it's ever been even with the economy. I think people, they look at people like the founder of Facebook, and some of these role models that they have that have been able to start their own businesses," Brown said.

Beyond techno knowledge, starting a business requires a rare combination of drive and creativity -- qualities that led Lida Orzeck to create Hanky Panky, a daring and extremely successful line of women's undergarments.

She says whether self-employed or on someone else's payroll, a work ethic will take you far.

"Being the very, very, very best, committed, open-minded worker you can be. You will be noticed and you will be promoted. That's almost a guarantee," said Orzeck.

To find out more about future seminars or some of the services at Baruch College, visitwww.baruch.cuny.edu."